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After Brief
Hiatus, UNITED STATES As we reported in the spring 2005 AWI Quarterly, using an aircraft to hunt down wildlife is illegal in most places— but not in Alaska. There, the cruel practice is a state-supported form of predator control. A controversial aerial gunning program was launched to increase moose and caribou populations for hunters, which has caused the slaughter of approximately 550 wolves over the past three years.In January, the targeted wolves were granted temporary reprieve when a state judge found the program to be illegal because the Alaska Board of Game had failed to adequately address certain regulatory requirements regarding its justification. However, immediately after the decision was reached, the board held an emergency meeting in an effort to address the deficiencies found by the court. As a result, the program’s suspension was lifted. Opponents waged an appeal to try and stop the aerial hunt from continuing but were unsuccessful, as the court refused to review its decision. While alternative legal avenues are being explored, aerial wolf gunning is taking the lives of hundreds of wolves in Alaska. Please contact the state’s Division of Tourism to indicate that you will not spend your tourist dollars in Alaska until the aerial wolf gunning is banned permanently.
TIBET At an annual gathering in India attended by over 125,000 Buddhist devotees in January, the Dalai Lama made an impassioned plea for wildlife: "I am ashamed and don’t feel like living when I see all those pictures of people decorating themselves with skins and fur." He was describing the traditional dress of Tibetans, which in the last 50 years has become increasingly trimmed with furs. In his closing comments, His Holiness instructed everyone to "neither use, sell [n]or buy wild animals, their products or derivatives." Heeding his words, Tibetans have set ablaze thousands of animal pelts. Chinese authorities subsequently banned the mass bonfires, seeing these actions as a sign of the people’s allegiance to their country’s exiled leader. But the burnings still continue, though less conspicuously. "What’s happening now in Tibet," the Dalai Lama said, "is about compassion for all living things." Elephant Social Structure Lost KENYA and UGANDA Reports of elephants killing people or destroying villages for no apparent reason are on the rise, leading some researchers to believe that an "elephant breakdown" is occurring all over Africa, with young, orphaned elephants suffering from something akin to post-traumatic stress syndrome. Joyce Poole, research director at the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya and a key scientist in this debate, told New Scientist, "they are certainly intelligent enough and have good enough memories to take revenge," adding that when elephants are shot as a solution to human-elephant conflicts, little thought is given to "the very real possibility of stimulating a cycle of violence." Since poaching and culling in Uganda and other places in Africa and Asia have decimated elephant populations, gone are the tight matriarchal groups in which young elephants forge strong bonds that last a lifetime. The older bulls are also gone. In their places are herds run amok—"teenage mothers" who have raised a generation of juvenile delinquents. US Navy Plans Active Sonar Range UNITED STATES The US Navy is planning a 550-square mile permanent active sonar range off the North Carolina coast— a hotspot for marine mammal species such as the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale. The Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission has found that the evidence linking military sonar to stranding is "very convincing, and appears overwhelming." The United Nations, the European Parliament and the World Conservation Union concur that active sonar has detrimental effects on all ocean life. Ocean noise can even injure and kill fish; some studies show it has caused a significant decrease in commercial catch rates. The Animal Welfare Institute has provided extensive comment, along with more than 36,000 groups and citizens. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Marine Mammal Commission have also issued letters of concern. The Navy must provide some form of response to each of the comments in the final Environmental Impact Statement, due to be published this fall. If approved, construction of the sonar range is planned for next year.A Long Way from Home ENGLAND A Northern bottlenose whale took a wrong turn and wandered up the River Thames to central London in late January, much to the delight of hundreds of Londoners. It was the first such sighting since records began nearly a century ago, as the endangered species is usually found in deep sea waters. The next day, the 18-ft. whale was placed in a pontoon and towed by a barge to be released. Crowds grew to 3,000 cheering onlookers as the massive rescue attempt unfolded. After several hours, the whale began to suffer from convulsions and became severely distressed. As the whale’s condition worsened, scientists decided to administer a lethal injection. The cause of the 11-year-old female’s tragic situation has not yet been determined.
Paradise Found INDONESIA Living in a time when we hear so much about lost species, it’s refreshing to learn that dozens, if not hundreds, of new species of frogs, butterflies, mammals, flowers and birds were discovered earlier this year by an international team of scientists in the remote mountain rainforests of Western New Guinea. Many rare species were also sighted, among them tree kangaroos, spiny anteaters and long-beaked echidnas, as well as male bowerbirds performing elaborate courtship rituals. One scientist is reported to have said that the "dawn chorus" of birds was the most fantastic he had ever heard. The most remarkable find was the Berlepsch’s six-wired bird of paradise, thought to have become extinct in the 19th century when their feathers were coveted for women’s hats. Wavering on Whales INTERNATIONAL Over the winter, Japanese whalers tried to kill their self-appointed scientific research whaling quota of over 1,200 Bryde’s, fin, humpback, minke, sei and sperm whales. Norway upped its quota to 1,052 minke whales—slaughtered under its objection to the 20-year ban on commercial whaling. In the meantime, negotiations have officially stalled on the Revised Management Scheme, the rules that would govern whaling if the ban was lifted. In the past half-decade, the US government policy on whaling seems to have shifted away from whale conservation and toward capitulation to the whalers. In preparation for this year’s International Whaling Commission meeting, we implore National Marine Fisheries Service Director William Hogarth, the newly-appointed head of the US delegation to the Commission, to return whale protection to the top of the US agenda. Say No to Palm Oil MALAYSIA A three-year genetic study published in January in the journal PLoS Biology analyzed DNA from the hair and feces of 200 orangutans in Borneo. Their research shows that the population has declined up to one hundred fold since the late 19th century, due mostly to human deforestation occurring within the past several decades. Researchers conclude that the major threat to the long-term survival of orangutans is linked to the expansion of palm oil plantations. Ninety percent of the world’s palm oil comes from Borneo and Sumatra, the only remaining habitats of the orangutan.
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