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7 Animals That Depend On Humans And Other Related Facts! – Animal Dome

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Animals can be a great companion for humans, and some animals can bring danger to humans. However, even though there are dangerous animals, the vast majority of animals are still helpful to humans.

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10 ways you can help abused or abandoned pets

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10 ways you can help abused or abandoned pets

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10 Ways You Can Help Abused and Abandoned Animals - PetSecure

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As animal lovers, we hate to believe that anyone would want to hurt an animal. But unfortunately animal cruelty is much more prevalent than it should be. Far too many animals fall victim to abuse and abandonment and no animal should have to endure cruelty and live in fear.

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What is a kill shelter? A kill shelter is an animal shelter that accepts all animals. There are no restrictions, no age limitations, no health standards or behavioral requirements. All animals are accepted here and there are no appointments necessary before surrendering a dog or cat.

While this sounds good in practice, the reality is that kill shelters or open admission shelters do not have room for all the pets they accept. These shelters are often forced to euthanize animals based on their duration of stay so they will have enough cage space available to accept all animals. So just because a dog or cat is in good health and has a good temperament does not mean he will not be euthanized.

And because there are no health standards, the shelter is often forced to euthanize pets in order to protect the health and safety of the general animal population. Some diseases, for example, are very treatable for a pet in a home environment. However, in a shelter setting certain diseases can rapidly spread to other animals and even the volunteers.

You'll find this type of shelter in almost every city because there has to be a place where people can take stray, unwanted and abandoned animals. One of the ways you can help the situation where you live is to adopt a pet from a kill shelter. In so doing, you're creating space for more animals.

Because of the frequent deaths of animals, these shelters can be a very sad place to be. This often leads to the shelters becoming understaffed and constantly in search of more volunteers and more resources.

VOCAL's goal is to make Marion County a no-kill county. If you are passionate about reaching this goal, please volunteer with us!

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Why Kill Shelters Exist - Voices of Change Animal League

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What is a kill shelter? A kill shelter is an animal shelter that accepts all animals. There are no restrictions, no age limitations, no health standards or behavioral requirements. All animals are accepted here and there are no appointments necessary before surrendering a dog or cat.

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FOUR PAWS International - Animal Welfare Organisation

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Our pets give us so much - love, companionship and emotional support - how is it possible they can be abandoned? There are several reasons why people abandon their dog, cat, or other pets. Some are the result of people not having considered fully the responsibilities of pet ownership when buying their pet and whether they have sufficient time, resources, and the motivation to take care of a pet.

Below are some of the more common reasons why people decide to give away their pet

Time factor

A common reason for owners relinquishing their pet to a shelter is that they do not feel they have enough time to take care of their pet. Taking care of a pet takes time, pets need to be fed, walked, let out in the garden, have their litter tray changed, taken to the vets, trained and socialised.

It is unfair to leave a pet alone for long periods of time, especially social animals such as dogs that need human company. This will obviously impact the owner's lifestyle and needs to be carefully considered before acquiring a pet.

Many pets are bought on impulse, especially online. The new owner is unlikely to have had time to consider all the obligations of owning a pet or to carry out the necessary research into their pet's needs. This can result in the animal being resold, surrendered to a shelter or worst still abandoned.

Lack of experience

Some pet owners lack the knowledge on how to take care of their pets and can therefore become overwhelmed with the responsibility. Therefore, it is important to carry out lots of research before acquiring a pet to make sure you understand and can meet their needs.

Changed life situation

Pet owners may lose their job, get divorced, move into a rental property that does not allow pets, have a baby, or develop health problems (allergies is one of the most common reasons people have for giving up their pet). Again, it is important for pet owners to think about the future and how they would take care of a pet in certain situations before they get an animal. Additionally, many people added a pet to their life during the Covid-19 lockdown, they are faced with having to go back to the office and the pet not fitting in with this changed situation.

Animal health and age

Animals can become sick, acutely, or chronically, they may also need more care in their old age, due to age related medical problems. This requires more of the owner's time and may result in veterinary costs. Anyone taking on a pet should see it as a long-term commitment, they need to take care of their pet for its entire life regardless of medical and age-related health issues.

Boredom/Disinterest

Sad but true, some people, especially children, lose interest in their pet and consider them a burden. Pets should never be bought to teach children responsibility; this often does not work, and the parents end up having to take care of the pet or the pet is rehomed, surrendered or abandoned.

Unwanted litters

Unneutered pets may go on to have unwanted litters, often puppies and kittens are handed into animal shelters, or worst still abandoned or killed. Therefore, it is important to neuter pets to prevent unwanted litters from being born.

Behavioural issues

Some pet owners find that their pet shows unwanted behaviour, for example dogs being aggressive to other dogs. To help ensure that animals do not develop behavioural issues they should be properly trained and socialised when they are young.

Financial factor

Pets are often abandoned because their owner can no longer afford to take care of them. Many pet owners are not aware of how much it costs to take care of a pet over their entire life. It is therefore important that pet owners do their research and make sure they have sufficient resources to take care of their pet in the long-term. Some of the costs can still be covered, e.g., for food, but if a pet gets sick, the veterinary costs can be a strain on the budget.

Profitability

People use companion animals to make money (racing, breeding) or even for sports (hunting, fighting). When animals become too slow, old or sick they are no longer fit for their "purpose" and become unwanted. The lucky ones are handed into reputable animal shelters or rehomed, however for many they are either abandoned or brutally killed.

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The Top 9 Reasons Why People Give Up Their Pets

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Our pets give us so much! However, many pet owners want to give up their pets and abandon them. See the top 9 reasons why people want to give away their pets.

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FOUR PAWS International - Animal Welfare Organisation

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The abandoning of pets has far-reaching consequences for the animals involved as well as for the community. Abandonment exposes dogs and cats to an uncertain fate, once on the streets they must fend for themselves and may suffer from hunger, thirst, injuries and diseases. As well as feeling distressed and confused because they have been left on their own in an unfamiliar place by their owner.

Furthermore, dumping animals has consequences for the community that many people are often unaware of: The animals may pose a road safety risk if they run out in front of cars searching for their owner. They may cause a 'nuisance' to the community searching for food, barking at other dogs, or even biting someone due to feeling unsafe.

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The Harmful Consequences Caused by Pet Abandonment

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The abandoning of pets has far-reaching consequences for the animals involved as well as for the community. Abandonment exposes dogs and cats to an uncertain fate, once on the streets they must fend for themselves and may suffer from hunger, thirst, injuries and diseases.

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subscribe to TED Radio Hour podcast

What if we could rescue endangered species before they disappear? Biotech entrepreneur Ryan Phelan explores how genetic engineering tools can save species that would otherwise go extinct.
About Ryan Phelan
Ryan Phelan is the cofounder and executive director of Revive & Restore, a wildlife conservation organization that promotes the use of biotechnologies along with standard conservation practices. The goal of Revive & Restore's projects is to enhance biodiversity through new techniques of genetic rescue. They've worked to improve biodiversity in populations of black-footed ferrets, Przewalski's horse, coral, and more.

Previously, she founded and served as the CEO of Direct Medical Knowledge and DNA Direct, both with the goal of empowering health care consumers.

Phelan earned her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
This segment of TED Radio Hour was produced by Katie Monteleone and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Twitter @TEDRadioHour and email us at TEDRadio@npr.org.

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Ryan Phelan: How gene technology can save species on the brink of extinction

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subscribe to TED Radio Hour podcast What if we could rescue endangered species before they disappear? Biotech entrepreneur Ryan Phelan explores how genetic engineering tools can save species that would otherwise go extinct. About Ryan Phelan Ryan Phelan is the cofounder and executive director of Revive & Restore, a wildlife conservation organization that promotes the use of biotechnologies along with standard conservation practices.

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Brotherly (And Sisterly) Love In The Animal World

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Like humans, sibling relationships in the animal world are often complex and surprising. Older elephants take care of youngsters, armadillos are born as identical quadruplets, and cattle egrets sometimes kill their siblings.

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The same Danish zoo that euthanized a young, healthy giraffe it didn't need for its breeding program has killed a family of lions to make room for a younger, male lion.

If you remember, the Copenhagen Zoo caused an uproar when it put down "Marius," performed a public autopsy and then fed its body to the lions back in February.

The scientific director told All Things Considered at the time the zoo had euthanized the giraffe to prevent inbreeding.

This time around, the BBC reports, the zoo had not received any offers from other zoos to take the lions and it did not perform a public autopsy.

The BBC reports:

"The 16-year-old male and 14-year-old female were nearing the end of their natural lives in captivity. ...

" 'Because of the pride of lions' natural structure and behavior, the zoo has had to euthanize the two old lions and two young lions who were not old enough to fend for themselves,' the zoo said in a statement.

"According to zookeepers, the male cub 'would have been killed by the new male lion as soon as he got the chance.' "

The AFP reports the new male will be introduced to the zoo's two female lions, who have just now reached breeding age.

The wire service goes on to quote Chief Executive Steffen Straede as saying, "The zoo is recognized worldwide for our work with lions, and I am proud that one of the zoo's own brood now forms the centre of a new pride of lions."

We are not whether the euthanized lions were also the ones who got to eat the giraffe.

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Another Uproar? Danish Zoo That Culled Giraffe Kills A Family Of Lions

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The same Danish zoo that euthanized a young, healthy giraffe it didn't need for its breeding program has killed a family of lions to make room for a younger, male lion. If you remember, the Copenhagen Zoo caused an uproar when it put down "Marius," performed a public autopsy and then fed its body to the lions back in February.

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Did you know that the collective noun for a flock of parrots - akin to, say, a pride of lions - is a pandemonium? Apparently, Michele Raffin didn't know that either when she founded Pandemonium Aviaries - named instead for the chaotic, noisy nature of her "petulant psittacines" and "feathered vaudevillians." The apt name is characteristic of the serendiptious nature of what has turned out to be her life calling.

The Birds of Pandemonium, Raffin's memoir about her unexpected odyssey into aviculture, does for rare birds what Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief did for rare orchids, Joy Adamson's Born Free did for lions, and Jane Goodall did for chimpanzees and apes.

After stumbling on an injured white dove by the side of a California highway in 1996, Raffin, a former Silicon Valley venture capital consultant, fell in love. Even before she became a breeder, her flock grew exponentially as she quickly earned a reputation as "a sucker for unwanted birds."

In her backyard half an hour south of San Francisco, she now houses, nurtures, and breeds more than 300 birds belonging to more than 40 species in 34 large aviaries "and still counting." At the time she was building her aviaries, Raffin shared the one-acre Los Altos property with her then-husband, a pulmonologist, their four children, two donkeys, a pair of goats, a collie, a sheepdog, and "one understandably aloof elder cat." (The husband and now-grown children have since moved on, but one can't help wondering about her neighbors' reactions to this motley menagerie.)

Raffin introduces readers to the esoteric world of obsessive collectors and passionate protectors of endangered bird species. She explains how the Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992 caused problems by drastically limiting the number of imported birds, which reduced fresh breeding stock. This caused breeders to concentrate on species at both ends of the price spectrum - parrots, macaws and cockatoos at the high end and budgies and finches at the low. Meanwhile, less desired and more difficult-to-breed rare pigeons and doves were cast off - giving new meaning to one of their many flock names, a piteousness of doves. Many landed in Raffin's care.

Mostly, Raffin seduces us with entertaining stories of some of her fine feathered friends, anthropomorphizing them with names and personalities. Amigo, a small red-headed Amazon parrot, is a "perpetual toddler," a biter with a nasty disposition who always greeted Raffin's husband with a glare and an expletive. Sweetie, a small coturnix quail, taught Raffin to "speak bird" and understand his dietary needs, while Oscar, a shy Lady Gouldian finch who couldn't fly, "proved to be the resourceful architect of his own destiny" by instructing her to build a ladder he could climb in order to sleep safely and happily on a high perch. When half of a bonded pair of lorikeets died and the necropsy revealed that she was a he, it raised a dilemma for Raffin: Should she find a female or male partner for the male survivor? But how to find a gay male lorikeet?

Raffin is on a mission with this book - not just to draw attention to her non-profit foundation to preserve species like the spectacular blue Victoria crowned pigeons, considered modern-day dodos - but to prove that they are more than just eye candy. "I intend to convince you that 'birdbrain' is the finest of compliments," she writes. "Our birds are gorgeous. But that's not why I've fallen for them so hard and so deeply. I've learned that their behavior is far more fascinating than their plumage."

This occasionally jumbled but always impassioned book captures the "controlled chaos" on which Raffin clearly thrives. Among many other things, we learn that caring for birds is expensive, exhausting, smelly, and noisy. It's also a constant tug of war between emotion and reason and "involves a scary amount of guesswork." With vibrant photographs of its spectacularly plumed lead characters, The Birds of Pandemonium is a rich suet, seeded with both hearty information and delectable flights of fancy.

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The Feathery Saga Of A 'Sucker For Unwanted Birds'

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Did you know that the collective noun for a flock of parrots - akin to, say, a pride of lions - is a pandemonium? Apparently, Michele Raffin didn't know that either when she founded Pandemonium Aviaries - named instead for the chaotic, noisy nature of her "petulant psittacines" and "feathered vaudevillians."

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A lone hunter stealthily stalking its prey; a shrill cry in the night.

Mountain lions may conjure up terrifying images in our minds, but researchers show that our fears might be based on mythology rather than scientific observation.

Mark Elbroch, a wildlife biologist with the Panthera Puma Program, has been studying these big cats for 15 years - and the 100,000 videos he collected of mountain lions in their natural habitat reveal a whole secret world.

His highly sensitive cameras allow him to see inside the den of a mountain lion and observe all the interactions between mother lions and their kittens.

There's the little chirp the kitten makes when it greets its mother, and the louder purr the mother makes when she calls to its kittens.

Here are two mythbusting facts Elbroch shared about these big cats:
Fact No. 1: Far from being lone hunters of our nightmares, mountain lions are very social animals and they rarely hurt each other.
"You've got these huge male sons of mothers that have already outgrown their mothers and the mothers are just rolling with them and licking them," Elbroch says. "They sleep in these huge cuddle puddles, as interns like to call them."
Fact No. 2: The infamous mountain lion scream? That's actually a female in heat.
It is not, as many wildlife biologists have thought it to be, the sound of an angry, hungry male about to attack.

Elbroch hopes that when managing mountain lions in the future, wildlife agencies can just focus on removing individual problem cats - with the help of his motion-triggered remote cameras - instead of relying on open hunting seasons.

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The Secret, Social Lives Of Mountain Lions

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A lone hunter stealthily stalking its prey; a shrill cry in the night. Mountain lions may conjure up terrifying images in our minds, but researchers show that our fears might be based on mythology rather than scientific observation.

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This is your creepy-crawly warning. Read on at your own risk.

A zoo in Australia has acquired what officials there say is the largest funnel web spider they've ever seen.

Measuring in at 8 centimeters (a little more than 3 inches), the so-called megaspider possesses a potentially deadly bite with fangs strong enough to pierce through a human fingernail.

The spider was turned over anonymously to the Australian Reptile Park, about an hour's drive north of Sydney, as part of the zoo's antivenom program.

"Having MEGASPIDER handed into the venom program is so amazing, in my 30+ years at the Park, I have never seen a funnel web spider this big!" said Michael Tate, education officer at the Australian Reptile Park, in a statement.

People who find funnel web spiders can turn them in at the zoo, which milks their venom and sends it to a pharmaceutical company in Melbourne, where it's made into antivenom. The Australian Reptile Park estimates the antivenom program, which it says is the only one of its kind in the country, saves as many as 300 lives per year.

Funnel web spiders are one of only two types of arachnids that have caused deaths in Australia in the past, according to the Australian Museum. (The other is the redback spider.) There have been no deaths by spider bite in the country since 1979.

Now the zoo is hoping to find the anonymous donor of the "megaspider," because it may lead them to an area with more unusually large arachnids that produce larger amounts of venom for the antivenom program. Zoo officials say they received the spider at one of their drop-off points in an unmarked Tupperware container.

"She is unusually large and if we can get the public to hand in more spiders like her, it will only result in more lives being saved due to the huge amount of venom they can produce," Tate said. "We are really keen to find out where she came from in hopes to find more MASSIVE spiders like her."

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An Australian zoo acquires a venomous, fanged 'megaspider' and is searching for more

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This is your creepy-crawly warning. Read on at your own risk. A zoo in Australia has acquired what officials there say is the largest funnel web spider they've ever seen. Measuring in at 8 centimeters (a little more than 3 inches), the so-called megaspider possesses a potentially deadly bite with fangs strong enough to pierce through a human fingernail.

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The zoo that history nearly forgot in 'When Two Feathers Fell From The Sky' : NPR's Book of the Day

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If you visited South Nashville today, you might not suspect that, over a century ago, it was home to a zoo and amusement park called the Glendale Zoo. Among other attractions, the zoo had a popular attraction called "horse diving," in which a performer rode a horse off a tall platform into a body of water.

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A critically endangered tiger that attacked a man at Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, located in Naples, Fla., is dead after police shot the animal on Wednesday evening.

Eko, a Malayan tiger, was 8 years old.

The man,who was left seriously injured from the attack, is in his 20s and is employed by a third-party service responsible for cleaning the gift shop and restrooms, according to the Collier County Sheriff's Office. He was not authorized to be near the tiger enclosure.

Police said that the man had been attempting to either pet or feed the animal when he put his arm through a second fence barrier. The tiger then grabbed the man's arm and pulled it into the enclosure, the sheriff's office said.

When the first deputy arrived on the scene, attempts to get the tiger to release the man's arm from its mouth failed, said authorities, and "the deputy was forced to shoot the animal."

The zoo has a trained shoot team and lead darter for daily crisis activity when the zoo is open, but the incident occurred when the zoo was closed, Courtney Jolly, Naples Zoo director of public relations and marketing, told reporters Thursday morning.

"At the end of the day, if a person is in imminent danger, they have to take that action," Jolly said, "and we support CCSO [Collier County Sheriff's Office] and the officer had to, unfortunately, do his job."

Police released bodycam footage of the incident on Thursday.

Jolly said that the zoo has never had an incident like this before, and no one has ever breached the barrier fence and put themselves in that situation.

The zoo decided to close on Dec. 30 as investigations continue.

"We're giving our staff some time to process what has happened, but also give them some time to start the grieving process and healing process," Jolly said. "It is a very sad day at the zoo."

Tien Le is an intern on NPR's News Desk.

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An endangered tiger was shot dead by police in a Florida zoo after attacking a man

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A critically endangered tiger that attacked a man at Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, located in Naples, Fla., is dead after police shot the animal on Wednesday evening. Eko, a Malayan tiger, was 8 years old.

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New Orleans Audubon Zoo welcomes a trafficked jaguar cub

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The 7-month-old spotted beauty was rescued from wildlife trafficking and will be living alongside a 6-year-old male named Valerio. There are only 15,000 believed to be living in the wild.

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Robert Siegel speaks to Van Zandt County Sheriff R.P. "Pat" Burnett about the problem with donkeys on the loose in Texas.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Animals are not immune to tough economic times. Many a pet is abandoned by the family that's struggling to feed its human mouths. Even so, there's something unusual in the scale of animal abandonment underway in Texas these days, specifically a huge increase in the number of stray, abandoned donkeys. Donkeys serve several purposes. They protect flocks from coyotes. They are living four-legged weed-whackers. Some people say they make intelligent and loyal pets. And in some states, they can even reduce your real estate taxes by letting you call something a farm.

But in Texas, the severe drought has driven up the price of hay, and many real ranchers, farmers and other donkey owners have let their donkeys go. Pat Burnett is the sheriff of Van Zandt County, Texas. He joins us from his farm near Wills Point. It's about 50 miles east of Dallas. Welcome to the program, Sheriff Burnett.

SHERIFF PAT BURNETT: Thank you.

SIEGEL: And how many abandoned donkeys have there been in the county?

BURNETT: Currently, we hold 28. Over the last two years, we probably had 200 or so.

SIEGEL: Two hundred or so donkeys.

BURNETT: Yes, sir.

SIEGEL: And this is happening in counties all over Texas?

BURNETT: Yes, sir.

SIEGEL: Isn't it illegal to abandon a donkey like that?

BURNETT: Yes, sir. But you have to find the person who abandoned it first. And, you know, that's one of the problems. We're taking a lot of patrol time from busting drug dealers or burglars or thieves dealing with these animals.

SIEGEL: Well, tell me what happens. Do you get a report that there are just some donkeys wandering around on a county road?

BURNETT: Yes, sir. And then, a deputy is dispatched to confirm it. At that point in time, he looks in the area and sees if he can locate the owner, which many times a person will take a donkey to whatever and put him in a trailer and take him to an isolated spot in the county and dump him. And then, we have to get the - what we call the posse through a volunteer a group, and they pick them up for us. And at one point in time in the summer, they actually had to put them on my property.

We didn't have anyplace else to go with them. And now, we have a rescue center, but we're fixing - we have to empty it out. And we have some county property that has some grass left over, and we're going to put them on that until we figure out something else to do with them.

SIEGEL: What's the upkeep on the donkey or 28 of them for that matter?

BURNETT: If we're feeding them hay, it's a lot because I have four horses, and they eat a bale of hay a week, minimum, and donkeys eat about the same. You know, I went to our commissioner's court about, oh, two months ago now and asked them in a last-case scenario if we could euthanize them. And I don't want to euthanize them. You know, I rescue animals on a regular basis, but it's getting to the point that the SPCA can't take them. The Black Beauty Ranch, which they can live out their lives on, is full. Everybody is full. And every county in Texas that has people and animals, I know they're having the same problems, every one.

SIEGEL: Do you generally have the impression that people in Van Zandt County, let's say, keep donkeys because they really are working animals, or is this as much keeping some animals around the ranch for the amusement of the family?

BURNETT: Oh, all of the above. My parents, well, they're in their late 70s, early 80s, and they have a gelding donkey. And he's just a big pet, and they feed him all the time, and he, you know, he stays fat and happy. And in the spring, when the grass gets too much for him, I'll take some calves over there and keep him company. And then, like this winter, he's just eating his own hay and stuff like that. And then, there aren't - like I have (unintelligible) with three of my different pastures because we have a lot of cows out here.

So there's all different fields, like I said, there's just an overabundance of horses now and donkeys, and there's no place to go with them. And the value is nothing on the donkeys, and horses are really, really (unintelligible).

SIEGEL: Sheriff Burnett, thank you very much for talking with us about it.

BURNETT: Anytime.

SIEGEL: That's R.P. "Pat" Burnett, who is the sheriff of Van Zandt County in Texas, which like so many other counties, it seems, has an abundance of stray donkeys.

Copyright © 2011 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.

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In Texas, Donkeys Abandoned By Struggling Owners

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Robert Siegel speaks to Van Zandt County Sheriff R.P. "Pat" Burnett about the problem with donkeys on the loose in Texas. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: Animals are not immune to tough economic times. Many a pet is abandoned by the family that's struggling to feed its human mouths.

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Elephant tusk DNA can expose poaching networks, new analysis finds

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Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a way of using DNA from elephant tusks to solve poaching mysteries and bring animal traffickers to justice.

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In an orchard in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, Axel Hirschfeld, an activist with the Committee Against Bird Slaughter, carefully untangles the delicate wings of a young blue-gray bird from a poacher's net.

Behind him, two Lebanese police officers rip down swaths of illegal mesh, hung between pomegranate and apple trees by the orchard's owner to ensnare thousands of these birds.

"This is a juvenile shrike on her first migration," Hirschfeld says, holding a songbird in his palm and using a penknife to gently cut away the plastic webbing that traps the bird's spindly legs. "This bird will have started her journey in Europe, traveling for thousands of miles on her way to Africa, before getting caught here."

Every year, some 2.6 million birds are shot or die after they are trapped in illegal nets, according to the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon. Among them are endangered, vulnerable and near-threatened species.

Some poor farmers catch birds and sell them to restaurants or shops. For the hunters, shooting birds is a competitive sport and a cultural activity - something many Lebanese do on weekends, for fun.

The repercussions are felt far beyond the country's borders, because Lebanon lies on the African Eurasian flyway, one of the world's most important migratory routes for birds, including protected species such as honey buzzards.

An estimated 2.1 billion birds migrate between Europe and Africa every year.

"In Europe, governments invest a lot of effort and tax money to protect the last remaining pairs of several species," says Hirschfeld. "For example, many lesser spotted eagle nests are guarded on a 24-hour basis to make sure nothing happens to them. But as soon as they leave to fly to the wintering grounds in Africa, they have to cross Lebanon. And unfortunately, this country is a black hole in terms of protection."

Hirschfeld spoke with NPR during a visit to Lebanon in September, when he and other activists from the Germany-based organization were documenting the effect this small nation is having on the world's avian population.

The group has been traveling around the world, tracking poachers, sometimes chasing them for days until they can corner them and call police.

"We are activists, not birdwatchers," says Hirschfeld.

On the day NPR joined them, the activists, working alongside the local Middle East Sustainable Hunting Center, used powerful binoculars to scour the towns and orchards in Lebanon's Ras Baalbek area. Spotting the net set up in the Bekaa Valley orchard, the group called police.

Nets that trap birds are considered illegal hunting materials. Those who hunt without permits, use illegal hunting materials or kill certain bird species are subject to fines and sometimes even prison sentences. But the laws are not well enforced. Police officials seemed puzzled at first by the phone call from the bird activists. In a country that has dealt with a wave of suicide bombings in recent years and works to contain fallout from the civil war in neighboring Syria, the protection of birds is not necessarily at the top of a security officer's list of tasks.

Once notified, however, the police led a raid into the orchard. Running across a field, jumping over a ditch and scaling a barbed-wire fence, NPR and the activists followed the police into the private property.

An electronic device in the nook of an olive tree branch emitted the mating call of the blackcap songbird, luring the small birds into netting that covered and crisscrossed hundreds of trees. (The orchard owner was later fined).

Songbirds are considered a delicacy in Lebanon, and are often sautéed and eaten with pomegranate molasses.

"It's so cheap and easy. The birds won't see the net, and when they are caught, the net owner will crack their necks to kill them," said Sherine Bou Raffoul, the director of the anti-poaching unit in the Middle East Sustainable Hunting Center, working alongside CABS. "After that, they will sell them to restaurants - each bird for one dollar."

Dressed in khaki camouflage, with flowing hair and immaculate, red-painted nails, Bou Raffoul is also a hunter of birds. She says she wants to protect migratory birds because nets and uncontrolled poaching are ruining the sport she loves. She believes hunting is only acceptable within constraints that don't ultimately harm the overall population of each bird species.

"As hunters, it breaks our heart to see this trapping and killing [of] so many birds," she says. "We can go hunting, but without hurting nature - we should respect the laws."

One of her colleagues, a tall man in his mid-40s who asked not to be named as he goes undercover to expose and identify poachers who violate hunting laws, says not enough hunters share this respect for the law.

"Most people don't care," he says. "They have a shotgun and if they see something moving, they shoot at it."

The consequences of nets and poaching are proving devastating, conservationists say. Lloyd Scott, a campaign and operations officer with CABS, says the global population of honey buzzards is around 400,000. But "in the last seven days alone, we've found the remains of probably 1,000 of these birds in just one bottleneck in Lebanon."

These "bottlenecks" are areas that migratory birds must pass over. Scott estimates there are about 30 bottlenecks in Lebanon. Many of the larger birds rely on air currents known as thermals that set them on a particular route. Hunters drive to the tops of hills and mountains and wait with their guns for the birds to soar overhead, engaging in a popular pastime.

"The United Kingdom has between 80 and 100 breeding pairs of honey buzzards," says Scott. "So we're seeing, in just one bottleneck area in Lebanon, in the space of a couple of days, the [equivalent of the] entire breeding population of the U.K., just killed."

The day before meeting with NPR, the activists had spent hours tracking and chasing down a poacher who was shooting honey buzzards, presumably for sport.

"It can be really dangerous work," says Bou Raffoul. "This time we chased the poacher and then, eventually, we cornered him in a driveway - putting our car in front of his so he couldn't go anywhere."

They notified police, and found "it was clear the man didn't have a license for his guns. He had three dead honey buzzards in his car. He actually shot 10, but their bodies fell into the valley. So he was just killing them and could take them."

In a letter last year, 58 organizations, including environmental groups from 30 countries in Europe and Africa, appealed to the Lebanese government to enforce the protection of this important bird crossing.

The cause has the sympathy of the Lebanese President Michel Aoun. In 2017, as he announced his intention to enforce hunting laws more firmly, he declared that "there should be a peace treaty ... between man and birds."

But the challenge, say activists, is changing the Lebanese mindset. Even if people do want to follow the law, the undercover activist says, most hunters in Lebanon don't know how to identify endangered species.

"In trying to change mentality," he says, "we're not just swimming against the current - it's like swimming against a full-blown tsunami!"

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For Migratory Birds, Lebanon Is A 'Black Hole' Where They Are Hunted, Trapped, Killed

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In an orchard in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, Axel Hirschfeld, an activist with the Committee Against Bird Slaughter, carefully untangles the delicate wings of a young blue-gray bird from a poacher's net. Behind him, two Lebanese police officers rip down swaths of illegal mesh, hung between pomegranate and apple trees by the orchard's owner to ensnare thousands of these birds.

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Abandoning exotic pets is an ethical problem that can lead to biological invasions that threaten conservation of biodiversity in the environment. An article published in the journal Biological Invasions, whose first author is the researcher Alberto Maceda Veiga, from the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio), reveals that the release of invasive species in the environment has not been reduced despite the regulation that prohibits the possession of these species since 2011.

Other participants in the study, which goes over the regulation of the national catalogue of exotic invasive species, are Josep Escribano Alacid, from the Natural Science Museum of Barcelona, Albert Martínez Silvestre and Isabel Verdaguer, from the Amphibians and Reptiles Recovery Centre of Catalonia (CRARC), and Ralph Mac Nally, from the University of Canberra (Australia).
From buying impulsively to abandoning exotic pets
The study shows that, from 2009 to 2011, more than 60,000 exotic animals causing trouble to the owners were recorded in the northern-eastern area of Spain, but these figures do not correspond completely to the animals that were abandoned. "The main reason people abandon their pets is because they buy impulsively, and some of these species can easily reproduce once they are released," says Alberto Maceda, member of the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the University of Barcelona.

"In general, people get an animal very easily when it is young and cute, but when it grows up and causes trouble, they abandon it. Not all people do what it takes regarding the responsibilities of having a pet, it's a responsibility that lasts many years for those animals who live long, such as turtles."
Laws that do not stop this crime: abandoning exotic animals
Since 2011, a law prohibits the trade, possession and transport of exotic species in Spain. The regulation has been effective to stop shops from selling species of crabs, fish, reptiles and amphibians that are listed in the regulation, but it has not prevented people from abandoning invasive species, the study warns.

"Apart from the species listed in the regulation, there are many others that are abandoned in the natural environment or are left in animal centers," notes Maceda. "The worst problem, however, lies in the exotic species that were commercialized massively years ago. This is the case of the known Florida turtles, which are really small at first, but when they grow, they are usually abandoned. The study shows that the legislative response takes a long time to make any effect regarding the release of invasive species which were sold years ago in this country. These measures are not very effective once the invasive species is distributed around the territory."

Although the law served to stop those species from being sold, "abandoning animals is another crime, and there is not any current legislation to solve this problem." "We cannot ignore -he insists- that releasing any pet in the environment is a risk, apart from not being ethical, and therefore, it has to stop," stresses the researcher.
Fighting for animal wellbeing and promoting a responsible possession of animals
Improving biosafety measures in livestock stabling centers, changing commercial criteria for the species and training buyers to promote a responsible possession are measures that could help reduce the abandoning rate. "It is necessary to create a record of owners, apart from making more educational campaigns. One option could be to require a certificate for the owner's training, as well as the use of microchips and special licenses to have certain species at home, and avoid the free access to species we know that could bring trouble to the owners."

According to the authors, importation of exotic species should be regulated, since nowadays it is only debated on when there is scientific evidence of a risk of biological invasion, or when there is risk of extinction for a species. In short, it would be necessary to list the species owners can have at home.
Not all exotic pets in the environment have been abandoned
Experts warn that prohibiting certain species can generate a response in the market that can promote the commerce of other animals with the same problems. A revealing example is the prohibition of the trade of the red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), which was introduced in the market of other freshwater turtles that brought similar problems to the buyers.

Also, not all exotic pets get to the environment for being abandoned. In some cases, the reason is a lack of biosafety measures -disinfection of waste waters, etc.- in companies that stable exotic species. Also, some legislative measures from the past have been controverted for the conservation of the environment: for instance, releasing mosquitofish -one of the most dangerous invasive species worldwide- to control the local populations of mosquitos.

"Regarding environmental problems, we have to be more proactive than reactive, and we are usually reactive. Pets -invasive or not- cannot be uncontrolled in the natural environment, let alone abandoned. Among other negative effects, they can hunt native species, and alter the natural hábitat and can bring diseases that can persist in the native fauna even when the animal with the disease has already disappeared," concludes Maceda.

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nature; new species; endangered animals; extinction; invasive species; wild animals; life sciences; mating and breeding

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Preventing people from abandoning exotic pets that threatened biodiversity: From buying impulsively to abandoning exotic pets

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Abandoning exotic pets is an ethical problem that can lead to biological invasions that threaten conservation of biodiversity in the environment. An article published in the journal Biological Invasions, whose first author is the researcher Alberto Maceda Veiga, from the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio), reveals that the release of invasive species in the environment has not been reduced despite the regulation that prohibits the possession of these species since 2011.

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Did you know that the exotic pet trade causes more suffering for big cats than all of the other atrocities combined? Every week we are called upon to rescue another exotic cat because the sanctuaries are full and there is not enough money to take care of all of the rejects of the pet and entertainment industry. We take in as many as we can, but always have to consider the needs of the animals we have already committed to first.
See video clip of some of our big cat rescues.
In this video, you will see facilities that are currently licensed and approved by the USDA and the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission. As atrocious as it is, many have been operating at this level or worse for more than 10 years. Yet they are still permitted to remain open to the public. When you watch this video you will understand precisely why we need better laws. Join us in this effort to change the exotic pet laws!

Help us stop the breeding of wild animals for lives of confinement at CatLaws.com

ABC did an undercover investigation, with help from Big Cat Rescue, that you can watch online HERE. Be sure to watch all of the clips listed there. They start out the same but are very different. What they do share in common is the grim truth that some people are using animals in ways that put the public in deadly contact with dangerous animals.

The Animal Protection Institute completed a one year investigation into the cause of so many exotic animals being abandoned by going undercover into the homes of members of Phoenix Exotics and the Feline Conservation Federation. Watch the shocking video HERE and then TAKE ACTION. Please help support API for the great work they have done in exposing these issues.

The following charts are just the calls that we get personally. This is only a small percentage of the overwhelming problem. The saddest news is that, as one of the world's most influential exotic cat sanctuaries, if we cannot take them, there is virtually no where else for them to go.

** Wild Animal Orphanage collapsed in 2010 which caused the spike in displaced tigers. It would have been 39 if not for this influx.

We cannot even begin to take in every exotic cat that has ended up in abusive and neglectful situations. More and more we are dedicating our time and resources to stopping the problem at it's source, by educating people about the pet trade and entertainment industry. Although we are taking in fewer cats each year, we are working harder toward solutions that will ultimately benefit all exotic animals. As laws become more protective for the animals, abusers are bailing out, and as you can see there has been a huge increase in the year 2003 of abandoned animals. Accredited facilities like ours, which meet the high standards of The Global Federation of Sanctuaries, need interim support to care for these animals and the revenue to pursue a change in perception that will ultimately end the suffering altogether.

View this slideshow to see what life is really like for captive exotic cats. Play Slideshow.

That the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimates that only 10% of the 10,000 tigers in the U.S. are in professionally regulated zoos and sanctuaries. Add to that more than 5000 cougars and assorted other big cats and you start to see the enormity of the problem. Up to 10,000 tigers are kept as private pets, according to R. Eric Miller, senior vice president of zoological operations at the St. Louis Zoo. By contrast, there are fewer than 400 tigers in American zoos, Miller said.

The U.S. State Department estimates that the market value of tiger parts at $7,000 for a set of bones. Tiger and other illegal wildlife products have reached $10 billion a year and possibly twice that. China is the largest market, with the United States a close second. Newsweek 2/4/08

That there are only a handful of facilities that are accredited by The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries even though there are thousands of places that claim to be animal refuges.

There are only 1200-2000 tigers left in the wild due primarily to habitat loss and hunting. According to the World Wildlife Fund the tiger population has declined by as much as 95% in the past hundred years.

Even though Florida has an outright ban on possessing tigers as personal pets, the state now has 1,455 tigers (according to the Palm Beach Post), a 50 percent increase in 15 months and second only to Texas in the nation. Florida also has 262 USDA exhibitors for big cats, more than any other state. There are more tiger breeders in Florida than anywhere else but there is no plan for reintroducing tigers back to the wild and none of the tigers bred by these backyard breeders are pure bloodlines that could ever be used in Species Survival Plans.

That just in the state of Florida there are 3,837 people with permits to own wild animals. Of that number 389 facilities are permitted to own tigers, gorillas and other Class I & Class II dangerous animals, but only 21 are accredited zoos and only 3 are accredited as rescue facilies. 0.0002 of FL's populations owns exotic animals and yet all of us pay the price in safety and damage to the environment when no-longer-novel pets are turned loose.

The undercover video above was filmed in FL. About IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) Founded in 1969, IFAW works around the globe to protect animals and their habitats and to create a better world for animals and people. Please support www.ifaw.org. Media clip provided by IFAW through TheNewsMarket.com

Florida issues almost 4000 exotic ownership permits each year and has to employ 18 inspectors at a cost to tax payers of 1.5 million dollars per year, just to allow people to keep, breed and sell exotic pets. Permits cost between 50. and 250. This falls 1,250,000.00 short of enough to cover the cost of administration. What can a County in Florida do to ban exotic pet ownership when FWCC says they have supreme authority and no intention of banning this inhumane practice? Click here to see what the Attorney General has to say.

That 98% of all exotic animals die within the first two years of being brought home as pets.

That with our existing cryobiological collection it is no longer necessary to keep breeding endangered species in captivity to preserve the species. More than 675 endangered species are preserved in the Frozen Zoo for repopulating the planet if we ever manage to set aside habitat that can sustain them.

That just since 1990 more than 23 people have been killed in the US by captive cats. See updates.

That the illegal portion of the 15 billion dollar trade in exotic pets is third only to the market for illegal drugs and weapons? (In 2007 the U.S. assistant secretary of state for environmental affairs, Claudia McMurray, estimates that the wildlife trade is valued at anywhere from $10 to $20 billion a year.) The Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking says the trade is often closely linked to organized crime, and follows the same routes as those used to smuggle drugs and people.

That in 2005 some 210 million wild animals were brought legally into the U.S. and many more were smuggled, because there are just 120 USFWS inspectors to cover 39 International airports and all of the border crossings. In just the legal importations that means each inspector must view and approve the health of almost 15,000 animals per day, every day of the year. See what is happening as a result here.

That for every one performing animal you see, there were 30 that were killed or discarded because they refused.

That it is still legal to raise and kill or trap and kill bobcats, cougars, lions and lynx for their fur and for the exotic meat industry.

That only 19 states ban big cats as pets in this country and most of those states have ridiculous loopholes that are exploited by those intent on breeding and selling big cats as pets.

That there are only 90 USDA inspectors who are responsible for inspecting more than 30,000 breeders, dealers and exhibitors of wildlife.

Until recently, most exotic cats seeking refuge came from pet owners, but since the 1990's the majority come from badly managed facilities operating under the guise of being non profit sanctuaries. Most of the cats end up in these pseudo sanctuaries after being used as photo and handling props.

18.2 million Americans own exotic pets according to a recent National Pet Owners Survey. That's a 1.4 million jump since 2002, an increase that is probably understated since a good portion of this trade is illegal.

It is important that lawmakers understand how much people care about animals. New figures just released from APPMA's 2005-2006 National Pet Owners Survey (NPOS) show pet ownership is currently at its highest level, with 63 percent of all U.S. households owning a pet which equates to more than 69 million households.That's up from 64 million in 2002 and 51 million in 1988 when APPMA's tracking began .According to the 375 page survey that tracks hundreds of pet ownership trends, Americans own approximately 73 million dogs, 90 million cats, 139 million freshwater fish, 9 million saltwater fish, 16 million birds, 18 million small animals and 11 million reptiles.

There is a growing trend to prohibit the use of big cats in traveling acts and to ban their possession as pets. Read more: Big Cat Bans

If you like what Big Cat Rescue is doing to stop the suffering and abuse, please help us continue to do it:

Examples of Big Cats We Rescued
Shaquille If you don't jump through hoops at work,
does your boss smack you in the face with a baseball bat?
Think your job is stressful? Shaquille had to jump through flaming hoops, as part of a Las Vegas night club act. And when he didn't perform as well as expected, his boss beat him bloody with a baseball bat.

As a result, this 150 lb. black leopard bears lots of scars. His face was so badly beaten that his eye sockets were permanently shattered, causing the eyelids to roll in. His eyes will always tear as a sorrowful reminder of the abuse he endured. Perhaps they are also tears for all those other animals who are still made to perform for man's entertainment.

Big Cat Rescue may have saved Shaquille from further pain, but this majestic black leopard will always carry physical and emotional wounds. For years he would leap at the cage and hang there snarling whenever a man came into view for fear of being tortured again. Over time, however, he has become much more comfortable with his surroundings. Now Shaquille lounges the day away and enjoys room service provided by loving care takers at the Big Cat Rescue Sanctuary. With his new found care and trust, men don't even draw so much as a second glance from him any more.

As an accredited non-profit educational rescue facility, Big Cat Rescue will continue to feed, love and care for Shaquille and other abused, abandoned big cats. The number of animals they take in keeps growing and growing, now encompassing over 100 exotic cats representing 16 different species. You're invited to take a tour and see Shaquille and all the other big cats. It's the largest and most diverse collection of exotic cats in the world. You can actually get within three feet of these magnificent creatures. A small tax deductible donation is encouraged, which will go directly to the care and feeding of these exotic cats.

While you are here, look into how you can personally sponsor any cat on the premises. With your support, Big Cat Rescue will continue to give these animals new lives and new hope.

SHERE KHAN

Even animals have been brutalized
because of the color of their skin.
Believe or not, many tigers have been persecuted and killed simply because of the color of their skin. Shere Khan almost faced such a horrific death - at the hands of man. Like many of his ancestors, he was bred to be a white tiger because zoos will pay as much as $30,000.00 to have one of these rare animals to help attract the paying public. Unfortunately though, bearing a white tiger is a genetic fluke. Therefore, hundreds of unwanted golden colored cubs are born and then discarded in order to produce that one valuable white cub. Many of the little golden cubs are destroyed or sold to exotic pet owners. They often end up being abused, abandoned, killed for their fur, or cruelly hunted and slain for fun at big game ranches.

After having the misfortune of being born the wrong color, things went from bad to worse for Shere Khan. Unwanted and uncared for at only four months old, he was living full time in a tiny pet carrier. Soon, his growing body was almost bulging out the sides. Denied a decent diet, Shere Khan's teeth and bones became so brittle, he could not walk more than a few steps without having to sit down. Over time, his teeth actually rotted through his skull causing huge weeping sores on his face and chin.

Luckily, Shere Khan was discovered and saved by Big Cat Rescue. They were able to get him early enough to save his adult teeth and restore his bone strength. Given new life, Shere Khan has grown into a mighty 800-pound tiger. He has become one of the most enamored cats on the premises, as he endears visitors by roaming around his 3-acre Cat-A-Tat, playing with his 75-pound medicine ball, or swimming in the lake.

You can take a tour of Big Cat Rescue's accredited non-profit educational rescue facility and see Shere Khan face to face. It's the only place where you can actually get within three feet of these powerful predators. Here, you can view over 100 big cats representing 16 different species, which make up the largest and most diverse collection of exotic cats in the world. Any donation you can make is tax deductible and will help Big Cat Rescue continue to shelter, feed and care for the cats.

Raindance
Sentenced to death by electrocution
just for wearing a fur coat.
That's the cruel fate that awaited Raindance, as she lay imprisoned in a cage in a filthy, cold, metal shed on a Minnesota fur farm. Sadly, her only crime was being born with a beautiful fur coat. This cute, cuddly, healthy Northern bobcat was going to be electrocuted and her soft spotted belly cut out to make trim for coats. Worse yet, she was just one of hundreds of bobcats, Canadian Lynx and Siberian Lynx who faced the same death sentence if they weren't sold to a pet home before they reached one year of age.

Thankfully, Big Cat Rescue saved Raindance and 55 other kittens from that slaughter house. And life has never been the same. All these cats were under four weeks old and many had to be fed every two hours. Big Cat Rescue employed family, friends, and anyone who could hold a bottle to keep them all fed and clean.

Raindance and these kittens were lucky. Many others, however, have not been so fortunate. Today, thanks to Big Cat Rescue, Raindance is a healthy, full-grown adult bobcat with a gorgeous spotted coat that is the envy of everyone. She is one of the most popular cats at the Big Cat Rescue Sanctuary. She gets fan mail and holiday cards from around the world. She has been painted, photographed and made the subject of countless school reports, poems and letters because she is such a loving creature who immediately engages visitors with her playful personality. And to think how many people would have never experience the feeling of connecting with the wild, if she had been slaughtered on that cold, dreary day.

You can take a tour of Big Cat Rescue and personally meet Raindance. As an accredited non-profit educational rescue facility, Big Cat Rescue houses over 100 exotic cats representing 16 different species. They make up the largest and most diverse collection of big cats in the world. Get closer than you ever imagined - within 3 feet of these amazing creatures. It's truly a one-of-a-kind experience. Any donation you can make is tax deductible and will help Big Cat Rescue continue to feed and care for these exotic cats.

Nakoma was purposely starved, deprived of vitamins and calcium, and kept in a small concrete space. Hardly conditions fit for a king.
That's when Big Cat Rescue stepped in and purchased young Nakoma at a livestock auction. Imagine that, the "king of beasts" being auctioned off . Nakoma was so crippled in the hind legs and so malnourished that no one wanted him and he was sold for only $200.

Only a year earlier this little lion cub was the picture of health and vitality. His owner made money by selling people the opportunity to have their photograph taken with the cute and cuddly lion cub. In the state of Florida, however, it is against the law to allow contact with a big cat over 40 pounds. So Nakoma's former owner purposely starved him and deprived him of vitamins to keep him under the weight limit. As a result of this deficiency, Nakoma developed paralysis in his hind legs. Crippled, unwanted and abused, he was found with gaping gashes in his body that had become infested with maggots. Yet despite all this, he was still a very lovable, talkative cub.

Big Cat Rescue took Nakoma into their care. But after a year and a half of proper nutrition and supplements, he was still having an increasingly hard time moving his back legs. It took him two hours just to walk across his pen by dragging himself with his front paws. X-rays, a spinal tap and MRI all came out negative, meaning that Nakoma's paralysis had most likely been caused by the thiamin deficiency he endured.

On July 12, 1998, during his MRI, Nakoma tragically stopped breathing and died. His quiet passing may have been a blessing in disguise since nothing could be done for his crippled body. In fact, the vets said his condition would have continued to deteriorate until he could not move at all.
Cleo
Today, Nakoma's body rests in a grave on the site, adorned with his proud picture. This brave little king will never be forgotten and everybody can take solace in that Big Cat Rescue was at least able to make his last years a little better.

You're invited to tour the facility and see Nakoma's tomb, as well as view over 100 big cats from 16 different species who thanks to Big Cat Rescue are alive and well today. As an accredited non-profit educational rescue facility, Big Cat Rescue has the largest and most diverse collection of exotic cats in the world. Here you can actually get within three feet of these magnificent creatures. What's more, you can personally sponsor any cat on the premises. Any donation is tax deductible and will help Big Cat Rescue continue to provide food, shelter, vet care and daily enrichment for the cats.

Female South American Cougar Date of Birth 4/1/95

Her owner wasn't all Cleo outgrew. Over the years, her tiny harness had become so embedded in her skin, it was actually crushing her rib cage.
Cleo was once a cute, cuddly cub. But like many exotic cats owned by people, it wasn't long before this South American Puma began growing and reverting to her wild nature. As she grew stronger, her former owner could not handle her enough to get the tiny harness off - and as the years passed it became completely embedded in Cleo's skin. Painful as it sounds, the only way to free her was to cut the harness and the skin away with a razor. Worse yet, when Big Cat Rescue discovered Cleo, she was so malnourished that to anesthetize her for its removal would have surely killed her.

So, Carole Baskin, the founder of Big Cat Rescue, spent three days gently cutting away the nylon harness with a razor blade - from outside the cage. While the process was obviously painful to Cleo, as her skin would rip away with the harness, she held herself tightly against the fence to allow the cutting. Since Carole could not enter the cage with Cleo, she depended solely on the cat's desire to be freed of the harness to bring her to the side of the cage. Cleo would growl and hiss in agonizing pain, but never turned to bite the helping hands.

Until 2006 Cleo's skin had fully healed and she was a happy, healthy cat. She enjoyed a 1200 sq. ft. Cat-A-Tat with an underground den that rivals the inner chamber of the great pyramids. You could always find her playing and entertaining guests with her engaging personality. Today, Cleo's body rests in the grave and she is finally free. This tiny little cougar will never be forgotten and everybody can take solace in that Big Cat Rescue was at least able to make her last years a whole lot better.

Nikita African Lioness D.O.B. 02/03/01 Arrived at Big Cat Rescue on 11/30/01
At only 4 weeks old, Willow was forced to learn how to swim... In her own knee-deep urine and feces.
Nikita was found chained to the wall in a crack house during a drug bust in Tennessee. Because she had been confined to a concrete floor, she had huge swellings on her elbows that took months to heal. She was so thin you could carry her under one arm and she would only eat white rabbits, so she had a plethora of nutritional issues to deal with as well. The authorities took her to the Nashville Zoo at Grasmere, but she had been declawed and could not live with the zoo's other lions, so they had to find a new home for her. Big Cat Rescue agreed to take her as well as three Bobcats who needed a home. Nikita had never seen other lions before she moved to Easy Street, but she has grown to love her new neighbors. Lions are social animals so we are gradually trying to introduce Nikita to Sarabi in hopes that one day they can be together. This photo was taken at the zoo before her arrival at Big Cat Rescue where she now has a 1/4 acre Cat-A-Tat full of trees and grass.

Willow Female Siberian Lynx

Fortunately, Willow was one of the lucky Siberian Lynx kittens who were discovered by Big Cat Rescue before it was too late.

Confined and shipped in a wire crate that was so small she couldn't move, Willow was found swimming in urine up to her belly. Soiled, starving, sick and stressed, Willow was nursed back to health by the caring group at Big Cat Rescue. Today, Willow lives comfortably in a large den at the Big Cat Rescue Sanctuary.
Rambo
Willow is one of the skinniest and willowiest of the group of Siberian Lynx and fits her name perfectly. She is one of the friendliest, most playful cats here and loves visitors. Willow's survival story has a happy ending. However, she is just one of several hundred unwanted exotic cats who have been saved by Big Cat Rescue and now permanently reside at the Sanctuary. Unfortunately though, many other big cats may not be so lucky without the continued efforts of Big Cat Rescue and the support of compassionate people like you.

As an accredited non-profit educational sanctuary, Big Cat Rescue invites you to tour the facility and see Willow - upclose and personal. While here, you can view over 100 big cats representing 16 different species. They make up the largest and most diverse collection of exotic cats in the world. Get closer than you ever imagined - within 3 feet of these majestic creatures, who live in dens that have been designed to mimic their natural habitat. Any small donation you can make will help Big Cat Rescue continue to feed and care for these exotic cats. In return, we promise you'll connect with the wild like never before.

Male Jungle Cat

Date of Birth: 2/2/99

Rambo came to Easy Street on 12/5/99. He was bred for the pet trade. People hybridize wild cats and domestic cats to feed the egos of people who want to own something unique. These hybrids suffer a myriad of health and emotional problems and are frequently unwanted by the time they are a year old. Rambo's owner had sent him to live with her daughter who died unexpectedly and his primary caregiver became the 12 year old grand daughter. She and her relatives agreed that they did not want to see Rambo exploited as part of a hybridization breeding plan for profit and asked if he could come live on Easy Street. Here he has a 900 square foot Cat-A-Tat with tunnels, grasses, hills, bushes, trees and flowers. He is very talkative and loves to talk to guests.

Victory for the big cats!!!!

Just one week after the tragic death of a 10-year old North Carolina boy who was mauled by his aunt's 400-pound pet tiger, President George W. Bush on December 19 signed into law the Captive Wildlife Safety Act.

This landmark legislation will increase protection for the public by banning the interstate trade in big cats for the pet trade. We hope that the enactment of this legislation marks a first decisive step in our larger campaign to halt the private ownership of big cats and other dangerous wild animals as pets.

California Representatives Buck McKeon (R-CA) and George Miller (D-CA) introduced the bill in the House; Senator James Jeffords (I-VT) and Senator John Ensign (R-NV) introduced companion legislation in the Senate. The new law prohibits the interstate sale and transportation of lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, cougars and other dangerous exotic animals destined for the pet trade.

The new act will not prevent the continued in-state breeding and sale of big cats. The HSUS estimates that up to 15,000 big cats are living in the United States-kept as pets in small cages, basements, and barns; displayed outside gas stations and convenience stores to attract customers; used as guard animals by drug dealers; and held in squalid, unaccredited roadside zoos. Tigers kept as pets or held in roadside zoos suffer from abuse, poor diet, lack of veterinary care, and painful physical ailments from random inbreeding. A few lucky ones end up in accredited sanctuaries. Most are dumped into pseudo-shelters that operate like puppy mills. They breed the big cats to churn out cubs for sale on the Internet or at exotic animal auctions. They cost as little as $300-the price of a pure-bred puppy.

Many tigers end up being dumped in animal shelters or sanctuaries that are ill-equipped to care for them. Humane officers report a catalogue of misery suffered by the animals, from untreatable ailments requiring euthanasia to cats mutilated and crippled by ignorant owners who tried to declaw their pets with garden shears.

A total of 19 states have a flat ban on the private ownership of dangerous exotic animals; the remaining 31 states need to adopt similar prohibitions if the public is to be protected and wild animals are to be banished from squalid backyard pens. Public policy should not be driven by tragic circumstances, but by common-sense principles.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS
The states that already have bans are Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming. All other states still allow exotic big cats as pets. If you live in one of the 31 states without a ban, I urge you to contact your legislators and encourage them to introduce a bill.

THE CAPTIVE WILDLIFE SAFETY ACT

This bill addresses dangers to public safety posed by private ownership of wild and exotic animals and combats the inhumane treatment of these animals.

The legislation amends the Lacey Act to ban the interstate movement of lions, tigers, cougars, leopards, cheetahs, and bears for private use as "pets." Accredited sanctuaries, zoos, circuses, humane societies, and other operations licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture are exempt.

Thousands of lions, tigers, cougars and other big cats, as well as bears, are kept in backyards, garages, and even in homes. Many states do not restrict private ownership of these powerful carnivores that can never be domesticated. The result is a patchwork of laws and a thriving commercial trade in exotics by breeders touting these dangerous animals as "good pets." They are easily obtained through newspaper ads, the Internet, and directly from breeders. Naïve and unsuspecting private owners who purchase them, often as adorable and seeming harmless cubs, soon rue the decision. There are innumerable reports of such "pets" that have maimed or killed their owners or members of the public, often children.

Big cats and bears cannot be humanely maintained by individuals without the resources or knowledge to care for them. They have very specific physical, behavioral, and nutritional needs that few laypersons know how to meet. The U.S. Department of Agriculture states, "Large wild and exotic cats...are dangerous animals. Because of these animals' potential to kill or severely injure...an untrained person should not keep them as pets. Doing so poses serious risks to family, friends, neighbors, and the general public."

All groups that are knowledgeable about exotic animals, including the The American Sanctuary Association, The Global Federation of Sanctuaries, Humane Society, ASPCA, the Fund for Animals, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, the Animal Protection Institute, and the American Veterinary Medical Association, and Big Cat Rescue oppose private ownership of big cats and bears as pets and support S. 269 and H.R. 1006.

Where does your state stand? CLICK HERE

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Abandoned big cats, help stop the abuse of animals

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Did you know that the exotic pet trade causes more suffering for big cats than all of the other atrocities combined? Every week we are called upon to rescue another exotic cat because the sanctuaries are full and there is not enough money to take care of all of the rejects of the pet and entertainment industry.

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The animal welfare charity said this included 500 snakes, 300 turtles, 145 bearded dragons, five raccoon dogs, four marmosets and a wallaby.

Some owners were not properly researching how to keep such species, resulting in animals escaping or being abandoned or neglected, it said.

It also said general calls to its 24-hour hotline rose by 13% to 1,175,193.

In one incident, a dead marmoset monkey was found in a street in Edmonton, London in December 2018.

And in January 2018, a royal python was found dead in Cwmbran, Wales, with bruising around its mouth.

RSPCA inspectors suspected the snake had been beaten before it was abandoned.

'People don't do enough research'

Larissa Butler, 25, from Sheffield, owns a corn snake named Trevor.

She told the BBC: "I got a corn snake a year and a half ago because they're one of the easiest snakes to look after.

"Once I'd looked into some other snakes I liked the look of I knew that a corn snake was best for me.

"I think a lot of people don't research enough and some breeders and shops aren't very responsible in how they produce the animals or sell them.

"It's really sad that the penalties for mistreating exotics aren't as harsh as for other pets.

"Trevor is just really cool because he is so different and chilled. They have specific requirements but can make excellent pets."

In another case in February 2018, two stray raccoon dogs were found within a mile of each other in the same Cumbrian village of Burneside.

The RSPCA said it strongly believed raccoon dogs should not be kept as pets as it was not possible to meet their needs in a domestic environment.

Gary Clarke, head of exotics at Sparsholt College in Hampshire, where they have taken in five abandoned raccoon dogs, said: "People see videos of the cubs online and think, 'oh, I want one', but they don't make good pets unless you're a specialist.

"If I tried to grab one now without gloves on I would be going to A&E."

He added: "The problem with people abandoning exotic animals is that they could become established in Britain and impact our native wildlife."

The RSPCA told the BBC that they have seen exotic animals such as bearded dragons on sale for as little as £20 online.

Stephanie Jayson, the RSPCA's senior scientific officer in exotics and a qualified exotics vet, said: "Although their numbers are small compared to more common pets, we have real concerns about the welfare of exotic animals kept as pets.

"Exotic pets are completely reliant on their owners to meet their needs including requiring the correct levels of heat, light and humidity, plus an appropriate diet.

"Some species require a licence or paperwork to be legally kept or sold."

Ms Jayson added: "Many of the animals we're called to help are found stray outside, where they can very quickly suffer in the cold."

Exotic animals are often available to buy in UK pet shops and are sometimes advertised for sale online.

"Sometimes animals are neglected when the novelty wears off and the commitment hits home," Ms Jayson said.

"This is why we would encourage anyone thinking of getting an exotic pet to find out as much as possible about the animal's needs and whether they're the right pet for them."

It's not just the RSPCA which receives unwanted exotic pets.

"We get offered dragons for rehoming all the time - about five in the last couple of weeks," said Dave Dixon from Cambridgeshire, who runs an advice group for almost 14,000 owners of bearded dragons.

He told the BBC: "We see some that are poorly looked after or neglected, and get reports of them being dumped in various locations which has included in the past over the years a dog poo bin, left in an empty house and in a rubbish skip."

Gemma Wright, from Chelmsford, had a similar experience.

She said: "Among the many tarantulas that have passed through my hands over the years, one was rescued from disgusting conditions in a local pet shop that has since been closed down by Environmental Health, and others have come to me through friends who - for whatever reason - were unable to keep them any more.

"I had to drastically reduce my own collection after breaking my hip last March, but I only give them to friends who I know to be responsible keepers."

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RSPCA rescues 4,000 exotic pets in one year

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The animal welfare charity said this included 500 snakes, 300 turtles, 145 bearded dragons, five raccoon dogs, four marmosets and a wallaby. Some owners were not properly researching how to keep such species, resulting in animals escaping or being abandoned or neglected, it said.

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Why Endangered Species Matter

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was established in 1973 to protect "imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend" and help them recover.

The Trump administration has put forth a number of proposals that would weaken the ESA. These include measures to allow for the consideration of economic impacts when enforcing the ESA, ending the practice of automatically giving threatened species the same protection as endangered species, and making it easier to remove species from the endangered list.

In a way, this is nothing new because the ESA has been under attack for decades from construction, development, logging, water management, fossil fuel extraction and other industries that contend the act stifles economic development. But between 2016 and 2018 alone, there were almost 150 attempts to undercut the ESA; and last year, from July 8 to 22, Republicans in Congress or the Trump administration introduced 24 such measures and spending bill riders.

These bills included efforts to remove the gray wolf's protected status in Wyoming and the western Great Lakes; a plan to remove from the endangered list the American burying beetle that lives on oil-rich land; and a strategy to roll back protection of the sage-grouse, which also inhabits oil-rich land in the West and whose numbers have declined 90 percent since the West was first settled. The Trump Administration recently opened up nine million acres of sage-grouse habitat to drilling and mining.

Endangered species, if not protected, could eventually become extinct-and extinction has a myriad of implications for our food, water, environment and even health.
Extinction rates are accelerating
Ninety-nine percent of all species that have ever lived have gone extinct over the course of five mass extinctions, which, in the past, were largely a result of natural causes such as volcano eruptions and asteroid impacts. Today, the rate of extinction is occurring 1,000 to 10,000 times faster because of human activity. The main modern causes of extinction are the loss and degradation of habitat (mainly deforestation), over exploitation (hunting, overfishing), invasive species, climate change, and nitrogen pollution.

There are also other threats to species such as the pervasive plastic pollution in the ocean-a recent study found that 100 percent of sea turtles had plastic or microplastic in their systems.

Emerging diseases affecting more and more wildlife species such as bats, frogs and salamanders are the result of an increase in travel and trade, which allows pests and pathogens to hitch rides to new locations, and warming temperatures that enable more pests to survive and spread. Wildlife trafficking also continues to be a big problem because for some species, the fewer members there are, the more valuable they become to poachers and hunters.
How many species are endangered?
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, over 26,500 species are in danger of extinction. This includes 40 percent of amphibians, 34 percent of conifers, 33 percent of reef-building corals, 25 percent of mammals and 14 percent of birds. In the U.S., over 1,600 species are listed as threatened or endangered.

A 2018 report by the Endangered Species Coalition found that ten species in particular are "imperiled" by the Trump administration's proposals: California condor, giraffe, Hellbender salamander, Humboldt marten, leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles, red wolf, rusty patched bumble bee,

San Bernardino kangaroo rat, West Indian manatee, and Western yellow-billed cuckoo.
The web of life
While it may seem unimportant if we lose one salamander or rat species, it matters because all species are connected through their interactions in a web of life. A balanced and biodiverse ecosystem is one in which each species plays an important role and relies on the services provided by other species to survive. Healthy ecosystems are more productive and resistant to disruptions.

A recent study found that extreme environmental change could trigger an "extinction domino effect." One of the study's authors said, "Because all species are connected in the web of life, our paper demonstrates that even the most tolerant species ultimately succumb to extinction when the less-tolerant species on which they depend disappear." So saving one species means saving its habitat and the other species that live there too.

"When you lose one species, it affects the ecosystem and everything around it gets a little bit more fragile while it adapts to change," said Kelsey Wooddell, assistant director of the Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability. "Even if it's not a keystone species [a species that others in an ecosystem depend on], its loss will weaken the functionality of the entire ecosystem, which just makes it easier for that ecosystem to stop working."
What are the consequences of extinction? Altering ecosystems through cascading effects
If a species has a unique function in its ecosystem, its loss can prompt cascading effects through the food chain (a "trophic cascade"), impacting other species and the ecosystem itself.

An often-cited example is the impact of the wolves in Yellowstone Park, which were hunted to near extinction by 1930. Without them, the elk and deer they had preyed upon thrived, and their grazing decimated streamside willows and aspens, which had provided habitat for songbirds. This left the stream banks susceptible to erosion, and a decline in songbirds allowed mosquitoes and other insects the birds would have eaten to multiply. When the wolves were reintroduced to the park in 1995, they once again preyed on the elk; plant life returned to the stream banks and along with it, birds, beavers, fish and other animals. (Note: David Bernhardt, acting secretary of the Department of the Interior, just announced a proposal to strip gray wolves of their endangered status in the Lower 48 states.)

Kelp forests are another classic example. They play an important role in coastal ecosystems because they provide habitat for other species, protect the coastline from storm surges and absorb carbon dioxide.

Yet kelp forests are rapidly getting mowed down by exploding numbers of purple sea urchin. California sea otters eat the purple sea urchins that feed on giant kelp. These otters used to number in the hundreds of thousands to millions, but their population has been reduced to about 3,000 as a result of unchecked hunting in the 19th century and pollution. Moreover, in 2013 the sunflower starfish, which also eats purple sea urchins, began dying because of a virus that was likely exacerbated by warmer waters. Without the sea otter and the sunflower starfish predators, the purple sea urchin began feasting on the kelp forests, which declined 93 percent between 2013 and 2018. (A new study found that kelp forests are now also threatened by ocean heat waves.) The explosion of sea urchins not only damaged the kelp ecosystem, it also had serious impacts on Northern California's red urchins that are valued for sushi. Fish that need the kelp forests for spawning, such as sculpin, rock cod and red snapper may become vulnerable in the future as well.

As another example, Wooddell explained that on Guam, after the invasive brown tree snake was accidentally introduced to the island in the 1950s, 10 of the island's 12 endemic bird species went extinct. "Typically birds eat seeds and spread seeds elsewhere on the island but that is no longer a functioning ecosystem," she said. "So the forest and the trees have decreased a lot. And Guam is covered in spiders because the birds are not there to eat them."
Losing apex species has multiple effects
Eliminating the large predators at the top of the food chain, the "apex species," may be humans' most serious impact on nature, according to one study. These large species are more vulnerable because they live longer, reproduce more slowly, have small populations, and need more food and a greater habitat area. Scientists say their loss has played a role in pandemics, fires, the decline of valued species and the rise of invasive ones, the reduction of ecosystem services, and decreased carbon sequestration.

Elephants are an apex species that may go extinct in our lifetime, as a result of tourism, habitat loss and poaching for ivory. This could dramatically change ecosystems in Africa and Asia. Through consumption and digestion, elephants disperse more seeds farther than any other animals; this fosters the growth of plants and trees that birds, bats and other animals depend upon for food and shelter.

Elephants also dig water holes that all animals share, and they fertilize the soil with their rich dung, which provides food for other animals.

The loss of apex species can also affect wildfires. After rinderpest, an infectious virus, wiped out many plant-eating wildebeest and buffalo in East Africa in the late 1800s, plants flourished. During the dry season, this over-abundance of vegetation spurred an increase in wildfires. In the 1960s, after rinderpest was eliminated through vaccinations, the wildebeest and buffalo returned. The ecosystem went from shrubbery to grasslands again, decreasing the amount of combustible vegetation, and the wildfires decreased.
Jeopardizing pollination
Seventy-five percent of the world's food crops are partially or completely pollinated by insects and other animals, and practically all flowering plants in the tropical rainforest are pollinated by animals. The loss of pollinators could result in a decrease in seed and fruit production, leading ultimately to the extinction of many important plants.

Flying foxes, also known as fruit bats, are the only pollinators of some rainforest plants. They have been over-hunted in tropical forests with several species going extinct. One study noted that 289 plant species, including eucalyptus and agave, rely on flying foxes to reproduce; in turn, these plants were responsible for producing 448 valuable products.

Bees pollinate over 250,000 species of plants, including most of the 87 crops that humans rely on for food, such as almonds, apples and cucumbers.

But in recent years, large populations of bees have been wiped out by the mysterious "colony collapse disorder" wherein adult honeybees disappear from their hive, likely in response to numerous stressors.

Over the last 20 years in the U.S., monarch butterflies, which pollinate many wildflowers, have decreased 90 percent. The rusty-patched bumble bee, another important pollinator and the first bee species to be put on the endangered list, now only occupies one percent of its former range.

Insect populations overall are declining due to climate change, habitat degradation, herbicides and pesticides. A 2014 review of insect studies found that most monitored species had decreased by about 45 percent. And a German study found 75 percent fewer flying insects after just 27 years. As insect populations are reduced, the small animals, fish and birds that rely on them for food are being affected, and eventually the predators of fish and birds will feel the impacts as well. One entomologist who had studied insects in the rainforest in the 1970s returned in 2010 to find an up to 60-fold reduction. His study reported "a bottom-up trophic cascade and consequent collapse of the forest food web."
Endangering the food chain
Plankton, tiny plant and animal organisms that live in the ocean or fresh water, make up the foundation of the marine food chain. Phytoplankton are critical to the health of oceans and the planet because they consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen during photosynthesis.

In 2010, researchers found that phytoplankton had decreased 40 percent globally since 1950, and attributed the decline to rising sea surface temperatures. The scientists speculated that the warming surface waters did not mix well with the cooler, deeper waters rich in nutrients that phytoplankton need. In addition, zooplankton are very sensitive to slight changes in the amount of oxygen in the ocean, and may be unable to adapt as areas of low oxygen expand due to climate change.

The quantity and quality of plankton also affects the nutrition of other creatures further up the food chain. In the Mediterranean Sea, the biomass of sardines and anchovies declined by one-third in just ten years. One scientist speculated that this is because the sardines' and anchovies' normal plankton had disappeared, so they had to resort to eating a less nutritious species of plankton with fewer calories. Changes in plankton quality could be a result of water temperature, pollution or lack of nutrients, but scientists are not exactly sure why the plankton makeup in some places is changing. If it is due to global warming and pollution, some say the situation could worsen.

However, Sonya Dyhrman, a professor in Columbia University's Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences who studies phytoplankton with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, is more sanguine about the future. "Microbes like phytoplankton can adapt, can acclimate, and can evolve, so I worry less about lineages of phytoplankton going extinct and more about how phytoplankton community composition will change in the future ocean," said Dyhrman.

A different community composition of phytoplankton could change the food web structure, but Dyhrman is not really worried about the total collapse of fisheries. She is concerned, however, that "there could be changes in ocean ecosystems and we don't really know what those changes will be. What will the architecture of that ecosystem look like in the future? The problem is, the ocean is already changing and we don't understand the architecture of the ecosystem right now well enough to predict what will happen in the future."
Losing nature's therapeutic riches
More than a quarter of prescription medications contain chemicals that were discovered through plants or animals. Penicillin was derived from a fungus. Scientists are studying the venom of some tarantulas to see if one of its compounds could help cure diseases such as Parkinson's. One molecule from a rare marine bacterium could be the basis of a new way to treat to melanoma.

Scientists have so far identified about 1.7 million different types of organisms, but between 10 and 50 million species are thought to exist on Earth.

Who knows what substances or capabilities some of these species might possess that could help treat diseases and make human lives easier?
Destroying livelihoods
According to a study for the U.N., the continued loss of species could cost the world 18 percent of global economic output by 2050.

Already, a number of industries have been economically impacted by species loss. The collapse of bee populations has hurt many in the $50 billion-a-year global honey industry. Atlantic cod in the waters off of Newfoundland formed the basis of the local economy since the 15 th century - until overfishing the cod destroyed the livelihoods of local fishermen.
What you can do about extinction
Extinction is hard to see. We may not realize how much of the natural world has been lost because the "baseline" shifts with every generation. Past generations would regard what we see as natural today as terribly damaged, and what we see as damaged today, our children will view as natural.

Wooddell believes the most important thing one can do is to put pressure on Congress and elected leaders to create land management, pollution and other sustainable policies that will protect biodiversity and the environment. However, because it's unlikely that these kinds of top-down policies will be instituted in the current political climate, she recommends mobilizing grassroots community groups to create "bottom-up" policies.

Here are some other things you can do to protect endangered species and prevent extinction:

Eat less meat. Soybean production is one of the main causes of deforestation, and most soybean meal is used for animal feed.

Buy organic food because organic farmers use only non-synthetic or natural pesticides on their crops. Synthetic pesticides may be toxic for other organisms.

Choose sustainable seafood. The Marine Stewardship Council provides a list of certified sustainable fish for responsible eating.

Compost food waste. In New York City, the compost is used for urban farming and gardening, which provide habitat for pollinators.

Buy wood and paper products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, to ensure they're harvested from responsibly managed forests.

Don't buy products made from endangered or threatened species, such as tortoise shell, ivory, coral, some animal skins, and "traditional" medicines.

Be aware of the source of palm oil used in countless food and cosmetic products. Many tropical forests are being razed for palm oil plantations. If a product contains palm oil, make sure it's from a deforestation-free plantation.

Reduce your use of plastic.

If you have a garden, plant native shrubs and flowers that attract butterflies and other pollinators. Milkweed is particularly helpful for monarch butterflies.

Set up a beehive.

Diversify your diet. Eating these 50 foods will promote biodiversity and a healthier plant.

Support and get involved with organizations that are helping endangered animals.

Join the Center for Biological Diversity and use their Take-Action Toolboxes.

Correction: This post was updated on April 3, 2019 to remove a sentence about cownose rays devastating scallop populations off of North Carolina. It turns out that other studies have challenged those findings.

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The Endangered Species Act is under attack. If we don't protect endangered species, their extinction will impact our food, water, environment and health.

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You're driving your car when you see a dog on the side of the road. With a sinking feeling, you realize they are alone. What should you do?

This is a wrenching scenario for all who care about animals. After all, what if your own pet were standing there? Use our guidelines for providing safe and effective help.

Don't cause an accident

You can't help an animal if you become injured in the process. Look in your rear-view mirror before braking, turn on your signal, pull your car completely off the road, turn off the ignition, set the parking brake, and put on the hazard lights. If you have emergency flares, prepare to use them.

Catch them safely

Safety first

A strange, frightened, and possibly sick or injured animal can behave unpredictably. A sudden move on your part, even opening your car door, can spook them and cause them to bolt-possibly right onto the highway. If the animal looks or acts threatening, or if you feel uneasy about the situation, stay in your car.

If possible, restrain the animal. Create a barrier or use a carrier, leash, piece of cloth, or length of rope to keep the animal in the area. Signal approaching vehicles to slow down if you cannot confine the animal, or divert traffic around them if they appear to be injured and is still on the roadway.

Use caution

Use caution when approaching the animal. Should you succeed in getting close enough to capture them, you stand a good chance of being scratched or bitten.

When moving toward the animal, speak calmly to reassure them. Make sure they can see you at all times as you approach, and perhaps entice them to come to you by offering strong-smelling food such as canned tuna or dried liver.

Lure them into your car

If you are certain you can get help from animal control very soon, try to lure the animal into your car with food, close the door and wait for help. In most cases it isn't a good idea to attempt to drive somewhere with a strange dog unrestrained in your car; they may become frantic or aggressive. Cats may do the same, as well as lodge themselves under the car seat, and it can be dangerous trying to extract them.

Call for backup

If you're not able to safely restrain the animal, call the local animal control agency (in rural areas, call the police). Do so whether or not the animal is injured, and whether or not they are wearing an identification tag. Leave your phone number with the dispatcher, and try to get an estimate of how long it may take someone to respond. If possible, stay on the scene to keep an eye on the dog or cat until help arrives. Make sure you report to authorities precisely where the animal is by using road names, mile markers or landmarks.

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If you found a dog or cat, here are some tips to help reunite those pets with their owners or help a stray dog or cat.

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A blast stressed elephant and an abandoned lemur: The war within Kyiv’s zoo

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A blast stressed elephant and an abandoned lemur: The war within Kyiv’s zoo

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Zoos have often been collateral damage in war around the world. And war is now touching Kyiv's zoo, next to a key military installation and possibly in the path of a Russian push into the capital.

Animals are increasingly exhibiting signs of stress. They cower from the air raid sirens and blasts that ring out throughout the day. Gunfire often can be heard at night.

Fearing the worst - and seeking shelter from attacks in their own neighborhoods - around 50 staff members have moved into the sprawling facility to care for the animals around-the-clock, bringing some 30 family members with them.

After stockpiling plenty of food, about 50 employees have stayed behind to care for the animals at Kyiv Zoological Park. (Whitney Shefte, James Cornsilk/The Washington Post)

They take cover during air raid sirens in the zoo's makeshift shelters: one in a bird enclosure and another in an unfinished aquarium. But animals as large as elephants or giraffes cannot be moved below ground.

"They have no space to hide or run," said the zoo's director, Kyrylo Trantin, 49. "Once they're out of the zoo, they have fewer options than any human. It's going to be the streets with tanks."

In the eastern city of Kharkiv, the Feldman Ecopark zoo reported that its facilities were damaged in recent fighting.

"Some animals were injured, some were killed," the zoo wrote on Facebook. "Fighting is still going on in the Feldman Ecopark area, so, unfortunately, the losses are not final yet."

This is the nightmare the Kyiv Zoo hopes to avoid. A wild animal shelter outside of Kyiv moved some animals abroad to Poland - including lions and tigers. But that's a process Trantin said would be difficult for his large animals during peacetime, let alone during war.

Instead, he began preparing for the possibility of a Russian invasion about a week before it began. Taking advice from a fellow zoo director in Haifa, Israel, he stocked up on food supplies and materials to rebuild enclosures in case of an attack.

By Feb. 25, "there was fighting near the zoo and bullets were flying over us," he recalled.

Already, staff are keeping certain animals inside to protect them from any shelling that could land nearby.

With his enormous ears and sensitive disposition, Horace is particularly vulnerable to loud noises, Trantin said. So a staff member moves into the 17-year-old elephant's enclosure with him each night, sleeping beside him to comfort him during any loud bangs. When he wakes up in distress, they feed him apples and chat to him until they sense he's relaxed.

"If a rocket or shell lands, they know how to calm him down," Trantin said of his colleagues.

On Friday, he stroked Horace's big gray cheek and dumped a pile of hay on the ground for him to snarf up with his trunk. He eats around 220 pounds of food a day. For now, the zoo has enough supplies in stock for around two weeks and hopes to be able to keep up a steady stream from its suppliers.

But the city's general population is already preparing for the possibility that key supply routes could be cut off if the city is surrounded.

For the zoo, the biggest concern now is the lack of available green salad. So staff members planted their own garden to feed the animals the freshest lettuce they can.

Already, some staff who live on the other side of the river have been unable to report to work because of road closures. Others have signed up to fight.

Cafes and ice cream stands are closed. Benches decorated with animal shapes are empty. A colorful Ferris wheel sits lonely against the gray sky. A flock of birds flying above scattered when a small drone flew near them - their caws echoing through the haunting quiet.

Ivan Rybchenko, 33, is among the zookeepers who can still reach work by bike. On Friday, he leaned over a balcony enclosure, feeding a banana to Dguto, one of two 17-year-old giraffes living at the zoo. In the background, several booms could be heard and an air raid siren began to wail. Rybchenko and Dguto barely blinked.

Unlike many other men his age, Rybchenko didn't consider joining local forces to push back the Russians. His own way of standing up to the invasion, he said, is by keeping these animals alive.

"I'm taking care of giraffes, deer and horses," he said. "So there's no way for me to join territorial defense because they would simply die."

Still, he worries that events outside of his control will lead to a tragedy here. "I'm afraid that any of the animals in the zoo will be killed," he said.

Tony, a 47-year-old gorilla, paced back and forth in his enclosure, happy to see Trantin and his colleague Valentina Dykoneva, 50, who arrived with treats: dates, bananas and a Coca-Cola bottle filled with tea.

Tony doesn't seem particularly disturbed by the explosions, Dykoneva said. "But of course he's missing people and visitors."

In an office nearby, a boy sat at a computer playing a game. A snake was curled up inside a small tank. And in a small box on a table, a two-day-old baby lemur clung to a soft piece of cloth.

Unlike his sibling born the same day, he failed to quickly latch to his mother after his birth to feed. So she abruptly abandoned him, in a move the zookeepers said was highly unusual and likely linked to stress. To save him, they moved him into their care, where they are now mimicking his mother's warmth by wrapping him in fuzzy material and feeding him baby formula through a syringe.

Although they blame the conflict for his mother's abandonment, the birth of the baby lemur offered a source of joy for the zoo employees. They named him Bayraktar - after a Turkish-made drone used by the Ukrainian military.

The name, they joked, shows that - like the drones fighting the Russians - the arrival of this baby lemur amid so much destruction "is a positive thing."

Whitney Shefte contributed to this report.

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A blast-stressed elephant and an abandoned lemur: The war within Kyiv's zoo

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Zoos have often been collateral damage in war around the world. And war is now touching Kyiv's zoo, next to a key military installation and possibly in the path of a Russian push into the capital. Animals are increasingly exhibiting signs of stress.

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12 Ways Animals Have Helped The War Effort

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Throughout history animals have accompanied men into combat as modes of transport and communication, protectors and companions. Here are some of the ways animals have helped the war effort from the First World War to the present day.

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Untrained Pandemic Puppies Present a Dilemma for Americans

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Untrained Pandemic Puppies Present a Dilemma for Americans

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A few weeks ago, Jeffrey Davis decided his son's dog is no longer welcome in his home.

It's not that the Utah resident doesn't love dogs - he does. His yellow Lab, Cosmo, is a loyal running buddy and beloved family pet.

But about six months into the pandemic, his 25-year-old son decided to get a puppy for companionship. Initially he spent lots of time with little Francis, a black Lab, and brought him to work. Then he started a job in an office that doesn't allow pets, and the energetic dog wound up kenneled at home every day. Without training and attention, his behavior issues grew - while he physically grew to be about an 80-pound dog.

"He's got big, huge paws. He knocks people down," Davis told TODAY. "It just got worse every time (my son) would drop him off at our house."

The final straw was coming home to find Francis had destroyed Davis' backyard while he was gone, ripping up newly planted shrubs and a flowerpot.

"He's a sweet dog. But he's a Lab, and that dog has got to be entertained, especially when they're young," he said. "I feel bad."

Francis is heading soon to a dog training boot camp. Davis hopes this will give the pup a chance to stay with his son or find a new home if Francis winds up in a shelter, depending on how this summer goes.

Roughly 23 million American households acquired dogs and cats during the pandemic, according to a recent survey from the ASPCA - and the vast majority of them are still in those homes.

Innovative efforts by animal welfare groups across the country helped some people keep their pets as the pandemic took a financial toll. However, stories of untrained pandemic puppies like Francis have raised concerns with some rescue advocates.

Marissa Sunny, CPDT-KA, a certified professional dog trainer and dog behavior specialist for the nonprofit Best Friends Animal Society, said as things open back up, it's important to prioritize training and socialization to help prevent an influx of untrained adult dogs in shelters.

"A lot of shelters were almost running out of dogs to be adopted, which was incredible to see," Sunny told TODAY. "But a lot of those dogs now are getting used to people going back to work, being alone for the first time, interacting with new people and new dogs for the first time. And it can just be really overwhelming for dogs that haven't had that experience up until now."

Sunny recommends investing in training classes, such as group sessions that also offer dogs a chance to spend time with other dogs and people. While it might be tempting to try for a quick fix by using punishment or shock collars to correct unwanted behavior, she said positive training methods such as rewards will yield the best results.

"In the long run, it's going to take less time and less work using positive reinforcement because you are showing and teaching the dog that this is a positive experience - there's nothing to be scared of here," she said. "They'll start to learn to trust you."

For example, if a dog has an issue with jumping on people, rather than yanking on a choke collar, yelling or kicking, she suggests having the dog sit before meeting new people, even keeping him on a leash in the house when friends come over so he doesn't have a chance to practice jumping on them.

When there's an issue with the dog jumping on the owner, she advises turning away from the dog.

"If that's not working or not dramatic enough for the dog, I'll even walk back out of the house," she said. "I'll start to open the door. The dog is about to jump. I'll shut the door, go back outside, count to five, try it again. You might be stuck there for 20 minutes, but it will get shorter every day. And it's really worth the end result."

Dog owners who aren't comfortable attending in-person classes can access free online resources from Best Friends and Fear Free Happy Homes, or use dog training apps like Dogo.

Still, training is just one piece of the puzzle. Enrichment activities are important to engage dogs' minds, according to Sunny. This might include puzzle feeders, snuffle mats, freezing wet food in Kong toys, or scattering kibble in grass and saying, "Go find it."

"Hiding kibble in towels and rolling it up is another super easy way to add some enrichment," she said. "Anything to keep their mind engaged while you're gone."

Society reopening presents new opportunities for socialization, from inviting friends over to walking around outdoor malls or entering pet-friendly businesses. The key is to take it slow and not overwhelm the dog, she noted.

As the saying goes, a tired dog is a good dog. Exercise is a basic need, from walks, hikes and runs to playing fetch or racing around a dog park. People who don't have time to exercise their dogs can reach out to neighbors or hire dog walkers through companies like Rover and Wag!, she said.

Ultimately, Sunny hopes pet owners will repay the companionship puppies provided during lockdown with some training now, even if they decide they cannot keep their pets.

"If you're handing off a dog you can't handle to someone else, it's very likely that they can't handle the dog either - it's going to keep passing through hands," she said. "Get some training with them, or maybe even if you're looking to re-home the dog, sponsor a couple of sessions with a trainer for their new owner, so that they can get set up for success as they go into a new home."

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Untrained pandemic pups present dilemma for Americans

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A few weeks ago, Jeffrey Davis decided his son's dog is no longer welcome in his home. It's not that the Utah resident doesn't love dogs - he does. His yellow Lab, Cosmo, is a loyal running buddy and beloved family pet.

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Pandemic Puppies: Tackling a Growing Problem

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Pandemic Puppies: Tackling a Growing Problem

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In March 2020, as the reality of lockdown began to bite and millions of people began to adapt to their new circumstances, the UK saw a huge increase in demand for pets. Dogs in particular were seen as a way to gain companionship and give purpose to daily exercise regimes.

According to Pets4Homes, by May 2020 there were more than 400 buyers for every pet advertised in the UK. Pet insurance policies increased by 59%, according to data from LV= General Insurance, and Google searches for "buy a puppy" increased by 115%, with prices for some of the most sought-after breeds reaching record levels.

Fast forward just over a year, and animal shelters are bracing for an incoming wave of animals, and pet sales websites are filling up with listings for puppies being resold.

According to the Dog's Trust, between August 2020 and January 2021, there was a 41% increase in web traffic to its Giving Up Your Dog page. Battersea Dogs & Cats Home predicts a likely increase of up to 27% more dogs abandoned or left to stray in the next five years.

So why the change of heart?

Dr Tammie King, animal behaviourist at Mars Petcare, says: "We know pets bring a host of benefits for humans, including relieving anxiety and loneliness, so it's no wonder many people decided to adopt. But complications can occur when their cute bundle of fluff transforms into a juvenile delinquent, destroying any valuable possessions in their path.

"This is normal adolescent animal behaviour, but without the right skills it can be difficult to manage. Many puppies purchased during the first wave of lockdowns will be reaching this stage right now. Combining this with possible separation-related anxiety as their owners go back in to work, it can be a very challenging situation to navigate."

Best Dog Insurance Providers

Long-term responsibility

Anna Webb, animal behaviourist and A Dog's Life Podcaster, says many of those who took dogs on during the pandemic didn't consider the longer term responsibilities involved: "Lots were drawn to happy faces on social media, but when their puppy arrived the cute factor soon turned into chaos as puppies are not born trained.

"Once puppies bought last April turn into teenagers - that's about 7-10 months for dog - those youngsters can become difficult to manage. When online sites saw a huge increase in re-sales, the dogs were more or less all at that age"

What's complicating things further is the booming business of online puppy sales. Webb says: "The pandemic may have changed the way dogs are rehomed forever. On a recent show I did with Ira Moss from the charity All Dogs Matter, we discussed how young dog owners who've spent upwards of £4,000 - £5,000 pounds on a puppy during the pandemic are now reselling these dogs online instead of bringing them to a shelter, as a means to recoup some of their costs.

"A charity has the resources and checks in place to help re-home a puppy properly, but going about it this way means the animal is often shoved from pillar to post and sold to the highest, and often unscrupulous bidder."

It's worth noting that many of these new and exasperated dog owners are young themselves, (59% are under 34, according to the Pet Food Manufacturers' Association). This same demographic may be unable to afford dog trainers, as well as more likely to use an online marketplace.

However, all experts concur that owners should beware of advertising or selling pets online and instead opt for rescues or shelters, which have far more expertise to ensure pets are re-homed safely.

Rob Bays at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home says: "Dogs are brought to us for behavioural reasons and also due to changing circumstances, and we welcome all. We always recommend that if people are looking to re-home a dog they go through a rescue or shelter. Before making any decisions, be sure to do your research."

Popular breeds

At the moment, according to Pets4Homes, the most popular dog breed in the UK is the French bulldog, but the greatest spike in demand and interest during the pandemic was the Cavapoo (achieved by crossing the Cavalier King Charles spaniel with the poodle).

Pre-Covid this type wasn't even in the top 10, but it now leads the pack with a total number of 1,882 prospective buyers for each puppy, compared to 769 per pup pre-pandemic.

Common health problems for Cavapoos include hip dysplasia, epilepsy and eye problems, and while these dogs are renowned for their intelligence and loving temperament, they can also be known for their barking, digging, jumping up, hyperactivity and, you guessed it, separation anxiety.

Researching your breed is the number one thing to do before adopting, say the experts, but even if it's after the fact, it's still a good idea.

Dr Angela Hughes at Mars Petcare says: "Even after you already have the dog, it's never too late to research your breed.

"It's important to understand what is hard-wired and innate to the dog and what can be trained and taught. As an owner you need to figure out what you can shape and change. Understand the traits you need to accept, and learn to manage and work with them."

Tips to calm your dog

Mars Petcare has other tips that exasperated owners can try before taking the dramatic step of rehoming their dog:

Realise that most "problem" behaviour is completely normal. Things such as digging, chewing, barking, scratching, and jumping up are all normal dog behaviours. Your pet is not trying to purposely upset you, they are simply behaving in a way that serves a function to them. Try not to label the behaviour as good or bad, but instead recognise possible reasons why.

Recognise the "good" behaviour and reward, reward, reward! Dogs require training and if you aren't purposely teaching them what is "right", they will learn as they go along. Be mindful of what behaviours you want to occur more frequently and reward those when they occur. Toss a treat, play a game or provide a pat (whatever your pet loves) when you notice a good behaviour. For example, if your pet is laying down quietly on his bed, give a reward

Understand pet body language. Dogs can't talk to us, but they can tell us how they're feeling through their body language. Sadly, many people ignore this communication or they don't recognise subtle signs.

Reduce stress. It's not just us that gets stressed, our pets can be too. The most common behavioural issues tend to be those relating to fear, anxiety and aggression. These all generally occur when an animal is feeling stressed. Help your pet by providing them with an enriched environment where they have opportunities to engage in species-specific behaviours like long-lasting chews or long walks.

And if all of these options have been exhausted - what's next?

Dr Hughes says: "If things become antagonistic and you cannot live together, forcing it to work is not good for either one of you. You can overcome a lot of things, but you can't overcome everything. If one is miserable, both are miserable."

Other advice includes:

Don't simply abandon your pet. If personal circumstances mean you are no longer able to care for your pet, seek out appropriate re-homing strategies.

Rehoming options may include your pet going to live with friends or family. This may be a good option if you recognise why the relationship has broken down and that your pet would be better in a particular home.

Contact rehoming organisations who will be able to guide you. They will generally take a detailed history from you about your pet's health and behaviour, as well as conduct assessments of their own, enabling them to find your pet his or her next home.

Animal welfare charity Battersea Dog's & Cats Home recently launched a new range of one-off virtual classes on its website for dogs aged five to 18 months, that tackle key training areas expected to occur when dogs come out of lockdown.

Mars Petcare has a range of resources, which can be found here.

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Pandemic Puppies: Tackling A Growing Problem

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In March 2020, as the reality of lockdown began to bite and millions of people began to adapt to their new circumstances, the UK saw a huge increase in demand for pets. Dogs in particular were seen as a way to gain companionship and give purpose to daily exercise regimes.

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From PETA to the ASPCA and ARFF, animal advocacy groups have been fighting for decades to put an end to circuses utilizing wild animals as "entertainment." These antiquated institutions turn a profit at the expense of endangered animals including elephants, lions, and tigers, forcing them to live in unnatural and often abusive conditions.

Many countries around the world have already outlawed wild animals in circuses including Bolivia, Peru, Greece, and Columbia, among others. England recently passed a ban that will go into effect by the end of 2015. The U.S., however, has no such laws. Circus animals are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through enforcement of the federal Animal Welfare Act.

Here in the U.S., dozens of undercover investigations have been launched throughout the years to catch handler abuse in action. A multitude of these efforts have uncovered horrific practices, from bull hook beatings to veterinary neglect.

Here are five such efforts that prove we need to ban circuses once and for all:

1. 1998 - Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus

Location: Jacksonville, Fla.

Abuse case: When three-year old Kenny, an Asian elephant, fell critically ill, Ringling continued to force him to perform. He appeared in three different shows in one day despite the attending veterinarian's advice that he "remain in the barn." Within an hour of his last appearance, Kenny died. The USDA later charged Ringling Brothers with multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act based on Kenny's death and they paid $20,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

2. 1999 - Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

Location: Huntsville, Texas

Abuse case: Benjamin, a four-year-old baby elephant, was taken by animal trainer Pat Harned for a swimming session in a pond one morning while the circus was on the road. Benjamin and another baby, Shirley, were playing in the water. When Harned told them to come out, Shirley obeyed, but Benjamin kept swimming. Eyewitness accounts reported that Harned then went to the end of the pier and began jabbing Benjamin with a bull hook. When Benjamin swam away to escape, Harned followed him into the water with the bull book in hand. Benjamin then had a heart attack and drowned. According to the USDA Report, Harned's use of the bull hook "created behavioral stress and trauma which precipitated in the physical harm and ultimate death of the animal."

3. 2008 - Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

Location: Texas, Okla., Ill., and Mo. (traveling)

Abuse case: Animal Defenders International officers went undercover and discovered brutality at a number of smaller circuses, as well as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. There, they found elephants enduring severely restricted movement and lengthy confinement as well as abuse. Footage shows Krissy, a 20-year-old African elephant, being hit, dragged to her knees with a bull hook, and kicked in the face. She also displayed signs of distress including swaying, head-bobbing, and eating rubbish.

Outcome: The evidence was sent to the FDA and according to ADI they are "currently investigating."

4. 2009 - Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus

Location: Hampton, Va. (complaints were also filed in Ala., Conn., N.J., N.Y., Pa., and R.I.)

Abuse case: Video footage taken by PETA behind the scenes of performances showed elephants being struck with what appeared to be whips and bull hooks. Another elephant cried out after it appeared to be pulled with a bull hook.

Outcome: This footage, in addition to other evidence, led to a levy of the largest fine in circus history against Ringling. In 2011, they were ordered to pay $270,000 for violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) dating back to 2007.

5. 2013 - UniverSoul Circus

Location: Atlanta, Ga.

Abuse case: A former employee signed a sworn affidavit stating: "The treatment of animals-particularly elephants and big cats-that I witnessed during the course of my employment for [Soul Circus, Inc.] struck me as highly inappropriate, unnatural, and abusive." The whistleblower claimed that three elephants - Makia, LouLou, and Lovie, were chained 24 hours a day, seven days a week, unless they were on stage. In addition, the tigers and big cats were relegated to small cages with no appropriate outlet for exercise, in addition to being declawed (which is prohibited by the USDA).
Image Source: Tobin/Flickr
Browse through some recent posts below:

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5 Abuse Cases That Prove We Need to Ban Circuses - One Green Planet

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From PETA to the ASPCA and ARFF, animal advocacy groups have been fighting for decades to put an end to circuses utilizing wild animals as "entertainment." These antiquated institutions turn a profit at the expense of endangered animals including elephants, lions, and tigers, forcing them to live in unnatural and often abusive conditions.

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Most accusations of animal cruelty in circuses focus on the elephants, but from an animal rights perspective, no animals should be forced to perform tricks in order to earn money for their human captors.

The animal rights position is that animals have a right to be free of human use and exploitation. In a vegan world, animals would interact with humans when and if they want to, not because they are chained to a stake or trapped in a cage. Animal rights is not about bigger cages or more humane training methods; it's about not using or exploiting animals for food, clothing, or entertainment. Attention has focused on elephants because they are considered by many to be highly intelligent, are the largest circus animals, may be the most abused, and arguably suffer more in captivity than smaller animals. However, animal rights is not about ranking or quantifying suffering, because all sentient beings deserve to be free.

The animal welfare position is that humans have a right to use animals, but cannot harm animals gratuitously and must treat them "humanely." What is considered "humane" varies greatly. Many animal welfare advocates consider fur, foie gras, and cosmetics testing to be frivolous uses of animals, with too much animal suffering and not much benefit to humans. Some animal welfare advocates would say that eating meat is morally acceptable as long as the animals were raised and slaughtered "humanely."

Regarding circuses, some animal welfare advocates would support keeping animals in circuses as long as training methods are not too cruel. Los Angeles recently banned the use of bullhooks, a sharp tool that is used as punishment in training elephants. Many would support a ban on "wild" or "exotic" animals in circuses.

Animals in circuses are often beaten, shocked, kicked, or cruelly confined in order to train them to be obedient and do tricks.

With elephants, the abuse begins when they are babies to break their spirits. All four of the baby elephant's legs are chained or tied for up to 23 hours per day. While they are chained, they are beaten and shocked with electric prods. It can take up to six months before they learn that struggling is futile. The abuse continues into adulthood, and they are never free of the bullhooks that puncture their skin. Bloody wounds are covered with makeup to conceal them from the public. Some argue that elephants must love performing because you can't bully such a large animal into doing tricks, but with the weapons at their disposal and years of physical abuse, elephant trainers can usually beat them into submission. There are, however, tragic cases where the elephants rampaged and/or killed their tormentors, leading to the elephants being put down.

Elephants are not the only victims of abuse in circuses. According to Big Cat Rescue, lions and tigers also suffer at the hands of their trainers: "Often the cats are beaten, starved, and confined for long periods of time in order to get them to cooperate with what the trainers want. And life on the road means that most of a cat's life is spent in a circus wagon in the back of a semi-truck or in a crowded, stinking box car on a train or barge."

An investigation of one circus by Animal Defenders International found that the dancing bears "spend around 90% of their time shut in their cages inside a trailer. Their time outside these miserable prison cells generally averages just 10 minutes a day on weekdays and 20 minutes on weekends." ADI's video "shows one bear desperately circling a small steel cage measuring about 31/2 feet wide, by 6ft deep and about 8ft high. The steel floor of this barren cage is covered in just a scattering of sawdust."

With horses, dogs, and other domesticated animals, training and confinement may not be as torturous, but any time an animal is used commercially, the animals' well-being is not the first priority.

Even if the circuses did not engage in cruel training or extreme confinement methods ( zoos generally do not engage in cruel training or extreme confinement, but still violate the animals' rights), animal rights advocates would oppose the use of animals in circuses because of breeding, buying selling and confining animals violates their rights.

Bolivia was the first country in the world to ban animals in circuses. China and Greece followed. The United Kingdom has banned the use of "wild" animals in circuses, but allows "domesticated" animals to be used.

In the United States, the federal Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act would ban the use of nonhuman primates, elephants, lions, tigers, and other species in circuses, but has not been passed yet. While no U.S. states have banned animals in circuses, at least seventeen towns have banned them.

The welfare of the animals in circuses in the U.S. is governed by the Animal Welfare Act, which offers only the bare minimum of protection and does not prohibit the use of bullhooks or electric prods. Other laws, like the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act protect certain animals, such as elephants and sea lions. A lawsuit against Ringling Brothers was dismissed based on a finding that plaintiffs did not have standing; the court did not rule on the cruelty allegations.

While some animal advocates want to regulate the use of animals in circuses, circuses with animals will never be considered completely cruelty-free. Also, some advocates believe that a ban on bullhooks just causes the practice to remain backstage and does little to help the animals.

The solution is to go vegan, boycott circuses with animals, and support animal-free circuses, such as Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Dreams.

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How Are Circuses Cruel to the Elephants and Other Animals?

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Most accusations of animal cruelty in circuses focus on the elephants, but from an animal rights perspective, no animals should be forced to perform tricks in order to earn money for their human captors. The animal rights position is that animals have a right to be free of human use and exploitation.

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HELP END CIRCUS CRUELTY:

On Feb 19, 2019, Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) introduced SB 313, also known as the Circus Cruelty Prevention Act, in the California State Senate. If enacted into law, the bill would ban the use of wild and exotic animals (excluding domestic dogs, domestic cats, and horses) in circuses throughout the state.
CALIFORNIA: Urge your state legislators to support SB 313! (Find their details here.)
LAST RINGLING SHOW ON EARTH! Held in Uniondale, NY on Sunday, 5/21/17

In January 2017, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced they were closing down after 146 years. LCA's President & Founder Chris DeRose led a very special demonstration at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus' last show on Earth! The final performance marked the end of a cruel era of Ringling breeding animals or stealing them from the wild and forcing them to perform demeaning, unnatural tricks out of fear.

The end of Ringling Bros. was a hard-won victory that followed decades of investigations and protests by LCA and other animal advocacy groups. The demonstration at the final show commemorated the occasion as well as urged Ringling to send the animals to sanctuaries and not sell them to zoos or other exploitative facilities.

For decades, LCA has been at the forefront of undercover investigations and nonstop protests that garnered international attention exposing the severe animal cruelty that Ringling so desperately tried to hide and deny.

Ringling's CEO, Kenneth Feld, sent one of his own investigators, Steve Kendall, to spy on LCA's President, Chris DeRose. That move backfired as the investigator ended up "flipping" and worked with LCA after realizing the cruelty involved in Ringling's training tactics.

Steve Kendall was hired by Feld and worked for him for 8 years gathering information about leaders of the animal rights movement, but ended up helping LCA by supplying intel against Ringling.

"Anyone that gets in Kenneth Feld's way, he investigated. Chris DeRose was a threat, one of the biggest. Kenneth singled out individuals that targeted the shows and looked for other ways to combat them, trying to shut down those people and organizations (LCA, PETA) economically," states Mr. Kendall.

LCA's undercover investigator exposed some of the most egregious acts by trainers of circus elephants in the 15 years he worked for LCA, at serious risk to his own life.

It has been widely documented that Feld Entertainment employed unscrupulous tactics to obtain and train its performing animals:

Stealing infants from their mothers. An estimated 50 percent of the Asian elephants owned by Ringling were captured and torn from their families in the wild

Using bullhooks, ropes, and electric prods to forcibly train animals to perform unnatural, ridiculous tricks out of fear and domination

Failing miserably to meet even minimal federal standards of care for the animals

Entrapping animals for up to 11 months on the road in cramped, filthy boxcars and trailers

Succumbing to the nonstop outcry against the use of elephants in the circus, Ringling finally ended its elephant act in May of 2016. LCA, along with dedicated supporters and activists, kept up the fight, demanding an end to the use of all the animals. Because of actions like LCA's, ticket sales dropped dramatically.

Chris DeRose leads the protest outside Ringling Bros. last elephant show

On behalf of the animals, we are ecstatic about this victory. Ringling fought to continue the circus despite the continuous exposure of animal cruelty and public outcry. It's been a long, grueling battle, but LCA always knew that we would prevail and make a difference.

LCA thanks all of you who protested, signed petitions and wrote letters as we fought for this hard-won victory. Together, real change has been made for Ringling's circus animals and it would not have happened without you!

Thank you for helping to end Ringling's brutal treatment of animals. LCA will keep up the fight until no more animals suffer in the name of entertainment!

In the News May 2017: Read Los Angeles Times Op-ed written by LCA's President, Chris DeRose

Animal Cruelty at Circuses

ABOUT CIRCUSES

Circus animals do not willingly stand on their heads, jump through rings of fire, or ride bicycles. They don't perform these tricks because they want to and they don't do any of these meaningless acts in their natural habitat. The ONLY reason circus animals perform is because they are scared of what will happen to them if they don't.

The circus would like you to think that these intelligent and sentient creatures perform because they are positively reinforced with food, praise, etc. There is no such thing as positive reinforcement for animals in the circus - only varying levels of punishment, neglect, and deprivation. These animals have limited access to food and water as to will them to perform, as well as to prevent untimely defecation and urination while they are on stage or in public view.

An LCA investigator went undercover inside the Carson & Barnes Circus, where he documented extreme animal abuse, including elephants being beaten with baseball bats, pitchforks, and other objects; shocked with electric prods; and hit on the head and across the face. LCA worked with local media to expose this cruelty and filed a complaint with the United States Department of Agriculture.

CRUEL TRAINING

Training circus animals involves physically punishing them. These training practices generally will be hidden from public view to make the audiences believe these animals want to and are willing to perform. Because these animals have been conditioned through violent training sessions, they know that refusal to obey in the ring will result in severe punishment later. Moments before entering the ring, while just outside of public view, trainers may give the elephants painful whacks or blows to remind them who's in control and to ensure that the elephants perform the specified tricks on command.

Animals in the circus are routinely whipped, beaten with long metal rods, shocked with electric prods, and struck with clubs. Trainers often strike elephants with a bullhook or an ankus on the sensitive areas of their skin such as around their eyes, under their chin, inside their mouth, and behind their knees and ears. A bullhook is also sometimes used to hit animals across the face. Bears have their noses broken and their paws burned to teach them to walk on their hind legs. Carson & Barnes trainers have even been documented using blowtorches on elephants. Circuses easily get away with these cruel practices because no government agency monitors training sessions.

A number of animals are even drugged to make them more manageable. Others have their teeth removed; one group of chimpanzees had their teeth knocked out by a hammer. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus use some of the worst training practices with elephants ever documented. Elephants have a very similar life cycle to humans and they care for their young much like we do. These captive elephants are forced to breed as young as 8 years old, that's like breeding an 8-year-old child. After the mother gives birth, tied by 3 legs the entire time, the babies are taken away immediately which causes the mother severe duress. Ringling Bros. chains the mother by all 4 legs to take the baby away so that the mother elephant won't be able to hurt the trainers. Even before being weaned these baby elephants are put in a separate area from their mothers and are then chained for up to 23 hours a day. In the wild, elephants often nurse their babies until five years of age. Then the "correction process" for the baby elephants starts where they are tied up and beaten repeatedly to break their spirit. This training process is so brutal, that Ringling Bros. WILL NOT let their own PR department film the training of these baby elephants.

ONGOING CONFINEMENT

Ongoing travel means that circus animals are confined to boxcars, trailers, or trucks for days at a time in extremely hot and cold weather, often without access to basic necessities such as food, water, and veterinary care. Elephants, primates, big cats, and bears are confined to cramped, filthy cages in which they eat, drink, sleep, defecate, and urinate- all in the same place. The climates circus animals encounter during their exhaustive travels are often very different than that of their natural habitats. Bears are forced to endure extreme heat in the summer, and sometimes even walk across hot concrete on their way into the performing arena. Lions, on the other hand, find the cold very difficult to bear; some circus animals freeze to death.

The majority of circus elephants are captured in the wild. These wild elephants walk as much as 40 miles a day while in their natural habitat. Once captured, they are chained in one place for up to 23 hours a day. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus brag that it's three units travel more than 25,000 miles as the circus tours the country for 11 months each year. Ringling Bros. own documents state that on average, elephants are chained for more than 26 hours straight and are sometimes continually chained for as many as 60 to 100 hours. When the animals arrive at their next destination, instead of being let off the railway cars immediately after arriving at the arena, they are sometimes forced to remain inside for hours despite extreme temperatures.

Two large cats in cramped cage at Ringling Bros

Baby elephants chained at Ringling's elephant farm

ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR

Elephants are very social creatures and they form tight bonds with their families and other elephants. They feel joy, compassion, sadness, and grief just like humans do. Many circus animals become dysfunctional, unhealthy, depressed, and aggressive as a result of unnatural and unrelenting confinement in which they are kept and treated. When these elephants have their babies taken away, that lifelong relationship is abruptly terminated and every moment, every natural instinct, and every natural behavior is subject to discipline.

Some signs of abnormal behavior found in captive elephants include rocking, swaying, head-bobbing, or other repetitive movement. These behaviors are signs of extreme psychological distress. Elephants who are breathing with their mouths open are usually in pain. Captive large cats and bears pace back and forth and some bears have been known to beat their heads against their cages. Bar biting and self-mutilation are also common among circus animals and is directly related to the stress caused by confinement.

PUBLIC SAFETY AND EDUCATION

Wild animals behave instinctively and unpredictably. Circus animals have run amok through streets, crashed into buildings, attacked members of the public, and killed and injured handlers.

Additionally, some circus elephants have been diagnosed with a human strain of Tuberculosis (TB) and have passed it on to their handlers. Elephants in circuses are predisposed to TB because of routine transport that often exposes them to other infected elephants and because of stress factors, including severe punishment, constant confinement, inconsistent water quality and food supply, and poor nutrition. TB is an airborne disease which spreads through tiny droplets in the air. If TB is diagnosed in an elephant there are clear public health implications as the disease can be spread by close contact with infected animals and people. Circuses often allow members of the public to feed, pet, and ride the elephants which put them at great risk.

Observing circus animals teaches the public and children nothing about the natural behaviors of the animals. A lot of people mistakenly believe that captive breeding will help elephants and other species from becoming extinct. However, elephants that are born in the breeding centers of circuses can never be returned to the wild. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus operate under the umbrella of conservation. Ringling Bros. built a property in Florida that is known as "The Center for Elephant Conservation". This "farm" is not open to the public. A former worker at Ringling's elephant farm became a whistleblower on their training methods and took pictures and videos detailing the abuse. Gary Jacobson, the general manager of Ringling's elephant farm, was filmed roping all four legs of baby elephants and then stretching their legs in every direction to force them to the ground and break their spirits.

LCA SPEAKING UP FOR CIRCUS ANIMALS

LCA and animal activists have protested Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circuses throughout the United States. LCA's campaign against animals in circuses is dedicated to educating the public about the abuse circus animals suffer and working to get current footage and information to put an end to traveling animal circuses.

LCA needs volunteers to attend protests and to help film and photograph the circus. To volunteer, click here.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

* Do not visit circuses that use animals.

* Write to circus sponsors and tell them you do not want to see wild animals in circuses, for the sake of the animals and the public.

* Write letters to editors of local newspapers asking sponsors to stop supporting the circus.

* Organize or attend a protest.

* Support legislation protecting circus animals.

* Report any possible violations of state and local animal protection laws to the police and animal control.

CIRCUSES THAT DO NOT USE ANIMALS (PARTIAL LIST)

Cirque du Soleil, The New Pickle Family Circus, Bindlestiff Family Circus, Circus Millennia, Circus Smirkus, Cirque Eloize, Circus Oz, Mexican International Circus, Cirque Ingenieux, Earth Circus, Fern Street Circus, Little Russian Circus, Neil Goldberg's Circus, Circus Vargas

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Last chance for Animals is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating animal exploitation through education, investigations, legislation, and media attention. The organization believes that animals are highly sentient creatures who exist for their own reasons independent of their service to humans; they should thus not be made to suffer for the latter.

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Welcome to BBC Earth, a place to explore the natural world through awe-inspiring documentaries, podcasts, stories and more.

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Our ancestors have been hunting for around 400,000 years. In the past, hunting has played an important role in leadership and community formation. Before the agricultural revolution (around 10,000 years ago), primitive humans relied on the hunting of food for survival, however since the agricultural revolution, the need for hunting has reduced majorly in most parts of the world.
Despite this, poaching and hunting still both remain an important part of culture and the economy, where ever in the world they occur. For example: animal products like, horn, ivory, bone, and teeth, are sold to people who use these materials to produce/make jewelry, and clothes. In some societies, such as Latin American and African, wildlife is poached for game meat. Another example of wildlife hunting/ poaching could be that among the Banyoro, Baganda and Batooro of West and Central Uganda, the King traditionally sits on a leopard skin, the associated beliefs with this custom include that many tribes in Congo believe that leopard skin is a symbol of magic. Some people also believe that animals also have medicinal values. For example, some Lendu in Eastern Congo believe that the lion's liver cures skin diseases, and it is also can be used as a poison.

Some animals are poached because people want to stop them from encroaching on farms, and poaching is also a sport for some people. Although poaching is mostly under control, the illegal poaching of many of animals is leading to mass extinction of some species of animals.

One of the causes of the recent rise in poaching is the impact of China's economic boom. A report into the study of the ivory trade found that the number of ivory items on sale in key centers in southern China has more than doubled since 2004, with most traded illegally. These findings come amid reports of a dramatic rise in rhino poaching across Africa; there has been a drastic rise in the Rhino poaching across Africa. The price of rhino horn has soared in the Far East where it is used in alternative medicine as a cure for everything from nightmares to dysentery. In South Africa alone, where horn is worth more per gram than cocaine, the monitoring network "Traffic" reported that 333 rhinos were killed last year, and 193 in the first six months of this year. In 2007, only 13 rhinos were poached.

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Our ancestors have been hunting for around 400,000 years. In the past, hunting has played an important role in leadership and community formation. Before the agricultural revolution (around 10,000 years ago), primitive humans relied on the hunting of food for survival, however since the agricultural revolution, the need for hunting has reduced majorly in most parts of the world.

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Wildlife poaching has negative side effects that affect local communities, wildlife populations, and the environment. It is a crime fueled by a lucrative black market trade of animal parts. The animal parts are sold as novelty items and are sold for their "medicinal" properties. Environmental groups, animal rights groups, government agencies, and even the Duke of Cambridge are calling for an end to wildlife poaching. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), and The International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF) are leading international efforts to end wildlife poaching.

Poachers kill for profit. For example, bear gall bladders and big horned sheep antlers are worth top dollar for their so-called medicinal properties. This past November, at the National Wildlife Property Repository in Colorado, the wildlife service destroyed six tons of ivory confiscated at U.S. borders. Elephants are killed for their tusks because, while it is possible to remove the tusks without killing the elephant, they are too dangerous to remove when they are alive. The international community is responding. China recently increased its prosecutions of ivory smugglers, sentencing eight citizens to jail for bringing in over 3 tons of ivory between 2010 and 2012.

Effects on Local Communities

The United States is second to China in its desire for illegal wildlife parts. According to an On Earth article, poachers killed over 30,000 elephants last year. Experts believe that elephants will go extinct within the next decade if the killing continues at this rate.

The extinction of a species can have a negative economic effect on a local community's tourism industry. A community that relies on its wildlife to attract tourists is at great risk for economic hardship if the prevalence of poaching is high. Furthermore, a tourist boycott due to local poaching is a real threat. A boycott could have a detrimental effect on a community's economy since restaurants, hotels, rentals, and other attractions would suffer.

Effects on Animals

Extinction is the greatest threat to animals that are victims of wildlife poaching. In 2011, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUNC) declared the Western Black Rhinoceros extinct. This subspecies of the critically endangered Black Rhino was poached due to the belief in the healing properties of its horn.

The Sumatran Tiger is a critically endangered species right now. It is poached and sold for its parts (skin, teeth, bones, and claws) which sell for up to $5,000. Poaching is more lucrative than other jobs that are available in the region; a harsh reality faced by many individuals and communities.

Effects on the Environment

Poaching is also dangerous to the environment. When the North American Gray Wolf was on the brink of extinction, due to trophy hunting and poaching, the elk populations in Yellowstone National Park soared. With no natural predator, the elk nearly ate the aspen tree to extinction. Now, because of the increasing populations of gray wolves in the park, elk populations are balancing out and the aspen tree is recovering.

Our ecosystems are sensitive and must be preserved. The economic challenges of a community can lead to poaching, which in turn can lead to endangerment (and in the worst cases, extinction) of different species. We need various species of flora and fauna in our environmental ecosystems so that they can maintain healthy and balanced. The survival of our own species depends on it.

Get Involved

If you suspect poaching, use this list to contact the proper authorities. If you are a witness to poaching, dial 911 and report it. Wildlife poaching is a crime and should be treated as such.

Also, arm yourself with additional information, like from the sources below, and share it wide and far!

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster , the largest plant-based recipe app on the App Store to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks .

Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, donate if you can, grow your own food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don't forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!

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The Devastating Effects of Wildlife Poaching

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Wildlife poaching has negative side effects that affect local communities, wildlife populations, and the environment. It is a crime fueled by a lucrative black market trade of animal parts. The animal parts are sold as novelty items and are sold for their "medicinal" properties.

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At least 87 elephants have been killed for their ivory in Botswana in recent months, according to the conservation nonprofit Elephants Without Borders, which discovered the carcasses. It's a sharp and disturbing increase in poaching for a country that has been considered elephants' last stronghold in Africa, says Mike Chase, the organization's director.

"It came as a complete shock that we were discovering elephants that were poached deep within Botswana, within some world-renowned tourist concessions," he says. "It was completely unexpected."

Elephants Without Borders was conducting aerial surveys for the Botswana government when observers began noticing carcasses around the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage region far from the Namibian and Zimbabwean borders where poaching incidents have occurred more commonly in the country. The organization conducts an elephant census for the government every four years. The most recent census, in 2014, found nine recently killed elephants. This year's survey, which is only halfway complete, has already found 87.

Botswana's Department of Wildlife and National Parks today issued a statement saying the Elephants Without Borders claims are "false and misleading." The statement says only 53 were counted and that many had died from natural causes.

Chase stands by his numbers. "I am an objective scientist, with no political agenda. I am sad that our government has responded in this way." He says there's a GPS location for each of the 87 carcasses and that there are multiple witnesses who saw each one. Every flight has four people, including one government employee, and voice recordings from the flights will bear out these findings, Chase says.

Botswana is home to more than 130,000 elephants-about a third of Africa's savanna elephants-and it appeared to have largely escaped the recent ivory poaching crisis. Continent-wide elephant numbers dropped by 30 percent between 2007 and 2014, according to the Great Elephant Census, an 18-country comprehensive aerial elephant count conducted by Elephants Without Borders that was completed in 2016. Elephants play a critical role in Botswana's tourist economy, which drew nearly two million international visitors in 2017.

The discovery of these carcasses, which Chase says are mainly of older males with big tusks, could indicate a growing infiltration of organized poaching teams into the country. It comes at a time when humans are increasingly in conflict with elephants-in part because of Botswana's comparatively large elephant numbers. And it comes just as the government has decided to take weapons away from its rangers.

RANGERS LEFT TO FIGHT ARMED POACHERS WITHOUT GUNS

For decades Botswana has taken an aggressive approach toward poachers. During the late 1980s, former president Ian Khama, then the commander of the Botswana Defense Force (BDF), deployed 800 soldiers to help combat poaching and to assist anti-poaching game rangers. In 2014 Botswana adopted a unwritten shoot-to-kill policy, of debatable legality.

In May, Botswana's new president Mokgweetsi Masisi decided to disarm the country's anti-poaching unit. The month before when Masisi was sworn in, he discovered that there was never a legal framework for arming the anti-poaching unit. That's why their weapons were taken away, says Dereck Joubert, a wildlife filmmaker and National Geographic explorer-in-residence based in Botswana. The Department of Wildlife and National Parks calls it a "corrective measure."

Disarming the anti-poaching unit has led some, including Chase, to conclude that the recent killings were at least partly linked to the decision. While shoot-to-kill has always been a controversial anti-poaching strategy, giving rangers weapons has not.

"I find it very difficult that any government would send its citizens out to the front lines to fight highly organized criminal networks who are armed to the teeth without weapons," Chase says. "This is the largest elephant range left on the planet. It is very remote and difficult to access, and expecting the BDF [to handle it on their own] is not fair."

Still, Joubert finds it hard to believe that the disarming of the unit was the cause of these recent elephant killings. "To say the poaching occurred because the weapons were taken [from the anti-poaching unit] away doesn't make any sense. There are still 800 armed BDF out there," he says.

Goemeone Mogomotsi, a legal officer at the University of Botswana who has studied the country's anti-poaching strategies, called the decision to disarm the anti-poaching unit "unfortunate and regressive."

In a 2017 paper by Mogomotsi and his colleague Patricia Kefilwe Madigele, the co-authors argue that Botswana has become a haven for elephants precisely because it armed its game rangers and deployed the military to conservation areas. (They also argue that Botswana's shoot-to-kill policy helped as well, though this contention is strongly disputed by other scholars and is opposed by human rights advocates.)

The cause of the poaching of these 87 elephants is likely more complex than just the rangers' disarmament, says Vanda Felbab-Brown, a crime and security expert at the Brookings Institute.

"The announcement [that rangers would be disarmed] probably significantly contributed to temptation by poachers to intensify hunting. But I think it's simplistic to portray this as the sole cause," she says.

Poaching incidents have been increasing in Botswana during the past two years, she says, both at the community level and the professionalized level. She and Chase both make the point that as elephants have nearly been wiped out in neighboring countries, trafficking networks are likely moving into Botswana, where there are more animals to hunt.

Felbab-Brown also posits that Botswana's 2014 hunting ban may have led to more poaching. Communities that previously benefited from the trophy hunting industry and related tourism services lost employment opportunities and sources of income when the ban went into effect. Photographic tourism didn't increase enough to make up the difference, according to recent research by Joseph Mbaiwa at the Okavango Research Institute, at University of Botswana.

Communities also lost an important source of game meat, and the lack of hunting meant more more wildlife on village doorsteps. That has led to more encounters between people and elephants, thereby increasing the incentive to kill encroaching animals illegally. These factors combined to cause people living in rural areas to develop more negative attitudes toward wildlife, according to Mbaiwa, and that in turn may have spurred an increase in poaching.

Joubert disagrees. He says that when hunting was allowed, concessions were only occupied five months out of the year, leaving those areas especially vulnerable to poachers during the other seven months. With photographic tourism, the concessions are occupied year-round.

The government is now reviewing the hunting ban.

The demand for elephant ivory comes mainly from Asia, where it's seen as a status symbol by some. Ivory is carved into tusk-size sculptures, figurines, chopsticks, jewelry, and a myriad of other items. While the international trade in ivory has been banned since 1990, the domestic trade in China remained legal until the end of 2017.

China's landmark decision to close its ivory market was celebrated around the world. But, says Felbab-Brown, the fact that these 87 elephants were recently killed in a place like Botswana seems to indicate that the ban hasn't had the immediate effect many expected. "The ban has been effect for nine months, and this is still happening. It means there is still a lot of flow somewhere," she says. "The Chinese market has not dried up."

Hong Kong and Japan, both of which have legal domestic ivory markets, remain major destinations for illegal ivory, as does China and the United States.

"It's a bleak time in elephant conservation right now," Chase says.

Joubert cautions against implying that there's a poaching free-for-all in Botswana right now. Still, he says, "Even if one elephant has been killed, it's one elephant too many. We have to mobilize. We have to make sure it doesn't escalate."

Wildlife Watch is an investigative reporting project between National Geographic Society and National Geographic Partners focusing on wildlife crime and exploitation. Read more Wildlife Watch stories here, and learn more about National Geographic Society's nonprofit mission atnationalgeographic.org. Send tips, feedback, and story ideas tongwildlife@natgeo.com.

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Experts explain how the slaughter could have happened in a place like Botswana.

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At least 87 elephants have been killed for their ivory in Botswana in recent months, according to the conservation nonprofit Elephants Without Borders, which discovered the carcasses. It's a sharp and disturbing increase in poaching for a country that has been considered elephants' last stronghold in Africa, says Mike Chase, the organization's director.

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WILD HORSES
America's wild horses are being managed to extinction and Friends of Animals is fighting for their lives.

Six states have already lost their wild horse populations: Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. And since the passage of the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971, wild horses have lost an additional 41 percent of their habitat.

In our fight to protect wild horses, FoA has secured 13 victories in court, ensuring that herds remain with their families on the range instead of being ripped from federal public lands through cruel roundups. All the cases have revealed that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which caters to cattle and sheep ranchers, is cutting corners and knowingly violating the National Environmental Policy Act. In addition, the agency has not been transparent about the impacts associated with forcibly drugging mares with the fertility pesticide PZP.

In 2020, the BLM quietly slipped another report to Congress outlining management and requested $116.8 million for the Wild Horse and Burro Program. The agency is calling for massive removals, permanent sterilization, sale without limitation and slaughter.

The truth is there is no evidence that there are too many wild horses on federal public lands. Upwards of 2 million cattle graze public lands, not to mention sheep, and the government has authorized thousands of oil, gas and mineral extraction projects on these areas as well, compared to a measly 79,568 wild horses. These activities, not wild horses, are damaging the environment, fragmenting wildlife habitat, and contributing to climate change.

Help us stop the BLM's wild horse extinction plan and fight for freedom.

Learn more about our ongoing litigation here. Learn more about our victories here.

FLIP OFF FUR
Although historic legislation to ban the sale of fur in NYC-which Friends of Animals helped draft and get introduced-has yet to cross the finish line, there is much to be thankful for in terms of the demise of the fur industry.

While it can be a Herculean task to motivate legislatures, public backlash matters, and these days consumers want no part of the violence toward animals and the harm to the environment that is at the core of the fur industry thanks to our decades-long public awareness campaigns.

Since consumers keep designers and retailers in business, the biggest names in fashion have fallen like dominoes, one after the other, banning fur from their designs and shelves. Who can forget Donatella Versace's quote heard round the world in 2018? "Fur? I am out of that. I don't want to kill animals to make fashion. It doesn't feel right," the Italian designer said in an interview for The Economist's 1843 magazine. Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga are the most recent to join the growing list of retailers and brands flipping off fur.

Even Canada Goose, whose parkas trimmed with coyote skins have become ubiquitous, announced in 2021 it will stop buying fur by the end of the year and cease manufacturing all fur products by the end of 2022. Macy's became the biggest U.S. retailer to phase out the sale of animal fur in 2021.

Israel made history this summer by becoming first country to ban the fur trade and in 2019, California became the first U.S. state to enact a law banning the sale of fur products, which takes effect in 2023.

Stay tuned for our continued efforts to push NYC to flip off fur. In the meantime, you can support our anti-fur efforts by wearing our Flip off Fur t-shirt, our anti-fur buttons, sharing our brochure and making a donation.

BANNING TROPHY HUNTING
It is shameful that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issues permits to import the parts of lions, elephants, leopards, giraffes, rhinos and other species from Africa, where so-called conservation programs fail to meet accepted standards for transparency, scientific management and effectiveness.

At least 1.2 million animals were legally killed by American hunters and sent to the U.S. as trophies between 2005-2014. From 2005 to 2014, 159,144 animals were imported into New York as trophies-including 1,541 lions; 1,130 elephants and 83 pairs of tusks; 1,169 leopards, and 110 white rhinos. In Connecticut, where FoA is headquartered, hunters travelled to Africa and killed 39 lions and one giraffe between 2005-2016 and imported their trophies.

To protect these majestic species, FoA drafted legislation in Connecticut and New York, which is the largest importer of trophies in the nation, that would ban the possession, sale, or import of these trophies. Africa's majestic animals are on the decline. The population of African elephants, lions, giraffes, rhinos, leopards and black and white rhinos are declining at an alarming rate and federal protections are not strong enough. States must step in to do more to save these majestic, sentient beings including banning the import and sale of hunting trophies of their body parts.

Because of our efforts, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed the Big 5 African Trophies Act into law in 2021, preventing Connecticut trophy hunters from selling the body parts of the Big 5. We worked for five years to deliver this setback to the trophy hunting industry and to help protect these magnificent ecosystem engineers. The legislation is working its way through the New York legislature.

Friends of Animals also filed a rulemaking petition with USFWS in 2021 to stop the importation of all sport-hunted "trophies" of threatened and endangered animals. FWS hasn't responded yet. If the agency denies the petition, then FoA can challenge it in court.

If the goal of the Endangered Species Act is conservation of species, US regulations should not grant a loophole legalizing the slaughter of the most vulnerable among them and then add insult to injury by permitting the glorification of the killing through the importation of their dismembered body parts. Permitting individuals to display lion and leopard heads or mount elephant tusks on the walls of their homes undermines the message that we should be protecting these imperiled species.

ENDING THE NYC CARRIAGE HORSE TRADE

Friends of Animals has monitored, criticized and agitated against the carriage horse trade in New York City for decades.

Owners, drivers and some tourists justify the industry because it's "a tradition," saying horses have been pulling carriages through Central Park since it opened in 1858.

Tradition doesn't make animal abuse acceptable. FoA had a front-row seat to the nose-to-tailpipe existence of NYC carriage horses when we had a Columbus Circle office, and it our long-standing ties to NYC and to the many FoA members who live there continues to fuel our efforts to pass legislation that would abolish this inhumane practice industry for good.

While there have been lame attempts to regulate the industry, FoA has always remained steadfast that you cannot regulate atrocities. We have never wavered from calling for a full ban and for the horses to be released by their owners to accredited sanctuaries.

In 2019, New York City's horse-drawn carriage lines were moved out of busy midtown traffic and restricted to Central Park, however the horses still must travel alongside vehicular traffic on busy streets to get to the park.

Horses are also prohibited from being worked when the air temperature is 90 degrees Fahrenheit or above, or whenever the air temperature is 80 degrees Fahrenheit or above and the equine heat index is 150 or above. Equine heat index is defined as the sum of the air temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit, and the relative humidity at a particular point in time.

Still carriage horses are collapsing, spooking and getting into accidents in NYC.

Horses, who are prey animals and prone to spooking inside and outside Central Park, should not be forced to pull heavy carriages loaded with people among dense traffic, exhaust fumes, street construction and honking horns, with taxis and buses speeding by.

What's more, NYC carriage horses are robbed of their so-called daily turnout, which horse experts deem necessary for their well-being. Studies link pasture time to stronger bones, better respiratory health, reduced colic risk and lower stress levels. Turnout gives horses a chance to fill their need for social contact with other horses-such as mutual grooming.

Horses exploited by the NYC carriage horse industry- who typically work for nine hours each working day and are unable to flourish in their own way-will never flourish until the industry is banned and they are released to a qualified sanctuary.

We support a transition of the industry to electric carriages without horses, as other metropolitan areas around the world have successfully done.

BANNING PESTICIDES
FoA is working on a local, state and national level to ban the use of pesticides, such as glyphosate and chlorpyrifos, on public lands and working to encourage organic methods on private property.

Pesticides, including herbicides, insecticides and rodenticides, put pollinators, birds, amphibians and other wildlife in harm's way. Studies show that the use of professionally applied pesticides is associated with a 70 percent higher risk of canine malignant lymphoma. Many pesticides are toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms as well as being toxic to bees, birds and other pollinators.

Roundup, the most popular weed killer in the world, has as its most active ingredients glyphosate and 2,4-D. The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate in 2015 as a "probable carcinogenic to humans'' and concluded that the chemical likely causes a range of cancers, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, renal cancers, skin cancers and pancreatic cancer.

FoA supported the groundbreaking New York City bill that bans the use of toxic pesticides in city parks. We are grateful to NYC Council members Ben Kallos and Carlina Rivera for introducing the bill and to our members who acted in 2020 when we asked them to support the legislation and help move it forward.

The bill authorizes the use of only biological pesticides (except in the case of some applicable exemptions) and bans all city agencies from spraying highly toxic pesticides, such as glyphosate, which was one of the city's most heavily used liquid herbicide. Roundup was sprayed 1,365 times in 2013, according to a NYC Health Department report.

In 2019, a jury in Oakland, California awarded a couple $2 billion in damages after finding that sustained exposure to Monsanto's Roundup weed killer led to their cancer diagnoses. Other juries have reached similar verdicts.

BLACK BEARS
In 2021, FoA helped form the Connecticut Coalition to Protect Black Bears with a number of other prominent animal and environmental advocacy groups because of misleading information circulating about black bears, including that they need to be managed with a bear hunt.

Through educational outreach and legislative advocacy, the coalition promotes proven non-lethal strategies that allow people and Connecticut's native black bears to co-exist. The group's first webinar, "Becoming Bear Aware in Connecticut: Learn how to keep bears wild and people safe," can be watched here.

Read FoA's most recent op-ed about black bears here.

Learn about communities that manage residents' behavior and prove that symbiotic relationships with these magnificent mammals are possible here.

You can purchase our black bear brochure here.

SAVING NATIONAL FORESTS
We have joined the Climate Forest campaign to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests from logging across America's public lands as a cornerstone of U.S. climate policy. The older parts of our nation's forests are climate and biodiversity champions - they sequester large amounts of carbon and can store that carbon for centuries, providing the foundation for a diversity of life.

In November, Friends of Animals stood with Standing Trees, Climate Forests Coalition and Save Public Forests Coalition to protest a massive timber sale in Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont. The U.S. Forest Service has proposed logging up to 11,000 acres of mostly old trees in GMNF.

More than a hundred of us rallied outside the Rochester Ranger Station to show elected officials and FS staff that we want a ban on commercial logging and permanent protections for mature and old-growth forests on federal public lands.

Since then FoA's Wildlife Law Program staff has submitted comments to the U.S. Forest Service opposing the project.

You can read more about our efforts to protect climate-saving national forests in our Action Line cover story here:

Other resources
TOP TEN THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR NATIONAL FORESTS

PROTECTING HORSESHOE CRABS
The Connecticut General Assembly has voted to save the state's horseshoe crabs and the wildlife who depend on them for survival. On May 30, 2023 the Senate passed HB 6484 35-0. The legislation prohibits the hand capture and killing of horseshoe crabs from the waters and shoreline of the state. It passed the House unanimously 146-0 on April 27.

The bill, which Friends of Animals helped draft, has been signed by the governor will go into effect Oct. 1. It is the strongest bill of its type in the nation because it does not include a carve-out for the biomedical industry as New Jersey's ban does.

"Hope has arrived. Finally, Connecticut is drawing a line in the sand to stop the seasonal killing of horseshoe crabs along our shoreline," said Priscilla Feral, president of Darien-based Friends of Animals. "CT's quota for chopping up horseshoe crabs only to bait eel and whelk pots is a staggering 48,689 crabs each summer. The success of this legislation gives horseshoe crabs a fighting chance to recover from decades of exploitation."

Feral pointed out that it's gratifying to see a wildlife protection bill remain intact, have such overwhelming support and move so quickly through the legislature.

"It's a testament to state Rep. Joe Gresko, who introduced the clear, concise bill and whose genuine love for these ancient mariners gave the bill the energy it needed," she said. "We worked together to make the General Assembly understand that horseshoe crabs are already functionally extinct in Long Island Sound, which means they no longer play an effective role in their ecosystem, and that Connecticut needed to stop the reckless, unnecessary killing of horseshoe crabs for bait so people could eat smoked eel and conch fritters."

On the House floor, Rep. Gresko, who first became enamored by horseshoe crabs as a kid while watching them "right" themselves with their tails at Short Beach in Stratford, dedicated the legislation to the late Dr. Jennifer Mattei. Mattei was a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Horseshoe Crab Specialist Group, who Connecticut was lucky to have as a biology professor at Sacred Heart University. Mattei founded Project Limulus, a citizen-science project examining the ecology of the Long Island Sound horseshoe crab population. Her work over the past two decades led us to this point, Gresko said.

Mattei's work showed that the horseshoe crab is already "functionally extinct" in Long Island Sound. That means horseshoe crabs no longer play an effective role in their ecosystem and that negatively affects many other species.

"As Connecticut continues to make improvements to Long Island Sound, the wellbeing of horseshoe crabs is a benchmark that will hopefully now improve with the passage H.B. 6484. These living fossils have survived millions of years, so left alone, I'm confident they will return in numbers," said Rep. Gresko. "By safeguarding horseshoe crabs, we strengthen our marine food web for generations to come."

CT DEEP had revised regulations during the 2022 season, which still allowed approximately 15 permit holders to kill 150 horseshoe crabs per day from May 22-July 7, excluding weekends and five days around the full moon in June. That means theoretically that each license holder could still kill a staggering 4,350 individuals each summer.

Bolstered by this victory the state where its headquartered, Friends of Animals plans to get similar legislation introduced and passed in New York in 2024. FoA was founded in NY in 1957.

The Atlantic Marine Fisheries Commission downgraded the stocks of horseshoe crabs in the NY region, which includes Connecticut and the Long Island Sound, from Neutral to Poor in 2019.

Migratory birds need to eat horseshoe crabs' eggs, especially the threatened red knot. In 2021, fewer than 7,000 red knots were found in the Delaware Bay, a key spring stopover habitat. That's less than a third found in 2020. And red knot numbers remained at historically low levels in 2022. New Jersey banned the killing of horseshoe crabs in 2008.

Without sufficient horseshoe crab eggs to feed on, migratory birds run out of energy and die before reaching their breeding grounds. Horseshoe crabs are also an important source of food for other wildlife such as sea turtles, and species such as anemones, barnacles, oysters and seaweed use horseshoe crab shells as homes.

Horseshoe crabs have figured out how to harmonize with the environment to last half a billion years. Humans can really learn a thing or two from them.

Horseshoe crabs spawn in mid May and early June, during the high tides three days before and three days after the new moon and the full moon. Female horseshoe crabs come ashore, where the males are waiting. Time to lay the eggs-20,000 or more a night and as many as 80,000 in each mating season.

If you find a horseshoe crab on the beach this summer flipped over, offer this ancient mariner a hand by turning it over (not by the tail) so they can fulfill their vital role as a dominant species of the Long Island Sound ecosystem.
Opinion: Let's ban the slaughter of horseshoe crabs National Audubon flips the bird to crucial horseshoe crab protections Friends of Animals calls for emergency ban on harvesting of Connecticut horseshoe crabs

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FoA has been working to free animals from cruelty and institutionalized exploitation around the world since 1957.

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Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. Many of us bought our beloved "pets" at pet shops and kept beautiful birds in cages. We wore wool and silk, ate McDonald's burgers, and fished. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights?
In his book Animal Liberation, Peter Singer states that the basic principle of equality does not require equal or identical treatment; it requires equal consideration. This is an important distinction when talking about animal rights. People often ask if animals should have rights, and quite simply, the answer is "Yes!" Animals surely deserve to live their lives free from suffering and exploitation. Jeremy Bentham, the founder of the reforming utilitarian school of moral philosophy, stated that when deciding on a being's rights, "The question is not 'Can they reason?' nor 'Can they talk?' but 'Can they suffer?'" In that passage, Bentham points to the capacity for suffering as the vital characteristic that gives a being the right to equal consideration. The capacity for suffering is not just another characteristic like the capacity for language or higher mathematics. All animals have the ability to suffer in the same way and to the same degree that humans do. They feel pain, pleasure, fear, frustration, loneliness, and motherly love. Whenever we consider doing something that would interfere with their needs, we are morally obligated to take them into account.

Supporters of animal rights believe that animals have an inherent worth-a value completely separate from their usefulness to humans. We believe that every creature with a will to live has a right to live free from pain and suffering. Animal rights is not just a philosophy-it is a social movement that challenges society's traditional view that all nonhuman animals exist solely for human use. As PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk has said, "When it comes to pain, love, joy, loneliness, and fear, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. Each one values his or her life and fights the knife." Watch a video with Ingrid Newkirk from the 2015 Animal Rights National Conference here.

Only prejudice allows us to deny others the rights that we expect to have for ourselves. Whether it's based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or species, prejudice is morally unacceptable. If you wouldn't eat a dog, why eat a pig? Dogs and pigs have the same capacity to feel pain, but it is prejudice based on species that allows us to think of one animal as a companion and the other as dinner.

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Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos.

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Black Rhino

The Black Rhino is almost extinct in Africa because of poaching, and now they are critically endangered. There are somewhere around 2,500-4,800 rhinos left in the world. Poachers who kill black rhinos and sell their horns make $29,500+ per pound in profit. In fact, the black rhino's horn is worth more than gold. Rhino horn powder is believed to treat hangovers, fevers, and cancer. None of this is true! It just kills rhinos!

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Black Rhino The Black Rhino is almost extinct in Africa because of poaching, and now they are critically endangered. There are somewhere around 2,500-4,800 rhinos left in the world. Poachers who kill black rhinos and sell their horns make $29,500+ per pound in profit. In fact, the black rhino's horn is worth more than gold.

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How it is driving animals to extinction.

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Wild animals are being poached on a massive scale, with millions of individual animals of thousands of species worldwide killed or captured from their native habitats. Poaching poses a growing threat to elephants, rhinos, and other charismatic animals, as well as to smaller and more obscure creatures, like certain lizards and monkeys.

Why animals are poached

Poachers sometimes kill or capture animals to sell them locally or for the global trade in wildlife. Wildlife trading is a major black market that has increased alongside rising wealth in Asia-a major consumer of wildlife-and the advent of e-commerce and social media websites.

Some animals, such as birds, reptiles, and primates, are captured live so that they can be kept or sold as exotic pets. Slaughtered animals, on the other hand, have commercial value as food, jewelry, decor, or traditional medicine. The ivory tusks of African elephants, for example, are carved into trinkets or display pieces. The scales of pangolins, small animals that eat ants, are ground into powder and consumed for their purported healing powers. The meat of apes, snakes, and other bush animals is considered a delicacy in parts of Africa.

In addition to killing for direct profit, poachers target animals to prevent them from destroying crops or attacking livestock. This happens to lions and elephants in Africa, as well as to wolves, coyotes, and other predators in North America and beyond.

The effects of poaching

Poaching has devastating consequences for wildlife. In some instances, it's the primary reason why an animal faces a risk of extinction. This is the case with the African elephant, more than 100,000 of which were killed between 2014 and 2017 for ivory. Poaching has also had a catastrophic impact on rhinos, with more than a thousand slaughtered a year for their horns.

Poaching for the exotic pet trade affects an animal's welfare in addition to its numbers in the wild. Most wild animals eat specialized diets found in nature, and they need space to fly, roam, and swing from branches. Captured animals are stuffed into boxes, suitcases, or sacks, and even if they survive transport, they often suffer in their new, unnatural situations.

Then there's the tragic ways poaching affects people. In Africa, nearly 600 rangers charged with protecting wildlife were gunned down by poachers between 2009 and 2016 while in the line of duty. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Virunga National Park, one of the continent's most dangerous, at least 170 rangers have been killed during the past two decades.

What's more, poaching has been linked to armed militia groups in Africa suspected of trafficking ivory to fund their operations, and it often occurs alongside other crimes including corruption and money laundering. And poached animals can spread disease, such as Ebola and SARS.

Efforts to stop poaching

In addition to providing on-the-ground protection for animals, many countries make poaching an offense punishable by prison or monetary fees. Because poachers in Africa and Asia are often impoverished local people who make small profits in comparison to traders and kingpins, penalties for poaching wildlife are generally less severe than those for trafficking wildlife.

There are also numerous nonprofits around the world working to end wildlife poaching. Some of these groups have helped to promote alternative, more sustainable ways for poachers to earn a living. Another way people are working to end poaching is by trying to decrease demand for illegal wildlife and wildlife parts. If no one's buying the products, there will be no need to kill the animals.

Read more about poaching and wildlife crime at National Geographic's Wildlife Watch. See all of National Geographic's videos about poaching here.

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Wild animals are being poached on a massive scale, with millions of individual animals of thousands of species worldwide killed or captured from their native habitats. Poaching poses a growing threat to elephants, rhinos, and other charismatic animals, as well as to smaller and more obscure creatures, like certain lizards and monkeys.