English greater horseshoe bats threatened

petrel41's avatarDear Kitty. Some blog

This video from Britain says about itself:

24 February 2011

A short piece about Greater Horseshoe Bats that appeared on The One Show (23/02/2011).

Land near the roost is now being grazed organically by Ruby Red Cattle, hopefully leading to an increased population of dung beetles an important food source for some species of bat.

From Wildlife Extra:

Devon bats future to be decided at High Court

If the High Court allows the building of 230 houses the future of a population of one of northern Europe’s most threatened bats, the greater horseshoe bat, will be in jeopardy, says the Devon Wildlife Trust.

The Trust is bringing the Judicial Review against a planning decision made by Teignbridge District Council to grant permission for up to 230 houses to be built on land which lies just 170 metres from an internationally important site where female greater…

View original post 723 more words

Dutch national bird election

petrel41's avatarDear Kitty. Some blog

This video says about itself:

26 January 2015

Did you know that countries have national birds? Here’s our countdown of some of the weirdest looking national birds from all around the world. If you could pick your country’s national bird, which species would you choose?

Contrary to other countries, the Netherlands does not have a national bird yet.

BirdLife in the Netherlands and TV show Vroege Vogels are organizing an election.

They will make a long list of about 25 bird species.

People will be able to vote for a long list species from 28 June till 16 August.

After that, the shortlist will be published on 1 September.

Then, people will vote on the shortlist species. In November, the winner will be announced.

Yesterday, the robin became the winner of the national bird vote in Britain.

View original post 64 more words

China’ s Vision Of A Network Of National Parks

Sandy Steinman's avatarNatural History Wanderings

The New York Times reported on China’s plan to develop 450 sites as part of a national park program to preserve its natural treasures. Like the U.S. they are struggling with balancing protecting natural spaces while sharing them with the public. Not unlike the U.S. conservation efforts have been in conflict with moneymaking ventures by concessionaires.  Read story at With U.S. as a Model, China Envisions Network of National Parks – NYTimes.com.

View original post

Thousands of Spanish hunting dogs are killed or abandoned each winter

Exposing the Big Game's avatarExposing the Big Game

June 9

Elegant, regal, and admired for their intense speeds, dogs in the 18th century — primarily greyhounds — were often used as hunting dogs in rural Spain during the winter. But over the centuries and in recent years it has been estimated that over 50,000 dogs have been put down or abandoned in open fields left to die at the end of the hunting season because they are considered too old or slow to hunt again, or too expensive to care for.

Photographer and longtime animal activist Martin Usborne reached his Kickstarter goal toward publishing the forthcoming book “Where Hunting Dogs Rest” (U.S release scheduled for September) on June 4.  In the book, Uborne captures achingly beautiful portraits of hunting dogs rescued from an unfortunate end.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2015/06/09/thousands-of-spanish-hunting-dogs-are-put-down-each-winter-a-new-book-looks-at-the-ones-who-were-spared/

View original post

Driving Etiquette Amongst Wild Elephants~

cindy knoke's avatarCindy Knoke

DSC01323
It is important to know proper etiquette when self driving among ellies. First you need to know that elephants love to eat and run,
DSC06342
and they love to cross roads.
DSC06323
They especially love eating and running whilst crossing roads.
DSC06345
But more than all these things combined, they love to block roads. What do you do when an elephant blocks the road?
You wait.
DSC06035
The worst thing of course is to inadvertently block the path of an irritable, lone bull elephant in musk, in pursuit of his disinterested, and fast disappearing, beloved.
What do you do when this happens?
Pray you can get the heck out of his way.
DSC06597
Elephants love to knock over trees, and they even love to try and knock over trees, they can’t knock over.
What do you do when this happens?
Watch, until the ellie gets really frustrated at the tree, and then get the heck…

View original post 43 more words

Blue Cross of India – Early days

sharonstjoan's avatarEchoes in the Mist

founder1 Mrs. Usha Sundaram and Captain Sundaram

By Sharon St Joan

This is one of a series of stories about the early days of the animal welfare movement in India.

Blue Cross of India, in Chennai (Madras), was the first of the modern-style animal shelters in India.

For thousands of years in India, there have been goshalas, or sanctuaries for cows, and these still exist; many are run by the Jain community.

493px-Indian_relief_from_Amaravati,_Guntur._Preserved_in_Guimet_Museum The Emperor Asoka

Around 300 BC, the emperor Asoka was the first animal activist known to history. He set up pillars all over India, some of which are still in place, with inscriptions of animal welfare laws that are to be followed. The first veterinary hospitals in the world were introduced by Asoka, with a requirement that the remedies to be used were to be based on the natural healing properties of plants.

As the first of the modern…

View original post 1,032 more words