Planet News

A phenomenal page for getting your news on wildlife & cultures, from conservationists around the world, in one list.

Copyright Disclaimer: All photos, images and text on this news page are from public sites, and copyright information is provided as given, with links to the original news article. This page is an effort to spread awareness through painstakingly selected news items from reputable organizations from around the globe that work hard to inform and conserve our planet. This blogger does not take credit for any content on this page - photographic, written, or otherwise.

© WWF Russia / Vasilii Solkin. The Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) is the largest of the five remaining tiger species.	Amur tigers get boost from new WWF initiative WWF. 12 October 2011 Moscow - Russia’s Khabarovskii Province at the northern end of the Amur tiger range is set to benefit from a new project aimed at securing sustainable development in the region while also protecting the big cat and its habitat. The three-year project is being developed by the WWF-Russia Amur branch in collaboration with the Nordens Ark Zoo (Sweden).
© WCS	Hunt for the Tiger Slayers WCS. October 13, 2011 Tigers are facing a ruthless predator: human poachers. Controlled by well-funded and well-organized crime rings, poachers are hunting and killing tigers to sell their body parts on the black market.
© WWF Indonesia / PHKA. An adult tiger and cubs walk past a WWF camera trap in Sumatra, Indonesia. March 2011.	Indonesian tiger smuggler could escape with light sentence WWF. 13 October 2011 Pekanbaru, Indonesia - The trial of a tiger skin smuggler on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has brought immediate response from WWF and its partners after the prosecutor in the case recommended a light sentence. The smuggler was caught in West Sumatra in March 2011 with a tiger skin he pruchased for IDR$25 million (US$3,000).
© Gorilla.CD Christian Shamavu, the ranger who led the team in the undercover operation to rescue the baby gorilla, opens the cage door and greets the baby when they arrive at the park headquarters of Rumangabo.	Poached Baby Grauer’s Gorilla Rescued by Virunga Rangers Virunga National Park D.R. Congo. Oct 7 2011 A small team of Virunga rangers played undercover cops this week when they posed as buyers for a poached baby gorilla. It all started two weeks ago when Christian Shamavu, our dog unit team leader, received a call from some of his contacts about a baby gorilla trafficking ring.  Sadly, we’ve now had several such incidences, and a system has been set up to track down the offenders, bring them to justice and recover the baby gorilla.
© WWF-Canon / Edward PARKER	A day of hope for Madagascar’s rainforests WWF Madagascar. 30 September 2011 Antananarivo – After two years of continuous lobbying against illegal logging of precious hardwoods, which hit some of Madagascar’s most unique national parks, new international trade regulations enforcing more transparency promise a further breakthrough.
© A Chinese animal lover consoles a dog after a convoy of trucks carrying some 500 dogs to be sold as meat, were stopped along a highway in Beijing on early April 17, 2011, and the dogs were later rescued to the China Animal Protection Association. (Getty Images)	China bans ancient dog-eating festival after online uproar CNN. September 22, 2011 CNN Editor's Note: The following text is from GlobalPost, which provides excellent coverage of world news – important, moving and just odd. China has banned a dog-eating festival that dates back more than 600 years after a Chinese internet uproar over the way dogs are slaughtered, the official Xinhua news agency reports.Dogs are chopped up and skinned in the streets of Qianxi township in coastal Zhejiang province during the ancient festival, which is usually held in October, state-run Xinhua says.
© Sanapanã woman making string from Caraguatá, Paraguay © Stephen Kidd/Survival	Two decades of legal battles, but land at last  Survival International. 7 October 2011 After two decades of legal battles, Enxet Indians in Paraguay are to return to part of their ancestral land. Around 90 Enxet families from central Paraguay won back the right to 14,000 hectares of their traditional lands in 2006.
© The price of rhino horn has risen with growing demand. In 2010, 333 rhinos were killed in South Africa alone. So far in 2011, the number is almost 300. Poachers are now using tranquilizers in dart guns, silenced weapons, helicopters and night vision goggles. © Martin Harvey / WWF Cannon	Collaborative Effort to Stop Rhino Poaching in South Africa WWF Sep 2011 287 rhinos poached in South Africa this year alone. Over 165 arrests made. Now, more than ever, we need to curb demand for rhino horn and end poaching.September 22, 2011 marks the second annual World Rhino Day with the slogan “Rhino horns are not medicine.” It was created in 2010 to draw attention to the alarming rise of rhino poaching in southern Africa. Rhino horns are in high demand in Asia where they are believed to cure diseases like cancer.
© Martin Harvey / WWF-Canon	Progress Made to Stop Illegal Wildlife Trade WWF. Aug 24, 2011 Poaching of rhinos and elephants has reached a crisis point. The 61st meeting of the CITES Standing Committee took place in Geneva, Switzerland from August 15-19, 2011 and WWF and TRAFFIC urged international governments to work to halt the growing global trade in illegal elephant ivory and rhino horn.
© WWF MWIOPO / Martina Lippuner	Malagasy Frontier Police seize Indonesia-bound shipment of ‘world’s rarest’ tortoises WWF Madagascar. 27 July 2011 Frontier Police found 26 Ploughshare Tortoises Astrochelys yniphora, 169 Radiated Tortoises Astrochelys radiata and one Spider Tortoise Pyxis arachnoides in a box and three large bags that were transported directly to the tarmac, circumventing security scanners, according to local media reports.
© WWF-Malaysia/ Eric madeja	WWF-Malaysia Lauds Malaysian Government's Pledge To Protect & Conserve Marine Turtles WWF Malaysia.  23 September 2011 Malaysia has become the latest signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their Habitats within the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia (IOSEA) region, a milestone which WWF-Malaysia believes will offer hope to the protection of these endangered species.
© IFAW	Leonardo DiCaprio joins IFAW in urging public action to shut down ivory trade IFAW. 4 October 2011 IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare- www.ifaw.org) today announced that actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio will lead its Animal Action campaign to save elephants and shut down the cruel international ivory trade.
© WWF-Malaysia / David James	New Hope for Orang-utans WWF Malaysia. 27 September 2011 Several images of Orang-utans building nests in replanted trees were captured by WWF-Malaysia in the newly restored degraded area, where efforts to rehabilitate wildlife habitat were initiated by Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) at the northern part of Ulu Segama Malua Forest Reserves (NUS), Lahad Datu. These efforts give hope that the wildlife population in this degraded forest will increase before long.
Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS	Apex Predators: A Scary Loss WCS. July 20, 2011 In a recent study, WCS Conservationist Joel Berger concludes that the loss of large predators in the wild may be humankind’s most pervasive influence on nature.
Guarani family from Brazil sit next to a coffin © Joaó Ripper/Survival	Brazilian tribe’s ‘unequalled’ suicide rate highlighted on World Mental Health Day  Survival International. 7 October 2011 An epidemic of suicide unique in South America has beset one tribe in Brazil – "the Guarani":/tribes/guarani. More than 625 Guarani have taken their lives since 1981, the youngest just 9 years old. The tribe has seen virtually all its land stolen in recent decades by farmers and cattle ranchers.
© naturepl.com /George Chan / WWF	WWF mourns forest ranger murdered by poaching gang WWF. 6 October 2011 A forest ranger has been killed and another seriously injured in a violent clash with gorilla poachers outside a national park in Cameroon, WWF has learned. The attack occurred on September 27 about 10 kilometres from Cameroon’s border with Central African Republic.
© CNN and photo credit as printed.	Rangers put bush-meat poachers in their sights CNN. August 17, 2011 Cameroon (CNN) -- In the dense rainforest of eastern Cameroon a team of rangers is on the hunt for poachers. The group is cracking down on the commercial trade of bush meat -- forest animals killed for their meat -- a problem that now extends beyond the country's borders.
© Alain Compost / WWF-Canon	US and Indonesia announce $28.5 million debt swap to protect Borneo’s tropical forests WWF. 29 September 2011 The Nature Conservancy and WWF are joining with the Indonesian and US Governments today to sign a debt-for-nature swap agreement that will result in a new US$28.5 million investment to help protect tropical forests in three districts of Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.
© André Bästschi / WWF Canon	800 000 hectares of the Amazon will be preserved in Peru and Colombia WWF. 01 September 2011 Pucallpa. The Amazon in Peru and Colombia comprises a region of high biodiversity. Its large extensions of forests provide environmental goods and services valuable to local, regional and world population.
© Antonio Bonsorte/Amazon Watch	Amazon mega-dam suspended over fears for fishing Survival International. 29 September 2011 A judge in Brazil has ordered that the construction of the Belo Monte mega-dam in the Amazon be suspended, warning that it would disrupt fishing by the local population.
© CNN and photo credit as printed.: Fishermen butcher a bottlenose whale at the Wada port east of Tokyo on June 25, 2008	Japan will hold winter whale hunt, despite protests CNN. October 5, 2011 (CNN) -- Japan says it will hunt whales in the Southern Ocean this winter and will send a Fisheries Agency ship to guard its whalers against promised intervention by a conservation group.
© CNN and photo credit as printed.	New study maps sea turtle danger zones CNN. September 29, 2011 London (CNN) -- A comprehensive new study identifying the most threatened sea turtle populations worldwide has been published by conservationists. The report, jointly produced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG), Conservation International (CI) and the U.S.'s National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, is the first detailed appraisal of global sea turtle populations, say the authors, and will provide a blueprint for future conservation efforts.
© CNN and photo credit as printed.	Japan's whaling could put lives at risk, New Zealand says CNN. October 5, 2011 New Zealand joined Australia on Wednesday in criticizing Japan's decision to resume whaling in Antarctic waters later this year and Tokyo's announcement that it will increase security for its whaling fleet. "The Japanese government (is) making noises that have an ominous feel about them," New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said.
© Elizabeth Bennett / WCS	Wanted: Tougher Enforcement Against Wildlife Crime WCS. July 27, 2011 Poachers killed almost 230 rhinoceroses in South Africa between January and October of last year. Over the past decade, they’ve killed countless tigers, too, for trading rings that deal in wildlife skins and body parts. Today, fewer than 3,500 of these big cats remain in the wild.
© Michel Gunther / WWF-Canon	South African and Vietnamese officials meet to discuss rhino poaching crisis TRAFFIC. 26th September 2011 Five government officials from Viet Nam are on an official visit to South Africa this week to discuss the illegal trade in rhinoceros horn.
Awá man. The Awá are being threatened and attacked by loggers who have invaded their land  © Fiona Watson/Survival	Amazon Indian nomad beaten up by loggers Survival International. September 21, 2011 A man of the Awá tribe, one of the last nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes remaining in Brazil, has been brutally attacked by loggers who have invaded the Awá’s land. The man was hunting in the forest when loggers reportedly tied him up, blind-folded him, beat him up and tried to decapitate him.
©Andrea Turkalo / WCS	Tusk Smuggler Gets Tough Sentence WCS. August 18, 2011 The Republic of Congo sends a Chinese ivory smuggler to jail, an example of the tough law enforcement that WCS recommends for combating the illegal wildlife trade.
© Susheel Shrestha / WWF	WWF calls for an end to poaching on Global Tiger Day WWF. 29 July 2011 The recently publicized death of a tiger caught in a hunter’s snare on the Indonesian island of Sumatra highlights the persistent danger the big cats face as the world celebrates Global Tiger Day today.
© WTI	20 years after ban, bear dancing still exists WTI India, Jharkhand. September 2, 2011 Contrary to claims of complete eradication of sloth bear performances in the country, the existence of this illegal practice has been revealed in Jharkhand. A nine month old sloth bear cub was seized by the state’s Forest Department assisted by WSPA-WTI, highlighting the need for awareness and enforcement.
© CNN and photo credit as printed.	Gabon arrests 5 for trafficking in illegal animal parts CNN. January 21, 2011 Authorities in Gabon have arrested five people for dealing in illegal animal parts, which included the heads of a gorilla and 12 chimpanzees, according to Conservation Justice, a wildlife preservation group.
© M. Todd / TRAFFIC	Madagascar wildlife on sale in Thailand WWF Madagascar. 16 June 2011 Bangkok, Thailand —Thailand’s pet dealers are supplying large numbers of Madagascar’s most threatened reptiles and amphibians to local and international markets, despite unanswered questions over the legality of the imports, a new TRAFFIC report has found.
© Gorilla.CD	The struggle to protect Congo’s Mountain Gorillas Virunga National Park D.R. Congo. July 28 2007 'I have been thinking about these images, because we have all found them so upsetting, but as in the past, it is better that people see what is really happening. I will try to recount the events as best I can and I am sorry that the images are so disturbing. They heard shots at around 8pm. The next day, a patrol went in from the Bikenge patrol post and quickly found the bodies of three females. It was crushing to hear the news. It is the worst thing that can happen, when a whole group is attacked, and when so many are killed.'
© The Amur Leopard skin seized by Russian police in Primorsky province; no more than 20 adult Amur Leopards are believed to exist, and this individual had apprently been shot.  © S. Aramilev / WWF Russia	Amur Leopard skin seized by Russian Police  TRAFFIC. Moscow, Russia, 7 April 2009 Police officers inspecting a car in Primorsky province in the Russian Far East have discovered the skin of an Amur Leopard, one of the world’s rarest animals. Only an estimated 14 to 20 adult Amur Leopards and 5 or 6 cubs survive in an area of just 2,500 km² in Russia’s south-western Primorye region according to the IUCN Redlist. The subspecies is extinct in China and the Korean Peninsula.

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