Congo destroys illegal ivory as wildlife summit begins

Yahoo – AFP, 29 April 2015

Congo's President Denis Sassou-Nguesso (C) and Chad's President Idriss
Deby (2nd L) light afire a five-ton stockpile of ivory tusks coming from illegal
poaching, on April 29, 2015 in Brazzaville (AFP Photo/Laudes Martial Mbon)

Brazzaville (AFP) - Two African leaders torched five tonnes of seized ivory on Wednesday as an international conference on tackling illegal exploitation of wildlife opened in the Republic of Congo.

Congo's President Denis Sassou Nguesso and his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby set the stock of elephant tusks on fire in the capital Brazzaville.

"We are drawing a line and this is a break with a sad past. From now on, we will be harder(on poachers)," said Congo's Forest Industry and Sustainable Development Minister Henri Djombo.

Authorities in Congo have in the past claimed that poaching is still a "minor phenomenon" because the elephant population has increased from 10,000 in the 1980s to over 40,000 today.

In Africa as a whole however, the elephant population is under threat -- there are 450,000 left today compared to 1.2 million in the 1980s.

"Burning five tonnes of ivory is relatively large, but it is a small amount when you consider the amount that is trafficked globally," Stephanie Vergniault, president of SOS Elephants, told AFP.

"This destruction is a message to consumers and ivory traffickers."

Kenya in March burned 15 tonnes of elephant ivory -- worth about $30 million (27 million euros) on the black market -- and vowed to destroy its entire stockpile of illegal tusks by the end of the year.

Ministers from Africa and global experts are meeting in Brazzaville to discuss strategies to stem unregulated logging, poaching and smuggling of animals.

Elephant hunting is often organised by international criminal networks to supply the illegal ivory market, mainly in Asia, with some profits thought to fund regional conflicts and militants.

The value of illegal activities ranges from anywhere between $70 billion to $213 billion annually, according to a 2014 joint UN and Interpol report.

"Global environmental crime... is helping finance criminal, militia and terrorist groups and threatening the security and sustainable development of many nations," the report said.

Last month, conservation experts met in Botswana, issuing dire warnings over the booming illegal wildlife trade that threatens the survival of not just elephants, but rhinos, tigers and other endangered species.

In Mataram Declaration, Belated Recognition of Indigenous Rights

Jakarta Globe, Kennial Caroline Laia,  Apr 23, 2015

The government is finally getting serious about recognizing Indigenous
groups’ forest rights. (Antara Photo/Ahmad Subaidi)

Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. Proponents of the rights of indigenous groups have hailed a pledge by the Indonesian government to do more to recognize their stewardship of forests, seen as crucial in efforts to stave off deforestation.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar made the so-called Mataram Declaration last weekend in a belated response to a May 2013 Constitutional Court ruling relinquishing the state’s default claims to forested areas settled and used by indigenous groups.

“Long before this, civil society organizations and local communities were struggling for the recognition and protection of customary land,” said Abetnego Tarigan, the executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, or Walhi. “Now the government has shown good faith, and we really appreciate it.”

He said the central and local governments often violated indigenous people’s land rights because the latter lacked title deeds to their land. In many cases, he noted, the people were disenfranchised of their rights, and their land given over to logging, plantation or mining operators.

“There are a few policies that regulate the rights of local communities to the land, such as the 2012 law on customary forests, but they don’t cover the recognition of people’s customary territory, so we need another framework to guarantee it,” Abetnego said. “This declaration should really be a form of political will for all stakeholders to push the recognition and protection of customary forests managed by the people.”

Civic-centered development

At the signing of the declaration on Saturday in Mataram, in West Nusa Tenggara province, Siti said the government and other stakeholders were committed to expediting the process to craft policies that improved the welfare and protection of local communities and conserved the environment.

“These policies are really important,” she said. “President Joko Widodo’s government has indicated that the citizenship concept is a democratic one, in which we seek to bring welfare to the people.”

She said the government was making efforts to involve people, especially indigenous groups, in environmental protection.

“Here, our development must be civic-centered,” Siti said. “This issue has been echoed by the people and environmental organizations, and now the government is listening.”

Under Joko’s 2015-2019 National Mid-Term Development Plan, the administration plans to designate 12.5 million hectares of land for “social forestry,” in which indigenous groups and local communities will commit to sustainable forestry practices, and nine million hectares for agriculture.

“These [social] forests can be developed as community forests, village forests and customary forests,” Siti said, adding that the agricultural land, to be staked out from former logging concessions, would go primarily to subsistence farmers.

Collaborative effort

Siti said it was important for all stakeholders — the central government, regional administrations, civil society organizations and local communities — to work closely together.

“The policy is ready to go, but we can’t do it alone. We need help from other stakeholders to cooperate. For example, I hope the Home Affairs Ministry will help us identify indigenous communities and their problems to ensure that all land is distributed rightly and fairly,” she said.

“We also need civil society organizations to work with the people on mediation, community building and others. Access to welfare for all Indonesians is our responsibility.”

Zudan Arif Fakrulloh, an adviser to the Home Affairs Ministry, said the institution was open to cooperating with the other stakeholders.

“But the identification process isn’t easy. There are a few requirements to meet before we can definitively say that a given community is an indigenous one,” he said. “The process must be really selective. And this is the task of regional leaders.”

Zudan said that for a forest community to qualify, it would have to show some kind of environmentally sustainable practice in its interactions with the forest.

“Here we need experts and help from civil society organizations,” he said.

People first

Siti said the new policy, unlike previous ones, prioritized the role of people in economic development through the exploitation of forests and other natural resources.

“I believe the system will be no longer like the past, when government didn’t put the people at the front of its development plans. Now, we must use dialogue in our approach to developing the economy of this country,” Siti said.

West East Nusa’s Deputy Governor Muhammad Amin welcomed the declaration, but said further talks on the issue were still needed between the central government and regional administrations.

“We realize there hasn’t been a regional policy that recognizes the territorial rights of indigenous people. However, with this declaration, we hope that the people will receive greater consideration in the policy-making process,” he said. “Should the synergy run smoothly, we may be able to achieve an environment-oriented development framework.”

Yansen T.P., the head of Malinau district in North Kalimantan, who was among the more than 30 regional heads attending the Mataram Declaration, said an increasing number of regions across the country were beginning to prioritize land rights protections when crafting new policies.

“We’ve been done a lot for several years now to show our support for our environment,” he said. “We have vast areas of natural resources and considerable local wisdom. The forest we have is the forest we must hold on to. We understand that people depend on the forest and they will try to maintain it. But to do that, we in the regional government have to provide them with legal certainty.”

Yansen said he hoped that future investments would “take the side of the people.”

“We don’t need to exploit all of our natural resources right away. We have to think about our children, grandchildren and our future generations,” he said. “Hopefully the central government’s policy will accelerate the recognition of indigenous people’s right to the forest.”

Test cases

Adi Rozal, the head of Kerinci district in Sumatra’s Jambi province, said his administration had designated 12 swaths of forest as customary forests.

“Now we’re waiting for coordination from the central government to issue a policy that fully mandates the forests for use by the local community,” he said.

Mathius Awoitauw, the head of Jayapura district in Papua province, agreed that while the central government had a key role to play, it was local governments that would serve as the test cases for various frameworks on the issue.

“All we need to do to establish nationwide synergy is to hold regular dialogues to test how capable regional governments and people are in managing their forests. In addition, there should be a regulation that truly guarantees the rights of each region to map its own customary forests,” he said.

In prioritizing the rights of forest-dwelling communities, the government has switched from an earlier paradigm that served large corporations, said Chalil Muhammad, the chairman of the Association for Community and Ecology-Based Law Reform, or Perkumpulan HuMa.

“There’s a need to create a scheme to build rights coordination between the central government, regional governments and the people in an effort to prevent forests from rampant exploitation,” he said. “These stakeholders need to change their mind-set. We need to increase human resource capacity and fix existing forestry policies.”

Edited by Hayat Indriyatno

Frozen semen earmarked for Washington giant panda

Yahoo – AFP, 22 April 2015

Mei Xiang eats a bamboo breakfast on January 6, 2014 inside her glass
enclosure at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, DC (AFP
 Photo/Paul J. Richards)

Washington (AFP) - The National Zoo in Washington is hoping to get its giant panda Mei Xiang pregnant this spring after taking delivery of frozen panda semen from China for the first time.

Caitlin Burrell of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute returned to the US capital on Sunday with semen that had been stored at the Bifengxia Giant Panda Base in southwest China.

The semen was drawn for a nine-year-old giant panda in China named Hui Hui that has yet to sire any cubs, the National Zoo said in a statement Tuesday.

It's famously difficult for pandas in captivity to get pregnant, but the zoo hopes to inseminate Mei Xiang when she goes into estrus for 24 to 72 hours in the coming weeks.

"Scientists are working to preserve 90 percent of the genetic diversity of the giant pandas living in human care for the next 200 years," the zoo said.

"There are currently 392 giant pandas living in human care; scientists hope to grow the population to 500 bears."

Mei Xiang has already given birth to two surviving cubs fathered by Tian Tian, the National Zoo's only male giant panda attraction.

This time around, however, the zoo said a cub sired by Hui Hui "would be more genetically valuable," based on a calculation of the best genetic matches for all the world's eligible breeding pandas.

Mei Xiang made international headlines in August 2013 when she gave birth to Bao Bao, who now lives separately from her mother at the zoo.

Bao Bao is set to go to China when she turns four years old, following in the footsteps of her older sibling Tai Shan, born in July 2005.

About 1,864 giant pandas live in the wild, according to the latest figures from China's State Forestry Administration, released in February.

Chimpanzees granted 'legal persons' status to defend their rights in court

New York judge grants writ of habeas corpus to Hercules and Leo, chimpanzees used for medical experiments, to defend rights against imprisonment

The Guardian, Alan Yuhas in New York, Tuesday 21 April 2015

The judge’s argument in this case and others is that chimpanzees are intelligent,
 emotionally complex and self-aware enough to merit some basic human rights.
Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP

For the first time in US history, a judge has granted two chimpanzees a petition – through human attorneys – to defend their rights against unlawful imprisonment, arguably bestowing the status of “legal persons” on the primates.

On Monday, Manhattan supreme court justice Barbara Jaffe granted a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of two non-human plaintiffs, Hercules and Leo – chimpanzees used for medical experiments at Stony Brook University on Long Island.

In her order, Jaffe ordered Samuel Stanley Jr, the president of Stony Brook, to argue before the court why the chimpanzees were being “unlawfully detained” at his university and should not be transferred to a primate sanctuary in Florida.

The attorneys who brought the petition forward, part of the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), argue that under New York law, “only a ‘legal person’ may have an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus issued in his or her behalf. The court has therefore implicitly determined that Hercules and Leo are ‘persons’.”

“This is one step in a long, long struggle,” said Steven Wise, the lawyer leading the effort. “She never says explicitly that our non-human plaintiffs were persons but by issuing the order … she’s either saying implicitly that they are or that they certainly can be. So that’s the first time that has happened.

“It feels great. We knew it was going to happen sometime,” he added. “Even though we’re scattered all around the country we all gave each other a high five over the phone.”

Habeas corpus petitions are used, in theory, to fight unlawful imprisonment by forcing a custodian to prove they have legal cause to detain someone.

Wise’s argument in this case and others is that chimpanzees are intelligent, emotionally complex and self-aware enough to merit some basic human rights, such as the rights against illegal detainment and cruel treatment. They are “autonomous and self-determining”, in Wise’s words.

He said he suspects that Eric Schneiderman, who will represent Stony Brook as attorney general of New York, will argue that “Hercules and Leo are things and that they’re not persons, and that’s where the battle lines are drawn. Are they persons or are they not persons?”

Schneiderman may also draw from past rejections of Wise’s petitions. In one failed bid to remove another chimpanzee, Tommy, from captivity in a trailer in Gloversville, New York, an appeals court argued that chimpanzees do not participate in society and cannot be held accountable for their actions.

“In our view,” the judges wrote, “it is this incapability to bear any legal responsibilities and societal duties that renders it inappropriate to confer upon chimpanzees the legal rights … that have been afforded to human beings.”

In another decision, a separate appeals court argued that taking a different chimpanzee, Kiko, to a sanctuary amounted to another form of imprisonment, and that habeas corpus amounted to an inappropriate remedy.

NhRP hopes to move the chimpanzees to the Save the Chimps sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida, where more than 250 chimps live on a series of islands along the Atlantic coast.

Kathy Hessler, a professor of animal law at Lewis & Clark law school, told the Guardian that Wise’s burden is to prove chimps are “enough like a human that the legal system should take notice”.

Opponents of Wise’s fight for limited rights for chimpanzees warn that the judge’s granting of the petition does not mean she endorses “personhood” for chimpanzees. Richard Cupp, a law professor at California’s Pepperdine University said “we should avoid reading too much into this document ordering a hearing.”

“It seems quite unlikely that a judge would intend to make such an exceptionally controversial decision that a chimpanzee is a person without even hearing arguments from the other side,” Cupp said. The suggestion that nonhuman animals are persons is “new terrain for judges”, he added.

Cupp and others argue that chimpanzees may deserve greater protections, but not rights. “No one should ever regard animals as if they were stones,” Richard Epstein, a New York University law professor told the Guardian last year, but he said that Wise and his cohorts go too far into a labyrinth of questions about what separates humans from nonhuman animals.

NhRP has appealed against the decisions in Kiko and Tommy’s cases, and its next hearing on behalf of Hercules and Leo is scheduled for 6 May.

Live leak: Camera captures panda peeing while doing handstand

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-04-21

The panda makes its mark. (Photo/Xinhua)

A nature reserve in northwest China's Gansu province has captured its first film footage of some striking courtship behavior by a male panda — urinating while doing a handstand.

In the clip shown to media on Sunday, the giant panda pushes his left hind leg up against a tree and starts to urinate on the bark in a half upside-down position. He then gets down, walks to another tree some 10 meters away, smells it for a moment and repeats the action.

The video was taken on January 15 at the Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve using infrared cameras. This technology, installed about three years ago, has been helping the reserve record valuable evidence of behavior among the reclusive inhabitants of the forest.

Reserve staff explained that urinating in a handstand position is a common courtship act by giant pandas. The urine contains pheromones and the scent can spread further, attracting more potential partners, if the urine is higher up a tree.

At the same time, pandas also use their urine to mark territory and warn rivals to stay away, increasing their chances of mating.

Covering over 200,000 hectares, the Baishuijiang reserve is one of China's largest habitats for wild pandas. Census data shows that there are 132 pandas in the province, 110 of them in Baishuijiang.

Yuan Fengxiao, head of the reserve's management bureau, said the infrared cameras have also captured footage of rare species including takins, golden monkeys, forest musk deer, Chinese monals and golden cats.

Norwegian court to rule on six men accused of illegal wolf hunt

Landmark case pits survival of one of Europe’s smallest wolf populations against Norwegians’ cherished hunting rights

The Guardian, Elisabeth Ulven and Tone Sutterud in Oslo, Sunday 19 April 2015

Norway has one of the smallest populations of wolves, with perhaps as
few as 30. Photograph: Alamy

Six men charged over hunting some of Norway’s last wolves will learn their fate this week when a court rules on a landmark case that has gripped the country.

Illegal hunting of wolves is thought to be extensive in Norway, driving down population numbers to perilously low levels.

Now, for the first time, the authorities have prosecuted an alleged hunting team, charging the six men with environmental offences and organised crime, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 11 years.

“It’s such a serious offence that we were given almost unlimited investigative powers by the state attorney,” said Tarjei Istad, a prosecutor in the case.

The indictment includes attempted illegal hunting, firearms offences and organised crime. The prosecutor has asked for a five-year ban from hunting, which is something most Norwegians see as a birthright. The defendants are pleading not guilty.

All European countries except the UK and Ireland are believed to have a population of wolves, ranging from the largest, in Spain with an estimated 2,000 animals, to Norway, which has one of the smallest populations, with perhaps as few as 30. The grey wolf is listed by Cites as endangered regionally, though not globally.

“This is a question of attitude in certain hunting teams and communities,” said Istad, referring to audio surveillance of the suspects that revealed the suspects allegedly boasting about their hunts. He believes the case is important to get the message across that Norway will not take illegal hunting lightly.

Petter Wabakken, an internationally acclaimed expert on wolves, said: “Our research shows that half of all wolves felled in Norway were killed by poachers,” he said. “This is disturbing, especially considering that we have the smallest wolf population in Europe. Government policy has been to allow three breeding female wolves within an allocated area. This is not enough to sustain a healthy population.”

Norwegians are deeply divided over the management of wolves. Urban communities are generally positive about having large predators in their vicinity, while people in the countryside see them as more of a threat.

Wolves tend to be targeted because of conflicts with human interests, such as competition for game, human safety and depredation of livestock.

“We can only conclude that poachers take the law into their own hands. It’s not licensed but illegal hunting that regulates the Norwegian wolf tribe,” Wabakken said.

Video: chimp attacks drone flying over Dutch zoo

DutchNews.nl,  April 14, 2015

Officials at Burgers Zoo in Arnhem found out to their cost how intelligent chimps are, when one knocked a drone which was filming the apes’ enclosure out of the sky.

The drone was being used to make footage for a television programme but did not go down well with one of the inhabitants. Once the drone had been spotted, the primates armed themselves with long sticks, the zoo reports on its website. 

One chimp, a 23-year-old female called Pushi, was sitting in a high tree when the drone came buzzing. 

She managed to swipe it with the stick, causing it to fall to the ground. The chimps then proceeded to dismantle the spy plane, which kept on filming during the process, the zoo said. 

Zoo spokesman Bas Lukkenaar told USA TODAY Network it was no surprise that Pushi was the ‘main perpetrator.’.

‘Some are good at throwing and others only produce poor shots and Pushi is a very clever and capable chimpanzee,’ he said.

Amsterdam to get its own cat cafe, thanks to crowdfunding

DutchNews.nl, April 7, 2015

Amsterdam is to get its own cat cafe, where people can go for coffee and to stroke a cat, thanks to a crowdfunding campaign.

The cafe, named Kopjes, will open in the Baarsjes district west of the city centre on April 22, news website Nu.nl reports.

The cat cafe concept originated in Taiwan in 1998 and since then cat petting cafes have opened in New York, London, Paris and other cities.

The café will have eight resident cats, chosen from the city’s two animal shelters. Customers will pay a €3 entrance fee, entitling them to two hours of cat entertainment. 

In total, 975 people contributed a total of €33,000 to make the cafe a reality, Nu.nl reports.

The cats are the often indifferent stars of the show that is the newly opened

Cutie Cats Cafe in Kemang, South Jakarta. (JG Photos/Lisa Johanna)

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Dogs by the hour: Japan offers pet rental service

Rino Kakinuma, 7, plays with toy poodles, beagles and a golden retriever

at the Dog Heart cafe in Tokyo, February 22, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno)

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

The amazing moment stray dogs showed up at a funeral to pay respects to the kindly lady who used to feed them

• Margarita Suarez of Merida, Yucatan, was well known for feeding the stray dogs and cats that would show up at her home
• Family members were stunned when the dogs suddenly appeared at the funeral parlor where Margarita's body was being kept
• On the day of the funeral, March 15, the dogs even formed a procession behind her hearse

Mail Online, David MCCORMACK, 30 March 2015

    

A funeral for a woman in Mexico took an unexpected turn when a number of stray dogs unexpectedly showed up to pay their respects.

Animal lover Margarita Suarez of Merida, Yucatan, passed away earlier this month after battling illness.

During her life she was known for her kindness to all kinds of animals and every morning she would feed the stray dogs and cats that would show up at her home.

Devotion: A funeral for a woman in Mexico took an unexpected
 turn when a number of stray dogs unexpectedly showed up
to pay their respects

Animal lover: Margarita Suarez of Merida, Yucatan, passed away
earlier this month after battling illness

Friends for life: During her life she was known for her kindness to all
kinds of animals and every morning she would fed the stray dogs
 and cats that would show up at her home

She was also known for taking a bag of food along when she went out so she could treat other strays she encountered, reports Misiones Online.

Family members were stunned when the dogs suddenly appeared at the funeral parlor where Margarita's body was being kept.

Workers at the funeral home denied any knowledge of the animals and said they had never seen them before.

Realizing that the animals had come to pay their respects to Margarita, the staff allowed the dogs to come in and they laid peacefully on the floor near the woman's coffin.

Bird and stray dogs attend funeral of woman who fed them

On the day of the funeral, March 15, the dogs even formed a procession behind the hearse and then returned to the funeral home.

They only left once Margarita's body was being prepared for cremation.

'In pain, they jumped for joy, it was wonderful,' said Margarita's daughter Patricia Urrutia.

She believes that the animals had wanted to be there to say goodbye to someone who had been so good to them.

Family members were stunned when the dogs suddenly appeared
at the funeral parlor where Margarita's body was being kept

Family members were stunned when the dogs suddenly appeared
at the funeral parlor where Margarita's body was being kept

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"Soul Communication" - Feb 22-23, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version Part I)

“… Animals. You love them, don't you? What do you know about animals, especially the ones you care for and love, the ones you call pets? They have personalities, don't they? They can talk to you! When they communicate, what does that sound like, dear one? What do their voices sound like? "Well, Kryon, you already know they don't have an actual voice." Oh really? Then how do they "talk" to you? Now it gets good, doesn't it? They communicate through concepts. Their conceptual thought groups are available for you to pick up. So guess where you pick up these thoughts? It's through your pineal, which is the interpreter of multidimensional things in your body. It's not your brain, which is picking up their animal broadcasts, dear ones.

Now, some of you are good at this kind of communication. There are ones who are listening to this right now called animal whisperers, and they know exactly what I'm talking about. Why do they call it whispering? I give you my interpretation. It's because the communications are not linear, and they whisper to you through the pineal and not through brain synapse. It comes in thought groups, very softly and all at once, like the smudge. When you pick it up, you know what the dog or cat or horse or hamster or rabbit is trying to communicate. You know the requests they have, perhaps the distress they have, perhaps the celebration or the love they have.

Now, this kind of communication with animals is easy for you, because you all have felt this. I believe you know what I'm speaking about. So apply this lesson, for what I'm teaching today is no different and uses the same process you're going to use in real life and in meditation when you listen to God.

"Kryon, is it true that communicating with animals is soul communication?" Yes, it is theirs to yours, and if you're good at the interpretation of their thoughts, then why doubt yourself about the next step? Practice doing this communication with your own Higher-Self. Your Higher-Self is that part of yourself that vibrates higher than your cellular dimensionality, and it's part of your "soul group". This "soul group" is part of the nine attributes of the Human Being and is the core of you. It is the part that gives you information from the other side of the veil from that which you call God. …”

'I crossed over': Survivors of near-death experiences share 'afterlife' stories

Today, Lindsay Sobel Dyner and Chris Serico, April 3, 2015

For many, the question of what happens when we die is a mysterious one — a recent TODAY survey found that 55 percent of people are absolutely certain there is an afterlife, 37 percent are not certain, and 8 percent are certain there isn't an afterlife.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

But for some who have been through near-death experiences, the question has a clear answer.

Take public speaker Anita Moorjani, who shared her story with Maria Shriver on TODAY.

“I believe that I died, yes — that I crossed over into the afterlife and back,” said Moorjani, adding that the afterlife is “like being in a really unlimited space and time.”

Anita Moorjani now shares the story of her

 near-death experience in talks around the 

world. Courtesy of Anita Moorjani

Diagnosed with lymphoma in 2002, Moorjani — who considers herself more spiritual than religious — was losing her cancer battle, withering down to just 85 pounds and battling tumors from the base of her skull to her abdomen. She slipped into a coma in February 2006.

She says that’s when she died and crossed over to an afterlife.

“I felt as though I was above my body,” she said. “It was like I had 360-degree peripheral vision of the whole area around. But not just in the room where my body was in, but beyond the room.”

According to Moorjani, who now shares her near-death experience with international audiences, she was reunited in that state with her late father, who told her to turn back.

“He said that I've gone as far as I can, and if I go any further, I won't be able to turn back,” she said. “But I felt I didn't want to turn back, because it was so beautiful. It was just incredible, because, for the first time, all the pain had gone. All the discomfort had gone. All the fear was gone. I just felt so incredible. And I felt as though I was enveloped in this feeling of just love. Unconditional love.”

Citing an “incredible clarity where everything started to make sense,” she said she decided to return to her body because she believed “it would heal very, very quickly.” It did.

“Within four days, my tumors shrunk by 70 percent, and the doctors were shocked,” she said. “And I kept telling everyone that, ‘I know I'm going to be okay. I know it’s not my time to die.’”

Moorjani isn’t alone in connecting a "crossing over" experience to healing.

Annabel Beam was diagnosed at age 4 with
 a chronic digestive disorder. Courtesy of
Christy Beam

Diagnosed at age 4 with a chronic digestive disorder, 8-year-old Annabel Beam experienced intense pain and frequent hospital visits. “She was always so sweet and gracious,” her father, Kevin, told TODAY. “She wasn't making a big deal out of it, and she was suffering in silence.”

But the suffering started to overwhelm Annabel.

“I told my mom, ‘Mama, I want to die, and go to heaven with Jesus where there is no more pain. I don't want to be in this much pain for the rest of my life,’” she said. “And so I was so committed to just giving up that sometimes whenever I couldn't sleep I'd kinda try and figure out what would happen if I did die. Then I decided, my mom would come with me. My dad would stay and watch my sisters.”

Annabel’s mother, Christy, refused to believe what she’d heard. “I remember thinking, ‘That's not what she said,’” Christy recalled. “She doesn't know anything about giving up. She's a fighter.”

Days later, Annabel said she fell 30 feet from a tree branch that cracked while she was sitting on it with her sister, Abbie. She claims that after bumping her head three times on the way down and falling into the hollowed-out base of the tree, she died and went to heaven.

Read an excerpt of Annabel's story from 'Miracles from Heaven' here

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“It was really bright, and I sat on Jesus’ lap and he told me, ‘Whenever the firefighters get you out, there will be nothing wrong with you,’” Annabel recalled. “And I asked him if I could stay and he said, ‘No, I have plans you need to fulfill on Earth that you cannot fulfill in heaven.’”

The Beam family in front of the tree that Annabel says changed her life. 
Courtesy of Christy Beam

A few days later, she told her family about her experience.

“She was very matter-of-fact: very ‘This is what happened,’ not at all animated, just, ‘Here are the facts,’” Christy said. “And then she stopped talking, and looked out the window for the rest of the trip.”

Now symptom-free, Annabel has gone from taking 10 daily medications to none.

Hachette Books

“She fell 30 feet head first, without any injuries or one bug bite,” her mom said. “She came out of that tree hours later wet, muddy, and with scratches. And she’s well.”

The tree, which recently toppled due to weather, remains in the Beam family front yard, beside a cross Kevin carved after the accident.

“I’m glad that I didn’t ever try and cut it down,” he said. “I do think that this tree was actively involved in a miracle.”

His wife — who turned Annabel’s story into the book “Miracles from Heaven” — agreed. “It had a purpose,” Christy said. “It was a vessel.”

Annabel, who continues to climb trees, feels fortunate. “Most kids aren’t ever healed,” she said. “And so anytime I see [the tree], I'm just grateful, and happy.”

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"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator,Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“… When a Human almost dies, they get close to the veil, very close. They are ever so close to the creator's energy and just barely touched by it. When their heart was stopping and their breathing was almost gone, before they were brought back to life with science, they got to touch the hand of God for just an instant. What they saw was magnificent! The energy before them was filled with love and light, filled with family, filled with beauty. There was no strife there. There was no punishment there or even the hint of it. And when they came back from that experience, listen to what they told you. It changed their lives, didn't it? Listen to each one talk about it, for they continued to say, "There is nothing to fear and death is something you experience as a normal transition." Blessed is the Human Being who experiences both death and birth and has the wisdom to report, "Oh, it's uncomfortable, but I'll get through it, because I've done it before." The person who has experienced a near-death experience is no longer afraid to die! What does that tell you? They have seen what is there and they embrace it! …”

"Soul Communication" - Feb 22-23, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version Part 1, Text version Part 2)

"... Some of you will walk into the forest and you'll feel it. It surrounds you with its love and beauty. Gaia speaks to you. The trees are pushing out oxygen with a benevolent system of photosynthesis. The plants give you oxygen and you give them carbon dioxide. What a system! Look around. Science will say that system happened by accident - a random occurrence. Do you believe that? What a beautiful system! The trees themselves know who you are. You walk into the forest and you feel it hug you, but perhaps another is next to you who came with a chainsaw. They don't care and they don't feel it. To them, the forest is only a resource. What's the difference between the two of you? There's no judgment here, I'm just asking you. What do you think the difference is? The answer: You're letting multidimensional awareness in and they are not. You see, you are becoming more aware of multidimensional soul communication. In this case, it's your enormous soul energy communicating with the other parts of the planet who are also multidimensional.

When you make the decision that it's OK to feel this energy, it will be there. Most of humanity so far has not made that decision. They block it. The law is this - this communication will come to you only with your allowance. The moment you open the door of allowance, you may begin to feel it. Those are our rules.

It's not just allowance for communication from the creative source, but also from an amazing number of what we would call other benevolent energies. These others are represented by groups with names that you have given them. They also cannot get through to you unless you allow it. That's their rule as well. Your names for them are Pleiadians, Arcturians, Sirians, Hathors or those from Orion. There are many more, but unless you open to the possibility of them, they can't communicate either.

Most of humanity will stand next to you as you communicate and think you're not well. That's the way it looks to them. Listen, dear ones, the benevolent groups who represent your DNA essence [your seed biology] and who know who you are are many. The amount of help you have on this planet is staggering, yet the majority of humanity will not allow awareness of it or let the possibility into their reality.. ..."

"Soul Communication" - Feb 22-23, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version Part 1, Text version Part 2)

"... Universal communication: When you walk into the forest and the trees talk to you, what is that about? Gaia speaks to you! What does that voice sound like? Am I getting through to you? Do you understand what I'm saying?

You are able to hear these things in your own way, but none of them are synaptic. Are the trees in trouble? Are they crying? Perhaps they are celebrating? All of this information is available to those who can hear it.

"Kryon, is it true that in the forest there are what you would call devas?" Here's my answer: Are you kidding? Of course! Yes! You are asking what they are. They are multidimensional aspects of Gaia. I love how Humans deal with multidimensional energies. They "3D-ize" them. When Human Beings cannot understand a multidimensional energy, they make them entities, dress them [put outfits on them in their minds], give them names, and put them in Human movies. They're beautiful! You know they are, and they're everywhere. Go into the forest and they'll talk to you. Sit down in the grass and let them communicate with you. They're part of the energy soup that is Gaia, which is Mother Nature, the personality that is the love of God in nature.

Dear one, you're not going to receive bad things from a deva. You're not going to get bad information from hugging a tree. You know that, don't you? What does this tell you about how Gaia feels about you? These are just a few things when it comes to the subject of communication from others to you. ..."