In the age of the Anthropocene, is it really possible, long-term, to sustain growing numbers of human beings and wildlife predators on landscapes already crowded—and likely to be left literally shrunken in decades ahead by climate change? The experiment is now playing out across the peninsula of Florida, the third most populous state in America. […]
Tag: Black Bear
POLL: Should black bears be killed for Royal Guards’ fur caps?
Spending on British soldiers’ bearskin Busby hats has rocketed by nearly 500% since 2008 – despite thousands of troops being axed. Seven years ago a Labour Defence Minister, Baroness Taylor, met with animal rights campaigners to review designs of the controversial headgear. Activists hoped the Ministry of Defence would finally stop buying traditional caps made […]
POLL: Should bear trafficking in Southeast Asia be stopped?
The population of captive animals on “bear farms” in Laos has been increasing significantly in recent years, despite laws to protect the bears. After mother bears and their cubs—both Asiatic black bears and sun bears—are captured, their bile and body parts are harvested for use in traditional Chinese medicine. An organization called Free the Bears […]
POLL: Should bear-bile farming be banned?
The bear bile industry targets mostly sun bears and Asiatic black bears, also known as moon bears, which both get their names from the tuft of white hair on their chests. The bears’ gallbladders contain a yellow liquid—bile—that helps them digest fat. People have used this bile in Asian medicine for more than a thousand […]
POLL: Should the Louisiana black bear be kept on the endangered species list?
The Louisiana black bear, the animal credited with spawning the phrase “teddy bear”, is to be removed from the federal list of endangered wildlife following a two-decade conservation effort. The US Department of the Interior said the “conservation success” of the bear meant it no longer required the protection of the endangered species act, which […]
POLL: Should bear hunting in New Jersey be banned?
Louis Webber has shot a black bear. He proudly poses with the animal as it is weighed, the butt of his shotgun wedged in his armpit. The tableau is punctured by the shouts of a handful of people who are holding placards. “You’re a piece of shit,” a man yells at Webber. “You’re garbage. A […]
Black bear sighted in Indiana for first time in over 140 years
A black bear has been spotted in Indiana for the first time in more than 140 years, state wildlife officials said on Tuesday. Paw prints and a scat pile found in the north-west of the state were left behind by a young male black bear that is likely to have walked into the state from […]
Is the end of ‘house of horror’ bear bile factories in sight?
If we grant bears any modicum of intelligence or emotional experience, if we grant them the capacity to suffer pain or mental anguish, then bear bile farming – which houses bears in tiny cages for the breadth of their life in order to repeatedly extract their bile – poses a whole slew of ethical questions. […]