• Animals

Clamp Down on Cross-Border Trade Leads to Temporary Decline in Wildlife Trafficking

• #30x30
• #einvironment
• conservation
• illegal ivory
• illegal wildlife trafficking
• IUU fishing
• pangolins
• wildlife

In the silver linings category, the COVID-19 pandemic’s shock to economies around the globe is also proving to be a disruption to illegal wildlife trafficking by transnational criminal networks, according to a new report from Wildlife Justice Commission, a non-profit organization that investigates and tracks these criminal activities and networks. 

Why This Matters:  Temporary blockages in the black market supply chain are not surprising, and the bad guys will find a way around them — too much money is at stake and these folks are rule-breakers by training.

• Animals

Animal Farm: COVID Crisis Slaughtering the Meat Industry

• #conservationist
• CAFOs
• cattle
• chickens
• environment
• food
• livestock
• pigs

Tens of thousands of pigs, chickens, and cattle are stuck on large livestock farms due to processing plant closures because of COVID outbreaks among plant workers.  Consequently, the President yesterday ordered the plants to remain open despite the fact that thousands of workers have tested positive or have been exposed to the virus and the plants have not taken the necessary precautions to protect them from contracting the virus.

Why This Matters:  The President’s order cannot change the course of the virus nor will it solve the problems caused by giant industrial hog and chicken farms, and unsafe slaughterhouses that the virus is exposing.

• Animals

One Cool Thing: Lizards Adapt to Better Survive Climate Change (shameless plus here)

• #30x30
• #conservationist
• Darwin
• Galapagos Islands
• lizard
• science

In a groundbreaking new study, scientists examined lizards on Caribbean Islands and across Central and South America and found that in the places that had been hit repeatedly by hurricanes, the lizards had developed larger toe pads.  The New York Times explains that until now, “the strongest evidence for how evolution can be shaped by […]

• Animals

One Bear Thing: What We Can Learn From NH’s Most Famous “Mom”

• #30x30
• bear
• conservation
• wildlife

A writer for the Boston Globe, Bryan Marquard,  took this amazing photo after coming between a female black bear and her cubs recently.  She had just emerged from hibernation with a luxurious coat looking healthy. Mink is famous in New Hampshire because two years ago she was getting too close to local residents’ homes, so […]

• Animals

One Fuzzy Thing: Have A Llama On Your Next Zoom Call

• conservation
• environment
• llama
• Zoom

If you have had it with boring Zoom calls, here’s a tip.  Invite a llama or a goat to your next one!  CNN reported yesterday on a non-profit in Silicon Valley that has started a service called “Goat 2 Meeting.”  Ha!   According to CNN, the Sweet Farm animal sanctuary in Half Moon Bay, California, will have […]

• Animals

One Butterfly Thing: U. of IL Takes Lead Role in Nationwide Effort to Conserve Monarchs

• #30x30
• butterflies
• conservation
• environment

The monarch butterfly has lost 80% of its population due to habitat loss and climate change, as we have reported here.  The University of Illinois, Chicago will now take the lead nationwide on efforts to conserve them.  The University’s Energy Resources Center will administer an agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and dozens of […]

• Animals

Climate Change Driving Rapid Biodiversity Loss

• 30 by 30
• biodiversity
• climate change

The effects of biodiversity loss caused by climate change will be felt much more quickly and intensely than previously thought. As EcoWatch reported, a new study published in Nature showed that in a high-emissions scenario of more than 4° Celsius of warming by 2100, at least 15% of ecosystems would suffer an event in which […]

• Animals

One Cute Thing: The National Zoo’s Baby Cheetah Cam

• #cheetahs
• #cubs
• #endangeredspecies
• conservation
• Smithsonian National Zoo

The Washington National Zoo welcomed four cheetah cubs on Thursday all visible by the Zoo’s webcams — even their births — just click here to watch that.  The five-year-old Mom, Echo, is fine, as are the cubs — you can see them live here 24/7 on the Zoo’s Cheetah Cam.  This is the fourteenth litter […]

• Animals

Public Opinion in Asian Nations Overwhelmingly Favors Closing Unregulated “Wet Markets”

• #30x30
• Convention on Biological Diversity
• COVID-19
• illegal wildlife trafficking
• infectious diseases
• Lyme disease
• pandemic
• unregulated wildlife market

The World Wildlife Fund – U.S. (WWF- US) commissioned a public opinion survey in Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam in early March and they found that 93% of respondents in the four countries with active illegal wildlife markets support efforts by their governments and health ministries to close all illegal and unregulated markets selling wild animals – Japan was the lone exception.  

Why This Matters:  As Dr. Fauci says if we do not have enough evidence of the global toll unsustainable practices like this are having on our world, then what will it take?  

• Animals

Watching Tiger King? Here’s what you should know (and how you can help)

• animal sanctuary
• big cats
• IFAW
• illegal wildlife trafficking
• Tiger King

By: Carson Barylak, IFAW Programs Manager and Meredith Whitney, IFAW Wildlife Rescue Program Officer.  This blog first appeared on the IFAW web site and is reprinted with their permission. The Netflix docu-series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, has gripped audiences across the world and created countless memes across the internet; the iconic wild animals, complex human […]

• Animals

One Pet Thing: 7 Surprising Ways Your Dog Says ‘I’m Stressed’

• animals
• coronavirus
• dogs

Dogs are usually balls of joy but even man’s best friend can get stressed. Do you know how to spot the signs of a nervous, stressed, or otherwise unhappy dog? Take it from a canine behaviorist. Also, coronavirus can infect cats — dogs, not so much. But scientists say it’s unclear whether felines can spread the virus to […]

• Animals
• Politics

Creating “Safe Passages” To Conserve Migration Routes in Wyoming As the Climate Changes

• #30x30
• #CampaignforNature
• #wildlifecorridors
• elk
• wildlife corridors

The Washington Post did a beautiful piece on the importance of preserving wildlife corridors in the face of climate change and other man-made threats. Interstate 80 is a vital transportation link that connects the east and west coasts, but it also blocks the historic migration routes through the Rocky Mountains for mule deer, elk, and pronghorn — some of the most iconic species of wildlife in the American West.