Action Alerts

DawnWatch: Cage-free eggs on NY Times front page 8/12/07
“Suddenly, the Hunt Is on for Cage-Free Eggs”

The Wilderness Society: Help the Spotted Owl and Northwest Forests
The Bush Administration is now attempting to revise the Plan to undermine key wildlife protections, including habitat reserves for the northern spotted owl and other at-risk species.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF): Push for an Ocean Protection Treaty
WWF has launched a campaign to urge Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to hold a hearing on U.S. ratification of the Law of the Sea Convention.

Carnivals

Carnival of Open Records #2 (August 13, 2007 @ State Sunshine and Open Records)

Vegetarian Carnival #5 (August 13, 2007 @ Country Kitchen Pantry)

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UPDATE, 6/30/07:

The World Wildlife Fund also sent out an action alert regarding the prarie dog poisonings on public land in Nebraska and South Dakota:

You have until July 23 to urge the U.S. Forest Service not to loosen its protections on prairie dogs. These cute and amusing creatures also have a serious side. They serve as a key food source for hawks, burrowing owls, badgers, swift foxes, critically endangered black-footed ferrets and other species, and their burrows also provide important shelter for these species.

Without extensive, healthy prairie dog towns, we won’t be able to protect and restore the Northern Great Plains grasslands, an
ecosystem that WWF has identified as one of the highest priorities for conservation worldwide and one of the places that must be saved in the next 50 years.

Act now to safeguard one of the most important ecosystems on Earth.

Past alerts here.

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: API Newsletters - donotreply [at] apiforanimals.org
Date: Jun 28, 2007 8:34 PM
Subject: Protect Polar Bears, Prairie Dogs, and more

Support Needed for Polar Bear Protection Act

The Polar Bear Protection Act (H.R. 2327/S. 1406) is currently pending in Congress. If passed, this bill will amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to strengthen polar bear conservation efforts. Your federal legislators need to hear from you right away in support of this bill.

In the Arctic, polar bears are up against an increasing number of threats, including trophy hunting, and quicker ice melts each year – that threaten food supplies, and also result in drowning of bears who may be forced to swim extreme distances in search of a place to come ashore.

Just last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment that stops funding for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue permits for the importation of sport-hunted polar bear trophies. Unfortunately, late last night this amendment failed to pass the House of Representatives. This means it is more important than ever that H.R. 2327/S. 1406 gain momentum forward toward permanently protecting these magnificent animals.

To be sure polar bears receive the protection they deserve, please contact your federal legislators today and ask that they co-sponsor H.R. 2327/S.1406.

To find out more and take action on this alert, go to www.api4animals.org/actionalerts.php?p=1242&more=1

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Via the World Wildlife Fund:

Time to Protect Chile’s Blue Whales

The Gulf of Corcovado and Chiloe coast in Southern Chile is one of the most important feeding and calving grounds for the highly endangered blue whale, the largest animal ever known to have existed on planet earth.

Since the unique importance of the area was discovered in 2003, WWF and its partners have worked to obtain a government decree to protect an area that supports not only the blue whale, but dozens of other marine mammals including humpback whales and the Chilean dolphin.

However, rapid economic growth in the area and increasing fishing, tourism and marine traffic in the Gulf of Corcovado could now pose a threat to blue whales and the larger ecosystem they inhabit.

The approval of a new marine protected area has now been endorsed by the local governments in the region, the Chilean senate, and is strongly supported by conservation organizations and the scientific community. But approval by the Ministry of Defense and a Presidential decree are still needed in order for the area to be finally protected.

Following Chile’s positive role at the recent International Whaling Commission meeting, where the Government strongly advocated for whale conservation, we are now asking the Chilean President to protect blue whales and their habitat.

ACT NOW: Ask the Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet, to create the Chiloe and Corcovado Gulf Marine and Coastal Protected Area.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts wwf world wildlife fund wildlife conservation nature Gulf of Corcovado Chiloe coast Southern Chile Chile blue whale humpback whale Chilean dolphin marine protected area IWC International Whaling Commission whale conservation Chiloe and Corcovado Gulf Marine and Coastal Protected Area

Via the World Wildlife Fund:

Help Lions, Snow Leopards and More

Urge your members of Congress to cosponsor the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act!

Lions, snow leopards, African wild dogs, and other wild cats and canids may be fierce and powerful, but they are also extremely vulnerable. Worldwide, they face serious threats from illegal hunting, habitat loss, disease, and many other factors.

Last year, there was significant support in the House for a Great Cats and Rare Canids bill. WWF thanks the many activists who urged their representatives to support that bill and helped boost the number of cosponsors. The debate is starting anew and a nearly identical bill has been introduced in both chambers of Congress. Once again, we need to demonstrate strong support for the measure by convincing many members of Congress to become cosponsors.

Send a free letter urging your members of Congress to save these critically important species!

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts wwf world wildlife fund wildlife conservation big cats wild cats canids lions snow leopards African wild dogs Great Cats and Rare Canids Act

Via the World Wildlife Fund:

One of World’s Largest Fisheries at Risk

Bristol Bay is at the epicenter of a sustainable seafood industry that’s worth $2 billion annually. It makes no sense to allow oil and gas drilling that would put Bristol Bay’s fisheries and its rich arctic marine biodiversity at risk, yet would generate only $7.7 billion total over 25 to 40 years of operation.

Now is the time to speak out — a House committee is expected to vote next Tuesday on whether to make Bristol Bay off limits to energy development for one year.

Of course, a Tiny Violin alert is a given here; if you use the WWF’s sample letter, be sure to edit out all areas of concern except for that of Bristol Bay’s ecosystem.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts wwf world wildlife fund oil drilling oil spill bristol bay fish fisheries ecosystem alaska energy

UPDATE, 6/19/07, via WWF:

In a major victory for conservation, raising captive tigers for trade in their parts was rejected last week by members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in The Hague.

Parties to the international wildlife convention also urged China to phase out its large-scale commercial tiger farms.

Prior to the decision WWF and other conservation organizations unveiled the massive two-storey-high tiger mosaic, made up of more than 26,000 of your photos, outside the conference centre urging world leaders to end all trade in tigers. Delegates had to walk past the mosaic on their way to the tiger debate.

See a photo slideshow of the mosaic being unveiled at: mail.panda.org/inxmail/url?vmkeq00d4gi0qbfbn3a3

Watch the video: mail.panda.org/inxmail/url?vmoeq00d4gi0qbvi43a3

4 countries with wild tigers - India, Nepal, Russia and Bhutan - were joined by the United States in advocating for a strong decision for tigers. India called on China to phase out the country’s privately run “tiger farms,” which house nearly 5,000 big cats and are pushing the Chinese government to allow legal trade in tiger parts. With leadership from these countries, the 171 member countries of the CITES convention adopted a strong tiger trade decision by consensus.

China has said that it will not lift its ban without listening to scientific opinion from around the world. The world spoke and urged China not to reopen any trade in tiger parts and to increase protection for tigers in the wild.

This is great news!

Thank you to everyone who took action and added their photo to the tiger mosaic. Without your help this would not have been possible!

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Via the World Wildlife Fund:

Help End the Tiger Trade

Your snapshot could help save tigers. Add your photo* to the world’s largest photo mosaic of this endangered species and your picture will be included when the mosaic is unveiled to world leaders in June as they gather to discuss trade in endangered species. Upload your photo now.

You can also sign a letter urging China to make its tiger trade ban permanent. Your views will be personally conveyed to China’s leaders.

Despite international and domestic bans, a thriving black market for tiger skins and bones threatens to wipe out wild tigers. China, with its booming economy, burgeoning human population and ancient traditions of using tiger parts as medicine and clothing, is the world’s leading consumer of tiger products.

The good news is that the Chinese government has taken decisive action to help save the species, outlawing the trade of tiger products, increasing enforcement efforts and running public awareness campaigns to curb the demand for tiger products.

But there is a new threat in China that could put every last wild tiger at risk: the increasing population of captive-bred tigers on so-called “tiger farms.” Investors in these businesses are now pressuring the Chinese government to allow them to sell tiger products.

* Where’s Kelly?

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts wwf world wildlife fund tigers tiger farms tiger skin tiger bones wildlife conservation mosaic China tiger products hunting poaching

Via the World Wildlife Fund:

Tell New Zealand to protect endangered dolphins

Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins live around the shores of New Zealand and are amongst the rarest marine dolphins in the world.

The biggest threat to Hector’s and Maui’s is from commercial and recreational fishing. The dolphins are unable to detect set nets - nets that are held on or off shore with anchors – and, if they become entangled, they drown within minutes. They are also accidentally caught by fishing boats.

Add to this the disturbances to their habitat from tourism, polluted waters, coastal development and boat traffic, and survival for one of the world’s rarest marine dolphins is a daily battle.

But there is hope. By taking the necessary action and removing all human threats New Zealand can give the dolphins their best chance of survival. Failure to do so could mean we will lose these enigmatic animals forever.

Help save Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins by signing our petition to New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Helen Clark.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts wwf world wildlife fund dolphins wildlife conservation new zealand Hector’s dolphins Maui’s dolphins fishing endangered species

Via the World Wildlife Fund:

Protect Polar Bears From Global Warming

Deadline: 4/9/2007

U.S. activists: Help protect polar bears from the impacts of global warming by endorsing a proposal to list them as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

Being added to the Endangered Species list would give the bears important protections, such as prohibitions on killing, harming or otherwise “taking” the species.

The listing would require that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designate critical habitat for polar bears and would ensure that the federal government’s actions do not jeopardize the bears’ existence or adversely modify or destroy their critical habitat. The government also would need to prepare a recovery plan that specifies measures needed for the bears’ protection.

Write to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now to endorse adding the polar bear to the Endangered Species list.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts wwf world wildlife fund wildlife conservation esa endangered species act polar bears climate change global warming

Via the World Wildlife Fund:

Protect Bulgaria’s natural treasures

The location of the new holiday complex near the village of Varvara on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast is nothing but idyllic, where the thickly forested Strandzha Mountains march almost directly onto the Black Sea.

Little wonder that holiday homes have already been snapped up by foreign investors, even before construction is completed.

The problem - unbeknown to investors - is that the complex is being built illegally within the Strandzha Nature Park, without the agreement of the park authorities.

Sadly this story is not unique. In Bulgaria, especially when it comes to environmental protection, laws on paper still mean little in practice. Lack of capacity, will or even corruption on the part of authorities and political decision makers are allowing individual interests to ransack Bulgaria’s greatest natural treasures. In all too many cases, foreign investors from the UK and other countries are silent accomplices.

Send an email now to the Bulgarian authorities.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts wwf world wildlife fund passport panda Bulgaria development conservation Varvara Black Sea Black Sea coast Strandzha Mountains Strandzha Nature Park

UPDATE, 2/15/07:

WWF’s Passport Panda also has a similar alert and sample letter available here.

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Via the World Wildlife Fund:

Help Save the Peruvian Rain Forest

The Peruvian rain forest is one of the world’s most biologically rich and diverse regions and provides habitat for wildlife such as the jaguar, harpy eagle and giant river otter.

Unfortunately, these creatures and their habitats are at risk from the unsustainable harvest of timber, particularly of big-leaf mahogany–a threatened species so valuable that it can lead to the destruction of large forest areas. Peru is the world’s largest exporter of big-leaf mahogany, with 90 percent going to the North American market.

The international trade in big-leaf mahogany is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the Peruvian government has taken many steps to improve forest management and stop illegal logging. Despite these precautions, big-leaf mahogany continues to be harvested at unsustainable levels and illegal logging remains rampant.

Many of these trees are illegally logged in protected areas or on the lands of indigenous peoples who receive only a fraction of the actual value of the wood. Strong measures must be taken today if this species and the rain forest of which it is a part are to survive for future generations.

Every year, Peru sets a quota for mahogany that determines how much can be exported. It is critically important that Peru sets a quota level that is sustainable and scientifically-based, and that can be verified as legally harvested. If that does not happen, WWF will urge countries worldwide not to import Peruvian mahogany.

Action is urgently needed as Peru is expected to announce its annual quota for mahogany exports in only a few days.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts wwf world wildlife fund rainforest Peru Peruvian rainforest biodiversity jaguar harpy eagle river otter mahogany timber deforestation conservation CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora endangered species