Gruesome Act of Mass Killing of Dolphins - Stop Cruelty to Animals

Shame on Denmark


On October 11, 2005 a review was published titled “Outraged at animal cruelty” in The Sun, where from all corners of the globe had inundated with their noble thoughts of imposing legal penalties to the people involved in the act of animal cruelty. Individuals and organizations from many countries had raised their voice for against animal cruelty and for “tougher punishment for the sick thugs who cause pain to animals.” Denmark was one of those countries to come up with big thoughts against animal cruelty. My post is going to be shockingly painful for animal lovers and for people who mind to spare little thoughts for the endangered species at the end of the day.

Denmark is a real big shame! When life on the planet is facing the menace of being extinction due to years of human activities of killing tress and animals, when governments have spared serious thoughts on saving the endangered species through special prevention programs, when petitions are signed everyday to support tougher sentences for animal cruelty, when every single moment an organization is cropping up to work to support the sustainable policies for the co-existence of all marine species, callous Danish peeps have turned out to be brutal bloody slaughters! Their inhuman acts of mass killing of Calderon dolphins (that have long been exposed to the risk of extinction) have turned the sea red. It’s no more a secret that this happens as a big event in the Feroe Island, Denmark. The major part of the population that participates in this insane inhuman sport each year comprises of youngsters chiefly! They do this to express entertaining adulthood. I just cannot imagine that a country (one most important pocket of the European Union), with supposedly civilized citizens can be so mentally sick! Funny thing is that the government doesn’t take any penal action to prevent such bullish barbarism committed towards mass killing of life – a species that has been marked endangered. I am sorry, but I cannot categorize this under festivity but criminal offense.

The Faroese consider this inhuman act of killing innocent dolphins to be an important part of their cultural background. The Faroese legislation permits the killing of certain species of small cetaceans other than pilot whales, such Bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic white-beaked dolphins, Atlantic white-sided dolphins, Harbour porpoises, although there exists specific regulations for the hunting of harbour porpoises that are killed with shotguns. Animal-rights groups have criticized the hunt as being a cruel act just for fun.

My request to insane Danish government officials - Educate yourself, educate your people about the plight of these harmless, innocent animals. I am sure you can make a difference. All the best!

I would request me readers to place their thoughts through comments to support prevention of cruelty to animals.

Watch out these gruesome pics:

Stop cruelty to animals please.
Live and Let Live

Genetically Engineered Animals – Animal Cloning

Animal Cloning

Before I talk about the why usually animal cloning creates abnormalities, let me brief an idea f what cloning actually is. There are different types cloning, viz. Molecular Cloning (DNA cloning or gene cloning), Therapeutic Cloning and Reproductive Cloning

Animal cloning is the highly technical process by which bio-technologists produces an organism from a single cell taken from a parent organism. The new born is genetically identical, which means the cloned animal is an exact duplicate of the parent in every respect… even with exact DNA. Dolly the first cloned mammal had been created by Reproductive Cloning. Scientists have cloned many animals. It was in the year 1952 that the scientists had cloned the world’s first animal – a tadpole. Since then hundreds of animals have been cloned, and many had been done successfully, while others proved to be unsuccessful. Cloning technologies have to be improved before more species can be successfully cloned. Many people have raised their voices against cloning as they think animal cloning as against nature, although most scientists consider that animal cloning is a major break though as this has a number of benefits in it! The most prominent beneficial possibility of a successful animal cloning is to save the endangered species from getting extinct.

Against all odds, scientists have been burning their midnight oil in making the cloning techniques better and finding why most animal cloning has created abnormalities. Dr. Takumi Takeuchi worked with the pool of medical professionals and had compared imprinting abnormalities in the embryos of mice that had been derived from assisted reproduction cloning techniques. Dr. Takumi Takeuchi, from Cornell University, New York, USA told that he and the medical team of Dr. Gianpiero Palermo had worked on this project. The doctor said, “We found significantly impaired development in the cloned embryos compared with those derived from more conventional ART techniques, and this has made us more convinced that reproductive cloning is unsafe and should not be applied to humans.”

A lot of researches have been undertaken and it was found that reproductive cloning has increased the incidence of imprinting abnormalities in genetically engineered animals. The most prominent abnormalities that have been recorded is “Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome”, where offspring are born larger than normal. This condition is also called “large offspring syndrome”.

The pool of medical professionals working under Dr. Takeuchi concluded that it was not fully proved if there was any direct link between the a specific cause for the abnormalities and cloning, “But there are a number of possibilities”, he said.

Prematured Death of Basking Shark

Giant Basking Shark Had Washed Ashore on 14 August, 2009

Very recently on Tuesday July 14, 2009 a male basking shark was found dead on the Long Island beach. This 26 feet, 6 inches long majestic creature was incredibly heavy with around 5000 pounds body weight. The marine educator Tracy Marcus of the Cornell Cooperative Extension informed that the male basking shark died shortly after the had authorities arrived on the scene. According to Tracy Marcus, there wasn't any abrasion found in the external part of the shark's body. What could be the possible reason of the premature death of the basking shark? Marcus said that the shark might be struck by a heavy vessel or boat, but that was merely an assumption. The reason of the sudden death of the shark is still not known. Confusion also surged in to people's mind as to what actually made the shark find its way to the Gilgo State Park near Babylon in Suffolk County. According to David Chapman of Stony Brook University, "It didn't die of old age, because they get to 35 or 40 feet." The shark was around 26 feet long, which indicates that the death is premature. Yet still, it was an imposing site to those who were present on the beach when the shark actually washed up the shore.

The British conservationists have petitioned to have the majestic creature "hotspots" protected. Researchers have spared adequate thoughts over the issue. They think that the summer temperature might be responsible for an explosion the population of the zooplankton off the coasts of Britain and Ireland. This made many basking sharks attracted to the specific region. While during the last year (2008) there were only 26 basking sharks sighted, but the since the beginning of June, 2009 the total sightings have been recorded to be more than 900; June's record alone have shown an incredible number of sightings of 248 basking sharks!

A Marine and Coastal Access Bill has made its way through British Parliament with a noble motive to introduce "marine conservation zones". The "marine conservation zones" is a protected area in the ocean to be identified basking shark "hotspots".There will be speed limitations for the boats in this area. 47 wildlife trusts across the UK, Alderney, and the Isle of Man are heading the project. Lissa Goodwin the marine policy officer of these trusts said that the chief aim of the group "is to ensure there is no loss in the population size" of basking sharks.

Critically Endangered Gorilla Rescued

Critically Endangered Gorilla Rescued and Illegal Gorilla Trading Caught

Danger of extinction has hit every single species on the planet! The conservationists have done a great job by releasing a pack of 6 orphaned gorillas (three males and three females) in Gabon on an isolated African island called Lagoon island near Loango National Park. These gorillas have been declared to be critically endangered species and the conservationists are planning to move the gorillas into wider wild zone within three years so that can regain their population.

This is a part of reintroduction program carried out by the non-profit organization Fernan-Vaz Gorilla Project that re-habilitates orphaned Western Lowland gorillas. These gorillas have been rescued from the illegal trade they are all juveniles ranging between 2 to 7 years of age. Dr. Nick Bachand the vet had anesthetized the gorillas for the boat ride and later before they were released on the Lagoon Island, they had thorough health check up. The next morning was the delightful day for them. The drug action had worn off and they were seen exploring the Island happily!

According to the researchers, habitat destruction and illegal trading have been decreasing the Western lowland gorilla population and current they are threatened by extinction. Ebola virus is another big menace to their existence. These gorilla babies had undergone extensive forest rehabilitation and have been closely monitored.

Check out the video clip


Fernan-Vaz Gorilla Project;
Videography: Fleur van der Minne

Blue Groper - The Mysterious Fish That Can Change its Sex

Fish Mystery – Blue Groper, The Mysterious Fish

Professional divers in Australia have always loved watching Blue Gropers, an amazing fish that is known for it’s ability to change its sex. Interestingly this natural ability has been seldom found in the animal kingdom on the Earth. Blue Gropers that grow around three feet long and has the natural ability to get transgendered by themselves has been reported to be facing the threat of extinction. This piece is all about the the fish mystery and this mysterious fish that can change its sex.

The Blue Groper, commonly called Bluey is one of the ocean-living icons of Australian state of New South Wales. Not only their mysterious, natural ability of changing their own sex, but also their friendly nature have made these fishes one of the faves of Australian divers. SOUNDBITE (English), Bob Harcourt, Associate Professor Macquarie University said, "the blue groper is a large fish, but the really sexy thing about Blue Groper is they start off as females. We've got lots of blue groper that are small green groper and as an old male dies then the largest most dominant females turns blue and becomes male. And so one of the really cool things about these fish, is the sex ratio doesn't really vary, but it is a function of how well protected they are. If you take a lot of males out, then the females have to spend a lot of their time turning into males, which means they can't breed and they can't lay eggs." SOUNDBITE (English), Kate Lee, Researcher said, "how much time they spend in the different zones. Obviously we've come along and put down these are boundaries and put it on as a human boundary but animals don't listen to the boundaries we put. So we are looking at how much movement there is between the fished zones and the un-fished zones and if there spending a lot of time moving between the two, then obviously the reserve is going to be less effective than if they were staying in those particular zones."

Very little is actually known about the sex changing factor(s) in these fishes. What the researchers have been able to discover is that after reaching a certain age and size the female Blueys automatically get transgendered.

Interesting Facts About Mysterious Fish – Blue Groper

• Quite interestingly, although they are called Blue Groper, this mysterious fish is anot actually a Groper. Blueys actually falls in the Wrasses family.
  
• Blue Gropers are usually found on exposed reefs at around 0 – 40 meters depth of water. These mysterious fishes actually range between Wilsons Promontory in Victoria up the east coast to the Hervey Bay Queensland.
• Blue Groper starts off with small green color as juvenile and grows into broen or reddish. But as soon as an old male dies out, the largest and the dominant females gradually turns into blue and mysteriously becomes a big male fish.
• No Blue Gropper starts its life as a male… they always starts their life as females.
• Researchers believe that if the female population of Blueys gets increased, a female gets transgendered in to males if the male to female ratio is exceeded.
• Bluey males are quite aggressive to each other and usually one male is notice in a small school of Blue Groper females.
• Blue Groper has been reported to have an incredibly long life span of 35 years. A 10 year old Bluey can grow approximately 48cm long and can weigh around 2.4 kgs. On reaching 20 years of age a Blue Groper becomes approximately 62cm long and can weigh around 5.3 kgs and on reaching 30 years of age the Blue Gropers becomes approximately 73cm long and weighs around 8.4 kgs.
• In the year 1998, the Eastern blue groper was officially made the state fish emblem of New South Wales.

Endangered Sage Grouse - Decision Delayed

Sage Grouse is a rare bird and is exposed to the risk of extinction. This is one of those few members of the wild life kingdom that have created a lot of confusions regarding whether to enlist it to be the endangered species or not. Unfortunately, today Sage Grouse has been struggling hard for survival in Colorado, although there is a sudden, noticeable spurt in the population of Sage Grouse experienced recently. Hence decision has not yet been taken to list this rare bird as endangered species.

As any as three petitions have been sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service with request to list the Sage Grouse as an endangered and threatened species. The Service found that the petitions had provide with adequate information about the rare bird that could warrant this rare species of bird to be listed. Fortunately the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service will be starting off a status review of the species. This is going to be the first step in the process of determining if Sage Grouse should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. Michael Bean, who is a senior adviser to Assistant Secretary of Interior Tom Strickland, said: "The Fish and Wildlife Service is well aware of the significance of this decision, because of its potential impact on a broad area and many activities within that broad area". On the other level the federal officials are still not active enough. They tend to delay a decision on whether to enlist the rare Sage Grouse in 11 Western states as an endangered species until 2010. Good news is that, the volunteers have already kick started a conservation project in the city with a donation of over $11 million in order to preserve 17,000 acres of land with a motive to enhance the typical habitat of this endangered bird. Thankfully the government has also stepped forward and stretched out the helping hands. The government has invested a huge volume of money for aerial seeding to feed the birds.

A bit about the behavior of rare Sage Grouse

Although Sage Grouse has many common characteristic with many birds, still they show typical behavior that set this endangered species of bird apart from most other birds. Worth mentioning is that the Sage Grouse is noted for it elaborate courtship rituals. Spring is the time when the male of the species tend to show of stunning beauty a typical strut gait. Each spring (between February and April) the male Sage Grouse would puff up a white large ball on his chest. With his tail beautifully displayed and puffing up his entire body the males would strut around, by making soft drumming sound. He does this in order to attract females. Females build up their nests for laying eggs. They incubate their eggs under the cover of sage brush. Unlike most birds the nest of Sage Grouse are shallow depressions on the ground, essentially covered.

Interestingly the females lay on clutch (comprising 5 to 12 eggs in each clutch), but have been noticed to have replaced it if the eggs are lost. Females are ready to lay eggs 7 days after mating and tend to lay an egg a day. Most interesting fact about the Sage Grouse chicks is that they can walk and even fly short distances immediately after being hatched.

The Chicken-sized Sage Grouse ranges from Montana to Nevada and from California to Colorado. Activities like gas and oil drilling, livestock grazing, building wind power turbines etc are responsible for the decline in the population of these beautiful fowl. Today the exact figure f its population is not exactly known. The chicken-sized grouse ranges from Montana to Nevada and California to Colorado, living alongside livestock grazing, oil and gas drilling and an increasing number of wind power turbines. Its population has been in decline for decades, but how many remain is unknown. According to David Hensley, counsel to Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, the delay in the decision offers a chance to see if the measures are really effective. Hensley said: "We're trying to make the best case we can to the federal government that the species doesn't warrant federal protection in Idaho".

Louisiana Pine Snake - Rare, Weird Snake of Louisiana

I was just scrambling around the web, looking for some amazing facts about animals. I chanced to stumble upon something that can raise a few eye brows. A bit too weird, rare and imperiled, this snake had been discovered in Luisiana. Yes, the Louisiana pine snake (Pituophis ruthveni) in amongst the rarest snakes in America, though they are found in mass in the well managed 12,000-hectare timberland in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Now the question is how did such an endangered species could manage to thrive well amidst the wood for long? This shows a hope of light at the end of the trench and scientists tend to make more researches for managing the forest more effectively so as to preserve such endangered species!

This really sounds cool! The Louisiana pine snake had been one of the most amazing reptiles in some parts of eastern Texas and Louisiana. Old-timers in these parts of the country recalled incidences of meeting with a 1.5- to 1.8-meter long colorful reptile that they used to call "Bull Snake". According to them the snake use to draw itself straight up off the ground when approached the snake often draws itself up off the ground when approached, menacing with severe hiss and warranting painful bites - though non-poisonous. Long after the snake was last seen, that it was viewed again during the fag end of 2004. From much of its original range this amazing reptile had disappeared to a great extent. Steve Reichling, a biologist and curator at Memphis Zoo, Tennessee, said that it had been a contender for the title of most endangered snake in the US. He also said, "This is a five- or six-foot snake that's diurnal (active in daylight hours) and should be relatively easy to find. Yet it's known by only about 250 documented scientific specimens since it was described in 1929."

This rare snake is seen only in the six isolated islands that are mostly in Louisiana, although some of them are in Texas. However, the largest habitat of this endangered snake is by far the Bienville Parish timber property, which is managed by
the International Paper company. According to Reichling, ten snakes have been caught in the wild since April 1st 2006 so far. He added, "That's an amazing abundance for this species."

One most significant point that the researchers and herpetologists noted was that much of scarcity of the Louisiana pine snake has been attributed to the loss of its natural habitat - the sandy-soil and longleaf-pine-forest. According to them the wanton logging, agricultural and real estate development are solely responsible for eliminating of the ecosystem from that region. Long span of fire-suppression activities have also contributed greatly in diminishing the natural habitat of this endangered variety of snake. The old-timers said that they used to find these weird snakes during '30s and '40s, but haven't seen them crawling around in the wild in last three decades. Reichling said "The younger people have no clue that there's such a weird snake in their midst. I try to tell them, 'You're sitting on a snake that's only found here.' It has been lost to their memory in just a couple generations."

After a great deal of research for a long span of time, Steve Reichling came up with a stud book for the Pine Snake in the year 1992. He talked about the the natural history and wrote reviews on the present condition of this amazing creature.

Appearance, Nature and Behavior

Not much is known about this rare snake. The Louisiana pine snake is amongst the most impressive specimens of serpents, with buff to yellowish background. Dark brown markings near head and brown to russet markings near the tail tend to add to the beauty of the snake. Although insofar the size goes they are almost the same as the other Pine Snakes, but according to many herpetologists that are far more gorgeous than other Pine Snakes. The Louisiana pine snakes have attractive blotches that are usually some shade brown or reddish-brown. These large serpent are really magnificent and feed on rodents in the wild. Cool if not threatened, these rare snake become aggressive if approached. They tend to behave quite wildly with menacingly hissing sound raising itself off the ground straight way!

The rare pine snake has already been enlisted as the most threatened species in Texas. It has been marked as one of the most endangered species that has come into the conservation concern in Louisiana. Collaborating with other scientists, Rudolph researched out certain other factors that has contributed a lot in the decline of the Louisiana pine snake population. With the largest eggs of any U.S. snake, a Louisiana pine snake produces only 3 to 5 eggs per clutch at the most. This low reproductive rate of the Louisiana pine snake means that the species may not recover as quickly as it should.