There are many animal species that should be given (much better, or even basic protection from the devastation caused by the human species. Witnessing these majestic beings gradually being wiped out due to industries such as Palm Oil is an insult to all of us who care. Orangutans, and trying to help and protect them, means that they have a special little space hidden away somewhere within my soul. I hate the human race; they claim superiority and a ‘superior being’ type status; whilst in my opinion; they are in fact the masters of destruction of this planet; and that is nothing to be ‘superior’ or proud about.

The following video shows the work of one of the Orangutan charities which I personally support. It shows the great work that they have been doing during 2019 to save and relocate these wonderful beings back into their forest homes. Please support them if you can and help a species which is being destroyed by the wants of some humans which is so offset by the dedicated and wonderful work of other humans who have ‘it’ within them.

Regards Mark

http://orangutan.or.id/

 

Video link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVUx3Z0UNJU&feature=youtu.be

Here are some great Orangutan facts – check out more with lots of great pictures at:

https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/fascinating-facts/orangutans?gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxf6_1tTu5gIVxbTtCh0DOwFlEAAYAyAAEgIj5_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

There are 3 species of orangutan

The Bornean, the Sumatran and the recently confirmed new species (as of 2017), the Tapanuli. These great apes are only found in the wild on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

All three species are critically endangered, with just over 100,000 Bornean, fewer than 14,000 Sumatran, and less than  800 Tapanuli orangutans left. 

Although they might look fairly similar with their fluffy ginger fur, Bornean orangutans have darker red coats and rounder faces than their Sumatran cousins.

But they do have some similarities – adult males have a beard and moustache – and adult female Sumatran orangutans also have beards.

Orangutans have an arm span of about 2.2 m (over 7 ft) from fingertip to fingertip.

Young orangutans stay with their mother until they reach around 7 years old. They spend this time learning everything from her – including what’s good to eat.

Infants are so attached to their mums that they ride on her body and sleep in her nest until they develop their own skills to survive on their own.

Because of this long learning curve, orangutans only have young once every 7 – 9 years, which is the longest birth interval of any land mammal.

Some adult male orangutans develop flaps of fatty tissue on both sides of their face – known as flanges – which develop when they’re fully mature, at around 35 years old.

Orangutans can live to over 30 years old – and many live to 50.

Studies show that some females may consider flanges when selecting a mate.

Orangutans like to be comfortable. They make a sleeping platform, or nest, every night.

An orangutan makes its nest in around 10 minutes, by pulling several large branches together, using smaller branches for a mattress and binding the structure together by weaving in more supple branches. In wet weather, they sometimes add a roof.

As orangutans make a new nest to sleep in every night, we actually use their nests to estimate their population size in any given area. We count nests both from the ground and the air as they’re much easier to spot than elusive orangutans.

As you might have seen in Our Planet, some Sumatran orangutans use tools – like sticks to get termites, ants or bees out of tree holes.

These clever creatures have also been observed making a ‘glove’ out of leaves when handling prickly fruits or thorny branches.

It’s estimated that over 100,000 Bornean orangutans were lost between 1999 and 2015. The main threat is the loss or fragmentation of their forest habitat, caused by logging for timber materials, forest fires and making way for oil palm plantations.

Oil palm trees produce palm oil – an edible vegetable oil – which is used in many products, from toothpaste to pizza. Indonesia and Malaysia make up over 85% of the global supply of palm oil.

Cutting down pristine rainforest to make more palm oil is incredibly unsustainable and releases lots of carbon into the atmosphere. But the good news is that we can produce palm oil sustainably – protecting species like the orangutan – if we ensure that it is deforestation free. This means planting on already degraded land rather than replacing jungle with oil palm.  And palm oil itself yields far more oil than other crops such as olive oil or sunflower oil – so it needs far less land to produce the same amount of oil.

As consumers, we can fight to only buy sustainable palm oil. Boycotting isn’t the answer; demanding more action is.

 

 

Check out a lot more info about these fantastic primates at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangutan

 

 

Conservation status

 

Deforestation for palm oil production in Indonesia. 80% of Indonesian logging is performed illegally due to weak law enforcement and high levels of corruption.^[80]

The Sumatran and Bornean species are both critically endangered^[81][82] according to the IUCN Red List of mammals, and both are listed on Appendix I of CITES.^[81][82] The IUCN estimated in 2016 that around 100,000 orangutans survive in the wild (in 1973 there were 288,500), and their population is expected to further decrease to as few as 47,000 individuals by 2025.^[83]

The Bornean orangutan population declined by 60% in the past 60 years and is projected to decline by 82% over 75 years. Its range has become patchy throughout Borneo, being largely extirpated from various parts of the island, including the southeast.^[82] The largest remaining population is found in the forest around the Sabangau River, but this environment is at risk.^[84]

Sumatran orangutan populations declined by 80% in 75 years.^[81] This species is now found only in the northern part of Sumatra, with most of the population inhabiting the Leuser Ecosystem.^[81] In late March 2012, a once-significant population in northern Sumatra were reported to be threatened with approaching forest fires and might be wiped out entirely within a matter of weeks.^[85]

Estimates between 2000 and 2003 found 7,300 Sumatran orangutans^[81] and between 45,000 and 69,000 Bornean orangutans^[82] remain in the wild. A 2007 study by the Government of Indonesia noted a total wild population of 61,234 orangutans, 54,567 of which were found on the island of Borneo in 2004. The table below shows a breakdown of the species and subspecies and their estimated populations from this, or (in the case of P. tapanuliensis) a more recent, report:^[86][87]

Give them back their home – Now !

SIGN: Justice for 21 Horses Hunted Down and Massacred

Posted by Katie Valentine

 

Petition Link – https://ladyfreethinker.org/sign-justice-for-15-hunted-down-and-massacred/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email

PETITION TARGET: Floyd County, Kentucky Sheriff’s Office

In an appalling act of cruelty, a shooter gunned down dozens of innocent horses, including newborn foals and pregnant mares, near an abandoned strip mine in Floyd County, Ky.

The shooter mercilessly fired bullets into the animals at their most vulnerable moments, including one horse who was eating and died with grass in his mouth. According to Megan Goble, whose family owns the property the horses were massacred on, two pregnant mares miscarried after they were shot.

“It looked like a battlefield for just horses,” said Floyd County Sherrif John Hunt. “We counted 15 that we found dead. All 15 appeared to us to have been shot.”

Later, 6 more dead horses were discovered, bringing the total to 21 animals slain.

It seems as if the killer deliberately separated and terrified the horses shortly before shooting them.

“I was just sick to my stomach by the thought of what those horses had to go through,” said President and CEO of the Kentucky Humane Society Lori Recmon. “It looks like maybe they had been run and then dispersed and shot. They’re herd animals, so to separate them and then shoot them is probably terrifying for them. Then, after I was sad and sickened, I just got angry.”

Prior to the slaughter, roughly 30 horses routinely wandered the remote Eastern Kentucky area. According to locals, people frequently visited the horses to feed them and watch them frolic in the woods. Through one deplorable act, the shooter decimated that population.

As long as the person responsible for the brutal death these horses walks free, he or she poses a continued threat to horses and all other living beings. Whoever murdered these beautiful creatures must be brought to justice before they hunt and kill anyone else.

Sign this petition encouraging the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office to treat this case with the severity it deserves by using every available resource to identify and arrest the individual(s) behind this gruesome crime.

There is a $15,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the suspected shooter. Investigators urge anyone with information about this case to call the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office at (606) 886-6171. 

 

 

 

… and these people are in charge of a crisis !

Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve fireworks display WILL go ahead as the Rural Fire Service gives the green light despite total fire ban

• The Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve fireworks display has been approved
• Comes despite the state’s deputy premier urging authorities to scrap the event
• ‘Sydney Harbour fireworks have been approved to proceed tomorrow,’ RFS said
• Parramatta, Armidale and Huskisson have cancelled or postponed fireworks 
• The Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve fireworks display has been approved despite the state’s deputy premier urging authorities to scrap the event.
• The NSW Rural Fire Service on Monday evening said it had given approval for the fireworks display to go ahead in Sydney Harbour.
• ‘The Sydney Harbour fireworks have been approved to proceed tomorrow,’ the RFS said on social media on Monday evening.
• ‘The NSW Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue NSW are assessing a number of other total fire ban exemptions.’

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7836475/Sydney-Harbour-New-Years-Eve-fireworks-display-ahead-RFS-gives-green-light.html

Test only

 

from Venus

The EU Commission’s right-hand man is the Eurogroup for Animals.
On their website states: We create a favorable political environment!
and further … “it is of the utmost importance to show that as a membership organization we keep our promises”.

The 8hour campaign (1.2 million votes) in 2012 failed because of the rejection of the then corrupt Commissioner John Dali.

Has the Eurogroup contemplated how to honor its promises to EU-Citisens if the Commission now ignores the 1.5 million votes in the “End of Cage Age” Campaign?
The “case John Dalli” may have forgotten the employees of the Eurogroup, they like to suppress sad defeats.

This case should always be a warning sign of how easy it is to betray the animals and those who want a better world for them.
But in this game are also involved those who make big promises, even though they know that they have no power to make big changes in animal suffering under the EU Commission. And by that I mean the Eurogroup for Animals!

The 36 employees of Eurogroup working for the Commission for good money should be sparing with their promises and nice words. The Eurogroup can not make any promise, because they do not take any decision.
They preach visions and missions into their web site but the thing is very simple: if the commission (even now like under Dalli back then) does not abolish caging, in spite of 1.5 million votes, then they should not give us lectures on trust or active animal welfare, but they have only to answer one simple question: what is their right of existence?

Those who participate in the moral and political EU format are cheated and betrayed,  so like the animals are.
The Eurogroup is just as weak as we are, the citizens of the EU, the Groupe is powerless, as we are, with the only difference that they are paid to sell illusions, campaigns, visions and hopes in an area, this of animal welfare, which the EU does not care at all.

“We exist because European citizens believe animals deserve a voice” says the groupe.

Indeed! there are demonstrably 1.5 million EU citizens who want to give the voiceless, the suffering, the enslaved beings a voice, a better world.
But no one believes that this can be done with the Eurogroup.
With the employer of the Eurogroup anyway not.

I got this message from Compassion in World Farming today:

Our ground-breaking European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) achieved over 1.5 million signatures calling for a total EU ban on keeping farm animals in cages.

170 organisations, united by Compassion in World Farming, came together to make this happen. An unprecedented pan-European movement for farm animal welfare!

So what’s next? The UK Parliament (with 389,057 signatures ) is now expected to debate a ban on farm cages. And, to force the European Commission to act, at least 1 million ECI signatures must be validated.

This process could take three months, and then we’ll submit the petition.

We’ll keep you fully updated on progress and new ways you can get involved!”

After this message, I had the same bitter feeling as back then in the 8hours campaign.
Unfortunately, the bad sides of history are always repeating themselves.
The Dallis, the corrupt commissars and their naive servants.

Venus