Vegan News 3.28.13

No pups born to Isle Royale wolves. “The gray wolves in Isle Royale National Park in northern Michigan are increasingly threatened, scientists said Monday, with no pups spotted during the past year and concern growing that the animals may have stopped reproducing. Inbreeding has been the wolves’ biggest problem, causing spinal malformation, among other physical abnormalities, said Rolf Peterson, another researcher. It also could be making the wolves increasingly reluctant to mate.”

China’s investment in Africa affecting elephants and rhinos. “Instead of giving western-style loans with strings attached, like reforms to human rights, China offers an alternative — a build up of Africa’s infrastructure in exchange for raw materials. While many Africans see this as a boon to the economy, it has not been so good for Africa’s natural resources. Both rhino horn and elephant tusks are forbidden from being sold to China under international agreements. But a combination of African poaching rings and Chinese demand has created a thriving underground trade. Due to demand in Asia, two of Africa’s most iconic species are dwindling in numbers and China is largely to blame.”

Chimps, gorillas, other apes struggling to survive. “The multibillion-dollar trade in illegal wildlife — clandestine trafficking that has driven iconic creatures like the tiger to near-extinction — is also threatening the survival of great apes, a new U.N. report says. Endangered chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos are disappearing from the wild in frightening numbers, as private owners pay top dollar for exotic pets, while disreputable zoos, amusement parks and traveling circuses clamor for smuggled primates to entertain audiences. In countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Lebanon, great apes are purchased to display as show pieces in private gardens and menageries.”

Not just bees: Bayer’s pesticide may harm birds, too. “Once again this spring, farmers will begin planting at least 140 million acres—a land mass roughly equal to the combined footprints of California and Washington state—with seeds (mainly corn and soy) treated with a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids. Commercial landscapers and home gardeners will get into the act, too—neonics are common in lawn and garden products. Neonics are highly mobile and persistent once they’re unleashed into ecosystems, and they pose a serious threat to birds and the insects they feed on. The EPA…. has in some cases severely underestimated the danger and in other cases simply ignored it.”

Photo credit: Ikhlasul Amal via Flickr