Kiska, the Orca dubbed the “World’s Loneliest Whale,” died recently after 44 years in captivity. Her life was a tragic one, and her death could be seen as a sort of release. She was believed to be 47 years old, although her exact age isn’t positively known. She was the last captive Killer Whale in Canada.
In 1979, when Kiska was three years old, she was caught in Icelandic waters and taken to MarineLand, a theme park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Kiska was captured along with Keiko, the whale made famous in the movie Free Willy, and for a few years in the ’80s, the pair shared a pool. Kiska spent 40 years there, swimming in a concrete tank.
For the last 12 years of her life, Kiska was alone in her tank. Orcas are social animals that live in tight-knit pods, hunting together and communicating with each other. Her tank at MarineLand was bare and featureless, and her depression was caught on film recently in a hard-to-watch video that went viral.
Kiska’s death comes four years after Canada passed bill S-203, banning the captivity and breeding of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises. Although the new law was too late for Kiska – individuals already in captivity were excluded from protection – activists say her story was instrumental in drawing public attention to the plight of captive marine mammals.
In one of the last recorded videos of her, she drifts listlessly in aquamarine water as a boy behind the glass wall tries to get her attention. “Kis-kaaa! Kis-kaa! Kis-kaaa!” he calls as the Whale floats by, seemingly oblivious.
The heartbreaking footage below shows Kiska floating listlessly and hurling herself against the walls of her cramped tank. This unnatural behaviour was the result of stress, frustration, distress, and loneliness caused by cruel confinement.
Kiska’s harrowing story is not unique – around the world, Orcas just like her are languishing in marine parks so that humans can gawk at them and watch them do demeaning tricks.
Help end their suffering. Speak out against the exploitation of Whales and Dolphins in tourism.
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Plans to ban imports of animal hunting trophies to Great Britain are set to become law.
The government has backed legislation which would stop hunters bringing back body parts of thousands of species, including Lions, Rhinos, Elephants and Polar Bears, killed abroad.
Tory MP Henry Smith, who proposed the bill, said it would help conserve the world’s most endangered species.
It was approved by MPs and will now face further scrutiny in the Lords.
As it has the support of the government, the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill is likely to become law.
Every year, hunters from the UK travel abroad, often to southern Africa, and pay thousands of pounds to legally shoot animals, such as Lions and Elephants.
Under current rules, with the right paperwork, they can then bring trophies, such as stuffed heads or horns, back to the UK.
Campaigners backing the bill had feared it could be blocked after more than 30 amendments were tabled by two Conservative MPs, Sir Christopher Chope and Sir Bill Wiggin.
However, after the government accepted two of their proposals – to establish an advisory board on hunting trophies and to limit the power of the secretary of state to add new species to the list the ban would apply to – the pair dropped their other demands for further changes to the bill.
Critics of the plans have argued that profits from hunting are used to pay for conservation projects in African countries and can ultimately help to protect endangered species.
Sir Bill, the Tory MP for North Herefordshire, told the Commons there were concerns that removing the revenue supplied by trophy hunters could “open the floodgate to poachers, who will cause far more cruelty and pain to the animals and will pose a far greater threat to endangered species”.
However, animal welfare charities have rejected this, arguing that hardly any of the revenues from trophy hunting ever reach local communities.
Environment Minister Trudy Harrison told MPs: “I do recognise that some of the income from trophy hunting has contributed towards the protection of habitat and the prevention of poaching.
“But to bring back the body parts of endangered species… is not the way forward.”
Sir Bill also suggested the legislation was a “a neo-colonial attempt to control conservation management programmes of African democratic countries”.
This was denied by Mr Smith, who insisted: “This is about the values that we in Britain have, that we do not want to be part of a trade in endangered species’ body parts.
“We are not telling other countries how to run their trade, or their conservation or hunting policies.”
Some MPs, including the Democratic Unionist Party’s Sammy Wilson, also raised concerns Northern Ireland could become a “back door” for hunting imports as the law would not apply there.
Ms Harrison said the government would do “everything we possibly can” to ensure Northern Ireland was not a “stepping stone for imports to Great Britain”.
Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, singer Ed Sheeran and actress Dame Judi Dench are among the celebrities who have backed the proposed legislation.
Animal charities welcomed the progress of the bill, with Born Free saying it sent “a clear signal that, with wildlife in crisis, allowing rich people to kill wild animals for kicks has no place in the modern world”.
Humane Society International said it was “relieved” only two amendments to the bill were accepted, although the charity added that it was disappointed one removed the power of the environment secretary to add other species in need of protection to the legislation.
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For five years, Ruben the lion’s roars went unanswered as the last animal in an abandoned zoo.
So scarred was the 15-year-old by solitary confinement in a tiny cage, he fell silent. But now Ruben is learning to roar again with the help of the British animal charity which rescued him.
Jan Creamer, of Animal Defenders International, said the zoo in the Artsakh Republic, a self-declared republic within Azerbaijan, had been owned by an Armenian businessman.
RUBEN THE LION WHO LOST HIS ROAR
After the businessman, died all the other animals were rescued. ‘Sadly, there was no room for Ruben,’ she said. ‘Lions live in family groups and roaring is chatting to them.
‘He is still trying to roar. Ruben has never felt the sun on his back or the wind in his face.’
Now he will soon find a home at a sanctuary in South Africa where, his rescuers hope, he will roar again.
The rescue operation had to be meticulously planned and strategically timed to avoid inflaming tensions in the region, which is patrolled by a Russian peace-keeping force.
The former businessman’s family were keen for Ruben to have a better life and agreed to the move, which had to negotiate multiple armed check-points.
He will soon be taken to an ADI sanctuary in South Africa for Lions and Tigers.
Ruben, who was born in captivity in the zoo, has been left with health issues from his years spent alone with little food.
But his coat, once matted with mud and moulting, is getting its shine back as he gets used to a healthy diet and the comfort of a hay-bed, two heated rooms and a 30ft by 15ft enclosure.
‘This is more space than he has ever known but the real transformation will be in Africa where he will eventually have access to 2.5 acres of natural habitat,’ Ms Creamer said.
‘His life-long restrictions have weakened his muscles and there appears to be neurological damage to his spine and head and one leg is wobbly and drags. But we are building him up with exercise and food and he is responding well.
‘Ruben is now engaging and interacting with people which is wonderful to see. His calls went unanswered for five years but we are confident that he will roar again.’
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A frail Lion that looks like a walking skeleton has become too weak to chew.
Shocking footage showed the skinny lion walking through its enclosed cage
The Lion, called Ala, is so emaciated he can barely walk through his enclosure at the Jinniu Lake Safari Park in Nanjing, China with outraged social media users accusing the zoo of inflicting suffering on the lion and starving their animals.
Shocking footage has emerged of a starving lion which is barely more than skin and bones at a Chinese zoo.
Many have been left furious and disturbed by the sight of the big cat who looks so malnourished it is struggling to carry out basic functions such as walking.
In the horrifying video viewers can see the Lion’s ribs because it is so thin.
The clip – shared later on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok – shows the ultra-skinny Lion wobbling down a walkway.
The lion is so frail he can barely walk
It caused outrage among viewers who accused the zoo of not taking proper care of the feeble feline.
One user said: ‘This is too much suffering. If you can’t afford to feed it, send it to a different zoo that can.
‘Why let him suffer? It should have been left living in nature.’
Meanwhile, another added: ‘This zoo is too much, starving the lions like this.’
Officials at the zoo later attributed the lion’s shocking appearance to its old age because he can no longer chew his food.
They claimed that the 25-year-old big cat would be 80 if he was a human.
Officials say he is fed a special diet of liquid protein and small cuts of meat and is watched over by specially trained vets and keepers in a private cage.
The zoo added: ‘Usually, we let it out for a walk in the morning or evening.’
Despite the concerning footage, Jinniu Lake Safari Park is ranked in the top five family-friendly things to do in Nanjing on Trip.com.
It has an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5 but there are also hundreds of negative reviews, with some visitors citing the zoo’s ‘poor management’ and others complaining of the huge costs.
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Like many young bull Elephants, Brigadier had a strategy. Spending his days in a small patch of forest in northwest Sri Lanka, he would emerge under cover of darkness to feast on crops. One evening, he bundled into an army brigadier’s property, earning him his name and sealing his fate.
Government officials captured Brigadier and trucked him to Maduru Oya National Park. But he immediately took off, probably intending to find his way home, got lost, and wound up 120 kilometres north at Sampur beach. Incredibly, a navy boat discovered him swimming 5 kilometres offshore and towed him to safety.
After his big adventure, Brigadier settled down again, returning to his nocturnal crop-raiding routine. Six months later, he was found dead at the bottom of a well.
Apart from the swimming bit, stories like this are common in Sri Lanka, where habitat loss is forcing Elephants into an increasingly bloody conflict with humans. When I visited the country to report on efforts to stem the bloodshed, I found that the government’s favoured solution of moving problem Elephants into fenced-off national parks isn’t working. Some experts believe it will even backfire, pushing the species to the brink in the country.
The only way to secure the future of Sri Lanka’s Elephants, they argue, is to find ways to peacefully coexist with them. That is no mean feat. And yet, as I saw for myself in several villages, there is a simple solution. The question is, will it be implemented across the island? And will people accept that the Elephants must live among us or not at all?
Asian Elephants are under pressure. Their numbers have declined by an estimated 50 percent in the last 75 years, leaving just 40,000 to 50,000 in the wild. Although they aren’t poached anywhere near as much as their African cousins, their forest homes are being rapidly fragmented. Nowhere is the problem more acute than in Sri Lanka. It accounts for just 2 percent of their total habitat yet is home to over 5000 Asian Elephants – more than 10 percent of the remaining global population.
That so many Elephants remain here is a testament to the species’ cultural importance in the country. The majority of Sri Lankans are Buddhist and Elephants feature prominently in a number of stories about the Buddha’s previous reincarnations. Hinduism, Sri Lanka’s second-largest religion, also enjoys a close association with the animals in the form of the god Ganesh. “Elephants hold a very special place in our hearts,” says Prithiviraj Fernando, chairman of the Centre for Conservation and Research in Tissamaharama.
Yet as the island grows increasingly crowded and their habitat disappears, the lives of Elephants and humans are overlapping more and more. This puts Sri Lanka’s many farmers at constant odds with the animals, often with deadly consequences.
Hungry Elephants raid crops, trampling fields and sometimes people. In response, farmers attack the animals with flaming torches, firecrackers, home-made guns and even explosives embedded in fruit, known as hakka patas or “jaw exploders”. Last year, more than 300 Elephants were killed in altercations with humans and around 70 people lost their lives to Elephants. “Sri Lanka has the highest level of Human-Elephant conflict in the world,” says Fernando. “Wherever there are people and Elephants, there’s conflict.”
For more than 70 years, Sri Lanka has attempted to solve the problem by moving Elephants to national parks. According to the government’s approach, the world’s second-largest land animal belongs in protected areas surrounded by electric fencing, while people belong everywhere else. In many cases, as with Brigadier, problem animals are specifically targeted for translocation. Officials also attempt to clear whole herds using a colonial-era tactic called an Elephant drive. Day after day, sometimes for a year or more, hundreds of people venture into Elephant territory, setting off guns and thousands of “Elephant thunders” (a type of huge firecracker) to corral the animals into fenced areas.
Whichever method officials use to try to confine Elephants to parks, it doesn’t work. In 2012, Fernando and his colleagues published a study showing that of 16 translocated bull Elephants that the researchers had monitored over several years, two were killed within the park they were released in and none of the others stayed put. Some broke out and returned home while others established a new territory where they began raiding crops again.
Elephant drives produce similar results. Many males evade the round-up or break out soon after arriving at a park. The only ones that stick around are the females and calves, which tend to be more risk averse. They soon experience first-hand that Sri Lanka’s parks often lack the resources necessary to support hundreds of additional residents, each of which eats up to 140 kilograms of vegetation per day. The newcomers quickly become “emaciated, walking skeletons, and many starve to death”, says Fernando. “We’ve seen this over and over again wherever Elephants have been driven to parks and fenced in.”
I saw it for myself at Udawalawe National Park. Tourists raised their cameras as a mother and calf stepped out of the thick brush, but the Elephants were a disturbing sight, with jutting ribs, protruding shoulder blades and rope-like backbones. They plucked placidly at the short grass beneath their feet, but it clearly isn’t enough to sustain them. Like many Elephants confined to overcrowded national parks, they were on the verge of starvation.
That females and calves tend to suffer this fate is especially concerning, says Shermin de Silva, director of the Udawalawe Elephant Research Project and founder of Trunks & Leaves, a non-profit organisation focusing on Elephant research and outreach. Elephants have extremely slow reproduction rates, usually producing just one calf every six years. Earlier this year, based on mathematical modelling of Elephant population demographics from Udawalawe, de Silva reported that for Asian Elephants to maintain their numbers, females must reproduce at near-optimal rates and most calves must survive. Nutritional stress, in other words, can quickly push Elephant populations in Sri Lanka and beyond into tailspins. “For Elephants, the biggest threat is the calf that’s never born,” says de Silva.
The stark implications of this finding were reinforced earlier this year, when Fernando and his colleagues published the first nationwide Elephant survey. It showed that Elephants occur across 60 percent of the country – virtually everywhere that isn’t highly urbanised – and that 70 percent of them live side-by-side with humans. This not only means that Sri Lanka’s attempt to confine Elephants to parks has “completely failed”, says Fernando, but also that non-protected areas will have to play a critical role in the species’ survival. If Sri Lanka wants to save its Elephants, it has to find a way for people to live peacefully alongside them.
I saw just how difficult this is when I came across a bloated bull Elephant lying in a ditch by the side of a dirt road in north-west Sri Lanka, flies buzzing around two bullet wounds. A local man guessed it had been shot by a farmer in a nearby field and ran away before collapsing here. The animal was still alive when it was discovered, and a small crowd had gathered and erected a makeshift tent to give it some shade. Someone brought coconuts and bananas to try to feed it. Someone else brought water. Another person called the vet. When the Elephant died, a monk performed a ceremony to help ease it into the next life.
I left the scene feeling nauseous. But just a few minutes’ drive away, past neon green rice paddies and homes shaded by coconut and banana trees, I visited a place that is showing by example that there is an alternative.
In 2013, the village of Galewewa pioneered a programme designed by Fernando and his colleagues to use electric fences to encircle crops and homes rather than Elephants. The locals took some convincing. “People just assumed it wouldn’t be successful because they’d seen the government fences,” says Sampath Ekanayaka, manager of the Centre for Conservation and Research’s community programmes in the region. “To them, this was just another fence.”
In many ways, it is. But there are reasons to think the scheme would work. Elephants that encounter fences in national parks have “all the time in the world” to figure out how to get past the obstacles, says Fernando. Those that encounter a fence surrounding a village or crop field are unlikely to invest the time and energy required to break in because there will usually be people around, and Elephants are afraid of them.
Do Fence Me In
Eventually, after several years of deliberation, the village elders agreed to try the method. Fernando’s organisation paid for 90 percent of the installation costs, but villagers paid the rest, as well as shouldering the burden of maintaining the fences throughout the growing season. After harvesting, they take down the fences, allowing Elephants to forage on the crop remains.
The results have been encouraging. After six years with the fences, no people or Elephants have been killed, nocturnal raids are practically non-existent and crop yields and earnings have significantly increased. Galewewa’s success has prompted around 25 more villages to join the programme, and Sri Lanka’s wildlife department has now established another 30 village fences.
“I would 100 percent recommend this system to others in Sri Lanka,” says J.M.Muthubanda, president of the Fence Maintenance Society in Manakkuliya Gama, a village near Galewewa. “If we didn’t have this fence, many people would have been killed and we would have had to abandon the land. This was the best decision we ever made.”
Fencing can only ever be one part of the solution. Just as important is persuading people to change the way they think about living alongside Elephants – and to adapt their behaviour. People need to take responsibility for protecting themselves and the Elephants they share the land with, says Fernando.
Take drinking, for example. Around 70 percent of men who are killed by Elephants are intoxicated when the incident happens. Simply staying inside after a night of drinking would greatly reduce those deaths, says Sumith Pilapitiya, an independent Elephant researcher and former director general of wildlife conservation in Sri Lanka. “If you’re out drunk on a bike at night and you ride into an Elephant, what do you expect the Elephant to do at that point?” says Pilapitiya. “As human beings, we should be taking much more responsibility for our lives.”
Trains are another problem. Around 15 Elephants are killed each year on the tracks. Sri Lanka has few underpasses or overpasses but there is a straightforward fix. Train drivers could simply slowdown in the areas where Elephants tend to get hit.
What I saw in Galewewa shows that people can peacefully coexist with Elephants, so long as they have the right attitude and some semblance of support. Notionally at least, the Sri Lankan government is on board. As early as 2007, it created a national Elephant conservation plan that largely reflected the findings of Fernando, Pilapitiya and other Elephant researchers, including provisions for implementing seasonal agricultural fencing and educational programmes. But the plan was implemented ad hoc and has failed to live up to its potential as a result, says Pilapitiya, who resigned from his job heading Sri Lanka’s wildlife department in 2015 because of “systemic political interference”. G.C.Sooriyabandara, the current director-general of the Department of Wildlife Conservation, didn’t respond to repeated interview requests.
Still, there are signs of progress. In a first for Sri Lanka, the country’s Southern Development Board, following advice from Pilapitiya and Fernando, agreed to use radio tracking collars to study the movements of several herds of Elephants so it could select a site for a major industrial project that would minimise impact on the animals. “It’s the right thing to do, as far as I’m concerned,” says a high-level official at the board, who asked not to be named because he didn’t have permission to speak to the media.
As more and more villages sign up for his fencing programme, Fernando and his colleagues believe the country as a whole will eventually follow. “This is not something that can be done in a day or a year or even 10 years,” says Fernando. “It might take 25 years. But we’re hopeful that common sense will prevail.”
It is already too late for Brigadier. But if Fernando is right, Asian Elephants can look forward to a brighter future, and not only in Sri Lanka. The country’s human population density isn’t far behind that of India and Bangladesh, but it has almost 10 times the number of Elephants. This makes it a test case for Human-Elephant coexistence, says de Silva. “If we can get it to work in Sri Lanka, we can get it to work anywhere.”
From an original article by Rachel Nuwer for New Scientist
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One Elephant has died after colliding with a train between Habarana and Hatharaskotuwa, leaving two more Elephants injured, according to Habarana Police.
The Pulatisi inter-city express train, which was running from Batticaloa to Colombo Fort, was derailed at 01.30 a.m. today (13) after colliding with three wild Elephants between the Galoya and Hatharaskotuwa railway stations.
The train engine and another carriage were both derailed in this accident. As a result, the train will not run to Colombo Fort.
435 Elephants were killed due to Human Elephant Conflict in Sri Lanka in 2022.
“We have robbed Elephants of their homes to build rail roads, roads, villages and agricultural farms. They have been living in Sri Lanka from way before humans arrived. They have an equal right to live in Sri Lanka” said a spokesperson for Rally for Animal Rights- (RARE)
It’s alleged that the driver of the train has not reduced speed at this wildlife area.
When a hunter in Manitoba, Canada legally shot and killed a Gray Wolf in early December 2022, a radio collar found around its neck was the first clue to the incredible journey this animal had been on. The Wolf had been collared in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the summer of 2021, and its GPS data since then showed this Wolf’s multi-state and two-country trek was one for the record books.
A map plotted by Michigan Department of Natural Resources researchers showed this male Wolf travelled through Wisconsin, then Minnesota, made a short stop in North Dakota, crossed the Canadian border into Ontario, then swung up into the Whiteshell area of Manitoba, where the hunter’s bullet found him. In all, this Wolf had travelled 4,200 miles in about 18 months.
This map from Michigan DNR shows the lengthy trek of a collared Gray Wolf from the Upper Peninsula, through other northern states and into Canada.
“The use of GPS collars will certainly add more insight to the movement of these amazing animals and likely show that others may make similar movements over time, but I suspect this will stand as a record for some time for Michigan,” said Brian Roell, a wildlife biologist with Michigan’s DNR.
Use of Wolf Collars
Michigan’s Wolf population has been stable for the last several years, with anywhere from 600 to 700 Wolves spread out across every county in the state’s Upper Peninsula. There’s been evidence a few Wolves have crossed the Straits of Mackinac to enter the Lower Peninsula, but there’s no documented population there so far, the DNR says.
State biologists have run a Wolf-collaring program since 1992. Currently, about 30 of the U.P.’s Wolves are wearing collars. Researchers can typically get about three years of data from a Wolf before the newer GPS collars stop working. Each spring, the DNR catches and collars new Wolves. They try to target Wolves from specific packs they want more information about – packs that might have overlapping territories, where researchers want to get a better handle on the pack boundaries. Or packs that are reportedly getting too close to livestock farms. By tracking any troublemaking packs, the DNR can use hazing methods to try to push them away from specific areas.
Beyond just population measurements, Roell said the collaring effort has given biologists lots of important information on Michigan’s 130 to 140 Wolf packs. “It also gives us insight into biological information on Michigan Wolves, their movement, their territory sizes.”
A Well-Travelled Wolf
But this lone Wolf making the 4,200-mile trip was unusual in the breadth of his roaming, researchers agree. The 92-pound male was collared in the summer of 2021 near Lake Gogebic. This is in the Ottawa National Forest in the north-western part of the U.P.
“It did not stay in Michigan very long after that,” Roell said the GPS data showed. “So it really never settled down.”
The DNR has documented other Michigan Wolves that have taken long trips. One showed up in Missouri. Others have been found in closer locales like Wisconsin or Minnesota. Some have crossed into Canada.
“The new technology that we have been using … has really given us some insight into these long-distance movements,” Roell said. “Often it seems like some of these animals are destined to stay loners.”
As for this particular Wolf, “we know this animal had been going for a while,” before it was legally harvested, he said.
Great Lakes Wolves: One Big Population?
Another group that was interested in this Michigan Wolf’s long trek was the Voyageurs Wolf Project, researchers who study Wolves and their prey in and around Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota. This Michigan Wolf walked though part of Voyageurs – and through at least two Wolf pack territories in that park – on its way north to Canada. When the group recently shared this information and the Michigan DNR’s maps on social media, the post amassed thousands of likes and shares.
A Pack Of Wolves On The Ice At Voyageurs National Park
But beyond just sharing the information, the Voyageurs group said this Michigan Wolf’s trek helps expand people’s understanding of the “Lone Wolf” concept. And it shows how Wolves in the Great Lakes region are more connected than some people might think. After all, Wolves don’t know when they’re crossing state lines, or stepping into another country.
“The travels of this Michigan Wolf, along with many others that our project and other researchers have documented, show how Wolves across the Midwest states and Canadian provinces are connected,” their social media post reads.
“Although we tend to think of Wolf populations based on geopolitical boundaries (e.g. the Wolf population in a given state or province), which are useful for management and conservation decisions, there isn’t much to indicate that these boundaries actually denote the boundaries between Wolf populations.
Four Of The Great Lakes Gray Wolves Population Howling
“Instead, probably the best way to think of Wolf populations in the western Great Lakes area is to think of them as one large, connected population with dispersing Wolves moving between provinces and states all the time.”
Originally posted by Michigan Live.
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Suffering: Giant Pandas YaYa And LeLe At Memphis Zoo Credit: Panda Voices
UPDATE! A huge victory for Giant Pandas YaYa, 22, and LeLe, 24, who will be sent back to their homeland of China, according to a statement from the Memphis Zoo. In Defense of Animals and Panda Voices, who have been lobbying for the pandas’ release for nearly two years, announced the news today.
“After far too many years of suffering in a grossly inappropriate zoo exhibit, YaYa and LeLe will finally get improved care at a specialized panda refuge in their homeland,” said Brittany Michelson, Captive Animals Campaigner for In Defense of Animals.
“We applaud the Memphis Zoo and Chinese authorities for making the ethical decision to return the pandas to China once the loan contract ends in April 2023. We thank Billie Eilish and our many thousands of supporters worldwide for helping us encourage the zoo to do the right thing,” continued Michelson. “We are delighted to celebrate this momentous victory. Animals suffer tremendously in zoos, and we hope this will prompt all zoos to put animals’ needs first and release them to accredited sanctuaries.”
YaYa and LeLe have been suffering at the Memphis Zoo since 2003. The pandas are visibly distressed and malnourished and spend their days pacing or sleeping, clearly bored in their dirty, small enclosure. YaYa has a chronic skin condition and LeLe has significant teeth issues resulting in broken molars.
“We are overwhelmed with joy at the news of YaYa and LeLe returning home to China!” said Taciana Santiago of Panda Voices.
“We thank the Memphis Zoo for allowing this to happen and hope they provide the pandas the conditions they need to be fit to endure the long travel. We will continue to monitor their situation until we are sure they are in a suitable environment,” continued Santiago. “We look forward to seeing them live a life of retirement and peace in China. Big thanks to In Defense of Animals and all of our supporters who stayed vigilant on this journey! King LeLe and Queen YaYa will soon be home!”
The campaign to free YaYa and LeLe was supported by singer Billie Eilish.
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” ~ Mathatma Gandhi.
A new book aims to raise awareness of the plight facing Bears and to raise money to protect them. This is the latest book in the Remembering Wildlife series which has so far raised more than £952,000 for conservation through book sales around the world.
“There can be few species that we humans have such a contradictory relationship with, than Bears. From hugging toys of them at night as children, to labelling them as anything from a nuisance to a threat, entertainment to medicine, we are nothing but hypocritical in how we relate to this most awe inspiring creature. At Remembering Wildlife, we believe it is time to stop and think about this contradiction.
As you’ll see in this stunning collection of images, the eight Bear species roam from ice sheets to forests, meadows to mountains. From tender moments with their young, to fierce territorial battles between males, we tell their story in a way that commands respect, awe and reappraisal.
American Black Bear (Ursus Americans) by Amy Gulick Tongass. National Forest, Alaska This Black Bear cub was sent up a tree by its mother for safekeeping while she fished in the stream below. It was an unusually hot day and the cub flopped out on the branch until mom gave the signal to come down for a meal.
With this book, we aim to shine a spotlight on their diversity and beauty, their resilience and fortitude and most importantly, to raise funds for those working to protect them. We are supported in this mission once again by many of the world’s top wildlife photographers, who have all generously donated their work. Together, we are determined to stand up for Bears and penetrate the moral consciousness of all those who would exploit or see them destroyed. Because the planet would be poorer without them” – Margot Raggett, Remembering Wildlife Founder.
Chaparri Ecological Reserve, Peru Andean Bear. Photographer Daniel Rosengren was visiting a bear sanctuary in Chaparri when suddenly this wild bear appeared and climbed a tree. Staff explained it visited sometimes and was not shy.
All profits from the sale of the book will be used to support projects working to protect Bears.
Each turn of the page reveals another striking image of one of the eight Bear species –American Black Bear, Andean Bear, Asiatic Black Bear, Brown Bear, Giant Panda, Polar Bear, Sloth Bear and Sun Bear – revealing tender moments with family members, fierce territorial battles and the harsh reality of life as a bear, for example, when searching for food.
Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) by Tim Laman Gunung Palung National Park, West Kalimantan, Indonesia Sun Bears are rare, and this image was one of a handful of obtained during two years of intensive camera trapping, deep in the remote rainforest of Gunung Palung National Park in Indonesian Borneo.
Actor and comedian Ricky Gervais has endorsed the book, saying it is: “A wonderful book that shows how beautiful Bears are and just what we have to lose if we don’t stand up for them now. They deserve better.”
The hardback coffee table book is a collection of 88 stunning images taken by the world’s top wildlife photographers – including Marsel van Oosten, Art Wolfe, Frans Lanting, Greg du Toit and Daisy Gilardini – who have generously donated images to help protect Bears in the wild.
Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) by Marsel van Oosten Svalbard. Climate change is not the only threat to Polar Bears. In Canada, the world’s largest exporter of Polar Bear skins, more than 600 Bears are legally killed every year. Hunters worldwide kill more Polar Bears than African Rhinos, which are protected by guards against poaching.
Six out of the eight Bear species are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Vulnerable or Endangered due to pressures ranging from climate change to human-wildlife conflict. Even those Bears of least concern, such as Brown Bears, are at risk of being lost for good in certain countries.
Founder of Remembering Wildlife Margot Raggett said: “Humans have long had a special relationship with Bears – we hug them at night as children and love seeing them in story books and on screen. Yet, in the real world, they’re not always viewed with the same affection and can been seen as a nuisance or a threat.
“Some face lives of misery – as dancing Bears, illegally trafficked as pets or used for medicine – or face serious threats and extinction through climate change, hunting or human-wildlife conflict.
Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) by Suzi Estzerhas. Two playful seven-month-old Giant Panda cubs in a tree Chengdu, China
“Through images and words, this book shines a spotlight on their diversity, beauty and resilience as well as raising awareness of their plight and raising funds for organisations passionately fighting for the future of Bears.”
The foreword for the book is by award-winning wildlife filmmaker, presenter and public speaker Gordon Buchanan MBE.
Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) by Tin Man Lee Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. After three hours lying motionless in remote Alaska, the photographer caught this picture of a spring cub waking up from a deep sleep and sitting up, with mother Bear, who was 20 feet away, dashing back to give a cub a nose touch.
Further information about Remembering Wildlife can be found here .
To find out more about the projects that Remembering Wildlife has already funded, click here
Each book costs £45 GBP (approximately $50 USD) and copies can be ordered at Remembering Wildlife
Animal welfare charities are facing “significant” financial problems in the Covid-19 crisis due to falling donations, the closure of charity shops to protect volunteers, and the cancellation of fund raising events.
There has already been a rise in cancellations of charity donations by direct debit across the UK. The current cost of living crisis has affected rescue charities twofold. Donations have dropped significantly However, the need to help animals in need has increased DRAMATICALLY.
Many people who bought pets during the covid lockdown have handed them into rescue centres because they can no longer (or don’t want to) look after. The cost of living crisis means many people cannot afford the cost of keeping their pets.
To make matters worse, the pandemic struck at a bad time. When Lucy’s Law came into effect in England, many puppy farmers abandoned the ‘trade’ – a victory for animal welfare. However, this led to an increase in breeding dogs dumped to fend for themselves with no regard for their welfare – just as the charities looking after them struggle to raise enough funds to function.
Like many animal welfare charities, we are struggling after lockdown. Covid restrictions and the cost of living crisis has resulted in very little funding coming in. This has dramatically affected our ability to help charities who are really struggling at the moment.
Please help us help other by donating ANY amount, large or small, at the link below. EVERY penny counts at these desperate times.
Everyone who donates will receive a Certificate of Appreciation as a thank you for helping animals in need.
PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE 