Live Luggage

Holy cow! Talk about living luggage...I seriously am so happy customs caught this! There were about sixty two RARE Malagasy tortoises that were seized from a foam-lined bag at the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport this morning. A Malagasy national was the one trying to smuggle these poor animals from Antananarivo to Bangkok. Can you imagine being stuck in a bag with 60 other people? I know, it's probably impossible, but think about how those tortoise's felt! To read more about this topic, please visit Traffic to view the article. Have a great weekend and stay safe with this wintry weather! :)

Amur Leopard: Part II

In my last post I started talking about the beautiful and threatened Amur Leopard. I was looking at the World Wildlife Foundation page and came across this interesting article. Please visit this page and learn more about our endangered species!! WWF Amur Leopard
 
leopard pics

Cloning Animals?

Don't worry, it's not what you think! If it were me, I would think of a cloning process as somewhat painful. This is entirely different! In my environmental biology class, we were watching a video on endangered species and a woman that caught my attention started speaking. Betsy Dresser who works at a zoo with endangered species like the Amur Leopard is trying to save this beautiful animal by "cloning." When I say cloning, I mean the specialists like Betsy are taking eggs from female leopards and freezing them. Other scientiests have done this before and have been able to bring these eggs to life! An interesting, but random fact about the Amur Leopard...there are only thirty left in the world. Just let that sink in.

Amur Leopard - there are only 30 left!!!!

Leopard pic

Little Things Make A Big Difference

As you know, there are tons of endangered species. You have the tigers, elephants, polar bears, cheetahs, all of the big beautiful animals. Did you ever think about little animals like frogs or birds? I know I never thought about them. Recently, hundreds of species of frogs have become part of the endangered list, some of them are even extinct. Once some of these animals are gone, it will affect the whole environment. It would mess up a food chain, maybe plant growth too. Keep in mind that we aren't just protecting the animals that we find a personal attraction to, we are protecting the little ones that need our help.

One of the Most Polluted Places on Earth!

Have you ever been to a big city? If so, have you ever noticed all of the trash on the streets? It hurts me to see all of the garbage laid out everywhere. One of the most polluted places on the earth is Accra, capital of Ghana in Africa. Accra is home to an enormous dump site, Agbogbloshie, where you can dispose of your electronic waste. Things like televisions, toasters, and CD players are thrown together at this site. Agbogbloshie is also known for it's severely high environmental toxicity levels! Because of these levels, this dump site is ranked number ten out of the most polluted places on earth. Check out the photos from the dump site at this link! >> TakePart.com

What Can You Do?

There are hundreds of endangered species around the world, but that list can change within days! Either more animals appear on it, or some disappear because they have become extinct. What we want to see is the list decrease because we are doing something to help save them. The World Wildlife Fund, or WWF, has several ways you can help! A popular way to help is making donations. These donations can range from five dollars to hundreds of dollars. No matter what you give, you are apart of a program that is saving wild animals. Another way to help would be to adopt an animal. You actually don't receive the animal and have to raise it in your home, you are just checking in on it and giving donations. Once you adopt, you can choose to get several gift items like a framed picture of the animal you have adopted! I would love adopt sometime. Feel free to visit the WWF website.

More News On Elephant Poaching Crisis

Earlier this week, delegates from around the globe gathered to discuss the tremendous amount of elephant poaching that has been going on the past several years. All of the delegates decided unanimously on fourteen urgent measures to help handle this task. Most of the ideas for the measures came from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, who also helped host the meeting in Botswana. Seven countries of the thirty that were represented at the meeting have already signed up to be apart of the urgent measures agreement. Those seven countries include the United States, Botswana, Germany, Somalia, the United Kingdom, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The other twenty three countries are supposed to join this agreement by the end of the month. Other people and organizations have also signed up to help with this project, too! Elephants are a big part of our world. If we end up wiping out one species, it will affect us all. Just like with any other animal. I encourage you to read the rest of this article at Traffic!

                                                   
This is a picture of hundreds of elephant tusks collected from the ivory incident in Colorado.