wildlife

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Lyon (AFP) - Animal lovers may be delighted that wolves are roaming the French mountains once again -- but the predators' increasing attacks on sheep have farmers longing to get their guns out.

On Monday, farmers flooded the streets of the city of Lyon with hundreds of sheep, demanding more government action after what authorities say were more than 10,000 animal deaths blamed on wolves last year.

Some farmers wore t-shirts emblazoned with photos of their bloodied livestock as they marched alongside their flocks, who filled the city air with the sound of bleating and tinkling bells.

"When you discover the body of one of your sheep with its throat ripped out by a wolf, it is horrible. It's traumatic," said Nicolas Fabre, a 38-year-old farmer from Cornus in the southern Aveyron region.

Wolves have targeted his flock twice in recent months, killing three sheep.

Wolves used to be common in France before dying out in the early 1930s. They reappeared naturally at the beginning of the 1990s and are now believed to number around 360.

Farmers across Aveyron, a sunny agricultural region famed for its pungent Roquefort blue cheese, say they have tried protecting their flocks with dogs, fences and netting, but to no avail.

And they say it is impossible to watch permanently over their animals, which are often spread over hilly, wooded land stretching dozens of hectares.

"There are 800,000 sheep in Aveyron," says Francois Giacobbi, a breeder in charge of the issue for the local farmers' association. "It's basically a pantry for the wolves."  read more »

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Conservationists are expressing outrage after an official in Germany ordered hunters to shoot the first wild bison seen in the country in more than two centuries. Calling the killing a criminal offense, the World Wildlife Fund says it will file charges against the official who gave the order, the Local reports.

“After more than 250 years a wild bison had been spotted again in Germany and all the authorities could think to do is shoot it," says Chris Heinrich, a WWF board member. The bison was seen by the river Oder near the eastern town of Lebus on Wednesday. Thinking the beast was a threat to public safety, a local official sent a pair of hunters to take care of it. It was unclear if any of them knew the European bison is classed as a "vulnerable" species and on Germany’s list of "strongly protected animals." The victim was likely a bull that had wandered across the border from Poland from its home in a national park. While they may be the continent's largest land mammals, weighing up to 2,200 pounds, the bison are not considered dangerous. If they were, says the local environmental minister, then "half of Poland, where the animal is a national symbol, would have to be declared a danger zone." Hunted to near extinction in Europe in the early 20th century, the bison are making a comeback thanks to conservationists, with more than 1,200 now roaming around Poland, per the Telegraph, which published a video showing bison fleeing, then standing up to, a pack of wolves. (The US bison is the country's first national mammal.)  read more »

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The son of Cecil the Lion, the beloved animal killed two years ago by a Minnesota dentist, was shot dead near a Zimbabwe park, officials said.

Lion guardians at the Hwange National Park posted on Facebook Thursday that Xanda, a 6-year-old lion with a family of young cubs, was shot dead a few days ago. He was killed not far from where Cecil died.

"Today we heard that a few days ago, Xanda, the son of #CecilTheLion has been shot on a trophy hunt," the post read.

"We can't believe that now, 2 years since Cecil was killed, that his oldest Cub #Xanda has met the same fate," the park's lion guardians wrote on Facebook. "When will the Lions of Hwange National Park be left to live out their years as wild born free lions should."  read more »

Lucky Strike
Storm chaser and Your Shot photographer Vanessa Neufeld captured this scene in Keyes, Oklahoma. "As the evening descended, so did a barrage of lightning in northwest Oklahoma."

Penguin Parade
A group of gentoo penguins cross the beach at sunrise on Saunders Island, the fourth largest island in the Falkland Islands.

Marble Caves
Las Cuevas de Mármol (The Marble Caves) sit in the middle of General Carrera Lake, which lies between Chile and Argentina. The tunnels and caves are only reachable by boat. The swooping arches have been formed by more than 6,000 years of water lapping against the rock, and the waters change color depending on the time of year.

Eagle Training  read more »

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Many species in peril on Endangered Species Day
From climate change to habitat fragmentation, pollution and human conflict, species around the world are facing a slew of threats to their survival.
The National Geographic Photo Ark project aims to capture photos of every species living in the world's zoos and other protected areas before they disappear. Throughout the summer, more than 45,000 digital screens across the country will feature Photo Ark images as part of the National Geographic Society and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) #SaveTogether campaign aimed at saving species at risk in the wild.

As the world marks Endangered Species Day on May 19, here's a look at some of the species that have been featured in the Photo Ark project, and some of the startling statistics about endangered species:

* More than 23,000 species on the IUCN Red List are threatened with extinction.
* 41% of the world's amphibians, 34% of conifers, 33% of reef building corals, 25% of mammals and 13% of birds, are threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN Red list database.
* 59% of all the carnivore species weighing 33 pounds or more are listed as threatened. Likewise, 60% of all the herbivore species weighing 220 pounds or more are listed as threatened, according to the National Geographic Photo Ark.
* 700 or fewer Sumatran tigers remain in the wild.
* 1447 species in the U.S. are on the threatened and endangered species list, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service.  read more »

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09 March 2017
Once again, our ships are all that stands between the whales and the Japanese whaling fleet.
Whale rescue ships at sea for 93 days (Ocean Warrior) and 90 days (the Steve Irwin)
Keeping Japanese whale butcher fleet (in the name of "research") on the move - whenever we got near the harpoon vessels or found discarded whale blubber in the sea that indicated we were close to where recent kills occurred (and therefore near the fleet), the factory ship simply took off full speed in the opposite direction. The Steve Irwin was shadowed by the Yushin Maru 3, thus taking one of the harpoon vessels out of action for 36 days. This year has taught us that we need to do more if we’re going to stop the whale poachers next season. We are a grassroots NGO fighting a war against the Japanese-government funded whaling fleet.

We rely on donations and volunteers, while they spend millions to sustain this slaughter for the non-existent demand for whale meat over a decade.

Antarctic waters, Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary -
On December 3rd Sea Shepherd embarked on its 11th Antarctic whale defense campaign.
Once again, our ships are all that stands between the whales and the Japanese whaling fleet. Ocean mammals need help to be defended.

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Photo courtesy Sea Shepherd Global / Simon Ager , Glenn Lockitch

Only 5% of plastic waste is effectively recycled, at plants like this one in Indonesia.

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Washington Post - By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans, study says
If we keep producing (and failing to properly dispose of) plastics at predicted rates, plastics in the ocean will outweigh fish pound for pound in 2050, the nonprofit foundation said in a report Tuesday.

According to the report, worldwide use of plastic has increased 20-fold in the past 50 years, and it is expected to double again in the next 20 years. By 2050, we’ll be making more than three times as much plastic stuff as we did in 2014.

Guardian UK - One refuse truck’s-worth of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute, and the situation is getting worse
According to a new Ellen MacArthur Foundation report launched at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, new plastics will consume 20% of all oil production within 35 years, up from an estimated 5% today.  read more »