Giganto, world’s largest ape, went down poor evolutionary path toward extinction
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Monthly Archives: January 2024
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Cease electric shock fishing & waterfowl hunting in Loktak Lake, urges LDA ChairmanSource: The Sangai Express / DIPR
Florida Man Charged With Animal Cruelty After Allegedly Punching His Dog for Months
The husky was captured on multiple videos ‘screaming and yelping’
Published 01/11/24 05:26 PM ET|Updated 01/11/24 05:26 PM ET
AFlorida man was arrested on a charge of felony animal cruelty with intent to injure or kill for allegedly punching his white Siberian husky “repeatedly” for several months.
Jordi Ray Bermudez, 20, had reportedly been beating his dog since September, with his neighbor capturing the husky “screaming and yelping” on multiple videos, according to the arrest report.
The neighbor who heard the dog’s cries said she ran to the peephole in her door and saw Bermudez “chasing the dog in the hallway and then grabbing the dog and beginning to punch it repeatedly and excessively in the torso area before dragging it back into his apartment.”
“Officers on the scene spoke to other neighbors who also said they constantly heard the dog screaming and what they believed to be (Bermudez) screaming,” Sweetwater police wrote in the report, according to WPLG.
The report went on to say Bermudez “intentionally inflicted unnecessary pain and suffering on his white Siberian husky by excessively and repeatedly punching the dog in the torso.”
Bermudez has already bonded out of the Miami-Dade County Jail.
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Endangered jaguar previously unknown to U.S. is caught on camera in Arizona
January 8, 2024 / 7:43 AM EST / CBS/AP
There’s been another jaguar sighting in southern Arizona and it’s the eighth different jaguar documented in the southwestern U.S. since 1996, according to wildlife officials.
Jason Miller, a hobbyist wildlife videographer who posts trail camera footage online, captured the image of a roaming jaguar late last month in the Huachuca Mountains near Tucson, CBS affiliate KPHO-TV reported.
A spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department said the agency has authenticated Miller’s footage and has confirmed this is a new jaguar to the United States.
The animals were placed on the endangered species list in 1997 after being removed in 1980.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated about 750,000 acres of critical protected habitat for the jaguars along the border in southern Arizona and New Mexico.
Authorities said Arizona jaguars are part of the species’ northern population, including Sonora, Mexico’s breeding population.
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“I’m certain this is a new jaguar, previously unknown to the United States,” said Russ McSpadden, a southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “After being nearly wiped out, these majestic felines continue to reestablish previously occupied territory despite border wall construction, new mines, and other threats to their habitat.”
Officials said the rosette pattern on each jaguar is unique – just like a human fingerprint – and helps identify specific animals.
The new video shows that the cat is not Sombra or El Jefe, two jaguars known to have roamed Arizona in recent years. Last year, officials said El Jefe — or “The Boss” — managed to cross the heavily guarded U.S.-Mexico border.
The gender of the newly spotted jaguar is unclear.
“Whether male or female, this new jaguar is going to need a mate. Now is the time for us to have a serious conversation and take action to bring jaguars back,” Megan Southern, jaguar recovery coordinator with The Rewilding Institute, told Phoenix TV station KPNX.
Jaguars are the only big cat found in the Americas and third-largest cat in the world after tigers and lions, according to National Geographic. KPHO-TV reports they’ve been seen on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, in the mountains of Southern California, and even in Louisiana.
To halt global deforestation, start with the Home Depot
BY RAPHAEL EDOU, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR – 01/09/24 9:00 AM ET
SHARETWEET https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4391955-to-halt-global-deforestation-start-with-the-home-depot/
November’s Sunnylands Statement on Climate Cooperation represents an important step both towards addressing climate change and advancing U.S.-China cooperation.
Particularly notable for the battle to save the world’s forests is paragraph 19, affirming the commitment of China and the U.S. to halt deforestation. This includes implementation and effective enforcement of “their respective laws on banning illegal imports.”
With the U.S. and China both responsible for imports of forest products in excess of US $40 billion annually, this commitment could represent a critical step in the fight to address illegal deforestation and forest degradation.
While a range of commodities from coffee to leather are linked to deforestation, the illegal sourcing of timber and wood products looms large over this effort, with the U.S. and China the two largest importers of wood products in the world.
Jointly stopping the trade in illegal timber is critical, in particular when it comes from tropical forests that play a vital role in the fight against climate change. Weak governance and illegal logging are positively correlated with increased carbon emissions. Illegal logging also tends to have other nefarious effects, including limiting states’ revenues, enabling corruption, and undermining regional stability.
But where to start, when between 50 and 90 percent of the timber trade from tropical countries is reportedly illegal? As a member of the African diaspora working on African forest issues and fighting for African governance of our resources, I have a suggestion: a supply chain that ties together illegal logging and trade from the Congo Basin, manufacturing in China and re-export to other Asian countries
Hundreds of thousands of illegal timber products are imported into the U.S. and distributed by Home Depot, the largest home improvement company in the country. The scale of this supply-chain is significant: From 2017 to 2022, at least 1.2 million doors sold to U.S. consumers are at high risk for containing illegal timber.
EIA’s recent report, titled The Dictator’s Door, exposes the overall supply chain, from the crimes committed in the forests of Equatorial Guinea to the no-questions-asked approach in the U.S.
Illegalities are systemic in Equatorial Guinea. As a source from a major forestry company described to EIA investigators, “Logging businesses can’t survive if they follow the rules.”
The illegalities that plague the forestry sector in Equatorial Guinea are compounded by corruption on the part of the institutions charged with the governance of the country’s natural resources. This corruption seemingly goes as high as Vice President Teodorin Nguema Obiang, son of the current president. EIA’s report confirmed an ongoing scheme, documented years ago by the U.S. Department of Justice, whereby the export of logs from Equatorial Guinea is contingent on payment of bribes directly to Nguema Obiang. EIA estimated the value of this bribe at U.S. $24 million annually, on average, from 2015 to 2021, in a country where 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
This shady supply chain starts in Africa and runs through several countries of Asia, ending in North America. It is also unfortunately quite typical of the current state of the global timber sector. Given the opacity of the timber industry, the multiple geographies involved, and the changing nature of timber products, an effective common-goal-oriented approach between China and the U.S. is essential to tackling forest crimes that are often committed far from either country’s borders and that their joint demand drives.
The nature of global timber flows, the absence of an international convention, and the systemic illegalities in the industrial logging sector call for more rather than less intervention from nation-states. Corporate commitments should certainly not be taken as a substitute for states’ rules, policies, and actions. Indeed, the sale across the U.S. of doors containing wood from Equatorial Guinea is, according to EIA’s findings, a violation of Home Depot’s own wood purchasing policy, which provides that the company will not source non-FSC-certified wood from the Congo Basin. There is no FSC-certified logging concession in Equatorial Guinea.
The text adopted at COP28 recognized the need to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. This commitment is similar to what world leaders agreed to two years ago at COP26. And yet tropical deforestation rates increased last year, in particular in the Congo Basin. The U.S. and China have an opportunity and a responsibility to take decisive bilateral action, as hubs in the manufacturing of, and demand for, forest products.
Inaction on wood supply chains is harming Africa’s natural resources and its forest communities. The other side of the coin is that forest communities have already had enough. If the U.S. and China clean up their supply chains, African forest champions are ready to do the rest.
Tennessee bear cub who got its head stuck in a container last year is released back into the wild
Knoxville News Sentinel
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Juggles the Bear, the cub rescued last October after having its head stuck inside a plastic container for nearly two months, was released back into the wild Monday.
Juggles put on the weight necessary − nearly 111 pounds − to make it through the winter while at the center.
Early on the morning of Jan. 8, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officials arrived at Appalachian Bear Rescue to release Juggles, along with three other bears back to the wild, the rehabilitation nonprofit center posted on Facebook.
“Our curators worked for weeks planning and preparing for a safe and successful release day,” the rescue center wrote. “Juggles Bear did something we have never seen before upon his release. As soon as he took off, he ran to a tree … and used the facilities. When nature calls!”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?app_id=&channel=https%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter.php%3Fversion%3D44%23cb%3D%26domain%3Dwww.knoxnews.com%26origin%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.knoxnews.com%26relation%3Dtop&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fwatch%2F%3Fv%3D3250945631879437&locale=en_US&sdk=joey
How did Juggles get stuck, and how was he rescued?
The young bear cub got a little too interested in a pet food feeder and got its head stuck inside the plastic container, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
A resident near Chilhowee Lake first reported the cub’s predicament on Aug. 14, after spotting a sow bear and four cubs on her porch, the release said. TWRA Black Bear Support Biologist Janelle Musser responded and promptly began a trapping effort.
Musser was able to lure the cub into a trap, but it was unable to trigger it with its mouth due to the container on its head, the agency said. She moved the trap each time a new sighting was reported, even trying a different style trap with a foot plate trigger but the mother became trap shy and the efforts were unsuccessful.
On Oct. 3, a resident reported the cub was in a tree and Musser was able to dart the animal and remove the container.
“Darting bears in trees is not standard practice and is only done in an emergency,” Musser said. “This cub would not be able to continue surviving like this.”
Cub recuperated at Appalachian Bear Rescue
The bear cub, which was named Juggles by Appalachian Bear Rescue, spent the last two and half months recuperating from its ordeal at the rehabilitation center in Townsend. The bear rescue group takes in orphaned and injured black bear cubs with the goal to release them back to the wild as soon as possible.
The bear rescue group took Juggles to the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine for a medical check, and the staff cleaned and treated his ears and removed a large number of ticks.
At the rescue center, he was first placed in an acclimation pen and then into an enclosure with three other cubs.
https://cm.knoxnews.com/article-body/inline-desktop_010924_JanBAU
To donate to the bear rescue, go to https://appalachianbearrescue.org/make-a-donation/. You can also go to the website and purchase items on their wish lists from Amazon, Walmart or other retail sites.
Liz Kellar is a Tennessee Connect reporter. Email liz.kellar@knoxnews.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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Hiker’s dog caught in leg trap near Clark Ranch trailhead; DWR investigating
Courtesy of Annee Price
Annee Price was walking near the Clark Ranch trailhead with her border collie, Freyja, on Jan. 3, when her dog’s paw got caught in an unmarked, rusty animal trap. Two metal rods had snapped shut, clamping down on the pads of Freyja’s back left foot.
She called 911 and went to work on the trap, trying to calm her injured pet. After 20 minutes, Price was able to pry open the trap and release Freyja, and made it back to the car before help arrived. Officer Chad Kiehl from Summit County Animal Control received Price’s report and took the trap for further investigation.
Freyja seemed like she would recover, but it was a long night, said Price.
“Luckily, there were no broken bones in her foot, but she is suffering from soft tissue damage. She had a tough first night with lots of moaning but is almost back to normal now,” she said in an email.
The next day, Price decided to return to the spot with her husband to gather more information and mark the area to warn other hikers and dog owners.
When they reached the area and searched around, Price said they “found multiple dead birds indicating poison was present which probably explains our dog’s moaning.”
The couple marked the area with pink tape and posted signs cautioning recreationists of the possibility of poisoned traps in the area.
The trap had been placed about a half-mile south of the trailhead parking lot along the main dirt road, Price said, a parcel of land marked as PC-PP-26A-1-AX, according to the Summit County Parcel Viewer.
This piece of land goes through many hands, Price soon discovered. Owned by Park City Municipal Corp, it is managed by Utah Open Lands and the trail maintenance is performed by Mountain Trails Foundation.
On Sunday, Price contacted Wendy Fisher of Utah Open Lands and Logan Jones with the Sustainability team for Park City Municipal through an email detailing the incident and raising her concerns.
Most recently, an investigation has been opened by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, led by Officer Ethan Justinger, to determine who is responsible for the trap, Price said.
Freyja is doing much better as of Monday, she said.
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