Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has been nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work leading a youth campaign to halt climate change. Three Norwegian lawmakers put forth the 16-year-old’s name.
“We have nominated Greta because the climate threat may be one of the most important causes of war and conflict,” parliamentary representative Freddy Andre Oevstegaard told Norwegian media outlet VG.
“The massive movement Greta has set in motion is a very important peace contribution,” he added.
The activist, who was named one of TIME’s Most Influential Teens of 2018, has inspired hundreds of thousands of students at schools around the world to hold strikes in an effort to urge their leaders to act.
According to a U.N. Report, global temperatures could rise by 1.5°C, a threshold that scientists say will bring dire consequences to the planet, by as early as 2030 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate. —TIME
Advertising watchdog rejects complaints against vegan anti-dairy advert
The advertising watchdog has rejected complaints against a pro-vegan billboard about the dairy industry. The board was part of the TRASH! campaign by vegan charity Viva!, which sought to highlight the plight of male dairy calves within the industry. The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) received complaints challenging whether the 95,000 male calves figure could be substantiated.
According to Viva!, it provided ‘irrefutable evidence’ which substantiated the claim, including a report by the Cattle Health and Welfare Group which clearly stated that in 2015, the most recent year for which data was available, 497,000 male calves were born but only 392,000 were registered. This resulted in 95,000 unregistered male calves killed on-farm, among other sources.
The ASA concluded that the advert was not misleading and that consumers would understand that the given figure was the most recent figure available at the time, and that the evidence supplied was sufficiently robust. —Plant Based News
India gets its first-ever hospital for abused elephants
Just months after India was given its first ever hospital for rescued elephants, the facility has already treated 26 recovering pachyderms. This special medical center was established in Uttar Pradesh by the animal welfare group, Wildlife SOS, a nonprofit organization that has been rescuing wild animals throughout India since 1995.
In addition to saving abused elephants, the group has also rescued bears, leopards, turtles, and other endangered species.
Since the hospital opened in November, the nonprofit has rescued a total of 26 elephants from abusive tourist attractions such as circuses, temples, riding camps, and private owners. Read more at Good News Network
Rainbow Warrior emphasizes role of corporations in plastic pollution crisis
Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior will embark in a tour this year for its Ship the Plastic Back campaign, primarily targeted towards corporations that use single-use plastics as packaging for their products. Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines campaigner Abigail Aguilar on Friday, March 1, said the campaign is placing emphasis on the role of corporations in the global plastic pollution crisis, as this is often overlooked. Read more at Rappler
Free-range egg fraud sparks lawsuit
The Guardian reported on March 7, 2019 that “Nellie’s New Hampshire-based parent company, Pete and Gerry’s Organics, has labeled the eggs, which cost up to $8 for a dozen, as ‘Certified humane.’” This claim is being challenged in a lawsuit by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Read more at UPC
Mysterious new orca was just found hiding in treacherous waters
In January 2019, an international team of scientists working off the tip of southern Chile got their first live look at what might be a new species of killer whale. A team of scientists went on an expedition to find these mystery orcas in hopes of discovering more about them. The team spent eight days on a small boat in harsh winds, just waiting to glimpse the special orca. Finally, thanks to a special instrument that imitated whale calls, the curious whales started to surround the boat, giving scientists the opportunity to film them. Read more at The Dodo
Amsterdam fashion week ditches fur following vegan pressure
Amsterdam Fashion Week has ditched fur in a move vegan campaigners have described as ‘compassionate.’ The announcement follows talks with animal rights charity PETA, with Danie Bles, CEO of Amsterdam Fashion Week, saying: “AFW is proud that in collaboration with PETA we will from now on be a fur-free platform.”
“Today, as polls show, most Dutch people would never wear fur, and Amsterdam Fashion Week’s compassionate move represents the growing public desire for animal-friendly fashion,” PETA Founder, Ingrid Newkirk, said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.
“Amsterdam Fashion Week has done the right, relevant thing in cutting fur from the event, and PETA looks forward to seeing beautiful animal- and eco-friendly vegan clothing on the catwalks.”
Read more at Plant Based News
Mexico says only 22 vaquita remain
Experts said Wednesday that only 22 vaquitas remain in the Gulf of California, where a grim, increasingly violent battle is playing out between emboldened fishermen and the last line of defense for the smallest and most endangered porpoise in the world.
Jorge Urban, a biology professor at the Baja California Sur University, said the 22 vaquitas were heard over a network of acoustic monitors. That was in fact higher than many had expected; some had estimated as little as 15 would remain in the Gulf, also known as the Sea of Cortez, the only place in the world where the vaquita marina is found.
It may be a sign the vaquita is holding on, and what is keeping it alive is a thin line of defenders: Every night 22 volunteer crew members from ships operated by the environmentalist group Sea Shepherd go out to search the upper Gulf for hidden gill nets that catch prized— but protected—totoaba fish and drown vaquitas.
It is increasingly dangerous work. Over the last month, the Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat has suffered two attacks in which dozens of fast fishing boats pounded the ship with rocks and firebombs. Read more at NBC Los Angeles
The Orangutan Project looks to U.S. donors to help save victims of Borneo deforestation crisis
The Orangutan Project (TOP), a non-partisan organization dedicated to orangutan conservation and welfare, is seeking donations for the month of March to help the Centre for Orangutan Protection, a key partner in Kalimantan, Indonesia, protect Borneo’s displaced orangutans, provide the rehabilitation and care they desperately need, and to urgently safeguard and protect their remaining forest.
Kalimantan is facing a deforestation crisis and serious habitat loss is displacing critically endangered Bornean orangutans, leaving them vulnerable to starvation and the illegal wildlife trade. According to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 50 percent of Kalimantan’s lowland rainforest, which once covered all of the island, is now gone. Without the protection of the forest, poachers are able to readily access orangutans, and will usually kill the mother to steal the baby for the pet wildlife trade.
“The Centre for Orangutan Protection is doing everything they can to stop illegal deforestation and ramp up rapid orangutan response rescues, but without your help, they can only do so much,” said Leif Cocks, orangutan expert and founder of The Orangutan Project. “The number of displaced, captive and orphaned orangutans is rising, which means the organization desperately needs funding to safeguard and protect the remaining forest. We’re calling on those in the U.S. who are passionate about helping these amazing animals and their habitat to donate. Your donation will be directed straight to East Kalimantan, and those who donate will actually help out two fold, as donations will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $36,000, thanks to the generosity of one of our anonymous donors.”
Since its formation in 1998, The Orangutan Project has contributed more than $10 million directly into orangutan conservation projects. Every dollar raised for TOP goes toward saving orangutans. The organization has earned a reputation among its partners and donors for being financially responsible and transparent.
Founded by world-renowned orangutan expert Leif Cocks, The Orangutan Project’s goal is to ensure the survival of the orangutan species in their natural habitat. For more information, visit The Orangutan Project.
Amsterdam fashion week ditches fur following vegan pressure
Amsterdam Fashion Week has ditched fur in a move vegan campaigners have described as ‘compassionate.’ The announcement follows talks with animal rights charity PETA, with Danie Bles, CEO of Amsterdam Fashion Week, saying: “AFW is proud that in collaboration with PETA we will from now on be a fur-free platform.”
“Today, as polls show, most Dutch people would never wear fur, and Amsterdam Fashion Week’s compassionate move represents the growing public desire for animal-friendly fashion,” PETA Founder, Ingrid Newkirk, said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.
“Amsterdam Fashion Week has done the right, relevant thing in cutting fur from the event, and PETA looks forward to seeing beautiful animal- and eco-friendly vegan clothing on the catwalks.” Read more at Plant Based News
Spain’s Supreme Court ends the brutal torture of bulls at ‘Toro de la Vega’ Festival
Spain’s Supreme Court has upheld a ban on the torture of bulls for the brutal Toro de la Vega festival in what has been hailed a victory for Spanish and international groups such as PACAS International and Humane Society International (HIS) that have worked together for years to achieve an end to this cruel spectacle.
The Toro de la Vega fiesta takes place in Tordesillas, in the Castilla y León region of Spain, each September, despite the fact that almost 74 percent of Spanish citizens aged 16 to 65 oppose the bull fiesta. During the barbaric event, spear-wielding men on horseback chase a bull out of the town and into the surrounding countryside, spearing the bull until he is cornered and stabbed to death.
In 2016, the regional government of Castilla y León banned the stabbing to death of bulls at the festival, but the Tordesillas City Council appealed this ruling at the Supreme Court. Thankfully, the Supreme Court finally rejected the appeal to put an end to over 500 years of suffering inflicted on young bulls. Read more at Vegan Food and Living
Dolphins poisoned by algae also showed signs of Alzheimer’s-like brain disease
Toxins produced by blue-green algae that have increasingly polluted Florida waters have been found in dead dolphins that also showed signs of Alzheimer’s-like brain disease, according to a new study led by University of Miami researchers.
The study published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, is the first to show detectable levels of the toxin, commonly called BMAA, in dolphin brains that also displayed degenerative damage similar to Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease and Parkinson’s in humans. While more work needs to be done to determine whether the toxins cause the disease, the study concludes that dolphins and their complex brains could provide a key sentinel for the potential threat from toxic algae blooms to humans.
“Not to be too political, but it goes to show the health of marine animals and water quality,” said David Davis, lead author and a University of Miami Miller School of Medicine neuropathologist. “Everything’s directly related.”
Read more at Miami Herald
India gets its first-ever hospital for abused elephants
Just months after India was given its first-ever hospital for rescued elephants, the facility has already treated 26 recovering pachyderms. This special medical center was established in Uttar Pradesh by the animal welfare group, Wildlife SOS, a nonprofit organization that has been rescuing wild animals throughout India since 1995.
In addition to saving abused elephants, the group has also rescued bears, leopards, turtles, and other endangered species.
Since the hospital opened in November, the nonprofit has rescued a total of 26 elephants from abusive tourist attractions, such as circuses, temples, riding camps, and private owners. Read more at Good News Network
Rainbow Warrior emphasizes role of corporations in plastic pollution crisis
Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior will embark in a tour this year for its Ship the Plastic Back campaign, primarily targeted towards corporations that use single-use plastics as packaging for their products. Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines campaigner Abigail Aguilar on Friday, March 1, said the campaign is placing emphasis on the role of corporations in the global plastic pollution crisis, as this is often overlooked.Read more at Rappler
Free-range egg fraud sparks lawsuit
The Guardian reported on March 7, 2019 that “Nellie’s New Hampshire-based parent company, Pete and Gerry’s Organics, has labeled the eggs, which cost up to $8 for a dozen, as ‘Certified humane.’” This claim is being challenged in a lawsuit by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Read more at UPC
Mysterious new orca was just found hiding in treacherous waters
In January 2019, an international team of scientists working off the tip of southern Chile got their first live look at what might be a new species of killer whale. A team of scientists went on an expedition to find these mystery orcas in hopes of discovering more about them. The team spent eight days on a small boat in harsh winds, just waiting to glimpse the special orca.
Finally, thanks to a special instrument that imitated whale calls, the curious whales started to surround the boat, giving scientists the opportunity to film them.
For one thing, the distinctive white patch near the orcas’ eyes was much smaller than those on other orcas, like the wild ones living off the coast of Washington or captive orcas stuck at SeaWorld. The heads of these mystery orcas also didn’t have the sleek angular shape of other killer whales, but were more round.
Another strange thing about the type D killer whale was that they didn’t live in calm offshore waters like other orcas, but out in really treacherous ocean, in latitudes known as the Roaring 40s and the Furious 50s. Read more at The Dodo
34 marine biologists urge Putin to release orcas and belugas
A group of prominent marine mammal biologists from across the globe, including Dr. Naomi Rose of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), sent a second letter requesting that Russia release the remaining 80+ beluga whales and 10 orcas held in the “whale jail” in Russia’s Far East and to stop capturing orcas and belugas in the Sea of Okhotsk for sale to marine parks in Russia and abroad.
In a letter delivered to the office of Russian President Vladimir Putin, 34 scientists requested that the Russian government allow a team of Russian and international experts to evaluate and treat the whales held in poor conditions in enclosures in Srednyaya Bay near the port town of Nakhodka. The letter includes documentation, prepared by biologists and veterinarians, of the rapidly deteriorating health of at least one orca held in a small enclosure with other young individuals. Read more at AWI Online
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) bucks controversial policy for wild horse sale
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is gratified to learn that the Bureau of Land Management has rescinded a controversial sales policy for wild horses and burros in the United States that could have resulted in more animals being sold for slaughter in Canada and Mexico.
In May, the BLM quietly issued new guidelines to increase the number of federally protected wild horses and burros that could be sold at one time, with minimal oversight. Under the directive, 25 animals could have been included in a single sale with no wait time between transactions. Kill-buyers who intended to resell the animals for slaughter could obtain additional animals almost immediately—with no questions asked.
Several members of Congress voiced strong concerns about the BLM’s policy change, citing the agency’s lack of transparency and apparent retreat from its mandate to protect wild horses and burros from harm. In one bipartisan letter, Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV) and Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-FL), expressed frustration that the BLM’s new sales policy removed even the “bare minimum safeguards put in place to prevent wild horses and burros from being acquired by kill-buyers, transported across our borders, and sold for human consumption to foreign nations.”
AWI has been working with lawmakers in Congress to address the problem, and urged the BLM to reverse course on its disastrous new plan. More than 3,000 people responded to an AWI action alert opposing the new guidelines.
Under the Obama administration, the BLM strengthened its sales policy after the public learned that the agency had inadvertently sold 1,800 wild horses to a notorious kill-buyer in Colorado. This week, the agency returned to this more prudent policy, which allows an individual to purchase a maximum of four horses at one time, with a waiting period of six months between transactions.
“The BLM’s reckless policy would have quickly funneled federally protected wild horses into the slaughter pipeline, repeating some of the agency’s most egregious past mistakes,” said Joanna Grossman, PhD, equine program manager for the Animal Welfare Institute. “We commend the BLM for reinstating safeguards meant to prevent kill-buyers from illegally obtaining our nation’s cherished wild horses.”
As We Go to Press: Wolves from Canada Transported to Isle Royale
Seven Canadian wolves, 3 females and 4 males, were translocated to Isle Royale National Park in March by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (OMNRF) and the National Park Service (NPS). Fundraising by the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation (NPLSF) and International Wolf Center (IWC) allowed the agencies to move six wolves from Michipicoten Island Provincial Park where they have run out of caribou, their only large prey, before ice and wolf health deteriorated such that successful translocation would not be possible. Additionally, a black wolf was translocated from the Ontario mainland.
Donor funds allowed this operation to continue after bad weather exhausted planned funding. This added-time allowed both agencies to better achieve their objectives. For the NPS, the first year’s objective was to translocate 8–10 wolves from the Lake Superior region to the remote island park, to increase the population and restore predation, while providing for genetic diversity.
With this latest translocation effort, the population of wolves on Isle Royale is now 15. “This successful effort resulted in exceeding our first year population goal while providing a buffer for potential losses.” Superintendent Green said. “Importantly, we were able to maintain a balance of males and females.” The lack of an adequate food source and a hard winter caused the Michipicoten wolves to be in poor body condition, which we expect will improve due to the burgeoning moose population in their new home on Isle Royale. The black wolf was in the best condition of the seven released.
“All the GPS collars have sent location data from this past weekend. The wolves are adjusting to their new environment and finding food on the island, visiting carcass provisioning and old predation sites,” said Mark Romanski. “The farthest movement so far was about four miles, by the black wolf who traveled southeast from the release site. The scent of the Michipicoten Island wolves may have motivated him to make this journey to avoid conflict.”
The National Park Service greatly appreciates the NPLSF and IWC for their efforts to make the project such a great success. Also, the commitment of the OMNRF was vital to the success of both Canadian translocation efforts.
For more information, including additional photos, please visit NPS.
