In the late 1970s, North Korea developed a “technology” for obtaining (“milking”) bile from live bears, and the “farming” of bears for their bile began in earnest in Asia over the following decade. At the time, it was argued that bear bile farms would also...
It is February in Costa Rica, and Maria, a spunky Ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris), is just waking up from her deep state of sleep (torpor). It was colder last night, and she needed to conserve her energy. The average hummingbird is approximately 7.1 to 8.9...
At the 87th Session of the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child held at the end of May 2021, Tunisia’s programs to address child protection were examined. The printed report of the session, issued on June 7, 2021, was fifty-five paragraphs long and...
South Africa occupies an ecologically strategic position in the world. Like China, it has rich biodiversity and has been building its reputation as a favorite wildlife tourist destination. But it has also attracted its share of wildlife traders, poachers, and trophy hunters[1]. South Africa’s own...
After 15 months of looking at the four walls of our house and now fully vaccinated, we were eager to be anywhere but there. So, for our first foray, we travelled 2 hours to Slaughter Beach, a small Delaware community on the shores of the...
This video is worth watching simply to feast on the photographs and video images from around the world. The images are stunning, but they are freighted with warnings and eventually with an outline of specific goals that the video argues could help humans change the...
The European Union (EU) was the first major economic and political union to address cosmetics testing on animals. This legislative initiative took decades to come into effect. The path started in 1993 when the first EU Directive addressing the issue was passed. However, the Directive...
On May 2 this year, the South African Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, released a High Level Panel (HLP) report on the sustainable use of wildlife involving the management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling of elephant, lion, leopard and rhino. In...
“Dancing” bears were a common and popular form of street entertainment in Europe and Asia in the Middle Ages. Although there were still dancing bears in Western Europe in the 20th century (the 1911 UK animal protection law forbid the practice) but the dancing bear...
Most of the dogs in India are homeless stray dogs who survive mainly on handouts from people. While the keeping of pet dogs is increasing (almost doubled in the past decade), only around 10% of households have pet dogs (compared to 35% in the US...
