Malta should consider a temporary ban on the shooting of turtle doves which are being driven to extinction by hunting and other pressures, the EU’s environment chief has said. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) put turtledoves on its Red List of species threatened with extinction for the first time last October. […]
Tag: extinction
POLL: Should the trafficking of wild birds be banned?
Pittas are a birdwatcher’s prize. Called “jewels of the forest” for their glorious plumage, these shy, secretive birds are almost impossible to spot in the wild. But head to Indonesia’s massive wild bird markets, and they’re a common sight, according to a new report by TRAFFIC and Birdtour Asia. That’s despite a law banning hunting […]
A new plan to pull the Okapi back from the brink of extinction
The rare “forest giraffe,” a native of the lowland rainforests in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, faces numerous threats, including habitat loss, armed conflict, poaching, and, increasingly, the mining and oil industries. Okapi, sometimes referred to as “forest giraffes” because they are the only other member of the Giraffidae family besides giraffes, are mostly […]
Mali’s desert elephants face extinction within three years
Mali’s elephants, one of just two remaining desert herds in the world, will be gone in three years unless the government does more to protect them, a conservation group has warned. Poachers have taken advantage of the chaos from a growing Islamist insurgency and other unrest in the lawless north to step up ivory trafficking […]
POLL: Should Yahoo be sanctioned for aiding the slaughter of elephants?
Internet company Yahoo has been accused of aiding in the slaughter of elephants by allowing the trade of ivory on its Japanese auction site. Activist network Avaaz has launched a petition calling for an end to Yahoo’s “bloody secret” of permitting sales of ivory. The petition, which has more than 1m signatures, urges Yahoo chief […]
Icelanders Don’t Like Whale Meat – So Why the Hunts?
When it comes to commercial whaling, Japan is in the limelight. The country has been widely accused of using a scientific research program as a guise for hunting hundreds of whales a year and selling their meat. Last year, an international court agreed that the program isn’t scientific and ordered Japan to shut it down—to […]
POLL: Should the wolf be delisted in more American states?
The U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday approved an amendment to a bill that orders wolves to be removed from federal Endangered Species Act protections in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Wyoming. The amendment, which also would prohibit courts from intervening on wolf status in those states, was added to the the so-called […]
POLL: Should the US FWS be sued for failing to protect the Monarch butterfly?
Over the past two decades, populations of America’s iconic orange and black monarch butterflies have declined by more than 80 percent. Now, two environmental groups — the The Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety — have filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to […]