An Indonesian volcano sent a new, powerful burst of hot ash high into the air early Friday, violently shaking homes and trees along the slopes and sending panicked villagers scurrying back to safety. "This was a big one!" said 37-year-old Anto Sembiring, who fled his coffee shop not far from the crater's mouth, joining hundreds of others gathered near Mount Sinabung's base.
Dolphins have been herded into a cove as part of an annual hunt in the Japanese seaside town made famous by an Oscar-winning documentary about their slaughter, conservationist group Sea Shepherd said Friday. A town official said none were killed.
The dolphin hunt at Taiji, documented in "The Cove," begins Sept. 1 every year. The boats returned empty Wednesday.
A Malaysian man pleaded guilty to wildlife smuggling after his bag bursting with 95 live boa constrictors broke open on a luggage conveyer belt at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, an official said Friday. Keng Liang "Anson" Wong, 52, who was previously convicted of wildlife trafficking in the United States, was charged Wednesday in a district court with exporting the endangered boas without a permit, said Shamsuddin Osman, an official with Malaysia's wildlife department.
India's quest for overseas coal continues, driven by the country's burgeoning economy and energy needs. South Africa shipped an estimated 35 percent of its thermal coal exports – 2.1 million metric tons – to India in July, almost twice June's 1.2 million tons.
The star of an Oscar-winning documentary about a Japanese town that slaughters dolphins delivered a petition to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Thursday demanding an end to the hunt. "The Cove" star Ric O'Barry handed the petition, signed by 1.7 million people from 155 nations, to an official at the embassy's gate.
A terminally sick humpback whale that became stranded on a beach in Western Australia two weeks ago was euthanized Thursday with an explosive charge. After attempts to return the juvenile whale to the sea failed, the state Department of Environment and Conservation had intended to let the 31-foot (9.5-meter) creature die naturally.
The star of "The Cove," an Oscar-winning documentary about a Japanese dolphin hunt, is back in Japan to protest the slaughter but had to cancel his trip to the village at the center of the controversy because of threats from an ultranationalist group. Instead, Ric O'Barry, the former dolphin-trainer for the 1960s "Flipper" TV show, is playing host to a reception Wednesday for some 100 animal-lovers at a Tokyo hotel.
Japanese fishermen set out Wednesday on the first dolphin hunt of the season in Taiji, the Japanese village portrayed in the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove." About two dozen fishermen who left early in the morning returned empty-handed a few hours later, according to an official at the Taiji fisheries cooperative, who asked that his name not be used because he doesn't trust the foreign press.
A Tasmanian devil named Cedric, once thought to be immune to a contagious facial cancer threatening the iconic creatures with extinction, has been euthanized after succumbing to the disease, researchers said Wednesday. The death of the devil — previously heralded as a possible key to saving the species — is another blow for scientists struggling to stop the rapid spread of the cancer, which is transmitted when the furry black marsupials bite each other.
The original Korean article is here. From what I have heard a similar policy wound up working out very well in Ireland. My wife and I always bring reusable bags to the store and find them more convenient anyway.
India should protect its elephant population by securing its wildlife reserves, curbing poaching and restricting development in the corridors they use to travel between forested areas, a panel recommended Tuesday. Poaching for ivory and increased conflicts between people and elephants due to their dwindling habitat are key problems faced by India's wild elephant population.
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