Amazon river dolphins are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Sylvain CORDIER / Gamma-Rapho / Getty Images
By Peter Yeung
A pair of pink Amazon river dolphins emerges for just a moment, arcing above the chocolate brown waters inside the Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development, a research facility at the tropical heart of the Brazilian Amazon. Powerful jets of water spray out of their blowholes as these freshwater mammals take in air before submerging.
<p>Moments later the duo reappear on the other side of the Japurá River, playfully dovetailing, and skirting the edge of the <em>várzea</em> rainforest — a seasonal floodplain where, in this part of Amazonia, river levels can rise and fall by up to 12 meters (39 feet) a year, at times opening up vast swathes of rainforest to these graceful swimmers.</p><p>"They are very special creatures," says Natanael dos Santos, a guide working at the Mamirauá Institute. "They are extremely intelligent and can display a complex set of behaviors, even like humans." These skilled, sharp-toothed hunters, often reaching more than eight feet in length, are well adapted to shifting river levels. During highwater periods they penetrate deep into the rainforest using echolocation to search murky pools amid submerged tree roots for prey including dozens of fish species, turtles and freshwater crabs.</p><p>The Amazon river dolphin (<em>Inia geoffrensis</em>) or boto, already <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/10831/50358152" target="_blank">classified as "endangered"</a> since 2018 by the IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is now coming under even more serious threat across Brazil and Latin America. An estimated population in the <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/amazon-river-dolphin" target="_blank">low tens of thousands</a> is thought to exist in the wild, though counting the animals accurately in the Amazon's murky streams is challenging. Like other river dolphins, the boto communicates with variable whistle tones.</p><p>Occupying the Amazon and Orinoco river basins, which cut across the northern half of the South American continent, these freshwater mammals were historically abundant, and are protected today by Brazilian law; it is illegal to kill them. But for years, poachers have <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261359911_Insights_on_the_use_of_dolphins_boto_Inia_geoffrensis_and_tucuxi_Sotalia_fluviatilis_for_bait_in_the_piracatinga_Calophysus_macropterus_fishery_in_the_Western_Brazilian_Amazon" target="_blank">targeted the dolphins</a>, using their fatty blubber as bait to catch a carnivorous catfish called <em>piracatinga</em>, which is drawn to the scent of rotting flesh.</p>
<p>In January 2015, under the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, that chronic criminal behavior led to the introduction of a <a href="https://infoamazonia.org/pt/2015/03/amazon-fishermen-want-to-reduce-time-of-moratorium-on-piracatinga-fish/#!/story=post-12510&loc=-4.389559200000014,-64.55674760000001,7" target="_blank">five-year moratorium</a> on catching <em>piracatinga</em> in order to better protect the dolphins.</p><p>But that moratorium ended earlier this year and has yet to be renewed by the Jair Bolsonaro administration, which is undermining many other of Brazil's environmental laws. Experts warn that the failure to extend it could lead to the extinction of the largest freshwater dolphin in the world — a fate that befell <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/aug/08/endangeredspecies.conservation" target="_blank">China's Yangtze river dolphin (</a><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/aug/08/endangeredspecies.conservation" target="_blank"><em>Lipotes vexillifer</em></a><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/aug/08/endangeredspecies.conservation" target="_blank"><em>)</em></a> in 2007, following years of overfishing, pollution and habitat degradation.</p><p>"I believe [the lack of a moratorium] could make them extinct," warns Dr. Vera da Silva, a researcher for INPA, the Amazon research institute, who has been studying Amazonia's dolphins for more than 30 years. "Not all the objectives of the moratorium were fulfilled, therefore the moratorium must be extended," she explained.</p><p>Research by da Silva, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article-abstract/123/3/666/4888610" target="_blank">published in 2017</a>, found that a female dolphin's pregnancy typically lasts 13 months. After that, the mother feeds a calf underwater for two years. Due to that long gestation and nursing period, females only reproduce every three to five years.</p><p>"They are a very slow reproductive species," da Silva notes. "If the removal is higher [than the reproduction and rearing rate] the species does not have the capacity to replace itself."</p><p>Separate <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0191304" target="_blank">findings</a> by da Silva published in 2018 revealed that the Amazon river dolphin population in Brazil is halving every decade.</p>
<p>Prosecutors in Amazonas state, where the Mamirauá Institute is based, originally asked for the moratorium which started in 2015, warning that as many as 2,500 dolphins were being killed illegally each year for bait.</p><p>Da Silva reports that in November 2019 she met with officials from the Secretariat of Production of the State of Amazonas (SEPROR), to discuss the extension of the moratorium in Amazonas. But nothing has happened since, and the peak fishing season is due to begin in July.</p><p>"There is a huge amount of ignorance," she warns. "We need better information on fishing practices. There aren't strong enough laws to make fishermen report what they catch."</p><p>Marcelo Oliveira, a conservation specialist at World Wildlife Fund Brazil (WWF), agrees with that analysis. "Fishing is a threat but we don't have enough data," he says. "If we don't know where the river dolphins are, we can't say how bad [the threat] is. But it's expensive to do expeditions to monitor population trends."</p><p>WWF has been innovating — utilizing drones to accomplish the difficult job of making improved population estimates, flying 2.5 kilometer strips of river to record footage. "It's much cheaper and more efficient," than doing boat observations, he says. The NGO is currently partnering with British universities to analyze the drone findings using artificial intelligence.</p><p><span></span>But even with better data recording practices and an improved data set, Oliveira says that the river dolphins are still at great risk from a broad range of threats. "Bycatch sees so many dolphins caught in fishing nets, gold mining in the region has led to mercury poisoning in the water, and the construction of hydroelectric dams has reduced their habitat and genetic pool," he explains.</p>
<p>Oliveira believes that for now the focus of dolphin conservation should be on improved community engagement across the Amazon basin, with strong outreach to fishermen, in a region whose burgeoning population has now topped 34 million.</p><p>"Extending the moratorium could be a way to protect the dolphins, alternative baits could be a way, but we need to have a balance between development and biodiversity conservation," he says. "It's not a fight between the two. If communities are involved in conservation, the dolphins will be safer."</p><p>Fernando Trujillo, scientific director of the <a href="https://omacha.org/" target="_blank">Fundacion Omacha</a>, a Colombia-based environmental NGO specializing in protecting river dolphins set up in 1993, says that conservation must also be addressed on an international level.</p><p>"The end of [Brazil's] moratorium will send out the message that fishing is okay — even in other countries across Latin America," he says. "We need to work together with all the countries in terms of policy, agreeing on the same criteria and same legislation, especially when it comes to monitoring the borders."</p><p>Trujillo, who is also co-chair of the International Whaling Commission's small cetaceans committee, is calling for the Brazil moratorium to be extended another five years. "For so many reasons, it's a species we need to conserve and save," he says. "Alive dolphins can produce more money than dead ones for local communities through ecotourism."</p>
<p>Indigenous beliefs hold that the river dolphin — which transforms from grey to pink as it ages — is a magical creature. Males and females are both said to have the ability to morph at will into either a handsome man, or beautiful woman respectively, in order to seduce villagers in the dark of night. But scientists see the mammals as top predators of the Amazon aquatic ecosystem — considering them the jaguars of the rivers.</p><p>A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply said it had not yet extended the moratorium because "it is necessary to evaluate its effects on the recovery of populations of porpoises and caimans in order to verify the effectiveness of this fisheries management measure." When asked by Mongabay to comment, the ministry did not provide a timeframe for this evaluation period.</p><p>There is another myth about the Amazon river dolphin. It is said that to kill one is bad luck. Not knowing what negative aquatic impacts might radiate from the extinction of this top predator, authorities may want to heed this legend as they try to decide whether or not to renew Brazil's moratorium.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/amazon-river-dolphin-risks-extinction-if-brazil-moratorium-not-renewed/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Argali sheep are considered a near-threatened species, in large part due to trophy hunting. Long Zhiyong / Moment / Getty Images
Donald Trump Jr.'s hunting expedition to Mongolia last summer, where he had the distinction of killing a rare breed of sheep, cost taxpayers at least $76,859.36, according to documents unearthed by a watchdog group.
<p><a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/" target="_blank">Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington</a>, or CREW, <a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/don-jr-mongolian-sheep-hunt-cost-17k/" target="_blank">originally received</a> Secret Service documents in March that showed that Secret Service protection for the trip cost at least $17,000, a fraction of the more than $75,000 it actually cost taxpayers. However, those numbers looked fishy to CREW, since it did not make any mention of flight costs, nor it did it account for Trump Jr.'s trip to Mongolia's capital city, Ulaanbaatar, where he had a secretive meeting with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga, according to <a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/don-jr-mongolian-hunting-trip-cost-75k/" target="_blank">CREW</a>.</p><p>"If just one of Don Jr's <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trophy-hunting">trophy hunting</a> trips cost more than $75,000, it's staggering to think how high the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> family's total bill with taxpayers must be," CREW tweeted while sharing a picture of an argali sheep.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If just one of Don Jr’s trophy hunting trips cost more than $75,000, it’s staggering to think how high the Trump family's total bill with taxpayers must be.<a href="https://t.co/NIpQpgZjAb">https://t.co/NIpQpgZjAb</a></p>— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) <a href="https://twitter.com/CREWcrew/status/1270219152423374849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>As <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-donald-trump-jr-went-to-mongolia-got-special-treatment-from-the-government-and-killed-an-endangered-sheep" target="_blank">ProPublica</a> originally reported, the trip was pockmarked with corruption. Trump Jr. did not actually have the proper permits to hunt rare argali sheep, the largest species of sheep, noted for their giant horns.</p><p>The government of Mongolia issued him a permit retroactively, after Trump Jr. had already killed one and left the region. He also killed a red deer, which also needed a special permit. Also, Trump Jr. was accompanied by a major Republican donor, oil and gas company CEO Kevin Small.</p><p>The trip was arranged through a tourism company owned by a politically connected member of the Mongolian president's party, according to CREW, as <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-jr-mongolia-hunting-trip-endangered-sheep_n_5edf126bc5b6948cbc5c971a" target="_blank">HuffPost</a> reported. The company helped arrange the special permit after the hunt had already taken place.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/09/politics/donald-trump-jr-mongolia-sheep-secret-service/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> noted, argali are considered a near-threatened species, <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15733/5074694" target="_blank">according to the Red List of Threatened Species</a>, in large part due to trophy hunting.</p><p>Trump Jr. is a proud trophy hunter, often using his social media accounts to share images from his hunting and fishing trips to locations across the globe, including hunting elephants. His pride in big game hunts has netted him harsh criticism from animal rights' groups and conservationists.</p>
<p>After Trump Jr. killed an argali sheep last year at night with a laser scope, he instructed his guides not to dismember the animal. Instead, he instructed them to use an aluminum sheet to carry the carcass so as not to damage the fur and horns, as <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-donald-trump-jr-went-to-mongolia-got-special-treatment-from-the-government-and-killed-an-endangered-sheep" target="_blank">ProPublica</a> reported.</p><p>That order to protect the fur and horns raised suspicion from the Center for Biological Diversity, which asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to investigate whether Trump Jr. imported argali parts back into the country — an illegal import, according to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/06/09/donald-trump-jrs-hunting-trip-to-kill-endangered-sheep-in-mongolia-cost-taxpayers-more-than-75000/#b6d766d139f7" target="_blank">Forbes</a>.</p>
<p><br>The Trump family averages about 1,000 more Secret Service trips per year than the Obama family did, according to the Treasury Department, as <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-jr-mongolia-hunting-trip-endangered-sheep_n_5edf126bc5b6948cbc5c971a" target="_blank">HuffPost</a> reported. That's a 12-fold increase over the Obamas' travel. The president, as well as his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, all have kept their investment in their private companies, but travel on taxpayer money.</p><p>"Because of the overlap between the Trump Organization, the Trump White House and the Trump campaign, taxpayer money all too often ends up facilitating President Trump's conflicts of interest," CREW said in a <a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/don-jr-mongolian-sheep-hunt-cost-17k/" target="_blank">statement</a> earlier this year.</p>
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A breaching minke whale in Iceland. FEE International / Flickr
No whales will be hunted in Iceland for the second year in a row, and one of the country's two whaling companies is ceasing operations permanently.
<p>"I'm never going to hunt whales again, I'm stopping for good," managing director of company IP-Utgerd Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson told <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2020/04/25/no-whaling-in-iceland-for-second-straight-year.html" target="_blank">AFP Sunday</a>.</p><p>IP-Utgerd specialized in hunting minke whales, which means Iceland's minke whale hunt is officially over. Hvalur, the second Icelandic whaling company that specializes in fin whales, said it was not hunting this year due to difficulties exporting meat and social-distancing measures related to the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">Conservation</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/animal-welfare" target="_self">animal welfare</a> groups welcomed the news.</p><p>"This is tremendous news," <a href="https://uk.whales.org/" target="_blank">Whale and Dolphin Conservation</a> (WDC) CEO Chris Butler-Stroud <a href="https://uk.whales.org/2020/04/27/success-icelandic-minke-whale-hunts-end-after-years-of-wdc-campaigning/" target="_blank">said in a statement</a>. "It is also a turning point for Iceland and its people and something that WDC has campaigned for for years. An end to minke whaling, and the end in sight for fin whaling, gives Iceland the chance to position itself as the true green island of the North Atlantic."</p>
<div id="c8718" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0095bc2b9474932a15dc9f1e9b6461e9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1254791265071308800" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We are overjoyed to say that after years of dedicated WDC campaigning, Icelandic minke whale hunts are ending. This… https://t.co/D6WIzE0TJQ</div> — Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) (@Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC))<a href="https://twitter.com/whalesorg/statuses/1254791265071308800">1588000525.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><a href="https://www.hsi.org/" target="_blank">Humane Society International</a> CEO Kitty Block also called it a "major turning point in the battle against whaling" on her <a href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/2020/04/iceland-may-have-killed-its-last-whale-whaling-company-says-it-will-hang-up-its-harpoons-for-good.html" target="_blank">blog</a>.</p><p>Hvalur CEO Kristjan Loftsson said the main reason behind the canceled hunt was competition with Japan, which <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/japan-commercial-whaling-2639041011.html" target="_self">restarted commercial whaling in 2019</a>, as AFP reported. The company sells most of its catch to Japan, but the Japanese market is flooded with local government-subsidized production and also requires more tests for whale meat imported from Iceland, <a href="https://www.icelandreview.com/news/no-whaling-in-iceland-for-second-summer-in-a-row/" target="_blank">Iceland Review explained</a>.</p><p>WDC pointed out that whale meat is actually not a popular Icelandic dish, and only 1.5 percent of Iceland's population buys it regularly, a 2016 survey found.</p><p>Loftsson also told The Morning Paper in Iceland that social distancing requirements made the processing of whale meat "almost impossible" since workers need to stand "very closely together," as the <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6735091/iceland-whaling-cancelled-again-this-year/?cs=14232" target="_blank">Australian Associated Press reported</a>.</p><p>However, the CEO did not seem ready to give up on whale meat, saying that research was ongoing into the use of the iron-rich meat to treat anemia patients and into the use of bones and blubber for gelatin.</p><p>Iceland has killed more than 1,700 whales since the 1986 ban on commercial whaling, WDC reported.</p><p>In 2018, the last year it held a hunt, whalers killed 146 fin whales and six minke whales, the Australian Associated Press reported. The 2020 quota was for 200 of each.</p><p>Block, meanwhile, pointed out that the fight against whaling was not over.</p><p>"We now turn our focus to the two remaining outliers who continue to defy the global whaling moratorium, killing hundreds of whales each year: Japan and Norway," she wrote. "Their fleets remain active during the pandemic, even as the market for highly-subsidized whale meat is declining rapidly. It is time for these two nations to join Iceland and hang up their harpoons for good."</p>
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A Smithfield Foods pork plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that was forced to close after it became one of the nation's leading coronavirus hot spots. Smithfield Foods was bought by China's WH Group Ltd (0288.HK) in 2013 for $4.7 billion, according to Reuters. KEREM YUCEL / AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday ordering meat processing plants to remain open during the coronavirus pandemic.
<p>The order came two days after the chair of Tyson Foods <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/meat-shortages-coronavirus-slaughterhouses-2645861788.html" target="_self">warned</a> that plant closures could remove millions of pounds of meat from the U.S. supply chain, leading to shortages in grocery stores. But plant workers and labor advocates are concerned the order could put meat-industry employees at greater risk.</p><p>"To me it's just putting more people in danger. He is not concerned about the people's life and well-being," Robert Hope, a 59-year-old worker at a Tyson plant in Camilla, Georgia who has been on unpaid leave since March 18 due to a heart condition that makes him vulnerable to the virus, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/business/economy/coronavirus-trump-meat-food-supply.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>The executive order designates meat production facilities as "critical infrastructure" and was issued under the Defense Production Act. The Labor Department and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) also issued guidelines that will protect plants that remain open from liability. The <a href="http://www.ufcw.org/" target="_blank">United Food and Commercial Workers International Union</a> (UFCW) said at least 13 plants had closed over the past two months, leading to a 25 percent drop in pork production capacity and a 10 percent drop for beef, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/28/politics/defense-production-act-executive-order-food-supply/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2TpsXU8Ed0etYY4I6Pbus09qN5Gl6tTqFxtXD9PpIpINfiw2rqUss5YSQ" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>"Such closures threaten the continued functioning of the national meat and poultry supply chain, undermining critical infrastructure during the national emergency," the executive order said, as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52466502" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. "Given the high volume of meat and poultry processed by many facilities, any unnecessary closures can quickly have a large effect on the food supply chain."</p>
<p>But the closures came because the virus that causes COVID-19 was spreading rapidly between employees in plants where crowded working conditions make social distancing difficult. A Tyson pork plant in Waterloo, Iowa closed after more than 180 infections were linked to it, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-order-meat-processing-plants-stay-open-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-n1194536" target="_blank">NBC News reported</a>. That was nearly half of the cases reported in Iowa's Black Hawk County. Similarly, a Smithfield Foods pork plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/meat-processing-plants-coronavirus-2645711732.html" target="_self">closed</a> after its employees accounted for 238 of the state's 626 cases.</p><p>All told, more than 5,000 meatpacking workers have sickened and at least 20 have died, UFCW said Tuesday.</p><p>The union, which represents 250,000 workers in the industry, issued a statement calling on the administration to ensure workers are protected while plants stay open.</p><p>"While we share the concern over the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a> supply, today's executive order to force meatpacking plants to stay open must put the safety of our country's meatpacking workers first," union president Marc Perrone said. "Simply put, we cannot have a secure food supply without the safety of these workers."</p>
<div id="28d29" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="94449b78dd936851af022ca1e7531037"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1255243469381140481" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">America's meatpacking workers put their lives at risk daily to keep us fed during #coronavirus outbreak.
Today's… https://t.co/EPoLWK1opI</div> — UFCW (@UFCW)<a href="https://twitter.com/UFCW/statuses/1255243469381140481">1588108339.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>He called for measures like ensuring worker access to the national stockpile of personal protective equipment, ensuring access to daily testing for workers and communities, enforcing social distancing guidelines and providing paid leave to any employees who fall ill.</p><p>OSHA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidelines Sunday for keeping meatpacking workers safe, The New York Times reported, such as requiring workers to move through plants single file and placing workstations six feet apart, but worker advocacy groups point out that compliance is voluntary.</p><p>"It's a guideline. It's not a regulation. They can do whatever they want," <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/" target="_blank">Food & Water Watch</a> lobbyist Tony Corbo told The New York Times. "The people are still standing next to one another in these plants. They're still getting sick."</p><p><a href="https://www.peta.org/" target="_blank">People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals</a> (PETA) launched a petition calling on the administration to keep slaughterhouses closed.</p>
<div id="92444" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="64524e2c5b02145cb1bed7e5f37c7bca"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1255326191193673732" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">URGENT: @realdonaldtrump ordered slaughterhouses stay open despite being hotbeds for #COVID19!
For the health of… https://t.co/hVBCH7hqYs</div> — PETA (@PETA)<a href="https://twitter.com/peta/statuses/1255326191193673732">1588128061.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"For the sake of human health and in behalf of the animals destined to be slaughtered and the migrant and other workers who are treated like scum in these slaughterhouses and whose families are more at risk than in almost any other job, PETA asks the nation to rise up and shout a resounding 'NO' to keeping slaughterhouses open at this time," the organization <a href="https://support.peta.org/page/18885/action/1?utm_source=PETA::Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=0420::veg::PETA::Twitter::Urge%20President%20Trump%20to%20Keep%20Slaughterhouses%20Closed::::tweet" target="_blank">wrote</a>.</p>
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An employee restocks the meat section at a grocery store in Miami, Florida on April 13. Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Now might be a good time to go vegetarian.
As meat-processing plants close across the country to stop the new coronavirus from spreading among employees, industry leaders and experts are warning of meat shortages in the nation's grocery stores.
<p>"The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a> supply chain is breaking," Tyson Foods chairman of the board John Tyson wrote in a full-page ad published in The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Sunday, as well as in a <a href="https://thefeed.blog/2020/04/26/feeding-the-nation-and-keeping-our-employees-healthy/" target="_blank">blog</a> on the company's website, as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tyson-foods-chairman-warns-food-supply-chain-breaking-n1193256" target="_blank">NBC News reported</a>.</p>
<div id="18143" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="735fcb7cc670a03c8f18d57cc714d4e0"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1254604496359116801" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">In these challenging days, we have a responsibility to feed our nation and the world. Though a delicate balance, ou… https://t.co/Kt9yRUCp3D</div> — Tyson Foods (@Tyson Foods)<a href="https://twitter.com/TysonFoods/statuses/1254604496359116801">1587955996.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Tyson's warning came after the company closed down two pork processing plants in Waterloo, Indiana and Logansport, Indiana in order to test workers for the virus that causes COVID-19, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/26/business/tyson-foods-nyt-ad/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. Other major players have also closed plants as thousands of slaughterhouse employees have tested positive for the virus. Three of the nation's largest pork plants, which together process around 15 percent of the nation's pig meat, have shuttered indefinitely: Tyson's Waterloo plant; the Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and the JBS pork processing plant in Worthington, Minnesota.</p><p>"As pork, beef and chicken plants are being forced to close, even for short periods of time, millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain," Tyson wrote. "As a result, there will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed."</p>
<p>Outside experts also agree that the country could see meat shortages in grocery stores. <a href="http://www.archerfinancials.com/" target="_blank">Archer Financial Services</a> commodity broker and livestock analyst Dennis Smith told <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/groceries-could-see-meat-shortages-end-week-amid-plant-closings-n1193401" target="_blank">NBC News</a> that meat production was down 25 percent.</p><p>"We've just completed our third week of reduced slaughter and production," Smith told NBC News. "My guess is that about one week out, perhaps around May 1, shortages will begin developing at retail meat counters."</p><p>There is currently enough meat in freezers to keep Americans fed, NBC News reported. The challenge is with moving meat, especially fresh, to grocery stores.</p>
<h3>Worker Safety</h3><p>Slaughterhouses have been forced to close because working conditions make social distancing difficult.</p><p>"I work about two feet from my coworkers," an employee at Tyson's Waterloo plant who tested positive for the virus and asked to be identified as Donald <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/22/us/tyson-waterloo-iowa-plant-employees-coronavirus/index.html" target="_blank">told CNN</a>. "I'm about an arm's length away from my partner. It's close."</p><p>The Waterloo plant only closed under pressure from the community. It was linked to almost half of Black Hawk County, Iowa's COVID-19 cases as of April 21.</p><p>Industry-wide, more than 5,000 meat and food processing workers have been sickened with the virus and 13 have died, according to United Food and Commercial Workers International Union figures reported by NBC News.</p>
<div id="cd07b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="09787f66bef819aa2d587faa18a1ce4c"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1253740038237675520" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">America's meatpacking workers are on the frontlines of #coronavirus outbreak, putting their lives at risk to keep o… https://t.co/hE7jZV2h6p</div> — UFCW (@UFCW)<a href="https://twitter.com/UFCW/statuses/1253740038237675520">1587749893.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In his ad, Tyson said the company was enacting safety measures like installing temperature scanners, requiring face masks, conducting daily deep cleans and installing dividers between workstations.</p><p>However, the case of the Waterloo plant calls into question how consistently and effectively these measures are implemented.</p><p>Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson said he visited the plant April 11.</p><p>"There was no enforcement of PPE, there was no requirement. In fact, some people we saw walking around actually had masks, but they were wearing them around their neck," Thompson told CNN. "I was surprised by the lack of measures, but I was further surprised by what they thought they were doing right."</p>
<h3>Food Waste and Animal Rights</h3><p>The closure of meat processing plants has also impacted farmers and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/animals/" target="_self">animals</a> they raise.</p><p>"In addition to meat shortages, this is a serious <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/food-waste" target="_self">food waste</a> issue," Tyson wrote. "Farmers across the nation simply will not have anywhere to sell their livestock to be processed, when they could have fed the nation. Millions of animals – chickens, pigs and cattle – will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities."</p><p>In some places, this is already happening. Iowa farmer Al Van Beek <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-livestock-insight/piglets-aborted-chickens-gassed-as-pandemic-slams-meat-sector-idUSKCN2292YS" target="_blank">told Reuters</a> he was forced to induce abortions in his pregnant sows because he had nowhere to sell his adult pigs to make room for the 7,500 piglets he was expecting.</p><p>"We have nowhere to go with the pigs," Van Beek said. "What are we going to do?"</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/animal-welfare" target="_self">Animal welfare</a> advocates, however, called out Tyson for only caring about animal lives because they could not profit from them.</p><p>"Just as disingenuous as it has been for some meat plants to blame low-paid workers for their living conditions, Tyson Foods, which slits the throats of frightened animals every day that it operates, now has the gall to seem worried about 'depopulating' — aka killing," <a href="https://www.peta.org/" target="_blank">People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals</a> (PETA) wrote in a Twitter statement.</p>
<div id="db1db" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="774730e5abb71a51fd5a011c78f27e4f"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1254913245686558720" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Just as disingenuous as it has been for some meat plants to blame low-paid workers for their living conditions, Tys… https://t.co/XXDGZ2Bbmu</div> — PETA (@PETA)<a href="https://twitter.com/peta/statuses/1254913245686558720">1588029607.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The group recommended Tyson solve its pandemic problems by switching to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vegan" target="_self">vegan</a> "meat" instead.</p>
<div id="1d27d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="35f8a071272f69708f7153f563a63cbc"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1254913247192346624" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">How can Tyson Foods fix its problems entirely?
By switching its plants to producing the #vegan meat that it's alr… https://t.co/YPNPuK0xeF</div> — PETA (@PETA)<a href="https://twitter.com/peta/statuses/1254913247192346624">1588029607.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Meat processing workers are particularly vulnerable to infection because they stand very close to each other. Russ Schleipman / The Image Bank / Getty Images
Meat processing plants across the U.S. and Canada are being forced to close as employees sicken with the new coronavirus, raising concerns both for the meat supply chain and worker safety at the often crowded plants.
<p>One of the biggest closures to date was Sunday's indefinite shuttering of a Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that is responsible for around five percent of the U.S. daily pork supply, as <a href="https://apnews.com/d855667c811d3d9810883e05702288ad" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>. Its closure came after almost 300 of its 3,700 workers tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19.</p>
<p>"The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply," Smithfield President and CEO Kenneth M. Sullivan said in a <a href="https://www.smithfieldfoods.com/press-room/company-news/smithfield-foods-to-close-sioux-falls-sd-plant-indefinitely-amid-covid-19" target="_blank">statement announcing the closure</a>. "It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running."</p><p>Other plants have shut their doors, at least temporarily, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-meat-factbox-idUSKCN21V09W?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR23YBAAkfyTWSUZyzc45e_qL2mfi0wQkuTwxng9iPRcQ6nBwhXx0h2KjRk" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. They include:</p><ol><li>A JBS USA plant in Greeley, Colorado that is responsible for five percent of the U.S. daily <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/beef" target="_self">beef</a> slaughter, which said Monday it would close until April 24.</li><li>A Tyson Foods hog slaughterhouse in Columbus Junction, Iowa that said Monday it would extend an April 6 closure for another week.</li><li>A National Beef Packing Co. plant in Tama, Iowa that suspended cattle slaughtering until the week of April 20.</li><li>An Olymel pork plant in Yamachiche, Quebec, that closed for two weeks starting March 29.</li><li>A Maple Leaf Foods poultry plant in Brampton, Ontario that suspended production April 8.</li></ol>
<p>Overall, hundreds of workers have fallen ill at plants in Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and other locations, according to The Associated Press.</p><p>Meat processing workers are particularly vulnerable to infection because they stand very close to each other on assembly lines and share crowded locker rooms, leading some food safety and worker advocates to criticize companies and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for not doing more earlier to prevent the spread of the virus.</p><p>"Social distancing is impossible in meatpacking plants," senior government affairs representative for <a href="https://www.foodandwateraction.org/" target="_blank">Food & Water Action</a> Tony Corbo said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. "The plants are incubators for spreading COVID-19 and neither the plant owners nor the USDA has provided adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers and inspectors to use while on the job. Workers and inspectors at these plants must be immediately tested for COVID-19 and then immediately provided PPE and hazardous duty pay. We must treat these people who are critical to ensuring the safety of our food supply like the frontline workers that they are."</p><p>Food & Water Action said the Smithfield plant should have been closed weeks ago. But, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/meatpacking-giant-closes-south-dakota-plant-indefinitely-after-almost-300-employees-test-positive-1497498?fbclid=IwAR3tfVExjShIWwZ9MLmeaM-NH0DvmojWMz6vJJHyqCXpScDEchRMFxR3LpQ" target="_blank">as Newsweek reported</a>, it only closed following a letter from South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Sioux Falls Mayor Paul Ten Haken Saturday, asking the plant to close for 14 days. When it was sent, 238 of the states's 626 cases were among Smithfield employees.</p>
<div id="ce145" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bcde490888c61a454bf191cde6d60c48"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1248659003061788679" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨 The announcement from South Dakota officials makes the Sioux Falls Smithfield Foods meatpacking plant the #4 hots… https://t.co/0Ekj35oy44</div> — Michael Geheren (@Michael Geheren)<a href="https://twitter.com/mgeheren/statuses/1248659003061788679">1586538479.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"This is your moment to take swift action for your people, the community of Sioux Falls and the State of South Dakota," Noem and Ten Taken wrote.</p><p>Smithfield workers at the shuttered plant will receive full pay for the next 14 days.</p><p>It is hard to know how much plant closures will impact U.S. meat eaters. So far the decreased production has been offset by meat stored in freezers, Kansas State University agricultural economist Glynn Tonsor told The Associated Press.</p><p>"You could shut multiple plants down for a day or two, and we've got wiggle room to handle that," said Tonsor. "But if you took four or five of those big plants ... and they had to be down for two weeks, then you've got a game changer."</p><p>For <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/animal-welfare" target="_self">animal welfare</a> advocates, however, the spread of the new coronavirus at meat processing plants is just another symptom of the industry's disregard for both human and animal life.</p><p>"Even without the connection to coronavirus, animal flesh is one of the most cruelly obtained and unhealthy things you could consume," <a href="https://www.peta.org/blog/coronavirus-covid-19-slaughterhouse-meat-concerns/" target="_blank">People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wrote</a>. "Eating meat has been conclusively linked to heart disease, cancer, obesity, and other health issues — and according to the United Nations, animal agriculture is responsible for nearly a fifth of human-induced greenhouse-gas emissions. But each person who goes vegan won't just help fight climate change — they'll also save the lives of nearly 200 animals a year, animals who, just like us, don't want to be killed. Don't wait for COVID-20 — forget freezer meat and go vegan now."</p>
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Animal rights activists try to save dogs at a free market ahead of the Yulin Dog Eating Festival in Yulin city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on June 21, 2014. Jie Zhao / Corbis via Getty Images
The Chinese city of Shenzhen announced Thursday that it would ban the eating of dogs and cats in the wake of the coronavirus, which is believed to have stemmed from the wildlife trade, according to Reuters.
<p>The new ordinance will start on May 1, and makes Shenzhen the first city in China to ban the consumption of animals raised as pets, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/asia/shenzhen-cats-dogs-ban-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. The ban builds on a Feb. 1 decree by the country's government that made it illegal to eat wild animals.</p><p>"Dogs and cats as pets have established a much closer relationship with humans than all other animals, and banning the consumption of dogs and cats and other pets is a common practice in developed countries and in Hong Kong and Taiwan," a spokesperson for the Shenzhen government said, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-city-bans-eating-cats-dogs-coronavirus-wildlife-meat-1495817" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported. "This ban also responds to the demand and spirit of human civilization."</p>
<p>In addition to banning the sale of cats and dogs for food, the new rule, known as the "Shenzhen Special Economic Region Regulation on a Comprehensive Ban on the Consumption of Wild Animals," permanently bans the consumption, breeding and sale of wildlife — such as snakes, lizards and other wild animals — for people to eat in the city, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-city-bans-eating-cats-dogs-coronavirus-wildlife-meat-1495817" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p><p>The rule says that animals that can be eaten include pigs, cattle, sheep, donkeys, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons and quails, among others, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-city-bans-eating-cats-dogs-coronavirus-wildlife-meat-1495817" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p>
<p><br>"If convicted, they will be subjected to a fine of 30 times the wild animal's value, if the animal is above the value of 10,000CNY [$1400 USD]," announced authorities, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/asia/shenzhen-cats-dogs-ban-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> announced.</p><p>Liu Jianping, an official with the Shenzhen Center for Disease Prevention and Control, told the state-owned media Shenzhen Daily that the poultry, livestock and seafood available to consumers was sufficient.</p><p>"There is no evidence showing that wildlife is more nutritious than poultry and livestock," Liu said, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-wildlife/chinas-shenzhen-bans-the-eating-of-cats-and-dogs-after-coronavirus-idUSKBN21K0EW" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>According to the Humane Society International, 30 million dogs are killed each year across Asia for meat. However, eating dog meat in China is actually not that common. The majority of people there say they have never tried it and don't want to, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52131940" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p><p>That said, the Humane Society International praised the move and said it may be an auspicious harbinger for the future protection of dogs, cats and wildlife.</p><p>"With Shenzhen taking the historic decision to become mainland China's first city to ban dog and cat meat consumption, this really could be a watershed moment in efforts to end this brutal trade that kills an estimated 10 million dogs and four million cats in China every year," said Dr. Peter Li, China policy specialist for the Humane Society International, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-city-bans-eating-cats-dogs-coronavirus-wildlife-meat-1495817" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported. "The majority of these companion animals are stolen from people's back yards or snatched from the streets, and are spirited away on the backs of trucks to be beaten to death in slaughterhouses and restaurants across China."</p>
<p>"Shenzhen is China's fifth-largest city so although the dog meat trade is fairly small there compared with the rest of the province, its true significance is that it could inspire a domino effect with other cities following suit. Most people in China don't eat dog or cat meat, and there is considerable opposition to the trade particularly among younger Chinese," he added.</p><p>While authorities are trying to bring the lucrative wildlife trade under control after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cultural roots of China's use of wild animals are deeply ingrained. Wild animals are not only used for food, but also for traditional medicine, clothing, ornaments and even pets, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/asia/shenzhen-cats-dogs-ban-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>"Shenzhen is the first city in the world to take the lessons learned from this pandemic seriously and make the changes needed to avoid another pandemic," said Teresa M. Telecky, the vice president of the wildlife department for Humane Society International, to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-wildlife/chinas-shenzhen-bans-the-eating-of-cats-and-dogs-after-coronavirus-idUSKBN21K0EW" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>"Shenzhen's bold steps to stop this trade and wildlife consumption is a model for governments around the world to emulate."</p>
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Following House Approval, U.S. Has a Chance to Ban the Cruel Shark Fin Trade
18 March
Insights + Opinion
Lemon shark seen in the wild. Vanessa Mignon
By Sara Amundson
Every year, fins from as many as 73 million sharks circulate throughout the world in a complex international market. They are the key ingredient in shark fin soup, a luxury dish considered a status symbol in some Asian cuisines.
<p>The global trade in shark fins is contributing to a crisis among shark populations worldwide. Sharks are being killed <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X13000055?via%3Dihub" target="_blank">30 percent faster</a> than they can reproduce, and the fin trade is one of the main culprits. Up to <a href="https://elife.elifesciences.org/content/3/e00590" target="_blank">one-quarter</a> of all species of sharks and their relatives are at risk of extinction. Some shark populations have declined by <a href="https://www.cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/cop/16/prop/E-CoP16-Prop-43.pdf" target="_blank">nearly 90 percent</a> in recent decades. The disappearance of sharks can <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/shark-fishing-tournaments-devalue-ocean-wildlife-and-harm-conservation/" target="_blank">harm fragile ocean ecosystems</a>, because as top predators, sharks help balance the populations of species below them in the food chain.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="17d87ec34d2ed085f4ac7284997704c0"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4oiX_z0AGgA?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Additionally, many of the fins traded are obtained through the brutal, inhumane practice known as finning, in which fishers at sea catch sharks, slice off their fins and throw the animals — usually still alive — back into the water. Unable to swim without their fins, the sharks drown, bleed to death or are eaten alive by other fish. Because space on boats is limited and fins are by far the most valuable part of the shark, fishers have an incentive to use this cruel method to get fins.</p><p>However, the tide is turning against the shark fin trade.</p><p>In November 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives issued a resounding bipartisan "no" to this cruel practice, voting 310 to 107 to pass a bill <a href="https://www.humanesociety.org/news/house-approves-bill-prohibiting-trade-shark-fins" target="_blank">banning</a> commercial trade of shark fins and products derived from shark fins in the U.S. <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/737" target="_blank">The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act</a>, led by Representatives Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (D-Northern Mariana Islands) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas), would prohibit all purchase, sale and possession for commercial purposes of these parts and products. The legislation builds on previous laws passed by Congress — the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/106/plaws/publ557/PLAW-106publ557.pdf" target="_blank">Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000</a> and the <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/laws-and-policies/shark-conservation-act" target="_blank">Shark Conservation Act of 2010</a> — which banned the act of shark finning in U.S. waters and the transport on U.S.-flagged vessels of shark fins not naturally attached to a shark carcass.</p>The action has now moved to the U.S. Senate, where a third of the members have sponsored a parallel bill, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/877" target="_blank">S. 877</a>, introduced by Senators Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia). Already the Senate Commerce Committee has cleared this bill for potential floor action.
<p>States are also taking up the fight. In January, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill into law that bans the sale and trade of shark fins in the Garden State. The state's general assembly had <a href="https://www.billtrack50.com/BillDetail/990923" target="_blank">approved the bill</a> by a vote of 54 to 19, and the state's senate passed its version of the bill by a vote of 33 to 6. These vote tallies reflect the will of the state's constituents: In a <a href="https://www.humanesociety.org/sites/default/files/docs/NJ%20Public%20Opinion%20Survey%20040119.pdf" target="_blank">recent survey</a>, a majority of New Jersey voters said they would support a prohibition on the sale, possession and trade of shark fins.</p><p>New Jersey now joins 13 other states, including all of its coastal neighbors, and three U.S. territories that have passed legislation to ban or limit the sale of shark fins — American Samoa, California, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington.</p><p>The current to stop the shark fin trade is also flowing internationally. In June 2019, Canada, the <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/document/2017-shark-finning-report-congress" target="_blank">largest importer</a> of shark fins outside Asia, passed a bill that includes measures to prohibit that country's trade in shark fins as well as the act of finning in Canadian waters. Worldwide, nearly 60 airlines and container shipping companies — including Air China, Eastern Air Logistics (the parent company of four major Chinese airlines) and Maersk, the world's largest shipping line — have <a href="https://wildaid.org/four-more-chinese-airlines-ban-shark-fin/" target="_blank">banned the transport of shark fins</a>. Many high-end restaurants and hotel chains in Asia have also stopped serving shark fin soup. Demand for the soup <a href="https://tinyurl.com/tygz8mg" target="_blank">is declining</a> but not quickly enough to save sharks on its own.</p>
<p>While finning in U.S. waters is already prohibited, current law is not enough because once shark fins are on land, they can be sold. Furthermore, U.S. participation in the global fin market continues to fuel the practice in places that lack shark-finning bans or adequate shark management and conservation policies.</p><p>It is impossible to guarantee that shark fins are humanely and sustainably sourced. That is because once a fin is detached, it is impossible to know where it was obtained, or whether it was sliced off a shark at sea or removed after the shark was brought to shore. It is also difficult to determine the species of the shark. For the most part, shark fins sold in the U.S. do not come from U.S. fishers. Because of this, fins sold here can come from sharks that were finned, or from <a href="https://tinyurl.com/clw28lh" target="_blank">endangered or threatened</a> shark species.</p><p>Our role is magnified by the fact that the U.S. is a major transit hub for international shark fin shipments. Latin America is one of the most significant shark fin-producing regions, and many of these countries transport shark fins through U.S. ports. <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/unintentional-partner-shark-fin-market-report_0.pdf" target="_blank">Some Latin American nations</a> ship as much as one-third to one-half of all their shark fin exports through the U.S. In fact, on February 3, almost 1,400 pounds of dried shark fins worth around $1 million were <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/endangered-species-1400-pounds-shark-fins-1m-seized-miami/" target="_blank">found by wildlife inspectors</a> in Miami. The shipment is believed to have originated in South America and was likely headed to Asia.</p>
<p>Still, banning the shark fin trade in the United States has its opponents. They argue that U.S. shark fisheries are already well managed. In reality, however, fewer than 20 percent of U.S. shark stocks <a href="https://usa.oceana.org/blog/are-us-sharks-trouble" target="_blank">are considered sustainable</a>. They also argue that it is wasteful for fishers to land a shark and not be able to sell its fins. By that standard, not selling the ivory from a dead elephant is wasteful, too — but as a nation, we have decided that the broad well-being of all elephants supersedes that pernicious use of their tusks.</p><p>Fishing industry advocates claim that banning the fin trade would have harmful economic impacts. The truth is, though, that sharks are worth much more alive than dead. In 2016, <a href="https://usa.oceana.org/SharkEconomics" target="_blank">shark-related diving</a> in Florida produced more than $221 million in revenues and more than 3,700 jobs. Moreover, fishers would still be able to sell the meat and other products from the sharks they land. In states where the shark fin trade has been banned, there is no evidence of negative impacts to the commercial fishing industry.</p><p>Finally, some believe we can address the shark crisis not by changing our own practices, but simply by requiring other countries to improve their shark fishing methods. The latter is an unrealistic goal. The low percentage of U.S. shark stocks known to be sustainable underscores how difficult fisheries are to manage, even here in one of the world's richest and most technologically advanced nations. Additionally, when the U.S. leads, other countries follow. After we banned commercial trade in ivory, many other nations followed suit, including China, the European Union and Australia.</p><p>Simply put, the U.S. must remove itself from the cruel and ecologically damaging global shark fin trade. Americans <a href="https://oceana.org/press-center/press-releases/8-10-americans-support-nationwide-shark-fin-ban" target="_blank">overwhelmingly oppose it</a>, and we are in a position to set an example for the rest of the world.</p><p>Join the wave for a U.S. shark fin ban. <a href="https://www.humanesociety.org/sharkfinban" target="_blank">Call your two U.S. senators</a> and ask them to support S. 877, the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act.</p><p>Sharks are worth more alive than in a bowl of soup.</p>
<p><em>Sara Amundson is the president of the <a href="https://tinyurl.com/ybl63pav" target="_blank">Humane Society Legislative Fund</a>, the 501(c)4 legislative and political organization affiliated with the Humane Society of the United States. In this capacity, she manages political and legislative activity for the organization. She has testified before the U.S. Congress and in various state legislatures on a variety of animal protection legislation.</em></p><p><em>This article first appeared on </em><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/following-house-approval-us-has-a-chance-to-ban-the-cruel-shark-fin-trade/" target="_blank"><em>Truthout</em></a><em> and was produced in partnership with </em><a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" target="_blank"><em>Earth | Food | Life</em></a><em>, a project of the Independent Media Institute.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Western chimpanzee juvenile female Joya, 6 years old, using rocks as tools to crack open oil palm nuts in Bossou Forest, Mont Nimba, Guinea in December of 2010. Anup Shah / Stone / Getty Images
The United Nations famously protects cultural heritage sites, but for the first time it has recognized the unique culture of animals.
<p>At the 13th Conference of Parties (CoP) to the United Nations Environment Program's (UNEP) Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), which took place recently in India, the conference attendees agreed to protect the ability of West African chimpanzees to crack nuts, according to <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/interviews/wildlife-biodiversity/nut-cracking-chimpanzees-elephants-reveal-animals-have-intelligent-cultures-expert-69392" target="_blank">Down to Earth</a> magazine.</p><p>The CMS recognized the unique learned ability of chimpanzees to use stone hammers and bits of wood to crack nuts, making this the first time, it seems, that one species has formally recognized the value of another's learned customs, according to <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chimp-culture-to-be-protected-by-un-v9lftcnkl" target="_blank">The Times</a> of London.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cms.int/sites/default/files/document/cms_cop13_doc.28.2.1_rev1_ca-nut-cracking-chimpanzees_e.pdf" target="_blank">proposal</a> recognized that there are 39 cultural variations that are recognized in chimpanzees across various regions of Africa, but it said, "[a]mong these, the clearest instance was nut-cracking, common in the West, yet absent elsewhere despite the availability of the necessary raw materials."</p><p>The CMS is looking to create something similar to a cultural heritage site, where chimpanzee nut-cracking is protected. The CMS said it highlights the chimpanzees' "unique technological culture," as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/africa/chimpanzees-west-africa-un-conservation-scli-scn-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>The ability to use stone and wood as a hammer and anvil is only observed in chimpanzees in West Africa. The CMS said that chimps in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Ivory Coast have the ability, but those in other parts of Africa do not, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/africa/chimpanzees-west-africa-un-conservation-scli-scn-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p>
<p>"In different parts of western Africa, scientists noted that chimpanzees interacted with each other and used tools, so their behaviors are different from other animals. It becomes apparent when you watch them for a while," said Ian Redmond, a CMS tropical field biologist and conservationist, to <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/interviews/wildlife-biodiversity/nut-cracking-chimpanzees-elephants-reveal-animals-have-intelligent-cultures-expert-69392" target="_blank">Down to Earth</a>. "You can tell where a chimpanzee is from by looking at its behavior in a way similar to when you recognize which tribe a human comes from through her clothes, dancing and mannerisms."</p><p>The need to protect chimpanzees is particularly pronounced now that their habitat is rapidly changing due to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a> and industrial nut farming.</p><p>"[We] must expect [nut cracking culture] to suffer a high degree of threat, a situation that is reminiscent of cultural extinctions among humans, such as of relatively rare local languages and other customs," the <a href="https://www.cms.int/sites/default/files/document/cms_cop13_doc.28.2.1_rev1_ca-nut-cracking-chimpanzees_e.pdf" target="_blank">CMS</a> wrote in its <a href="https://www.cms.int/sites/default/files/document/cms_cop13_doc.28.2.1_rev1_ca-nut-cracking-chimpanzees_e.pdf" target="_blank">proposal</a>. "Alternatively, such behavioral plasticity could enhance survival prospects of chimpanzees in marginal habitat or subject to climate-induced changes to vegetation."</p>
<p>Ian Redmond also touted the unique ability to crack nuts as fundamental to survival during the climate crisis. Recognizing that ability and protecting it is a novel method of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a>. He told <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/interviews/wildlife-biodiversity/nut-cracking-chimpanzees-elephants-reveal-animals-have-intelligent-cultures-expert-69392" target="_blank">Down to Earth</a>, "The ability to crack nuts means chimpanzees can survive in forests which in dry seasons don't have much other food. So it becomes a survival skill. Because of climate change, there are longer dry seasons. So these chimpanzees have a better chance of survival. We need to know which tribes behave like this. It is also an issue of competition. If local human communities harvest the same nuts or fell trees for timber, we lose chimpanzee culture. So it becomes a novel criterion for conservation."<br></p><p>The CMS also noted that the primitive tools of the chimpanzees provide a window into our own evolution. The <a href="https://www.cms.int/sites/default/files/document/cms_cop13_doc.28.2.1_rev1_ca-nut-cracking-chimpanzees_e.pdf" target="_blank">CMS</a> wrote in its proposal:</p><blockquote>"Moreover, the culture of nut-cracking merits conservation for reasons beyond that focused only on the species and the activity itself. One major value is that it shares many features with percussive stone tool making that occupied over three million years of hominin evolution, and it has accordingly offered insights into potential evolutionary foundations of this aspect of our human past."</blockquote><p>Redmond also noted to <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/interviews/wildlife-biodiversity/nut-cracking-chimpanzees-elephants-reveal-animals-have-intelligent-cultures-expert-69392" target="_blank">Down to Earth</a> that recognizing a learned, cultural behavior will change conservation moving forward, since the skills the elderly chimps teach the younger ones are critical to the survival of the culture.</p><p>"So, one potential conservation implication might be that in populations of species that have cultural knowledge, you actually want to target your conservation actions at elders, contrary to usual practice which suggests that post-reproductive animals are not useful anymore," he said.</p>
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Government officials are offering an up to $20,000 reward for information that helps solve two brutal Florida dolphin murders.
<p>The first dolphin was discovered shot or stabbed late last week by biologists with the <a href="https://myfwc.com/" target="_blank">Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission</a> off of Naples, Florida, <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/" target="_blank">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries</a> <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/dolphins-stabbed-and-shot-florida-noaa-enforcement-seeks-tips" target="_blank">reported Tuesday</a>. The second was found within the same week by experts at the <a href="http://emeraldcoastwildliferefuge.org/" target="_blank">Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge</a>, who discovered the animal on Pensacola Beach with a bullet in its left side.</p><p>"[These are] some of the worst cases we have seen," Tracy Dunn, who leads the law enforcement team of NOAA's southeast division, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/us/dolphins-shot-stabbed-florida.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>The deaths bring the total for dolphins stranded in the southeastern U.S. up to at least 29 since 2002, according to NOAA. The dolphins appear to have been shot or stabbed with arrows or fishing spears. Four of these strandings occurred within the past year. This includes one dolphin who was found off Captiva Island, Florida in May 2019 with a fatal puncture wound in its head. The case remains unsolved, and authorities are also offering a separate reward for any information about that case.</p><p>The underlying problem is that people feed dolphins illegally, NOAA officials explained.</p><p>"When dolphins are fed, their behavior changes. They lose their natural wariness of people and boats," NOAA bottlenose dolphin <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> coordinator Stacey Horstman told The New York Times.</p><p>This means that when dolphins encounter boats, they adopt a begging position, Horstman further explained to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/two-dolphins-fatal-injuries-found-florida-coast-n1135911" target="_blank">NBC</a>. They either stick their heads out of the water with their mouths open or look up at the boats while on their sides. When they do this, they are only one to two feet from a boat. It is thought both of the dolphins killed last week were in a begging position when they died.</p><p>"The best advice is not to feed them, not to reach out to them. The seemingly innocent act of feeding dolphins can lead to harm and something like this," Horstman told The New York Times.</p><p>Bottlenose dolphins are not listed as an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> in the U.S., but, because they swim close to shore, they are at risk from human activity such as development and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fishing" target="_self">fishing</a>.</p><p>They are also protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, NOAA explained, which means it is illegal to hunt, harass, kill or feed them, or to attempt to do so. Anyone caught violating the act can face criminal or civil penalties of up to $100,000 in fines or up to a year in jail.</p><p>NOAA is asking for anyone with information about the recent deaths to call its enforcement hotline at (800) 853-1964.</p><p>"It's very difficult to solve without the community coming forward," Dunn told The New York Times.</p>
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Botswana Auctions Off First Licenses to Kill Elephants Since Ending Five-Year Ban
12 February
Animals
An elephant in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, on June 15, 2018. Michael Levine-Clark / Flickr
Botswana held its first auction of licenses to hunt elephants Friday since President Mokgweetsi Masisi lifted a five-year ban on the controversial practice in May of 2019.
<p>Masisi's government has argued that legal hunting is necessary to reduce conflict between elephants and humans, but some conservationists fear that reintroducing the practice could actually encourage more illegal <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" target="_self">poaching</a>, <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN20119C-OZATP" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>"SHAME ON YOU President Masisi, we will not forget," human and animal rights group the <a href="https://emsfoundation.org.za/" target="_blank">EMS Foundation</a> tweeted in response to Friday's auction.</p>
<div id="c62cc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="SRJ7A91581516310"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1225806855944929285" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#BotswanaTrophyHuntingNation #StopTheKilling SHAME ON YOU President Masisi, we will not forget @GlobalElephants… https://t.co/9yNhOePSmA</div> — EMS Foundation (@EMS Foundation)<a href="https://twitter.com/emsfoundationsa/statuses/1225806855944929285">1581090103.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br>The government was prepared to auction off seven hunting packages permitting the killing of ten elephants each. However, only six bidders were able to put down the reserve fee of 2 million pula ($181,000), according to Reuters. The packets were purchased by expedition operators who will sell them to trophy hunters at a markup, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/botswana-elephant-hunting-permits_n_5e3f7b7fc5b6b70887015580?ri18n=true&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaHVmZnBvc3QuY29tL2ltcGFjdC9ncmVlbj9ndWNjb3VudGVyPTEmZ3VjZV9yZWZlcnJlcj1hSFIwY0hNNkx5OTNkM2N1WjI5dloyeGxMbU52YlM4Jmd1Y2VfcmVmZXJyZXJfc2lnPUFRQUFBTWkyZ0V3Yy1xSVJiYnF0RHBFWHlMYldxdXNhTW5PYThWU1VHd0w5ZkxzdUt6bk9KOHlzNkVlTTBkOFVXTTg1c1hFX1lzQWx2RjF5VWFnQXk2WUZNODY1aEpHYm5PeTN4bDhNbWFoOUpsQThrS2JUbEZVb0xSQ3hfZlBLdVg2ZGcwZng5R1ozOXRHaktGb25pZm0xRm5ETWdqUUpzc2FSYXJ1TDIwRklTSjBx&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAdxsvFT3Ak3muDFbPZAuzdV_QALTsMzFxDtjm7Nz9-mE-f63F8-juaTEfveSYG5wqE2Hexiikkkn7ueMpVbNZ5FhPzmGgG1wOSTJFUelZDkdpEXMr9XUQQXaIT5PmMTwHMgb6pln4rISEbZPqOCDUSGubNbG_TpCN5hpuQS1c_h" target="_blank">HuffPost explained</a>. Most trophy hunters who come to southern Africa are from the U.S., and Botswana will allow foreign hunters to shoot 202 of its 272-elephant quota for the year, as well as to export the trophies. The hunting season will officially begin in April, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/botswana-auctions-licenses-to-hunt-70-elephants-in-effort-to-reduce-conflict-with-humans/2020/02/07/d1e34366-4920-11ea-8a1f-de1597be6cbc_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>Elephant numbers in Africa as a whole have fallen by more than two thirds since 1979, from 1.3 million to only 415,000 in 2015, according to HuffPost. In Botswana, however, the animals' population has been on the rise, increasing from 80,000 in the late 1990s to 130,000 today, Reuters reported. The country now hosts nearly a third of Africa's elephants.</p><p>Botswana's previous president Ian Khama instituted a ban on hunting elephants in 2014, <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/botswana-holds-controversial-auction-elephant-hunting-licences-doc-1os0km2" target="_blank">according to AFP</a>. But Masisi has turned lifting the ban into a political issue, The Washington Post explained. Rural residents are frustrated with elephants who enter villages and trample crops, and feel that conservationists are mostly foreigners who funnel the proceeds from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> tourism away from the local economy.</p><p>"Elephants have killed a lot of people and destroyed livelihoods. I think government is doing the right thing in reducing their numbers," Tiro Segosebe, who lives in the capital of Gaborone but whose home village is in one of the areas most impacted by human-elephant conflict, told Reuters.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> groups argue that hunting is not an effective means of curbing conflict between elephants and humans, and that the proceeds from hunting won't actually benefit rural villages. Rosemary Alles, co-founder and president of the <a href="https://march4elephantsandrhinos.org/stop-the-killing-of-272-botswana-elephants/" target="_blank">Global March for Elephants and Rhinos</a>, explained the problems with Masisi's approach to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/botswana-elephant-kill-auction-trophy-hunt-shoot-extinct-africa-a9325041.html" target="_blank">The Independent</a>:</p><blockquote>"Studies have shown that local communities do not reap the benefits that they are promised from the hunting industry.<br><br>"Killing 272 elephants in Botswana will not control elephant numbers, it will not reduce human-elephant conflict and will not create jobs in areas where opportunities are scarce.<br><br>"Appropriate land-use planning including dedicated migratory corridors will aid elephant dispersal and increase the probability of amicable human elephant coexistence."</blockquote><p>Khama has also criticized his successor's decision.</p><p>"I have been against hunting because it represents a mentality (of) those who support it, to exploit nature for self interest that has brought about the extinction of many species worldwide," he told AFP.</p>
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