Manatee Update

I love manatees. See my previous blog about them, as well as two articles I've written about manatees and manatee conservation. For Christmas my brother Michael adopted a manatee, Lenny, for me. As a result, I receive The Manatee Zone, a publication of the Save the Manatee Club, quarterly. I wanted to pass on some information from that publication here.

Manatees cannot survive in cold water, and thus rely on warm-water habitats which are being gobbled up at alarming rates. As of April 24th of this year, Florida has already lost 191 manatees (45 due to low temperatures and 33 to watercraft). That is an astonishing number. A record number of manatees (417) died in 2006, and by April 24th of that year only 154 had died, which means we could be setting a new record this year, and not one to brag about.

Good news: Legislatively, funding was secured to help acquire the Three Sisters Spring, a vital warm-water manatee refuge, as well as for the critical care program which rescues manatees in trouble.

However the battle is not over. Dade County has an excellent Manatee Protection Plan, which spurred the development of a committee which helped head off the downlisting of the manatee from the endangered species list. However, the Plan is always vulnerable to being opened for change, in order to allow room for development and increased boating access, which likely would affect critical manatee habitat.

If you are interested in conserving manatees, I encourage you to visit www.savethemanatee.org/action.htm to sign up for action alerts to keep you informed and allow you to take action on pertinent issues affecting manatees.

Virunga National Park: A World Heritage Site in Peril

I recently became aware of this organization. A little about them:

Virunga is truly the crown jewel of Africa’s national parks. The park contains over 50% of sub-Saharan Africa’s biodiversity and is home to about 200 of the earth’s last 720 critically endangered mountain gorillas. Virunga is also the second oldest national park in the world, behind only Yellowstone. Despite this, the forests and amazing animals of the park, most notably the mountain gorilla, are in a desperate fight for their survival.

For more information, visit their webpage:

http://gorillacd.org/

Here is the video from a recent operation which resulted in the rescue of a baby gorilla and the arrest of a trafficker at Goma Airport:



Sometimes happy endings can be salvaged, as evidenced in this video of the much happier baby:



If you feel compelled to help in some way, I have just the thing for you! This puts a whole new spin on "Adopting-an-acre" of rainforest... you actually do select an exact patch of rainforest, and pay to keep YOUR patch patrolled and free of poachers/snares! How cool is that?!? Check it out:

http://gorillacd.org/protect-the-park/

If anyone is looking for gift ideas for me... :)

Think it sounds neat? Read more!!!

http://gorillacd.org/2009/05/14/protect-the-park/

Throw-Away Society - Why is our Trash so Bad?

In 2006 I read an article that made a profound impression on me,called Plague of Plastics Chokes our Seas. It made me aware of the problem of garbage in our seas, the prevalence of it, and the effect it is having on marine ecosystems and wildlife. The world's largest garbage dump is located in the Pacific Ocean - the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Here are some videos about it:









Two very easy things you can do to alleviate the problem are:

1) Use non-disposable refillable water bottles

2) Use reusable shopping bags instead of disposable plastic bags

Save Arkansas' Native Turtles!

The Center for Biological Diversity recently filed a petition to attempt to halt the collection of native wild turtles in Arkansas. These turtles are being harvested for two primary reasons: 1) the pet trade, and 2) the asian food market. Members of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission met with "turtlers", as the people who do the collecting/selling are called, and as a result tabled the petition and decided to allow the harvest to continue. Many other states have halted the harvest, as they realize it is threatening their populations, but, as with many things, Arkansas is falling behind on this. Please send an email to Mr. Armstrong at marmstrong@agfc.state.ar.us requesting the halt of native turtle harvest in Arkansas! Here is some background information:


Dear Audubon friends and others,

On Monday, June 8, the Fisheries Div. of Arkansas Game and Fish met to talk with all interested parties about whether or not to make changes in the Aquatic Turtle Regulations that deal with the commercial harvest of freshwater aquatic turtles. (Please note that these regulations do not cover those turtles that are "farmed" on private property.)

At the meeting it was AGFC staff, mainly turtle dealers, harvesters and farmers, and three of us were there in support of more restrictive regulations and optimally, a ban on the commercial harvest of freshwater turtles.

As you'll recall, in March 2009, the Center for Biological Diversity filed an Emergency Rulemaking Request to Repeal Arkansas' Turtle Collection Law with the AGFC and also the State Health Department. Audubon Society of Central Arkansas is one of the petitioners.

Neither agency deemed it an emergency, so the emergency rulemaking request is now a moot point. The link for the original petition is attached. It's a bit lengthy, but has excellent background and research information for requesting the ban.

At the June 8 meeting, Kelly Irwin, Staff Herpetologist, had prepared a sheet with suggested changes that would be more restrictive, and the "turtlers" were not happy. There was dialogue back and forth for several hours and the plan was that the turtlers would go back to their groups and then offer their suggestions. We were going to do the same as we waited for revisions in order to take action, but then yesterday we learned that the proposed changes had been pulled down and there would be no revisions to the Aquatic Turtle Regulations to begin in Jan., 2010.

Disappointed and surprised? Very!!

All that we know right now is that it's a Staff decision and not AGFC Administration decision, so we'll continue with our plan to get as many emails out as possible to Mike Armstrong, Fisheries Division Chief. Mr. Armstrong told me that we could submit comment on the petition by Center for Biological Diversity, and now that there are no proposed changes, I’m hoping that we can mount this effort to turn that around with our emails. And if you can't get one out with such short notice, please send one at your earliest convenience since this is a topic that the Fisheries Div. can continue to consider in the coming months.

Mr. Armstrong's email address is marmstrong@agfc.state.ar.us

Pertinent points are that the turtle harvest is not sustainable and the harvest numbers reported from 2004 through 2008 have steadily declined. The numbers have dropped from 250,437 in 2004 to 85,424 in 2008. We do not know if this indicates an actual decline in populations or just a reduction in the reporting by the harvesters or even the method of the reporting. Moreover, we have no studies to know current populations for any kind of turtle in Arkansas.

There is a naturally high mortality rate in turtle nests, hatchlings and juveniles, and maintaining the stability of long lived breeding adults is necessary to maintain populations. Predation with eggs and hatchlings in the wild is much more of a problem now too with greater numbers of fire ants and larger numbers of raccoons, and this would certainly be the time to curtail rather than continue the unabated commercial harvest of our freshwater turtles.

There is also the question of food safety as these turtles are being caught in the same streams and waters for which the Ark. Dept. of Health has fish advisories in place. The potential for contamination with PCBs , pesticides, and heavy metals needs to be established and to date, this has not been done. (It should also be noted that at the meeting on June 8, most turtlers claimed that the majority of the turtles being caught are for the pet trade or for breeding stock for Asian turtle farms and not for food.)

The pressures being placed on Arkansas turtles are now even greater. Oklahoma in 2008 placed a three year moratorium while studying the status of Oklahoma's s wild turtle populations, the effects of the commercial harvest and the potential contamination of turtles sold as food. Texas voted to ban the commercial collection of native TX turtles on public land and waters in 2007. On Monday, June 17, FL will rule whether or not to ban all harvesting of freshwater turtles, and GA is currently developing recommendations for potential legislative action. Further, Illinois, North Carolina, Alabama and MS have already banned the commercial harvest of all native freshwater turtles.

Why is it that Arkansas is doing nothing? We are not even considering if a moratorium or a ban is needed.

When turtles are shipped live from Arkansas, it’s not known the size or the numbers of turtles, but only a total weight for each kind, so again, it would seem that more information is needed. We do not know actual numbers that are being removed from the state, legally or illegally.

Do know too that Bill Shepherd has been heading up this effort for our chapter and is currently away, and as time is of the essence, I’ve taken the liberty to send out this email. I did submit the letter that he wrote in advance on behalf of the chapter, and that letter has been given to Mike Armstrong.

Sources used in this letter were the Petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, Commercial Aquatic Turtle Harvest Report 2004 -2006 by Kelly Irwin, Herpetological Program Supervisor, Ark. Raw Harvest Numbers from 2007 and 2008, meeting notes from June 8, 2009 and other sources, mainly newspaper articles.

Your email does not need to be long and I apologize that this one is so lengthy, but please, if you can find a few spare minutes, send that email to marmstrong@agfc.state.ar.us requesting a ban or a moratorium on the commercial harvest of native aquatic turtles.

Also free to cut and paste whatever you want from this letter or to send it on to anyone else that you think would be interested. The campaign will continue!

Thanks,

Susan Hardin

Go Fur Free!

I received this forward from a good friend, including a video that highlights the tragedy of the fur trade and shows what happens at a fur farm. I know many people do not like PETA or their approaches, but regardless they do highlight some very pressing issues that need to be dealt with immediately, such as the brutal business of fur farming.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND HARD TO WATCH. However, if you have any doubts that fur isn't so bad, or wear fur, or think it's okay to wear fur, you must watch this... if you can't bear to watch it, you shouldn't be wearing fur!



For more info, go to: http://www.peta.org/feat/ChineseFurFarms/index.asp

If you feel strongly about this issue, you can start your own email petition. Just copy and paste the following info into an email, list your name/location as #1 (ex. 1. Sara Wittenberg, Fayetteville, AR, USA), and forward it to as many people as you wish.

Email Petition:

I pray that petitions like this will succeed, because if they don't, what hope is there for mankind? Please don't forget to sign when you forward! If you want to act, press 'forward', add your name to the bottom and send on to as many as you like. We have to tryand stop this brutality. With a hidden camera, animals were filmed being SKINNED ALIVE. They say it's done to get a more perfect ''cut''. Afterwards the carcasses are tossed into a pile, still alive, and for up to 10 minutes you cansee their hearts still beating, in agony, their eyes still blinking, and the puppies' little paws still shaking. There was one pup that still lifted his head and gazed at the camera with bloodied eyes . If you don't care to see the video, please sign and forward to your friends. This monstrosity has to be stopped, we have to act!! Please scroll down and add your signature to the petition and send to everyone in your address book. Something needs to done to stop it. Thanks for your support. If we don't protect animals from this type of brutality, we become accomplices.

To see video, go to: http://www.peta.org/feat/ChineseFurFarms/index.asp

When the list reaches 500 names, please forward to: PETA2@peta.org

Thank you.

SAVE THE BEACH! Gulf Shores, Alabama

I just spent 4 days at the beach with my Mammaw, Aunts Lisa and Suzie, cousins Rachel and Kasey, and Mom.

While I LOVE the beach, it is always a bitter-sweet experience for me. The ocean, the sand, the dunes- it is all so beautiful. Yet, despite its beauty, it is heavily abused by people, which is always hard to see.

We stay at the Gulf Shores Plantation, where my parents own a condo. It is located on Fort Morgan Peninsula- which, up until very recently, was not part of the city of Gulf Shores, and thus not very developed at all, as opposed to the rest of Gulf Shores which is an absolute madhouse and CRAWLING with tourists. This is what attracted my parents to this property. However, with its recent annexation by the city, they fear it is only a matter of time before it's eaten up with high rise condos and mega-souvenir shops as well. The endangered Alabama Beach Mouse (Peromyscus polionotus ammobates) resides here, and has halted some development projects, which some suspect spurred angry developers to release feral cats into the area in an attempt to destroy the last remaining populations of these critters. These cats are now commonplace among the condos and dunes on Fort Morgan pensinsula.

Trash is another issue. Many mornings Mom and I get up and walk the beach, often carrying trash sacks with us and picking up trash as we go. We often fill our bags before returning. Walking to the beach is reminiscent of walking through a tailgate at an Auburn University football game. People stake-out their little patch of sand upon arrival, driving tent poles and umbrellas into the ground to "mark their territory", hauling loads of chairs, coolers, kids' toys, etc. down and dumping them on their patch, then simply leave them there for the duration of their trip, so that each day when they trek to the beach they do not have to haul their STUFF back and forth, but rather there it awaits them each day, ready to be used. OR, doesn't await them, because frequently in the night the wind blows the tent away, and the high tide washes their plastic shovels and flip-flops and cheap plastic chairs and blow-up rafts into the sea. No worries, though, they're on vacation! They'll run down to Surf City and buy more!

Ah, Surf City, Alvin's Island, Souvenir Emporium, yada yada yada... my Mammaw was shocked and appalled (or maybe just shocked- I was appalled) when we walked into one of these giant Wal-Mart-esque tourist traps. I avoid these at all costs, but hey, when the cousins want henna tattoos, what's a girl to do? I was quickly reminded of why I'm so disgusted by them. Shelves upon shelves upon shelves displayed thousands of shells and starfish and coral pieces, raped from the ocean (in often extremely destructive fashion) to be strung on a necklace that an adolescent teen will wear for a week after they return home from the beach before getting lost in the back of their closet and later ending up in a yard sale or the garbage, or purchased for a ridiculously low price only to be displayed on someone's coffee table in a midwest ranch-style home. A bin full of dried seahorses, a shelf full of lacquered alligator heads, a modified table-top aquarium full of hermit crabs in gaudy shellacked hot pink and neon orange shells, "free with purchase of a hermit crab kit" - what are we doing? How does a society become so completely removed from their environment and the natural world that living beings become "stuff", simply adornments to be pillaged and killed for our own enjoyment? Why should seahorses and alligators and crabs have to suffer for our sick obsession for stuff?

Sigh- back to the beach. As Mom, Mammaw and I walked one morning in the surf, watching for dolphins and birds offshore, our attention was drawn to the end of a fisherman's line as a rather large cownose ray struggled to free itself. I inquired of the fisherman whether he was going to release the animal, as he patronizingly replied "Oooh, I don't know, it's a big, dangerous animal, do you really think I should let it go?". Give me a break moron, I'm a biologist, I mean, really? Fortunately his friendly companion took a hiatus from his own fishing, and quickly came over and broke the line, informing us that the salt-water hooks were designed to dissolve in a short amount of time, and that the ray would be fine. After engaging this gentleman from New Orleans in conversation, he said he didn't see the need to kill anything he couldn't eat. "But if that was a big redfish on the end of that line" he replied... Good for him. Not 20 yards down the beach and another fisherman had caught an equally big ray. Approaching him, I quickly learned that this redneck bubba was a different cookie entirely, and knew I had a battle. He informed me that all he cared about was retrieving his fishing tackle and didn't care what became of the animal. Trying to restrain myself, I said something not exactly friendly, but didn't say too much as he was wielding a knife near the poor ray's head. I feel confident that ray would have met his demise without our presence, but instead he huffingly sawed through his precious fishing hook (and sawed off a thin layer of the ray's lip, then flinging it from his knife onto Mom's foot), and I thanked him, patronizingly, as he pushed the ray back into the water.

Before our walk was over, I witnessed a dog furiously dig up a rather large ghost crab from deep in the recesses of its sandy burrow, shake it to death in his mouth, then drop it dead on the beach before trotting to catch up with its owners who were oblivious to the carnage their dog just wreaked on the wildlife (or more likely knew and didn't care, as this was probably a routine form of "play" for the dog).

As we returned to the boardwalk for our building, I was disappointed to see 3+ days of garbage spilling out of the garbage can and piled in several sacks around it. I knew for a fact that it had not been emptied in the three days we'd been there. So, even people who actually were bothering to clean up after themselves efforts' were thwarted, since the condo management seemed to busy to do such a miniscule task as empty the garbage regularly so as to keep it from blowing into the ocean. It took Mom calling the front desk to finally get someone to empty it.

And our effect on sea turtles?!? Well, that's another story for another day... stay tuned for my thoughts (and experiences!) on that.

If only we could see the beauty around us, the wonderful world we've been given, and protect instead of ravage it.

The Dangers of Plastic Bags

More and more people are becoming increasingly aware of the problems associated with plastic bag use. This is evident by the number of retailers (Wal-Mart, Target, Harps, Publix) that now sell their own versions of reusable shopping bags. This is wonderful! What a terrible thing, to manufacture (with petroleum, a valuable non-renewable resource) a plastic bag that is meant to be used ONE TIME, then thrown away! We are indeed a Throw-Away Society, which is contributing to many of our environmental problems. I've outlined many of the problems with plastic bags in this article, and I encourage everyone to take a look at this powerpoint- it is pretty powerful!

Here I'm going to go on a rant... Republican or Democrat, I CANNOT understand how the environment, the place in which we all live and that we depend upon for survival, has become a political issue!!! Simply put, we degrade environmental quality. Period. Whether it's littering the countryside with plastic bags, emitting CO2 into the air when we drive our cars, or applying pesticides and fertilizers to our crops and lawns which then run-off into the water supply, lowering water quality, we definitely do things that make the environment a little dirtier each day. And, then, we must live on the land, breathe the air, and drink the water... and somehow this fact is political in nature? In researching the effects plastic bag use is having on our world, I ran across this FOXNews article, and was dumbfounded... the title says it all: Plastic Bags Evil? Think Again, Some Scientists Say. Okay, really? I mean, seriously??? Now we've gone SO FAR OFF THE DEEP END that we're going to take this indesputable environmental problem, politicize it, and actually try to suggest that plastic bags are GOOD. By all means, keep on using them! As a matter of fact, double- no, triple-bag those groceries! Use up those fossil fuels - I mean, they're not running out either! We'll just pump it out of ANWR and build more off-shore oil rigs, problem solved! Keep filling our oceans and landfills with trash, who cares! I LOVE to look at all that litter, don't you? I WANT a landfill in my backyard, don't you? I mean... are you KIDDING me? Get a grip Fox- some things just aren't worth reporting on. Did you REALLY mean to go there?

About a year and a half ago, for Christmas, my friend Ambre got me a set of Envirosax reusable shopping bags, and I LOVE THEM. I love that each time I use them I'm not accumulating more plastic bags in my garage! Plus, they're strong, durable, compact (a set of 5 rolls up into a handy sack and fits into my purse), and hold a lot more groceries than the plastic sacks (I can fit about 3 sacks worth into each one), making carrying in groceries a two-trip event! I love them, although there are many companies now making reusable shopping bags! Or, of course, you can just pick them up at your local supermarket! Some stores are so progressive, like Ozark Natural Foods here in Fayetteville, that I actually get a nickel back for each of my own bags that I use!