The Central Highlands province of Lam Dong is designing projects to preserve biodiversity and create protection corridors around sensitive ecosystems in need of conservation as part of its biodiversity action plan for 2015-2020.
Source: www.talkvietnam.com
GR: Good news. More please.
This video is about white and black rhinos in Africa.
By Blake Deppe in the USA:
Saving the rhino
Tuesday 4th November 2014
Greed is behind this animal’s decline, says BLAKE DEPPE
THE extremely rare northern white rhino, a subspecies of white rhino, may soon disappear.
One of the last males, a 34-year-old rhino named Suni, died from natural causes on October 17 at a nature reserve in Kenya, leaving just six northern whites — only one of them male — remaining worldwide.
Its close cousin, the southern white, is also severely threatened. The low numbers are themselves largely a product of the relentless rhino poaching that occurs across Africa, and which has driven the animals as a whole to the brink of extinction. And the problem is getting worse.
Back in 2009, Suni was one of eight of its species at the Kenyan Ol Pejeta Conservancy as part of…
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The California Swan Festival is Nov. 7 to 9 in Maryville, CA. The keynote speaker is John Hendrickson speaking “CA Raptors” There are tours, workshops and exhibits. For more information go to ca-swan-festival or call (530) 743-6501.
Oh my! Somedays are just OH my days. I have seen about five foxes in my life, in Alaska, Canada, Wyoming and The Holler. I was on Santa Cruz Island before and saw the Channel Island foxes, a very unusual species that live only on the Channel Islands, no where else in the world, but I wasn’t really taking photos then. So back I went to see them again and try and get their photos. We hiked all over stunning Santa Cruz Island, and I firmly believe that since I was seeking, I didn’t find. It was an hour until the boat left and I had already been waiting in the place I had seen them before for about an hour. Silent, still, waiting. When, at last, the first fox came out. She scuttled along this open but submerged ditch that I am guessing she built that led from her…
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The October 5, 2014, article “Bunny-free beauty” by Sriya Narayanan and Preeti Zachariah in The Hindu reports that in November, India will become the third place in the world to ban the import of products tested on animals, joining Israel and the European Union.
In 2013, India banned the testing of cosmetics within India. Now the import of cosmetics that contain any ingredients tested on animals has also been banned.
This remarkable step will make India a cruelty-free zone with regard to cosmetics.
Dr. Chinny Krishna, Vice-Chairman of the Animal Welfare Board of India is quoted as noting that it is only fitting that India, the land of ahimsa (“do no harm”) is leading the way with this ban. He said, “Cosmetics testing is a frivolous thing – thousands of animal lives are lost because of it.”
Organizations like Humane Society International and PETA India have worked with great determination to bring about this ban, conveying the message that modern science now offers many compassionate alternatives that render animal testing superfluous, as well as being generally unreliable in its ability to predict how chemicals and various ingredients will affect humans.
Alokparna Sengupta of HSI, who has worked tirelessly for this cause, commented on the uncertainty and unpredictability of animal testing, which makes it pointless, especially considering the vast amount of suffering involved. She said, “We’re elated and proud of India’s progressive step.”
Dr. Chaitanya Koduri, policy advisor to PETA India, talked about the advantages of some of the non-animal testing methods. There are now skin tests that use reconstructed human skin.
The ban will be of benefit, of course, to the animals; rabbits, hamsters, mice, and others, who will no longer suffer and be killed, but also to humans, who will have safer and more precisely-tested cosmetics, free of any guilt attached to having caused the suffering of animals.
It is anticipated that the cosmetics testing ban will pave the way for more alternative testing to take place in the pharmaceutical industry, over time replacing cruel testing on animals.
Alokparna Sengupta described her rewarding experience with a rabbit, now released from being a lab rabbit, who is cautiously learning to trust and relate to a human.
Congratulations to India and to the Indian animal groups that have brought about this compassionate victory for animals.
To read the original article in the Times of India, click here.
Photo: Larry D. Moore CC BY -SA 3.0 / http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rabbit_in_montana.jpg
A plan to create the Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument would be a big step towards connecting wildlife corridors…
Marks and Spencer is one of the retailers that has agreed to donate the extra money from carrier bag sales to good causes in Scotland. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Small local moves here and there add up, on occasion, to major change. We are amazed to learn of the scale of the success in the Celtic region with the program to ensure consumers and vendors share in the cost of the environmental mess that plastic bags create. Thanks to the Guardian for this coverage:
Scottish shops start charging for bags
Charge of at least 5p a carrier bag introduced in bid to emulate 70% fall in usage in Wales and Northern Ireland
Scotland is joining Wales and Northern Ireland in charging shoppers for carrier bags , in an attempt to encourage sustainable behaviour among shoppers. Last year, shoppers at Scotland’s main supermarket chains alone used 800m single-use bags, most of…
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Art, animals, and the earth 
