The Animalizer

Why Korea Has Bear Farms And Why We Should Be Worried

admin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 06:34:32 +0000

There are more than 100 bear farms in Korea. As if we don’t already have a growing list of problems with endangered species. These farms have about 1,600 bears in captivity. Many of them are the endangered species, the Asian Moon Bears, called this way because of a V-shape mark on their chests. The bears are not kept in captivity to help save the species. Many of these bear farms are businesses that trade and import bears to other parts of the world.

These business bear farms are operating with the consent of the Korean government. Unfortunately, they do not have sanitary and safe living environments for the bears. They are treated just like objects of trade and kept in tiny bear cages with no room to move.

The food fed to these poor animals are the food you would give to a pig. Basically, in Asia this refers to leftovers, innards mixed with a little rice and soup.

The trading of bears from bear farms are twofold. They are either exported alive or dead. This means they are either sold for breeding or just sold for parts. The people who buy them come from Japan, Thailand, North America, and Europe. This kind of trade has been in existence since the 1980s.

Even the method of slaughtering the bears for export is inhumane. There are no government guidelines on how to do it, so everything is left to the managers and owners of the bear farms. Terrible stories are being spread about bears being boiled alive or roasted in cages while still alive. They do this because it preserves the “juices” in the meat and makes it more tasty. One Irish conservationist report about seeing Koreans watch the bear cooked alive before eating the cooked meat. It’s like a brutal ritual that they seem to enjoy.

When slaughtered, their parts are sold separately from feet, meat, gall bladder, and fur. The gall bladder is the prime part in bears especially for Asian buyers. There is this belief that it can cure diseases and be used to make medicine. The meat is considered a delicacy and is sold at an extremely high price.

Savage practices like these can be stopped if more people are informed about what happens inside the bear farms in Korea.

Krill

admin — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:31:22 +0000

Coral reefs are in great threat of going extinct. When this happens, its inhabitants will go instinct as well. Krills are considered one of the most endangered species in the world. One of its inhabitants that are on the verge of going extinct is the krill. Krill has become an endangered species because corals are on the verge of becoming extinct. When the krill is gone, whales will be affected as well because the krill serves as their food.

Krill is Norwegian for whale food. These are eucarid crustaceans that can be categorized into two families. They can be categorized as Bentheuphausiidae and Euphausia superb. The prior is composed solely of Bentheuphausia amlyops while the latter includes the rest of the 88 species of krill. The later is also popularly associated with krill.

The Euphausiidae families are like shrimps and are crustaceans. They are usually found in dense shoals in the Antarctic waters. Swarms of krill are as many as 10,000 per cubic meter of water and can occupy kilometers of water space. This means they can get pretty many in one place. They have lengths from 8 mm to 14 cm. They light up with a strong blue-green light. They glow to communicate, congregate and procreate.

They have hard-calcified exoskeletons like most crustaceans do. It is divided into three segments. These segments are called tagmata. These segments are cephalon, thorax and abdomen. The head is connected to the thorax and is called cephalothorax. This area of the krill is sometimes hard to tell from each other. Its body has complex structures for each segment.

The Bentheuphausia family of the krill is a species called bathypelagic and can be seen in the southern part of the North Atlantic Ocean. The Euphausia, on the other hand, are found in the Atlantic waters. The prior are found 1000 m deep while the later can be seen 100 m deep of the water.

There are 85 species of krill all over the world. This is according to a website created by Ocean Explorers. There are many other marine animals that depend on the krill. This is why the krill is a very important part of the marine food chain. It is very important to the marine ecosystem. If the krill will be gone, much of the marine ecosystem will be greatly affected. This is why it is very important to preserve the krill. Preserving the corals can simply do preserving them.

Krill are called zooplankton. This means they are marine animals that usually stay near the surface of the ocean. The Antarctic krill is one of the largest of its type. It can reach the length of up to 2.5 inches. There are around 6 billion tons of these creatures in the Antarctic. They live in both cold and tropical waters. They can also be found in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans. During the day, they stay low to get away from predators, but at night they are the predators who stay near the surface to eat microscopic phytoplankton.

So, to save the marine ecosystem, saving the krill is a very important thing to do.

Human-Animal Conflict Over Habitat

admin — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:23:59 +0000

There has been conflict between man and animal since a long time. Man has been degrading the natural habitats of some of the most endangered animals, resulting in relocation, and shifting of such animals to other places. More and more animals are added onto the endangered animals list. Conflicts such as controversies involving interactions between human beings, their communities, and also the environment have been defining the greatest issues of our time. Every day, every second, the human population is increasing worldwide. The birth rate is by far advancing the death rate due to development in medicine and other scientific researches to enhance and extend the quality and age of a normal human being.

Increase in population demands increase in amenities such as food, housing, roads etc. In order to accomplish the needs of human being, more and more forest are being cut down recklessly destroying the natural habitat of many precious and endangered wildlife species. The luxurious lifestyles we pursue have been harming the biological and environmental systems in a gruesome manner. Population increase has gotten people relocating in previously unsettled land, cut down forests to make space for homes etc. We must never forget our priorities in regard to lifestyle and the natural world.

One of the major environmental problems facing humankind is the effect on biological diversity. Scientists feel that these losses are the direct result of the transformation of natural landscapes and ecosystems for farming, grazing, recreational, and residential uses. People have started raiding places once owned by wild animals. These habitats are affected due to human interference such as roads, new uses private and public lands, agricultural lands etc. Species such as wolves, mountain lions, polar bears, and the northern spotted owl do not recognize these artificial restrictions on their habitats and have thus come into direct conflict with human beings and their way of life.

Conflict over habitat and related issues is a serious problem in many parts of the world. Due to human settlement at such places, sometimes animals cause loss of property, destroy things and even cause human life. It is a threat to humans as well. Humans on the other hand continue to kill wildlife animals for business, harm them or capture them.

Many projects around the world such as WWF and many more are working over on how to reduce human and animal conflict and improve the livelihoods of the people affected. These projects range from traditional approaches such as compensation schemes to the development of novel strategies which address the root causes of the conflict. The solutions are often specific to the species or area concerned, and are often creative and simple.

Reference: Illustrated Encyclopedia of endangered animals.