Environmentalism and Wildlife Conservation Discussion

Here be the thread for the discussion of issues pertaining to environmentalism and the conservation of wildlife, water, natural habitats and resources, and other related things.

First item on the table: The Japanese town made infamous by the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove" will open a marine park where visitors can swim with dolphins, but officials said Monday its annual slaughter of the creatures will continue in a nearby bay. And unrepentant organisers say they want tourists to be able to eat dolphin and whale meat as they watch the captive animals frolic.

I cannot even begin to articulate the utter shock and the feeling that something within my heart had shriveled up and died in horrified despair that I felt when I read the title and realized what the topic is about. Of course, I already knew that Japan was stubbornly persistent about its whaling traditions (more info here) from the clashes near Antarctica between Japan's so-called "whale research" fleet and the Sea Shepherd eco-group. But still... Dolphins! Who the hell slaughters freaking dolphins in cold blood just to sell their meat?!

edited 7th Oct '13 6:23:16 AM by MarqFJA

I mind don't hunting in moderation, but we seem to have reached a certain point where killing for sport transitioned from a wilderness challenge (a test of actual fortitude and reverence for nature) to lazy, wanton killing for its own sake. In other words, think about Sarah Palin shooting wolves from a helicopter or people blinding deers with their headlights and running them over. It's cheap, and to me, it entirely misses the point of the hunt.

As for animal tourism in places such as zoos and marine parks, I would mind it a lot less if they weren't making a spectacle out of the animal in question. I don't mind zoos because they are often being held for research, wildlife conservation and educational purposes. By contrast, stuff like killer whale shows at Sea World and elephant tricks at the zoo can and often do come off as demeaning. My views on animal welfare aren't as extreme as, say, PETA, but I don't have the highest opinion of people taking dangerous and sensitive animals out of their natural environment, making them do stupid tricks, and then wondering why the animal mauls the living shit out of them or literally tears them apart.

edited 7th Oct '13 7:00:40 PM by Aprilla

In fairness, blatantly one-sided wilderness hunts have been popular for centuries. It's just now a couple idiots in a truck can do it, instead of being limited to nobles rich enough to bring their entire entourage.

Well, not that i agree with them, but in defense of japanese attitude :

Whaling in Japanese has become "national pride" issues, sometime allied nation acting quite stubborn in small issue to defend their pride, Canada also has issue with US on softwood? lumber that they quite stubbornly defend. It is "pride" that matter, the issue itself become less relevant.

Western opinion of intelligence of cetacean is cultural. pig also quite intelligent, and pork is still popular in western nation. Japanese can honestly accuse US of hipocrisy.

according to this : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling_controversy

Minke whale (the majority of Japan whale hunt) never considered endangered

edited 7th Oct '13 8:21:28 PM by PhilippeO

Wasn't the issue about Japanese whalers centered around the fact that they're hunting the whales to extinction? And not that they were hurting intelligent creatures?

As for one-sided hunts, I'm pretty ok with it as long as it's to hunt vermin like feral pigs (I forget where exactly, but I heard they were a serious problem somewhere in the US). As for hunting other stuff that isn't vermin, I dunno. No opinion really.

edited 7th Oct '13 8:09:23 PM by QuestionMarc

The problem with that is, in the case of domesticated pigs, when one dies, there are normally 2-3 to take it's place. Due to the fact that pigs can mature and produce litters withing 6 months of their lives and can produce up to 12 piglets a pop (on top of having a monthly cycle in which they can be bred).

Whales?

Whales have to wait 6-13 years before it can produce young, the gestation period is 10 – 18 months, they only produce an average one baby per birth and the reproduction period in which a whale is able to conceive can range from 2-6 years.

Consistent hunting of whales is bad because the breed just isn't suited to being farmed like pigs are, regardless of intelligence. Hence why Japan is getting flack for their whaling habits. They're unsustainable hunting them.

edited 7th Oct '13 8:23:05 PM by PippingFool

MacArthur had Japan turn to whaling in the postwar years, when the risk of nationwide famine was running high. Guess something was left over from that era - which is kind of stupid now that there's nothing in whales they can't get elsewhere more cheaply.

Anyway, the World Rhino Day was just a couple of weeks ago - good time to remember how did we let an entire sub-species disappear in the last decade again, and that the surviving ones often number in mere dozens and spread across increasingly pocketed forest areas. Inbreeding might just do in the Javan rhino within the decade.

And I think we all can agree that we can blame Realpolitik for getting in the way of the conservation efforts for remote/little-known areas/species getting proper support from governments, both the local ones in said areas and those of the countries that the conservationists hail from.

edited 8th Oct '13 3:07:02 PM by MarqFJA

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park authorities approve sediment dumping plans for a coal port.

THAT'S what my cousin was posting about.

Man fuck that guy. What kind of a leader allows something like that to be done to a delicate ecosystem that's already in danger?

Well, they keep saying that setting it up on a small stretch of sand and silt won't affect the Reef at large - but still, setting up major coal operations right next to one of the world's most delicate ecosystems is just asking for trouble. :/

And another falls to the (Australian) dollar.:/

Texas Tech Cheerleader Posing with Hunts in Africa Sparks Outrage

I can see where the conservationists are coming from (TR comes to mind), but I can see the other side, especially local Africans who take umbrage of a rich, white, American girl "solving their conservation problems". So it's a bit of a sticky wicket.

Tags reveal Chilean devil rays are among ocean's deepest divers

Kudzu can release soil carbon, accelerate global warming

Behind a marine creature's bright green fluorescent glow

What It'd Take to Build a Human-sized Robin's Nest

Five-legged kangaroo? Telling the tale of a kangaroo's tail

edited 1st Jul '14 11:53:24 PM by rmctagg09

I have no knowledge of whether other states use it or not, but the North Carolina Road Dept. has been using invasive vetch species in their hydro-seed mix as a substitute for Kudzu in their erosion control projects. I've noticed that in areas they've sprayed it's spread far past their initial spray boundaries and into fields. While the plant is much more fragile than Kudzu, it's still very prolific. Can't help but idly muse that its final results might be a sort of repeat of the kudzu planting projects.

'Bigfoot' Cases Solved, But a New Mystery Surfaces

Scorpions Build Mansions with Sun Rooms, Cool Beds

Bone-House Wasp Protects Nest With Ant Corpses

Researchers Translate Chimpanzee "Language"

Ironing out details of the carbon cycle: Dissolved iron in North Atlantic traced to Sahara desert

Whales as ecosystem engineers: Recovery from overhunting helping to buffer marine ecosystems from destabilizing stresses

"Coal-rollers": Conservatives purposely make their cars spew black smoke

ಠ_ಠ

Antarctic climate and food web strongly linked

Those have been around for awhile. Diesel done right is actually more fuel efficient. But some like to make a point of making them worse.

And Diesel done douche is bad for everyone, the people they're trolling, the people they cause to get or put at risk to get in traffic accidents, and themselves as well. Delicious, delicious cancer.