SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Un nuevo informe pide medidas severas contra el auge del comercio ilegal de vida silvestre, una actividad que recientemente se ha relacionado con la propagación de COVID-19.
La lista de los diez primeros animales traficados, de la Coalición de Especies en Peligro de Extinción (Endangered Species Coalition) de 2020 incluye al Pangolín, un mamífero que se vende en el mercado de animales vivos donde se cree que el coronavirus se propagó a los humanos.
Jeanne Dodds, directora de participación creativa de la Coalición de Especies en Peligro de Extinción, dice que este comercio ilícito daña tanto a la vida silvestre como a las personas.
"Estas especies han sido extraidas de la naturaleza por los humanos, por lo que cualquier transmision de virus es un problema causado por los humanos; no es un problema de la vida silvestre."
Algunas otras especies en la lista incluyen al tiburón martillo, la tortuga de lomo de diamante, el tigre y el loro de cabeza amarilla, así como la salamanquesa Tokay, el abulón pinto y el colibrí rufo. También un par de plantas están en la lista: el cactus saguaro y el venus atrapamoscas.
Dodds dice que durante los últimos diez años, las autoridades han descubierto un mercado clandestino de colibríes, que en algunas culturas son atrapados y asesinados para hacer amuletos amorosos.
"Ellos son percibidos para otorgar la capacidad de atraer la atencion romantica. Por lo tanto, a menudo se rellenan y se venden con diferentes tipos de hierbas, y se les administran hechizos que se colocan sobre ellos. Y luego, se venden ilegalmente en el mercado negro y en estados como California."
Andrea Jones, directora de conservación de Audubon California, dice que la población del colibrí Rufo disminuyó un 62 por ciento entre 1966 y 2014 y se debe a múltiples factores.
"Tiene una serie de amenazas diferentes y muchas de ellas estan relacionadas con la presion del Desarrollo, ya sabes, la perdida de habitat y tambien con el cambio climatico."
A la coalición le gustaría que el Congreso adopte la Ley bipartidista para Prevenir Pandemias
Futuras de 2020, la cual prohibiría la venta de animales vivos y salvajes como alimento.
Divulgación: La Coalición de especies en peligro de extinción contribuye a nuestro fondo para informar sobre el bienestar animal, especies y vida silvestre en peligro de extinción, medio ambiente, justicia ambiental. Si desea ayudar a respaldar noticias de interés público,
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After years of trying and failing, Indiana lawmakers have put bobcats in the crosshairs.
The decision forces the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to create the hunting season framework and ignited fierce debate among lawmakers, wildlife advocates and hunters regarding the necessity and ethics of targeting Indiana's only native wild cat species.
Samantha Chapman, Indiana state director for The Humane Society of the United States, argued the bobcat population is still in the process of recovering in Indiana.
"Throughout the committee process, it was very clear that the hunter and trapping lobby had a lot to do with this bill," Chapman asserted. "Folks have even mentioned wanting to eat bobcats, which to me seems absolutely preposterous."
Chapman stressed experts need scientific data before targeting the wild cats. Proponents claim they are having issues with disappearing cottontail rabbits and said the bobcat population is getting out of control, especially in southern Indiana.
Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville, authored the bill. He said the DNR has many people with varying opinions, and they sometimes need to be nudged.
Ernie Nichols, a member of the Indiana State Trappers Association, encouraged lawmakers to eat bobcat meat.
"First off, tastes great. I don't know if you've ever had a chance to eat it but it's delicious," Nichols stated. "Second off, on the state DNR website from calendar year '22 to '23 there has been a 118% increase in confirmed bobcat sightings."
Opponents claim hunters want to take the cats for the fur or a trophy and argued wildlife belongs to all Hoosiers and should be held in public trust. The DNR has remained neutral throughout the contentious debate and is tasked with creating the new season to hunt and trap bobcats, possibly as soon as July 2025.
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A Utah wildlife expert considers wild animal poaching to be a significant problem in the Beehive State, following several incidents of game animals being killed and then left to waste.
According to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, four deer were killed in the Woodland Hills area of Utah County late last year. The heads were removed from each deer, and the carcasses were left. More recently, the division discovered a cow elk and 18 geese dead in Emery County.
Capt. Chad Bettridge, law enforcement officer for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, said the hunters responsible for these killings could be charged with a felony.
"Three very different circumstances and potentially even more than that," Bettridge noted. "We are not 100% sure that all the deer in Utah County were tied together, but they were in such a location and were similar in circumstance that it does kind of feel like they were maybe done by the same people, or at least related."
Bettridge encouraged anyone with information which could be useful to contact the division by using their law enforcement app. It allows you to send text messages, photos and GPS locations of any situation you think might be illegal. You can also use their 'turn in a poacher hotline,' at 800-662-3337.
Bettridge pointed out in the past five years, the number of animals killed illegally has ranged between 1,000 and 1,400. He added Utah is a big state, and as he put it, the agency does not have "an incredible amount of officers" to cover the vast landscape. When they're fully staffed, there are about 50 officers in the field to investigate reports of animal killings.
"For example, the cow elk in Emery County, that cow elk was shot during a time that it could have been a legal season for cow elk," Bettridge recounted. "However, only a small amount of the meat was taken from the carcass and everything else was left to waste, which makes it illegal, even if you had a license to legally kill that elk."
Bettridge acknowledged the majority of hunters and fishermen are doing the right thing, but said there are bad actors out there. He added the division depends on the public to help by reaching out if they come across something potentially illegal and in need of a closer look.
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A federal court ruling that limits wolf trapping and snaring in Idaho could aid recovery of grizzly bears in the region.
U.S. Judge Candy Dale ruled that the state needs to cut back on wolf trapping and snaring because of its impact on grizzly bears, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Jeff Abrams, wildlife program associate with the Idaho Conservation League, said a bill passed in Idaho in 2021 expanded trapping and snaring of wolves and likely led to the judge's decision.
"The decision plainly concludes that there's no way to set a trap or a snare in a way that will only capture a wolf," said Abrams, "and state incentives for this activity make the problem even worse."
Under the ruling, wolf trapping season will close between March 1 and November 30 in eastern and northern Idaho.
In response to the decision, Idaho Fish and Game Director Jim Fredericks said the state has expanded wolf snaring cautiously and the agency is considering its legal options.
While grizzlies have made a comeback in parts of Idaho, Abrams said they've been absent in the central section of the state, known as the Bitterroot.
"That recovery zone does not have bears in it right now," said Abrams, "and this ruling very much impacted our ability to begin to work to restore bears in that habitat."
Abrams said he believes lawmakers have been single minded in the their approach to wolf management, expanding it too far.
"The right to trap is guaranteed in Idaho but not if it might impact or harm protected wildlife species," said Abrams. "It also risks the goodwill of a lot of Idahoans that generally support the idea of trapping."
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