US House Passes Bill to Ban Cruel Shark Finning

Posted by Katie Valentine | November 27, 2019

In an important step toward an animal rights victory, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act (H.R. 737) last week.

Representatives Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan of the Marianas Islands and Michael McCaul of Texas introduced the bill in January. It amassed 288 cosponsors and passed by a vote of 310-107.

If the act passes through the Senate, it will effectively ban the sale, possession, and purchase of shark fins within the United States. Nearly 200 restaurants throughout the country offer shark fin products, despite prohibitive legislation in several states, according to a database maintained by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI).

Canada passed a similar ban in June, as the world’s largest shark fin importer outside of Asia. The legislative move speaks volumes about how people around the world are increasingly valuing the welfare of animals over profit and culinary tradition.

Every year, 73 million sharks lose their lives to the global shark fin trade. Fins are often harvested from sharks while they’re still alive, and the helpless animals are tossed back into the ocean to bleed, suffocate, fall victim to a predator, or otherwise suffer and die.

“Sharks have existed for hundreds of millions of years on this planet, and yet these remarkable apex predators now face one of the biggest threats to their survival because of the demand for their fins,” AWI President Cathy Liss remarked in a recent press release.

Twelve states and three U.S. territories have already banned shark fin sales. By enacting this commonsense legislation, Congress would demonstrate an unwillingness to contribute to the threats facing sharks worldwide — a cause that politicians from “both sides of the aisle” have gotten on board with.

Lady Freethinker’s petition to ban the cruel shark fin trade has garnered over 20,000 signatures so far.

SIGN: Ban Cruel Shark Fin Trade in the U.S.

Petition Link – https://ladyfreethinker.org/

Website – https://seaturtles.org/ 

November Newsletter

As 2019 comes to end, we at Turtle Island Restoration Network hope you know how much we appreciate your support. We are a small organization, so it’s only with people like you by our side that we are able to leverage and amplify our voice — to make those in power listen and take action. When you sign an action alert or make a donation, you are taking a critical step to protect our planet and all the animals and others who depend on healthy ecosystems to survive. We can’t do it without you!

VICTORY! Council Votes Against Opening New Longline Fishery off California

We won! Because of you, the agency responsible for proposing fishery regulations in U.S. waters voted to NOT open a new longline fishery in the Pacific Ocean. This is a big win for our oceans and all marine wildlife, and it was not possible without your support! Turtle Island Restoration Network attended the Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Costa Mesa, California — where your government considered opening a new longline fishery in the Pacific Ocean. We stood proudly with environmental activists, eco-tourists, recreational fishermen, divers, surfers, animal lovers, ocean enthusiasts, and more to demand the council say NO to opening up this deadly fishing practice off California.

First Cold-Stunned Turtles of the Season Rescued

Our team in the Gulf of Mexico saw the first cold stunned sea turtles of the season mid-November. When the water temperature drops drastically and rapidly, juvenile green sea turtles that have been foraging in the bays cannot find their way out to warmer water. As cold blooded reptiles, they rely on the surrounding temperatures to maintain their body temperature and will act very lethargic when too cold. They might be found floating or washed up on shore and are susceptible to boat strikes, predation, pneumonia and death. If you find any along the coast, please call your local animal rescue hotline for instructions. Thank you Justin Williams for assisting and sending in photos!

Groups Renew Push for Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban

Turtle Island Restoration Network and the Galveston Chapter of Surfrider Foundation unveiled new signs in November that showcase the Bring the Bag campaign and remind customers to bring their reusable bags when grocery shopping to reduce single-use plastic bags in the environment. The program aims to eliminate waste from single-use plastic bags in Galveston, despite a ruling by the Texas Supreme Court in 2018 that declared it a violation of state law for local governments to impose bans on plastic bags. We’re hoping to install the signs in other places around Galveston Island to prevent a source of single-use plastic from entering our ocean.

Ask Congress to do the RIGHT Thing for Right Whales

North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialisare) are dangerously close to extinction. There are less than 400 individuals remaining on earth, and only 95 are reproductively active females. In order to prevent extinction we must work to recover these numbers and halt any actions that lead to right whale mortality. Right now, the U.S. Senate has the opportunity to prevent extinction by supporting bipartisan legislation that seeks to target and alleviate the main threats to right whales—entanglement in fishing gear and ship strikes—before it’s too late. Ask your Senators to vote in favor of SAVE Right Whales Act.

Shop to Support: A New Way to Help Save Species

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our online store! Shark shirts, turtle hats, and many other delightful items are available now for purchase on our website. All proceeds will directly support our species-saving campaigns around the globe. As lovers of nature, we believe it’s vital to consider the environmental quality and impact of the products we buy, which is why every item in the store was carefully selected to adhere to our own eco-conscious standards. Make it a green holiday season and give the gift of our planet’s future!

Second Ghost Town Transformed to Salmon Habitat

In October, our California-based initiative that is dedicated to protecting endangered coho salmon completed the second phase of our floodplain and riparian restoration project at the ghost town of Jewell in Northern California. The project is re-creating floodplain wetlands along Lagunitas Creek to help recover key populations of endangered Central California Coast coho salmon and other threatened species.

Koalas ‘functionally extinct’ after Australia bushfires destroy 80% of their habitat!

Toni Doherty, the woman who rescued a badly burnt and wailing koala from an Australian bushfire was reunited with the koala now known as Lewis on Wednesday (November 20) at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital.

Doherty told local broadcaster Network Nine that it was ‘just natural instinct‘ for her to rush to Lewis’ aid, wrapping the animal in her shirt and a blanket and pouring water over it.

At the hospital, Clinical director Cheyne Flanagan said he was badly burnt but was on fluids, oxygen, eating and enjoying the five-star service.

The koala populations around Port Macquarie have been a major victim of the flames, with more than 350 of the marsupials feared killed in a major habitat.

As Australia experiences record-breaking drought and bushfires, koala populations have dwindled along with their habitat, leaving them “functionally extinct.”

The chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, Deborah Tabart, estimates that over 1,000 koalas have been killed from the fires and that 80 percent of their habitat has been destroyed.

“Koala Conservation Australia” President Sue Ashton told the “Sydney Morning Herald” on Monday: “We think most of the animals are burned – it’s a huge cremation, like in a crematorium. They burn sitting in the trees. “

However, some researchers call into question whether koalas are actually functionally extinct, noting how difficult it is to measure total koala populations and populations could be a much larger than estimated by the AKF.

Recent bushfires, along with prolonged drought and deforestation has led to koalas becoming “functionally extinct” according to experts.

In Australia, a heat record of 125 years ago is expected to be broken

Functional extinction is when a population becomes so limited that they no longer play a significant role in their ecosystem and the population becomes no longer viable. While some individuals could produce, the limited number of koalas makes the long-term viability of the species unlikely and highly susceptible to disease.

Deforestation and bushfires destroy the main nutrient source of koalas, the eucalyptus tree. An adult koala will eat up to 2 pounds of eucalyptus leaves per day as its main staple of nutrients. While eucalyptus plants will grow back after a fire, it will take months, leaving no suitable food source for koalas and starvation a likely scenario for many.

Many are urging the Australian government to enact the Koala Protection Act, written in 2016 but never passed into law and molded after the Bald Eagle Protection Act in the U.S. The Koala Protection Act would work to protect habitats and trees vital to koalas as well as protect koalas from hunting.

Recent viral videos of Australians rescuing koalas has led to increased donation to support hospitalization and help for burned koalas.

To draw attention to these threats, the ” Australian Koala Foundation” calls for the “Save the Koala” month each September.
The aim should be to raise people’s awareness of the issue and to persuade them to do something about the destruction of plant and animal life.

The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital setup a Go Fund Me page seeking donations to help the hospital treat injured koalas. To date, they have raised $1.33 million, well over their $25,000 goal. This comes from over 30,000 donors.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/11/23/koalas-functionally-extinct-after-australia-bushfires-destroy-80-of-their-habitat/#51cdaca27bad

My comment: The fire department had already warned in April.
Twenty-three former fire chiefs and chiefs of action published a letter cautioning the government against “increasingly catastrophic extreme weather events.”

They demanded a meeting that was rejected by the government.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack even outrageously went so far as to dismiss climate change completely as a web of “crazy, inner-city leftists.”
“We have always had a fire in Australia,” he told media representatives.

Australia is known for its lack of environmental protection. Time and again, the government is being asked to do something about environmental protection, especially since Australia is suffering the most from the effects of climate change.

Australia has over 160 million sheep and 24 million cattle – so it does not take much imagination to understand what these millions of animals can do to the fragile ecosystem of dry soil.
Anyone who has ever traveled through Australia has seen it with their own eyes.

The agricultural lobby is also very strong in Australia, as the first pillar of Australian agriculture is sheep farming, followed by cattle breeding.
Industrial agriculture needs a lot of water, so large dams are built to drain the rivers in Queensland.
They not only pump water from the rivers, they also pollute it with their pesticides and other chemicals.

What if the last water reserves are running out, the rivers are dehydrated or so polluted that any life is impossible ?
Nowhere is it more evident than in Australia.
The earth is burning and we are the culprits.

My best regards to all, Venus

In Hawaii, the “experimental laboratory” of the chemical giants Monsanto, the year-long struggle of the Hawaiians was worthwhile, because Monsanto pleads guilty in court to have used a banned pesticide.

Finally, in the US, Bayer / Monsanto is being overrun by an ever-growing process avalanche over the controversial herbicide Glyphosate (there are already 42,700 plaintiffs), and lawyers in Canada are launching a $ 500 million class action lawsuit against Roundup creators.

With more and more people protesting in Hawaii, especially as the disease has been proven to increase, Monsanto invested millions of dollars in anti-protest campaigns. Finally, Monsanto has agreed to pay a fine of ten million dollars.

Far too little, considering that Hawaiians became guinea pigs without first being informed. The “paradise” has the highest birth defects. Actually, the EU should respond now, but you were aware that it would be contrary to EU law, if an EU country pronounces a ban on the glyphosate-containing weed killer Roundup?

It is not only unbelievable, it is criminal!

There are already 42,700 claimants in the US. They went to court because the weed killer Roundup is said to cause cancer.
Bayer / Monsanto is also being sued in Australia for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Now, Canada is adding a class action lawsuit.

The air for Bayer is getting thinner and thinner. The large-scale PR campaigns do not help either.

For years people in Hawaii have been fighting against Monsanto.
The scientific and medical evidence of the dangers to human health posed by pesticides is staggering in Hawaii.

When sprayed and the wind blows down from the fields into the city, the inhabitants complain of burning eyes, headaches and vomiting.
Hawaii is Monsanto’s agricultural center and at the same time a huge experimental field for its new products. With 1,381 fields in the state of Hawaii, Monsanto tests chemicals, genetically modified plants and sells seeds to other agricultural companies.

With more and more people protesting in Hawaii, especially as the disease has been proven to increase, Monsanto has invested millions of dollars in anti-protest campaigns, and now has to pay a fine of $ 6 million and $ 4 million to non-profit organizations of the Hawaiian government.

And another message is likely to shake the chemical giant Bayer, there are more lawsuits against glyphosate added.

Diamond & Diamond, a national personal injury law firm in Canada, is filing a $ 500 million class action lawsuit against various Roundup manufacturers, including the pharmaceutical company Bayer, the owner of Roundup’s Monsanto.

“Diamond & Diamond” manages this largest class action lawsuit in Canada against Roundup makers. Currently, more than 60 people are named as plaintiffs, but the law firm announces that it believes that thousands of plaintiffs could come.
Darryl Singer, director of commercial and civil litigation at Diamond & Diamond, says the plaintiffs involved in this class action sought not only financial compensation but also what he calls “behavioral change” so that the same thing will not happen to others in the future products in Canada repeated.

“If there are not those lawsuits that force companies like Monsanto to issue these large checks, the giants have no incentive to change their business practices,” says Singer.
Singer says the plaintiffs have also been diagnosed with other forms of cancer, including brain tumors and lung cancer.

More and more outrages are coming to light. It has recently become public that the Group operates a so-called “Intelligence Fusion Center” to discredit journalists and critics.
Revelations show that the billionaire Monsanto spent a lot of time, money and staff to silence unpleasant journalists and critics, but to no avail, as the many complaints show.

https://netzfrauen.org/2019/11/23/bayer-13/

My comment: There was a man from the farmer Association on TV, who said that you could drink glyphosate without hesitation, completely non-toxic, nothing happens.
Pity! that he has not even taken a sip in front of the camera!

Now the good news from the newspaper onvista: Bayer: Next glyphosate defeat – jury demands over $ 2 billion – share crashes on the stock market at € 54.35!
Hopefully it goes more down below, then the Chairman is gone, gone, gone!

May they all go broke and to hell!

Best regards to all, Venus