Protections lifted… Wolves are being killed!
Posted by msterilinn on Apr 24, 2008
It truly sickens me to hear about wolves being hunted down and killed! So many people have worked so hard to bring awareness to the caring public, and at times like this it seems all for nothing. What is it that makes some people believe they can dominate nature in such a cruel way? Lifting protections that took so much to bring about in the first place, and are quite necessary to save these beautiful creatures, is simple insanity! We have better things to do with our time than promoting the death of a species. There are so many positive ways we can create and promote Life instead. It truly makes me wonder why the Creator placed us on this beautiful Earth when so many humans are so set upon destroying all that has been placed beside and around us. And to think that the first to die with the lift of these protections was a wolf who has survived in the wild against all odds is a tragedy beyond belief, and brings so much sadness to my heart.
I will pass along a sad, yet so very important, message I have recieved…
Dear Teri,
The killing in the Greater Yellowstone region has already begun.
One of the first victims: Wolf 253M — a celebrity wolf, affectionately known as “Limpy.”
Limpy was many things to many people – to wolf-watchers, he was the hobbling member of Yellowstone’s famous Druid Peak Pack. To Utahans, he was the first wolf to be seen in the state for more than 70 years.
But wolf 253M’s celebrity didn’t save him in the end. Limpy and two other wolves were shot dead in an elk feeding ground, part of Wyoming’s brutal shoot-on-sight policy that covers virtually the entire state.
Limpy’s death was just the beginning. It’s been 26 days since wolves were stripped of federal protections in the Greater Yellowstone area — and at least 17 wolves have already been killed in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. And there are surely more to come.
Officials in Idaho changed their state law on the day wolves were delisted, making it far easier for anyone to kill wolves near livestock or domestic animals.
In Wyoming, state officials stripped all protection from wolves in 88% of the state. Locals have organized weekend eradication “wolf hunts” to kill any wolf that they find. One group tracked a wolf for 35 miles on snowmobiles before shooting it dead.[1]
Your contribution will help us…
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Fight for our wolves in court;
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Confront flawed state wolf policies with science and common sense;
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Help ranchers reduce conflicts with wolves using non-lethal methods;
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Debunk the myths and misinformation about wolves through on-the-ground education and outreach; and
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Much, much more…
Will you make a tax-deductible emergency donation right now to help?
We can win the battle to save our wolves. But we can’t do it without your help.
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Sincerely, |
P.S. You can make your tax-deductible contribution online now via our secure website or you can call 1-800-385-9712 to make your contribution by phone.
Polar Bears will become extinct within 50 Years!
Posted by msterilinn on Feb 15, 2008
It can be incredibly frustrating when our dedication and love for Earth’s wild creatures goes unheeded. The ignorance and greed of some people is bringing about devastating events which are serving to destroy the Balance, and cause the inevitable extinction of yet another creature, the Polar Bear. While the Mothers and Cubs lie snug deep within their dens, the Bush/Cheney Administration auctioned off key habitat for these struggling animals to Big Oil.. despite the opposition of tens of thousands of activists like you and I.
America’s Polar Bears will likely be extinct in fewer than 50 years, according to U.S. Geological Survey scientists. Yet federal officials have once again delayed action to protect these struggling animals as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. As a warming climate takes its toll on polar bear habitat, federal officials are selling off the very places these great white bears depend on for hunting, denning and survival.
Instead, officials auctioned off millions of acres of vital habitat in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea to Shell and other Big Oil companies earlier this month — and yet again, President Bush has included dangerous drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in his budget. Increased drilling in these critical habitats could devastate America’s polar bears. But ExxonMobil, Shell and other Big Oil companies continue to use their billions in profits to press for harmful drilling in the places polar bears need to survive — and continue our dependence on the fuels that spur rising temperatures that are causing the bears’ demise.
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund is doing all we can to protect our polar bears — right now, we’re…
* …working to prevent Arctic Refuge drilling language from entering the federal budget.
* …working to pass the Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act, a bill to permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and continuing to battle efforts to open this special place to Big Oil’s dirty rigs.
* …working to pass the Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act — already passed by the House of Representatives, this legislation is a vital first step to ensure that polar bears and other wildlife can cope with a changing climate.
* …working to pass the Polar Bear Protection Act, legislation to stop wealthy U.S. trophy hunters from killing polar bears in Canada and returning with their quarry.
* …working with Congressional staff to find sensible energy solutions to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, help combat global warming and protect our wildlife.
* …holding our elected officials accountable for their actions on global warming and other wildlife-related issues.
Even in their final months in office, officials in the Bush/Cheney Administration have made their intentions crystal clear: they’ll fight for Big Oil’s profit — and leave our polar bears out in the cold.
Adopt a Wolf.. a wonderful Gift!
Posted by msterilinn on Nov 20, 2007
No matter the season, a gift from the heart to help those in desperate need brings such a great feeling. As I live and breathe my goals each day are to do something worthwhile to help the Earth’s wild creatures. There is a great danger to our four legged friends, the Gray Wolf. If we do not put a stop to aerial gunning in Alaska, these beautiful creatures will soon only be found in the books of History. This is very sad indeed, as these animals have a right to share this Earth alongside us, as part of the great Balance. Who are we to question Creation in deciding what may live and what we must drive into extinction? Has man lost all sense of honor and can no longer tell right from wrong? This is so obviously wrong to me, and my heart goes out to the Wolf, among many others suffering through human greed. There is no honor in killing animals in this way. Unless they have gone rogue, and are causing harm to others, they have every right to live just as you and I. Should we begin hunting humans because there are simply too many of us, and we no longer wish to share the land? As that would be abominally wrong, so it the senseless hunting of those struggling to survive in the rapidly dwindling natural world.
All Life is Sacred!
I am asking people to look into their hearts and consider adopting a Wolf. Or perhaps another animal of your choice. If this is something you feel drawn to, please visit the Wildlife Adoption Center to Adopt a Wolf.
Adopt a Gray Wolf Family and you’ll receive a big 17”, super-cuddly plush wolf toy, a personalized Certificate of Adoption with an attractive 5″x7″ wolf photo and a fact sheet full of great information about these magnificent animals. You can also choose to receive a Kids Wildlife Activities book for that special young person in your life.
As mentioned on the Wildlife Adoption Center adoption site, here is how things stand among the Wolf Family…
Once virtually eliminated from the lower 48 United States, wolves have made an incredible comeback since Defenders and others successfully fought for their re-introduction into Yellowstone National Park in 1995.
But these and other wolves in America face a highly uncertain future, as plans are readied to remove vital protections and clear the way for the massacre of hundreds of wolves in the Greater Yellowstone area and the American Southwest.
In Alaska, a state-sanctioned slaughter from the skies continues as aerial gunners shoot wolves from aircraft, or chase them to exhaustion, land and shoot wolves at point-blank range.
In the Greater Yellowstone region, one of the greatest conservation victories in decades could be destroyed as federal officials plan to lift critical protections for wolves — and turn over management duties to states that want to massacre hundreds of wolves within their borders.
In the Southwest, fewer than 60 wolves struggle to maintain a foothold in the wild as anti-wolf forces rally to eliminate their very existence.
But by Adopting a Gray Wolf Family, you’ll support our work to save these magnificent animals. We’re urging Congress to pass vital legislation to put an end to Alaska’s aerial gunning program — and prevent programs like it from spreading to states like Idaho and Wyoming.
We’re fighting to keep critical federal protections in place for gray wolves in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Rockies region so that wolves will be protected for future generations. We’re on the ground in Arizona and New Mexico, countering anti-wolf misinformation to ensure that wolves have a future in the Southwest.
But our work doesn’t stop there. We continue to work with ranchers to compensate them for livestock losses attributed to wolves and to find ways to prevent conflicts between wolves and livestock before they occur.
Whether you Adopt a Gray Wolf Family, Adopt a Gray Wolf, Adopt a Gray Wolf Pack or Adopt a Gray Wolf Mom & Pup, you can take pride in knowing you’re doing your part to protect America’s majestic wolves for future generations to cherish.
Visit the Wildlife Adoption Center Today!
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“A new business opportunity can become a good future investment plan if not started on loans. Try and abstain from unnecessary use of your creditcard too.”
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My Love for Wolves…
Posted by msterilinn on Nov 9, 2007
Yet again, I am reminded of the cruelty and selfishness of mankind. Of course, not all of us are intentionally wicked.. some of us only create unintentional harm. Yet those of us who realize the impact we have on the natural world choose to make a change for the better. And we love to encourage others to pay attention and do the same.
I have recieved another letter concerning a creature which is beloved and admired from my point of view. The Wolf. Why is man working so hard to rid the Earth of these beautiful animals? Can we not share the land with those which were placed here by the Creator, just the same as us? Mother Earth is home to all of us, and we should step into the role as Stewards and not Destroyers.
As quoted directly from the Defenders of Wildlife webpages.. “Alaska is the only state that allows private hunters to participate in the cruel and barbaric practice of aerial gunning of wolves. Alaskan wolves can be shot from airplanes — or chased to the point of exhaustion, then shot at close range. Across large areas of Alaska, no wolf is off limits — not even pregnant females. More than six hundred wolves have been killed over the past four winters with plans to target hundreds more in the coming years and open up new areas to aerial control.”
This is not, of course, the only place where wolves are being hunted into extinction. Yet this rips into my heart at this moment, so it is what I will ask from my heart for folks to step up and take action against!
Please take a few moments to visit Defenders of Wildlife today and sign the petition. If you are not in a position to donate that is fine, yet at the least we can let those in power know we will not stand for such wanton murder of our four-legged brothers and sisters we call Wolf. Little does man know what havoc is created when the Balance is destroyed…
How long shall the Tiger inhabit the Earth?
Posted by msterilinn on Nov 2, 2007
I wish to share this post in honor of my daughter who, like her mama, is quite passionate about the creatures we share this Earth with. She has shown an avid interest in finding ways to help preserve the natural habitats of the Animal Kingdom. She too would like to help save those who are in danger of extinction and is quite distressed about how many animals and plants have already become extinct, no longer to be seen upon Mother Earth. Such a burden and sad legacy we are leaving our young ones. In thanks for her dedication and research into these beloved animals(she did the research for this post), I shall share a bit about one of the Earth’s most graceful and regal felines. Here’s for you my little Star… the Tiger.
Physical Description
The tiger is the largest cat species in the world; the largest tiger sub-species is the Siberian tiger. The approximate weight of the male is 500 pounds and the female is 300 pounds. The average length of the male tiger is 10 feet and the female 8 feet. The average height of a tiger is 3 feet. The appearance of the tiger depends to a great extent on where the animal lives. Tigers that live in cold regions are paler in colour and larger in size; their fur is long and thick. In warmer climates, tigers are smaller in size and more colourful; they have shorter, thinner fur. The fur on the tiger’s back is very thick and the stripes are pale. The colour of the Siberian tiger is yellowish-brown, while the Indian tiger is reddish-brown. The stripes on a tiger are very dark. Like all cats, tigers have sharp claws and teeth. A tiger’s canine teeth are 7.5 cm (3 in) long.
Habitat
Once tigers ranged from Java, Bali, southern Asia, eastern Turkey, to the eastern shores of Asia on the Okhotsk Sea, to the island of Sumatra, and to the west of India. Today, tigers are not found west of India or on the islands of Java and Bali. The remaining tigers are in China, Southern Asia, and Russia’s far east; these are mostly isolated habitats, and tigers are greatly reduced in numbers.
Depending on geographic locations, tigers can be found in a variety of habitats. They range from tropical forests, evergreen forests, ravines, woodlands, mangrove swamps, grasslands, savannas, and rocky country. Some other preferred habitats include dense thickets, long grass or tamarisk shrubs along river banks. Some tigers seem to take a special liking to old ruins for cover. Tigers rely on concealment for stalking and ambushing their prey; they seek areas with ample food, water and moderately dense cover. Tigers are adaptable animals; they can adapt to many different surroundings, as long as they have sufficient water, shade and food.
Food Supply
Tigers usually stalk their prey alone and at night. The maximum kill range for a tiger is 80 feet. To make a kill, the tiger leaps on the animal, biting its neck. It then takes the slain animal to some hidden spot. If it is a large animal, the tiger feeds on it for many days. During this time, the tiger does not kill again. Tigers prey on deer, moose, rabbits, birds, fish, bear, elk, lynx, hares, pigs, cattle, goats, and some smaller animals. The main food of tigers are buffalos, antelopes, and rodents.
Behavior
Tigers can move quickly and quietly. Springing with ease, tigers can cover 15 feet (4.5 meters) in one leap; they can jump long distances over obstacles and land. The tiger rarely climbs trees, but swims well. Tigers mate in April-May and October-November in India, November-February in Indochina and Sumatra, in Siberia all year round. The fertile female signals this through urine and scratches on the tree bark. In Siberia, with such vast territories, the female may go searching a male. The female is receptive just 3-7 days. The male mates for tens of time per day with the female, for several days, and bites her from the nape to stimulate her ovulation.
Life Cycle and Young
Young tigers or cubs are born from 100 to 112 days after parents have mated. Usually tiger cubs are born between February and May after a gestational period of three and a half months. The cubs weigh under three pounds at birth and are striped. The cubs’ eyes open in 15 to 16 days. a litter consists of 1 to 4 cubs, occasionally up to 6, but only 2 to 3 will survive. The mother is responsible for defending her cubs, while the father hunts for food. Tiger cubs are weaned at 4 to 6 months, but depend on their mother for food and protection for another 2 years; the new males entering a female tiger’s territory may kill her her cubs. Cubs learn how to kill at 16 months, and they are on their own at 2 to 3 years. The white ear spots help the mother tigers and cubs to keep track of each other in dim forests at night. The life spand of tigers is maximum 15 to 16 years. In zoos, tigers may live to be 20 years old, but they seldom live to be this old in the wild.
Enemies and Endangerment
The tiger has few enemies; besides humans, they are large buffaloes, elephants and bears. Its defence against other animals that may attack are its large claws and very powerful teeth. Tigers are excellent swimmers and climbers, which saves them from floods and other disasters, as well as protect them from their enemies. The tiger is a very cautious animal; it doesn’t like to hunt elephants or larger animals than itself, unless it is very hungry, or if its cubs or itself were attacked.
The main predator of the tiger is humankind. They have been trapped, poisoned and hunted heavily by humans not only to eliminate threats to livestock, but also for sport, trophies, skins, and sources of traditional medical products. Superstition has surrounded tigers for centuries; their body parts are used in Asian medicines. Necklets of tiger claws are thought to protect a child from “the evil eye”; tiger whiskers are considered either a dreadful poison (in Malaysia), a powerful aphrodisiac (in Indonesia), or an aid to childbirth (in India and Pakistan); the bones, fat, liver and penis of a tiger are prized as medicines.
Humans have also altered the natural habitats of tigers by their destruction and encroachment on the tigers’ feeding range; humans are destroying their habitats by cutting down trees, moving into their preferred locations, polluting the water and air, and hunting their prey.
The tiger population of the Indian subcontinent has suffered a serious decline in the last 50 years. It is estimated that only 200 tigers survived in Nepal, and only 4,000 in India, up from 2,000 in the 1970s. In the 1990s, poaching has escalated in China and Korea, in spite of the Chinese ban on tiger products in 1993. At one point in the 1970s, tigers’ numbers had dropped to 4,000 compared to 100,000 in the early 1900s. Today, the world tiger population still only numbers about 5,000 to 7,000 animals. An intense effort is under way to save the endangered tigers. Unfortunately, tigers are still illegally hunted for their fur, bones and other parts to supply markets in China and Taiwan. Tigers have been hunted to near extinction by poachers, and all subspecies have been declared endangered.
Learn more and be pro-active in helping these lovely animals by visiting…
~*~ Taking Root.. a Family in Nature reunited ~*~
Posted by msterilinn on Apr 17, 2007
Taking root
By VALERIE MONSON, Staff Writer
ULUPALAKUA – Hawaiian family members long separated from their roots returned home Saturday in an emotional reunion that many thought might never happen.
Eight alani seedlings went back to the Auwahi forest, taking their place in the shadow of their only known ancestor living in the wild.
“This is where they’re supposed to be,” said a proud Martha Vockrodt Moran, caretaker of the tree that produced the seeds, as she watched another plant go from pot to posterity. “It’s so great that they’re going home.”
The story of the alani – a native Hawaiian tree that once flourished on the back flank of Haleakala – has become yet another piece of the ongoing miracle at Auwahi, the dryland forest that was all but dead five years ago. With its dwindling collection of rare trees reaching old age and unable to reproduce in a landscape made hostile by cattle, kikuyu grass and fire, the native forest was fading away.
Since it was man who unwittingly led to the downfall of the forest, it seemed only right that it was men – and a whole lot of women, too – whose exhaustive efforts have brought a strand of it back, restoring hope for the land and the Native Hawaiian people whose culture centers on the sights, the sounds, the smells and the very spirit of the forest.
“In a Western sort of thinking, man has dominions over nature,” said Kalei Tsuha, the kumu whose family led the chants and prayers that welcomed back the alani. “In the Hawaiian perspective, we are one and the same. As Hawaiians, we need to have contact with the forest and the forest needs to have contact with us.”
Until a year ago, there was the very real possibility that contact with the alani would become a thing of the past. Biologists were aware of only two left – one in the wild at Auwahi on Ulupalakua Ranch and the other in the arboretum started by Moran’s grandfather, the renowned agronomist D.T. Fleming. Even worse, both were ailing and appeared to have lost their capability for producing viable seeds.
But Moran was determined to carry on the legacy of her grandfather who had collected the alani from Auwahi 50 years ago and planted it in his arboretum at nearby Puu Mahoe along with other plants that he feared were nearing extinction.
Alani were once prolific at Auwahi, where they grew to 30 or 40 feet tall and developed trunks a foot in diameter. Formerly known as “Pelea” for Pele, the goddess of Hawaiian volcanoes, the leaves release a fragrance similar to oranges and were used to scent kapa. The bark was used for medicine.
Calling herself “only a gardener,” Moran knew she needed help to save her tree, so she assembled a crack team that made Saturday’s homecoming possible: Makawao arborist Ernie Rezents, who diagnosed the tree’s disease and prescribed the cure; Nellie Sugii, a researcher at Lyons Arboretum on Oahu, whose experiments led to germination; and expert growers Anna Palomino, Richard Nakagawa, and Dan and Noah Judson, all of Maui, who produced the eight seedlings.
Meanwhile, Auwahi, with the permission of ranch executives Pardee and Sumner Erdman, was being readied for its return by tireless biologist Art Medeiros and his crack team of volunteers who have spent the last eight years fencing, weeding, digging, propagating, planting and willing the land back to life. After successfully restoring one 10-acre enclosure, they have fenced off another 20 acres that includes an old lava channel where the last alani was struggling to survive.
“When it gets cloudy here, it’s like you’re in a cathedral,” said Bob Mikell, one of the volunteers who has given up weekend after weekend to see Auwahi revived. “Everyone here is really possessive of this place. It’s part of their body and part of their spirit.”
The feeling of family was in the forest air as the plants were unloaded from four-wheel drive vehicles that traveled as far as they could, and then the plants were carried by hand the rest of the treacherous way across loose rocks and tangles of weeds. As the alani were going home, Moran couldn’t help but think of her grandfather on the afternoon that he went to Auwahi and gathered the alani that would become the mother to this new generation. Also thinking back was Mahealani Kaiaokamalie, seventh generation of his ohana to live in the area. Kaiaokamalie’s grandfather, William Ainoa Kaiaokamalie, saw the forest collapse in his lifetime. When famed botanist John Rock, who once described Auwahi as one of the top two dryland forests in Hawaii, returned in the 1960s to see it again, he asked the elder Kaiaokamalie to lead the way. As the men came upon the forest near death, Rock broke down and wept.
Mahealani Kaiaokamalie, who has spent much of his adult life restoring native ecosystems, wondered what his grandfather – and other ancestors – would be thinking at the scene below.
“I can only imagine they’re looking down and saying ’mahalo,’ ” said Kaiaokamalie. “My family has always been private, but I think they would be proud that somebody from their genealogy is here today. That’s all I live for – to make them proud.”
It was a day when pride seemed to ooze from the ground. Once the holes were dug, they were checked and rechecked to make sure they were deep enough (but not too deep) and wide enough (but not too wide).
Finally, with the holes deemed ready for occupancy, Kalei Tsuha and her family – husband, Mark, and daughters, Kawai and Joanna – called for silence as the crowd gathered around the single ancestor alani left in the wild. Holding the keiki up to the kupuna tree, Kalei Tsuha summoned the forest gods in a chant of celebration and introduced the young alani to the old one while reuniting a larger ohana.
“The forest is the greater kuahu (altar),” Tsuha said earlier. “The kuahu is where the gods dwell. For Hawaiians, those are our ancestors. Since we’re losing them, we’re losing ourselves.”
But on this afternoon, the ancestors – and their living descendants – got a boost and made contact. Moran was even startled to see how different the alani seedlings looked once they were sprung from their pots and had settled into their beds of rich volcanic soil.
“They seem to have gotten bigger by just getting into the ground,” she said with joy.
After years on the brink of extinction, the alani were back where they belong. They were home with the ancestors.
Valerie Monson can be reached at vmonson@mauinews.com.
Help save endangered Polar Bears!
Posted by msterilinn on Apr 5, 2007
Global warming is pushing polar bears to the brink of extinction. If we don’t do something right now, they could disappear forever.
For more than 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has prevented the extinction of animals like bald eagles, grizzly bears, and manatees. Now our polar bears need the Act’s protection, and it’s up to us to ensure that they get it.
Already, more than 61,000 Defenders supporters have sent messages urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect polar bears under the Endangered Species Act. But an industry front group has launched a last-minute campaign opposing efforts to protect polar bears, and we need your help to beat them!
Tomorrow, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an authoritative U.N. network of 2,000 scientists and more than 100 governments, is expected to release its widely anticipated report detailing the effects of global warming.
It’s not a pretty picture: rising temperatures are melting sea ice. Without sea ice, polar bears must resort to more and more desperate means as they struggle to survive.
Some have drowned. Others have starved to death. And some have even resorted to cannibalism — a behavior unseen among America’s polar bears until recently.
Birth and survival rates have plummeted in the last 15 years, and bears are moving inland where they are more likely to come in conflict with humans.
Tell your friends Today!
