The Cassowary Tales
The Cassowary is a flightless bird, found in Australian Rainforests. This huge bird is the most dangerous bird on earth, mostly because of his powerfull legs and spike-like toe, always ready for defending himself and offspring.
Much of Australian rainforest has now been cleared, and the Cassowary that remain are vulnerable to dogs, shooting, traffic when crossing roads, starvation and, possibly, disease (Tuberculosis and aspergillosis-related diseases) and nest predation and competition from feral Pigs. The main reason for decline in the southern Cassowary population has been clearance of the prime habitat, rainforests. Clearance for agriculture has virtually ceased but continues for residential and tourist development. Adult Cassowaries are occasionally shot, though this is illegal.
This guy in the picture is a lucky one! Plenty of food and attention, permanent health care, and luckiest thing of all: he lives in the wonderful city of Sydney
;-) .
The Earth from Above (I)
Where will Chinese White Dolphins go to?
WWF worries further reclamation of Chinese white dolphins habitats
WWF is dismayed about the Hong Kong Government's plan to reclaim up to 100 hectares of sea off northern Lantau for the construction of Boundary Crossing Facilities ("BCF") for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.
The proposed reclamation, a new idea clearly not included in the Revised Concept Plan for Lantau ("the Plan") published in May 2007 by the Government's Lantau Development Task Force. WWF worries that such uncoordinated proposal not only will deviate from the conservation intentions set by the Plan, but is incompatible with the sustainable development of Lantau, particularly to the Chinese white dolphins.
Cumulative impacts on Chinese white dolphins
The Chinese white dolphin has already been subject to intense disturbance to its habitat in Hong Kong . In the past 12 years, over 1,700 hectares of sea have been reclaimed within the relatively small area inhabited by the Chinese white dolphin ("CWD") in Hong Kong's western waters. Reclamation has not only caused a direct loss to the CWD's habitats, it also removes habitat for the fish on which the dolphins feed.
The cumulative impacts incurred by the past, present and future projects to the Chinese white dolphin are alarming. In addition to the Bridge, as well as CLP Holdings's proposed LNG terminal at Soko Islands, WWF is seriously concerned about the cumulative impacts of other large proposed engineering projects in dolphin habitat including a third runway at Chek Lap Kok airport, Container Terminal 10 and others.
WWF calls for a conservation strategy to protect Chinese white dolphins from further encroachment of habitats
"Our Government currently lacks a comprehensive strategy to assess impacts of development projects on CWD to ensure the continual survival of CWD in Hong Kong waters," said Dr. Alan Leung, Senior Conservation Officer of WWF Hong Kong. "The Government also lacks an overall policy to assess the cumulative impacts on CWD when considering reclamation works from infrastructure projects," he said.
If we continue to increase the disturbance to the long-lived animals such as Chinese white dolphins, at some point their population will go into serious decline in Hong Kong from which it may never recover. For a long-lived species such as CWD, a decline may not be easily noticeable. But once such a decline is discovered, remedies may be too late. Such a phenomenon has already happened to green turtles in Hong Kong.
WWF calls on the Government to:
- avoid and minimize further reclamation of seas inhabited by CWD;
- swiftly formulate a conservation strategy to protect CWD, a mascot of Hong Kong, from the various threats pushing them towards extinction;
- adopt strategic planning for any development or reclamation work to be constructed within CWD habitats and assess potential cumulative impacts on CWD.
All information comes from WWF Hong Kong. More actions to save dolphins here.
From Sydney with love ;-)
Bloom is represented in this yearly world wide encounter of veterinarians ;-)Moon Bear
Asiatic black bear, Tibetan black bear, Himalayan black bear, moon bear
Ursus thibetanus
Their ability to balance proficiently on their hind feet mean that they are sometimes trained as cubs to dance for human amusement.
Life span 25 years.
Statistics Body length: 130-190cm, Weight: males: 100-200kg, female: 50-125kg.
Physical Description Asiatic black bears have long black fur with a distinct white patch on the chest that is often crescent-shaped. The fur around the shoulders and throat is particularly long, and their ears are relatively large.
Distribution Asiatic black bears live in eastern Asia, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Habitat They inhabit forested areas, particularly hill and mountainous regions.
Diet Asiatic black bears are more carnivorous than their American counterparts, although only a small part of their diet is made up of meat. This includes small mammals, birds, fish, molluscs and carcasses. They also feed on grasses, fruits, berries, seeds, insects and honey. In autumn they fatten up for the winter by feeding on nuts.
Behaviour Asiatic black bears are solitary except for maternal family groups, and occupy a home range of 10-20 square km. They are most active at night, although in some areas they may be active during the day as well.
Reproduction Asiatic black bears mate from June to July and give birth during January and February. Females give birth to 1-4 cubs, which are born blind and helpless.
Conservation status The subspecies U.t.gedrosianus (Baluchistan) is listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered, but other subspecies are classified as Vulnerable. They are on CITES: Appendix I. Deforestation and loss of habitat are the main problems they face. They are killed by farmers due to the threat they pose to livestock, and they are also unpopular for their habit of stripping valuable timber trees of bark and reducing the value. Asiatic black bears are also hunted for their gall bladders, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Notes Unlike American black bears, Asiatic black bears are notoriously aggressive towards humans and there are numerous records of human attacks and killings. This is mainly due to the fact that they are more likely to come into contact with humans, and they will often attack if surprised.
Source: BBC Science & Nature.
If you want to know more about Moon Bears and their disturbing reality in the gall bladder farming in China, please check Animals Asia, an organization that aims to ban bile farms in China and Vietnam.
That's Andrew in the photo, the famous 3-legged Moon Bear, the icon of Moon Bear rescuing, as he was the first Bear to be rescued in China by Animals Asia. Andrew died last year.
Wild-caught caviar? Think again!
A fish that can live for 150 years and grow to six meters (almost 20 feet) long and as much as 1,200 kilograms (more than 2,500 pounds) appears doomed to extinction.
For this expensive delicacy, wild Beluga sturgeons are indistinctly caught from the Caspian Sea and are on the brink of extinction.
This amazing living fossil fish is a beauty of the seas but chances that it may survive in the wild are almost none. It takes many years for the sturgeons to mature, but as always, our greed leads us to destruction, and all sturgeons are being taken, including the young, immature juveniles, males and females , even though only mature females (only 7% of the catch) bear the eggs.
The scenario is not so good for these sturgeons, as soon they will not be enough for the species to thrive in the wild.
Farmed sturgeons pose an alternative, and if you really wish to have some caviar, choose the farmed one.
Trade of wild caviar is CITES - regulated and the trade of some sturgeon species has been banned.
We are in the hub of a globalizing world, information is widely available to almost everyone, then why does the world keep sinking?
Info and pic from BBC and WWF - where you may find out more about caviar and sturgeons.
Protect us from ourselves
UN Urges Protection of Animals from Climate Change
THE HAGUE -- A senior United Nations official urged a 171-nation U.N. wildlife forum on Sunday to take action to help protect animals from climate change.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) will also discuss measures at its two week-week meeting to help commercially valuable animal and tree species threatened by over-use.
A U.N. report has said human activities were wiping out three animal or plant species every hour and has urged the world to do more to slow the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs by 2010.
Global warming, blamed mainly on human use of fossil fuels, is widely expected to add to existing threats and wreck habitats like the Amazon rain forest.
"CITES is not a forum for discussing climate change but decisions taken here do have an impact on species in a climatically challenged world," Shafgat Kakaklhel, deputy head of the U.N. Environment Programme, told the opening session.
"We will need robust species populations if they are to survive rising temperatures and more extremes," he said.
RAPID DEPLETION
Many of the 37 proposals to be discussed at the meeting in The Hague reflect growing concern about rapid depletion of marine and forest resources.
Commercially valuable species like the spiny dogfish, the porbeagle shark and the European eel -- all threatened by over-use -- feature high on the agenda.
The focus will also be on coral jewellery, wooden musical instruments and furniture. Threatened species like pink or red coral and rosewood and cedar trees are facing tighter trade regulations.
Elephants are expected to trigger heated debate. African countries are split over the protection of the elephant, with some saying elephant populations have grown at an unsustainable rate.
CITES is widely credited with stemming the slaughter of the African elephant by imposing a ban on the international ivory trade in 1989.
But scientists say the killing of elephants for their tusks, mainly in central Africa, has reached levels not seen since 1989 because of Asian-run crime syndicates.
The talks will also help shape the future of CITES, which has banned trade in 530 animal species and more than 300 plant species.
CITES also regulates trade in 4,460 animal species and 28,000 plant species.
Source: Reuters
Protect the Green Turtle babies!
Green Turtle Nesting Season Starts in June in Hong Kong!
Without better protection, such as a multiple-juristiction action plan for conservation, marine turtles in the South China Sea are at risk of extinction. Scientists estimate only one of 1,000 baby green turtles lives into adulthood. These signs are worrying as marine turtles have the inborn habit of going back to their original natal beach where they are born, for nesting.
Actions from You
Support WWF's Save our Seas (SOS) campaign to prevent our marine ecosystem, where marine turtles rely on, from collapsing.
Beach visitors, divers etc should avoid disturbing any marine turtles in the water or at beaches identified for marine turtle nesting, i.e. Sham Wan and Tai Long Wan, as a passive effort to encourage turtles coming back to Hong Kong for nesting.
Report any sightings to AFCD by calling 1823 during this coming June to October nesting period!
Can you believe this?
'Noah's Ark' of 5,000 rare animals found floating off the coast of China· 
Cargo of abandoned vessel destined for restaurants·
Illegal trade drives species closer to extinction
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Saturday May 26, 2007
The Guardian
Endangered, hunted, smuggled and now abandoned, 5,000 of the world's rarest
animals have been found drifting in a deserted boat near the coast of China.
The pangolins, Asian giant turtles and lizards were crushed inside crates on
a rickety wooden vessel that had lost engine power off Qingzhou island in the
southern province of Guangdong. Most were alive, though the cargo also contained
21 bear paws wrapped in newspaper.
According to conservation groups, the
haul was discovered on one of the world's most lucrative and destructive
smuggling routes: from the threatened jungles of south-east Asia to the
restaurant tables of southern China.Full story here.
Up in Flames
Sex drug better for some species, but of little help for the TIGER
The saviour of men's sex lives is also doing its bit for the future of seals, seahorses, green turtles and other endangered species.
Impotency drugs such as Viagra have proven such a success with Chinese men that they are turning away from traditional therapies, say researchers.
The findings by Bill von Hippel, a psychologist at the University of NSW, and his brother Frank, a biologist at the University of Alaska, emerge from a study of 250 men, aged 50 to 76, at a Chinese medicine clinic in Hong Kong.
The brothers believe this means less demand for seal penises, which are usually ground into a potion. Or green turtles - which are turned into a soup - and their eggs, which are eaten separately. Or seahorses and pipe fish, whose entire bodies are ground down.
The entire gecko is also cooked then ground into a potion, while some species of Asian deer are valued for their musk glands. Reindeer can also provide a boost when the velvet that covers its horns is stripped away. And don't forget the multi-purpose tiger, whose bones and penis are prized.
The research received funding from Viagra's developer, Pfizer. The findings, published in Environment Conservation, are consistent with previous research by the von Hippels showing that prices for seal genitalia fell from $100 to about $20 after Viagra was introduced in 1998.
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"They have no use whatsoever for anything but the erectile dysfunction trade," Dr Bill von Hippel said. "We believe that over time it will be the same story with other animals."
But for other ailments such as arthritis, indigestion and gout, those surveyed stuck with traditional medicine.
"Erectile dysfunction was the one case where they were more likely to be currently using western medicine than Chinese medicine and nobody had switched from Viagra back to traditional therapies."
"The bottom line of this is that Viagra has huge potential to save endangered species. The men we interviewed chose the product that works best." But tigers may not be as lucky. "One tiger goes into millions of treatments. We don't think Viagra will help them."
Story and pic from here.
THE DECLINE OF A PREDATOR
* Tiger numbers in the wild are thought to have plunged from 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century to between 5000 and 7000 today. They now range in the forests of south Asia, southeast Asia, southeastern China and the Russian far east. Fewer than 1000 tigers are in zoos worldwide.
* A century ago, India had some 40,000 tigers. Now, officials estimate they number about 3700, although some environment groups put the number at less than 2000.
* The Bali, Javan, and Caspian subspecies, have become extinct in the past 70 years. The five remaining subspecies, Amur, Bengal, Indo-Chinese, South China, and Sumatran, live in Asia. All are threatened by poaching and habitat loss.
*The South China tiger is on the verge of extinction, with just 20 to 30 remaining in the wild.
While we were in Sabah
A few poachers were arrested and 292 marine turtles were aprehended inside Chinese fishing boats, in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo.
Marine turtles are listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which stipulates that no marine turtles may be taken across international borders, except under very special circumstances, with permits, and not for commercial trade. (full article here)
If you are a traveller, and enjoy taking souvenirs from the countries you visit, be aware and don't forget that any product from a protected animal or plant species you take may be liable to aprehension and you may get in deep trouble in the border control (if all detection systems are working and effective...)
Don't purchase products made from turtle shells, ivory, coral and many others /- and if you are not sure about it, please don't buy!
Seafood lover? Take a look at this!
WWF Seafood Guide to Encourage Consumption of Green and Sustainably Produced Seafood
World Wildlife Fund has launched a convenient, easy-to-use Seafood Guide to promote the consumption of green and sustainably produced seafood. This is the first seafood guide in East Asia to cover a wide range of seafood using the latest information. Consumers and corporate diners are encouraged to actively use the Guide as a reference when buying seafood at markets and dining out.
More than 60 popular seafood species are included in the Guide. They are placed into three categories; Green - "Recommended", Yellow — "Think Twice" and Red — "Avoid". Consumers are advised to consume Green — "Recommended" species and stop selecting Red — "Avoid" species. The Yellow — "Think twice" species are in-between the "Recommended" and "Avoid" categories, and seafood lovers are advised to consume them warily.
To download the Seafood Guide please visit this!
Tigers are....Endangered Orangutans
The world has experienced, in its history, 5 massive species extinction episodes, all due to natural disasters. We are now going through the 6th extinction. Man made. Our choice!
Many animal and plant species have vanished and many more are on the way.
Because the world belongs to all of us, it doesn't belong to any of us at all. It's only ours to care and protect and leave it for our descendants, humans and non-humans....
Being decimated by illegal pet and show trade and greedy forest devastation for palm oil plantations, orangutans are gentle, dignified and contemplative creatures that deserve a chance to thrive and survive in the wild tropical forest of Borneo and Sumatra, their last habitat.