Someone ran over multiple sea turtle nests on Captiva Island
CAPTIVA ISLAND, Fla. – The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is looking for someone who ran over six sea turtle nests on Sunday morning,
FWC officers think a golf cart or similar vehicle was used near Captiva Drive and Paige Court on where the nests were found disturbed.
An SCCF Sea Turtle Volunteer found the damage. Their sea turtle hotline also received two phone calls reporting the damage: one was from a resident and the other was from a visitor. Stakes were removed from the nests and thrown into the sand dune.
“These criminal actions clearly do not represent the intent of the rest of us, and they do feel like an invasion of sorts,” SCCF said in a statement. “This upends the joy and hope that these turtles represent for us all. I urge us all to channel this outrage by aiming it toward something good.”
According to Florida law, any person, firm, or corporation that illegally takes, disturbs, mutilates, destroys, causes to be destroyed, transfers, sells, offers to sell, molests, or harasses any marine turtle species, or the eggs or nest of any marine turtle species commits a third-degree felony, which has a maximum penalty of a fine up to $5,000 and up to five years in prison.
Officers said it’s unclear if any eggs were damaged because digging them up to find out could cause even more harm.
All sea turtle species in Florida are listed as endangered or threatened, and it is illegal to harm, harass, or kill any sea turtles or their eggs.
The Linsmayer Family has pledged a $1,000 gift towards SCCF’s coastal wildlife monitoring costs, and hope other concerned islanders will join them.
Brazilian meat giant JBS has been dropped from major investor Nordea Asset Management – the largest financial service group in the Nordics.
It is reported the investors control a fund of around £21 billion ($27 billion) – which JBS is now ‘excluded’ from.
‘Quite dramatic’
According to The Guardian, head of responsible investments at Nordea Asset Management Eric Pedersen said: “The exclusion of JBS is quite dramatic for us because it is from all of our funds, not just the ones labelled ESG.”
The firm’s acronym ESG stands for ‘environmental, social and governmental’ – a set of standards used to assess how sustainable a company is.
Illegal deforestation
The announcement follows five allegations in 2020 alone that have tied the meat processor to illegal deforestation – with environmental groups including Greenpeace criticizing the company since 2012.
Many celebrities also spoke out about the environmental catastrophe – with Khloe Kardashian encouraging her [then] 97.6 million Instagram followers to go plant-based.
Nearly three billion animals were killed or displaced during Australia’s devastating bushfires of the past year, scientists say.
The findings meant it was one of “worst wildlife disasters in modern history”, said the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which commissioned the report.
Mega blazes swept across every Australian state last summer, scorching bush and killing at least 33 people.
Mammals, reptiles, birds and frogs died in the flames or from loss of habitat.
During the peak of the crisis in January, scientists had estimated that 1.25 billion animals had been killed in New South Wales and Victoria alone.
But the new estimate takes in a larger area. About 11.46 million hectares – an area comparable to England – was scorched from September to February.
What was the impact?
“When you think about nearly three billion native animals being in the path of the fires, it is absolutely huge – it’s a difficult number to comprehend,” said Prof Chris Dickman, who oversaw the project by 10 scientists from Australian universities
He said they could not yet state an exact death toll, but noted the chances of animals escaping the blazes and surviving were “probably not that great” due to a lack of food and shelter.
The numbers were based on population counts and estimates of animal density before the disaster.
Limitations on data meant that some groups – such as invertebrates, fish and turtles – were not included in the estimates.
The government pledged A$50m (£27m; $35m) to wildlife and habitat recovery, but environmentalists have called on Australia to strengthen its conservation laws.
Australia is holding a royal commission inquiry into the fires, which is due to report findings in October.
It has heard overwhelming evidence from scientists who said the unprecedented frequency and severity of the blazes were a result of climate change.
Experts also said that smoke from the fires was linked to more than 445 deaths.
JUSTICE FOR BIRDS WITH LEGS CRUELLY GLUED TO SIGNPOST
PETITION TARGET: Queensland RSPCA
Suffering and desperate to to fly away, two Kingfisher birds were glued by the legs to a signpost at the Cathu State Forest in Queensland, Australia.
Onlookers encountered the heartbreaking scene, where one bird, sadly, had already died. They cut the other distressed bird free and rushed him to a qualified caretaker.
Witnesses described the act as deliberate.
“The amount of glue and stuff where these birds were stuck, it definitely wasn’t an accident,” Kiya Durbridge, whose friend discovered the birds, told 7News.
Such horrifying cruelty is inexcusable, and these beautiful birds deserve justice. Sign this petition urging the Queensland RSPCA to use all available resources to thoroughly investigate this alarming incident and to identify and arrest the suspect(s) involved.
This is an ongoing investigation. The RSPCA urges anyone with information about this case to contact them.
New South Wales has established an inquiry into a proposed bill – the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Amendment (Restrictions on Stock Animal Procedures) Bill 2019 – that would stop mulesing by 2022 and, in the meantime, mandate that pain relief be given to sheep who are subjected to it. If passed, this bill would also ensure that sheep and other animals receive pain relief during earmarking, branding, castration, dehorning, and tail-docking.
If passed, this bill would spare lambs – 6 million of whom are mulesed every year in NSW alone – a great deal of suffering.
A chained dog suffered a miserable death at the end of a tether in Montgomery County, Ohio. The Rottweiler could be seen suffering in the intense summer heat by a neighbor who called animal control for help – but the dog died before help arrived.
At the bare minimum, this is gross negligence, if not outright animal cruelty. Please sign this petition, which will be submitted to the Montgomery County, Ohio, officials, along with our letter demanding a full investigation and charges for the dog’s owner.
If it had not been for that good man, the deer would not have survived a single day without its mother. For these things there is the Seprona, with all the barbarities that are committed against animals and they impose a fine on a man who helps animals. This is the last straw!
They denounce the rancher who raised and helped a deer among his herd of goats
The deer lost its mother a few days after birth and was raised with a herd of goats. Now the Seprona has fined the rancher.
Hanged, skinned alive, and decapitated, defenseless animals — including dogs and cats — suffered gruesome torture at the hands of one woman, who recorded the abuse and posted the horrific videos to social media, according to the Department of Justice.
In one Instagram message, the 19-year-old suspect Krystal Cherika Scott talked about slaughtering a pregnant Siamese cat and posted images of the caged cat, along with two kittens, according to CBS2. Another post showed a decapitated dog lying dead in a cage.
Scott is believed to have obtained the animals she allegedly tormented and killed from people looking to give away their unwanted pets for adoption.
Following a thorough investigation — which revealed numerous animal skulls and 15 captive live dogs and cats — the suspect has been charged with two counts of Making and Distributing Animal Crush Videos under the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act.
The person responsible for these reprehensible acts of cruelty must never be allowed to harm another animal again. Sign this petition urging Assitant United States Attorney Tiffany Preston to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law, including a life-long ban on having animals and an intensive psychological evaluation.
Animal rights activists gathered at the Greater Vancouver Zoo Sunday to protest what they say is the poor treatment of animals, in the wake of the death of an emaciated moose.
Oakleaf, an eight-year-old moose, was euthanized at the Aldergrove facility Wednesday after months of declining body condition, according to zoo veterinarian Dr. Bruce Burton.
Burton told Global News staff had tried multiple diet changes since the winter, but that her condition worsened significantly in recent weeks.
The decision to euthanize came one day after a photo of the moose with its ribs clearly visible circulated on Facebook, which Burton said was “coincidental,” adding that he hadn’t seen the photos before the moose was euthanized.
Activists, however, claim the decision to put the moose down was a result of public scrutiny and argue that the zoo is “sourcing animals in questionable ways, and subsequently not delivering proper care or environment to them either,” according to their Facebook page.
“We have tons of questions. We’re demanding answers and we’re demanding a return to them being at least partially accountable as far as announcing deaths that have occurred here,” said organizer David Isbister with No More Dead Captives.
“If it wasn’t for the public finding Oakleaf’s condition no one would have known about it.”
Demonstrators say they’re also concerned with plans to transition the zoo to housing more large African animals, which they say will not fare well in northern climates.
Protesters point to a 2019 report commissioned by the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS) by wildlife protection charity Zoocheck, alleging that many animals at the zoo were “living in barren, undersized cages and enclosures that restrict them from engaging in natural behaviours.”
The zoo maintains that the welfare of its animals is its top priority and that enrichment and conservation remain the institution’s guiding principles.
“Our goal is to provide the best possible conditions for the zoo’s animal collection by continually evaluating and improving all aspects of the animals’ homes, social situations, husbandry, and nutrition,” zoo general manager Serge Lussier told Global News when the report was released.
Burton said the zookeepers are vigilant but that the facility welcomes feedback from the public if they ever believe an animal is in distress.
“They have a vested interest. They love these animals,” he said. “But if we get input from somebody else it does two things — it provides us with information, but it also indicates that the public are concerned about the health and welfare of these animals.”
Burton said a post-mortem on Oakleaf has not provided a definitive reason for her declining condition, but that he believed she would not have been able to recover.
World Animals Voice 