A recent report has revealed that shark attacks in 2008 dropped to their lowest levels in five years. While the cynic in you might attribute this occurrence to shark populations having collapsed due to human interference. The true cause has been identified as the economy.

“I can’t help but think that contributing to the reduction may have been the reticence of some people to take holidays and go to the beach for economic reasons,” said George Burgess, an ichthyologist and director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida’s Museum of Natural History.

All of this has lead to speculation that the current stimulus package is really just an elaborate government conspiracy intent on feeding freedom loving Americans to sharks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090219/ap_on_re_us/shark_attacks

In other news: Studies claim no correlation has been found between the recent lack of buffalo sightings and the wide-scale hunting of the American Bison. The phenomena has instead been attributed to President Harrison’s signing of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

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Millions of animals lay dead today after Australia’s worst ever wildfires. The state of Victoria has been the hardest hit but there are several groups doing everything they can to help. Whether it’s treating the animals for scorched paws, or special vaporising tents to help with scorched lungs.

These groups need donations to keep doing their work, so send a few Dollars and help a wallaby, you’ll feel better about yourself.

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Ashley Judd has recently taken Sarah Palin to task over the Governor’s wildlife policies concerning wolves. The Governor says the controversial policy of aerial wolf hunting is needed to control predator populations in the state, and has branded the opposition as nothing more than extremist groups. While Ashley Judd claims that the practice is senseless and unscientific.

Read both statements in full.

I’m going to have to agree with Ashley Judd here (shocker, me siding with the environmentalist). The basic rationale behind the state’s wolf hunting policy is to increase the number of caribou and elk (etc.) so that those animals can be later shot from the ground. Therefore the great crime of the wolf is that it’s mildly standing in the way of human recreation (excuse me, cultural practices).

You can check out the following website for some extremist info on Sarah Palin’s wildlife policies: http://eyeonpalin.org/

And if you are interested in helping to protect the wolves right to exist, you can take a look at one of my favourite charities, Defenders Of Wildlife: http://www.defenders.org/

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 Countries with the most protected land area in percentage of total land
The following is a list of the ten nations that have the most protected lands in percentage of total area. ‘Protected lands’ can be anything from a national park to a national monument.

 Austria: 28.3% of land is protected.
Austria is a supremely beautiful European nation with its predominant physical feature being the Alps running through the western part of the country. The wide variety of protected areas in the country range from alpine lakes to the imperial palaces of Vienna.

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I went to the Singaporean Zoo not too long ago. It’s a beautiful zoo with a lot of animals, and the overall theme of zoo is that of animal conservation. But in true capitalist style they have corporate sponsorships of the animal exhibits.

Now I don’t care if Pepsi decides to sponsor a penguin, because for all I know Pepsi has never done anything to birds in general. But it is not cool that KFC was the sponsor of many exhibits at the zoo. Those are the same people that slam chicken’s heads into walls for fun. Not even joking:

http://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com/

To make matters worse the zoo actually had a KFC on the premises. A zoo that professes a love for animals & then accepts the money of KFC is an oxymoron. The zoo should have vegetarian dining, or at least have like a Quizno’s or something.

I sent a strongly worded letter to the zoo but my complaints fell on deaf ears. I even sent them a link to Kentucky Fried Cruelty but they still weren’t convinced. But never fear! I’ve forwarded this issue to PETA. If I know those guys & I think I do, this is the type of stuff that gets their panties in a bunch. I just hope they’re not too busy with their new campaign to rebrand cows as ‘land seals’.

Meanwhile write the Singaporean zoo and see if they’re even aware of their hypocrisy.

info@zoo.com.sg

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A new study released earlier this week claims that through large scale hunting/gathering humans have become the driving evolutionary force in the animal kingdom.

When humans hunt/fish they generally go after the largest animal. By killing the largest or strongest animal it leaves other less genetically desirable animals to mate in their place, and that puts a kink into natural selection. As a result animals are becoming smaller & reproducing earlier, and when animals reproduce at an earlier age they tend to have less offspring which just exacerbates the problem.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKTRE50B73320090112

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PETA has undergone a promotional campaign to make people more empathetic towards fish by calling them ’sea kittens’.

“PETA thought that by renaming fish sea kittens, compassionate people who would never dream of hurting a dog or a cat might extend that sympathy to fish, or sea kittens,” PETA campaign coordinator Ashley Byrne says.

However when asked why they didn’t just rebrand kittens as ‘land fish’ PETA had no comment.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99249669

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I watched ‘The Happening’ this morning. That movie is hilarious, I didn’t think it was possible for people to be that bad at acting. One thing to come from the movie however was that it spurred me to look up information on Colony Collapse Disorder.

It’s a very mysterious phenomena affecting honeybees across the world in which otherwise healthy colonies stop eating & eventually disappear. That may not sound like such a big deal, but bees play a very important role in the planet’s ecosystems. They’re one of the only pollinators that can be mass utilized for commercial crops.

Theories as to why this is happening are varied and nothing more than speculative. My current operating theory is that shortly after the release of ‘Bee Movie’, bees realized they were douche bags & started to kill themselves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder

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The United States Senate today voted to protect upwards of two-million aces in nine states. The move was largely criticised by Republican Senators claiming that the bill didn’t properly have amendments to allow oil & natural gas exploration on the lands.

Because apparently when you declare public lands you should only do so if there is financial incentive.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090112/ap_on_go_co/congress_wilderness

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President Bush today established the largest marine conservation area in history. Over three hundred thousand square kilometres in the Pacific (including the depths of the Mariana Trench) will now be protected as national monuments. This status will protect the waters from commercial fishing as well as oil & natural gas exploration.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090106/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_marine_conservation

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