Nature & Wildlife
On Tuesday, September 16, 2014, 13 countries that have wild tiger populations agreed to take part in a global census of the endangered big cats. The hope is that this count will then lead to improved policies to protect them in order to meet a goal of doubling their numbers by 2022—a plan known as Tx2.
Nature & Wildlife
When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released its Living Planet Report 2014 on September 30, it wasn’t the usual doom-and-gloom environmental news story that is forgotten the next day.
Videos
Food, water, shelter and the freedom to travel—these are the fundamental needs of wildlife. In fact, according to the National Wildlife Federation, for many species that last-listed essential could mean the difference between survival and extinction. Our open spaces, however, are increasingly being chopped up and fragmented.
Nature & Wildlife
As many as 900 Yellowstone National Park American bison may be exterminated in winter 2014-2015. It’s estimated that our nation’s last, pure herd of free-ranging bison that have managed to continuously live on their native grounds currently numbers at 4,900. That means that a fifth of this near-threatened species is soon to be killed.
Nature & Wildlife
Although experts have been warning of an imminent sixth mass extinction for almost four years, to date most conservation appeals for battling the crisis have been, at best, attempts to stem the tide. None have claimed to be permanent and sustainable solutions—until now.
News & More
“Extinction tourism” is a familiar term when it comes to wildlife and natural habitats: it’s described as a desire to see the animals and landscapes that are just managing to hang on before they’re gone.
Conservation
One hundred years ago this year, the last passenger pigeon on Earth died in the Cincinnati Zoo. A female named Martha, she has now become an icon for species extinction.
News & More
The spike in illegal wildlife trade continues: in 2013, poachers killed 1,004 rhinos in South Africa alone; and in 2012, some 15,000 elephants were slaughtered at 42 sites across 27 African countries, according to CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Nature & Wildlife
As I was driving home from the YMCA yesterday, I saw two sandhill cranes near a small pond that sits along the highway, only about a half-mile from my house. They were my first sandhill crane sightings of 2014.
Conservation
Kudos to California. Last October, it became the first state to ban lead ammunition for all types of hunting. The ban will benefit the state’s namesake condors, which nearly went extinct. In 1982, only 22 California condors remained on the planet.
Conservation
Last fall, in the midst of burned and charred trees left in the wake of Yosemite National Park’s Rim Fire, I participated in, of all things, a wedding. It was the most beautiful wedding I have ever attended.
Conservation
Dozens of customs officials bust through the door of a remote and quaint-looking farmhouse. The first thing Crawford Allan sees when he enters following the raid? A preserved chimpanzee head on a table in the living room, a macabre trinket on display like a family heirloom.
