Karelian bear dogs are being used to scare wild bears from human settlements and reduce human-wildlife conflict
The dog is moving through the grasses of the open meadow, closely followed by bear biologist Carrie Hunt, who is observing his reactions as he sees the grizzly bear carcass for the first time. “Find it,” says Hunt, encouraging the two-month-old puppy. The puppy’s ears and tail are up as he approaches the bear cautiously, but with the confidence that Hunt is looking for in a bear conflict dog.
This is a Karelian bear dog, a hardy breed from Finland known to be fearless and capable of standing up to large mammals such as brown bears and moose. People once used the dogs to hunt big game in regions that now are part of Russia and Finland. Today, in Montana, Hunt is using the dogs to keep bears alive.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
05/23/2023 - 02:00
Two hundred and ninety plants, 20 fishes, 24 amphibians, 46 reptiles and one mammal were among newly discovered in one of Asia’s biodiversity hotspots in 2021 and 2022. Many are already under threat of extinction from habitat loss, deforestation and the illegal wildlife trade. WWF is calling on governments to increase protection for these rare species and to commit to halting and reversing nature loss
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05/23/2023 - 01:18
The shutting down of the industry six years earlier than scheduled comes after decades of conflict
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Native forest logging in Victoria will end in December, six years earlier than previously planned, after the state government decided severe bushfires and legal campaigns had made it economically and environmentally unviable.
The announcement by the Andrews Labor government in Tuesday’s state budget follows a landmark supreme court judgment last November that the state-owned logging agency, VicForests, had broken the law by failing to protect endangered species.
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05/23/2023 - 00:00
Ministers to close loophole in 2018 Ivory Act that means animals other than elephants can be targeted
Ivory imports from hippopotamuses, orcas and walruses will be banned under new legislation to protect the endangered species from poaching.
The Ivory Act, passed in 2018, targeted materials from elephants, but a loophole meant that animals other than elephants, including hippos, were being targeted for their ivory.
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05/22/2023 - 20:16
Farmers turning to forestry and the fall in the price of wool are being blamed for the ratio of sheep to people falling below five to one
New Zealand’s ratio of sheep to people has dropped below five to one for the first time since national population records began in the late 1850s.
The vast ovine herds that outnumber human New Zealanders are a long-running joke outside the country; one of a few nuggets of information about New Zealand – alongside its links to The Lord of the Rings and Jacinda Ardern – that is know by the rest of the world.
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05/22/2023 - 16:50
This blog is now closed.
End of native logging in Victoria ‘a monumental win for forests’, say conservationists
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The conversation moves on to Stan Grant and whether Richard Marles agrees with some of the comments ABC news boss Justin Stevens has made about the criticism Grant experienced by organisations like News Corp and its “relentless campaign”.
Marles is asked whether he has read some of the comments under articles about ABC staff which appear in newspapers like the Australian.
Should those newspapers be dealing with the consequences and the commentary? I’ve read some of them I’ve read some of them about myself, too. They’re revolting.
Look, I mean, they are revolting. It’s it’s an area in an age of social media where – where there are comments that are posted, well – anyone who engages in social media, I think we all need to do much better.
And the answer the question about why I haven’t read all them is precisely because of the impact which one has when you do read them all.
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05/22/2023 - 12:03
Global trade in chocolate, worth more than $1tn a year, is leading to widespread deforestation in Ivory Coast and Ghana
The world’s hunger for chocolate is a major cause of the destruction of protected forests in west Africa, scientists have said.
Satellite maps of Ivory Coast and Ghana showed swathes of formerly dense forest had become cocoa plantations since 2000, according to a study.
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05/22/2023 - 10:00
World is on track for 2.7C and ‘phenomenal’ human suffering, scientists warn
Global heating will drive billions of people out of the “climate niche” in which humanity has flourished for millennia, a study has estimated, exposing them to unprecedented temperatures and extreme weather.
The world is on track for 2.7C of heating with current action plans and this would mean 2 billion people experiencing average annual temperatures above 29C by 2030, a level at which very few communities have lived in the past.
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05/22/2023 - 10:00
Exclusive: New documents also reveal federal government admitted Australia did not have policies to ensure project would meet key recommendation in full
New documents reveal the Northern Territory government knew it could not meet a key recommendation to reduce the climate risk of its planned massive expansion of gas production, and asked the Albanese government for help.
Federal climate change officials in turn admitted Australia did not have any existing policies that would meet the recommendation in full.
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05/22/2023 - 08:23
Three of the 20 big cats brought from Africa have died as critics of the plan say their new habitat is unsuitable
A programme to reintroduce cheetahs in India after 75 years has been called into question after three of the animals died in recent weeks and concerns were raised that their new habitat was unsuitable.
Since October, 20 cheetahs – which became extinct in the country in 1952 – have been brought over from South Africa and Namibia as part of a much-lauded government programme to house them in Kuno national park, Madhya Pradesh state.
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