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More bad news for elephants in Zimbabwe after my most recent story about baby elephants being shipped to Chinese zoos. Zimbabwe's elephants are dying out due to drought and a lack of help in building solar wells and finding solutions to deal with the drought. Speaking with Zimbabwe Conservationist Trevor Lane, the problem with the current solar wells in place is the influx of elephants from neighbouring Botswana who have come to Zimbabwe because of drought putting further pressures on Zimbabwe's elephants. More elephants fighting for limited resources spells disaster and it has in fact lead to the deaths of Zimbabwe's elephants. As Trevor pointed out, these methods of providing water to Zimbabwe's elephants isn't new, but there are new challenges with more elephants coming over looking for water. Obviously, an increase in the population means there needs to be an increase in production of these solar wells and other resources made available to the drought stricken elephants.
Zimbabwe's elephants face many perils in the wild including poaching, trophy hunting,live exportation, and drought. It's imperative that the work of Trevor and other conservationists in Zimbabwe be successful in protecting elephants from further endangerment. Head to the link at the top of this page to the original story from World Animal News where you can find out more about how you can help Zimbabwe's elephants!
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Animal advocacy groups as well as the global community are outraged as news of baby elephants from Zimbabwe being shipped to Chinese zoos became available. Despite strong condemnation from local and international communities, Zimbabwe is moving forward with shipping 30 baby elephants that have been held for about a year after being plucked from the wild to China where they will live their lives captive in Zoos. Advocacy and conservation groups are outraged because of the tireless work they've been doing to protect and conserve elephants in Zimbabwe. The shipment of elephants was recently addressed at the most recent CITES meeting which outlined a near total ban on the export of elephants to zoos. Unfortunately, this near total ban commences on November 26th and officials were certain Zimbabwe would likely try to export more elephants prior to this date. In fact, army trucks arrived to remove the elephants from the national park they were being held at and employees had their phones removed to prevent pictures being put out of the elephants being picked up and transported. Clearly they are aware of the condemnation they are receiving which is why they would go to great lengths to keep things quiet.
One of the saddest parts of this whole story is knowing the life these elephants have to look forward to in China. Whether they're living in zoos or performing in circus', they will live a meaningless existence with absolutely none of their natural instincts available to them. Chinese zoos have a reputation for having some of the worst animal welfare regulations on the planet which is even worse news for these vulnerable baby elephants. Unfortunately, it appears they will live the rest of their lives in captivity with absolutely no hope for a normal life in the wild.
It's imperative that we continue to work towards the conservation of elephants in Africa before the species goes extinct. Despite this saddening news, strides continue to be made in protecting elephants in Africa. With the ban of exports of elephants coming into effect on the 26th of November, we must hope that this puts a stop to baby elephants being plucked from the wild and instead, sees them protected. HAPPY VEG The U.S Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services is being sued for their continued cruel methods of trapping and killing Washington's native wildlife. The Center for Biological Diversity is seeking an updated environmental analysis of the wildlife services trapping, snaring, and killing of Washington's wild animals, vital to Washington's ecosystem. “Washington’s bears and bobcats deserve better, so we’re suing Wildlife Services to force officials to consider alternatives to their mass-extermination programs,” said Sophia Ressler, a Center attorney in a statement. The lawsuit aims to force the Wildlife Services to reevaluate their services and acknowledge that their methods and research are both outdated and inaccurate. The Wildlife Services is a multi-million dollar federal organization that continues to use outdated and recognizably cruel methods in dealing with wild animal conflicts. Methods like leg traps, strangulation snares, poison traps, and aerial gunning of wolves, coyotes, and bobcats, continue to be used at the request of the agriculture industry where most of these conflicts are taking place.
The analysis' for killing predators and aquatic animals are over a decade old and this lawsuit aims to force the Wildlife Services to re-evaluate their numbers and focus on non-lethal methods that are proven to be effective when dealing with agriculture conflicts. If we continue to allow this amount of wild animals to be killed every year, the ecosystem will ultimately suffer. With less predators, there will be an increase in plant based animals leading to further environmental damage that will undoubtedly lead to further slaughter.
It's time for the Wildlife Services to think about the future survival of these animals and stop favouring the agriculture industry. HAPPY VEG A bill has moved on to the Senate for voting after the House of Representatives approved it attempting to make animal cruelty a federal offence. Looking to close loopholes in the current animal cruelty act, the bill aims to make CRUSHING a federal offence leading to stricter and more appropriate punishments. Crushing is described as any non-human being that is subjected to being crushed, burned, suffocated, or intense physical abuse. The bill would make these things a federal offence and as mentioned, this would lead to much stricter punishments for those convicted. This is an important step in tackling animal cruelty appropriately and will hopefully move through senate quickly.
Several studies have shown that abuse of animals is often where things start when we discuss domestic abuse, abuse of children or the elderly, or even worse scenarios like those of serial killers. In several cases, these people have had a history of abusing small animals that went unnoticed or unpunished leading to an increased desire to inflict pain on others. It's a pattern that continues to increase in severity until it's too late and this person has committed an offence like attempted murder or child abduction.
This is exactly why animal cruelty MUST be a federal offence that is dealt with appropriately. As stated, without punishments that are reflective of the severity of the crimes, people can continue to get away with animal abuse until they start to look for other targets. Animal abuse is a clear sign of a person who is in need of serious mental examination and monitoring. Anyone who can inflict pain or death on a defenceless animal is clearly unstable and needs to be dealt with accordingly. Repeat offenders are able to continue with their abuses because they simply aren't being held accountable to the fullest extent. Congratulations to the United States House of Representatives for this proactive work in protecting animals. Here's to hoping I will be soon reporting on the bill moving through senate and becoming law. HAPPY VEG The Queen stood before parliament this past Monday announcing plans for the UK to better protect animals and animal welfare and finalize a ban on the import of animal trophies. The announcement was celebrated by animal advocacy groups who have advocated for trophy hunting import bans for several years. The United Kingdom will set the bar high when it comes to animal welfare if this ban comes into place, hopefully pushing other countries to abandon trophy hunting imports as well. Each year, hundreds of thousands of animals are killed for sport all to satisfy the sick urge wealthy human beings have to kill. Not only do they have this urge to end lives, they sickeningly reward themselves with the body parts of the animals they have killed which is like the cherry on top of this rotten to the core sundae. Advocacy groups across the globe have been working diligently to get trophy hunting banned but this would mark one of the biggest countries in the world to make the leap and ban the imports.
We must collectively work towards banning trophy hunting across the globe, but the first place to start is by banning the import of trophies. If all of these countries started putting these bans in place, less people would be willing to participate leading to a decrease in demand. Although scientists have spoken out against a complete and abrupt ban on trophy hunting, this option of banning the imports is a slow and steady way to begin curbing this despicable industry.
Congratulations to the United Kingdom, I look forward to reporting on the official ban coming into effect and hopefully reporting on more countries enacting similar bans!! HAPPY VEG 2 more mountain lions in California have been found dead suffering from similar poisonings as a bill to ban certain poisons sits in waiting. These most recent mountain lions deaths will bring the total to six who've died under similar circumstances involving varying forms of rat poisons. These poisons, known as anticoagulant rodenticide poisons, are responsible for several wildlife deaths that are considered non target animals. Unfortunately, the problem with these poisons and really any kind of poison is that they are non-discriminatory in their targets. MOuntain lions for example, could come into direct contact with the poison, through eating an animal that came into contact with them like rats or squirrels, or through eating an animal that already consumed an animal full of the poison, like a coyote. The fact is, these rodenticides are not safe and are clearly ineffective in dealing with rodent problems specifically as they should be doing.
These poisons have no place in our ecosystems and without banning them, we will see continued unintended animal deaths that are completely preventable. These options are often cheaper than the alternatives and certainly do the intended job of killing, it's just the unintended victims that go along with these deaths that make these rodenticides unsafe and unnecessary.
It's time for a ban on rodenticides! HAPPY VEG California has now become the first U.S. state to ban fur. The ban, beginning in 2023 means that it will now be illegal to sell or make clothing, accessories, or shoes out of fur. Animal advocacy groups are applauding this monumental decision but not everyone is happy with the decision. Fur Information Council spokesman Keith Kaplan claims it is a "radical vegan agenda using fur as the first step to other bans on what we wear and eat." decrying the decision as nothing more than propaganda. Obviously, a fur lobbyist would be outraged over this landmark ruling but the general consensus from Californians is a positive one.
On top of this, 2023 is 4 years away. Those arguing in defense of fur have plenty of time to look for work that isn't despicable in this time period so one cannot feel bad for them. Fur is assuredly on the way out with so many big name fashion labels already turning their backs on fur, it's obvious that the fur industry has a very short life span remaining. California being the first US state to ban fur is exciting, but also indicative of what's to come. I don't think they'll be the last that's for sure. We are waking up to the cruelty around is and unfortunately for the fur industry, they're the first to go!
Congratulations California, here's to hoping we hear more states jump on this bandwagon in the near future! HAPPY VEG kA report looking at 10 years of rhino populations across the globe offers both a positive and negative outlook on whether they have a chance at survival. The report, which looks at rhino populations over the past ten years, examines their growth and decline and the factors that have impacted those statistics. One common factor, illegal poaching and trophy hunting. Beginning in 2009, there were approximately 21, 000 rhinos across the globe, which given that there are 5 species of rhino, is alarmingly low. Over the course of 8 years, the population of rhinos grew almost 30% to 29, 000 which initially looks like good news. In the past two years however, their populations have begun once again to dwindle thanks to the poaching of white & sumatran rhinos dropping the total rhino population to somewhere around 27, 000. Although this is still an improvement over 10 years ago, it also demonstrates that there is still much work to do in helping to grow and conserve every species of rhino.
In Asia, India and Nepal have done extensive work to protect rhinos with their greatest success being the Indian Rhino which saw numbers jump from only 100 to over 3, 500. On the other hand however, the Sumatran rhino remains one of the most vulnerable to extinction with their numbers dropping 70% in 20 years and fewer than 80 remaining. These statistics show that rhinos of all varieties remain as one of the most endangered species on the planet.
Among the reports findings, habitat loss and poaching / trophy hunting remain the top threats to rhinos in the wild. In some cases, anti-poaching efforts are wildly successful while in other parts, more needs to be done to ensure rhino populations grow. In my opinion, knowing that rhinos face such an unknown future, it's alarming to me that trophy hunting of rhinos is still permitted. Whereas illegal poaching is as the name suggests, illegal, trophy hunting continues to be a legal sport. As it is wholly unnecessary and frankly, feeds a desire for blood thirsty, wealthy humans to get their thrills, it should be immediately banned. There shouldn't even be an argument when it comes to trophy hunting and rhinos, with the dangers they already face through habitat loss or poaching, why are we still allowing any rhinos to be killed for the right price? As I mentioned, the report paints both a grim and somewhat positive outlook. If anti-poaching is ramped up in high traffic areas, we can bring those numbers back up from their decline and work towards a future for all rhinos to once again thrive. HAPPY VEG The first ever conference between government, intergovernmental, and non-profit organizations took place in Peru with the intentions of better protecting South American wildlife. This meeting brought together several people and organizations all working together to sign partnerships within the region to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. This meeting resulted in the signing of the Lima Declaration, a formal agreement in addressing the illegal wildlife trade and a commitment to finding solutions. South America holds almost 40% of the world's biodiversity and over one quarter of its forests making it a rich area for the illegal wildlife trade. Whether it's organized crime groups sourcing illegal elephant ivory or internally with the sale of exotic birds and reptiles as pets, the illegal wildlife trade is rampant and extensive which is why this meeting indicated the urgency in tackling the illegal trade.
Organized crime is dependant on several factors including a sophisticated network. bribery, and cooperation between large groups of people which is why it's crucial that there is community support in tackling these organizations. This meeting concluded that there needed to be interference in every aspect of the industry including demand, communication, and reporting suspicious activity to law enforcement. Without full cooperation, the trade will continue to flourish.
This meeting marked a very important first step in protecting South America's imperiled wildlife. HAPPY VEG worldanimalnews.com/heartbreaking-news-a-zebra-is-shot-marks-2nd-recent-circus-animal-escapee-death/ A zebra was shot dead in Germany after fleeing a travelling circus along with a second zebra that was successfully captured and returned. The zebra was shot dead after several unsuccessful trapping efforts and damage to vehicles on the highway. This marks the second recent death of a wild animal at the hands of the circus industry.
With shows like Cirque Du Soleil that rely only on human performances being so successful, there really is no longer justification for the use of wild animals. As I said, they don't belong anywhere other than the wild and and unless the use of wild animals is banned across the globe, we will undoubtedly continue to see stories like this. Stories about animals that in one last attempt at freedom are killed for trying to escape. It's wrong.
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Stay educated and remain involved in animal welfare. Together, we can all make a difference!
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