The controversial badger cull in England has been hugely expanded into 10 new areas, with up to 42,000 animals now due to be shot in an attempt to curb tuberculosis in cattle, up from 32,500 last year. The farming minister George Eustice claimed the cull is starting to show results in Gloucestershire and Somerset, with […]
Category: News
Pro-whaling nations block South Atlantic whale sanctuary
A proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic was defeated at a meeting in Brazil of the International Whaling Commission, amid a clash between countries that think whales can be hunted sustainably and others that want more conservation measures. Pro-whaling nations, including Japan, Korea, Norway and Russia, argued the science didn’t support […]
Millipedes might soothe itchy lemurs, research finds
Pesky itchiness caused by parasitic worms may have driven one of Madagascar’s lemur species to come up with a natural remedy. New research, published July 30 in the journal Primates, suggests that red-fronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) apply millipede secretions to parts of their bodies, a process called “self-anointment.” “Self-anointment combined with eating millipede secretions may […]
‘You will never run from death’: shot by poachers in Uganda
The bullet that pierced the shoulder of Ugandan ranger Samuel Loware had already taken one life and could easily have added his. The shell was fired by a Sudanese poacher trying to flee back over the border with contraband meat from the Kidepo Valley national park. Loware had been tracking the fugitive – one of […]
Trump’s next target? The endangered species that define America
The Trump administration and its conservative allies in Congress have consistently touted their efforts to “free” the American economy by rolling back regulations. The vice-president, Mike Pence, has said that the administration will deregulate so aggressively that we should all “buckle up”. Pence must have forgotten that seatbelts were instituted as a safety regulation that […]
95 Percent of the World’s Lemurs Are Facing Extinction
Madagascar is home to dozens of species of charismatic lemurs who come in a range of sizes, colors and appearances, from the tiny mouse lemur to the largest indri, but a recent assessment found that one thing they all have in common is that nearly every species of lemur is now in danger of extinction. […]
The Republican plan to doom wild red wolves, possibly forever
One of the rarest mammals on earth, the red wolf, is likely headed for extinction in the wild. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a rule that would dramatically curtail the 30-year-old program to reintroduce the critically endangered red wolf in North Carolina by allowing the wolves to be killed if they wander […]
A tribe in India just sent us this letter about tigers
Deep in the Indian jungle, elders in an indigenous tribe called the Chenchu gather to write a letter to the outside world. The Chenchu are going through this trouble to talk to you because they are afraid. Lately, the government has been trying to get them to leave the jungle. They live on what has […]