In 2019, the illegal wildlife trade reached staggering levels. Pangolin scales and ivory were being trafficked in massive quantities from Africa to Asia, exposing a network of crime syndicates operating at an industrial scale. The sheer volume of these shipments marked a disturbing milestone, one that revealed the global reach …
The lion can be heard prowling at night, near the livestock enclosure. In the morning, we are woken up by blasting in the limestone mines surrounding the fields. The lion eats only when it is hungry. But the factory (the Ambuja Cement Factory beyond the mines) never stops eating. --- …
The deadly environmental effects of World War ii may stage a reappearance. At a late January conference on marine pollution in Brussels, Russian experts expressed apprehension that around 120,000 chemical weapons dumped off the British coast after World War ii may leak from their containers and poison the sea. "There …
AMSTERDAM, St Paul, Kerguelen and Crozet, the French-governed sub-Antarctic group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean, are crawling with some of the world's richest wildlife diversity. Now, biologists who have been camping in the islands to study the fauna are accusing the administration of the French Southern and Antarctic …
ANIMAL welfare activists in India have never adopted the path of physical violence taken by a section of those who protested against live cattle exports in England earlier this February. They do, however, subscribe to a moral militancy whose right - eousness is always dismissive of the problems faced by …
HUMANS, their thoughts and activities are the source of all Earthly evil and good. The Cold War has had a destabilising effect on many societies, in the short term. Unemployment and poverty are gnawing away at less developed societies, corroding the existing value system. The substantial material progress achieved during …
Conservationist groups in Zimbabwe are in a tizzy over the plans recently announced by the government for "getting rid of surplus elephants". Peter Mundy, chief ecologist of Zimbabwe's wildlife department, has declared that the government would either sell or kill at least 5,000 pachyderms this year. The country's largest natural …
THE conflict between people and the managers of national parks is growing in leaps and bounds. Van Gujjars, a nomadic tribe practising transhumance living in hilly northern Uttar Pradesh, were deprived of their winter headquarters in the forests of the Shivalik foot hills. This rather callous administrative step in the …
REMEMBER Hatari? Black beauty? Born Free? Gorrilas in the Mist- the story of the late Dianne Fossey among the great apes? Remember, also, those awe-inspiring images on celluloid: the spectacle of a tiger stalking a sambar; a lioness gambolling with her cubs; thousands of birds banking in uncanny unison over …
JOHN BERGER, American art historian and sociologist, in an essay entitled Why look at animals?, points out that in the 19th century, animal toys such as rocking horses became popular during a societal move away from nature and towards urbanisation, and animals ceased to form a part of the immediate …
THE CHINESE health ministry has proposed a law requiring people with diseases that lead to birth defects or mental retardation to postpone marriage or undergo "long-term contraceptive measures after marriage". The legislation aims to "avoid new births of inferior quality and heighten the standards of the population", says the official …
SCIENTISTS at Princeton University in the US have achieved initial success in an attempt to produce energy from the fusion of hydrogen atoms. The physicists heated hydrogen to 20 times the temperature of the core of the sun to produce a burst of energy equivalent to 3 million watts (MW) …
THE US is slowly coming to grips with one of its biggest environmental hazards: excessive car emissions. From 1994, under the 1990 Clean Air Act, companies with more than 100 employees are legally responsible for the pollution their employees' cars create. Many companies are, therefore, giving employees incentives to cut …
FOR CENTURIES, the people of western Rajasthan have depended on uncertain rain for their feeble attempts at settled agriculture and for drinking purposes. The scarcity has given the people a sense of conservation that is remarkable by modern standards. Children are bathed in shallow metal containers and the water is …
Canine distemper virus (CDV) infection occurred in captive leopards (Panthera pardus), tigers (Panthera tigris), lions (Panthera leo), and a jaguar (Panthera onca) in 1991 and 1992. An epizootic affected all 4 types of cats at the Wildlife Waystation, San Fernando, California, with 17 mortalities. CDV-infected raccoons were thought to be …
As if the destruction of habitats and its impact on the normal behaviour of various species wasn't enough, there are now suggestions encouraging amputation of animal parts attractive to poachers (IUCN Bulletin, 1993, No 1). It is a shocking proposition that wildlife managers should cut the tusks from elephants and …
NEW RULES for approving experiments with altered genes will slash the red tape that British scientists claim obstructs research (New Scientist, Vol 140, No 1895). A report by the British parliament's science and technology committee says British and European laws governing genetically altered organisms are "excessively precautionary", "obsolescent" and "unscientific" …
Many animal rights activists consider that all research carried out with animals is indefensible. This would apply especially to research with chimpanzees. I assume that chimpanzees are the closest relatives to humans and that they deserve ethical considerations which are similar to those accorded humans. Nevertheless, I believe that it …
THE FLOODING that inundated much of midwest USA in mid-July turned a timid tributary in Iowa into a raging torrent, transforming a nearby transgenic test plot into a small part of a giant river system. The damage to the research programme run by Pioneer Hi-Bred International was relatively small, according …
"What are we supposed to feel when a sarkari animal carries our children away? Are we still supposed to love the animal and the sarkar?" This plea by an activist working with poor people living in and around sanctuaries and national parks was countered by a conservationist who argued: "But …
Isn't it time to evaluate our wildlife conservation programme? Notwithstanding the progress made in the past 20 years, tremendous obstacles have been faced by the Indian foresters who protect our wildlife reserves. The establishment of reserves, which increases availability of funding and the need for eco-friendly development to alleviate conflict …
