Sunday, April 19, 2009
African Rhinos
There are two types of African Rhinos, the black rhino and the white rhino. Both of these animals are illegally poached for the horn on their nose. This horn when ground up is prized for its healing ability in Chinese medicine and is most prized as a dagger handle in the Middle-East. The population of these animals have dwindles to 6% of what they were about 100 years ago. The only part of the rhino that the poachers take is the horn, they just cut it off, wrap it up, and leave the body just lying out there. The horn is sold on the black market and usually fetches a very high price. But if you get caught with a rhino horn in Africa, then you are in big, big trouble.
Minke and Grey Whales
Minke and Grey Whales
Norway and Japan are two countries that have been fighting for their right to hunt these whales. Both of these countries have been hunting whales for hundreds, or thousands of years. It is a huge part of their food culture. But the hunting of whales was made illegal about 10 years ago. People still poach these animals for their blubber which is eaten in Japan and their meat with is made into sushi and steaks in both Norway and Japan. Whale meat costs a whole lot of money on the black market fetching up to $250 a pound. (Most whales weigh about three tons.) People have been poaching these whales so much that they are on the highly-endangered list. If the level of poaching that is going on now continues than these two species of whales will likely be extinct.
Norway and Japan are two countries that have been fighting for their right to hunt these whales. Both of these countries have been hunting whales for hundreds, or thousands of years. It is a huge part of their food culture. But the hunting of whales was made illegal about 10 years ago. People still poach these animals for their blubber which is eaten in Japan and their meat with is made into sushi and steaks in both Norway and Japan. Whale meat costs a whole lot of money on the black market fetching up to $250 a pound. (Most whales weigh about three tons.) People have been poaching these whales so much that they are on the highly-endangered list. If the level of poaching that is going on now continues than these two species of whales will likely be extinct.
animals afected by poching
1. Javan Rhinoceros
Population: Less than 60. Location: Indonesia and Vietnam.
This is probably the rarest large mammal species in the world and is critically endangered. Poaching and pressure from a growing human population pose greatest risk to the two protected areas where they live. WWF teams actively monitor these rhinos and protect them from poachers.
2. Vaquita
Population: 150. Location: Upper Gulf of California, Mexico.
The world’s smallest and most endangered cetacean, this tiny porpoise is often killed in gillnets and could soon be extinct. WWF is working with local fishermen, local and international non-profits, and private sector and government officials on an unprecedented effort to save the vaquita. This includes establishing a vaquita refuge, buying out gillnet fisheries and developing vaquita-friendly fishing gear and other economic alternatives for the fishermen and their families.
3. Cross River Gorilla
Population: 300. Location: Nigeria and Cameroon.
The few remaining forest patches of southeastern Nigeria and western Cameroon are home to the recently discovered Cross River gorilla, a subspecies of the western gorilla. But as its forests are opened up by timber companies, hunters move in. Conservation measures are urgently needed for this beleaguered animal, which is probably the world’s rarest great ape. In Nigeria, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, a WWF Affiliate, is working with communities in the Cross River National Park to help save the Cross River gorilla.
4. Sumatran Tiger
Population: 400-500. Location: Sumatra, Indonesia.
Accelerating deforestation and rampant poaching could push the Sumatran tiger to the same fate as its now-extinct Javan and Balinese relatives in other parts of Indonesia. Tigers are poached for their body parts, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine, while skins are also highly prized. WWF is researching the Sumatran tiger population with camera traps, supports anti-poaching patrols and works to reduce human-tiger conflict as the cats’ habitat shrinks. Through the efforts of WWF and its partners, the Indonesian government in 2008 doubled the size of Tesso Nilo National Park, a critical tiger habitat.
5. North Pacific Right Whale
Population: Unknown, but less than 500. Location: Northern Pacific, U.S., Russia and Japan.
The North Pacific right whale is one of the world’s rarest cetaceans, almost hunted to extinction until the 1960s. It is rarely sighted and has a poor prognosis for survival due to collisions with ships, entanglement in fishing nets and the prospect of offshore oil and gas development in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. WWF is working to improve shipping safety to avoid collisions and trying to prevent oil and gas development in Bristol Bay, the whale’s primary summer feeding ground.
6. Black-Footed Ferret
Population: 500 breeding adults. Location: Northern Great Plains, U.S. and Canada.
Found only in the Great Plains, it is one of the most endangered mammals in North America because its primary prey, the prairie dog, has been nearly exterminated by ranchers who consider it a nuisance. Few species have edged so close to extinction as the black-footed ferret and recovered, but through captive breeding and reintroduction, there are signs the species is slowly recovering. WWF has been working to save the black-footed ferret and the prairie dog population upon which the ferrets depend.
7. Borneo Pygmy Elephant
Population: Perhaps fewer than 1,000. Location: Borneo, Malaysia.
These smallest of all elephants must compete with logging and agriculture for space in the lowland forests of Borneo. WWF is working to ensure protection of the “Heart of Borneo” and tracks the elephants through the use of satellite collars to learn more about these little-understood elephants.
8. Giant Panda
Population: 1,600. Location: China.
An international symbol of conservation since WWF’s founding in 1961, the giant panda faces an uncertain future. Its forest habitat in the mountainous areas of southwest China has become fragmented, creating small and isolated populations. WWF has been active in giant panda conservation for nearly three decades, conducting field studies, working to protect habitats and, most recently, by providing assistance to the Chinese government in establishing a program to protect the panda and its habitat through the creation of reserves.
9. Polar Bear
Population: 20,000-25,000. Location: Arctic.
The greatest risk to their survival today is climate change. Designated a threatened species by the U.S., if warming trends in the Arctic continue at the current pace, polar bears will be vulnerable to extinction within the next century. WWF is supporting field research to understand how climate change will affect polar bears and to develop adaptation strategies. WWF also works to protect critical polar bear habitat by working with government and industry to reduce threats from shipping and oil and gas development in the region.
Population: Less than 60. Location: Indonesia and Vietnam.
This is probably the rarest large mammal species in the world and is critically endangered. Poaching and pressure from a growing human population pose greatest risk to the two protected areas where they live. WWF teams actively monitor these rhinos and protect them from poachers.
2. Vaquita
Population: 150. Location: Upper Gulf of California, Mexico.
The world’s smallest and most endangered cetacean, this tiny porpoise is often killed in gillnets and could soon be extinct. WWF is working with local fishermen, local and international non-profits, and private sector and government officials on an unprecedented effort to save the vaquita. This includes establishing a vaquita refuge, buying out gillnet fisheries and developing vaquita-friendly fishing gear and other economic alternatives for the fishermen and their families.
3. Cross River Gorilla
Population: 300. Location: Nigeria and Cameroon.
The few remaining forest patches of southeastern Nigeria and western Cameroon are home to the recently discovered Cross River gorilla, a subspecies of the western gorilla. But as its forests are opened up by timber companies, hunters move in. Conservation measures are urgently needed for this beleaguered animal, which is probably the world’s rarest great ape. In Nigeria, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, a WWF Affiliate, is working with communities in the Cross River National Park to help save the Cross River gorilla.
4. Sumatran Tiger
Population: 400-500. Location: Sumatra, Indonesia.
Accelerating deforestation and rampant poaching could push the Sumatran tiger to the same fate as its now-extinct Javan and Balinese relatives in other parts of Indonesia. Tigers are poached for their body parts, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine, while skins are also highly prized. WWF is researching the Sumatran tiger population with camera traps, supports anti-poaching patrols and works to reduce human-tiger conflict as the cats’ habitat shrinks. Through the efforts of WWF and its partners, the Indonesian government in 2008 doubled the size of Tesso Nilo National Park, a critical tiger habitat.
5. North Pacific Right Whale
Population: Unknown, but less than 500. Location: Northern Pacific, U.S., Russia and Japan.
The North Pacific right whale is one of the world’s rarest cetaceans, almost hunted to extinction until the 1960s. It is rarely sighted and has a poor prognosis for survival due to collisions with ships, entanglement in fishing nets and the prospect of offshore oil and gas development in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. WWF is working to improve shipping safety to avoid collisions and trying to prevent oil and gas development in Bristol Bay, the whale’s primary summer feeding ground.
6. Black-Footed Ferret
Population: 500 breeding adults. Location: Northern Great Plains, U.S. and Canada.
Found only in the Great Plains, it is one of the most endangered mammals in North America because its primary prey, the prairie dog, has been nearly exterminated by ranchers who consider it a nuisance. Few species have edged so close to extinction as the black-footed ferret and recovered, but through captive breeding and reintroduction, there are signs the species is slowly recovering. WWF has been working to save the black-footed ferret and the prairie dog population upon which the ferrets depend.
7. Borneo Pygmy Elephant
Population: Perhaps fewer than 1,000. Location: Borneo, Malaysia.
These smallest of all elephants must compete with logging and agriculture for space in the lowland forests of Borneo. WWF is working to ensure protection of the “Heart of Borneo” and tracks the elephants through the use of satellite collars to learn more about these little-understood elephants.
8. Giant Panda
Population: 1,600. Location: China.
An international symbol of conservation since WWF’s founding in 1961, the giant panda faces an uncertain future. Its forest habitat in the mountainous areas of southwest China has become fragmented, creating small and isolated populations. WWF has been active in giant panda conservation for nearly three decades, conducting field studies, working to protect habitats and, most recently, by providing assistance to the Chinese government in establishing a program to protect the panda and its habitat through the creation of reserves.
9. Polar Bear
Population: 20,000-25,000. Location: Arctic.
The greatest risk to their survival today is climate change. Designated a threatened species by the U.S., if warming trends in the Arctic continue at the current pace, polar bears will be vulnerable to extinction within the next century. WWF is supporting field research to understand how climate change will affect polar bears and to develop adaptation strategies. WWF also works to protect critical polar bear habitat by working with government and industry to reduce threats from shipping and oil and gas development in the region.
conggess Looks To Relieve Wolves
Congress recently passed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. One key portion of the act is the “Wolf Livestock Loss Demonstration Project”. This is basically a wordy way of saying that the U.S. government plans to allocate 5 million dollars over the next five years to compensate livestock producers for livestock that is lost due to predatory acts of wolves. The act also will give some funds to help farmers and Indian tribes to use non-lethal means of deterring wolves from their lands, in an attempt to preserve the gray wolf population within the United States.
If managed correctly, this act could save many wolves in America from being gunned down do to their predatory actions. However, there is some concern that the act will lead to farmers baiting their livestock, so that wolves will attack them, and allow the farmers to get a larger return on the cattle than they would within the free market.
It should be interesting to see how this plays out, considering how recent government plans have ran astray, hopefully this act ends up working out for the better, and wolf populations will continue to increase in North America.
Creddit to : animalsndanger.com
If managed correctly, this act could save many wolves in America from being gunned down do to their predatory actions. However, there is some concern that the act will lead to farmers baiting their livestock, so that wolves will attack them, and allow the farmers to get a larger return on the cattle than they would within the free market.
It should be interesting to see how this plays out, considering how recent government plans have ran astray, hopefully this act ends up working out for the better, and wolf populations will continue to increase in North America.
Creddit to : animalsndanger.com
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Elaphants afected by poching
Inside of Nairobi National Park–Reported by The National, there is a nursery very different from any that we are accustomed to in the U.S. Inside it are 15 orphaned baby elephants, each with a common bond between them– they were orphaned at the hands of humans.
Many of the elephants were brought here because their mothers were killed by poachers, leaving the babies because without tusks they have little if any value on the black market. The rest became trapped in man-made objects such as wells or ditches, which eventually led to their caregivers abandoning them.
Within the recent years, the number of baby elephants at the nursery has increased dramatically, this has been linked to an increase in the demand of ivory. As I mentioned before the value of ivory has increased greatly in the weakening economy, some markets reporting that ivory is as good as currency in some African markets. Though the trade in ivory is illegal, last year the convention granted China and Japan permission to buy stockpiles of ivory at auction from four southern African countries.
Officials in Kenya have said that they have noticed an increase in poaching in recent months, mostly in highly populated elephant zones. The increased poaching has been linked to the trade and demand from China, which gives poachers a loophole and a quasi-legal means to move their contraband.
Putting this in perspective, Kenyan Wildlife Services reported that in 2008, 98 elephant carcasses were found with their tusks removed, an increase from only 48 in 2007. As recently as February, Chinese immigrants have been arrested trying to smuggle shipments of Ivory through Nairobi airports.
To help counteract the increase in poaching, the elephant nursery allows local Nairobi children to come and enjoy the elephants during their daily mud baths. By showing the children that the elephants are their friends and educating them, it may slow down poaching of the creatures in future years… At least that is the hope.
The population of elephants has declined massively over the years. This is due to the overboard poaching of this animal. Most of this poaching occurs in Africa. Many Africans are I such poverty that they don’t have time to think about animal conservation and they will try anything to make a quick buck to help out their family. Elephant meat is worth about $5.50 a pound, and one elephant has about 1000 pounds of edible meat. They are mostly hunted for their ivory because it is much easier to kill an elephant and to cut off its tusks and not get caught than it is to butcher the whole thing and not get caught. The ivory can be sold for about $14.00 a pound making them around $200. The average African makes $1 a day, therefore this is a very easy way to make money
. Both the meat and the ivory are on high demand in the black market making it even more tempting for these African people to poach elephants. But if this over poaching continues than elephants will be extinct very, very soon.
Many of the elephants were brought here because their mothers were killed by poachers, leaving the babies because without tusks they have little if any value on the black market. The rest became trapped in man-made objects such as wells or ditches, which eventually led to their caregivers abandoning them.
Within the recent years, the number of baby elephants at the nursery has increased dramatically, this has been linked to an increase in the demand of ivory. As I mentioned before the value of ivory has increased greatly in the weakening economy, some markets reporting that ivory is as good as currency in some African markets. Though the trade in ivory is illegal, last year the convention granted China and Japan permission to buy stockpiles of ivory at auction from four southern African countries.
Officials in Kenya have said that they have noticed an increase in poaching in recent months, mostly in highly populated elephant zones. The increased poaching has been linked to the trade and demand from China, which gives poachers a loophole and a quasi-legal means to move their contraband.
Putting this in perspective, Kenyan Wildlife Services reported that in 2008, 98 elephant carcasses were found with their tusks removed, an increase from only 48 in 2007. As recently as February, Chinese immigrants have been arrested trying to smuggle shipments of Ivory through Nairobi airports.
To help counteract the increase in poaching, the elephant nursery allows local Nairobi children to come and enjoy the elephants during their daily mud baths. By showing the children that the elephants are their friends and educating them, it may slow down poaching of the creatures in future years… At least that is the hope.
The population of elephants has declined massively over the years. This is due to the overboard poaching of this animal. Most of this poaching occurs in Africa. Many Africans are I such poverty that they don’t have time to think about animal conservation and they will try anything to make a quick buck to help out their family. Elephant meat is worth about $5.50 a pound, and one elephant has about 1000 pounds of edible meat. They are mostly hunted for their ivory because it is much easier to kill an elephant and to cut off its tusks and not get caught than it is to butcher the whole thing and not get caught. The ivory can be sold for about $14.00 a pound making them around $200. The average African makes $1 a day, therefore this is a very easy way to make money
. Both the meat and the ivory are on high demand in the black market making it even more tempting for these African people to poach elephants. But if this over poaching continues than elephants will be extinct very, very soon.
what animals are poached?
Poachers are interested in any marketable animal that is available. Antlers of animals may be sold as trophies or sent to Asia where it is ground up and used in traditional folk medicines. The gall bladder on one bear can bring as much as $18,000 in Asia. This does not include the paws, claws and teeth, used in the taxidermy and folk art trade. Eggs from paddlefish are processed and sold as caviar. Shells of mussels are cut and shipped to the south pacific to be used in the cultured pearl industry. This makes a single large fresh water mussel worth as much as $20, and a truckload worth several hundred thousand.
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