Massacre

Ohio governor decision leads to the massacre of 50 wild animals including 18 endangered Bengal tigers.  Governor John Kasich let the state wide ban on buying and selling exotic pets expired in April.  This lapse along with other weakened exotic pet restrictions has led to the state having some of the highest number of injuries and deaths caused by them.  This lack of restrictions allowed Terry Thompson to cage 56 poor defenseless animals.  Although Thompson had been convicted of animal cruelty and was suspected of animals neglect.  The lax laws and failure to punish him for his crimes allowed him to continue to keep these animals.  Many of these animals he used for filmmakers and photographers who cared nothing about how he treated these animals.  If movie makers and others didn’t pay so much to use these kinds of animals then he might not have had so many.  Several articles stated that he loved the animals but if he loved them so much then he would not have caged them in the first place not would he have set them free knowing what might happen to them.  His releasing them was another way that showed that he really had no compassion for the animals.  Although he let the animals out, the deaths of them still could be avoided.  The police department is to blame.  Although they knew this man had these animals they had no real training on how to handle wild animals.  If you area has this kind of facility them there should be some planning in place to handle this kind of situation.  A large reason they killed them was due to laziness.  They killed the animals because they said it was dark and those tranquilized would wander into the dark and wake up later.  They just did not want to go hunting them in the big bad dark wilderness.  The officers weren’t the only ones trying to get the animals.  Members of the Cincinnati zoo came out and begged to save the animals but all they were allowed to save was 6.  None of this had to happen had the correct laws been in place to prevent these animals from being in cages to start with.  Even after the tragedy some people still showed how little compassion they had for these poor animals.  Many people have been emailing the sheriff and asking for the animal corpse.  They want to stuff these animals and sell them because exotic animals dead or alive are such big business.  This tragedy needs to make all states look at their laws and we must fix the laws before another tragedy happens.

Agony in the ocean

Why can we as humans be so outraged at the atrocities we commit against each other but not have that same compassion for animals?  I was absolutely appalled by the recent death of a pilot whale on a New Jersey beach.  This poor creature starved to death.  After the whale died a necropsy was performed where they discovered the shocking truth to the whale’s ultimate demise.  The beautiful creature had been shot and the bullet was located in the whales jaw.  The bullet had cause an infection that left the whale unable to eat.  The poor creature wandered the sea in complete agony and spent months slowly starving to death.  Can you as a human imagine seeing food all around you but not being able to eat any of it?  There is nothing this poor animal did to deserve this.  It is speculated that maybe a fisherman shot it because it was bothering their fishing.  Well guess what, the whale was fishing these waters before we were and we are the ones invading their habitat.  Another possibility was the whale was shot for fun.    There are laws to protect the whales.  Law to protect them was put in place in 1972.  It was the Marine Mammal Protection Act and it states that anyone killing a whale can be fined 100, 000 dollars and placed in prison for 1 year.  This is just not enough punishment for this kind of atrocities.  We need to increase the fine and prison time.  More government money for more agents to protect all animals is needed.  It would also help if we change society’s ability to have more compassion for animals.  We must make changes to the laws and society so we can save the whales.  If a person was attacked and was unable to eat and left to die a slow death the world would be outraged and we would hunt the person responsible down and punish them. This should be the same response to this case. 

Animal Evacuation

The people of Texas have had to suffer through major wildfires and the worst drought conditions they have seen in years.  The drought has not only affected the people of Texas it has become a major crises for some fishes.  Two species of fish, the small eye shiners and sharp nose which the state planned to but on the threatened or endangered list are suffer in such bad conditions they have had to be removed from their  home waters.  These fish require 100 miles of water for their mating area and due to the drought they did not even have this much area.  These fish live only two years and they are found nowhere else but in Texas.  Wildlife biologists are trying to save them but they are unsure if they will survive outside of their home but with the continued drought and no intervention they will not survive.  According to MSN the last time there was a need for such a massive evacuation of a large animal population was in 2000, so this is not something that occurs very often.  Wildlife biologists believe that if the drought doesn’t end soon there will have to be more animal evacuations.  This show of such a massive climate change should be another indicator of the changes that we are causing.  With the more and more pollution that we continue to put in the air the more things are going to change.  How many animals will die before we do something?  

Living in Filth

I will have to say that I have just read the most disgusting news story I think I have read.  According to the story the Macon GA city animal shelter is invested with roaches.  The area is so infested that the animals are covered in roaches at night and they have no way to escape the roaches.  An employee said the roaches are so bad that the walls and floors move and they must cover their plates when eating for fear that a roach will fall into their food.  Supposedly they spent three days cleaning this facility but it is still completely covered in roaches.    Am I the only on that has a problem with.  If we were talking about children living like this everyone would be up in arms demanding that something be done but since it is animals it is of little concern.  Do animals not deserve to live in clean conditions?  Should they not be allowed to have food that roaches have not crawled around in?  Animals do deserve to live in clean conditions and have safe food.  With these roaches crawling all over these animals and into their food they are exposed to diseases such as dysentery, typhoid, and many other diseases.  We as humans would not want to be exposed to such filth and I can not understand how they animals must feel.  Just imagine roaches crawling all over your body and you should be able to get a sense of what the animals must be feeling.  This must not be stood for and they should be forced to clean this up.  There are ways to kill roaches that will not harm the animals so that is not an excuse for not cleaning up.  Animals deserve the same right to live in a clean environment.

Changing A Crocodiles Life

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/06/21-foot-monster-crocodile-caught/?iref=allsearch

I just read the article about the largest saltwater crocodiles ever caught and I found that it was both interesting and troubling.  This crocodile was captured in the Philippines and it was one of the most astounding creatures ever seen.  The crocodile was 21 feet long and it weighed 2370 pounds.  People were trying to capture this animal because they believe it ate several people. While I understand that they caught this magnificent creature to protect the people.  First I must say that I am thankful that they are not going to kill it but I have major issues with what they do plan to do with it.  The people of the Philippines are planning on making the number one attraction at a nature center.  This crocodile has lived in the wild for years, so how can the nature center guarantee that they can provide the animal with the life he is accustomed to.  This crocodile is use to have a large space to hunt for and to make his home.  Now he is going to be shoved into a cramped area.  How do you know that being forced to live like this is not going to kill him?  More than likely the crocodile was in the area they captured him before people or so many people.  Why not move them or force them to use better safety precautions?  Removing this animal may change the entire ecosystem.  He may be what controls some animal’s population and now they may spiral out of control causing major chaos.  I am not sure that anyone has looked at the whole picture of what removing this lovely animal from his natural habitat is going to do and they sure gave no though to what was best for him.

The End of A Way of Life

Citarum River Earthfirst.com

Citarum River Earthfirst.com

According to Earthfirst.com one of the most polluted rivers is the Citarum River located in Indonesia.  This river  is home to 9 million people.   Citarum river was greatly depended on by the people.  One thing the river provided was water to drink but one of the biggest things this river provided was money.  The local people would go out and fish the river to provide an income for there family.    The waters edge also use to be teeming with wildlife that came to drink.  It makes one wonder just what happen.   A large part of what happen was the industrial revolution.  Factories where built quickly along the river with little to no regard as to where their waste would go.  Many companies just dumped their chemical waste into the water.   The companies were not alone in polluting the water.  The people started to throw their trash into the river.  Both the companies and the people continued to do this day in and day out until the river became the mess that is pictured above.  What has this done to the people?  Due to everyone's polluting, the water is unfit to drink out of but the people have no choice, as there is no other water around to use. There are many toxins that are in the water that are harmful to the people and any animals.  The water is so full of trash that is hard to get enough oxygen in the water for plants and animals to live.  The villagers always counted on the fish for there lively hood and now they are forced to go out in boats and collect any garbage they think they can sell.  They villagers once could count of seeing many different animals around the water but now they are gone.  With no fish and animals the people have been forced to change there way of life.   This makes on wonder about our society in the United States.  Many people think nothing of throwing trash along the highways, in parking lots, and many other areas that it does not belong.  All this trash washes away in the rain, so many people never wonder where it winds up.  It often lands in streams or the ocean.  If we keep throwing away our trash that way, how long until our waterways look that way.  Due to the way we throw trash already we have a major problem with trash in the ocean.  This trash then affects the animals of the ocean.  Birds get there necks stuck in the rings of soda holders.  Many animals eat the plastic and then they die because their bodies can't digest the plastic.  When we kill off the fish in the ocean people can no longer make a living since their is nothing left to catch.  This trash also affects the crabs and lobster.  Many people depend on them for living and with polluted water animals no longer come to drink.  Being outside and seeing the animals help people relax and gives them enjoyment.  With no clean water to drink how long will the animals survive.  How long will we go before we say enough polluting and enough destroying wildlife?  What kind of destroy will it take to make us change the way we do things?  I don't know and I really never want to see us get to the point when there is no more wildlife to enjoy.

Elephants

I recently read an article about elephants and was surprised to learn that there where three types of elephants and not just two as I have always believed.  Scientist used DNA test and discovered the third species, which they are calling African Forest Elephant.  This was discovered when scientist were trying to track where poached ivory came from.  Forest elephants are much smaller than the other elephants.  They only grow to be eight feet tall.  They have ivory that is thin,straight, and has a pink color to them.  Out of the 500,000 elephants left only one-third of them are forest elephants.  The reason few are left is because their pink ivory is highly sought after.  The individuals that poach the ivory only do it for the money. They never take into consideration how they are wiping out the elephants.  Without the elephants the whole ecosystem will be changed and there is no telling what kind of changes the area will be forced to endure.  The poachers are not the only ones to blame.  If people would stop buying the ivory then the poachers would have no way to make money and they will be stop killing the elephants.  Most of the people that buy the ivory are the wealthy who view the possession of ivory as a status symbol. The buyers of the ivory also give no thought about elephants or the environment.  While there are laws to stop the killing of the elephants , it is often not enforced or the offender receives a slap on the wrist.  If we want the elephants to remain on this planet we must make stiffer regulations and we must enforce these regulations. Elephants are beautiful creatures that we must work to save.