Back from the Brink

Nature's Greatest Comebacks

Habitats | Species 

While humankind played a role in the near extinction of species and habitats, it was human intervention that helped with the recovery from extinction. Whale, wolf, rhino and more made a successful comeback from a fragile point.

Photo iStock

Photo Stockvault/Kate Towers

Photo Stockvault/Danny Ouellet

Watch the Top 10 Comebacks slideshow

Wildlife Conservation Agenda

The President should be a strong and consistent voice
for wildlife conservation
and for sustainable management of wildlife habitat. 

The Wildlife Conservation Agenda  for the Obama Administration provides a roadmap for fulfilling this promise.

Read the agenda

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via Defenders of Wildlife.

Lab Animal Week

This ought to be a day-by-day campaign until no creature suffers these atrocities.

Animal Defenders International (ADI) video


World Lab Animal Week 2011 from Animal Defenders on Vimeo.

Beauty and her Beak

Source: Birds of Prey Northwest

Beauty was rescued in Alaska left to die with her beak shot 

Birds of Prey Northwest, along many contributors and sponsors, are involved in the process of Beauty's new prosthetic beak. With the help of volunteer scientists, researchers, engineers and dental and medical specialists, Beauty has survived.

Beauty has a new prosthetic beak

Read the re-habilitation process at Birds of Prey Northwest
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♥ Consider a kind donation to support Beauty's life

Sweden in Controversial Wolf Hunt

There is no scientific basis to slaughter the Wolf. Only 12,000 hunting licences paid to calllous agencies in a disproportion of 444 hunters per wolf.

Sweden in Controversial Wolf Hunt

“The hunt was blasted by ecologists as rushed, cruel and lacking coordination, as some 12,000 hunters had been granted permits to kill the 27 animals.”
Read the Swedish news (in English)

  
  
Before hunting them was made illegal, the wolves were so close to extinction that Sweden and Norway worked together to reintroduce the species in the forests along their common border.

  
  
  
  

Environmental protection organizations are critical of Sweden’s decision to allow the wolves to be hunted once again, saying that the animal’s numbers are still too few to be considered ‘healthy’. (treehugger.com)


  
  






Learn about the wolf hunt

Raise your voice to stop the slaughter

Tilin’s Journey

BOLIVIAN CIRCUS ANIMALS RESCUED AND REHOMED

This rescue is part of ADI’s mission to rehome every circus animal set free by Bolivia’s ban on the use of all animals in circuses.

Read Tilin’s Journey 

Rescued lions reach their sanctuary




Read the rescue story in ADI Rescue Diary

See their new home at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado, USA

Movies require Adobe Flash for playback

Rocky Mountain Wolves Protection

Endangered Species Act

Protections Reinstated for Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf Population

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Canis Lupus

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is publishing a final rule in the Federal Register to reinstate the regulatory protections under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 for the gray wolf (Canis lupus) in most of the Northern Rocky Mountains (NRM). This administrative procedure is a restatement in regulation in order to comply with the District of Montana court order dated August 5, 2010.

  

In order to enforce the court order, this final rule corrects the gray wolf listing for the northern half of Montana, the northern panhandle of Idaho, the eastern third of Washington and Oregon, and north-central Utah as endangered and reinstates the former special rules designating the gray wolf in the remainder of Montana and Idaho as nonessential experimental populations. Because ESA protections were not removed in Wyoming by our April 2, 2009, final delisting rule, Wyoming is not impacted by this final rule.

This action is publishing in the Federal Register on Tuesday, October 26, 2010. However, the court order had legal effect immediately upon its filing at 2:43 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time on August 5, 2010.

To learn more about the Endangered Species Program, visit: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/.

Equine Beauty

My new line of calendars


Purchase this calendar

 Sales proceeds support equine rescue

Animal Tracks Identification

From barn residents to their neighbours, see who is around.

via almanac.com

Tracks are as close as your backyard—or a critter nibbling in your garden!. Tracking is something that you learn by doing. Here are a few tips:

• Animal tracks are easiest to find in mud, soft garden soil, sand, and snow.
• Study the ground closely. Get down on your hands and knees. Note the size of the track and whether it shows claw marks. You may wish to make a sketch.
• Track early in the morning or late in the day when shadows make prints easier to see.
• Watch for animal droppings called scat. The scat will also help you track the animal. If it's dry all the way through, the tracks may have been left a while ago. Scat can also tell you if you're tracking a vegetarian or a meat eater.

Wild Neighbours - The Humane Approach

Co-existence with wild neighbours 

There is a humane approach to living with wildlife. There are three basic principles that underline the resolution of urban conflicts with wildlife:

• Understanding of living forms
• Respect of the environment
• Willingness to resolve conflicts humanely instead of lethally
  
  

Many wildlife problems arise out of the irrational fears people sometimes show. The understanding that we all share the same urban eco-system where each creature plays an important role, will certainly solve urban problems without injuring wildlife. 

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For a humane co-existence with Coyote:

read the excellent article Coyotes on Your Doorstep  by John Maguranis.

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For a humane co-existence with:

• Cougar 
• Skunk
• Beaver
• Bear
• Crow
• Deer
• Mole
• Mouse
• Pigeon
• Rabbit
• Porcupine
• Raccoon
• Snake
• Squirrel
• Woodchuck (Groundhog, Marmot, Whistle-pig)
• Woodpecker

consult the PAWS guide

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Native American Wisdom

"If you talk to animals they will talk with you and you will know each other.
If you do not talk to them, you will not know them and what you do not know you will fear.
What one fears, one destroys."

Chief Dan George

Hope for the Iberian Lynx

Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus)

Not since the time of the sabertooth
has a feline species gone extinct

The largest threat facing the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) is habitat destruction and the destruction of its prey base, the European Hare. The prey also suffered a major blow when an introduced disease – poxvirus myxomatosis – to which the European Hare had no natural immunity and was nearly decimated. By the time they started building a resistance to this disease and the numbers started to recover, a new disease –viral hemorrhagic pneumonia - took its place and killed a large number of adult rabbits.

This cat also suffers at the hands of man, frequently being killed by traps and snares set for rabbits, by being hit by cars as the number of roads increase. The Spanish Government is now in the process of developing a national conservation effort to save the Iberian Lynx.

 Safe underpassage for the Iberian Lynx

Learn more and become involved:

• NWF
• ARKive
• National Geographic

Saving the Canada Lynx

After languishing for eight years on the Endangered Species list with little to no protection of its habitat, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated nearly 25 million acres in Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington as critical habitat for the reclusive feline.

This is the largest area of critical habitat ever designated for any terrestrial species.

Learn more

Primate Welfare

Learn about a place with extensive and remarkable
achievements, along a courageous dedication,
for the welfare of primates

Enter IPPL

Guides to Endangered Species

Thylacine

Already Extinct

An endangered species or subspecies is one that is in danger of becoming extinct throughout its range or in a portion of its range. A threatened species or subspecies is one that is likely to become endangered if it is not protected.

Read the list of endangered creatures by:   National Geographic Society's list

Species of the continental United States that are classified as endangered or threatened:  eNature's list

Howling for Mercy

"Wolves, like all other wildlife,have a right to exist in a wild state in viable populations.This right is in no way related to their known value to mankind. Instead, it derives from the right of all living creatures to co-exist with man as a part of natural ecosystems"

Manifesto, Declaration of Principles for Wolf Conservation

 by the Wolf Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission

 World Conservation Union (IUCN)

Wolf conservation in the Highlands of Scotland:  Wolf Trust

Wolf conservation in the UK and Eurasia:  The UK Wolf Conservation Trust

Wolf conservation in the USA:

About the Denali Wolves

About the Toklat Wolves

Home and Office Décor

"Sweet Nectar" tile
by Carmen Mandel-Cesáreo

Purchase this tile

More in my e-shop: Wall prints, calendars, note cards and more featuring the whim of the natural world.

All proceeds from the sales of my "Nature's Patterns" lines
are donated to wildlife conservation

Re-homing exotic, farm and small animals

Finding the right place

PAWS shelter homeless animals, rehabilitates injured and orphaned wildlife and empowers people to demonstrate compassion and respect for animals in their daily lives.

Enter PAWS

The World’s Remaining Red Wolves

There are only 130 left in the world

Illegal killing, road deaths and habitat loss threat their survival chances. There are only 130 of them left in the world and they survive in the wilds of eastern North Carolina, USA.

Red Wolves once roamed throughout the Southeast of the USA, but were driven to extinction by predator control and habitat loss. They are the endangered Red Wolves.

Learn about the Red Wolf

A Home for Life

Our companions enrich our lives

Give the gift of love with a lifelong commitment to a pet companion. Consider adopting a pet companion. Senior and black pets are the most underestimated pets at the time of adoption. Especially consider giving a loving home to these.

Browse these places:

The Humane Society of the United States - HSUS
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - ASPCA
Toronto Humane Society

Compassionate Shopping

We cal lead our lives and spare the suffering inflicted upon animals in the cosmetics, personal care and household products industries. Participating companies make a voluntary pledge not to test their products on animals during any stage of product development or to use animal sources. 

Find out how to shop compassionately at:

LeapingBunny
Affiliated companies
Caring Consumer Guide

Learn about animal testing at: PAWS

Examples of products and materials in our modern world that use animals include: packaging, ink, glue, paint, wallpaper, linoleum, carpet, insulation, laundry detergents, fabric softeners, disinfectants, asphalt, steel, car tires, lubricants, deodorants, perfumes, sunscreen, shampoos, soaps, toothpaste, creams, cosmetics, fabric dyes, pharmaceuticals, sports equipment, clothing and more.

Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary

Founded in 1986 to combat the abuses of industrialized farming, Farm Sanctuary encourage a new awareness and understanding about farm animals. Learn more and take action.

Enter Farm Sanctuary

Ethical Conservation

Ethical Conservation is the logical extension of the animal rights philosophy to wildlife protection and the protection of wildlife habitat.

An interesting article about the meaning and purpose of Ethical Conservation: Read it here