Dolphins, Seals, Brids and Man!

The animal kingdom is enormous and a joy to behold as an integral part of our beautiful planet. We do not know for sure how many species there are in the world, with around 1.5 million species of animal named and described by scientists, over a million of these being insects. It is known that there are about twice as many animals in tropical rainforests than in any other habitat, and that logically it is here that scientists will find further unknown species.

Just4theplanet have over the months reported on 2010 being the year of biodiversity and how governments and movements around the world are working to maintain the balance of our diverse planet. Sadly the other side of the coin shows us how far we need to travel, in order to become more evolved as stewards of our planet. Here we look at dolphins in Japan, Seals in Canada and the birds of the Gulf of Mexico.

Why then in the 21st century do we hear of places such as Taiji in Japan where mammals such as dolphins are slaughtered on an annual basis? A documentary named 揟he Cove?exposed the dolphin slaughter to the world. People such as Ruth Chavez were so moved at the destruction of these majestic creatures that she has now dedicated her life to saving them from further slaughter. Ruth can be contacted on Ruthyc10@gmail.com.

In Canada the hunt or slaughter of seals ended for the season on 15th July. The warm weather affected the hunting and a spokesman for the Fisheries and Oceans Canada stated in the Vancouver Observer 揟he quota was something like 300,000, but my understanding is they didn抰 get anywhere near 200,000.?To the staff here at Just4theplanet, we feel sickened at the slaughter of these beautiful creatures.

In 2009 The European Union thankfully placed a ban on the importation of seal products citing that the process was 搃nherently inhumane? However, we do know here at Just4theplanet that Canada is targeting countries such as China for the sales of seal products. For further information on seal hunting http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/seal_hunt/

With celebrities such as Sir Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and Pamela Anderson openly appalled by such events let us hope they help raise the awareness and plight of the beautiful seals.

Finally let us look at the BP oil spill that started to spill thousands upon thousands of oil into our Oceans on 20th April of this year; can you believe this is still ongoing? Migrating birds that head for the Gulf of Mexico in the autumn are doomed; indeed the piping plovers are already heading towards their peril. In a report by US today, Ken Rosenberg, conservation science director at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology said 揟here are millions of birds at risk, it is safe to say thousands will die?

He fears the BP oil spill, could 揺rupt into a much bigger disaster as oil continues to come to the surface?We know that hundreds of birds have already died due to the negligence of man, but sadly the natural pull of the migratory instincts will start this month according to the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service.

Back in 1992, in Rio de Janeiro, governments adopted the UN Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), the international treaty to sustain the diversity of life on Earth. Here we are in 2010 and still corporate greed and negligence is destroying our oceanic wildlife, clubbing seals and slaughtering intelligent mammals such as dolphins. The first main goal of the CBD is the conservation of biological diversity. Here we are 18 years later and still we see the darker side of humanity and its effects on our beautiful diverse animal kingdom.

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