Endangered Species Page
This here is lonesome George, the last known Pinta Island Galapagos Tortoise. There are other Galapagos tortoises, but the Pinta Island Tortoise is a subspecies, and sadly Lonesome George is the last of his kind. However, he's far from alone in the world of endangered animals. Below is the latest news on George's unfortunate colleagues.
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Manatee Molestation 01.14.09
Is it inhumane to allow tourists to swim with Florida's manatees? The arguably overzealous Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) says it is in this release. They are critical of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's recent reluctance to outlaw the practice. Here's what PEER says: “PEER has received numerous videos from citizens showing swimmers abusing manatees. FWS said in the same release it: “identified very few events that warranted the issuance of citations”
Let's go to the internet. YouTube had this video in the first page of searches for “Manatee Abuse.” It seems to pretty much cover the gamut of the complaints in the PEER release above which has: “people poking, chasing, standing on or kicking manatees, as well as separating mothers from calves each year.” The video is pretty sad to watch. But, most of the other YouTube manatee abuse videos had the same footage. Thus, a very cursory search suggests the problem isn't as bad as the problem PEER is named for. They are Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. When this group first started sending out press releases, they were all about protecting whistle-blowers in environmental agencies.
Looking back over the past decade they had their hands full. As mentioned before in NBN, not every new political administration has the same agenda for the environmental agencies they are placed in charge of. The workers in those agencies are expected to tow the administration line, no matter how they feel about it. Now, PEER is protecting manatees. Sounds like environmental mission creep. The real endangered species are the well meaning scientists who just want to do their jobs amidst the shifting political sands that secure their jobs. PEER's efforts to protect them are unique and commendable. There are plenty of others to worry about the manatees. It seems PEER here is taking up the manatee cause when it could directing its efforts more effectively elsewhere. These tour boats aren’t killing the manatees, just scaring heck out of them. Hopefully, the jug heads going out on these boats will see that and stop.Here we have battling YouTubes. Who’s side are you on? Notice the sweatshirt of the fellow in the video on the right?
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Plenty of Plover Problems 12.31.09
The Newburyport Daily News in Massachusetts reported this summer that 2009 was very good year for the Plum Island population of Piping Plover. It better have been, because the birds are given free rein to nine miles of prime Atlantic oceanfront for the purposes of raising chicks for the better part of the summer. It's hard to find a larger section of public beach shut down for a longer period of time than the Plum Island Piping Plover nursery. However, similar shut-downs close off equally large percentages of prime bay beaches on Long Island, Cape Cod, even in Wisconsin. Beach enthusiasts don't take these closings well, hence the advent of tee-shirts and bumper stickers like this one here. What makes it worse is, oftentimes these baby Plovers, or the eggs, are eaten by predators like skunks, raccoon and fox, whose numbers are on the rise.
These shut-downs are no minor inconvenience. The idea that it's being done in futility on any given year is frustrating and brings into question the whole policy. Take a gander, PTP (Pardon the Pun) at this note just in from MassWildlife. Peregrin falcons were once as scarce as hensteeth, PTP. Now, their numbers are taking off, PTP. Ditto for the Northeast's osprey population. I was just down on Long Island, NY and the birds were circling overhead everywhere. When I was growing up down there, ospreys were nonexistent. And, we all know the success of the bald eagle in the Lower 48 over the past decade. That's the way it works, according to MassWildlife's wildlife expert Tom French. The populations of these struggling species will not respond immediately to restoration measures taken on their behalf.
That's the way it works, according to MassWildlife's wildlife expert Tom French. The populations of these struggling species will not respond immediately to restoration measures taken on their behalf. They take a little while then, when numbers reach critical mass, the populations take off. That's what happened with the striped bass populations of the East Coast. But it does beg the question of how much sacrifice should be made on behalf of these critters when you don't see the kind of improvements you want, and the piping plover is being generously out-shined by the raptors. The piping plover is not a raptor. In the survival-of-the-fittest scale, they are quite a few rungs down from the raptors and just a few rungs above earthworms before learning to fly.
Raptors numbers dropped sharply when the pesticide DDT, which built up in the fish they eat. That weakened their shells so the mother osprey, falcon eagle...ect, couldn't sit on them. The DDT didn't help plovers any either. But, they are also suffering from habitat loss and that's a much harder problem to correct than just banning DDT.
Raptors numbers dropped sharply when the pesticide DDT, which built up in the fish they eat. That weakened their shells so the mother osprey, falcon eagle...ect, couldn't sit on them. The DDT didn't help plovers any either. But, they are also suffering from habitat loss and that's a much harder problem to correct than just banning DDT. Stil, as this chart shows, plover numbers are climbing too. However, we're left with a quandary. When the plover populations start to show the same success as the raptors will the beaches then be opened all summer? We've paid a much bigger price to bring the plover back than what was needed to bring the raptors back.
Raptors numbers dropped sharply when the pesticide DDT, which built up in the fish they eat. That weakened their shells so the mother osprey, falcon eagle...ect, couldn't sit on them. The DDT didn't help plovers any either. But, they are also suffering from habitat loss and that's a much harder problem to correct than just banning DDT. Stil, as this chart shows, plover numbers are climbing too. However, we're left with a quandary. When the plover populations start to show the same success as the raptors will the beaches then be opened all summer? We've paid a much bigger price to bring the plover back than what was needed to bring the raptors back.
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Denizens of Dubious Distinction? 11.03.09
The Globe had this piece on a Northern Right Whale wintering ground found in the Gulf of Maine. These poor creatures get an amazing amount of ink, primarily because there is concern Northern Right Whalenumbers are getting so low that they may go extinct. However, rarely in allthis coverage is it mentioned that the Northern Right Whale is not a distinctspecies. There is a Southern Right Whale whose numbers appear to be on therise. What are the differences between southern and northern, minimal according to this Wikipedia entry. So, is it reasonable to have this panic over the plight of the Northern Right Whale when it appears their near siblings are doing fine farther to the south? Given the rate at which we’re ruining our oceans with ubiquitousforms of pollution like road runoff, that’s a tough question. No amount of concern for sea creatures is too much. Still, to say the Northern Right Whale is facing extinction, is in some respects misleading.