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crimes against nature: tiger trade takedown

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The tiger population has dwindled to around 3500 -- due to the high price a tiger fetches on the black market.

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What is poaching? A Newsround guide - CBBC Newsround

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Newsround is looking into poaching as part of a brand new special called Defending the Rhino. Find out about poaching and what's being done to stop it.

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Children for Africa :: African Rhino Poaching facts for Kids and Adults

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Rhino poaching is a huge problem. Find out more about it her! For adults as well as Children

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Poaching Facts for Kids | KidzSearch.com

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Poaching is the illegal hunting, killing or capturing of animals. People poach because animal products, such as hide, ivory, horn, teeth and bone, are sold to dealers who make clothes, jewelry and other materials from them. The poaching causes various effects, its most direct impact is extinction, either globally or within a given locality.

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After the US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated their populations had declined by as much as 95%, the rusty patched bumble bee is the first native bee species to be listed as endangered in the continental United States

On 11 January, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published a rule to list the rusty patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis, as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Thanks to interference by the current White House administration, at the urging of several corporations, the effective date for this listing was postponed from 10 February until today.

The campaign to list the rusty patched bumblebee as endangered began after the USFWS estimated that the species had declined by as much as 95%. Originally found throughout grasslands and tall grass prairies in 31 eastern and mid-western states, and in southern Canada, the species now comprises tiny, isolated populations in just 12 states and in the province of Ontario.

"There are a few little spots where we know they are," said James Strange, a research entomologist and bumble bee ecologist at the USDA.

"But only a really few spots."

Listing the rusty patched bumble bee was historic because this is the first bumble bee species, and the first bee found on the continental United States, to ever be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This listing is the result of a five-year campaign by environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and based on input from tens of thousands of citizen scientists and private citizens.

This bee's dramatic decline is not the result of any one event. Instead, it is the result of many human-caused factors that feed back on each other and amplify their effects. Both urban and agricultural sprawl certainly play an important role. Agriculture's shift from small family farms producing a variety of crops to huge corporate monopolies that produce just one or two crops have destroyed vast stretches of available habitat fragments filled with native wildflowers and terrain that feed and house bumble bees and other native pollinator species.

"Of additional concern is the widespread use of persistent, long-lasting, highly toxic insecticides within the range of the rusty patched bumble bee, which pose a threat to its continued existence," said Sarina Jepsen, Director of Endangered Species and Aquatic Conservation at the Xerces Society.

CropLife America, the trade group representing pesticide manufacturers, mentioned in a statement that "field studies have consistently found no unreasonable adverse effects on pollinator populations when pesticides are applied according to label directions." But the USFWS proposes that native bumble bees could be more sensitive to the effects of pesticides than domesticated commercial honeybees.

"There is a whole suite of insecticides that are broadly used throughout North America and the only species that the toxicity has been tested on is the honeybee," pointed out Rich Hatfield, a conservation biologist with the Xerces Society who helped launch the petition to list the rusty patched bumble bee.

"Using [honeybees] as proxy for all the bee species in North America is not appropriate," Mr. Hatfield said.

Another issue receiving widespread attention is disease: commercially reared bees tend to be infected with a variety of diseases and pathogens that can take a toll on wild bumble bees. Other factors that are impacting bumble bees include competition from non-native honeybees; the effects of extremely small populations, and climate change.

In addition to being native species that evolved alongside their flowering plants, bumble bees are critically important crop pollinators in their own right. Bumble bees are generalists, and they are the key pollinators for a variety of important crops such as apples, plums, onions, melons, squash, alfalfa and peppers.

"Native pollinators in the U.S. provide essential pollination services to agriculture which are valued at more than $9 billion annually," said Eric Lee-Mäder, co-director of the the pollinator program at the Xerces Society.

Bumble bees specialize in an unusual form of pollination known as "buzz pollination" or "sonication", where the bee hangs from the flower and vibrates its flight muscles rapidly, which shakes loose pollen that is held tightly by the flower. Although only 8% of plants rely upon buzz pollination, these include some of our favorite food crops, such as tomatoes, potatoes, blueberries and cranberries. (Honeybees are physically unable to perform buzz pollination.)

Bumble bees are generally cold-tolerant insects, but even amongst their relatives, the rusty patched bumble bee is special; it flies in cold temperatures and at elevations that even many species of bumblebees cannot deal with. This cold-tolerance means that rusty-patched bumble bees are active for much of the year, and thus, they require access to a variety of flowers over a long period of time.
How you can help bumble bees and other native insect pollinators

1. plant native wildflowers that bloom throughout the year in containers on your window sill, porch or deck, or in your garden. Since these flowers attract bumble bees and other pollinators, they will enhance pollination of your fruit and vegetable crops too

2. avoid all pesticide use. Instead, use a "companion planting" system to discourage pests from snacking on your plants

3. provide bee/insect hotels for insects to nest in

4. work with the citizen science group, Bumble Bee Watch, to help identify and locate bumble bee species all across North America

This lovely video shares the story of the rusty patched bumble bee and its journey to becoming listed as endangered:
Read more:
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status for Rusty Patched Bumble Bee (PDF)

Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Officially Listed As Endangered | @GrrlScientist
Love science? Me too! I'm very active on twitter @GrrlScientist, and you can follow my writing on Medium and by subscribing to my weekly TinyLetter

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Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Officially Listed As Endangered

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After the US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated their populations had declined by as much as 95%, the rusty patched bumble bee is the first native bee species to be listed as endangered in the continental United States On 11 January, the U.S.

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Scientists try to regrow a dying coral reef 25 times faster than nature

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The world's coral reefs are in perilous danger due to overfishing, pollution and climate change. But a team of scuba-diving scientists has developed a groundbreaking method for speeding up coral growth in hopes of stemming the underwater crisis. Hari Sreenivasan reports from the Florida Keys.

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Coral in the Great Barrier Reef is Dying

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Coral in the Great Barrier Reef is Dying

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THE MEASURED warming of the planet is not hypothetical. Nor are its effects, which are happening now, not decades from now. An ecological catastrophe is unfolding off Australia's coast: Humans are killing the Great Barrier Reef, one of the world's greatest natural wonders, and there's nothing Australians on their own can do about it. We are all responsible.

An ocean water temperature spike last year caused a massive "bleaching" event, in which colorful corals turned an antiseptic, sickly white. Scientists believe that the reef will never be the same.

"The chances of the northern Great Barrier Reef returning to its pre-bleaching assemblage structure are slim given the scale of damage that occurred in 2016 and the likelihood of a fourth bleaching event occurring within the next decade or two as global temperatures continue to rise," a major new study in the journal Nature reported last week.

Alarmingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, the Australian government reports that sections of the reef are getting slammed again this year.

Corals are polyp creatures that build their iconic limestone structures in cooperation with photosynthesizing algae. When ocean temperatures increase, the algae emit poisons. The corals then reject their symbiotic partners and succumb to disease and death. This occurred across a vast section of the northern Great Barrier Reef last year.

Under normal conditions, corals can often recover from big bleaching shocks, but conditions are no longer normal. Higher background ocean temperatures mean that dangerous spikes are more likely. Corals decades of years old may be replaced by " weedier," faster-growing species - or by none at all.

There is little doubt that temperature is the culprit. Reefs far away from human runoff and other local risks are suffering. Corals in pristine water bleached just like those in dirty water. The Nature study quantified a relationship between exposure to warm water and the severity of observed bleaching.

"Immediate global action to curb future warming is essential to secure a future for coral reefs," the study warned. "Water quality and fishing pressure had minimal effect on the unprecedented bleaching in 2016, suggesting that local protection of reefs affords little or no resistance to extreme heat. Similarly, past exposure to bleaching in 1998 and 2002 did not lessen the severity of bleaching in 2016."

Also last week, the Trump administration proposed deep cuts for the Environmental Protection Agency, singling out climate programs, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which monitors Earth's seas and skies. President Trump also began what will no doubt be a broad rollback of Obama administration climate rules. Meanwhile, the president is still thinking about pulling the country out of the landmark Paris climate deal, which took decades to strike. The administration has offered no sense that it has any alternative emissions-cutting strategy in mind.

In the long run, the planet will change enough - hurting enough people in the process - that even Republicans will have to admit the issue must be addressed. The question is what price the nation and the world will pay, in dollars, lives and ecological catastrophe, because our leaders were negligent in the meantime.

Read more here:

The Post's View: The Great Barrier Reef is dying, and global warming set the scene

Eugene Robinson: Trump can't deny climate change without a figh t

Katrina vanden Heuvel: Get ready for Trump's climate-denial offensive

The Post's View: Leaving the Paris agreement would be a gratuitous thumb in everyone's eye

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Opinion | The Great Barrier Reef is dying

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THE MEASURED warming of the planet is not hypothetical. Nor are its effects, which are happening now, not decades from now. An ecological catastrophe is unfolding off Australia's coast: Humans are killing the Great Barrier Reef, one of the world's greatest natural wonders, and there's nothing Australians on their own can do about it.

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Koalas are famously cute and cuddly, but are they also doomed? Experts have warned Australian lawmakers that the population of tree-dwelling marsupials is plummeting, with no sign of relief. Here, a brief guide to the multitude of factors that might be pushing koalas close to extinction:

How many koalas are left?
Their numbers have dropped by as much as 95 percent since the 1990s. There are as few as 43,000 koalas - and almost certainly no more than 100,000 - left in the wild on the Australian mainland. The population in southeast Queensland alone has plummeted from 25,000 to 4,000 in the last decade. "This species is supposed to be common, says University of Queensland nature conservationist Christine Hosking, as quoted in Britain's Independent, "yet it's slipping to extinction under our noses."

Why are these cuddly creatures in such trouble?
In Queensland, a big problem is development, which has destroyed bushland where koalas thrive. And as housing pushes into what used to be rural Koala habitat, the animals face the possibility of attacks by feral or domestic dogs. Some also get run over by cars. Climate change is worrisome, too. Koalas aren't built to cope with droughts and heatwaves, which appear to be getting more common in southern Australia. And rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is reducing the nutrient content of eucalyptus leaves, the koala's sole food source, reports Britain's Independent.

Any other threats to koalas?
Disease is also taking a toll. With their numbers dwindling, in-breeding has become more common in some koala populations, and that can magnify each new generation's susceptibility to disabilities and disease, reports Australia's The Age. To make matters worse, koalas have been struck by an HIV-type retrovirus, and chlamydia, which renders half the koala population infertile.

This sounds really bad. What will the future bring?
A 2009 report warned that if left alone, the spread of the retrovirus alone could propel koalas to extinction within 30 years. Allowing that to happen, says Australian Greens party leader Bob Brown, would be as disastrous as letting China's pandas disappear. And don't forget: Koalas bring Australia an estimated $1 billion a year in tourism income.

Can anything save the koala?
That's hard to say. Planting trees for food and shelter will help. Another first step, conservationists say, is to acknowledge the problem by listing koalas as endangered, which would make it easier to protect remaining habitat, and raise money for research on a chlamydia vaccine. But the country's Sustainability Ministry has twice rejected that plan. "We can't afford to wait until the population is down to 10,000 before we do something," says University of Queensland landscape ecologist Clive McAlpine, "because by then it will be too late."

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Koalas are famously cute and cuddly, but are they also doomed? Experts have warned Australian lawmakers that the population of tree-dwelling marsupials is plummeting, with no sign of relief. Here, a brief guide to the multitude of factors that might be pushing koalas close to extinction: How many koalas are left?

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The National Wildlife Federation

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More than one-third of U.S. fish and wildlife species are at risk of extinction in the coming decades. We're on the ground in seven regions across the country, collaborating with 53 state and territory affiliates to reverse the crisis and ensure wildlife thrive.

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The National Wildlife Federation The page you were looking for could not be located on our site. Please try entering the information you were looking for into our search: Sign Up for Updates More than one-third of U.S. fish and wildlife species are at risk of extinction in the coming decades.

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Saving nature is at the very heart of what we do as WWF. For 60 years, we have made it our mission to find solutions that save the marvelous array of life on our planet by applying the best science available and working closely with local communities.

But our work is far from done. Humans are behind the current rate of species extinction, which is at least 100-1,000 times higher than nature intended. We've seen an average decline of 69% in species populations since 1970, according to WWF's Living Planet Report 2022.

And the impacts will reach far beyond the potential cultural loss of iconic species like tigers, rhinos, and whales.

The good news is we've also seen what's working. WWF has been part of successful wildlife recovery stories ranging from southern Africa's black rhino to black bucks in the Himalayas. And this, in turn, is helping to protect rich and varied ecosystems while ensuring people continue to benefit from nature.

This much is clear: we cannot afford to fail in our mission to save a living planet.
View All Species >

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Wildlife Conservation | Initiatives | WWF

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Saving nature is at the very heart of what we do as WWF. For 60 years, we have made it our mission to find solutions that save the marvelous array of life on our planet by applying the best science available and working closely with local communities.

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The White Pelican

Back to Animals

Protecting Animals in National Parks

One of the main ways that governments can help to conserve wildlife is to help protect wildlife habitats. Many governments have national parks where activities like hunting, mining, farming, and fishing are illegal. Most of the time development is prevented or very limited in these areas.

The first national park was Yellowstone National Park in the United States. President Ulysses S. Grant made it a national park in 1872. Today there are 58 national parks covering over 200,000 square kilometers of land in the United States. Throughout the world, there are over 100 countries that together protect over 1000 national parks and wildlife preserves.

Captive Breeding

In some cases, the habitats for certain species have been destroyed to the point where the animals can no longer survive in the wild. Fortunately, in some cases zoos have maintained the species and helped them to grow their population while in captivity.

One example of this is the Arabian oryx. In the early 1970s the oryx was nearly hunted to extinction. The last few oryx were saved by zoos and the animal was declared extinct in the wild. Through captive breeding programs the population was increased. Some oryx were released back into the wild. In 2011 the Arabian oryx was the first animal that was successfully moved from the "extinct in the wild" list to the "vulnerable" list.

The American Black Bear

Tracking Animal Populations

An important part of protecting animals involves keeping track of animal populations. This helps scientists to know if the population is growing or shrinking. Scientists use a number of methods to try and understand animal populations.

Sometimes scientists track populations by having a number of people go out into an area and look at physical evidence such as animal tracks, dens or burrows, and feeding sites. This method can take a lot of people and time, but sometimes it is the only option available. It also can be dangerous when trying to track animals like tigers or rhinos.

Another way to track animals is to tag them with transmitters. With transmitters scientists can track animal movements including migration patterns. Today's technology has allowed transmitters to be much smaller. They can be placed under an animal's skin or even swallowed. Some advanced tracking technology uses GPS and allows scientists to track the exact location of the animal.

Remote control cameras are also used to track animals. These cameras sit in a clear weatherproof case and are often attached to a tree near a feeding site or wildlife trail. They use motion sensors which snap pictures of animals as they walk by.

Laws to Protect Animals

Another way that governments can help in protecting animals is with laws making it illegal to kill or harm endangered species. There are many laws and international treaties that protect animals. People who hurt or kill these protected animals can go to jail for a long time and pay heavy fines. Unfortunately, there are still some countries that have not signed the treaties or do not enforce the laws with heavy penalties.

Interesting Facts About Wildlife Conservation

There are more than 1,000 endangered species worldwide.

Around 2 million square miles of the planet is protected. This sounds like a lot, but is only 3% of the total land area.

The world's only true wild horse, the Przewalski's horse, became extinct in the wild. However, captive breeding and reintroduction to the wild has moved the horse back to the endangered list.

Three of the strongest conservation laws include the Endangered Species Act, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act.

A kilogram of elephant ivory can sell for as much as $1000. Rhino horns sell for even more.

The bald eagle was nearly wiped out by the pesticide DDT. After DDT was banned, the population increased and it was removed from the endangered list in 2007.

More on endangered species:
Amphibians in Danger
Endangered Animals
How Animals Become Extinct
Wildlife Conservation
Zoos

Back toAnimals

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The White Pelican Back to Animals Protecting Animals in National Parks One of the main ways that governments can help to conserve wildlife is to help protect wildlife habitats. Many governments have national parks where activities like hunting, mining, farming, and fishing are illegal.