South Africa's rhinos 'could be extinct in 10 years'!!!

Africa's rhino population could face extinction within 10 years, animal welfare experts have warned.

There are now less than 30,000 rhinos in the wild

South Africa has the largest population of the species in the world but their existence is under threat from poaching.

Demand from Asian markets for their horns has led to a dramatic increase in the numbers killed. It is thought more than 1,000 rhinos have been killed in South Africa's game reserves in 2015 alone.( BBC News)

A shocking 1,215 rhinos were poached in South Africa alone during the last year, according to South Africa's National Wildlife Crime Reaction Unit.

This alarming figure is DOUBLE the amount that were poached in South Africa three years ago, and it has risen a staggering 9,000 per cent in just seven years.

There are now less than 30,000 rhinos in the wild and there are fears they will be wiped off the planet by 2026 if the illegal slaughter continues at its rapid rate.

Soaring demand for their horns from Asia has led to 2014 being branded "the worst poaching year on record" by international wildlife charity Save The Rhino.

Katherine Ellis, Office and Communications Manager for Save The Rhino, said: "According to South Africa’s National Wildlife Crime Reaction Unit, 1,215 rhinos were poached in South Africa alone during 2014, making last year the worst poaching year on record.

"This would represent over a 9,000 per cent increase in the number of South African rhinos poached since 2007, when just 13 rhinos were killed."

Save The Rhinos blamed one factor of this increase in rhino deaths on a soaring demand for horns

At the beginning of the 20th century there were 500,000 rhinos across Africa and Asia, according to Save The Rhino.

This number dramatically fell to 70,000 by 1970 and finally to around just 29,000 left in the wild today.

But if they continue to be poached at their current rates, Save The Rhino warned that they could become extinct in the wild by as soon as 2026.

"Depending on the rate that poaching increases, and also the breeding rate of rhinos, overall rhino deaths could overtake births sometime between 2015 and 2021, which would push rhino populations into decline," said Ms Ellis.

"Sadly if poaching continues to increase at current rates, rhinos could be effectively extinct in the wild as soon as 2026."

But there are crucial moves currently underway which aim at reversing the rhino decline.

These include attempts at thwarting poachers and conservation programmes to help protect the rhinos from both human and natural danger. ( )

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Delhi begins car rationing to curb pollution

Authorities in the Indian capital, Delhi, have launched major restrictions on private cars to curb alarming levels of pollution.

Private cars with even and odd numbers plates are being allowed on alternate days

Private cars with even and odd number plates are being allowed on alternate days from Friday in an initial two-week trial.

Emergency vehicles like ambulances, police cars, fire engines and taxis have been exempted from the order.

Delhi has experienced hazardous levels of pollution this winter.

The local government announced the scheme after a court ordered authorities to tackle pollution levels more than 10 times the World Health Organisation's safe limits.

How will Delhi's 'odd-even' car rationing work?

Exemptions

The government has made several exemptions to make it easier for people to follow the restrictions. The plan will be imposed between 8am and 8pm from Monday to Saturday.

Women will be allowed to drive their cars on all days but they can only be accompanied by women, and children below the age of 12. Cars carrying disabled people will also be allowed on all days.

Along with two wheelers, cars operating on natural gas have been exempted. In cases of medical emergency, people will not be stopped from taking patients to hospitals.

The government has hired around 3,000 private buses to provide shuttle services into the city from residential areas to ease the extra pressure on the public transport network.

Schools have been also shut until the trial ends on 15 January so that their buses can be used as public transport.

The government has launched an app that people can use to book tuk-tuks to improve last-mile connectivity from the Metro stations.

The government has hired around 3,000 private buses to provide shuttle services

Cars operating on natural gas have been exempted

Delhi has been experiencing hazardous levels of pollution this winter

Traffic policemen and several thousand volunteers will check cars at intersections and violators will be fined 2,000 rupees ($30; £20) and asked to return.

"The biggest challenge is to make people realise that this fight against pollution is for them, for their health, for their own good," Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai told AFP news agency.

Grim

Critics, however, say the plan is not practical - they say that in a city with an inadequate public transport system and poor last-mile connectivity, the new measures are likely to inconvenience commuters.

"Let's not convince ourselves wrongly that a simple odd-even policy will solve the overall air pollution issue," AFP quoted Arunabha Ghosh, head of the Delhi-based Council on Energy, Environment and Water, as saying.

Several thousand volunteers will help police during the drive

"Otherwise, we will be simply kicking the can down the road and we will create a feeling of distrust among citizens and the government machinery."

Delhi resident Pankaj Mehta, who drives 45km (30 miles) to work daily, told AFP that the restrictions would make commuting difficult.

"Rickshaw, then metro, then feeder bus, then walk - back and forth. A travel nightmare," he said.

"But if it makes breathing easier, then it may be worth it."

Environmental activists have welcomed the decision, saying the situation is so grim that urgent drastic steps are needed.

New car sales are soaring in India, with 1,400 extra cars taking to the capital's streets every day.

From BBC News

Stranded whale rescued from Chile beach

A blue whale has been rescued after getting stranded on a beach in the port city of Iquique in northern Chile, South America.

Fishermen and beach-goers, along with the police and the navy, helped get the 20-metre-long mammal safely back out to deeper water.

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the baleen whales (Mysticeti). At 30 metres (98 ft) in length and 180 tonnes (200 short tons) or more in weight, it is the largest extant animal and is the heaviest known to have existed.

Long and slender, the blue whale's body can be various shades of bluish-grey dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath.There are at least three distinct subspecies: B. m. musculus of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia of theSouthern Ocean and B. m. brevicauda (also known as the pygmy blue whale) found in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean. B. m. indica, found in the Indian Ocean, may be another subspecies. As with other baleen whales, its diet consists almost exclusively of small crustaceans known as krill.

Blue whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the twentieth century. For over a century, they were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966. A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide, in at least five groups. More recent research into the Pygmy subspecies suggests this may be an overestimate.^[16] Before whaling, the largest population was in the Antarctic, numbering approximately 239,000 (range 202,000 to 311,000).There remain only much smaller (around 2,000) concentrations in each of the eastern North Pacific, Antarctic, and Indian Ocean groups. There are two more groups in the North Atlantic, and at least two in the Southern Hemisphere. As of 2014, the Californian blue whale population has rebounded to nearly its pre-hunting population.

in Wikipedia

Zoo in effort to save beautiful rare Indonesian magpie

Rare bird experts at a zoo in Cheshire have started a project that they hope will save one of the world's most endangered birds.

The Javan green Magpie, Cissa thalassina from Indonesia has been poached almost to extinction.

    Now, four pairs of the birds have been brought to the UK in the hope that they will breed.Andrew Owen, who looks after the birds at Chester Zoo, hopes the project will stop these types of birds from dying out.

There is thought to be fewer than 100 of the Javan green magpie left in the world, putting the inquisitive bird with distinctive green plumage, black eye feathers and a pink beak on the critically endangered list.

The zoo is hoping to boost survival rates by developing the first captive breeding programme outside of Indonesia, where a passion for keeping caged birds has seen numbers in the wild decimated. As the birds become rarer, their value increases, leaving many species on the brink of disappearing altogether.

The zoo's curator of birds, Andrew Owen, explains: "We really are fighting against time to save the incredibly rare Javan green magpie from extinction. Sadly, there is evidence that the species is fast disappearing in the wild as they have fallen victim to the pet trade and an ever shrinking habitat.

"In fact, they have only been found once in the last 10 years in the wild by ornithologists. By bringing twelve of the birds to the UK, we are hoping our new conservation breeding programme will begin to address the desperate plight of this species and ensure a protected population for the future.

"We've been working with the Cikananga Conservation Breeding Centre in Java for five years and our mission to track down the birds with the beautiful green plumage has included trawling markets and interviewing traders.

"Over time we have managed to rescue a handful of birds and set up a breeding centre and, together, we have been successful in breeding the birds on their country of origin. However, so prized are they in Java, the breeding centre has suffered from a number of break-ins - the magpies being a prime target given their beauty and increasing value on the pet trade."

Press Association