Rhino horn: Alarm as China eases 25-year ban on rhino and tiger parts

[PeteC]

Perhaps when all species except human are extinct because of their insatiable appetites, they'll start to eat themselves.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46027702


Animal conservationists are alarmed over China's decision to partially reverse a ban on the trade of tiger bones and rhino horn.

Rhinos and tigers are both endangered in the wild and China prohibited their trade in 1993.

But on Monday it said parts from captive animals would be authorised for scientific, medical and cultural use.

Experts worry this will increase demand for the animals and jeopardise efforts to protect them.

Rhino and tiger parts are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine. They are prescribed to treat a large variety of ailments including fever, gout, insomnia and meningitis, thought any benefits have not been proven.

'Devastating consequences'

In a statement announcing the replacement of the 25-year old ban, the State Council said powdered forms of rhino horn and bones from dead tigers could be used in "qualified hospitals by qualified doctors".

The animal products can only be obtained from farms, it said.

Parts from those animals classified as "antiques" could be used in cultural exchanges if approved by the cultural authorities, the statement adds.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said in a statement that the move would have "devastating consequences" and be an "enormous setback" to efforts to protect the animals in the wild.

"Even if restricted to antiques and use in hospitals, this trade would increase confusion by consumers and law enforcers as to which products are and are not legal, and would likely expand the markets for other tiger and rhino products," WWF said.

Rachel Nuwer, author of the book Poached: Inside The Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking, said on Twitter this could mean "game over" for the remaining tigers and rhinos in the world.

She argued that trade in legal endangered species products provides cover for parts from animals that have been illegally killed.

[Nereus]

Earth enters latest 'mass extinction event' with 60 per cent of wildlife wiped out in 50 years

https://au.news.yahoo.com/earth-enters- ... 17503.html

The human race has wiped out 60 per cent of Earth’s animal life since 1970, causing the planet to enter its sixth “mass extinction event”, alarming new research by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has found.

Humanity and the way we feed, fuel and finance our societies and economies is pushing nature and the services that power and sustain us to the brink, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2018.

It’s taken 44 years for humans to wipe out about 60 per cent of the planet’s animal life. And the future is predicted to be grim, with more than two thirds of the world’s wildlife expected to be gone by 2020 if current trends continue, the AAF claims.

The report, which tracked more than 4000 species across almost 17,000 populations from 1970 to 2014, also found Australia’s koala population is disappearing at a rate of about 20 per cent a decade.

The crisis is more apparent in South and Central America, which have been hit hardest with a 89 per cent decline in wildlife over the 44-year period studied.

Climate-warming carbon dioxide levels are estimated to be at their highest for 800,000 years.

“The report presents a sobering picture of the impact of human activity on the world’s wildlife, forests, oceans, rivers and climate,” the conservation organisation claims.

The findings underline the rapidly-closing window for action and the urgent need for the global community to collectively rethink and redefine how we value, protect and restore nature, the WWF says.

The top threats to species identified in the report are directly linked to human activities, including habitat loss and degradation and over exploitation of wildlife.

Earth enters sixth ‘mass extinction’ event

The index of extinction risk shows wildlife is on an accelerating slide towards oblivion, currently at a rate of 100 to 1000 times more than only a few centuries ago.

This has placed Earth in its sixth such “mass extinction” event in half-a-billion years, with the latest caused by human activity.

Over recent decades, human activity has also severely impacted the habitats and natural resources wildlife and humanity depend on, such as oceans, forests, coral reefs like our Great Barrier Reef, wetlands and mangroves.

The Earth is estimated to have lost about half of its shallow water corals in the past 30 years and 20 percent of the Amazon has disappeared in less than 50 years.

“This report sounds a warning shot across our bow,” said WWF-US President and CEO Carter Roberts.
“Natural systems essential to our survival – forests, oceans, and rivers – remain in decline. Wildlife around the world continue to dwindle.

“It reminds us we need to change course. It’s time to balance our consumption with the needs of nature, and to protect the only planet that is our home,” he said.

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