The government of Laos has for the first time shut down a farm where live bears were harvested for their bile, after convincing the farm’s owner to voluntarily hand over three bears. The rescued Asian black bears (Ursus thibetanus), two males and one female, are now being quarantined at the Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary, operated […]
Petition: Stop the Mass Poisoning of Australia’s Little Corellas
Little Corellas, or short-billed corellas, are playful birds. Extremely social, members of this white cockatoo subspecies love to spend time with members of their flocks, even to the point of mischievousness. According to one volunteer with the Australian group Hunter Wildlife Rescue, “They love to play around all the boats at the marina, and they’ll […]
Escape from Extinction: Rewilding review – the case for eco-tourism and trophy hunting
In 2020, producer-director Matthew Brady, in collaboration with the animal welfare charity American Humane, made a well-meaning but oddly hectoring documentary called Escape from Extinction, narrated by Helen Mirren, which took the pragmatic view that zoos were vital in preserving animal species in danger of dying out. The larger causes of environmental calamity were evidently […]
Loss of great white sharks triggers domino effect down food chain, study shows
CAPE TOWN — South Africa’s False Bay was once known as a global hotspot for great white sharks. But within the span of a few years, between 2015 and 2019, this apex predator vanished from the area, leading to profound ecological changes, according to a new study. The study suggests that the disappearance of the […]
Crows Only Known Animals Other Than Humans That Can Differentiate Between Geometric Shapes
Crows are widely known to be one of the most intelligent animals on the planet, along with elephants, chimpanzees, orangutans and dolphins. A new study has revealed that at least one crow species can recognize regularity in geometric shapes — the ability to pick out a shape that differs from others — a skill previously […]
Indonesia court hands down ‘heaviest sentence’ yet for tiger poacher in Sumatra
A court in Indonesia has sentenced a man to five years in prison for the killing of a critically endangered Sumatran tiger in September last year in North Sumatra province. “As far as I know, it’s the heaviest sentence ever imposed for crimes involving protected wildlife in Indonesia,” Iding Achmad Haidir, chair of the Sumatran […]
In West Africa, hooded vultures vanish as abattoirs modernize
Critically endangered hooded vultures in Nigeria that once fed on the carcasses of wild animals are now largely dependent on scraps discarded by people. But changes in the way waste is disposed of at slaughterhouses has left them desperately short of food, researchers say. In the 1970s, hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus) were among at least […]
Norfolk bird surveyors find Britain’s oldest known oystercatchers
If your ears are assaulted by the shrill piping calls of an excitable bird on the east coast of England, fear not: it’s probably an oystercatcher experiencing a midlife crisis. Two of the handsome black and white birds with bright red-orange bills have been found to be the oldest known oystercatchers ever recorded in Britain, […]