Category Archives: Endangered Species

A call to UN/UNESCO to establish “World Heritage Species” program

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“Lions are not protected! We can change this.

“Join the petition that calls on the United Nations to establish a World Heritage Species program.

“Imagine the world with no more lions – a world where they are just a memory. It is hard to imagine, but this is the direction we are heading. The number of lions in the world has declined so dramatically that they are at a critical point of survival. Immediate action is required. And the involvement of the world’s governing body is now a necessity.”  www.change.org

GR:  Large animals are critically important for balanced ecosystems. If we want to have any hope of repairing Earth’s natural systems, we have to protect our wildlife.

Decline of Tropical Animals Could Hasten Climate Change

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“Hunting and poaching threatens 19 percent of all tropical forest vertebrates, with large vertebrates, including frugivores, disproportionately favored by hunters, the study says. As the frugivore population declines — a process called “defaunation” — fewer seeds of carbon-dense trees are spread throughout the forest, study co-author Mauro Galetti, a Sao Paulo State University ecologist, said.

“The result is a new forest dominated by smaller trees with milder woods which stock less carbon,” study lead author Carolina Bello, a Sao Paulo State University PhD student, said in a statement.”  From: www.climatecentral.org

GR:  It seems common sense that wildlife loss injures ecosystems and that impaired ecosystems sequester less carbon.  It also seems common sense that defaunation is a lawless species’ evil act as horrendous as genocide.

Decline in over three-quarters of UK butterfly species is ‘final warning’, says Chris Packham

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“More than three-quarters of Britain’s 59 butterfly species have declined over the last 40 years, with particularly dramatic declines for once common farmland species such as the Essex Skipper and small heath, according to the most authoritative annual survey of population trends.

“But although common species continue to vanish from our countryside, the decline of some rarer species appears to have been arrested by last ditch conservation efforts.

“This is the final warning bell,” said Chris Packham, Butterfly Conservation vice-president, calling for urgent research to identify the causes for the disappearance of butterflies from ordinary farmland. “If butterflies are going down like this, what’s happening to our grasshoppers, our beetles, our solitary bees? If butterflies are in trouble, rest assured everything else is.”  From: www.theguardian.com

GR:  Coldwater Farm butterflies have declined over the past few years.  This year was the worst with many of my butterfly/bee flowers going untended. Perhaps butterfly numbers will rebound in 2016, but knowing nothing of the specific causes of the decline, I have no assurance they will.

Butterflies Decline at Coldwater Farm

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Butterfly Decline in Arizona

Coldwater Farm butterflies have declined over the past few years.  This year (2015) was the worst with many of my butterfly/bee flowers going untended. For instance, Mourning Cloaks (Nymphalis antiopa) were present only in late spring and early summer. In earlier years, the Mourning Cloaks were so abundant that I had nominated they to represent the Agua Fria River ecosystem. Perhaps butterfly numbers will rebound in 2016, but knowing nothing of the specific causes of the decline, I have no assurance they will. Click here for a checklist of the butterfly and moth species known to live in Arizona. Here are pictures of a few of the common butterflies and moths (Please excuse the fx experiments).

Mourning Cloak Butterfly
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly) on Butterfly Bush
Mourning Cloak FX
Buckmoth
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Buckmoth
Melissa Blue Butterfly?
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Buckeye Butterfly
Tiny catterpillars on grape leaf
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Tiny catterpillars on grape leaf
Monarch butterfly at Coldwater Farm.
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Buckeye Butterfly
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Huge catterpillar
Cabbage White Butterfly
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Moth
Red Admiral Butterfly
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Monarch Butterfly
Buckmoth
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Moth
Acmon Blue Butterfly (?)
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)

Obama Administration Pushes To Delist Yellowstone Grizzly Bear | Howling For Justice

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No animal is safe from the Obama administration’s USFWS. Dan Ashe wants the grizzly bear delisted and why do you think that is? SO THEY CAN BE HUNTED!!

I know all the trophy hunters are just licking their lips waiting for the Great Bear to become another notch in their belts. Montana and Idaho wolves are suffering under horrible persecution because of this awful agency and now USFWS is after the Yellowstone grizzly. howlingforjustice.wordpress.com

 

Another gray wolf pack identified in Methow Valley | Exposing the Big Game

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“The Methow Valley is now home to two gray wolf packs, with a new pack confirmed to be living in territory that includes Loup Loup Pass.

“State and federal wildlife officials last week confirmed the presence of the gray wolf pack and said it will be designated the Loup Loup Pack, reflecting the prominent landmark within the wolves’ range.”  exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com

 

A Tragic Blow to Oregon’s Wolves

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“It was standing room only at the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission’s meeting in the taxidermy-adorned ODFW headquarters in Salem. The only topic on the agenda for the day-long meeting?”  From: www.defendersblog.org

GR:  Anyone could suspect that the Commission had a secret reason to remove protection from the wolves.

How palm oil companies have made Indonesia’s forest fires worse

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“Deforestation linked to palm oil has helped intensify massive forest fires in Indonesia and threatened endangered species – despite rules which should ensure deforestation for the global palm oil trade is limited.

“The evidence from an ongoing Greenpeace investigation comes as fires are finally dying down, thanks to heavy rain across the affected areas.

“The fires, which raged through Indonesia’s forest and peatlands for three months, were so vast that Indonesia emitted more carbon than China on several days this autumn – threatening global efforts to limit climate change.”  From: energydesk.greenpeace.org

As Extinction Looms, Elephants DC Calls for Tighter International Controls To Protect Elephants

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WASHINGTON DC — “Elephants DC advocated for tighter legal controls to protect elephants on Saturday, Nov. 14 in America’s capitol city. At a two-day conference on international law and wildlife wel…”  More at: elephantsdcblog.wordpress.com

GR:  Perhaps everyone in the U. S. should donate their ivory collection to China. We could set up a distribution center that would require a shipping fee and a small handling fee. That would destroy the poaching industry.