Obama Re-Elected, our Environment Saved

Polar bears, sea turtles, and yes, Stratton old pal, our timber wolves are now at safe harbor from oil drilling at last. I'm not saying Romney's a bad person, because I'm sure he isn't, but his plan to "expand" our nation's energy independence was a death sentence to many species of North American wildlife.                                                                                                                    


         Granted, energy independence is a pressing problem. But Obama's approach to this is environmentally cleaner, even though slightly less efficient. He hopes to expand our renewable energy resources. In many ways, this is better: we don't have to get sunlight and wind from some power plant halfway across the world, do we? Some people just can't grasp the fact that oil isn't the only energy resource out there, and besides, crude oil has caused major environmental chaos recently (just look where the Gulf of Mexico got us. I, for one, don't want that to happen again) around the globe.  So in other words, this is good news for my family, and for the wonderful North american wildlife as well.

-PJ

 



Ongoing Yellowstone Wolf Study Discovers Key Traits In Wolf Packs That Boosts Amount of Surviving Pups

A new ongoing wolf study in Yellowstone National Park has recently revealed a natural trait in wolf packs  that allows for more pups to survive to adulthood. The studies show that a mother wolf's body weight along with pack size are key factors that govern wolf reproduction. Researchers from Utah State University used 14 years of data from an extensive study of wolves in Yellowstone and concluded that the size and overall health of a pack contribute to more pups surviving to maturity. Logically, it makes sense: a larger pack is more capable of protecting otherwise defenseless pups, and larger, healthier moms make for bigger litters.

       Wolves are highly social animals that hunt and live in packs. They are known for their complicated "pecking order" in packs and have various ways of communicating with each other, including body language and howling over long distances. Lower-ranking wolves often are last to eat, the Alpha pair having almost complete control of a pack and sometimes drive out lower ranking wolves, who soon become lone wolves. But humans just have to come along and ruin everything, don't they? Wolves are under threat from hunting for sport or because farmers fear for cattle or even themselves. While wolves are protected in some states, others often have large periods of hunting where wolves are shot or trapped ruthlessly. But we can still save them. After all, they live basically in the backyards of western America...

 

-PJ

 

 

Source & photo: Standard-Examiner

    

First Rhino Calf born into new Rhino Breeding Program in India's Manas Natioal Park

A greater one-horned rhino (or Indian rhino) mother, one of 18 rhinos of the same species put in Manas Nat. Park as part of a newly established breeding population, recently gave birth to the first offspring born from a translocated rhino in Manas. Is it just me, or have rhinos been in the spotlight alot lately?

The Manas rhino project, part of the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 intiative, is an effort to encourage a new breeding site inside the lawfully protected boundaries of Manas National Park. It aims to increase the amount of Indian rhinos to 3,00 by 2020. In fact, most of the Indian rhinos lived in one other National Park, and establishing a new breeding poulation will make breeding rates faster and diversify the species' gene pool, putting them at less of a risk of major disease. As you probably already know, rhinos and elephants are under extreme pressure from poaching, a threat that forever looms above the welfare of the species' future. At least 17 rhinos have been killed illegaly for their horns this year in India's Assam state, but this is dwarfed by the number of rhinos poached in South Africa this year. Is there hope? That's up to us to decide...

-PJ

 

 

 

Source & photo: World Wildlife.org

Rhinos Listed as one of the Most Endangered Species

It's sad, but I have to say not very surprising: Asia's surprisingly few remaining Javan and Sumatran rhinos have been listed as one of the 100 Species Most at Risk of Extinction, a list issued by the London Zoological Society along with the IUCN (World conservation union). There are fewer than 50 remaining Javan rhinos, and while Sumatran rhinos live in a scattered distribution, there are an estimated 200 remaining in the wild. Also not surprisingly, this all is mostly because of poaching for Ivory. More than one Rhino subspecies has gone extinct because of this, along with other immediate threats such as habitat loss. The increasing demand for ivory, primarily from Vietnam, has caused poaching to skyrocket to record levels. Ivory is said to be a miracle cure for everything from flu to cancer, but obviously this is superstitious, just fuelling the ravenous sector of the Black Market that hungers for Ivory and ivory alone. But thankfully, actions are being taken to curb this hunger, and last year Nepal celebrated a year of no recorded poaching, mainly because of more and better law enforcement. But as long as poachers are put under the illusion that the rewards of doing this terrible crime outweigh the risk of being caught, rhinos remain at risk...

-PJ

source: WorldWildlife.org

     

Bardia National Park Tests Non-Lethal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle To Resist Poaching

In Bardia National Park in Nepal, poaching rangers are learning how to operate UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), which conservationists plan to use against illegal wildlife poaching. Hopefully, the non-lethal vehicle should catch heavily-armed poachers in the act, and scare others away. Another advantage is that this can keep the park rangers out of harm's way. Nepal is home to tiger, rhino, and  elephant species that are teetering on the edge because of poaching, and, with poaching records reaching new highs, now is the time to take strict action on this subject. I give my sincere thanks to the rangers in various national parks that help make sure this issue is getting attention and, hopefully,is halted.

-PJ

Source & photo: WorldWildlife.org

Romney Reveals Plan to Drill in Alaska Wildlife Refuge

Recently, Mitt Romney revealed his plans to "aggressively" expand offshore drilling in places like Virginia and South Carolina, but, as if things weren't bad enough, what he plans to do if he's elected president just got even worse. He proposes to start drilling smack in the middle of Alaska's National Arctic Wildlife Refuge. I was kind of neutral at first when it came to the presidential debate, but now I'm Obama all the way. The National Arctic Wildlife Refuge is home to everything from wolves to caribou to wolverines to our beloved polar bears, and I just can't stand to see them threatened by Romney's plan to "expand" our oil resources. We all know how the Gulf of Mexico turned out. Let's not let it happen again. As Romney said, "This isn't a 'pie in the sky' sort of thing. We will succeed in expanding our oil resources and making America an independent country when it comes to energy and fuel resources." In other words, he plans to guarantee this chaos will occur...

-PJ

To help the refuge, click the link below:

National Arctic Wildlife Refuge

Source: NPR (National Public Radio)

Conservation Groups cry out Against Dam in Thailand

Recently, three indochinese tigers (a mother and her cubs) were caught on a motion-sensored camera, the mother inspecting the device closely. Unfortunately, this would have been a good thing had the tigers' territory not have been where a proposed hydroelectric dam is proposed to be built soon. Indochinese tigers are a subspecies of tiger that lives in Indonesia and the surrounding areas. Studies show that fewer than 1,500 wild indochinese tigers are alive today. And now, environmental organizations are protesting against a nearly $400 million dollar project that aims to build a hydroelectric dam that could flood over 5,000 acres of valuable land in Mae Wong National Park. The dam including others proposed as part of the same plan, is also expected to reduce the region's fish supply by 16 percent, according to a study by conservation groups. We can only hope that the dam and its counterparts will be halted, because a lot more could be at risk than those three tigers.

-PJ

Source: The World Wildlife Fund/ LiveScience.com