Scientists voice opposition to weakening of U.S. Endangered Species Act
Thousands of scientists joined Monday to accuse the Trump administration of trying to erode the Endangered Species Act in favor of commercial interests with a plan to revamp regulations that have formed a bedrock of U.S. wildlife protection for over 40 years. The extraordinary critique ...
Malaysia seizes rhino horns worth $12 million in largest such haul
Malaysia has seized rhinoceros horns worth nearly $12 million bound for Vietnam, the Southeast Asian nation's largest haul of such contraband, officials said on Monday. Wildlife experts say Malaysia is a major transit point for the illegal trafficking of endangered species to other Asian countries. Officials ...
Goshawks taken off scarce species list as population recovers
Japan is set to remove goshawks from its scarce species list after a government subcommittee approved the move Wednesday following an increase in their population. Goshawks, whose numbers were estimated at 9,000 in a survey conducted by the Environment Ministry at the turn of the ...
Kyoto University experts detect large mammal species in Cambodia during camera trap study
Experts from Kyoto University and the Wildlife Conservation Society have conducted a camera trap survey that detected a multitude of large mammal species in a protected area of northern Cambodia, the WSC said Thursday. "The results confirm the continued occurrence of large mammals such as ...
How Japanese media have failed endangered species
In October, a new documentary produced by Leonardo DiCaprio premiered on Netflix. "The Ivory Game" is a dramatic study of the illegal trade in elephant tusks that includes conservationists battling poachers, investigative journalists following the money trail and black market merchants in China. Experts say ...
Achieving a virtuous cycle for conservation
A virtuous cycle, whereby local producers have a direct interest in protecting wildlife because they are benefiting from its legal trade is the best long-term solution to the problem of sustainability.
Eels face the slippery slope to extinction
Last week I was crossing the River Thames on the way to work in London, and I happened to see a cormorant emerge from the water with a thrashing eel in its mouth. The bird juggled the fish, skillfully managing to position it so ...
China flouts efforts to protect world's wildlife
It would be nice to believe China's rhetoric that it cooperates with other countries in protecting wildlife. Yet, for two decades at least, Chinese consumer demand has been directly linked to the precipitous decline of wildlife populations around the globe.
Hanging around the threat of extinction
Night falls; stars are showing; yet I'm still perspiring. We set off in darkness into a night filled with hope. Our goal is to see one of the rarest creatures on Earth, a species once considered extinct, and for which even now fate hangs ...
What's 'weasely' about wonderful weasels?
One of the mammals we're most likely to see in our Afan woods up here in Kurohime in the Nagano Prefecture hills is the Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi). These wonderful little animals, known as itachi in Japanese, are master hunters that can run, climb ...
Understanding the complex web of life
"Biodiversity provides the foundation on which all life depends, including human societies," writes Nik Sekhran in the opening pages of "Biodiversity for Sustainable Development," a captivating book released earlier this month by the United Nations Development Programme. "Ecosystems and biodiversity provide our food, water, fuel, ...
A perilous flight path of life and death
As I emerged into the pre-dawn darkness of Sept. 13, I was greeted by a brief flicker of movement. I wandered along one of the upper decks of The World, past the gently slopping pool with its ring of still-vacant sun loungers. I peered ...
