Prince William calls to strengthen wildlife protection

By Chatham House (Chatham House Prize 2014) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons0 Hanoi: Prince William on Thursday called on the governments of the world to strengthen efforts to curb wildlife trafficking, warning that the current situation makes extinction imminent for endangered species. Speaking at the Hanoi Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, inaugurated in the Vietnamese capital, Prince William lauded global achievements to tackle the illegal wildlife trade, but warned that poachers and traffickers continue to decimate the planet’s endangered animals including rhinos, elephants, tigers and pangolins, Efe news reported. Prince William, the president of the United for Wildlife advocacy network, is in Hanoi for a two-day visit and ahead of the conference visited a local school to teach children about rhino conservation. “So while we’ve made progress, the truth is we are still falling behind. A betting man would still bet on extinction,” said the Duke of Cambridge at the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference hosted in Hanoi by the Vietnamese forestry administration in conjunction with the British embassy, as tweeted by Kensington Royal Palace. The conference, attended by representatives of more than 50 countries and 10 international organisations, aims to set out an agenda to step...

Read More........→November 19, 2016

Lions added to endangered species list

In response to the alarming decline of lion populations in the wild, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed two lion subspecies as endangered and threatened. Without action to protect them, African lions could see their populations halved by 2035. This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced it will list two lion subspecies under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Panthera leo leo – located in India and western and central Africa – will be listed as endangered, while Panthera leo melanochaita – found in eastern and southern Africa – will be listed as threatened. In the last 20 years, lion populations have declined by 43% due to a combination of habitat loss, loss of prey base, trophy hunting, poaching for skins and uses in Chinese traditional medicine, and retaliatory killing of lions by a growing human population. The killing of Cecil the lion in July of this year served to further highlight this issue. Coupled with inadequate financial and other resources for countries to effectively manage protected areas, the impact on lions in the wild has been substantial. Having once been present in south-eastern Europe and throughout much of the Middle East and India, the animals have now lost 85% of their historic range, as shown on the map below. Their numbers could be halved again by 2035, according to a...

Read More........→October 18, 2016

Update on Richard Theiss: new perceptions on life and the world we live in

RTSeaBlog: I have many friends and colleagues, both in life and in the digital world, inquiring as to what I have been up to, as I have not been as visible of late. I've had some life-altering experiences over the past 6 months that took me away from participation in many of my ocean conservation interests. But now I would like to slowly begin to return to "active duty" at least in the writing/blogging arena. In December of 2013, I was diagnosed with advanced Stage IV Melanoma cancer. It seems my activities as a diver and cinematographer kept my body in good enough shape (for someone in his early 60s) that the cancer, which had been growing for probably four to five years, went undetected until a couple of tumors appeared on the skin's surface and further tests revealed cancer throughout my body. Ironic that my healthy constitution which resisted the cancer up to that point also allowed the cancer to rage hidden from view for years. [Lesson #1: As a fair-skinned Southern California native from a time that predated sunscreens (in fact it was called sun tan oil, designed to help fry your skin a golden brown), I and others in my generation all went through our sunburns and various skin damage that we then pay for decades later. So, use your sunscreens, everyone.]  So, with my newly discovered challenge, I retreated from...

Read More........→March 12, 2015

Time to close the circus of marine mamals

Throughout 2013, there has been a spike in interest as to whether or not organizations like Sea World should have marine mammals like whales, particularly orcas or "killer whales," dolphins, porpoises, and even seals and sea lions in captivity. Part of this heightened interest has been due to the release of the documentary "Blackfish" which recently was aired to much fanfare and additional news programming material on CNN. In the documnetary, the 2010 death of orca trainer Dawn Brancheau by the orca named "Tilikum" at Sea World's amusement park, in Orlando, Florida, was investigated. The details leading up to that tragic incident and the subsequent aftermath was used to look at the broader history of orcas in captivity and the impact on the animals physical and psychological condition. In past posts, I have expressed my views regarding maintaining marine mammal like whales and dolphins in captivity for entertainment purposes. (Click here, and here.) For whatever, broad educational or even research purpose it may have served, dating back as much as fifty years, that rationale has run its course.  My initial first-hand experience with whales and dolphins was in the early 60's at Southern California's Marineland of the Pacific, watching pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins leaping into the air and jumping through...

Read More........→December 25, 2013

Ancient mammoth blood gives new life to de-extinction project

Ever fancied your own Mr Snuffleupagus? The dream may not be that far away. Russian scientists claim to have discovered liquid woolly mammoth blood in a frozen carcase in Siberia, which would make cloning a real possibility. An expedition earlier this month, led by scientist Semyon Grigoryev, uncovered the remains of a 60-year-old female mammoth on a remote island in the Arctic Ocean. "This find gives us a really good chance of finding live cells which can help us implement [our] project to clone a mammoth," Grigoryev said. However, many scientists are sceptical. Dolly, the famous cloned sheep, was born after 277 attempts. The discovery has reignited debate over the ethics of cloning. At a conference at Stanford Law School last week, experts debated the ethical, legal and political implications of “de-extinction”. Beth Shapiro, of the University of California at Santa Cruz, expressed concerns about the difficulty of cloning and the inevitable creation of countless deformed and terminal-ill animals. “I think we should consider deeply why we want to de-extinct things" she said. Kate Jones of University College London said that “Conservation biologists worry that if people think we can revive species they won’t care about protecting what’s left". The scientific community also questions the involvement of disgraced South Korean...

Read More........→December 12, 2013