Rare albino orangutan released back into the wild

Yahoo – AFP, December 21, 2018

'Alba', the only albino orangutan ever recorded in the world, was rescued by
environmentalists from a cage where she was being kept as a pet by villagers
(AFP Photo/Handout)

Jakarta (AFP) - The world’s only known albino orangutan has been released back into the jungle more than a year after she was found emaciated and bloody in a remote corner of Borneo, an Indonesian NGO said Friday.

Environmentalists rescued "Alba" from a cage where she was being kept as a pet by villagers in Central Kalimantan in April last year.

She was found with dry blood smeared around her nose -- the result of her violent capture -- and weighed just 8 kilogrammes, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) said.

The blue-eyed primate, covered in fuzzy white hair, was on Wednesday returned to the wild with her best friend, Kika, after leaving their rehabilitation centre.

The blue-eyed primate, covered in fuzzy white hair, returned to the wild with her best 

friend, Kika, after more than a year in a rehabilitation centre (AFP Photo/Handout)

"So far she's showing good signs of adapting," Nico Hermanu, a BOSF spokesman, told AFP.

"She's been climbing trees as high as 35 metres (about 115 feet) and has been eating fruit from the forest."

Kika and Alba -- who is six years old and now 28 kilos -- will be monitored by conservation teams at Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park.

The rescue is a rare spot of bright news for the critically endangered species, which has seen its habitat shrink drastically over the past few decades largely due to the destruction of forests for logging, paper, palm oil and mining.

The rescue is a rare spot of bright news for the critically 

endangered species, which has seen its habitat shrink 

drastically over the past few decades largely due to

the destruction of forests (AFP Photo/Handout)

The population of orangutans in Borneo has plummeted from about 288,500 in 1973 to about 100,000 today, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

A string of fatal attacks on the great apes this year have been blamed on farmers and hunters.

Four Indonesian men were arrested over the killing of an orangutan shot some 130 times with an air rifle in February.

Borneo police have also arrested two rubber plantation workers and accused them of shooting an orangutan multiple times before decapitating it.

Plantation workers and villagers are sometimes known to attack the animal because they see it as a pest, while poachers also capture them to sell as pets.

Albino orangutans are rare on Borneo island, where most have
reddish-brown hair (AFP Photo/HANDOUT)

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Rare albino orangutan rescued on Borneo island

75,000 cacti, monkeys and ivory seized in anti wildlife trafficking campaign

DutchNews, December 17, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Some 75,000 cacti, monkeys, coral and kilos of ivory are among the items seized by Dutch officials in a major drive against wildlife trafficking, which took place between September and mid November. 

Operation Toucan is a national campaign in support of the CITES endangered species treaty, which also aims to build up a better picture of smuggling routes and boost public awareness about the illegal trade in plants and animals. 

This year, officials, police and customs experts were involved in raids across the country and on the Dutch Caribbean islands. In total, there were 217 separate investigations. 

The haul of illegal goods ranged from Korean face creams containing endangered types of the Aloe plant, a parcel containing six live snakes from the US and two dead toucans which had been sent from Uruguay to the Netherlands. 

Officials also picked up two live monkeys which were being kept as pets. Officials also confiscated rare tropical hardwood which was to be used as wall panelling and took coral from tourists on Bonaire who were planning to take it home. On the last day of the campaign, police seized seven kilos of ivory at a collectors fair in Utrecht. 

New this year was the involvement of the Meld Misdaad Anoniem crime tip-off hotline, the nature and farm ministry said. 

The ministry also said on Monday that from next March all trading in raw ivory in the Netherlands will be banned. Selling ivory dating from 1990 onwards was already illegal but this will be extended to cover the entire trade because of fraud with certificates and the difficulty in differentiating between new and old ivory, the minister said. 

The ministry is also working to set up a network of places where people can hand over ivory or plants and animals which may be on the CITES list.

Supermarkets say no farmed duck for Christmas in 2019

DutchNews, December 14, 2018

These ducks are able to go outside. Photo: Emilian Robert Vicol via Pixabay 

Supermarkets Albert Heijn, Aldi and Lidl are banning the sale of industrial barn-raised ducks from next year in the wake of a campaign by animal welfare organisation Wakker Dier. 

Barn ducks are living under dire circumstances, Wakker Dier says, with 13 ducks squeezed into one square meter, without access to water for swimming and fresh air. They are also forced to stand on iron grid floor which causes serious injury to their feet.

‘We had been contemplating a ban but this campaign has perhaps speeded things up, an Albert Heijn spokesperson told broadcaster NOS. ‘For the sake of animal welfare we have decided to sell only free range duck from next year.’ 

Lidl is also scrapping industrially-produced duck from the menu. ‘We have been working with our supplier towards better circumstances for farmed ducks and we’re aiming for at least free range,’ NOS quotes a spokesperson as saying. The change will take time which is why Lidl has decided not to sell duck at Easter, NOS said. 

Wakker Dier said that there is no quality label for duck meat because it is not something that is widely consumed. ‘But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to make their lives better and increase public awareness,’ a Wakker Dier spokesperson told the broadcaster.

Dutch university grows bananas to help stamp out fungal diseases

DutchNews, December 13, 2018

A banana tree. Photo: Depositphotos.com

Researchers from Wageningen University are this week harvesting the first Dutch bananas which will be offered to restaurants and hospitals in the region as a ‘regional product’. 

The aim of the experiment, which marks the 100th anniversary of the university, is to investigate whether new ways of cultivation will help stamp out soil-borne fungal diseases which threaten banana production throughout the world. 

Taking the banana trees out of the soil and growing them on stone wool appears to have been very successful, says Gert Kema, professor of tropical plant pathology at the university. 

‘The banana plants grow very well on coco peat and stone wool substrate with only the application of a nutrient solution,’ Kema said on the university website. ‘The Dutch banana does not need disease control, which makes cultivation more sustainable than in traditional production areas.’ 

Ripening

There are 60 plants in the Wageningen greenhouse. ‘One of the things that we have learned is that the plant density is too high at the moment,’ Kema said. ‘We are going to adjust that, so that we will have more light and the bunches will be able to ripen faster in future experiments.’ 

Once the Wageningen bananas have been harvested they will be moved to a ripening centre operated by banana giant Chiquita, which is involved in the project. 

New breeds 

‘We are on the way to developing sustainable banana cultivation with new breeds of bananas that are resistant to diseases and that are grown in healthy soils in a responsible social climate,’ Kema says. 

The research group is also planning a trial in the Philippines to see how precision cultivation works under ideal conditions. 

Bananas are a staple food for more than 400 million people in the tropics, the fourth most consumed food crop, the most consumed non-cereal staple food, and the most consumed fruit in the world, Wageningen says.

Chanel sheds crocodile and snake skin

Yahoo –AFP, Fiachra GIBBONS, 4 December 2018

Chanel has made the world a little safer for snakes

Chanel has become the first luxury fashion house to turn its back on exotic animal pelts such as lizard, crocodile and snake skin, in a move hailed by animal rights groups Tuesday.

Its head of fashion Bruno Pavlovsky declared that it "would no longer use exotic skins in our future creations", saying it was becoming more difficult to source high-quality pelts ethically.

Handbags, coats and shoes made from snake, alligator and stingray skin command premium prices, with Chanel handbags made from them reportedly selling for up to 9,000 euros ($10,300).

Python skin bags were removed from Chanel's website Tuesday, although secondhand bags were still on sale from more than 5,500 euros from online resale sites.

Animals rights groups cheered the move, with the PETA and the Humane Society International (HSI) claiming that the iconic house founded by Coco Chanel was also renouncing the use of fur.

But in a statement Chanel did not mention fur, saying it would no longer use crocodile, lizard, snake and stingray to make coats, bags and shoes.

Its veteran designer Karl Lagerfeld had earlier told the industry bible Women's Wear Daily that Chanel used fur so rarely that he could not remember the last time it featured on the catwalk.

He said the brand had chosen to drop exotic skins rather than having it "imposed on us. We did it because it's in the air.

"It's a free choice," he added.

'Ethical fashion'

Animal rights groups hailed Chanel as giving a lead to other luxury brands.

By turning its back on exotic skins, "Chanel is saving countless crocodiles, lizards, snakes and stingrays from suffering," said HSI director Claire Bass.

"The growth in fabulous luxury and eco-friendly fibres that don't involve animals suffering and dying is helping to drive forward this new era of ethical fashion.

"Fur-using brands such as Fendi (for which Lagerfeld also designs), Dolce & Gabbana and Louis Vuitton need to take heed and embrace this fur-free future," she added.

PETA also piled the pressure on Vuitton, which is owned by fashion giant LVMH.

"It's clear that the time is now for all companies, like Louis Vuitton, to follow Chanel's lead and move to innovative materials that spare countless animals a miserable life and a violent, painful death," it said.

Although top fashion brands have been under heavy pressure to renounce fur, with Gucci, Armani, Versace and John Galliano all deciding to go fur free, Chanel's decision to stop using exotic skins came out of the blue.

It said that it was now concentrating on developing a new generation of "ultra luxurious" products to replace them from its famous design studios.

Animal rights campaigns against the use of crocodile and snake skin products have not got the same traction with the public as similar crusades against fur, with some luxury brands even investing in reptile farms so they can guarantee that skins are sourced ethically.

Chanel has made the world a little safer for snakes

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Service dog accompanies late president Bush on final farewell

Yahoo – AFP, December 3, 2018

Sully, George H.W. Bush's service dog, seen at Ellington Field in Houston as
the president's casket left for Washington (AFP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Washington (AFP) - A US president is believed to have said the easiest way to find a friend in Washington was to get a dog. On Monday, George H.W. Bush's faithful service dog Sully made a final journey back to the US capital with the late president.

Two days after Bush's death at age 94, family spokesman Jim McGrath posted a touching photograph of the yellow Labrador retriever lying down in front of Bush's casket, with the accompanying phrase "Mission Complete" and the hashtag #Remembering41.

The two-year-old Sully has been at Bush's side since June, just weeks after the death of the president's wife Barbara, to whom he was married for 73 years.

Bush's son George W. Bush, the nation's 43rd president, posted the photograph on Instagram, with a message announcing Sully's transfer to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in suburban Maryland.

"As much as our family is going to miss this dog, we're comforted to know he'll bring the same joy to his new home, Walter Reed, that he brought to 41," the younger Bush wrote. His post has received a quarter million likes.

Sully is named after retired airline pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III, who gained fame when he landed a damaged passenger jet on New York's Hudson River in 2009.

Historians believe Harry S. Truman's folksy aphorism about friends in Washington and dogs is probably apocryphal -- the 33rd US president didn't actually like dogs -- but he would surely have fallen for Sully's charms.

The four-legged friend is already something of an online star. Sully's own Instagram account describes the dog as "a kinder, gentler labrador," a play on Bush's words in his 1988 acceptance speech, when he called for "a kinder and gentler nation."

The account -- with 123,000 followers -- has playfully chronicled Sully's time with Bush at Walker's Point, location of the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.

It features a photograph of Sully laying down in front of Bush and Bill Clinton, the man who defeated him in the 1992 presidential race. The two men struck up a close friendship.

Sully was provided to Bush by America's VetDogs, a group which pairs service and therapy dogs with people with physical limitations like blindness, or those who suffer from effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.