A chimpanzee, several monkeys, some lemurs and an uncounted number of birds have died after a nonprofit San Antonio-area wildlife sanctuary lost power amid record-low temperaturesByThe Associated PressFebruary 16, 2021, 4:36 PM• 2 min read
SAN ANTONIO — A chimpanzee, several monkeys, some lemurs and an uncounted number of birds died when a nonprofit San Antonio-area wildlife sanctuary lost power early Monday, yet another casualty of unforgiving winter weather that has seized much of Texas.
Brooke Chavez, executive director of Primarily Primates, told the San Antonio Express-News that the power went out about 6 a.m. Monday at the 70-acre sanctuary that housed more than 400 primates.Advertisement
Chavez said her 12 staff members and volunteers mobilized generators, space heaters, propane tanks and blankets in an effort to save the residents. As temperatures reached single-digit levels, the staff broke out carriers to evacuate animals to the San Antonio Zoo and another sanctuary in North Texas, but Chavez said she and her staff began to find dead animals throughout the sanctuary.
“I never, ever thought my office would turn into a morgue, but it has,” she said. “Someone asked me how many animals have died. I don’t know yet. I know we lost lots of monkeys, lemurs and tropical birds… We won’t truly know how many animals have died until the temperatures rise and the snow starts to melt.”
Now, with the big freeze expected to continue for a few more days and the electric grid for most of Texas ordering more rolling blackouts, Chavez and her staff asked for the public’s help to protect the sanctuary’s animals, most of which are elderly. Many animals remain at the sanctuary, including 33 chimpanzees that were too difficult to transport.
The original idea promoted by Chesher’s Outdoor Store, in Bellville, Ontario, was to hand out cash and prizes to the hunters who killed the biggest coyotes, the smallest, and the highest number, as well as a prize for each dead coyote. But, under Section 11 of the provincial Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act – unless specifically authorized by the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry – it is illegal for a person to (a) hunt for hire, gain, or expectation of gain; (b) hire, employ, or induce another person to hunt for gain; (c) trap for hire, gain, or the expectation of gain; (d) hire, employ, or induce another person to trap for gain; or (e) pay or accept a bounty.
Despite the clarity of the law prohibiting this type of contest, the government allowed…
Paul A. SmithMilwaukee Journal SentinelView CommentsAD-1:0-1https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.442.0_en.html#goog_1384831690
The Natural Resources Board on Mondayunanimously approved a statewide harvest quota of 200 gray wolves in a hunting and trapping season planned for Feb. 22-28 in Wisconsin.
The kill goal wouldbe spread across the state’ssix wolf management zones, excluding American Indian reservations.
The actual quota available to state-licensed hunters may be less than 200 depending on tribal declarations. As of Monday,Ojibwe tribes, which are entitled to 50% of fish and wildlife resources in territory ceded to the U.S. in treaties, had not issued a statement on the matter.
Permitapplications ($10) will be available beginning at 12:01 a.m. Tuesdaythrough midnight Saturday. Winners can purchase a $49 license beginning Feb. 22.
The flurry of activity comes after a Jefferson County judge ruled last Thursdaythat the Department of Natural Resources must hold a wolf hunting and trapping season this month.
Global dolphin populations are on the decline and eating fish may be the reason why as the mammals are frequenty bycatch of the fishing industry.BY CHARLOTTE POINTING
Fewer dolphins are turning up in fishing bycatch. Initially, this might seem like a reason to celebrate. But what this actually indicates, according to a new study, is that the population has declined and there are fewer dolphins left in the oceans to be caught.
What Is Bycatch?
Bycatch is one of the leading causes of death for dolphins and other cetaceans around the world. It happens when the animals accidentally swim into nets intended for fish, usually tuna.
Between 1950 and 2018, the fishing industry unintentionally caught around 4.1 million dolphins, says Dr. Putu Liza Mustika, who worked on the study. The research team—led by Dr. Charles Anderson of the Maldivian Manta Marine organization—looked at bycatch rates in the Indian ocean to draw its conclusions.
They estimate that the dolphin population in the Indian Ocean stands at 13 percent of what it was in the 1980s. Mustika notes that the figures in the study are “ball-park figures,” and therefore have a lot of uncertainties. But what they do confirm is the magnitude of the problem.
“Millions of dolphins [were] accidentally caught between 1950 and 2018,” she told LIVEKINDLY. “Millions. Not just a few hundreds of dolphins.”
Experts predict Iran has the biggest bycatch rate. Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Oman, Yemen, UAE, and Tanzania follow.
“The study includes a number of dolphins (and whale species), including indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, humpback, Risso’s, and common dolphins,” adds Dr. Sarah Dolman from Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC).
She told LIVEKINDLY, “the scale of bycatch is almost certainly impacting regional and local dolphin populations. The study states that although tuna catches are increasing, dolphin bycatch stagnated in the 1990s. [It] has since declined, and is therefore unsustainable and impacting populations.”
Dolphins often end up as bycatch.
The Problem With Gillnets
According to Mustika, gillnets—a wall of netting that hangs in the ocean—are particularly lethal for dolphins. They can vary in length, ranging from 100 meters to more than 30 kilometers.
“Gillnets used to be made of cotton or hemp,” Mustika says. “But in the late 50s, they changed it to stronger materials (monofilaments). And also smaller mesh size to catch more fish (to meet human demand).”
It’s not just dolphins that end up as bycatch. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says, “entanglement in fishing gear is the leading threat for whales and dolphins around the globe. [It’s] estimated to cause at least 300,000 deaths per year.”
“Bycatch has led to the almost certain demise of the world’s smallest porpoise, the vaquita in the Gulf of California,” it adds. “Several more species are likely to follow if governments and fishers aren’t able to effective means to halt this unwanted and unnecessary cause of morality for cetaceans worldwide.”
According to Dolman, fishers caught 75 percent of odontocete species (toothed cetaceans) in gillnets in the past 20-plus years. Sixty-four percent of mysticetes species (baleen whales) have ended up as bycatch in the same time period, as well as 66 percent of pinnipeds (that’s animals like seals, sea lions, and walruses).
Sharks can also be victims of the fishing industry. Angie Coulter—a researcher with the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia—spoke to National Public Radio (NPR) about the dangers of sharks getting caught up in bycatch.
“Sharks are apex predators,” she explained. “They hold all of these food chains together. If we’re removing these sharks [from the ecosystem], they really can’t catch up and will decline more and more.”
Fishers accidentally catch around 80,000 dolphins every year.
How Do We Save Dolphins From Bycatch?
Per 1,000 tonnes of tuna, the study estimates that 175 dolphins accidentally get caught in nets. At current levels, this means fishers accidentally catch about 80,000 dolphins every year.
“Bycatch is one of the main threats, if not the main threat to world-wide dolphin populations,” says Mustika. “If we can make fishing more sustainable, then we help dolphin populations.” She recommends that fishers use different gear, like a traditional pole and line.
Dolman notes that authorities have taken some action to mitigate the situation, including fishing bans and gear modifications, but more needs to be done.
“The countries who are fishing in the region and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission is the Regional Fisheries Management Organisation that has responsibility for this issue, need to act,” she says. “There is much that can be done to better monitor, mitigate report, and enforce dolphin bycatch.”
She adds that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is currently producing best practice guidelines to prevent and reduce marine mammal bycatch. She notes: “this would be a good place to start.”
What About Tuna?
Dolphins, whales, and other cetaceans need urgent protection. But tuna themselves are at risk too. In 2018, fishers pulled nearly six million metric tonnes of tuna from the ocean.
Just like dolphins, some species of tuna are in decline. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says bluefin tuna is critically endangered.
“As the methods of catching tuna have advanced over the years, the conservation and management of tuna has not evolved as quickly,” says the WWF.
According to the FAO, most tuna stocks are “fully exploited” with “no room for fishery expansion.”
Shana Miller—the director of the Global Tuna Conservation Project—told NPR, “everywhere tuna swim, they’re being pursued by industrial fisheries.”
Consider opting for vegan tuna, like Tuno.
Vegan Fish
One way to save the dolphins and the tuna? Avoid fish altogether and choose vegan fish instead. Brands like Atlantic Natural Foods’ Tuno and Good Catch offer plant-based alternatives to tuna.
“Overfishing is a global problem that is getting worse by the day,” Tuno founder Doug Hines told Forbes. “The number of illegal vessels and underreporting is rampant on the high seas. And governments tend to turn the other way.”
Good Catch’s tuna features a six legume blend, but it still has that fishy taste, thanks to the addition of seaweed and algae extract.
CEO of the brand Chris Kerr told LIVEKINDLY, “our mission is to create delicious plant-based seafood options, giving people everything they like about seafood, but without the concerns about mercury and other pollutants, ocean harm or overfishing.“
Bill Gates helped usher in the digital revolution at Microsoft, and has spent the decades since exploring – and investing in – innovative solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems – global poverty, disease, and the coronavirus pandemic, which he’s spent nearly $2 billion on.
Now he is focusing on climate change, agreeing with the overwhelming majority of scientists who warn of a looming climate disaster. The good news is Gates believes it’s possible to prevent a catastrophic rise in temperatures. The bad news? He says in the next 30 years we need scientific breakthroughs, technological innovations and global cooperation on a scale the world has never…
A skeleton of anAllosauruson display at Drouot auction house in Paris in October. A new theory says the dinosaurs were killed by a comet fragment that originally came from the edge of the solar system.Thibault Camus/AP
For decades, the prevailing theory about the extinction of the dinosaurs was that an asteroid from the belt between Mars and Jupiter slammed into the planet, causing cataclysmic devastation that wiped out most life on the planet.
But newresearchout of Harvard University theorizes that the Armageddon-causing object came from much farther out than originally believed.
According to this new theory, the devastation came not from a relatively nearby asteroid, but from a sort of long-distance comet that came from the edge of the solar system in an area known as the Oort cloud.
When it comes to trapping, Montana is aiming for the bottom of the barrel through the 2021 legislature. Already, we are not far off.Trappers are bringing forth bad bills from the past, assimilating them withthe worst of Idaho and Wyoming’s maltreat of wildlife, and with the goal of stockpiling them into Montana law.
Making speedy headway are multiple bills in Montana to increase trapping and snaring, further endangering outdoor recreationists, private property owners, and indiscriminately destroying our precious wildlife.
These billsare passing with a 2/3 majority vote. Our newly elected Governor Gianforte is a life long member of the Montana Trappers Association just itching to sign these trapping bills into law.
In the Montana House: HB224 Wolf Snaring passed 66:33 and HB225 Allow Lengthening Wolf Trapping Season from the 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 months, passed 67:32. See how your legislator voted: HB224http://bit.ly/3afzRZi. HB225http://bit.ly/3d4UCsG The billsnow…
Every winter across America a new breed of hunters take to the field, coyote hound hunters. While hunting coyotes has long been a favorite sport to those looking to take advantage of the year-round open season or no bag limit restrictions in most states, hunting coyotes with other dogs as a sport is growing.
A photo shared on the Facebook private group, “Coyote Hunting with Hounds” on February 9, 2021 by Jonathan Graff.
With the argument that coyotes are an abundant “out-of-control” predator threatening livestock and pets, most states like Wisconsin allow coyotes to be hunted with a variety of means including hounds. Most coyote hound hunters use their dogs to hunt bear, bobcat and other game as well. But in the off-season, it’s coyotes that many hunt to keep their dogs in shape.
A coyote clearly still alive being mauled by a pack of GPS-collared…
In a recent interview with Technology Review, Gates discussed his new book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster,” and emphasized the benefits rich nations could produce by moving to “100% synthetic beef.”
“I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef,” Gates said when asked about how countries can help to reduce methane emissions when it comes to food production. “You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time.”
The philanthropist and Microsoft-cofounder explained to the outlet that he is hopeful that a turn to plant-based proteins will help combat methane emissions produced by livestock.
“Impossible and Beyond have a road map, a quality road map and a cost road map, that makes them totally competitive,” Gates said, referring to popular plant-based meat companies. “As for scale today, they don’t represent 1% of the meat in the world, but they’re on their way.”
Gates told Technology Review that he acknowledges the alternative argument that getting rid of cows is viewed as an unpopular approach, but he said that the benefits of plant protein are worth a shift for some countries.
“Eventually, that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the [behavior of] people or use regulation to totally shift the demand,” Gates said. “So for meat in the middle-income-and-above countries, I do think it’s possible.”
For Immediate Release: February 16, 2021Contact: Camilla Fox, Project Coyote, 415-690-0338, cfox@projectcoyote.org Pamela Harte, pamela.harte@me.com Filipe DeAndrade and Brian Moghari, CREATE@COMFORTTHEORY.COM
Larkspur, CA— Film production company Comfort Theory, in partnership with the California-based nonprofit organization Project Coyote, announced today the release of a new documentary, Wildlife Killing Contests. The 25-minute film exposes the dark underbelly of wildlife killing contests — tournaments and derbies that award prizes to those who kill the largest or greatest number of targeted species, including coyotes, bobcats, foxes, prairie dogs, and even mountain lions and wolves in some states. The film coincides with a growing national campaign to ban the barbaric practice throughout the United States. Produced by Filipe DeAndrade, National Geographic Explorer, filmmaker and Co-Owner of Comfort Theory, and Brian Moghari, a National Geographic contributor and also a Co-Owner of Comfort Theory, the film picks up where KILLING GAMES ~…
© The Hill Bill Gates: Rich nations should move to ‘100 percent synthetic beef’
For Immediate Release: February 16, 2021Contact: Camilla Fox, Project Coyote, 415-690-0338, 
