Thursday November 5, 2009
Over 200,000 square miles of land, water and ice may become a designated critical habitat for polar bears in Alaska if a proposal by the Interior Department is adopted. The proposal is the result of a partial settlement of a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Greenpeace under the Endangered Species Act, against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But don't celebrate yet - the proposal has nothing with climate change and would still allow for oil and gas drilling.
Although threats to habitat are usually considered under the ESA, a special rule for polar bears means that the ESA cannot be used to restrict activities that contribute to global warming, even though global warming is a major threat to polar bears.
Oil and gas drilling are also a threat. The proposal itself states that "the chance of a large spill greater than or equal to 1,000 barrels occurring and entering offshore waters is within a range of 33 to 51 percent." Also, "the release of oil trapped under the ice from an underwater spill during the winter could be catastrophic during spring break-up if bears were present." The proposal came the same week that the Shell oil company was granted permission to drill in the proposed critical habitat.
As Melanie Duchin, a Greenpeace campaigner, explains:
Designating polar bear critical habitat is a good first step toward protecting this species . . . However, as long as the secretary of the interior maintains that he can do nothing about greenhouse emissions and global warming, protections for the polar bear will ultimately be ineffective.
You can submit a comment online or via mail at:
Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS-R7-ES-2009-0042
Division of Policy and Directives Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 222
Arlington, VA 22203
Keep in mind that your public comments are public - your information as well as your comment will be made available online, but you can leave a field blank if you'd rather not divulge your name, address or phone number. The deadline for submitting comments is December 28, 2009.
Tom Brakefield / Getty Images
Suggested Reading:
Add to Technorati Favorites
Share on Facebook
Follow Me on Twitter
Monday November 2, 2009
John Lennon, Michael Jackson and Pete Townshend are just a few of the musicians who appear in a new calendar to benefit Rational Animal, a New York City-based charity that raises awareness about homeless animal issues. Each page of the 13-month calendar features a different vintage photograph of a famous musician with an animal. The calendar is the result of a collaboration between the photographers and Morrison Hotel Gallery.
The calendar is $24.95 and can be purchased online.
Photo by Henry Diltz, courtesy of Rational Animal.
Suggested Reading:
Add to Technorati Favorites
Share on Facebook
Follow Me on Twitter
Friday October 30, 2009
On Saturday, I attended and spoke at "Bear in Mind," a one-day conference about bears and bear protection at Rutgers University, in New Jersey.
My talk, titled, "Why the 2005 New Jersey Bear Hunt Was Illegal," was about the New Jersey bear hunt lawsuit that I handled on behalf of New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance (n.k.a. Animal Protection League of NJ) and the Bear Education and Resource Group. In a unanimous decision by the NJ Appellate Division, the court held that the NJ Fish and Game Council's 2005 bear management policy was invalid and that the 2005 New Jersey bear hunt was illegal because of ten violations of the state Administrative Procedure Act. Although the court based its decision on the procedural flaws in the adoption of the policy, the policy also contained many substantive flaws and outright fabrications. In NJ, as in many (if not all) states, wildlife is managed by hunters, for hunters. In their zeal to hold a bear hunt, the Council fabricated scientific information, because the facts did not support their pro-hunt position.
Another speaker on Saturday was Alice Ng, from Animals Asia Foundation, a group that rescues bears from bile farms in Asia and raises public awareness about the issue. Ng's presentation included horrific photos of bears in cages barely larger than their bodies, with catheters inserted into their abdomens to drain the bile. The bile has medicinal properties, but there are now herbal and synthetic substitutes for ursodeoxycholic acid, and some pharmacies in Asia now proudly display stickers that proclaim that they do not sell bear bile or bear parts.
I was especially intrigued by the talk by Dr. Edward Tavss, a chemistry lecturer at Rutgers University who authored a report titled, "Synopsis of National Research on Effective Bear Management." The report showed that over and over again, in the U.S. and Canada, non-lethal black bear management was effective for reducing human/bear conflicts, while hunting was not. Tavss is neither a hunter nor an animal rights activist, but the conflicting information from the two sides inspired him to look deeper into the issue. Although I'd read the report and used information from it in my brief for the bear hunt lawsuit, I didn't realize until Saturday that Tavss had begun his research with the opposite hypothesis: that hunting would be more effective for reducing conflicts. But being a true scientist, Tavss kept an open mind when he analyzed the data, and found the opposite to be true.
My sincere thanks to bear advocate and conference organizer, Prof. Carole Allamand!
Don Farrall / Getty Images
Suggested Reading:
Add to Technorati Favorites
Share on Facebook
Follow Me on Twitter
Wednesday October 28, 2009
October 25-31 is World Go Vegan Week. If you're not already vegan, please consider the reasons for veganism: the animals, the environment, and your own health.
Before I was vegan, I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian for over three years, but taking that extra step seemed impossible. I knew that it was the right thing to do, but it seemed unbelievably difficult. I already had enough problems finding food as a vegetarian! Even though I was vegetarian and knew several vegans, I was guilty of the same misconceptions that many others have.
But then I met up with a vegan friend in Washington D.C. for an animal rights protest. After the protest, she took me to see Alex Herschaft, founder of Farm Animal Rights Movement. We hung out with Alex at the FARM office, and he gave us bagels and juice. Surrounded by all the literature and posters at the FARM office, I knew that I had to go vegan.
Of course, after going vegan, I found that it was easier than I thought it would be. Much easier! I bought vegan cookbooks, attended vegan potlucks and joined the Boston Vegetarian Society. Just spending time with other vegans was very helpful, and the potlucks were great for learning about different foods and recipes.
Need some vegan recipes to get started? Try these links:
Add to Technorati Favorites
Share on Facebook
Follow Me on Twitter
