Green Options

An Idaho man was cited for shooting and killing a female wolf pup while standing behind his pickup truck on a public road.

According to local reports, Idaho Fish and Game wardens have cited a man for shooting a wolf in Idaho’s McCall-Weiser area, which is not an open hunting zone until October 1, 2009. He was also cited for hunting from a public road.

Are poachers in KwaZulu Natal now targeting dogs - in addition to wildlife?

Shocked residents living near the Everton Conservancy in Kloof are fearing for the safety of their dogs. According to a disturbing report in The Times SA, authorities suspect that dogs are being stolen from families and being used as bait by poachers to lure wild animals into illegal snares.

Comparing DNA from seized ivory to an elephant DNA database is revealing new information on how poaching syndicates and illegal dealers are operating.

The development of a DNA forensics technique may prove to be a valuable weapon in the bloody war against elephant poaching.

According to BBC News, Professor Sam Wasser of the Center or Conservation Biology at the University of Washington is fighting back against these criminals using DNA collected from elephant dung and ivory to expose poaching hotspots.

Pangolins - scaly, toothless anteaters - are being poached incessantly from their native Southeast Asia habitats. TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, announced that the rising demand for Pangolin meat and scales, mostly from mainland China, is driving the disappearance of these shy animals.

The sheer size of recent Pangolin seizures is alarming:

They include 24 tonnes of frozen pangolins from Sumatra, Indonesia, seized in Viet Nam and 14 tonnes of frozen animals seized in Sumatra in 2008.

(Note: 1 metric ton = 2,204.6 pounds)

Earlier this year, 45 Pangolins were found in the possession of Thai smugglers.

With milk prices plummeting and dairy farmers facing increased feeding costs, many are culling their herds in record numbers. It seems that the value of a dairy cow is not what it once was in the industry. Other dairy farmers are not buying. Selling cows that have become too expensive to feed to the beef industry has become the only viable option for the struggling dairy farmer trying to raise cash.

In a further effort to reduce costs, male calves are being subjected to even more callous treatment and cruelty as evidenced by the recent dumping of 30 dead calves at the side of the road in San Joaquin County, California.

Fifteen-year-old Bostonian Jordan Star has emerged as the surprise driving force behind a bill to ban the cruel practice of ’surgically silencing’ cats and dogs by removing their vocal cords.

Star, a freshman at Needham High, decided to take action after coming across a dog that had been debarked and abandoned. “It was just horrible,” he said of the dog’s struggle to get his attention. “It was just like a hoarse, wheezy cough. In a shelter, all they are is a mutilated animal, which makes them harder to adopt.”

On Wednesday a 5 acre marijuana farm located in Redwood National Park was raided by over 60 park rangers and other cooperating law enforcement officials. The farm was located less than six miles away from the world’s tallest tree. It is the first major marijuana growing operation to have been found in the well-known park.