Ethics and Animals

Elizabeth May's Speech on Climate Change

EthicsandAnimals — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:36:19 GMT

Posted May 8, 2008 by Colleen

Here is a powerful and informative 15 minute speech on climate change by Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada at the 2nd Global Greens Conference in San Paulo, Brazil, May 2008. A summary is provided below from the Green Party site but please take the time to watch if you want to understand more about the global impact of climate change. I have added some links throughout the summary for further reading.

Click here for video

Summary below from Green Party site news (click here for link)

"This is very emotional for me to speak following the tribute to Ingrid Betancourt. For all of us who have never met her, we have been doing what we can to keep a focus on the need for governments to do more to achieve her liberation from FARC kidnappers.

We in Canada called on the governments to act on her behalf on March 8, International Women's day. We share so much with her, as Greens, in calling for a new vision. But none of us has experienced the suffering that she has. It is difficult for me to switch to the topic of climate change after such a tribute, but we will be keeping her in our minds, in our hearts, and in our prayers, knowing that she will be free one day.

I have been asked to review impact of climate change on communities, economies, peace and international security. This is impossible to do in fifteen minutes. Even simply listing the impacts of climate change on communities around the world -- without discussing or analysing each point -- would be more than the allotted time. So, let me share the impacts in Canada alone. And even this is a short and selective review.

In Canada alone, the glaciers in the Rocky Mountains, and all the way to the Yukon, are in rapid retreat -- threatening future water supply, and precipitating a water crisis.

Great Lakes levels have fallen below any historic level, to the point that ships have been stranded in the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Climate change has caused an insect epidemic with severe impacts in interior British Columbia.. The cold winters of British Columbia are no more. A cold snap in British Columbia was historically enough to keep the pine beetle from surviving in the B.C. forests but with warmer winters, the pine beetle reached unprecedented epidemic levels. Because of the climate crisis, an area of the forest twice the size of Sweden has been killed by the pine beetle. Now, next year, the decaying carbon of the dead lodgepole pine of B.C. forest will release as much carbon as the whole BC economy.

In Canada, we now see increased severe weather events from flooding, to crippling ice storms, to the first full force tropical hurricane to hit Canada, (that hit Nova Scotia in 2003) to severe heat waves that cripple cities. These events are now the new normal.

But it is in our Far North that the impacts are most dramatic.

In the Arctic, 2,000,000 square kilometers of sea ice have disappeared. That is a 10-20% decline in summer sea ice over the last 30 years.. As well, the remaining ice is thinner, placing Inuit hunters at risk and threatening their traditional way of life.

Last summer, for the first time, the legendary North West Passage was open. Ironically, there is glee from those that see the economic opportunity for new shipping routes and the potential to develop the oil and gas that lies below the Arctic ice..

The Inuit are experiencing unheard of weather events. When the little village of Sachs Harbour on Banks Island called the weather station in Edmonton to report a weather event, they were told, "that's not possible. It is too cold on Banks Island." But the Inuit has seen it . They witnessed the first ever Arctic thunder and lightning storm. There is no word for this in Inuktitut. There are no words for new species of birds and other forms of life that they are seeing in the Arctic for the first time. (article)

The ground around them is collapsing. Permafrost is melting and the ground collapses. In another feedback loop, the melting permafrost releases vast quantities of methane, a powerful GHG. Inuit villages will have to relocate due to loss of permafrost.

Looking globally, I do not need to persuade a gathering of global Greens that the current levels of Ghg -- at more than 30% above what has ever been on this planet in the last million years -- represents a clear and present danger.

Twenty years ago, I worked on the first international scientific conference on the climate crisis. It was called "Our changing atmosphere – implications for global security." It took place in Toronto in the last week of June 1988. Many eminent scientists gathered including, Dr. Jose Goldenberg, from Sao Paulo... The consensus statement started as follows:

"Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences are second only to global nuclear war."

There is no set end point for this experiment. Where we end up in this potentially suicidal, indeed geo-cidal, experiment depends on when governments around the world act decisively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

If all use of fossil fuels and all deforestation globally were to end tomorrow, we would still be coping with destabilized climate for at least a century due to what we have already emitted.

But, with adequate planning and resources (none of which have been adequately started) we could adapt to a changing climate.

But if Greenhouse gas levels continue to rise, we could face "tipping point events" -- "points of no return" that threaten levels of climate crisis to which we can not adapt – levels of climatic disruption that threaten our civilization and millions of species.. .

There are three such tipping point events which are often discussed.

The potential for the collapse of Western Antarctic ice sheet. An extraordinary volume of 3.2 million cubic kilometres of ice is being destabilized with warmer water at its base.
The Greenland ice sheet is also destabilizing and melting rapidly. If either the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet or the Greenland ice sheet collapses, it changes the IPCC estimate for global average sea level rise from less than a meter to 4-5 meters. If both collapse, double that.
The third is related. The threat of the Gulf Stream stalling is a major tipping point. It is impacted by increased fresh water from melting ice. That fresh water is depressing the Gulf Stream, which is now 30% slower than 30 years ago.

These climate impacts have real impacts on global security. The US Department of Defence (the Pentagon) actually did a study researching a "plausible scenario for abrupt climate change." Its conclusions appeared in Fortune Magazine in early 2004. They chose to study the stalling of the Gulf Steam in 2010.

The study concluded that the impact of that, with colder temperatures in Europe, changing rainfall patterns, causing increased drought, food insecurity, increased numbers of environmental refugees, would constitute a great threat to global security than terrorism.

What has been the response of governments to this threat? I am ashamed to admit the Canadian government is now the worst in the world. The Stephen Harper government has repudiated our legally binding Kyoto targets and is working to increase Greenhouse gases from the Athabasca Tar Sands.

If we take all the commitments of all the governments of the world, the impact is disastrous. According to the World Energy Outlook, published by the International Energy Agency, if all governments maintain current commitments, by 2030 emissions will be 27% higher than in 2005…Carbon concentrations in the atmosphere will double over pre-Industrial Revolution levels at 550 ppm, making it inevitable that global average temperatures will increase by 3 degrees Celcius. And it only goes up from there -- 3 degrees inevitably becomes 4, and 4 degrees triggers 5 degrees and so on in a run-away greenhouse effect.

We must avoid allowing levels to reach 550 ppm. To do this, according to the IEA, we must ensure that the year 2015 is the last year in which GHG emissions rise. They must peak and drop sharply from there.

The World Energy Outlook concluded with this warning: "The primary scarcity facing the planet is not natural resources or money, but time."

Addressing this threat must become the central organizing principle of all governments.
Some say it is impossible to make this transition in time.

I must believe it is possible. In the words of the founder of the German Green Party, Petra Kelly, a woman I was honoured to know, "We must in our generation accomplish the impossible. Otherwise we are condemned to experience the unthinkable."

To do the impossible is our task as Greens. Let other parties embrace politics as the art of the possible.

We must accept the challenge of doing the impossible. The alternative is unthinkable.

In the words of Ingrid Betancourt, "The future is Green." It must be and it will be!"

Related Links
The Green Issue, New York Times, April 20, 2008
Rethinking the Meat Guzzler, New York Times, January 28, 2008

Related Blog Entries
New Report on Industrial Farm Animal Production in America: Industry has to Change, May 6, 2008
Palm Oil: A Slippery Slope to Destruction, April 22, 2008
Palm Oil: Unhealthy for you, deadly for asian elephants, other wildlife and the earth, Nov. 13, 2007

Hope for the North

EthicsandAnimals — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:46:18 GMT

Update: May 7, 2008
Hope has recovered from parvovirus and was flown back home last night, so happy to be with her new family who will shower her with love and care.

Posted May 6, 2008 by Colleen (please sign petition)

I received a request to post about the bleak situation for abused and neglected animals living in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada's far north (see map).

HOPE is a six-month-old female dog in Hay River, NT who has endured a life of horrific neglect. She was found starving to death, infested with mites, open, oozing rotting flesh, severe malnutrition, festering open sores (her collar buckle embedded in the infected flesh below her chin) and festering flesh on her flanks and hips.

Hope at time of rescue

Currently, the NT and Nunavut have no animal protection acts. Dogs and cats are routinely dropped off in the middle of nowhere and only if they are lucky enough to be found do they get help. This is wild country, remote and open.

In some communities in the NT, dogs are rounded up and shot because negligent owners allow them to roam loose.

In another instance when the SPCA and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrived to remove dogs due to neglect, they found the owner sitting on 59 corpses. He had shot each dog, dragged their bodies into a pile and was sitting on the pile when they arrived. This event prompted the Yukon Territory, which already had a Protection Act in place, to make amendments with stricter penalties and protection to ensure that this type of incident would not ever occur in the Yukon.

The abuse and neglect must end. An Animal Protection Act must be put into effect in the NT. Pressure on the Territories’ government MUST be made in order to do this.

A petition has been created to push for legislation. Please sign and circulate. (Click here)

Help build a shelter in Hay River, NT.
If you can help out the Hay River SPCA with its ongoing needs (click here), that would be greatly appreciated. Funds are desperately needed to build a shelter in Hay River. Had one been established already, perhaps Hope would have been surrendered and not allowed to suffer as she has. Currently, individual SPCA volunteers foster any new arrivals in their own home.

As for Hope, she has spent the last month undergoing extensive care in Yellowknife and thankfully she may be returning to her newly adoptive family, the individuals who found her. She had spent three weeks in hospital, and was greeted on her return home a week ago at the airport by her new family and many who TRULY care. Unfortunately Hope fell very ill within a few days and was flown back to Yellowknife where she received treatment to fight Parvovirus. Last word is that if she tests negative after undergoing the newest treatment, she will be returning to her new family once again.

Hope on her recent visit with her new family

Updates will be posted on both Hope's condition and the campaign for legislation.

Articles concerning abuse and legislation issues in the north

Dog deaths bring laws into question, June 27, 2006
Yukon proposes tougher animal protection laws, April 22, 2008
Dawson City-area dog shootings interview, June 27, 2006

New Report on Industrial Farm Animal Production in America: Industry has to Change

EthicsandAnimals — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:22:18 GMT

Posted May 6, 2008 by Colleen

"How pitiful and what poverty of mind, to have said that the
animals are machines deprived of understanding and feeling."
Voltaire, (1694 - 1778) (photo credit: Farm Sanctuary)

Last week, Pew Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health released a report about factory farming called Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America.

You can download it here, either the full report or the summary.

The Washington Post covered the report release on April 28, 2008, Report Targets Cost of Factory Farming, and the article provides a good summary of the findings:

“..fails to provide the humane treatment of livestock..”

“The "economies of scale" used to justify factory farming practices are largely an illusion, perpetuated by a failure to account for associated costs.”

“…costs are human illnesses caused by drug-resistant bacteria associated with the rampant use of antibiotics on feedlots..” (see MRSA links below marked with **)

“…degradation of land, water and air quality caused by animal waste too intensely concentrated to be neutralized by natural processes.”

“…modern agriculture is responsible for about 20 percent of the nation's greenhouse-gas production…”

U.S. Exposed as Leading Ivory Market

EthicsandAnimals — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:48:03 GMT

News Alert Posted May 5, 2008

From Care for the Wild International (CWI)

“An investigation on behalf of Care for the Wild International (CWI) reveals that the U.S. is one of the world's leading ivory markets and fails to comply with both CITES regulations and its own domestic laws. There is more worked ivory for sale in the United States than anywhere else in the world, except for China. Large quantities of worked ivory from China are illegally imported to the U.S. by individuals and through the Internet. The U.S. also maintains a largely unregulated ivory crafting industry.”

Download the CWI summary report
Download the CWI full report

National Geographic has also just published a detailed article based on this report:
U.S. One of Largest Ivory Markets, New Study Says

from the article..
"There are two loopholes here," said Martin, who worked on the report with Daniel Stiles, an anthropologist and wildlife trade investigator.
"One is that tusks come in from Africa as trophies and are sometimes sold within the U.S., which is illegal. The second problem is that people often declare worked ivory items to be antiques when in fact they were made after 1989," Martin added.
"Nearly one-third of the items we found, about 7,400 pieces, likely had been smuggled in into the U.S. since the 1990 ivory trade ban.

Also discussed is the major escalation in the illegal ivory trade since 2005, as well as the recent Virunga killings.

Read more...

Related Blog Entry
The New Threat to Africa's Elephant Population, May 3, 2008
Ivory for Arms, April 26, 2008
Militias and warlords using poaching of endangerd species to fund death, March 1, 2008

Wait til Santa finds out: Toronto zoo kills its male baby reindeers

EthicsandAnimals — Fri, 09 May 2008 08:06:16 GMT

Update: May 7, 2008 from Toronto Sun
Baby Rudolph gets reprieve
The Toronto Zoo will send the baby male and two male European reindeer to the Bowmanville Zoo.
However, "members of the zoo’s animal care, research and acquisition committee reviewed the euthanasia policy on Monday night and decided it was “a necessary last resort." Read more...

Update: May 6, 2008 from Toronto Sun
Will there be blood? Zoo board to decide fate of reindeer calf
"The fate of the tiny baby boy reindeer -- born late Sunday night -- will be decided at an emergency meeting of zoo officials within days."

To contact the zoo and voice your opinion:
Mailing address:
Toronto Zoo
361A Old Finch Avenue
Scarborough, Ontario
M1B 5K7

Phone: 416-392-5929
Email: tzwebmaster@torontozoo.ca

Update: May 5, 2008 from Toronto Sun
I'd have taken them: Male reindeer welcome on two Ontario farms

Original Story
posted May 5, 2008
Thanks to Mike Strobel for exposing the contradictions at the heart of zoos.

From The Toronto Sun

Zoo kills 2 baby reindeer
Wait until Santa finds out. Toronto Zoo starts killing male baby reindeer to manage the herd.
Staff are heartbroken -- and furious
by Mike Strobel

"Dear Santa: I hope you are sitting down.
The Toronto Zoo is killing baby boy reindeer.
Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now Prancer...
The first was dispatched shortly after his birth April 8.
His mom, Hayzel, bellowed mournfully for two days. You could hear her from Meadowvale Rd.
The second met the same fate at the point of a hypodermic on April 22.
His mom, CUPE, is named for the zoo staff's union.
Both little gaffers were chocolate brown and gangly cute. They had barely begun to nurse.
Both were perfectly healthy.
"Euthanized due to being male," says the keepers' report, terse and angry..."

Read the rest... (click here)

The New Threat to Africa's Elephant Population

EthicsandAnimals — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:08:51 GMT

Update May 4, 2008
3 more elephants killed in Virunga today, (total dead now 17) from Baraza's blog, click here

Posted May 3, 2008 by Colleen

Patsy, Toronto Zoo

We’ve all heard a great deal lately about the illegal ivory trade funding rebels, militias and armies and I posted a few days ago about Zimbabawe’s exchange of ivory for weapons with China.

Hot on the heels of that story was the depressing news about 14 elephants poached in the

Congo

. There is an excellent article that gives a great deal of insight into this situation published in Voice of America, May 2, 2008, Fueling World Ivory Trade Spells New Threat to Africa's Elephant Population.

Wildlife Direct's Emmanuel de Morode, who has worked to try and save Virunga National Park's gorillas and quell the bushmeat trade in eastern Congo is quoted putting the elephant deaths into context:

"There's a belief that the ivory market is going to open up. As a result, certain groups are going in to kill elephants. This isn't limited to Virunga. It is believed to be pretty widespread across the Congo Basin. There's been a massive reduction reported in (Congo's) Garamba National Park in the last few years. And this is a park that recently had 12,000 elephants and is now estimated to have less than half of that number."

He also talks about the recent killings coinciding with South Africa lifting its 13-year moratorium on elephant culling and of China's rising presence in the region stimulating the ivory market.

You can listen to an interview and discussion with Emmanuel de Morode by clicking on the links below. It includes a discussion of this crisis for elephants including the potential impact of South Africa's possible resumption of culling on the entire elephant population in Africa.

Wildlife Direct's Emmanuel de Morode - Download (MP3)
Wildlife Direct's Emmanuel de Morode - Listen (MP3)
Wildlife Direct's Emmanuel de Morode - Download (Real)
Wildlife Direct's Emmanuel de Morode - Listen (Real)

These links are also embedded in the article.

Related Blog Entries
Ivory for Arms
How our Gadgets Cause Death in the Congo
Militias and Warlords use poaching of endangered species to fund death
South Africa to sanction killing of elephants

Related Article
From the BBC dated April 28, 2008,
Congolese saw U.N. peacekeepers arming militias, refuting U.N. probe findings (read more)
an excerpt: "Peacekeepers from Pakistan and India smuggled gold and ivory — and gave arms to militias fighting in eastern Congo in return, the British Broadcasting Corp. alleged Monday, saying it had new witness accounts refuting U.N. claims that no weapons transfers had taken place."

A Shark Named Shiva

EthicsandAnimals — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:33:57 GMT

Posted April 30, 2008 with permission from Baraza Blog

by Dipesh Pabari

In a world of Information, Communications and Technology overdrive, it is very rare that a unique concept can survive for very long without being adopted, or adapted, replicated or cloned and in some cases corrupted. This imaginary space that so many of us have learnt to exist within and become incapable of living without has like everything else the ability to create and destroy. The embodiment of opposites is one of the oldest concepts known to humankind. Shiva is one such deity worshipped by millions in India and elsewhere as destroyer and benefactor. Despite him being considered a God, I can’t imagine anything more human.

In the same space, there is a thin and transparent line between what is real and what is not. Phantasmagoria - a concept invented in the 18th Century to project images on to a wall using a lantern which give you the illusion of a non-existent reality.

“The TV screen makes you feel small…no life at all…”

Picture this:

This is not a shark…

It’s a shark in captivity (for somebody’s pleasure).

And Picture this:

This is not a snake…

It’s a snake in captivity (for somebody’s survival).

And finally picture this:

These are not gorillas…

They are dead gorillas (for…)

FOR WHAT?

We are blasted with images like this all the time. Starving children, bombed villages, dead wildlife, dead people. In Kenya, we have recently become very complacent about the latter compliments of our politicians.

And then there are the living (or once were living) creatures behind those pictures, behind that image that is splashed across your screen. There is life there - tucked away in the matrix of atoms that blasts our sensories. This is the space which the blogger inhabits and the space which I truly believe WildlifeDirect is manifested itself through the vision of Emmanuel de Merode and Richard Leakey.

There are 72 million blogs and more coming each minute that passes by. Just about each one of those little cubicles below has a humanbeing reaching out to connect to some other living creature. We stumble upon one another and stumble upon something we care about and reach out in any way we can to touch that particular thing we care about.

What do you see below?

Yes, there’s a giraffe in the background and the silouette of a person in front. That is the person on the other end of the keyboard desperately trying to upload their blog before the electricity goes or crossing their legs in anxiety hoping the connection does not drop before the post is uploaded. These are the people that the vision of WildlifeDirect is built upon - rangers who get beaten, stoned, and often murdered. It’s in the line of duty - so nothing to be too sensationalist about but there is something just below the surface that deserves a mention; these are also people that have had shadows cast upon them by a brand just like so many in the west to have lost their identity to the corporate cogwheel of capitalism.

I bid you farewell from this particular word document editor but happy and proud to know that I am now also one of those 72 million bloggers…

To read more by Dipesh Pabari, visit:
Sukuma Kenya
Pambazuka News
AfricaNews
Kabissa, Space for Change in Africa

Dipesh Pabari is a Kenyan writer and freelance education and communications consultant. He sits on the Editorial Board for Awaaz Magazine (a journal for South Asians in diaspora) and Wajibu (a journal of ethical and social concern). In addition to publishing poetry, short stories and articles, he recently edited a short story book for children entitled, "The Unlikely Burden and other stories." But above all he is most proud of being a blogger!

Related Article
Equality for All
Masai return to their hunting grounds as tourism collapses

Cormorant Slaughter Update: Over 7,000 birds to be killed over four days

EthicsandAnimals — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:44:41 GMT

Lake Ontario Cormorants
"Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things,
man himself will not be free." Dr. Albert Schweitzer

Update: May 8, 2008
Cormorant Cull Finished from The Windsor Star

....this will go on for five years unless we all act together to stop the carnage.
Take Action for Cormorants - Boycott Point Pelee National Park

April 30, 2008
The Windsor Star, Cormorant Cull Begins

"In just three short years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have shot over 56,000 cormorants. In Ontario, an additional 10,000 birds were shot – a total of over 66,000 birds killed by gunfire."

double crested
cormorant

The slaughter of another 7,000 started yesterday at Point Pelee National Park in Ontario. Parks Canada has scheduled 4 days - April 30, May 1, 2, and 5 to complete the slaughter. The Harper Government and Parks Canada plans to reduce the vibrant and historical colonial waterbird colony by 90%, destabilizing the ecological integrity of both the island and the Lake Erie aquatic ecosystem.

Take Action for Cormorants - Boycott Point Pelee National Park

Learn more about this from Peaceful Parks Coalition (click here) and boycott Point Pelee National Park.

Related Blog Articles:
Cormorants in the Great Lakes, Dispelling the Myths

LEAKEY CALLS FOR BAN ON CARBOFURAN AS WILDLIFE POISONING REACHES ALARMING LEVELS IN KENYA

EthicsandAnimals — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:30:50 GMT

Update April 29, 2008
From Daily Telegraph
Agricultural chemical kills wildlife in Kenya

Press Release
April, 28, 2008
From WildlifeDirect

The Mara Conservancy has alerted authorities after finding five hippos dead and observing paralysis in four lions which fed on one of the hippo carcasses. Toxicology reports on one of the hippo carcasses and a lion both tested positive for carbofuran, an extremely toxic agricultural pesticide. Further investigations have revealed that traces of carbofuran were found in areas where the hippos were known to graze.

The sick lions were first reported on the Mara Conservancy Blog on April 15^th and followed carefully by the rangers. Brian Heath, CEO of the Mara Conservancy later stated: “The first report came in three days post-ingestion where a lion was found to be weak, staggering and sitting under a thicket. Another young male from the same pride began showing similar but more severe paralysis and quickly became recumbent by the afternoon. This was followed by a lesser degree of paralysis of two more males during the next five days. Tissue samples together with stomach content from the euthanized lion were submitted to the Government Toxicology Lab. The results showed that the stomach contents of the hippo and lion tested positive for Carbofuran.”

Incidences of poisoning represent a critical threat against Kenya’s wildlife particularly through the use of Carbofuran. The chemical is extremely toxic, cheap and easily available. Dr. Richard Leakey, Chairman of WildlifeDirect.org is urging the government to ban the use of Carbofuran: “We are appealing to the Kenya government, the importer, Juanco SPs, the agrochemical association of Kenya, and the Pest Control Products Board to go the way of Europe and USA and ban the importation, sale, distribution and use of this deadly chemical in Kenya. We believe that there are significant human health concerns and environmental risks associated with using this chemical which is widely abused because it is easily available over the counter from any Agrovet.”

Continue reading the press release by clicking here.

Related Blog Entries:
Appeal to End Wildlife Poisoning in Kenya (with update from the conference on wildlife poisoning)
Masai return to their hunting grounds as tourism collapses
Fundraiser's Rallying Cry

For Wildlife Direct's video on poisoned lions in Mara Triangle, click here

Ivory for Arms

EthicsandAnimals — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:32:20 GMT

Posted April 26, 2008 by Colleen

It was in the news this week that Zimbabwe may have sold more than 8 tons of illegal ivory to China as part payment for weapons.

From The Zimbabwean
“The Zimbabwean heard that the cash-strapped military junta had on April 1 flown to China ivory worth US$1 million as part payment for 77 tons of weapons, that have been shipped from Beijing around the same time.
The Geneva-based secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to which

Zimbabwe

belongs, had already begun investigating the alleged illicit ivory sale which, if found true, could be a serious breach of CITES rules covering limited ivory trade.”

Given a couple of articles I posted about a few months ago, it seems clear that the state of things for elephants and wildlife in Zimbabwe is as bleak as it could be.

The Killing Fields of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s Elephants to be slaughtered for meat

Meanwhile, as the post-election political crisis in that country rages on, China was denied permission to offload its weapons at the Durban port in South Africa. According to AfricaNews.com, the weapons will now be shipped by air.
See article. Chinese arms to come by air
“

Zimbabwe

faces chronic food shortages, electricity, fuel shortages and inflation has reached a record of 165 000 percent but the government is busy spending money on weapons.”

To read more on the

Zimbabwe

post-election crisis, click here for recent articles from AfricaNews.com.

Back to weapons and ivory in Africa. Many people read this shocking Newsweek piece from March 1, 2008, Endangered animals are the new blood diamonds as militias and warlords use poaching to fund death, and learned that the militias credited with much of the violence in the Sudan have moved into ivory poaching to sustain their operations.

China

is the largest market for illegal ivory, with the

United States

a close second.

The other recent (China and weapons to Africa) story is about the Sudan. On March 13, 2008, Human Rights First released a new report:

China’s Oil Interests in Sudan Fueling Darfur Violence
“A lethal cycle has developed where Sudan sells China large quantities of oil and then turns around and uses the income from its oil sales to purchase weapons from China. The people of Darfur suffer the consequences as the arms are turned against them, resulting in more death, displacement and destruction.”

So, in this vicious circle, the weapons fuel the violence and death in Sudan which fuels the militias which fuels the trade in ivory and other endangered animals...and the supplier of the weapons is the biggest market for the illegal ivory.

And just as the average oblivious consumer could be said to be at the root of the warmongering by the U.S. (in the Middle-East) and China (in the Sudan) over oil, now we find out that in the Congo, we help fuel the terrible violence, death of millions of people, probably the worst war against women in history, child labour, and the ongoing carnage against wildlife through buying our everyday gadgets like laptops, dvds, cellphones and playstations. Click link below "how our gadgets" for more on that topic. Well, at least this time I bought a refurbished laptop.

Related Articles
From the BBC dated April 28, 2008,
Congolese saw U.N. peacekeepers arming militias, refuting U.N. probe findings (read more)
an excerpt: "Peacekeepers from Pakistan and India smuggled gold and ivory — and gave arms to militias fighting in eastern Congo in return, the British Broadcasting Corp. alleged Monday, saying it had new witness accounts refuting U.N. claims that no weapons transfers had taken place."

From the Telegraph
May 2, 2008, Poachers in Congo Slaughter 14 Elephants

From Ending Charcoal Blog
May 1, 2008, Sunday's Elephant Poachers

April, 29, 2008, SOS: 14 Elephants killed in Virunga (click here)

How our gadgets cause death in the Congo
Militias and warlords use poaching of endangered species to fund death
Remarks by Stephen Lewis published in Pambazuka News - Congo's rape and sexual violence: UN's delinquency
Stephen Lewis Foundation site

Masai return to their hunting grounds as tourism collapses

EthicsandAnimals — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:14:38 GMT

Urgent Plea: Kenya's Wildlife needs you (click here)

Update May 1, 2008
37 Thomson Gazelles killed by poachers Read more (click here)

Update April 29, 2008
Ranger shot and badly injured when chasing cattle rustlers Read more (click here)

Update April 29, 2008
From the BBC Tourism crash threatens big cats (click here)

Update April 29, 2008
From Daily Telegraph Agricultural chemical kills wildlife in Kenya (click here)

Posted April 22, 2008 by Colleen
From The Independent (click here for article)

"A leopard has been stalking Enkereri. Every night for the past week the hungry leopard has cleared a 10ft fence in the Masai Mara village with a single bound and made off with a goat.

For the herders who are losing animals to the marauding beast, the temptation to shoot the predator and protect their livestock is almost too much to resist. The only thing that has been stopping them is a compensation scheme set up by the Mara Conservancy which ensures they are reimbursed at the market rate for every animal killed by a predator. But this innovative project is now under threat – an unexpected casualty of the political turmoil that has rocked Kenya to its core." Read more...and please consider a donation. Any amount will help avert this crisis.

(photo credit: Wildlife Direct)

Earlier Post
Mara Triangle: Gateway to the Masai Mara, for animals and for poachers

March 3, 2008
A few weeks ago, we posted Richard Leakey's appeal for Kenya's wildlife in which a fundraising campaign was launched to keep the anti-poaching patrols operating until tourism resumes. (And as noted in a recent New York Times article, even though a peace deal was signed last week, government and tourism officials worry that the recovery could take some time.)

Without the revenue to fund patrols normally generated from tourism, there will be a surge in poaching both for bush meat and commercially valuable species such as rhino and elephant.

The Mara Conservancy is a private operation that patrols the Trans Mara, a part of the Greater Maasai Mara and northern Serengeti ecosystem. It is this organization that must be kept financially viable throughout this period to ensure the continued protection of wildlife.

Today, Joseph Kimojino, head of tourism and anti-animal harassment for the Mara Conservancy was featured in The Telegraph (click here) for his work both in the field and in getting the message out to armchair conservationists around the world via blogging. (He is also writing a blog for Telegraph Earth.)

He has posted photos of the Mara Triangle’s wildlife and the work of the patrols against poaching, giving us a poignant visual understanding of what is at stake. (Click here for online album.)

Joseph Kimojino monitoring giraffes (photo credit: Wildlife Direct)

Joseph Kimojino’s Wildlife Direct Blog

Please give whatever amount you can to help The Mara Conservancy protect wildlife.
Donation link on this page (click here)
Sponsor a Ranger

To Subscribe to Joseph Kimojino's blog (click here).

Related Blog Article:
Richard Leakey appeal for Kenya's wildlife
As Kenya bleeds, tourism also suffers in land of safaris

Media Links
Update April 10, 2008
From Reuters
FEATURE-Kenya crisis strains human-animal balance in parks
"A rocky cliff overlooking the Maasai Mara Game Reserve marks a new front line in a conflict between people and wildlife that threatens the revival of Kenya's $1 billion tourism industry." (Click here for article)
Update March 17, 2008 From the Telegraph
Elephants killed by spear attacks in Kenya
Update: March 17, 2008 From the Telegraph
Years of Masai Mara Cooperation Threatened
Update: March 10, 2008 From The Telegraph
Two weeks' funding left for Masai Mara rangers (Click here to read article)
Update: March 7, 2008
Urgent appeal from Kenya's Mara Conservancy (click here)
Update March 5, 2008, REUTERS article
Kenya's wildlife needs tourists to come back - UN (click here)

Documentary: The World According to Monsanto

EthicsandAnimals — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:03:19 GMT

Update: April 29, 2008
Join the Greenpeace Campaign to convince the EU to vote NO to GMO's. An important vote is taking place on May 7th and your help is needed to write to European Commissioners
Click here to take action.

Posted April, 19, 2008 by Colleen (please note we had to change the link as it was no longer available on google but here it is on the Dandelion Salad blog with info on how to purchase)
If you are in the mood to frighten yourself to death while learning about a critical topic, then watch this excellent documentary by French journalist and film maker Marie-Monique Robin.
The World According to Monsanto - A documentary that Americans won't ever see
“The gigantic biotech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years.”
Click here to watch
Here are some highlights:

This documentary is over two hours long and covers Monsanto’s history referring to Agent Orange, Bovine Growth Hormone, PCBs, and chemically created oils as some of the jewels in the company’s crown.

It features residents in Alabama who suffered greatly from cancers and other conditions from PCBs buried and hidden by Monsanto.

The main focus is on Roundup, Monsanto’s world-leading herbicide and patented Roundup Ready Soybeans which have been genetically altered to resist the pesticide.

Monsanto’s influence in the US government and the lack of scientific studies is covered..

Covers Bovine Growth Hormone, BGH, a transgenic hormone sold to American Dairy Farmers in 1994. Talks about suppressed data on dramatic physiological changes in animals that received BGH. Canada would not approve the hormone and Europe followed suit. Studies relate breast and prostate cancers to BGH.

After 10 years on market, 90% of round up ready soybeans grown in the US.
70% of food in American stores contains bio engineered elements.
Unlike Europe, consumers can’t make a decision because GMO labelling is forbidden.

People interviewed suggest that Monsanto wants to own and control all food production. Between 1995 and 2005, the company acquired over 50 seed companies over the world including corn, cotton, wheat, soybean but also seeds for tomatoes, potatoes and sorghum. Everywhere there is worry about the monopoly wiping out all non-transgenic seeds.

In India, the world’s 3^rd largest cotton producer, Monsanto controls almost all the cotton seed market, forcing locals to buy seed at four times the cost than conventional. Small farmers have to turn to money lenders who charge high interest and poor harvests lead to bankruptcy and ruin, demimating Indian villages and leading to suicides.

Transgenic contamination in Mexico follows. Mexico has many varieties of traditional corn which has always grown well without herbicide or fertilizer and has banned genetically modified crops. However, their corn is already contaminated by transgenic corn. Due to free trade, the massive importation of transgenic corn can’t be stopped. This could ruin a way of life.

South America is already a transgenic world, with 100 million acres of Roundup Ready Soybeans planted in 2007.

Argentina

10 years ago officially authorized transgenic crops; since then the seeds have travelled mysteriously to neighbouring countries. Paraguay had to authorize GMO seeds as they had already entered the country.

The harm from the crops is described:
Before GMO crops, a family had everything it needed in terms of trees, corn, plants but GMO crops cannot coexist with small farms. They are two incompatible models and it has created a silent war that eliminates families, communities, the biodiversity of the countryside, causes death, poverty, illness, and destruction of natural resources.

Roundup is sprayed all over Paraguay by plane or spreaders driven by unprotected farm workers. The chemical is sprayed right up to front doors or subsistence crops and every year traditional crops are destroyed and families contaminated. Animals die from the herbicide through runoff. Children have serious health problems.

Evey year, 100,000 people leave rural areas to live in city slums leaving Monsanto farms to grow soybeans to feed Europe’s chickens, pigs and cattle.

This is a remarkable film and I hope absolutely everyone watches it, aside from small children of course.

The Great Ape Protection Act

EthicsandAnimals — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:30:07 GMT

Posted April 17, 2008
An Alert from Project R & R
Release and Restitution for Chimpanzees in U.S. Laboratories

Bill Introduced to End Invasive Research on Chimpanzees

On April 17, 2008, U.S. Representatives Edolphus Towns (D-NY), David Reichert (R-WA), Jim Langevin (D-RI), and Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) introduced The Great Ape Protection Act to end invasive biomedical research and testing on an estimated 1200 chimpanzees remaining in U.S. laboratories. The bill would also retire approximately 600 federally owned chimpanzees currently in laboratories – many for more than 40 years – to permanent sanctuary.

Project R&R works hand in hand with scientists, world renowned chimpanzee experts, founders of chimpanzee sanctuaries, and with other leading national and international organizations. Project R&R is currently focused on passing The Great Ape Protection Act that will end the use of chimpanzees in invasive biomedical research. To learn more about and how you can help pass The Great Ape Protection Act click here.

While several other countries have already passed laws that limit or prohibit research on chimpanzees, the United States is the only remaining large-scale user of chimpanzees in research in the world. An end to U.S. use of chimpanzees – and all great apes – in research will mark the first time any nonhuman species is not allowed to be used in experimentation in the United States.

Read more.

Appeal to end wildlife poisoning in Africa

EthicsandAnimals — Wed, 07 May 2008 22:55:50 GMT

Update: April 28, 2008
Meeting Outcome (click to read this incredibly informative report on the Wildlife Poisoning Conference held this past weekend)
An excerpt: "The presentations that followed shocked us all. Laurence Frank from Living with Lions who told us that the poisoning of lions in retaliation for predation on livestock was decimating Kenya’s lion population which was estimated to be only 2,000 individuals. He reminded us that African s have always lived with lions and had ways of managing predation, but that simple economics rule; killing lions with Furadan was cheaper and more effective in the long term than building a strong holding ground and deploying dogs."

Update: April 23, 2008
The conference to discuss wildlife poisoning in Africa is set for this weekend. Read the newest blog entry at Baraza on this subject. Click here to read.
An excerpt: "The meeting to discuss the illegal use of Furadan to poison wildlife takes place at 9.30 am at the Silversprings Hotel on Friday, and will be opened by our chairman Richard Leakey. We have been working feverishly to coordinate the numbers which keep swelling! I can’t tell you how excited yet nervous we all are that there is so much interest and concern about the use of poisons against wildlife that we have had to move the venue from our office to accommodate the 50 or so confirmed participants."

Original Post April 15, 2008

It was very depressing to read today that two lions in Kenya's Mara Triangle died likely from poisoning. While their deaths haven’t been officially diagnosed yet, the paralysis of the limbs seen in both animals is very worrying.

You can learn more about the lions and the efforts made to save them by visiting the Mara Triangle blog .

Just a few days ago, I read about the increased incidents of wildlife poisoning on the Baraza blog. I am still haunted from having on occasion come upon the dead, contorted bodies and agonized expressions of our own city wildlife in Toronto and remember the words of the “raccoon man” at AAA Wildlife Control that poison takes on average 5 agonizing days to kill a small animal.

Now there is a new post on the Baraza blog with an appeal to end wildlife poisoning in Africa.

Deadly poisons like Furadan are easy to get and are used liberally in Africa. The blog includes a shocking video showing the effects of Furadan on a hyena and hundreds of vultures.

To help deal with this crisis for wildlife which is killing Africa’s big cats, hyenas, vultures and other animals, a conference will be held on April 26, 2008 with participants from South and Eastern Africa to explore options such as education, awareness, legislation and enforcement, investigations and monitoring, and the creation of a network of concerned people to share experiences and ideas. A special blog will also be created to further the cause.

Please read up more here and learn how you can help out.
Check out the new blog Stop Wildlife Poisoning.