Please invest in Our Daily Planet today, by making a one time or monthly contribution.
We do not charge our readers a subscription fee for our content. We want to continue to grow our readership, particularly among millennials and public servants. Voluntary contributions from readers will help us employ interns and freelance journalists, expand our content, and reach a larger audience.
If you make a contribution of $150 or more, you will become an official “Friend of the Planet” and receive a Friend of the Planet T-shirt or water bottle. You can also submit opinion essays to us for our consideration for posting on our new “Bright Ideas” op-ed page.
by CT Harry, Marine Campaigner, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) North Atlantic right whales once numbered tens of thousands in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean from the Labrador Sea to the coast of Florida. They were nearly driven extinct by whaling at the turn of the century and, tragically, once again, are […]
Continue Reading 790 wordsSodium cyanide “bombs” or M-44s are devices used to kill predators by the USDA’s Wildlife Services in Western states where ranchers complain that these animals kill their herds. This outdated method of killing “nuisance” animals is not only inhumane but also not effective in protecting livestock. Additionally, these devices also kill pets and nearly killed […]
Continue Reading 605 words
We’ve written before about the City of Los Angeles’ efforts to help protect endangered mountain lion populations in the city. There had been several ideas about how a wildlife corridor might be built in a city as bustling and populated as LA, but now officials are one step closer to building the world’s largest wildlife […]
Continue Reading 341 wordsStay in the know, empower yourself to be a #FriendOfThePlanet, sign up to receive ODP in your inbox each morning!
By Beth Allgood, U.S. Country Director, International Fund for Animal Welfare According to a 2019 independent survey conducted on behalf of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), a vast majority of Americans affirmed that it is ‘very important’ for the United States to protect endangered species both domestically and across the globe. Three in […]
Continue Reading 867 words
Encounters with wildlife are becoming more common in towns and neighborhoods as urbanization increases, yet people are generally unaware of how to handle these encounters which are resulting in an increased risk for both humans and animals. And because of habitat loss to fragmentation, urbanization and expanding agricultural production, suburban and urban spaces are becoming […]
Continue Reading 509 words
The first North Atlantic Right Whale death in Canada this year was discovered drifting off Quebec’s Gaspé coast last Tuesday, and now the whale has been identified, but the cause of death remains undetermined until a necropsy can be performed on the animal. The whale was a nine-year-old known as Wolverine and he was familiar to researchers because of scars on his tale that were the result of a ship strike when he was younger, and because he had also survived three entanglements in fishing gear, according to CBC News.
Continue Reading 467 words
Azzedine is the President and CEO of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, where he leads their efforts to help people and animals thrive together in more than 40 countries around the globe. ODP: IFAW just celebrated its 50th anniversary. What have been the organization’s greatest accomplishments? AD: From humble beginnings 50 years ago, IFAW […]
Continue Reading 992 wordsNow, having grown and thrived through the decades, IFAW is making changes in the hope of attracting the next generation of environmentalists at this critical moment for species and the planet. As the UN Extinction Report that was released on Monday makes clear, educating people who have come of age in the new millennium and inspiring them to take action is crucial to saving animals, people, and the planet going forward.
Continue Reading 459 words
The United Nations report on the extinction crisis that came out on Monday made a relatively big splash. ICYMI, a group of scientists called the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), determined that biodiversity is declining at the fastest rate in human history, and only “transformational changes” to the way society operates can save the planet from ruin.
Continue Reading 585 words
Whale watching is one of the fastest growing tourist activities in Japan, which is a marked shift in the way the Japanese people think of whales — as something to observe in the water rather than on a dinner plate. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (ifaw), has been keeping track and found that from 2008-2015, the last year for which ifaw had statistics, the number of whale watchers in Japan each year increased by more than 40,000, and most of these tourists are from Japan rather than foreigners who are visiting.
Continue Reading 424 words
Big cats don’t make good pets but you might be shocked at how many of these magnificent animals are being held in captivity in private homes, often living in atrocious conditions that not only endanger their lives but those of people in the surrounding community. As Beth Allgood, the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s U.S. […]
Continue Reading 908 wordsTo get your weekend started on a cute and fuzzy note, watch this video of two rehabilitated orphaned bears being released back into the wild as part of the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Orphan Bear Rescue Center located in Bubonitsy, Russia. Watch as the two bears, Vesnushka (which means “freckles” in Russian) and Elka […]
Continue Reading 70 words
