By Gavin Hudson •
February 27, 2009
Hong Kong actress and singer Karen Mok will travel to Canada to speak out against seal hunting just before the start of this year’s seal hunting season, during which an estimated 300,000 will be killed for their fur and meat.
Mok will work with the Hong Kong Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to make a mini documentary on seal hunting. The film and the publicity of Mok’s journey will be used to encourage Hong Kong to ban trade with Canada for seal products.
By Andrew Williams •
January 22, 2009
A colony of giant African bats has made a dramatic return from the brink of exctinction, thanks to a conservation drive discouraging people from eating them as delicacies.
As recently as 1989, the Pemba Flying Fox, one of Africa’s largest bat species, was critically endangered, with only a few individuals left on Pemba Island, off the coast of Tanzania. Since an intervention by Flora and Fauna International (FFI), numbers have soared to a staggering 22,000.
According to conservation worker, Joy Juma, “At one time roast bat was a very common dish on Pemba. Now people value the bats for different reasons.”
In my first exploration of the issue of by-catch in commercial fishing, I looked at the devastating effects of fishing not simply for the "target" species, but on those animals who are unlucky enough to be caught in the lines, traps, hooks, and nets not meant for them. In this second part, I further explore this issue and take a look at how the dolphins, sea turtles, and seals - animals for whom
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