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Environmental laws Bush administration deems unnecessary. According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the Defense Department has instructed military chiefs to determine exemptions needed from existing laws such as the Endangered Species Act, Research and Sanctuaries Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. A leaked memo noted, "Some of the exemptions may be permanent." Wolves have no connection to the war, but the administration has downlisted gray wolves from "endangered" to "threatened". The narrow defeat (52-48) by the Senate of an amendment that would have opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling is indicative of more dangers that lie ahead. We must be sure to keep our representatives and senators apprised of our opinions.
Montana has indiscriminately sent 600 Yellowstone buffalo (bison) to be slaughtered this winter (even using a capture pen located inside the national park!). Their excuse is that some of the females are infected with brucellosis, but they don't bother to test whether captives are infected and indiscriminately ship off males who do not carry disease. There is no known case of bison transmitting the disease to domestic cows, but worried ranchers could vaccinate their cows if they chose to so. To preserve the last genetically pure descendents of the original 23 surviving bison, a number of Indian reservations have requested that the captives be released on their reservations. A hopeful note: the rancher using the Horse Butte area (traditional wintering and calving area of the herd) will seek other summer grazing grounds.
Nicaragua bans dolphin exploitation. New legislation bans the capture, display and use of bottlenose dolphins. Recently dolphins, Bluefield and Nica, captured last August were released to their home environment by Environment Minister Jorge Salazar Cardenal and World Society for the Protection of Animals; Ric O'Barry. 2/2/03
Panama is considering similar legislation plus a ban on circuses using animals.
Rwanda has armed rangers protecting its mountain gorillas. Three former park rangers have been sentenced to four years in prison and fined up to $8,000 for capturing a baby and killing two protecting adults. Six other traffickers were sentenced for two years and fined up to $3200. Rwanda is home to an estimated 300 mountain gorillas made famous by the late Diane Fossey. Rwanda netted $1.2 million from tourism based on the gorillas. Eating gorillas is taboo in east African countries, but western lowland gorillas are killed and eaten along with other wild animals regarded as "bushmeat" in Congo and Gabon.
Ebola has killed 600-800 lowland gorillas in Congo Republic's Lossi reserve leaving only 450 still alive. 100 humans have also succumbed to this dreadful disease. One of the causes is eating gorillas. Primatologists worry that the disease will spread to nearby Odzala Park, home to 20,000 gorillas.
Japan blames marine mammals for undermining fish conservation efforts. A Japanese government press release (Mar 10/03) claimed that whales in the North Pacific consume three to five times more fish than humans. "Our efforts to manage fisheries on a sustainable basis as a contribution to world food security should not be compromised by those who would continue to totally protect abundant and increasing populations of whales for purely political reasons." it preached. "Doing so means a distortion of priorities where we would be managing fisheries to feed whales rather than humans." There was no mention of the fact that oceans were teeming with fish when whale populations were much higher. But that was before human-based pollution began taking its toll on sea life and before humans developed factory-type fishing methods that quickly extract many forms of life from the water.
PA Game Commission's 2002 "Kill Bambi" memo instructed its officers to kill all orphaned wild animals that had experienced human contact and might otherwise be helped to survive by rehabbers.
Bigger escape hatches required for TEDS (turtle excluder devices). The National Marine and Fisheries Service has increased the size requirements for the escape hatches on TEDS beginning April 15 in the Atlantic and August 21 in the Gulf of Mexico. The larger opening will enable the turtles, especially endangered leatherbacks, to get out of the nets before they drown. While this ruling is most welcome, it is deplorable that it took NMFS three years to implement it.
Oil spills keep taking a toll on wildlife and local inhabitants and their economy. HR 880, introduced by California Representative Lois Capps, would phase out the use of aging single-hulled tankers by 2007, create a 100-mile coastal safety zone, and provide financial incentives to replace single-hulled tankers like the Exxon Valdez with safer double-sided models. Please encourage your Congressperson to support this bill. (Washington DC 20015)
Fish hatcheries may be harming rather than helping Pacific salmon by fostering genetic traits that interfere with survival, according to an article in Science. Salmon released from hatcheries now make up from 70-95% of wild populations affected by loss of habitat and pollution. Washington Trout and Native Fish Society has filed suit to stop release of hatchery fish they claim are eating wild ones.
Bush administration plans to delist wolves as soon as Montana, Wyoming and Idaho present acceptable management plans. Montana's plan calls for 15 breeding pairs but would allow ranchers to kill animals they perceive as threatening livestock and a regulated "harvest" plus $800,000 from federal government annually to compensate ranchers losing animals to wolves. Wyoming's plan provides for wolves to be hunted inside national parks (!) and wilderness areas and to be "shot on sight" elsewhere as long as there are 15 packs in the state. Elsewhere, including 16 southern states, where wolves are few or non-existent, they have already been delisted.
UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs is recommending the use of pingers" (acoustic deterrents) on certain types of fishing nets to avoid capturing dolphins. About 200 dead dolphins have washed up on the shores of Devon and Cornwall this winter. Depending on their effectiveness, these devices could save dolphins from being incidentally killed by foreign tuna fishers (but would not save any tuna). Meanwhile, Blue World is trying to raise awareness and stamp out the illegal black market selling dolphins for human consumption in Peru.
Grizzlies face new threats. The Bush administration is pushing to expand logging in prime grizzly habitat around Yellowstone National Park, the last refuge of an estimated 250 bears, one of the last remnants of over 100,000 who survived extermination at the hands of pioneer settlers. But that is not all. Incredibly, the Bush administration is also planning to propose that grizzlies be removed from the Endangered Species list. Opinions can be sent to US Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams at 1849 C Street NW, Washington DC 20240. Phone: (202) 208-4545. Email: steven_a_williams@fws.gov Paper mail and phoning are the most effective means of communication.
New Jersey and Delaware protect horseshoe crabs and red knots by restricting crabbing in Delaware Bay during crab spawning period. The prehistoric crabs are sold commercially to be used as fertilizer. Their population has declined by half in the past 10 years. The number of red knots , who migrate from South America to the Arctic, has declined from 33,741 in 1998 to only 5,376. Their migration is timed to coincide with the horseshoe spawning time so the birds can refuel on the plentiful eggs.
Leatherback on the brink: Although it has "outlived the dinosaurs by 65 million years" and "survived fiery asteroid strikes and ice ages," the Pacific leatherback sea turtle is being driven to extinction by poaching and entanglement in fishing gear says the L.A. Times 4/21. In the last 22 years alone, leatherback populations have "plunged 22%," and scientists estimate that "fewer than 5,000 nesting females remain in the Pacific." In the past conservation efforts have focused on protecting turtle nesting areas on the shore, but the sharp declines point to the fishing nets and long stings of baited hooks set by commercial fishing boats. continued
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Manatee population cannot sustain boat-cause mortality. A new report from the
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