Why do the Japanese hunt whales?

Whaling.

Japanese Whaling History







Japan has a long history of whaling. Half a dozen towns can trace their whaling history back hundreds of years, to when whales were driven into nets, harpooned repeatedly and then dispatched with either a long sword or a wooden plug driven into the blowhole. Hand harpoons dating as far back as 10,000 B.C. indicate an even longer tradition of whaling in Japan.







At the turn of the 20th century, Japanese coastal whaling received a boost with the introduction of steam ships and grenade-tipped harpoon guns. However, it wasn't until 1934 that Japan expanded its whaling to Antarctica. Whales helped keep Japanese citizens fed both during and after World War 2. In 1947 whale meat made up almost half of all animal protein consumed by the country. Nearly 20 years later, whales continued to make up nearly one-quarter of the Japanese diet.







Japanese Culture and Pride







This history is an important part of why the Japanese continue to hunt whales. Attempts to stop the nation's whaling are perceived by many as a threat to Japanese culture. According to its defenders, eating whale meat is an old and impenetrable Japanese tradition. "No one has the right to criticize the food culture of another people," said Matayuki Komatsu of Japan's Fisheries Agency.







A sense of pride also fuels Japan's commitment to whaling. To some, the words and actions of those who oppose Japanese whaling are "culturally arrogant" and unnecessarily harsh. This only serves to strengthen the country's resolve to maintain its whaling, according to some.







The Principle of Sustainable Use







Minke whales, though not at historic levels, remain plentiful. A population of 761,000 exists in the Southern Ocean, according to Japan, though some claim the number is closer to 268,000. Regardless, they exist in enough numbers that a return to commercial whaling of this species can likely be supported, assuming strict management of stocks and reasonable annual catch limits.







Japan says that its whaling research over the last two decades has paved the way for long-term, sustainable use of this "renewable marine food resource." Why not hunt whales if they can be hunted sustainably? And if the principle of sustainable use is compromised on behalf of one animal, what's to stop a "domino effect" from happening that in time would limit Japan's use of other animal resources that it relies so heavily upon?







Adapted from http://animal.discovery.com/tv/whale-wars/whaling/why-japanese-hunt-whales.html

What does Japan think about the pro-whale movement?

Unwilling to Bow to Cultural Differences



Some groups and nations support a moratorium on all forms of whaling — not just the commercial kind — and propose protecting all whales, regardless of their abundance and conservation status. Japan is not among them.



In March 2008, then Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura stated, "There is a need for us to avoid cultural debates and rather show respect for our respective cultures and calmly discuss the issue based on scientific evidence."



Japan's main complaint with the pro-whale movement is that its attacks on the country's research whaling are based on an emotional response to killing whales, rather than a scientific evaluation of the benefits or drawbacks of the practice.



Pro-whaling but Not Anti-whale



Little love is lost between Japan and the pro-whale movement, but Japan's involvement in controlled whaling doesn't necessarily make it anti-whale. The country's government has stated its commitment to some of the same causes that motivate the pro-whale (or anti-whaling) movement.



"If the protest [of anti-whaling groups] is along the lines of 'protect the endangered whale species,' we are on the same ground. Japan strongly supports the international protection of endangered whale species such as blue whales," reads a policy statement from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.



The country says it does not take any endangered species as part of its research whaling, so it sees its whaling activities as sustainable and separate from the issue of species conservation.



The undeniably rocky relationship between Japan and the pro-whale movement stems from irreconcilable views of whaling. Pro-whale advocates basically regard whaling as poaching. Not so for Japan, which sees it as legal research activities authorized by Article VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, the treaty created "to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry."



With the Law on Their Side



The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), the nonprofit research organization that conducts whaling activities under the legal authority of Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, does sell meat from whales that it takes. Pro-whale groups often cite this fact and say that Japan's research activities are actually commercial whaling in disguise and that it uses a loophole in the International Whaling Commission's convention to conduct its whaling.



But Japan points out that section 2 of Article VIII of the convention states that "any whales taken under these special [scientific] permits shall so far as practicable be processed and the proceeds shall be dealt with in accordance with directions issued by the Government by which the permit was granted."



So, Japan's response to criticism from the pro-whale movement is that selling whale meat (and all of its whaling activities) is above legal reproach.



At the end of the day, the legality of whaling isn't the issue that divides Japan from the pro-whale movement. The pro-whale community views whaling as wrong, while the country sees it as no different from sustainable hunting or fishing. With these opposing viewpoints, don't expect to see a reconciliation between Japan and the pro-whale movement soon.



Adapted from http://http://animal.discovery.com/tv/whale-wars/japanese-whalers/japan-pro-whale-movement.html

Is whale meat popular in Japan?

Whale meat sashimi is served at a whale meat eatery in Tokyo, Japan in May 2007. According to a recent Gallup poll, males 40 to 49 are the most likely to enjoy a piping hot plate of whale meat, followed by men between 50 and 59.

Whale meat is still somewhat popular in Japan, but whether you like it or not depends largely on your demographic. According to a 2006 Gallup poll conducted by the Nippon Research Center and commissioned by Greenpeace, males 40 to 49 are the most likely to enjoy a piping hot plate of whale meat, followed by men between 50 and 59. The numbers aren't too surprising considering whale meat was served frequently in school lunches in the years following World War II, likely making it a sentimental favorite of children of that generation.

Survey Says

If a man is in his 40s, there's an 11.6 percent chance he eats whale meat "sometimes." For men in their 50s, that likelihood drops to 7.4 percent. When it comes to females, however, poll participants between 30 and 39 years of age have acquired less of taste for the marine mammal. Not one answered "sometimes" when questioned about whether they ate whale meat, and only 10 percent said they ate the meat "very rarely." A whopping 21.7 percent reported that they had "never" eaten whale meat. When Gallup polled an even younger group -- females age 15 to 29 -- 51.3 said they had "never" eaten whale meat.

A fourth option, "have not eaten in a long time" was the most common response. Females between 15 and 29 were still the lowest, coming in at 39.5 percent for this category, but the rest who answered affirmatively fell between 46.2 percent (males, 15 to 29) and 79.8 percent (females, 40 to 49). In fact, everyone above 30 answered "have not eaten in a long time" at least 57.1 percent of the time.

All in all, some 95 percent of the 1,047 poll respondents reportedly ate whale meat very rarely, had not eaten whale meat in a long time, or ate it not at all. So while it might seem easy to assume how Japanese people feel about whaling in general, the poll results may surprise you. For example, 34.5 percent of the poll's participants thought commercial whaling should resume, and 39.2 percent "neither agreed nor disagreed" with the idea. With their taste for whale meat, males aged 40 to 49 were the most in favor of it (63.4 percent), while females 15 to 29 were the most opposed to it (47.4 percent). Females 30 to 39 ranked the most ambivalent to the idea (51.7 percent), while males 40 to 49 were the least ambivalent (only 29.6 percent) and the least likely to be against commercial whaling (10.7 percent).

Other Studies

Other sources, such as the book East Asian Cultural and Historical Perspectives, show varying degrees of support. In a small study conducted in 1996, respondents overwhelmingly defended whaling as a cultural right. This finding contrasted with a 1991 Nippon Research Center study that found 64 percent of the respondents were against whaling, and 79 percent thought eating whale meat was not necessary.

At least one Japanese scholar, namely Jun Morikawa of Rakuno Gakuen University in Sapporo, Japan, also disagrees that whaling is still as popular as some people claim. Instead, he thinks that whaling as a fishery, while important to some local Japanese cultural groups, lacks large-scale support at the national level. According to Morikawa, whaling's popularity is largely a myth promulgated by, among others, certain governmental bodies and major players within the whaling industry.

It's hard to determine who's correct in all this, but one thing is for sure: Even with scientific catch limits downsizing the amount of whaling that's done each year, Japanese people don't always eat all the meat that's caught. According to the Guardian, of the 1,873 tons of whale meat processed in 2001, 70 tons went unsold.

Adapted from ">http://animal.discovery.com/tv/whale-wars/japanese-whalers/japan-whale-meat-popular.html

Overharvesting

Passenger pigeon.

One of the factors that cause species extinct is overharvesting. Before we go into our discussion, I would like to bring you some past events that prove human had over hunting certain species till they become endanger species. So, let us look at a classic example is the extermination of America passenger pigeon that once a upon a time lived in eastern North America with large population of them (population between 3 and 5 billion of them). It accounted for about one-quarter of all birds in North America. In spite of this vast abundance, market hunting and habitat destruction caused the entire population to crash in only about 20 years between 1870 and 1890. Sadly, the last existing passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, died in 1914 in the Cincinnati Zoo. As a result, the existence species of bird has now become a history and just a story that begin with ‘once a upon a time’.



So, what kind of moral lesson that we have gained from this story? We might start to think that we shouldn’t repeat the event of ‘once a upon a time’ on the animal in the earth. So that, next time, we don’t have to bring our grandchildren to go to the museum to see the specimens of the Malay Tiger, Sumatera rhino, and Orang Utan as examples because we couldn’t see them lively in the national parks, zoos, and forests. Think about it when our grandchildren ask you a question why are there extinct? Start from now; how would you to answer to this serious question? It is a question about ethical, moral and humanities question.



Before that, let us see the world today, we realize people are harvesting all the resources of the earth for example fisheries, and whaling. For instance, according to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimate, over 70% of the world’s fish species are either fully exploited or depleted. United Nation. 10 Stories The World Should Hear About. http://www.un.org/events/tenstories/06/story.asp?storyID=800



You might also refer to the following website to get the pie chart about the status of the marine fisheries:



http://earthwatch.unep.ch/oceans/oceanfisheries.php



The modern fisheries using large weighted nets to catch fishes. The large weighted nets not only catch all marine life in midwaters, whether targeted or caught incidentally, but also cause severe seabed habitat destruction. Sea creatures living on the bottom are crushed, buried or exposed to predators, and clouds of sediments rise, altering seabed biochemistry. Trawler bycatch represents between 17-39 million metric tones of fish discarded unused each year (McAllister, 1998). Ecosystems, such as continental shelves and slopes, are more affected than other areas; they naturally suffer less disturbance (by storm waves for example) and have evolved for slower growth and other biological processes, which means that recovery takes places over a longer period of time (Watling et al., 1998). United Nation. 2006. Earth Watch. http://earthwatch.unep.ch/oceans/oceanfisheries.php



As a conclusion, overharvesting is one of the factors that is responsible for depletion or extinction of many species. Efficient endangered species management and biodiversity protection are needed to protect the species.

"The Andrews"

Animals Asia Welfare Awards -"The Andrews" Animals Asia has created a set of awards to recognise those organisations and individuals who are making outstanding contributions to the advancement of animal welfare in Asia.

Over the years, we have seen many selfless supporters, celebrities, government officials, corporations, campaign partners and students helping to improve the plight of wild and domesticated animals throughout Asia. We're sure you know of many more. Animals Asia plans to launch the awards at the region's foremost animal-welfare forum, the "Asia for Animals Conference 2011", which we will host in Chengdu in June. Please help us to recognise these unsung heroes by nominating a deserving individual or organisation for an award in the following categories:

Animals Asia Welfare Awards: Categories

Media: Outstanding contribution by a journalist or media outlet Corporate: Outstanding contribution by a corporation Government: Outstanding initiative supported or instigated by a government department or body Individual: Outstanding contribution by an individual NGO: Outstanding achievement by an NGO Political: Outstanding lobbying by an NGO or individual Public: Outstanding initiative to raise public awareness Student: Outstanding contribution by a young activist Community: Outstanding contribution to a community-based programme or campaign Volunteer: Outstanding contribution by a volunteer

Please download our nomination form and submit to afa@animalsasia.org or fax to us on + 852 2791 2320.

http://www.animalsasia.org/

5 most endangered species in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Five of the 10 animals and plants most threatened by the illegal wildlife trade are in Malaysia.The tiger, Asian rhinoceros, elephant and orang utan are included in the top 10 list released by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International, together with a red and pink jewel-like coral species, Corallium borneense. All are found in Malaysia.
"Malaysia’s global position in providing habitat to some of the most charismatic and endangered flagship mammal species, such as the tiger, Asian elephant and orang utan has to be recognised and emphasised," said WWF-Malaysia’s National Programme Director Dr Arun Venkataraman.
The list was released ahead of the annual Conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, to be held from June 3 to June 15 in The Hague, the Netherlands.Representatives from 171 countries are expected to attend.
The tiger and Asian rhino have been threatened for decades because of poaching and illegal trade.
Others, particularly marine species, are on the list because their populations have declined drastically in recent years.
According to WWF-Malaysia, tigers are at risk because of a loss of habitat and forest conversion. And an old threat has re-emerged which could sound the death knell for the species — the reopening of tiger farms in China.
The population of Asian rhinos has been devastated by the trade of their highly prized horns. An upsurge in poaching has put the last remaining populations at risk, said Venkataraman.
"The Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is already extinct in Malaysia," he said, adding that WWF-Malaysia was working with government agencies and the corporate sector to protect the near-extinct Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatranus), the only rhino species remaining in Malaysia, and the one most threatened by poaching.
The poaching of elephants and illegal international trade in ivory is stimulated by rampant ivory sales in some countries, particularly in East Asia.
In Sabah, government agencies are working with WWF-Malaysia to reduce the threat to the Bornean pygmy elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis) through AREAS (Asian Rhino Elephant Action Strategy) and the Heart of Borneo programme, which aims to connect fragmented lowland forests using corridors, said Venkataraman.
Wild populations of great apes (gorillas, chimpanzees and orang utan) are declining because of a combination of the illegal trade in live animals (usually for pets), poaching for meat, disease and habitat disturbance, fragmentation and destruction.This includes Malaysia’s only great ape, the Bornean orang utan (Pongo pygmaeus).Red and pink coral (Corallium spp.) is the most valuable of all the precious corals. Pink coral has been extracted for over 5,000 years and used for jewellery and decoration. Over-harvesting and the destruction of entire colonies by bottom trawlers and dredges have led to dramatic population decline.
"At least one species, Corallium borneense, is found in Malaysian waters. Malaysia also imports coral from Taiwan and Japan, which is made into jewellery and then re-exported to the United States," Venkataraman said.Other species on the list are the Porbeagle (Lamna nasus), a powerful, medium-sized shark highly valued for its meat and fins; the Spiny Dogfish (Squalus acanthias), a smaller, slender white-spotted shark also known as rock salmon, used in fish and chips in the United Kingdom and eaten smoked as a delicacy called Schillerlocken in Germany.
The saw fish (Pristidae spp.), whose distinctive saw-like snouts are sold as souvenirs and ceremonial weapons while other body parts are used for traditional medicines; is also on the list, as well as the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), for which there is significant international demand, both for adults whose meat is highly valued and live juvenile eels (shipped from Europe to Asia) for rearing in aqua-culture.
The Bigleaf Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), a highly valuable South and Central American rainforest timber species, is also endangered because of illegal logging.

20 Ways You Can Save Our WIldlife

Some "dos" and "don'ts".

1. Do not buy bones, skulls, teeth, trophies or feathers of wild animals.
   To obtain these product, animals have to be killed and you are encouraging the wildlife trade.
2. Do not think of our wild animals (such as wild boar and deer meat) as exotic food.
   If we continue to eat these animals at the current rate, there will soon be none left. There is plenty of beef, chicken, fish and other meats available.
3. Don't think of wild animal parts as having medicinal value.
   For most of the times it is not true. A simple fact - the rhino horn is made of the same stuff (keratin) as your finger nail. Therefore, if you have a fever, would you cook and eat your finger nail?
4. Do not think of hunting for wild animals as a sport.
   It may be a sport to you but it is certainly not a sport for the animal.
5. Do not hunt for sale or trade in wildlife.
   Commercial sale of our animals reduces the tourism potential and regeneration potential of our forests, and is bringing some species close to extinction in Sarawak.
6. If you have no other sources of food and are allowed to hunt animals for subsistence, do not hunt any protected or totally protected species. These are so rare that if they are hunted, they might become extinct.
7. Do not poison the rivers when you go fishing.
   Poison kills almost everything in the rivers. Besides, it is illegal to do so.
8. If you are fishing using jala (cast nets) or jaring (drift nets), do not use nets with small mesh sizes. We encourage the use of bigger mesh sizes as this allows juvenile fish to escape capture.
9. Do not fish near the shore, especially in the mangroves. The mangroves are critical breeding grounds for most fishes and prawns.
10. Do not keep wild animals as pets. This includes birds like mynas, hornbills and parrots. By discouraging the pet trade, you are helping to eliminate the harvest of animals from the wild.
11. Do inform the National Parks and Wildlife Service if you encounter illegal activities concerning wildlife. Examples of some illegal activities are : hunting inside national parks and hunting or keeping protected or totally protected species without a licence.
12. Do learn about ways to conserve our animals. Subscribe to a wildlife magazine and watch nature programmes on TV.
13. Make education your objective when you next visit a wildlife centre.
14. You can contribute to wildlife conservation. Donate to a nature society or club. The contributions are often tax deductable. GIVE to SAVE!!!!
15. Be a volunteer for a nature society or club. Your efforts are valuable.
16. Encourage your school, club and friends to have talks and debates on the values of wildlife conservation.
17. Do take photographs of our wonderful wildlife. Show them to your friends.
18. Encourage your friends and family to respect Wildlife. The animals contribute to your well-being.
19. If you have the option, think of wildlife conservation as a career. It is extremely rewarding.
20. Finally, remember this saying, "In the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught." Bring a friend to a Wildlife Centre and learn more about Wildlife conservation.

Hey! Where is my home?

Deforestation.



Over the past 10,000 year, human activities such as urbanization, industrialization, and agriculture have shaped up the surface of the earth. Human have transformed billions of hectares of former forests and grasslands to cities, roads, houses, and other uses. Our actions have certainly caused the loss of wildlife habitat.



Globally, around 13 million hectares (ha) of forests were converted to other uses (including agriculture) or were lost through natural causes each year between 2000 and 2010. Primary forests account for 36 per cent (1.4 billion ha) of the world's forest area but their area has decreased by more than 40 million ha — at a rate of 0.4 per cent annually — over the last ten years. South America accounted for the largest proportion of the loss in primary forests, followed by Africa and Asia. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation. 2011. Forest biodiversity at risk. http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/45904/icode/



Why is it forest important to wildlife? Forest is important because it provides place and food for wildlife to survive. Forest play an important role as a producer in the food chain, primary consumer such as deer depend on plant as their food and secondary consumer such as tigers depend on deer for food. For this food chain, we can identify the food chain as a set of interacting species in certain area known as ecosystem community. Let’s say we have removed one of the community such as plant from the food chain, this will affect the other community such as deer because insufficient food which is plant has reduced the number of deer and due to the insufficient food that is deer, the secondary consumer, tigers also suffer from hunger because they depend on primary consumer as food.



As a result, the ecosystem of the forest becomes imbalance and the population of wildlife is at risk! For example, John Seidensticker of the Save the Tiger Fund Council says humans continue to encroach upon reserves to grow coffee and to poach, and the reserves have not protected the tiger. The number of Sumatran tigers is estimated at about 500, and tiger-human conflict remains rife. In other word, human activities- agriculture such as coffee has reduced the habitat of Sumatera tiger. For more information, you may refer to:

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/tigers/plight/slide_05.html



So who is going to be responsible for this? We as humans are responsible for this because we have cut down the tree for urban developing, industrial developing and others.

Commercial Products and live Specimens

Coats made from Endangered Animals

Craft Products from elephants ivories

Animal's skin


Walking down to the street in the city you will bumped into pet shops where sold birds for example parrots, beetles, and lizards or even souvenir shop you might come to these products such as butterflies or beetle specimens of even a tiger skin purse! Wildlife products are everywhere! From this, we can know that human obtain a variety of valuable commercial products from nature. This is one of the sub-factors of human-caused reductions in biodiversity.



Where does the wildlife product come from? According to the Environment Science, A Global Concern that I have referred, most of the wildlife product sources come from developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America with the richest biodiversity in the world. On the other hand, Europe, North America, and some of the wealthy Asian countries are the principal importers. Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong buy three-quarters of all cat and snake skin, for instance, while European countries buy a similar percentage of live birds.
Cunningham& Saigo, 2005.


The profit of wildlife trading is significant as I got some information from the Report of Congressional Research Service on International Illegal Trade in Wildlife: Threats and U.S. Policy by Wyler& Sheikh, 2008 which show some value of wildlife trading. The price of the wildlife trading is shown below:

Title: Selected Illicit Wildlife Trade and Estimated Retail Value

Illegally Traded

Wildlife Estimated Retail Value

1.Elephants $121-$900 per kilogram of ivory

2.Rhinos $945-$50,000 per kilogram of rhino horn

3.Tibetan

Antelopes $1,200-$20,000 per shatoosh shawl

4.Big Cats $1,300-$20,000 per tiger, snow leopard, or jaguar skin; $3,300-

$7,000 per set of tiger bones

5.Bears $250-$8,500 per gallbladder

6.Sturgeon $4,450-$6,000 per kilogram of caviar

7.Reptiles and

Insects

(often live) $30,000 per oenpelli python; $30,000 per komodo dragon;

$5,000-$30,000 per plowshare tortoise; $15,000 per Chinese

alligator; $20,000 per monitor lizard; $20,000 per shingleback

skink; $8,500 per pair of birdwing butterflies

8.Exotic Birds

(often live) $10,000 per black palm cockatoo egg ($25,000-$80,000 per

mature breeding pair); $5,000-$12,000 per hyacinth macaw;

$60,000-$90,000 per lear macaw; $20,000 per Mongolian falcon

9.Great Apes

(often live) $50,000 per Orangutan

Note: Price traded in US Dollars.

Sources: Compiled from U.S. government agencies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and media sources.



From this you can identify clearly this is a profitable trading. But the matter of fact is, this trading is consider inhumane because in the process of hunting, animals sometime are killed such as elephants, tigers , leopards and rhinos in order to get their ivory, bones, and horns. As a result, the population of this wildlife are decreasing year by year for example, in 1977, there were 1.3 million elephants lived in Africa; by 1997, only 600,000 remained. Other example is fewer than 1,500 Indochinese tigers are broadly distributed throughout Thailand (the centre of the Indochinese tiger's range), Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, southern China and eastern Myanmar (formerly Burma).



For more information, you can access to Nature web site:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/elephants/poaching.html http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/tigers/plight/slide_04.html



As a conclusion, in my view point that commercial wildlife products and live Specimens have an impact on the state of wildlife population.

Polution maker?

Don’t ever get angry if I coded we are actually the criminal for putting state of wildlife on the state extinction by creating much pollution to the ecosystem. There is lot of pollution that human created such as toxic pollution, and water pollution just to name a few have numerous impacts on ecosystem of the earth specially human activities such as oil mining, oil transporting, and chemical industry.

In this aspect, we would like to bring you an accident which has numerous impacts on ecosystem on the earth. Sure, everyone wouldn’t forget an accident about the largest oil spill in United States history (40 million litters) occurred when the Exxon Valdez super tanker struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska in the early spring of 1989. The oil spread throughout the western portion of this 8,800 km2 coastal marine ecosystem before spreading to the Gulf of Alaska, Kodiak Island, and along the Kenai and Alaska Peninsulas. It covered rocky shorelines and beaches, and initially killed large numbers of birds, mammals, and marine invertebrates, including endangered and declining species.

According to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council estimated 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles, up to 22 killer whales died along with billions of salmon and herring eggs. CBS News, 2011, /05/03/natiohttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010nal/main6456927.shtml

The oil causes birds' feathers to mat and separate, causing the bird to lose its buoyancy and the ability to regulate body temperature. Contact with oil on their skin or face can cause skin and eye lesions. Internal exposure to oil can lead to ulcers, pneumonia, liver damage, and other life-threatening conditions. On the other hand, oil also affects the sea turtles. Sea turtles will feel burning in mucous membranes of the eyes and mouth, the chemical of the oil can irritation or inflammation of the skin, and they will suffer from gastrointestinal inflammation, ulcers, bleeding, and poor digestion. If you are interested in this topic you can refer this web site: http://www.nwf.org/Oil-Spill/Effects-on-Wildlife.aspx

How can this crude oil cause the death of marine life? According to National Library of Medicine, when crude oil is burned, either accidentally or as a spill control measure, it emits chemicals which contained carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, sulphur dioxide , and volatile organic compounds that harmful for human and wildlife. For example, carbon monoxide and lead from crude oil can damage the wildlife’s intestinal system whereas the sulphur dioxide can damage the animal eye just we have mentioned above (effect on sea turtles).Botkin& Keller, 2003. These chemical can bring death to these animal. For more information you can refer to http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=73

This is just one example out of million maybe billion example of pollution that mankind had made to this earth. As a human, let us take time to think deeply. And consider our actions that have numerous impacts on the ecosystem of the earth…

POpulation

In this topic we are going to address some human- caused factors about wildlife extinction. To be more focus, we will go into detail one topic by one post only. In this post, we are going to examine on population. Human population growth has negative influences on biodiversity in several ways. With huge human population in this earth, our consumption on earth resources will increase rapidly. This phenomenon will directly increase our demand on earth resources for instance; we will need to harvest more timber, catch more fish, plow more land for agriculture, dig up more fossil fuels and minerals, build more houses, and use more water. All of these consumptions impact wild species. According to UN Population Division, there will be seven billion of human in the earth by late 2011. National Geographic Society, 7 billion population, 2011. So how are we going to influence the system of the earth such as ecosystem by the end of 2011?

For more information you can proceed at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/seven-billion/kunzig-text.

Again, I would like to stress this issue by giving you an example more specifically on deforestation. The increasing of human population has caused the demand on wood source and land for agriculture such as Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam) lost nearly as much forest per year from the mid- 1970s to the mid-1980s, with 4800 square miles per year (1.4 x 106 ha/yr) converted for agricultural use or cut for timber. Rain Forest Report Card, 1998. On the other hand, in Brazil, the Brazilian government reported that the official rainforest deforestation for 2003 was 2,375,000 hectares. That is 5,868,753 acres. A major reason for this has been the increase in a worldwide demand for Brazilian beef. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, exports of Brazilian beef increased from 232,000 metric tons in 1997 to 1.2 million metric tons in 2003. In 2001, the percentage of Europe’s processed meat from Brazil was at 74 per cent. Sam Montana. 2009. http://factoidz.com/cutting-down-the-rainforest-have-we- This mean that the huge consumption of food by the population of human had coast the tree cut down for land to feed cow as a protein source for food. So what is the relationship between forest and wildlife? The matter of fact, tree in the forest act an important role as a producer in food chain, it is because photosynthesis is the base of all ecosystems, organisms that photosynthesize are mainly plant and algae known as producer, primary consumer such as deer consume plant and algae as a source of energy and finally secondary consumer such as tiger consume deer to get the energy. It creates a unique way of food web. When the forest is destroyed, the tree have loosen its role as producer and this will give a negative impact on food web as the primary consumer die out because of hunger and the secondary consumer will also die out as a result their insufficient food supply which is primary consumer.

So, the question that I wish you to think about it deeply is the ways of population contribute to this wildlife. Take time to think about it but not to start to save the wildlife until the eleven hour

What is the main Factor that cause wildlife extinct?

In this section, we are going to determine the main factor that causes wildlife extinct. According to my study in the book of Environmental Science, A Global Concern, 8th Edition by Cunningham and Saigo, 2005, the authors determined two main factors which are Natural Causes of Extinction and Human- Caused Reductions in Biodiversity. Let us look into it one by one.
First, let us look into the aspect of Natural causes of extinction briefly, research on fossil suggest that more than 99 per cent of all species that ever existed are now extinct. Most of those species were gone long before humans came on the earth. Why kind of natural event have caused they aren’t longer exist in this earth?
There are some theories suggested that species change gradually through competition for scarce resources and natural selection, a process in which those members of population that are best suited for a particular set of environment conditions will survive and produce offspring more successfully than ill-suited competitors. This theory is known as theory of evolution, developed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace. Cunningham& Saigo, 2005. Species arise through processes of mutation and natural selection and disappear the same way. The tiny Hypohippus, for instance, has been replaced by the much larger modern horse, but most of its genes probably still survive in its distant offspring. To take a close look on the image of Hypohippus, you may refer to this link: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Hypohippus.jpg
Mass extinctions have wiped out vast numbers of species and even whole families. The best event to understand these events is the end of Cretaceous period when dinosaurs disappeared, along with at least 50 per cent of existing genera and 15 per cent of marine animal families. Current theories suggest that these catastrophes were caused by climate changes, perhaps triggered when large asteroids struck the earth.
After having a brief discussion about Natural Causes of Extinction, we are going to address the second main factor which is Human-Caused Reduction in Biodiversity. Between A.D. 1600 and 1850, human activities appear to have been responsible for the extermination of two or three species per decade. Some estimates, we are now losing species at thousands of times natural rates. If these trends continue, the United Nations Environment Program warns, between 22 and 47 per cent of all known plant species-and the animals dependent on them- could be extinct in the next 50 years. Cunningham& Saigo, 2005. After this we are going to look into this Human-Caused Reduction in Biodiversity deeply by introducing its sub-factor. So we are looking forward to our next discussion specifically on these sub-factors of Human-Caused Reduction in Biodiversity.
Before we leave our discussion, we would like to invite you to think the sub-factor that causes the reduction in Biodiversity. :-)

The Price of Wildlife trading in Black Market

According to my finding in internet I have found that the prices of wildlife trading in black market can guarantee a great profit for the wildlife hunter and wildlife traders. It is hard to believe that the price offered during the trading is very high and expansive! The list of wildlife trading is shown below:



• Siberian Tiger: $70,000

• Sea Turtle Skin Boots: $480

• Lion: Price on request

• Tibetan Antelopes Woven Shawl: $30,000

• Gorilla (in London): 4,500 pound

• Stuffed Polar Bear: $US 11,000

• Orangutan can fetch US$ 45,000

• Tiger Skin: $50,000

• Black Cockatoo species: AUD$30000

• Rhino Horn: Upto $US 25,000 per 500 grams

• Tiger Parts (Tiger Penis, Claws, Bones, Skin)

• Peregrine falcon in Taxidermy: 170 pounds

• Wood Owl (to use in voodoo): Rs. 1.5 Lakhs

• Rare Turtles (For Live Pet Trade and Meat)

• Bottle of Tiger Bones Wine: $100

• Leopards (Skin and Claws)

• Otter (Skin)

• Pangolin (scales for Medicine and Meat)

• Snakes (for meat, venom trade and skins)

• Mongoose (for hair for Brushes)

• Bear (for its Gall Bladder, Live Cub Trade for Paw Soup, Claws)

• Crocodiles (for pets, meat, and skin)

• Rare birds – Live and stuffed

• Elephant Tusks, Giant Ivories, and decorative items

• Rhino Footstools

• Stuffed Polar Bears

• Dried seahorse curios

• Ramin pool cues

• Powdered tiger humorous bone: Over $1700/ pound.

• Sturgeon caviar: $880 a pound (0.45kg) and Paddlefish caviar $373 a pound



Source: http://treesouls.com/wildlife-conservation/illegal-wildlife-trade-in-india-the-black-market-of-life/





So be aware of these illegal wildlife products that you might accidently brought it from these trader. There are some situation that you might become an indirect buyer for wildlife products:



• An avid lover of butterflies may not know about the origin of the framed butterfly souvenirs or that they may belong to the endangered list and also that they are in turn fuelling the demand for wild life souvenirs.

• Pet lovers may not be aware of the needs of a baby sloth that was sold to them; only after killing their mother and that it made its way through the illegal dungeons of the wildlife trade.

• Media images celebrating luxury dining with champagne and caviar can never make a person give a second thought to how the food reached his table.

• An old woman who loves and keeps birds would never be able to comprehend the gravity of not knowing that they belong to the endangered list or have been trapped, caught and kept in a brutal manner.

• Many of the small time hunters and tribal who trap the birds and animals for small fee are not aware of the ugly side of their livelihood.

• Many tourists and customers do not know that they are buying illegal products during their sojourns and from the internet.



Source: http://treesouls.com/wildlife-conservation/illegal-wildlife-trade-in-india-the-black-market-of-life/

I need to wake up from Melissa Etheridge.

Every time I listen to this music from An Inconvenient Truth- The best documentary movies in the 79th Oscars and ‘I need to wake up’ from Melissa Etheridge- The best original songs in the 79th Oscars, I feel that this song really inspire everyone.

How was it inspiring people? From my point of views the lyrics of the song start with ‘Have I been sleeping?’, ‘I’ve been so still afraid of crumbling’ which bring the meaning of the people still concern about the environment issue or not. Even those who aren’t concern about the environment, they are still afraid of crumbling of Earth and balance system of the earth. They are afraid the natural disasters such as flood, climate change, imbalance of ecosystem, and wildlife extinction. And ‘why they aren’t concern about it?’ I asked curiously. It is the trading on earth resources that made a healthy profit? Or some factors that I haven’t realize about it?

To answer these question, I being to look into many aspects of reasons. The first reason is the aspect of profit. According to the CRS Report for Congress on International Illegal Trade in Wildlife Threats and U.S Policy, global trade in illegal wildlife is a growing illicit economy, estimated to be worth at least $5 billion and potentially in excess of $20 billion annually. Some of the most lucrative illicit wildlife commodities include tiger parts, caviar, elephant ivory, rhino horn, and exotic birds and reptiles. Demand for illegally obtained wildlife is ubiquitous, and some suspect that illicit demand is growing. Wyler& Cheikh, (2008).



From this abstract, we can see that this health profit of $20 billion could be the cause on the increase of wildlife hunting in the third country such as Indonesia, Thailand and Brazil just to name a few as it promise a better life for them. Are they wrong? The answer is no they are innocent, they just want to satisfy their need such as food and house so what’s wrong with them? Don’t they have their right to have these needs? According to Index Mundi the GDP-per capita for Indonesia is $4000 US Dollars. From this fact, you might doubt me about the fact that I mentioned just now that they have insufficient of income. The fact is we can’t see the reality of local people life with this GDP- per capital value because this entry shows GDP on a purchasing power parity basis divided by population in a year. It didn’t show the reality of people life in that country.



According to Profauna Indonesia, The level of the illegal trade and smuggling of the protected wildlife in Indonesia in 2009 is quite high. ProFauna’s Indonesia latest survey recorded that 70 animal (bird) markets in Java Island traded 183 protected species. Among the 70 markets which were located in 58 different cities, 14 of them sold parrots, 21markets sold primates, 11 markets sold mammals, and 13 markets sold raptors. Besides those target species, protected singing birds were also sold in 11 markets.



From these surveys, we can know who can be judged for this wildlife hunting. I think all of us is clear the consumers are wrong and have to take the responsible for the wildlife hunting because I belief that ‘no trading, no hunting’. The demand from on these products for example birds as pets and leopards for their leather as beautiful cloths. All of this is due to our desire to look beautiful, wealthy and status but we have ignored our action that brings the increasing of wildlife hunting. Are these products well worth it to show our beauty, our status and our wealthy? As the songs mentioned take us where we supposed to be, let us think deeply back our action was it right? Was it humane? To comprehend the things that we can’t see which is the impact of wildlife hunting on the balance of ecosystem and we need to wake up to be a responsible and ethical consumer. World will be better, if we do a great progress in protecting the earth.

Malaysia Passes WILDLIFE Protection Law

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A Malaysian law intended to deal with animal traffickers and poachers may be too late to save some of the country's endangered species, wildlife activists say.

After years of wildlife being decimated by human activities, Malaysia finally responded with a wildlife conservation law called "overdue," Inter Press Service reported Tuesday.

Conservationists, concerned that Sumatran rhinos, orangutans, Malayan tigers and clouded leopards a losing their fight for survival, will be watching how the new law is implemented.

"The tough new measures are probably four decades overdue," conservationist Mohamed Iris said. "Official neglect and corruption is fueling the international trade in threatened species and the tough new law and action against corrupt officials may be too late for some endangered species."

The bill, with significantly higher penalties and mandatory jail terms for a wide range of wildlife crimes, is expected to come into force as law in December.

"It all depends how seriously and effectively the government implement the new law," said one conservationist working to preserve wildlife habitat at a forest reserve in East Malaysia.

"If effectively enforced, the law can give wildlife a respite against open and blatant poaching."

Some feel the agencies selected to enforce the new bill are not up to the job.

"They are not modern, don't have modern equipment, they don't use modern technology and their budget is minuscule compared to the challenges they face in protecting wildlife against poaches," lawmaker Grosgrain Mirages said. "The law is fine but the implementation part is wanting."

"We have the law," he said, "but without the budget the battle is lost."

Jane's Reasons for Hope

"It is easy to be overwhelmed by feelings of hopelessness as we look around the world. We are losing species at a terrible rate, the balance of nature is disturbed, and we are destroying our beautiful planet. We have fear about water supplies, where future energy will come from – and most recently the developed world has been mired in an economic crisis. But in spite of all this I do have hope. And my hope is based on four factors.

The Human Brain

Firstly, we have at last begun to understand and face up to the problems that threaten us and the survival of life on Earth as we know it. Surely we can use our problem-solving abilities, our brains, to find ways to live in harmony with nature. Many companies have begun "greening" their operations, and millions of people worldwide are beginning to realize that each of us has a responsibility to the environment and our descendants. Everywhere I go, I see people making wiser choices, and more responsible ones.



The Indomitable Human Spirit

My second reason for hope lies in the indomitable nature of the human spirit. There are so many people who have dreamed seemingly unattainable dreams and, because they never gave up, achieved their goals against all the odds, or blazed a path along which others could follow. The recent presidential election in the US is one example. As I travel around the world I meet so many incredible and amazing human beings. They inspire me. They inspire those around them.

The Resilience of Nature

My third reason for hope is the incredible resilience of nature. I have visited Nagasaki, site of the second atomic bomb that ended World War II. Scientists had predicted that nothing could grow there for at least 30 years. But, amazingly, greenery grew very quickly. One sapling actually managed to survive the bombing, and today it is a large tree, with great cracks and fissures, all black inside; but that tree still produces leaves. I carry one of those leaves with me as a powerful symbol of hope. I have seen such renewals time and again, including animal species brought back from the brink of extinction.

The Determination of Young People

My final reason for hope lies in the tremendous energy, enthusiasm and commitment of young people around the world. As they find out about the environmental and social problems that are now part of their heritage, they want to right the wrongs. Of course they do -- they have a vested interest in this, for it will be their world tomorrow. They will be moving into leadership positions, into the workforce, becoming parents themselves. Young people, when informed and empowered, when they realize that what they do truly makes a difference, can indeed change the world. We should never underestimate the power of determined young people.

I meet many young people with shining eyes who want to tell Dr. Jane what they've been doing, how they are making a difference in their communities. Whether it's something simple like recycling or collecting trash, something that requires a lot of effort, like restoring a wetland or a prairie, or whether it's raising money for the local dog shelter, they are a continual source of inspiration. My greatest reason for hope is the spirit and determination of young people, once they know what the problems are and have the tools to take action.

So let’s move forward in this new millennium with hope, for without it all we can do is eat and drink the last of our resources as we watch our planet slowly die. Let’s have faith in ourselves, in our intellect, in our staunch spirit and in our young people. And let’s do the work that needs to be done, with love and compassion."

--Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE

Adapted from The Jane Goodall Institute 2010 at: http://www.janegoodall.org/janes-reasons-hope

The story from the Persian Empire

The story begins with few sentences which I got it from the book of Social Science 13th edition edited by Hunt & Colander. The story mentioned about the Persian Empire in 336 B.C where King Philip II was assassinated and his rule was assumed by his son, Alexander the Great, who was not yet twenty years old. By the time Alexander died, overcome by a sudden and unidentified disease when he was only thirty-three years old, he had solidified his father’s conquest of Greece and then gone on to conquer Egypt, almost all of what we now call the Middle East, and the greater part of India. To Alexander is attributed the demand, “Bring me more worlds to conquer.”

It is true indeed that human now have already conquered the world by massive amount of human population. According to the National Geographic website which discussed about the accelerating of human population from 1billion from 1800 to 6.6 billion today has clear evidence that human have already conquered the world. This massive amount of population shows that we have to share the earth resources such food, water, and land. It means that we have a massive demand on these resources! We need land to develop, and forest for wood source.

We not only conquered the world by population but also with the modern technology that we have invented such as Harvester, skidder and forwarder for forestry. With this technology human can cut down the tree faster than tradition technology such axes.

As a result, we have destroyed the ecosystem of the earth which is unique to us. For example, in the early 2000s in Brazil, about 4,000 mi2 (10,000 km2) of rainforest were being cleared yearly, mostly for cattle ranching, soy farming, and subsistence farming (Lerner 2008.) caused the wildlife lost it habitat.

The massage that we try to bring to the reader is clear that human have the responsibility for the future of the wildlife! We can conserve the wildlife or extinguish the wildlife. The choice is yours! Lastly, I will like to share this quote from Al Gore (former vice president of USA) “Future generations may well have occasion to ask themselves, "What were our parents thinking? Why didn't they wake up when they had a chance?" We have to hear that question from them, now.” Yes indeed why not we wake up now when we still have a chance to protect the wildlife before our generation might not have any chances to experience the unique of the ecosystem. Let us preserve this property of earth to them.
:-)

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