WASHINGTON— In two sharply worded letters sent to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell today, prominent scientists argued for continued protections for gray wolves across the lower 48 states and critici…

“Whenever and wherever men have engaged in the mindless slaughter of animals (including other men), they have often attempted to justify their acts by attributing the most vicious or revolting qualities to those they would destroy; and the less reason there is for the slaughter, the greater the campaign for vilification.” 

― Farley Mowat, naturalist, conservationist and author of Never Cry Wolf

Thanks to Endangered Species Act protections, Yellowstone’s mighty grizzly bears still survive today — but they’re far from recovered. In the lower 48 states, grizzlies occupy less than 2 percent …

Tragically, the last of the rhinos at Mozambique’s Limpopo National Park has been poached. 

There is a supply side and a demand side. Of course we have to educate those on the demand side, but this will take more time to take effect than the rhinos have. So we must take drastic supply-side action, meaning ANTI-POACHING.

Considering the corruption in the anti-poaching forces there however (see below), I believe that INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION is more than warranted. So instead of sending troops to places like Iraq or Afghanistan, how about sending some special-op forces, or some languishing vets, to Africa? 

As far as I’m concerned, the rhinos don’t belong to Zimbabwe or S. Africa, no more than the Bengal tigers belonging to India or the Amazon rainforest to Brazil. They are all world treasures. If they fall, we all stand to lose.

- Anthony Marr

* Relevant to this group: In spite of the enormous poaching pressure, the trophy hunting of rhinos is not only permitted, but heavily promoted, and it is done mostly by American trophy hunters.

http://news.yahoo.com/expert-rhinos-extinct-mozambique-154136909.html

“JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Mozambique’s rhinoceros population was wiped out more than a century ago by big game hunters. Reconstituted several years ago, it has again been driven to extinction, or to the brink of extinction, by poachers seeking their horns for sale in Asia.

“A leading rhino expert told The Associated Press that the last rhino in the southern African nation has been killed. The warden in charge of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park — the only place where the horned behemoths lived in Mozambique — also says poachers have wiped out the last of the rhinos. Mozambique’s conservation director believes a few may remain.

“Elephants also could become extinct in Mozambique soon, the warden of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, Antonio Abacar, told AP. He said game rangers have been aiding poachers, and 30 of the park’s 100 rangers will appear in court soon. “We caught some of them red-handed while directing poachers to a rhino area,” Abacar said…”

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) — a deadly disease for elk, deer, and other wildlife — is marching toward Yellowstone, and we need your help to stop it. 

It is time to finally draw a line in the sagebrush and say no to the unnatural feeding of elk in western Wyoming, starting at a place called Alkali Creek.

The Bridger-Teton National Forest will consider a new 20-year permit for feeding elk at Alkali Creek, and together we must voice opposition to this idea! 

The unnaturally dense concentrations of elk at such feedgrounds have resulted in diseased animals, ravaged habitat and the prospect of a CWD disaster moving inexorably closer to the famed herds in Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole.

As America’s Voice for a Greater Yellowstone, we can restore and preserve healthy herds by phasing out these feed grounds and allowing elk to roam free. Let’s make Alkali Creek the first domino to fall!

Take a few moments right now and tell the Bridger-Teton National Forest that you oppose the re-permitting of this obsolete elk feedground in the Gros Ventre.

Website for ‘MY FIRST RIFLE’ removed after boy, 5, used one of its child-size .22 caliber guns to shoot dead his sister, 2

(A kitten is caught and killed in a conibear trap) A conibear trap is supposed to kill the victim immediately by snapping the neck or spine, but most animals who are caught in this type of trap will die by strangulation, or by having their lungs slowly crushed. 

Approximately 10 million animals are trapped and killed worldwide each year for fur. Animals caught in traps suffer immensely while waiting for the trapper to come and kill them. In the U.S., trappers are licensed by state agencies, just as hunters are. Beavers, raccoon’s, opossums, muskrats, skunks, and foxes are among the animals targeted by trappers.

For every intended victim of the traps, there are 2 to 10 unintended victims: birds, porcupines, deer, cats, dogs and other animals are caught, maimed and killed in traps. Even animals listed under the Endangered Species Act are caught and killed. In the industry, these unintended victims are referred to as “trash” animals.

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Mountain lion is sliced up during a cooking class in Rapid City, South Dakota on January 15th, at Game,… (1890 signatures on petition)

Bottom Line: Wildlife is “managed” for the benefit of hunters and other special interest groups like ranchers, and trappers.

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HUNTING is a TRAGIC BETRAYAL of ALL LIFE. Teach a child to be cold, heartless, murderous and indifferent to life…and that is the dangerous, unhealthy FUTURE you will create for all of us. A child’s first instinct with ANIMALS is to LOVE & NURTURE. As they grow up they are bombarded by an array of conflicting and confusing messages. They are pressured and brainwashed into compartmentalizing feelings and values. One animal you hug and kiss…another you giggle at on the TV, at the movies or at amusement parks…another you EAT…another you WEAR…another you USE…another you bully, hunt and KILL…another you torture for research, business and PROFIT. 
It never ends - and the day will come when the rules will no longer have clarity or meaning. Keep teaching a child to dominate and kill and you have no right to be surprised at the violence that permeates our society. 
* NO ONE should be the VICTIM of your FREEDOM of CHOICE *
Stop betraying the innocent ones - human & non-human - and the planet. ===== EVOLVE and LIVE VEGAN =====

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suckerbmx asked: if you don't mind me asking, what is your reasoning against hunting? i am a hunter my self. but i am curious as to your philosophy of your anti-hunting beliefs.

I don’t mind at all :) There are several reasons I’m against hunting. First, I believe that it is unnecessarily cruel to the animals it affects, which, unfortunately, sometimes includes domestic animals. Second, I think that it is unsustainable and a very misguided attempt at conservation. Third, I think that it is unsafe and causes more accidents than it prevents (by this I mean that it causes shooting accidents, as well as car accidents when the deer are pushed out of the woods into the roads by hunting. Some argue that it prevents car-deer collisions by lessening the deer population, but that is not so.) I believe that hunting is, as a whole, profit-driven, and basically, animal cruelty for sport should never be ok. That’s just a summary of my beliefs, feel free to ask if you want more clarification :) Have a nice day!

animalfreak11:

Wildlife management, population control and wildlife conservation are euphemisms for killing–hunting, trapping and fishing for fun. A percentage of the wild animal population is specifically mandated to be killed. Hunters want us to believe that killing animals equals population control equals conservation, when in fact hunting causes overpopulation of deer, the hunters’ preferred victim species, destroys animal families, and leads to ecological disruption as well as skewed population dynamics.

Because state wildlife agencies are primarily funded by hunters and other wildlife killers, programs are in place to manipulate habitat and artificially bolster “game” populations while ignoring “non-game” species. These programs lead to overpopulation and unbalanced ecosystems by favoring “buck only” hunts, pen-raising pheasants and other birds as living targets for hunters, transporting wild turkeys, raccoons and other species across state’s lines to boost populations for hunters and trappers to kill, and by exterminating predators such as wolves and mountain lions, in order to increase “prey” animals like elk and deer to then justify hunting as needed for “population control.”

Hunting contributes to species extinction
Hunting has contributed to the historical extinction of animal species all over the world, including the Southern Appalachian birds, the passenger pigeon and the Carolina parakeet (the only member of the parrot family native to the eastern United States), the eastern elk, the eastern cougar, the Tasmanian tiger and the great auk.

Wildlife as “crop”
Wildlife managers and hunters treat wild animals like a crop, of which a percentage can be “harvested” annually – to them, wild animals are no different than a field of wheat. This “selective” science, with its exclusive focus on numbers to be killed, ignores the science that shows that nonhumans, just like humans, have the same capabilities to experience emotions, and that they have families and other social associations built on multi-leveled relationships.

Natural carnivores are the real ecosystem managers
While hunters and so-called wildlife professionals pretend to have control over ecosystems and the animals they kill, natural predators such as wolves, mountain lions and bears are the real ecosystem managers, if allowed to survive naturally. For instance, the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park (YNP) caused “ripple effects” throughout the ecosystem, with an increase in ‘biodiversity,’ including a higher occurrence of beavers, several bird and plant species, and natural habitat and stream recovery.

No room for whaling in the twenty first century!

Whalers in Iceland are preparing to target endangered fin whales in their summer commercial hunt. Ask the U.S. to intervene and get Iceland to stop.