Scientists have mapped whale stress levels in relation to human activity going back nearly a century and a half — using earwax collected from baleen whales. From 1870 to 2016, the whales’ stress levels seem to be closely associated with activities such as industrial whaling, naval operations during World War II, and rising sea-surface temperatures, […]
Tag: Rhett Butler
The appeal acquittal of Feisal Mohamed Ali: A victory for rule of law, a process corrupted, or both?
Could it have come at a worse time for Kenya’s Tourism and Wildlife Ministry? With Kenya still stinging from the humiliation and embarrassment over the translocation-related deaths of 11 rhinos, a Kenyan court declared on August 3 that convicted ivory trafficker Feisal Mohamed Ali was to be set free. Lady Justice Dora Chepkwony ruled that […]
Owner of South African hunting company indicted by US prosecutors over illegal elephant hunt
The owner of a trophy hunting business in South Africa has been indicted by prosecutors with the United States Department of Justice for violating the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act. Prosecutors in the US state of Colorado have alleged that Hanno van Rensburg, a South African national and owner of Authentic African Adventures, […]
Indonesia races to catch tiger alive as villagers threaten to ‘kill the beast’
PEKANBARU, Indonesia — A wildlife conservation agency in Indonesia has deployed two special teams to capture alive a tiger blamed for killing two people this year, amid mounting calls for the animal to be killed. The Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) in Riau province has been on the trail of the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris […]
In early push into Papua, palm oil firms set stage for massive forest plunder
JAKARTA – The clearing of Indonesia’s last untouched swath of pristine forest has begun in earnest, with an area the size of Washington, D.C., razed for just a single oil palm plantation in Papua province, new data show. Nearly 200 square kilometers (77 square miles) of forest have been cleared in Merauke district since 2014 […]
Can the Javan rhino be saved before disaster strikes?
As the old saying warns, it’s bad enough to put all your eggs in one basket. If you have to, though, at least try not to leave that basket sitting on the beach under an active volcano. Unfortunately, that’s basically the situation of the last population of the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus). The Javan rhino […]
POLL: Should the sale of rhino horns be legalized?
A top court in South Africa just made it legal to trade in rhino horns within the country. The South African government, in 2009, imposed a moratorium that banned domestic trade in rhino horns. But after years of legal battle between commercial rhino breeders and the government’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), the constitutional court […]
Widely used insecticide contaminating water supplies, triggering wildlife die-off in Europe
The world’s most widely used insecticide is devastating dragonflies, snails and other water-based species, a groundbreaking Dutch study has revealed. On Monday, the insecticide and two others were banned for two years from use on some crops across the European Union, due to the risk posed to bees and other pollinators, on which many food […]
