Korean dog meat farmers seek fresh start

Yahoo – AFP, Hwang Sung-Hee, 27 April 2016

Dogs sit in a cage as they are rescued from a dog meat farm by the US-based 

Humane Society International in Wonju (AFP Photo/Ed Jones)

"It's a dying business," Gong In-Young said Wednesday as he watched US activists clear out the cages of the South Korean dog meat farm he has been running for the past decade.

Close to 200 dogs, including Golden Retrievers, Siberian Huskies, Rottweilers, Japanese Tosas and Korean Jindo dogs, paced in circles inside the small wire cages, barking furiously at their rescuers.

The dogs in Gong's farm, one of thousands across the country, were bred specifically for consumption and confined in their cages from birth until slaughtered for their meat.

South Koreans are believed to consume somewhere between 1.5 million-2.5 million dogs every year, but the meat farming industry is in decline, with little demand among the younger generation.

Gong's business is the fifth and the largest dog meat farm to be closed down by the US-based Humane Society International (HSI), and Gong said he was happy to get out.

"In the past, people ate dogs because there was nothing else to eat but nowadays, young people don't have to eat it," Gong said. "It's becoming weird for people," he added.

Lola Webber of Humane Society International transport dogs in crates during the 

closure of a dog meat farm in Wonju (AFP Photo/Ed Jones)

Changing tastes

A poll conducted by Gallup Korea last year showed that only 20 percent of men in their 20s consumed dog meat in the past year, compared to half of those in their 50s and 60s.

Gong also noted that the increasing popularity of dogs as domestic pets had played a large part in reducing demand for their meat.

The HSI rescued a total of 225 dogs last year, closing down four farms in what they call a "constructive and collaborative" approach to phase out an industry that has long been criticised by international animal welfare groups.

Most of the dogs are flown to the United States and Canada for adoption.

In return for shuttering his business for good, a farmer receives up to $60,000 -- depending on the number of dogs being bred -- that can be used as seed money for a more "humane" farm, growing anything from blueberries to green peppers.

Through its well-publicised rescues, HSI seeks to raise awareness about the cruelty of dog meat farms and "initiate a conversation with South Korean policymakers," the group's campaign manager Andrew Plumbly said.

Dogs sit in a cage as they are rescued from a dog meat farm by the US-based 

Humane Society International in Wonju (AFP Photo/Ed Jones)

South Korea is preparing to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, and Plumbly said the global publicity surrounding the event provided an opportunity to push for change.

Olympics spotlight

"Part of the spotlight will touch on the dog meat trade so they may feel pressure in that regard and hopefully they will respond constructively," he said.

The South Korean authorities are sensitive to the negative publicity attached to the dog meat industry, and dog restaurants in Seoul were shut down ahead of the 1988 summer Olympics.

Gong, who stumbled into the dog meat industry after many failed business attempts, admits he was "never proud" of his farm, which only ever earned him a modest living.

In a normal year, he would sell around 200 animals, with an average price -- depending on size -- of about $200.

Adam Parascondola of Humane Society International comforts a dog during an 

operation to shut down a dog meat farm in Wonju (AFP Photo/Ed Jones)

"I realised the dogs will become a lot happier if I changed my mind," Gong said, while Snow, his pet Spitz, sauntered between rows of crates with dogs awaiting their departure.

Running a dog farm in South Korea requires no special licence, although Gong said there were regular government checks to ensure neighbours weren't being disturbed and dog waste was being properly disposed of.

Asked to compare the living conditions of Snow and the dogs in the cages, Gong admitted: "It's the difference between heaven and hell."

Related Article:

Volunteers pose for photos with their trainee guide dogs during a campaign to mark Int'l Guide Dogs Day, in Seoul pic.twitter.com/UxZ9PnlGfy

— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 27, 2016

Gay vulture couple adopts egg in German zoo

Yahoo – AFP, April 26, 2016

A pair of gay vultures in a German zoo have adopted an egg abandoned by its
mother and started to incubate it in a nest they built (AFP Photo/Mujahid Safodien)

Berlin (AFP) - A pair of gay vultures in a German zoo have adopted an egg abandoned by its mother and started to incubate it in a nest they built.

Animal keepers had collected the egg in the muddy ground under a tree where it had been dropped by a griffon vulture called Lisa, said national news agency DPA.

"Lisa had made no attempt to build a nest," the report quoted Nordhorn zoo spokeswoman Ina Deiting as saying.

The egg was temporarily placed in an incubator before being entrusted to the male couple, Isis and Nordhorn, who "promptly sat on it," said Deiting.

The biological parentage of the egg is unclear, and zoo keepers also don't know yet whether it is fertilised.

The story of Isis and Nordhorn is the second involving gay birds to make news in Germany this month.

Several days ago newspapers reported that the gay king penguin couple Stan and Olli had been moved from a Berlin zoo to an all-male enclosure in Hamburg.

German scientists seek way to end live chick shredding

Yahoo – AFP, Mathilde Richter, April 25, 2016

At Dresden's University Clinic, scientists are working to prevent mass culls of newborns

by detecting the sex of chicks before they hatch (AFP Photo/John Macdougall)

Dresden (Germany) (AFP) - In a basement of Dresden University, German scientists are busy refining a technique that could save millions of fluffy chicks from being shredded to death moments after they hatch.

The young hatchlings are usually condemned to a violent end simply because they are male, as roosters are deemed largely useless in the world of livestock farming.

Not only are they unable to lay eggs, their meat is not particularly popular.

Male chicks are therefore systematically eradicated. In many cases, they are mechanically shredded or crushed to death and used as animal feed.

At Dresden's University Clinic, analytical chemist Gerald Steiner and his team are working to prevent such mass culls of newborns by detecting the sex of chicks before they hatch.

Scientists use a spectroscopic method, based on the analysis of scattered light 

on blood vessels, to determine the sex of chick embryos in the egg (AFP Photo/

John Macdougall)

Steiner uses a spectroscopic method, based on the analysis of scattered light on blood vessels, to determine the sex of chick embryos in the egg.

Spectroscopy is already used in cancer treatment as it helps to differentiate between abnormal and healthy cells.

"If we are able to identify a tumour, then why not the sex?" said Roberta Galli, a physicist.

'95% accuracy'

Several teams of scientists -- including veterinarians, chemists, engineers and physicists -- are collaborating on the project, which also includes the participation of two private companies.

In the laboratory, Galli and her colleague Grit Preusse take eggs out of the refrigerator to demonstrate their technique.

Scientists use a spectroscopic method, based on the analysis of scattered light 

on blood vessels, to determine the sex of chick embryos in the egg (AFP Photo/

John Macdougall)

The eggs have already been incubated for three days and blood vessels had by now formed.

"But not the nerve cells, so they can't feel pain," Steiner explained.

The team believes that from an ethical point of view, it is preferable to decide the chick's fate before, rather than after, it hatches.

Using a laser beam, the scientists trace a small circle at the top of an egg, which makes a little hole in the shell. Through this they can see veins in the yolk, as well as detect the flutter of a tiny beating heart.

The egg is then placed in a large black box -- the spectrometer -- and quickly, the biochemical properties of the embryo's blood are displayed on a screen.

Eggs pictured after an incision by laser (L) and after a part of the shell is removed

to allow analysis by spectrometer (AFP Photo/John Macdougall)

"To the naked eye, we can't see the difference (between male and female embryos) but the computer can, if it's programmed to do so," said Steiner.

His team has been fine-tuning the programme over the past few years, and they now have it down to an identification accuracy rate of 95 percent.

In a process that should ultimately take just a few minutes, an egg containing a male chick is discarded pre-birth, while one containing a female chick is fixed up with a plaster and then returned to the incubator.

A few days later, a chick that will one day be a laying hen hatches.

Steiner believes that some use will eventually be found for the unwanted male embryos -- be it as fish feed or even in shampoo.

'Piling on pressure'

Beyond the challenge of finding a technique that is minimally invasive and which would allow the female "chicks to hatch and be in good health", another important factor is that the method has to have the potential to be automated, said Preusse.

An egg is placed on a Spectrometer at a lab 

at the Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine

 of the Dresden Institute of Technology 

(AFP Photo/John Macdougall)

The plan is to have a machine bore a hole in the egg, while another machine identifies the gender, fixes up the female eggs and removes the male ones.

A start-up in Dresden is currently working on developing the machines, which could one day be used by poultry farmers.

But one big question is -- when?

In Germany, the timing also has political resonance.

With a public that is increasing concerned about animal welfare, Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt had promised that by 2017, male chicks would no longer be sent to be crushed.

At the same time, Schmidt is refusing to impose an outright ban, and is rather counting on Steiner's research -- which the ministry is funding -- to deliver.

"The politicians are piling on pressure ahead of the 2017 elections," said Steiner, who said he was getting phone calls "every week" from the ministry, eager for an update.

Rescued Pit Bull Treats 'Little Sister' Kitten Like a Princess

Yahoo – ABC, Eliza Murphy, 23 Apr 2016

Rescued Pit Bull Treats 'Little Sister' Kitten Like a Princess (ABC News)

This may just be the sweetest animal match made in heaven.

Bubba the pit bull terrier absolutely adores his “little sister,” an orange tabby kitten named Rue.

Their owner, Becca Pizzello, says Bubba has always had a soft spot for cats.

“I rescued Bubba six years ago from a shelter in Phoenix, Arizona, when he was 3-months-old,” Pizzello, of Brooklyn, New York, told ABC News. “At the same time, my roommate had rescued a litter of kittens that had to be bottle fed until old enough for adoption. Since then, Bubba has had an endless affection for cats. Literally obsessed.”

When Pizzello made the cross-country move to New York, she decided Bubba would love a kitten of his own to help keep him company.

“I always knew he’d love having one of his own but I wanted to wait until we moved to New York City this year,” she said.

“After weeks of applying for any baby kitten available for adoption, I finally received a call from a rescue in Brooklyn," Pizzello recalled. "They had a litter of kittens that were 7-weeks-old and would be ready in a week. A week later I went to Brooklyn to pick up a baby kitten having absolutely no idea what they looked like. Rue stood out like no other and I took her home as fast as I could. She was the only orange baby.”

Bubba and Rue’s matching fur color was a complete coincidence, and Pizzello couldn’t be more thrilled about it.

“The fact that Bubba and Rue have identical coloring still blows my mind,” she said. “I am the luckiest!”

Bubba treats Rue like an absolute Princess, cuddling with her round the clock and even bathing her with kisses.

“They instantly connected and are now inseparable,” Pizzello explained. “I think Rue thinks Bubba is her mom and Bubba loves it. He baths her like a baby and snuggles close to her to make her comfortable. They will definitely be a fun duo to watch grow up together!”

Since Rue is still so tiny, Pizzello says it’s helpful to have Bubba around helping keep an eye on her.

“If I walk away somewhere [Bubba] always follows me," she said. "Now I will say ‘go watch your sister’ and he turns around and goes and watches where she is."

“They're so painfully cute. She follows Bubba around everywhere and is just starting to play. I don't know how I got so lucky with two perfect munchkins.”

Take a look at their adorable four-legged friendship.

Goats play mother to abandoned tapir in Nicaragua zoo

Yahoo – AFP, April 22, 2016

A tapir calf rejected and abandoned by its mother is fed from a goat, at the
National Zoo in Managua, Nicaragua April 21, 2016 (AFP Photo/Inti Ocon)

Managua (AFP) - A baby tapir abandoned by its mother can thank female goats in Nicaragua's National Zoo for its survival, sucking at their teats for milk, the director said.

"As the mother didn't want it, we decided to give it a bottle with goat's milk, because that doesn't give colic. And then we gave it the teat of a goat that had recently given birth," Marina Arguello told AFP.

But the tapir, Motita, proved too greedy for just one goat, and so others were pressed into milk service, she said.

The zoo has a breeding program for tapirs, which are herbivorous pig-like animals with long, flexible snouts. They are native to Central and South America.

They can grow to be two meters (six and half feet) long, weigh up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds) and live to 18 years.

The abandoned baby tapir in the zoo got its name because in Nicaragua "Motita" is a term used to refer to orphans.

The zoo's director said it is impossible to force a tapir mother to give milk to its young. "It's a question of character," she said.

Una cabra consiente amamantar a una bebé tapir en un zoológico de Nicaragua #AFP https://t.co/S9OpNPMYq3 pic.twitter.com/AegmwPA7V0

— Agence France-Presse (@AFPespanol) April 22, 2016

'Reverse photosynthesis' could change fuel production

Researchers in Denmark have discovered that a certain enzyme causes sunlight to break down the chemical bonds in plants. The finding could improve industrial processes such as the production of biofuels.

Deutsche Welle, 17 April 2016

Photosynthesis is a process in which plants convert sunlight into chemical energy that can be later released as fuel. But now, a group of scientists from the University of Copenhagen have found that adding an enzyme called monooxygenase to the process causes sunlight to break down plant material instead of helping create it. They refer to this phenomenon as "reverse photosynthesis."

The discovery could be applied to processes that require the breakdown of chemical bonds, such as the production of bioethanol, which is made from biomass via a fermentation process.

In a press release, Professor Claus Felby from the Plant Science Centre at the University of Copenhagen, the head of the study, called the discovery a "game changer" that could transform the production of fuels and chemicals, increasing efficiency and decreasing pollution.

Great usage potential

The first step to producing bioethanol is breaking down cellulose, an organic material that forms the walls in plant cells. This is exactly what happens when monooxygenase is added to the photosynthesis process.

Ethanol is widely used as engine fuel

"Basically, we have found a new way of using solar energy - going directly from sunlight to chemistry," Felby told DW. "This opens up a lot of possibilities."

The scientists' lab tests indicated that applying this process resulted in much faster production of ethanol and at lower temperatures. The duration of some of the chemical reactions was reduced from hours to minutes when sunlight was involved.

Ethanol has a multitude of uses in the modern world, mostly as engine fuel, but also as an ingredient in medical and personal care products.

The team also found that the same process can be applied to oxidizing methane. This produces methanol, a key ingredient in the manufacture of different chemicals.

"Methanol currently requires very large and expensive steel units to produce," explained Felby. "If our method was applied to this process, you would only need small, simple production units, something similar to a greenhouse."

Need to test large-scale application

While the process has proven effective in a lab environment, the scientists need to do further research to determine how it would work in real life.

"We are now working on exploring this," David Cannella, a co-author of the study, told DW. "You need to make sure that sunlight penetrates the organic material that you are converting, and we still need to work out how to do this."

Cannella feels optimistic about the commercial applicability of the process, as does Felby.

"We have to determine the exact amount of light needed for the process and how and when to apply it," said Felby. "But that's just a question of engineering."

He added that going directly from sunlight to chemical energy results in very little energy loss: "It's a near-perfect process."

Global wild tiger count rises for first time in 100 years

Yahoo  - AFP, Annie Banerji, April 11, 2016

A wild tiger at the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, western Thailand, pictured
 a camera trap photo released by the Government of Thailand and the Wildlife
Conservation Society Thailand on February 18, 2016 (AFP Photo/Wildlife
Conservation Society Thailand)

The number of wild tigers across the globe has increased for the first time in more than a century thanks to improved conservation efforts, wildlife groups said on Monday.

Deforestation, encroachment of habitat and poaching have devastated tiger populations across Asia, but countries with the big cats are working to increase their numbers.

Data compiled by the WWF and the Global Tiger Forum show that the global population of wild tigers has risen to an estimated 3,890 from an all-time low of 3,200 in 2010.

The number of wild tigers has gone up

 for the first time in a century, according to 

new figures released by the World Wildlife 

Fund.

"For the first time after decades of constant decline, tiger numbers are on the rise," Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, said in a statement.

It is the first time the number of the endangered cats has gone up since 1900, when there were 100,000 tigers.

India is home to more than half of the world's tiger population with some 2,226 tigers roaming its reserves across 18 states, according to the last count in 2014.

Russia, Bhutan and Nepal also saw higher tiger numbers in their latest surveys.

However, experts cautioned that the numbers may be partly down to improved data gathering, with the inclusion of new sample areas and upgraded survey techniques as well as enhanced protection efforts.

Global efforts

Bangladesh registered a severe decline from 440 tigers in 2010 to 106 in 2015, though conservationists say this may have been due to an over-estimation of the population six years ago.

There has been a rapid fall in Indonesia because of heavy forest destruction to meet a growing global demand for palm oil, pulp and paper.

Cambodia is mulling the idea of reintroducing tigers after declaring them functionally extinct last week following no evidence of the animals since 2007.

Poachers often sell tiger body parts to the lucrative traditional Chinese medicine market, and the felines also face other man-made problems such as habitat loss.

In 2010 the 13 countries with tiger populations -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam -- launched a plan to double their numbers by 2022.

Monday's global census was released a day before a three-day meeting of ministers from these countries in New Delhi to discuss conservation efforts.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the conference which is expected to be attended by around 700 tiger experts, scientists, managers and donors from across the world.

"Due to the concerted efforts of the government and other stakeholders, more than 70 percent of the global wild tiger population is in India," Prakash Javadekar, India's Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister said in a statement.

Conference delegates are expected to discuss some of the key conservation issues including a unified anti-poaching strategy, monitoring protocols, habitat and landscape management.

Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, whose eponymous charitable foundation was also involved in the 2010 tiger conservation plan, voiced his elation at the increased numbers.

"Proud of @World_Wildlife and #LDF's efforts that have helped increase tiger populations for the first time in 100 yrs," the Oscar-winner and environmentalist tweeted.