In Honor of International Polar Bear Day, Spectacular Pictures of a Threatened Species

A Disappearing Habitat

February 27, 2015  

Photograph by Tom Murphy, National Geographic

A polar bear watches her cubs on the Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada. The bay is famous for polar bears, but their population is in decline.

According to Steven C. Amstrup, chief scientist for Polar Bears International(PBI), rising temperatures have extended the duration of summer, melting ice in the Hudson Bay and forcing polar bears to live on shore for longer stretches of time.

"They live on the sea ice, and they catch their food from the surface of the sea ice," he said. "When they're on the shore, they lose about two pounds of body weight a day. They've adapted to being food-deprived for quite a while, but there are limits as to how far they can go."

As their habitat melts, polar bears are forced to forage elsewhere for food. In Svalbard, Norway, 

where melting sea ice is retreating from the archipelago's shore, hungry polar bears have gotten into trouble by wandering inland.

"Because there are more bears who are going longer without having anything to eat, often bears that are hungry and interact with humans end up getting shot," he said.

Amstrup says that the solution is to stop the rise in global temperatures.

"The threat to polar bears from global warming turns conservation as we've known it on its head," he said. "In the past, when a species is threatened, we could build a fence around it. But you can't build a fence to protect the sea ice. The only thing that will really make a difference is to stop the rise of global temperature."

(Source: NG)

Stop a spettacoli circo con animali a Milano

Ok mozione M5s impegna sindaco, governo faccia divieto in Italia

27 febbraio 2015

Green Photo Archive - Credit M. Grano

Stop al circo con animali a Milano. Questo il contenuto di una mozione approvata all'unanimità dal consiglio comunale, e proposta dal pentastellato Mattia Calise.

In sostanza, viene chiesto al sindaco Giuliano Pisapia che non siano più fatti spettacoli circensi in cui si usano gli animali sul territorio comunale di Milano.

Il documento, pur riconoscendo che l'arte circense è "un'arte antica che merita di essere difesa e tramandata", impegna sindaco e giunta a "non rilasciare autorizzazioni sul loro territorio per spettacoli circensi in cui si usano e si sfruttano, contro natura, gli animali".

Inoltre, la mozione chiede di "sollecitare il governo a vietare, con legge statale, l'uso di animali negli spettacoli circensi in Italia" e a "concedere i contributi statali per i circhi solo nel caso essi non usino animali". Infine chiede di promuovere l'informazione ai cittadini affinché sia "sensibilizzata" l'opinione pubblica per "disertare spettacoli che fruttano gli animali".  

(source: ANSA)

Great white shark swimming close to shore, residents told, after seal found severed in two

Judging by the spacing of the tooth marks on a harbor seal found last Thursday at Ocean Shores beach, it was attacked by a great white shark about 18 feet long, said Washington Fish and Wildlife Authority spokesman Craig Bartlett

 February 26, 2015

OCEAN SHORES, Wash. — State authorities are warning Pacific Coast residents that an estimated 18-foot-long great white shark is swimming off the Washington coast and feeding on harbour seals.

The warning comes after the Department of Fish and Wildlife retrieved the body of a seal last Thursday on a beach near Ocean Shores — neatly bitten in half.

A necropsy determined on Tuesday that the likely predator was a great white shark and judging by the spacing of the teeth marks it is about 18 feet long, said spokesman Craig Bartlett.

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The seal was a female that weighed more than 200 pounds and whose hindquarters were missing. “It was a clean bite right below the rib cage,” Bartlett said.

Its stomach was filled with smelt, indicating the seal had been attacked close to shore where smelt swim.

“That would be kind of terrifying,” Edith Laurent said. “It would be terrifying out there to have a shark come in.”

Only two shark attacks on humans have been documented in Washington state — one in the 1830s and one in 1989. The attacks weren’t fatal, Bartlett said.

As a precaution the department has notified other agencies of the presence of the great white shark, including the Coast Guard, state parks, and local governments and tribes on the coast.

The necropsy was performed by the department in consultation with a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shark expert in California.

(source: NP)

Killer frog disease: Chytrid fungus hits Madagascar

A devastating disease that has wiped out amphibians around the world has been discovered in Madagascar, scientists report.

26 February 2015

Green Photo Archive - Credit F. Iaconianni

A survey has found that the chytrid fungus is present in numerous sites, although it is not clear whether it is infecting frogs yet.

The island is home to 500 frog species, and researchers fear they could be at significant risk.

The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

One of the authors, Goncalo Rosa, from the Zoological Society of London, said he was worried about the impact that the fungus could have.

"It is heartbreaking, especially when you have an idea of what is happening elsewhere in other tropical areas - you see the frogs are gone," he told BBC News.

"The same could happen to Madagascar as well."

The chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) was first identified in the 1990s and has swept across the world.

It infects the animals through their skin, and has killed off vast numbers of amphibians.

Madagascar was thought to be one of the last places free from the disease, but now the fungus has been confirmed in several sites across the island.

Scientists are trying to establish whether the fungus has always been present, but just not detected, or whether it has spread from elsewhere,

Mr Rosa said: "If these findings represent endemic chytrid, it means it has been there forever, coexisting with these frogs.

"But if we are talking about a recent introduction, this is really worrying because we've seen what has happened in other places. And if frogs in Madagascar have never coexisted with the fungus, it could be catastrophic - this could cause huge biodiversity loss."

Conservationists are particularly worried because Madagascar is an amphibian haven. Many of its 500 species of frog are not found anywhere else in the world.

"This is what makes Madagascar this special and unique place," said Mr Rosa.

If the disease is a new arrival, scientists will try to work out how it got to the island.

It can be carried on people's clothes or by invasive species, such as the recently introduced Asian common toad.

Researchers are now trying to establish where the disease has spread.

But with no cure, it may be difficult to limit the impact it has on Madagascar's unique amphibians.

(source: BBC)

Lav, stop ministero a pellicce tossiche per bimbi

Bloccata vendita in attesa esito accertamenti

26 febbraio 2015

Green Photo Archive - Credit F. Iaconianni

ROMA, 26 FEB - Stop del ministero della Salute alla vendita di alcuni capi d'abbigliamento per bambini di note marche per il periodo necessario ad accertamenti sulla eventuale presenza di sostanze "chimiche, potenzialmente tossiche e cancerogene nelle componenti di pellicce animale". Lo rende noto la Lega antivivisezione (Lav) che ha segnalato la presenza di queste sostanze, riscontrate nell'indagine 'Toxic fur 2'.

La Lav sottolinea che la "salute dei bambini è a rischio a causa di sostanze chimiche in alcuni capi di abbigliamento baby (24-36 mesi) delle note marche D&G, Blumarine Baby e Woolrich", avendo "pochi mesi fa sottoposto alcuni campioni di queste marche a rigorosi e indipendenti test di laboratorio, per i prodotti segnalati". Si tratta di una coperta di pelliccia di agnello di produzione tedesca destinata ai neonati, un cappotto e una giacca con inserti di pelliccia di coniglio e un parka per bimbo con inserto di pelliccia di caneprocione.

Oggi, afferma la Lav, "lo stesso ministero ha notificato alle aziende sopraindicate il blocco della vendita dei baby capi con pelliccia animale oggetto dell'investigazione della Lav disponendo 'per tutto il tempo necessario allo svolgimento delle verifiche degli accertamenti sulla sicurezza del prodotto, il divieto per gli importatori/distributori di fornire, proporre la fornitura o di esporre nella rete di vendita gli articoli coinvolti'".   

(source: ANSA)