Birds already face unprecedented challenges to their survival because of climate change and other manmade threats like habitat loss, building and vehicle collisions, power lines, cell towers and other communications infrastructure development.Photo by Emie Decker/iStock.com
The Trump administration, in its final days, is attempting to undo crucial, century-old protections for migratory birds as a handout to the construction and oil and gas industries.
Anew rule published this weekby the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would exempt industries from being prosecuted or penalized under the 100-year-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act if their actions, such as failure to cover tar pits or the spraying of banned pesticides, result in bird deaths.
If the deaths were unintentional, the FWS says in the rule, there will be no enforcement. “This rule simply reaffirms the original meaning and intent of the…
President Donald Trump speaks at the “Stop The Steal” Rally on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Trump supporters gathered in the nation’s capital today to protest the ratification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory over President Trump in the 2020 election.Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
The disturbing events and images from Wednesday, Jan.6, 2021, will live forever in infamy. It was on that day that insurrectionists attacked the sacred halls of the U.S. Capitol after being provoked, encouragedand fueled by President Donald Trump. It was Trump’s last-ditch effort to overturn our democratic election…
The disturbing incident, which took place on December 31, was filmed in Uttar Pradesh in the country’s far north.
In the footage, at least three men can be seen beating the critically endangered freshwater Ganges river dolphin as one man pins the animal down.
The dolphin struggles to free itself but is powerless against the group of men as blood pours from its body.
Horrific , difficult to watch video from UP’s Pratapgarh where these villagers beat a Dolphin ( yes a dolphin ) to death on dec 31 . Three arrested , says @pratapgarhpol . Must take a different level of depravity to do this … pic.twitter.com/KsV7eBZW4F— Alok Pandey (@alok_pandey) January 8, 2021
Towards the end of the 30-second clip, the dolphin appears to show few signs of life from the vicious attack.
“You are assaulting it for no reason,” one man can be heard saying, according to NDTV.
A forest department official who responded to a call about the incident, reportedly found the animal lying lifeless by the side of the Sharda Sahayak canal.
The official said the dolphin had received multiple injuries, including axe wounds. Villagers were reportedly unwilling to reveal how it died.
Three men have since been arrested after the video went viral on social media, according to the Pratapgarh Police Department.
In November, the gutted carcass of an endangered freshwater dolphin was found in a river sanctuary in Bangladesh, leading wildlife officials to express fears of a spike in poaching during the country’s coronavirus lockdown.
Residents in the town of Raojan spotted the body of the Ganges river dolphin on the banks of the Halda River, AFP reported. It contained a deep incision from the neck to the tail.
Poachers appeared to have gutted the 62-inch-long animal, removing layers of body fat—a product that is used in local traditional medicine—Abdullah al Mamun, an official from the Bangladeshi fishery department, told AFP.
The Ganges dolphin is critically endangered. According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are thought to be between just 1,200 and 1,800 Ganges river dolphins left living in the wild in Nepal, Bangladesh and India.
Concerns over poaching during coronavirus lockdowns have been raised by wildlife officials in countries around the world.
Poaching attempts have increased in Kaziranga National Park in India, which is home to the world’s biggest population of one-horned rhinos, during the country’s lockdown, AFP reported.
There has also been a spike in the killing of other animals in India, with poachers targeting the endangered Indian gazelle, peacocks, and other species, according to The Hindu Times.
The limited-edition perfume will be sold in a blood-red bottle and all money raised will be sent to Brain’s Save Me Trust, which works for wildlife protection.
Today, Queen legend Brian May is launching his own badger-scented perfume to raise funds for the protection of wildlife.
The limited-edition perfume will be sold in a blood-red bottle and all money raised will be sent to Brain’s Save Me Trust, which works for wildlife protection.
Taking to Instagram to make the announcement, May wrote: “What’s all this?!!
“Something I hope you will all love!
“The launch of the amazing SAVE-ME perfume! To benefit wild animals. Through the kindness of Sergio Momo – founder of Xerjoff !!!!
Speaking about the new launch, the Sun reported an insider, who said: “A lot of effort has gone into it and Brian did a lot of smellings before he was happy.
“The scent has deliberately earthy overtones — a hint of clean badger fur, some sandalwood, and something a bit limey.
“It’s surprisingly refreshing and hopefully will fly off the shelves.”
May, who regularly speaks out about animal-rights, participated in the Veganuary challenge in 2020 and later urged people to give the lifestyle a shot especially in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
In an interview, with NME, he spoke about the connection between eating animals and pandemics such as COVID-19. May said: “If you want to get deep into it, I think we should be looking again at whether we should be eating animals. That’s a central issue here.
“This pandemic seemed to come from people eating animals… It’s becoming more well known that eating animals is not the greatest thing for our health.
“But to go vegan was just a decision, and I haven’t been preachy about it. But now, we’ve seen more of the effects of how eating animals has brought us to our knees as a species. I think it’s time to re-examine our world in a way that doesn’t abuse other species.
“Whether we will see that happen, I don’t know. But I think I will start to be a bit more preachy about veganism because to me it is the way forward, in so many ways.”
That, in turn, could result in bitter cold air pushing southward into the United States within a couple of weeks, though where exactly that Arctic air will swoop down — and for how long — remains uncertain.
MONTMORENCY COUNTY, MI – Two Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officers found a fresh bobcat carcass in a man’s freezer while investigating an illegal trapping complaint recently.
The incident occurred in Northern Michigan’s Montmorency County a few days before bobcat trapping season started. Conservation Officer Sidney Collins responded to a complaint of a bobcat that was caught in a foothold trap, according to a DNR report.
Once Collins got to the area where the trap was located, she saw the bobcat was gone, but noticed blood and fur in the empty trap’s catch circle. She was able to identify the trapper. The next day, Collins and Conservation Officer Paul Fox went to the man’s cabin. The man initially denied catching a bobcat…
As many of you can surely imagine, sharing all these vacuous, anthropocentric, mainstream media headlines can eventually get to you. You end up feeling like shouting out, “Tell it like really is, you speciesist bastards!” But clearly, the average journalist couldn’t give a whit about the lives of non-humans. They are reporting to their readership base and wouldn’t want to risk their cushy job by thinking for themselves or a hair outside the box.
The article that set me off this time made the bland, one-sided declaration that, “131 hunters find success during December elk hunt in Northern Michigan.” A similarly bias view would be something like, ‘121 terrorists find success during their latest bombing raids’ or ‘141 serial rapists found success Friday night…’ In each case, the victims were blanketly disregarded and objectified.
But then, even posing for photos, like the one that accompanied the elk-hunting article, exhibits objectification…
Amob of people backing President Donald Trump’s coup-like effort to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday, breaching security fences, entering the building, and bringing to a halt the process of Congress certifying Electoral College votes.
As of this writing, the Capitol building has been placed on lockdown and lawmakers have been evacuated. Photos taken inside the building show Trump supporters roaming throughout the building, sitting in the office chairs of lawmakers such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California), and posing in the chair that’s normally reserved for the president of the Senate in that legislative chamber.
U.S. Capitol police officers point their guns at a door that was vandalized in the House Chamber during a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
Reports of an armed standoff between Trump loyalists and Capitol police were also tweeted out by Bloomberg News reporter Erik Wasson. “Armed standoff on House floor. Police pointing guns at protestors who have broken glass door,” Wasson wrote.
Images from inside the Capitol show Trump supporters who breached security inside the Senate chambers standing in the gallery as well as on the Senate floor. Reports at this time have stated that all lawmakers within the building have been moved to secure locations.
As of 3:55 p.m. Eastern Time, President Donald Trump has issued two tweets directly addressing his supporters regarding the unrest inside the Capitol. None of the tweets from the president, however, are asking his supporters to remove themselves from the building to allow the certification process to continue.
A Trump supporter sits in the Senate Chamber on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
“I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence!” Trump wrote. “Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!”
Trump had addressed his supporters earlier in the day outside the White House, telling them that he would continue to try and overturn the results of the election. Biden won 306 Electoral College votes in November’s race to Trump’s 232.
Trump also expressed his desire for Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally reject Electoral College votes, a power the vice president doesn’t actually have, according to the Constitution.
Trump supporters interact with Capitol Police inside the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter made public on Wednesday, Pence refuted Trump, pointedly stating that he cannot do what the president was asking of him.
“Some believe that as Vice President, I should be able to accept or reject electoral votes unilaterally,” Pence said in the document. “Others believe that electoral votes should never be challenged in a Joint Session of Congress. After a careful study of our Constitution, our laws, and our history, I believe neither view is correct.”
Trump supporters enter the Senate Chamber on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
Following the speech, thousands of Trump’s supporters walked to Capitol Hill, where they attempted to breach several buildings, breaking through several layers of security fencing in the process.
The Madison and Cannon buildings on the Capitol Complex were initially evacuated due to the tumult. Reporters said that some in those buildings were encouraged to use underground tunnels if they had to go somewhere else.
A supporter of President Trump sits inside the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi while inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021.
Some lawmakers appeared to be placing blame on each other, too, for the storming of the Capitol. “This is what you’ve gotten,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) reportedly said during the confusion, directing his ire toward Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who had objected to certifying Arizona’s Electoral College votes moments before the Capitol was stormed.
Yet another epidemic wrecks havoc in the nation!By Malavika Menon -January 6, 2021
While India is currently in the thick of things regarding securing vaccines against COVID-19, a new complication has arisen in many of its states — a bird flu epidemic that has taken the lives of many of our local and migratory feathered friends.
Avian influenza, the dreaded virus responsible for the spread of bird flu, has killed nearly 1700 ducks in the districts of Alappuzha and Kottayam in Kerala, 2400 migratory waterbirds in Himachal Pradesh, 250 crows in Rajasthan and almost 400 crows in Madhya Pradesh.
© Provided by SalonDonald Trump
© Lisa Wiltse/Getty File photo: A bottle nosed dolphin swimming in the Bay of Islands in Pahia, New Zealand.
Image: @brianmayforreal / Instagram
© CNN weather
© CNN weatherForecast temperatures for January 16, 2021
Exposing the Big Game 