Camera Traps Capture 1 m Imges of Wildlife in the Tropics – Video!

Waldseemüller map is the first map to include the name “America” and the first to depict the Americas as separate from Asia. There is only one surviving copy of the map, which was purchased by the Library of Congress in 2001 for $10 million. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Camera traps capture 1m images of wildlife in the tropics – video

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2013/feb/13/camera-traps-capture-1m-wildlife-tropics-video

One million images of wildlife in 16 tropical forests around the world have been captured by the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network. Since it began its work in 2008 to monitor changes in wildlife, vegetation and climate, cameras in the the Americas, Africa and Asia have photographed more than 370 different species including elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, large cats, honey badgers, tapirs and tropical birds

Inside China’s Bamboo Rat Farms

 

Mong La, Shan State, Myanmar Illicit Endangered Wildlife Restaurants Bamboo Rat (Photo credit: Soggydan)

Inside China‘s Bamboo Rat farms By Matt Blake PUBLISHED: 11:03 EST, 19 December 2012 | UPDATED: 14:31 EST, 19 December 2012 When Shi Beidan spotted a rat the size of a small dog scuttling across her kitchen floor, the last thing she wanted to do was call in the exterminators. Instead she caught the rodent, gave it a lunch of bamboo and put it in a box to breed more. She now has more than 2,000 giant bamboo rats at her home in Congjiang, in southwest China’s Guizhou Province, all of which she is fattening up to sell at market.   Fat rat: Shi Beidan holds up one of her specimens to the camera. She has spent months fattening it up by feeding it bamboo They are a popular delicacy in some parts of china and are eaten in a variety of dishes, but the biggest ones can also be skinned and turned into fur coats. It is a scheme that is sweeping across the region, with cash-strapped farmers turning to breeding the rats as a new source of income. And it is becoming big business.     Just a baby… for now: Big business: Cash-strapped farmers are breeding the rats as a new source of income. A pair of well-kept breed bamboo rats can sell for between 600 and 900 Chinese yuan (£60 and £90) Congjiang county already has 18 bamboo rat farms, and it is planning to expand that number to 20 in 2013.   Bamboo rats are a species of rodent that are found in the eastern half of Asia and can grow up to 50 centimetres in length and four kilograms in weight. A pair of well-kept breed bamboo rats can sell for between 600 and 900 Chinese yuan (£60 and £90). They reproduce rapidly with three to four litters of two to five offspring a year. Rat meat costs over four times more than chicken or pork and twice that of beef in China. Eating rat is even said to prevent baldness and is considered a winter dish.

Record rhino poaching death statistics released by the South African Government

Environment News Service, January 14, 2013

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Record rhino poaching death statistics released by the South African government Friday reveal a grim picture – 668 rhinos lost their lives to poachers in 2012 – up from 14 rhinos killed by poachers in 2005. Conservation scientists report that corrupt game industry insiders are now poaching rhinos alongside other criminal groups – all well organized, well financed and highly mobile.

Rhino horns taken from a carcass

The 668 rhinos killed across South Africa in 2012 is an increase of nearly 50 percent from the 448 rhinos poachers killed in 2011. Five more rhinos were killed by poachers just since the beginning of this year.

A 2012 report by the international wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, calls these rhino killings “an unprecedented conservation crisis for South Africa,” which until recently has had a stellar rhino conservation record.

TRAFFIC is a strategic alliance of the global conservation group WWF and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN, which maintains the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The methods used in the most recent rhino killings show a new, very worrying dimension, says the TRAFFIC report, “The South Africa – Viet Nam Rhino Horn Trade Nexus,” co-authored by Dr. Jo Shaw, rhino co-ordinator with the South Africa chapter of WWF, and Tom Milliken of TRAFFIC.

“Typically, rhinos are killed by shooting with guns, usually AK-47 assault rifles. More recently, however, a growing number of rhinos have been killed by a single shot from a high-calibre weapon characteristically only used by wildlife industry professionals or, less frequently, have been darted with immobilization drugs and had their horns removed,” Shaw and Milliken report.

“The use of such equipment, and other evidence that has even suggested the presence of helicopters at crime scenes, represents a completely “new face” in terms of rhino poaching,” they write.

“Such developments underscore the emergence of corrupt game industry insiders into rhino poaching. Rogue game ranch owners, professional hunters, game capture operators, pilots and wildlife veterinarians have all entered the rhino poaching crisis and become active players,” write Shaw and Milliken.

“This is a unique and devastating development in South Africa, severely tarnishing the image of a key stakeholder in the rhino equation even if the majority of private rhino owners and wildlife industry personnel remain committed to protecting rhinos and supporting rhino conservation.”

A majority of the 2012 rhino deaths, 425, happened in Kruger National Park, South Africa’s premier safari destination, the new government statistics show. Poaching incidents in this park rose sharply from 252 in 2011.

In the TRAFFIC report, Show and Milliken write, “…the complicity of South African national and provincial officials undertaking or enabling illegal trade has been documented.”

“In terms of killing rhinos, four government rangers were arrested in Kruger National Park in 2012 and, at the Atherstone Nature Reserve in Limpopo, the reserve manager committed suicide after allegedly being implicated in five rhino deaths. Provincial administrators have repeatedly turned a blind eye to “pseudo-hunting,” especially in North West and Limpopo provinces, and allowed rhino hunts to transpire that violate TOPS [Threatened or Protected Species] regulations,” the TRAFFIC report states.”

A White Rhino, Ceratotherium simum simum, cow and calf

“The most shocking aspect of the illegal trade in rhino horn has been the poaching of live rhinos on a brutal scale. For 16 years, between 1990 and 2005, rhino poaching losses in South Africa averaged 14 animals each year.”

“In 2008, this figure rose to 83 and, by 2009, the number had reached 122 rhinos. In 2010, poaching escalated dramatically throughout the year, nearly tripling the toll and reaching 333 rhinos killed. In 2011, the total again climbed to a new annual record of 448 rhinos lost,” they report. Last year, 668 rhinos were killed across South Africa.

Arrests of suspected poachers and smugglers in South Africa also increased in 2012, with 267 people now facing charges related to rhino crimes.

In November, a Thai man was sentenced to a record 40 years in prison for conspiring to smuggle rhino horns to Asia.

Rhino horns are believed to have medicinal properties and are seen as highly desirable status symbols in some Asian countries, notably Vietnam, whose native rhinos have recently been pushed into extinction.

While rhino horn is composed entirely of keratin, the same substance as hair and nails, and no medicinal value has been proven, the increased commercial value placed on rhino horn has drawn well-organized, well-financed and highly-mobile criminal groups into rhino poaching.

“Vietnam must curtail the nation’s rhino horn habit, which is fueling a poaching crisis in South Africa,” said Sabri Zain, TRAFFIC’s director of advocacy.

“Viet Nam appears to be the only country in the world where rhino horn is popularly gaining a reputation as an aphrodisiac,” the TRAFFIC report states, adding that the use of ground powdered rhino horn by wealthy Vietnamese to detoxify after drinking too much alcohol is “probably the most common routine usage promoted in the marketplace today.”

“Rhinos are being illegally killed, their horns hacked off and the animals left to bleed to death, all for the frivolous use of their horns as a hangover cure,” said Zain.

Vietnamese man drinks from a rhino horn grinding bowl

In December, Vietnam and South Africa signed an agreement aimed at bolstering law enforcement and tackling illegal wildlife trade, including rhino horn trafficking.

The agreement paves the way for improved intelligence information sharing and joint efforts by the two nations to crack down on the criminal syndicates behind the smuggling networks.

“Whilst we commend South Africa and Vietnam for signing a Memorandum of Understanding regarding biodiversity conservation, we now need to see a joint Rhino Plan of Action being implemented, leading to more of these rhino horn seizures,” said Dr. Jo Shaw, rhino co-ordinator with the South Africa chapter of WWF.

“There is also an urgent need to work closely with countries which are transit routes for illicit rhino horn, specifically Mozambique,” said Dr. Shaw.

Two Vietnamese men were detained in separate incidents earlier this month in Vietnam and Thailand for smuggling rhino horns, which were believed to have been exported from Mozambique.

Both Mozambique and Vietnam have been given failing grades by WWF’s Wildlife Crime Scorecard for failing to enforce laws meant to protect rhinos.

The TRAFFIC report explains that all animals alive today of the southern subspecies of White Rhinoceros Ceratotherium simum simum originate from a remnant population of 20 to 50 animals that have been protected in South Africa’s Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve since 1895.

South Africa now conserves 18,800 White Rhinos, which represents nearly 95 percent of Africa’s total White Rhino population.

“The remarkable recovery of the Southern White Rhino via Natal Parks Board’s “Operation Rhino,” which pioneered wildlife translocation and other important management strategies, remains one of the world’s greatest conservation triumphs,” write Shaw and Milliken.

The report credits the country’s private sector who account for a growing proportion of the national White Rhino population. Estimates from 2010 indicate that approximately 25 percent of all White Rhinos in South Africa are privately owned.

The Southern White Rhino is now listed in the IUCN Red List’s Near Threatened category and, although conservation dependent, the subspecies is no longer regarded as a threatened or endangered species.

But Africa’s other rhino species, the Black Rhinoceros Diceros bicornis, has been nearly wiped out. The estimated 100,000 Black Rhinos in Africa in 1960, before the first catastrophic rhino poaching crisis, were reduced to just 2,410 animals by 1995, the report explains.

Since then, numbers have more than doubled to 4,880 animals in 2010, but this species is still listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List.

In South Africa, Black Rhino numbers have shown a steady increase since the 1980s. South Africa now conserves an estimated 1,915 Black Rhinos – more than any other range state – and nearly 40 percent of all wild Black Rhinos alive today. Again, the private sector has played a major role in Black Rhino conservation, holding approximately 22 percent of South Africa’s current population.

“But the country’s superlative conservation record of more than a century is under threat,” write Shaw and Milliken.

They recommend that South Africa ensure that those arrested for rhino crimes are prosecuted and punished.

**********************************************************************************

See Also:

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/kenyan-officials-impound-two-tonnes-ivory-police-185942068.html

http://www.bloodyivory.org

Related articles

• Rhino Poaching at Record High in South Africa (2eyeswatching.com)
• Rhino Poaching Toll on the Rise in South Africa (naturenplanet.com)
• Poachers kill record number of Rhinos in 2012 to feed demand for their horns (swns.com)
• Rhino Crisis Round Up: The First 10 Days of 2013 (planetsave.com)
• 49% Increase in Rhino Poaching Reported for 2012 (news.softpedia.com)
• Rhinos in Crisis: Poaching and Illegal Trade Reach Highest Levels in 20 Years (ecowatch.org)
• South African Rhino Poaching Hits New High, Group Says (newswatch.nationalgeographic.com)
• SA rhino poaching at record level (bbc.co.uk)
• 668 rhinos poached in S Africa in 2012 (bigpondnews.com)

EU ends shark finning, practice of mutilating, leaving sharks to die | The Raw Story

 

English: NOAA agent counting confiscated shark fins. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

EU ends shark finning, practice of mutilating, leaving sharks to die | The Raw Story.

 

The European parliament on Thursday called a definitive halt to shark finning, the long contested practice of fishermen slicing off fins and throwing the live body overboard to drown.

The EU prohibited shark finning in 2003, but an exemption allowed fishermen with special permits to remove the fins from their carcass out at sea and bring back the remainders or land them in different ports.

In March, fisheries ministers endorsed a proposal to force fishermen to bring sharks to port intact, but the measure needed the approval of the parliament.

Marine conservation group Oceana applauded the move, saying it marked a key chapter for shark conservation.

“The measure closes long-standing enforcement loopholes in EU policy on shark finning, will improve the collection of valuable data about shark catches, and will help to prevent the trade of fins from threatened shark species,” it said in a statement.

Asia’s taste for shark fin soup is viewed as a key threat to sharks, with marine protection groups saying up to 73 million are killed annually to satisfy demand for the delicacy.

EU nations combined account for the second-largest share, with 14 percent of the world’s catches.

Slow to grow and with very few young per birth, sharks are exceptionally vulnerable with several dozen species threatened with extinction.

Shark finning has also increased due to a strong demand for traditional medical cures in Asia, the ministers added.

“The EU is finally accepting its responsibility as a major global player in shark fisheries and shark fin exports,” said Xavier Pastor, who heads Oceana Europe.

Related articles

• EU to close shark ‘finning’ loophole (guardian.co.uk)
• Europe moves closer to blanket ban on shark finning (reuters.com)
• EU takes major step to protect sharks (miamiherald.com)
• European Parliament Votes To Ban Shark Finning (huffingtonpost.com)
• EU votes to ban shark finning (ctvnews.ca)
• EU ends shark finning, practice of mutilating, leaving sharks to die (rawstory.com)

Zimbabwe Arrests Chinese Eating Endangered Tortioses Bikita

 

Map indicating locations of China and Zimbabwe (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There’s a saying in China that people from the country’s south are renowned for eating everything with legs except tables, and everything that flies except airplanes. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/zimbabwe-arrests-chinese-eating-endangered-tortoises-bikita

 

please, note, I am back again! Could safe & cleanse my PC from trojan-attacks, finally!

Wissenschaftliche Studien enthuellen brutale Realitaet der Baerenfarm-Industrie

 

Image via Wikipedia

Wissenschaftliche Studien enthüllen brutale Realität der Bärenfarmindustrie

~ -------------------------------------------------------------- Footage Animal Asia http://ots.de/BLngX--------------------------------------------------------------~Peking (ots) -~- Querverweis: Bildmaterial ist abrufbar unter http://www.presseportal.de/galerie.htx?type=obs -~~ - 99% aller Bären mit frei tropfender Methode haben Gallenblasenentzündungen - 66% haben Gallenblasenpolypen - 34% haben Bauchwandbrüche - 28% haben innere Abszesse - 22% haben Gallensteine~Heute hat Animals Asia im Rahmen einer Pressekonferenz in Peking wissenschaftliche Forschungsergebnisse zu ehemaligen Farmbären, bei denen die "frei tropfende" Methode des Galleabzapfens angewandt wurde, veröffentlicht. Die detaillierten medizinischen Belege basieren auf der Analyse von 165 Bären, die von Animals Asia gerettetund ihr Rettungszentrum bei Chengdu, Sichuan, gebracht wurden.Von den untersuchten Bären hatten 163 (99%) Gallenblasenentzündungen,106 (66%) Gallenblasenpolypen, 56 (34%) Bauchwandbrüche, 46 (28%) innere Abszesse,, 36 (22%) Gallensteine und 7 hatten Bauchfellentzündung. Viele Bären hatten eine mehrfache Kombination dieser Erkrankungen.Bei einer Pressekonferenz am vergangenen Donnerstag behauptete der Leiter der China Association of Traditional Medicine, Herr Fang Shuting: "Der Prozess der Gallensaftentnahme so einfach, natürlich und schmerzfrei wie das Aufdrehen eines Wasserhahns". Monica Bando, Tierärztin und Chirurgin bei Animals Asia dazu: "Die frei tropfende Methode des Gallensaftabzapfens fügt den Bären große Schmerzen und Schäden zu."In Asien werden geschätzte 14.000 in Farmen gefangene Mondbären gehalten und wegen ihres Gallensaftes gemolken. Er wird in der traditionellen asiatischen Medizin eingesetzt, obwohl es preiswerte und wirksame pflanzliche sowie synthetisch hergestellte Alternativen gibt. Bären in China, die bis zu 30 Jahre alt werden, müssen ihr Leben in winzigen Käfigen verbringen und werden regelmäßig wegen ihrer Galle über grobe Katheter oder permanente Öffnungen in ihren Bäuchen gemolken.Als Antwort auf die Vorwürfe, dass in den Farmen noch immer Metallkorsetts eingesetzt und geltende Vorschriften missachtet werdensagte er: "Wenn solche Bärenfarmen entdeckt werden, lassen Sie es unswissen."Während der Pressekonferenz zeigte ein unabhängiger Filmemacher undercover gedrehte Aufnahmen der Bärenfarm-Industrie. Das Material stammt aus den Jahren 2009 und 2010 und zeigen Zustände "legaler" Bärenfarmen, die eindeutig geltenden Vorschriften zuwider laufen.Man sieht Bären, die gezwungen werden Metallkorsette zu tragen, derenGewicht sie zu Boden drückt und die Gummischläuche enthalten, die in den Gallenblasen der Bären enden. Bärenfarmer werden gezeigt, die Gallensaft in schmutzigen Behältern eindampfen, die getrocknete Gallezerstampfen und das Gallenpulver mit der Hand in Kapseln abfüllen.Die Aufnahmen wurden von Elsa Xiong, Tu Qiao und Chen Yuanzhong für einen Dokumentarfilm gedreht. Sie haben vier Jahre daran gearbeitet und dazu sechs Provinzen bereist, wo sie viele getarnte Nachforschungen durchgeführt haben.Elsa Xiong dazu: "Da Bärenfarmen für die Öffentlichkeit nicht zugänglich sind, trafen wir auf viele unvorstellbare Schwierigkeiten und Risiken. Die Industrie der Bärenfarmen ist extrem grausam. Noch schockierender ist, dass die legalen Bärenfarmen die Vermarktung vieler verunreinigter und die Gesundheit gefährdende Produkte zulassen."Rocky Shi ist Bärenpfleger im Rettungszentrum von Animals Asia: "Jeder Bär ist einzigartig in Charakter, Emotionen und Sozialverhalten. Obwohl sie viele Jahre lang von Menschen gequält wurden, zeigen sie immer ihr freundliches und vergebendes Wesen, keinen Hass auf Menschen."Dr. Jill Robinson MBE, Gründerin und CEO von Animals Asia: "Die Praxis der Bärenfarmen kann nur beendet werden durch einen Wandel, der aus China selbst kommt und nicht durch Druck von außen. Ein solcher Druck kann sogar schädlich sein und dazu führen, dass das Leid der Bären sich verlängert. Wir haben in den letzten Tagen einen bisher noch nie dagewesenen Aufschrei der chinesischen Öffentlichkeitund Medien erlebt. Es rührt das Herz zu sehen, dass so viele Menschenin China sich gegen diese schreckliche Industrie aussprechen und die Hoffnung wächst, dass das Ende der Bärenfarmen näher rückt."Gui Zhentang, ein Unternehmen dieser Bärengalleindustrie, das sich umeinen Börsengang in Shenzhen beworben hat und damit auf viel Kritik in der Öffentlichkeit gestoßen ist, hat Presse und Öffentlichkeit zu einem Besuch ihrer Bärenfarm eingeladen. Toby Zhang, Direktor für öffentliche Angelegenheiten bei Animals Asia in China dazu: "Ich freue mich sehr, dass Animals Asia dazu eingeladen wurde und wir werden natürlich dabei sein, um den Zustand der Bären zu begutachten." Er wies auch darauf hin, dass er bis jetzt noch keine Bestätigung seiner Teilnahme an diesem Besuch erhalten hat.Filmmaterial: http://ots.de/OKiJ3Oder hier:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14627684/xiaogeshi.mp4?dl=1Rückfragehinweis:  Christa Filipowicz  Director GLAS, Animals Asia  Tel: +49(0)89-383771313  Mob: +49(0)151.5244 2285  cfilipowicz@animalsasia.deDigitale Pressemappe: http://www.ots.at/pressemappe/DE53247/aom

Bears Harvested by Chinese for Bile Commit Suicide SHOCKING GRIEVING

Bears harvested by Chinese for bile ‘commit suicide’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2095904/Bears-held-harvest-bile-going-hunger-strikes-way-escape-captivity.html 

Image via Wikipedia

 

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Elephant in Circus in Vietnam: Lifelong Chained

Image via Wikipedia

Gequälter Elefant im Zirkus in Vietnam! Tierhaltungsverbot im Zirkus weltweit dringend erforderlich!
Elefanten in tierquälerischen Zirkus-Haltungen leiden!

http://nachrichten.t-online.de/zirkuselefant-trampelt-elfjaehriges-maedchen-in-vietnam-zu-tode/id_50671434/index

Elephant in circus in vietnam – in chains!

And no wonder Elephants

get wild and hurt people

Recently I read Jason Hribal´s book  Fear of the Animal Planet. It tells exactly what is happening here!

Related articles

• Girl, 11, trampled to death by circus elephant (mirror.co.uk)
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Becerradas

10th September 2011Becerradas – Demonstration gegen Kälbermord in Algemesí Wussten Sie, dass nicht nur stattliche spanische Kampfstiere, sondern auch Stierkälber im Namen der Tradition grausam zu Tode gefoltert werden und dieser Kälbermord zu allem Überfluss auch noch mit EU Mitteln subventioniert wird? In zahlreichen Gegenden Spaniens sind sogenannte “becerradas” gang und gäbe. Volksfeste, bei denen “becceros”, Kälber, die oftmals jünger als zwei Jahre sind, grausam zu Tode gefoltert werden. Beweisen kann sich bei diesen Blutfiestas jeder Möchtegern-Torero, der unter dem Applaus des sadistischen Publikums aller Altersstufen seine Folterinstrumente, sog. “banderillas”, unbarmherzig und voller Brutalität in den Körper des unschuldigen Stieres rammt, bis eine Arterie getroffen wird und das Blut pulsierend aus dem Körper strömt. Der Finale Todestoß, die “puntilla”, gelingt nie beim ersten Mal, immer wieder bohrt sich der Dolch des Schlächters in den Schädel des schmerzerfüllt brüllenden Tierkindes. Letztendlich werden diesem die Ohren bei lebendigem Leib abgeschnitten. AnimaNaturalis hat für den 24. September 2011 eine Demonstration gegen die sogenannten “becerradas” in Algemesi einberufen. Die Demonstration findet um 16.30 Uhr am Bahnhof von Algemesí statt. Folgendes Video wurde von TVAnimalista.com am 26.09.2010, gegen 21 Uhr, mit versteckter Kamera von einem Balkon eines der an den Dorfplatz von Algemesi angrenzenden Häuser aufgenommen. An diesem Tag wurden vier Kälber grausamst zu Tode gefoltert. becerradesalgemesi.blogspot.com

Video: http://youtu.be/ETwNSRiA_AQ

No photos at all – too graphic!