A gamekeeper found with a bag of nine dead buzzards on a pheasant-shooting estate has been found guilty of intentionally killing a protected species in what is England’s worst recorded case of poisoning birds of prey. Allen Lambert, gamekeeper for 24 years at the Stody Estate in Norfolk, will be sentenced next month after being […]
Tag: pesticide
Europe approves vet drug that killed off almost all of Asia’s vultures
When Europeans first arrived in North America, they exterminated three to five billion passenger pigeons (Ectopistes migratorius) in the short span of a century through a combination of habitat destruction and hunting. In 1914, the last living passenger pigeon perished at the Cincinnati Zoo. Despite the staggering scale of this extinction event, three species of […]
5,000 Honeybees Strap On Backpacks in the Name of Science
There’s been a lot of buzz about colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon causing bees to die off around the world, and Australian scientists are trying a new approach to studying the phenomenon: They’re attaching tiny sensors to bees. More than 5,000 honeybees are being equipped with 2.5mm x 2.5mm sensors that relay data to recorders […]
Bromeliads may actually protect fruit trees from pest damage
Imagine a plant. Now remove the soil, for it’s not essential. In fact, an estimated one-tenth of all plant species have liberated themselves from soil and evolved into epiphytes—plants that grow on other plants. Although growing on others can seem parasitic, botanists have traditionally acquitted epiphytes of stealing from their hosts—except for the parasitic mistletoe—regarding […]
Either change the system or risk another “Silent Spring”
For years, I’ve been inspired by Rachel Carson and motivated to follow in her footsteps by highlighting and addressing the health effects of chemical exposures. But I didn’t think that I would ever be discussing issues that so closely mirror her own life’s work. More than fifty years have passed since her iconic Silent Spring, […]
Battle to save barn owl after freak weather kills thousands
Ornithologists say 2013 will be viewed as the worst year ever recorded for one of Britain’s favourite farmland birds. They fear that there are now fewer than 1,000 breeding pairs of barn owls in England, following four years of extreme weather that have resulted in the population of the protected bird declining by more than […]
The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees | Book Review
Every year, somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of all worker honeybees disappear from their hives, never to be seen again, leaving their developing young to die and their queens untended. This disturbing phenomenon, known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), was first identified in the United States, but it is happening all around the world. […]
Imported bumblebees pose risk to UK’s wild and honeybee population
Over three-quarters of the thousands of bumblebee colonies imported into the UK every year are riddled with parasites, a new study has revealed. Scientists say the discovery has “alarming” implications for the health of the UK’s wild bees and honeybees, many of which are already in serious decline, and that urgent action is required to […]