Rescued circus elephant Ramba arrives at Brazil sanctuary

Yahoo – AFP, October 20, 2019

An elephant named Ramba that used to perform in circuses rests after arriving
at the Brazilian Elephant Sanctuary (AFP Photo/Rogerio Florentino)

Chapada dos Guimarães (Brazil) (AFP) - An Asian elephant that spent decades performing in South American circuses has started a new life in an open-air sanctuary in Brazil, after travelling thousands of kilometers by plane and truck from a Chilean zoo.

Ramba's much-anticipated arrival at the 1,133-hectare (2,800-acre) Elephant Sanctuary Brazil in the central west state of Mato Grosso late Friday was broadcast live on Facebook and viewed thousands of times.

The elephant, estimated to be more than 52 years old, worked in circuses in Argentina and Chile before she was rescued by activists in 2012.

She was then kept in a roadside zoo in Rancagua, in central Chile, while her rescuers searched for a new home.

Her ordeal left her with abscesses as well as kidney and liver problems.

Ramba was flown to the Viracopos international airport near Sao Paulo on Wednesday -- a day before heavily armed gunmen raided the cargo terminal in a daring heist.

She was then transported by flat-bed truck to the sanctuary in Chapada dos Guimaraes, which was opened in 2016 with the help of US-based Global Sanctuary for Elephants (GSE) -- the first of its kind in Latin America.

Ramba joins two other female Asian elephants, Rana and Maia, also former circus performers.

Videos of Ramba's road trip in Brazil were posted online. One shows her munching on watermelons in a metal crate on the back of a truck.

Ramba was accompanied by GSE chief Scott Blais as well as a veterinarian, volunteers and Brazilian federal police.

"Ramba needs a quiet place, one where she feels safe and is not on display, where she is surrounded by others of her kind who truly understand her and can help her to open her heart fully," Blais said in a statement.

"She needs sanctuary."

Galapagos bans fireworks to protect unique wildlife

Yahoo – AFP, December 28, 2018

A Galapagos marine iguana, pictured in January 2018, sunbathes next to tourists
at Tortuga Bay beach on Santa Cruz Island (AFP Photo/Pablo COZZAGLIO)

Quito (AFP) - Fireworks have been banned on the Galapagos Islands to protect the archipelago's unique fauna, the local government said on Friday.

The local council said in a statement that it had agreed "unanimously a resolution that prohibits the importation, sale, distribution and use of fireworks or pyrotechnics in the Galapagos province."

Those fireworks that produce light but no noise have been excluded from the ban.

The islands are home to thousands of residents as well as being a tourist destination, and the measure comes just days before New Year celebrations in which many people traditionally set off fireworks.

"Ecosystems as sensitive as the Galapagos Islands are affected (by fireworks), principally its fauna that is unique," said the council.

It also wants to avoid any potential deterioration in air quality or pollution of water sources.

Animals have suffered from elevated heart rates, nervous stress and anxiety, which have "notably" changed their behavior and affected the survival of species inhabiting this World Heritage Site that belongs to Ecuador.

"This is a gift to conservation for Ecuador and the world," Lorena Tapia, president of the local council, said on her Twitter account.

A campaign to limit the use of fireworks on the Galapagos Islands was launched in 2017.

Single-use plastics have also been banned on the archipelago, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off the coast of Ecuador.

Known for its endemic species, the volcanic Galapagos Islands played a crucial role in British naturalist Charles Darwin's studies before he came up with his theory of evolution.

Haribo launches probe into 'inhumane working conditions' in Brazil

Yahoo – AFP, November 3, 2017

German sweets manufacturer Haribo is to investigate companies in its supply
 chain after accusations in a documentary that Brazilian workers including minors
work in appalling conditions at a suppliers' plantation (AFP Photo/JOEL SAGET)

Berlin (AFP) - German sweets maker Haribo said it had launched an internal investigation after a TV documentary alleged Brazilian workers supplying ingredients for their confectionary suffer inhumane conditions.

"We have tasked a group of independent, accredited and certified auditors with conducting a full investigation of our carnauba wax supply chain and are currently awaiting the findings of the investigation," the company said in a statement Thursday.

The company has faced criticism in the German and international press after public broadcaster ARD alleged in mid-October that workers on carnauba wax planations in Brazil, among them minors, suffered under high temperatures and were forced to sleep outside, often without access to clean drinking water.

Haribo uses carnauba wax as a coating agent in its candy.

"We have been in contact with our direct carnauba wax supplier in Brazil to demand that the entire supply chain, including its preliminary suppliers, all the way down to the carnauba wax producing farms, is laid bare and reviewed to ensure standards are upheld at all relevant facilities," beginning this week, the company said.

The company said it would hold discussions with Brazil's labour ministry and other government officials as part of the investigation.

Haribo also said it would launch an additional internal probe to respond to allegations in the same documentary about the mistreatment of pigs on German farms used for gelatine production.

The animals live in their own excrement and are covered in bruises, according to the documentary.

"As a company whose mission it is to bring joy to children and adults alike, reports of animal cruelty in our supply chain are unacceptable," the company said.

Chile penguins win battle in war against mine

Yahoo – AFP, Giovanna FLEITAS, 13 October 2017

They may be less than a meter tall but they have conquered a Goliath: Chile's vulnerable Humboldt penguins have thwarted -- for now at least -- a billion dollar mining project in one of the country's most depressed regions.

The rare species is only found on the coasts of Peru and Chile, which has created the National Humboldt Penguin Reserve -- but it's also an area rich in natural resources which has put the animals on a collision course with mining giant Andes Iron and their $2.5 billion project.

Conservationists jumped to their defense when the company unveiled plans to construct a huge open-cast mine and a port near the reserve, 600 kilometers (250 miles) north of Santiago.

The Dominga mine would have produced 12 million tonnes of iron ore a year, making it the biggest of its kind in the country, and 150,000 tonnes of copper.

For months it made headlines amid a bitter national debate over economic development and environmental conservation that was fought out on social media and split the socialist government of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

The project was rejected in March by an environmental commission but Andes Iron appealed the ruling.

In August, a special cabinet committee which included the energy and mines, health and environment ministers, finally vetoed the project citing of a lack of guarantees for the penguins.

Humboldts have been protected here since 1990, when the reserve was set up to encompass the islands of Dama, Choros and Gaviota, a stunning nature trail beloved of whale, sea-lion and penguin watchers.

Thousands of jobs

Rodrigo Flores, vice-president of the fisherman's union in nearby Punta Choros, a jumping off point for tours of the islands, welcomed the move.

"Dominga is an invasive project, for nature and for society," he told AFP. "It is incompatible with a place considered a hotspot of biodiversity at the global level."

But that's not everyone's view.

Joyce Aguirre is one of the project's staunch defenders in the local community of La Higuera.

"Every project has an impact," she said, arguing that the government had a duty to come down on the side of jobs.

"We want to be vigilant and watch what's going to happen. We are the ones who live here and we would never want to damage the area."

The region is among the most underdeveloped in Chile and many locals lament the loss of thousands of jobs promised under the plan.

Conservation NGO Oceana warned of the risks to the ecosystem from the mine, whose port terminal was set to be built only 30 kilometers away from the island of Choros.

The conservation group argued that increased shipping traffic, with its greater risk of oil spills, would do untold harm to a known cetacean migrant route and pristine waters that provide a rich food source to several vulnerable species including the sea otter.

"I've been diving in other areas and I've seen that residue from mining activity is noticeable on the ocean bottom, killing all existing life," said fisherman Mauricio Carrasco. "That's what we're afraid of."

Constant pressure on reserve

In Punta Choros, 160 families in the fishing community play an official role in watching over the penguin reserve, an area of 880 hectares which is home to 80 percent of the species.

Recent studies have shown the water to be pristine, largely due to conservation efforts.

But the reserve "is constantly under threat from mega-projects," warned Liliana Yanes, regional director of the National Forestry Office in Coquimbo.

French giant Suez was forced to pull out of a project to build a power plant in Barrancones, near Choros, in 2010. The then-president Sebastian Pinera demanded that the power plant be built elsewhere after thousands of people protested.

Around 60 kilometers away in the town of La Serena, part of the population has come out strongly against the U-turn on the Dominga project.

"We feel the disappointment, as Chileans, because the government is clipping our wings," said Marta Arancibia, adding that the region was one of the poorest in Chile.

She is a member of a residents association which signed an agreement with Andes Iron in which they promised to invest heavily in local education, healthcare and potable water projects.

"The state hasn't been present for us over the last 20 years, so we see these private enterprise projects as opportunities," said Aguirre, who also signed the agreement.

Andes Iron has signalled its intention to continue the battle in Chile's environmental court and if necessary, take it all the way to the Supreme Court.

Round one to the plucky penguins, though it seems the war has only started.

Chile's #Humboldt penguins win battle in war against mining giant pic.twitter.com/uy2lPQpRgV

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 13, 2017

Deal struck for world's biggest marine reserve in Antarctica

Yahoo – AFP, Martin Parry, October 28, 2016

Antartica is considered critical for scientists to study how marine ecosystems
function and to understand the impacts of climate change on the ocean
(AFP Photo/Rodrigo Arangua)

Sydney (AFP) - The world's largest marine reserve aimed at protecting the pristine wilderness of Antarctica will be created after a "momentous" agreement was finally reached Friday, with Russia dropping its long-held opposition.

The deal, sealed by the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) at an annual meeting in Hobart after years of negotiations, will see a massive US and New Zealand-backed marine protected area established in the Ross Sea.

It will cover more than 1.55 million square kilometres (600,000 square miles) -- roughly the size of Britain, Germany and France combined -- of which 1.12 million square kilometres will be a no fishing zone.

"The proposal required some changes in order to gain the unanimous support of all 25 CCAMLR members and the final agreement balances marine protection, sustainable fishing and science interests," New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said.

"The boundaries of the MPA, however, remain unchanged."

'Just the start'

The Ross Sea is one of the last intact marine ecosystems in the world, home to penguins, seals, Antarctic toothfish, whales and huge numbers of krill, a staple food for many species.

It is considered critical for scientists to study how marine ecosystems function and to understand the impacts of climate change on the ocean.

Antarctic sanctuaries (AFP Photo/Laurence CHU, Gal ROMA)

Moscow was the last government opposing the move, largely due to concerns over fishing rights, after China offered its support last year.

"We had a lot of talks with them. Secretary (John) Kerry reached out to Russian President (Vladimir) Putin and (Foreign Minister Sergei) Lavrov and I think that helped a great deal to convince Russia to come on board," Evan Bloom, head of the US delegation at the meeting, told AFP.

"This decision is very important not just for the Antarctic but for efforts to promote world marine conservation."

Moscow has signalled more commitment to conservation in recent times, designating 2017 as the Year of Ecology. It moved in August to significantly increase the size of a protected zone around Franz Josef Land in the Arctic.

While the Ross Sea plan got the go-ahead, time ran out at the meeting to reach agreement on a second proposed protected area -- the Australia and France-led East Antarctica sanctuary covering another one million square kilometre zone.

Antarctica is home to penguins, seals, Antarctic toothfish, and whales

(AFP Photo/Eitan Abramovich)

Both reserve proposals have been on the table since 2012 with CCAMLR -- a treaty tasked with overseeing conservation and sustainable exploitation of the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean.

Consensus is needed from all 24 member countries and the European Union.

A third German-proposed plan is also in the works to protect the Weddell Sea, which extends from the southeast of South America over an area of some 2.8 million square kilometres.

"For the first time, countries have put aside their differences to protect a large area of the Southern Ocean and international waters," said Mike Walker, project director of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, calling the outcome "momentous".

"Although there was not a decision on the proposed protection of the Weddell Sea and the East Antarctic this year, we are confident that these areas will be protected in the coming years, adding to the system of marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean."

A humpback whale jumps out of the water in the western Antarctic peninsula

(AFP Photo/Eitan Abramovich)

The Ross Sea is named after British explorer Sir James Ross and his great, great, great granddaughter Phillipa Ross said the family was thrilled it was safeguarded.

"The Ross family are euphoric that our family legacy has been honoured in the 175th anniversary year since James first discovered the Ross Sea, thanks to the individuals and organisations who have poured their hearts and souls into campaigning for its protection," she said.

It culminates years of pressure by conservationists, including a campaign by the global civic movement Avaaz which was kickstarted by Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio.

"There’s massive momentum in the world right now to protect our oceans," said Avaaz campaign director Luis Morago. "The Ross Sea is just the start."

Obama establishes world's largest marine reserve in Hawaii https://t.co/iiHtWPZ7gj by @kerrsheridan pic.twitter.com/sO3e45v90i

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 28, 2016

Related Articles:

Obama establishes world's largest marine reserve in Hawaii

Barack Obama to create world's largest ocean reserve in the Pacific

The existing boundaries of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument

 are outlined in light blue. The other Monuments, outlined in purple and green, are

not being changed. Photograph: Noaa

DiCaprio unveils free technology to spy on global fishing

"Around the Horn" - (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

“… Now, in the process of all of this, there's going to be renewed interest in Antarctica, and you're going to find some interesting things about the land under the ice. The topography of the land under the ice does not match the topography of the ice above. Some astonishing shapes will be revealed when you map the actual land under the ice. Points of mountains are going to be revealed, giving an entire different idea of what Antarctica might have been and what its purpose really is. The continent that is uninhabitable by Human Beings may very well be the engine of life for Human Beings. And I will leave it at that. …”

Obama establishes world's largest marine reserve in Hawaii

Yahoo – AFP, Kerry Sheridan, August 26, 2016

Obama's announcement more than quadrupled the size of the existing protected
 area, known as the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (AFP Photo/
Brendan Smialowski)

Miami (AFP) - President Barack Obama on Friday burnished his environmental legacy by establishing the world's largest marine reserve, home to thousands of rare sea creatures in the northwestern Hawaiian islands.

Obama's announcement more than quadrupled the size of the existing protected area, known as the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which is now 582,578 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers) -- about four times the size of California.

The waters are home to pristine coral reefs and hundreds of animals found nowhere else on Earth, including a new species of ghost octopus discovered only this year and the world's oldest living organism, black coral, which is estimated to be 4,265 years old.

Some 14 million seabirds soar over the area and make their nests on the islands, including a 65-year-old albatross named Wisdom. The area is also home to threatened green turtles and endangered Hawaiian monk seals.

The marine monument was established in 2006 by then president George W. Bush and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.

"By expanding the monument, President Obama has increased protections for one of the most biologically and culturally significant places on the planet," said Joshua Reichert, an executive vice president at the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Greenpeace also hailed what it called a "bold decision" that will ban commercial fishing and mineral extraction in the region.

US Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, said in a statement that the expansion will create "a safe zone that will replenish stocks of tuna, promote biodiversity and fight climate change."

Obama "has given Native Hawaiians a greater voice in managing this precious resource," Schatz said.

But some expressed disappointment over the move to expand the zone to 200 miles from shore, saying that it imperils fishermen's ability to make a living.

"Closing 60 percent of Hawaii's waters to commercial fishing, when science is telling us that it will not lead to more productive local fisheries, makes no sense," said Edwin Ebiusi Jr., chair of the Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

"Today is a sad day in the history of Hawaii's fisheries and a negative blow to our local food security."

Matt Rand, director of the Global Ocean Legacy project at the Pew Charitable Trusts, took a different view, saying that the change should have "a minimal economic impact" on fishing in the area.

The archipelago and its surrounding waters are considered a sacred area by native Hawaiians.

The White House said permits will also be available for noncommercial fishing -- including recreational fishing and the removal of fish and other resources for Native Hawaiian cultural practices -- in the area.

World congress

Obama's announcement came just days before the kickoff of a major global conservation meeting including thousands of heads of state, scientists and policy makers, which the US president is expected to address in Hawaii on September 1.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature's world congress is held every four years at a different location around the globe. This year it runs from September 1-10.

Obama will also travel to Midway Atoll, inside the protected area, to underscore the decision.

There he will make the case that climate change "makes protecting our public lands and waters more important than ever," according to the White House.

The timing of Obama's announcement is important because it "will inspire probably the people that are most interested and most engaged in conservation globally," said Rand.

Obama has made conservation and climate change a central pillar of his presidency -- in the face of Republican opposition in Congress -- forging international climate accords and promoting national parks.

"All together, President Obama has protected more public lands and waters than any other president," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

"And these sites often help tell the story of significant people or extraordinary events in American history."

Obama establishes world's largest marine reserve in Hawaii https://t.co/iiHtWPZ7gj by @kerrsheridan pic.twitter.com/sO3e45v90i

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 28, 2016

Related Article:

Barack Obama to create world's largest ocean reserve in the Pacific

The existing boundaries of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument

 are outlined in light blue. The other Monuments, outlined in purple and green, are

not being changed. Photograph: Noaa

33 rescued lions flown from Peru to S. Africa

Yahoo – AFP, Moises Avila, April 30, 2016

The lions, with names such as Zeus and Shakira, were freed after the use of
wild animals in circuses was outlawed in Peru in 2011 and Colombia in 2013
(AFP Photo/Cris Bouroncle)

Lima (AFP) - More than 30 lions rescued from abuse in Peruvian and Colombian circuses were flown Friday to South Africa, in what campaigners called the largest-ever airlift of big cats.

The 33 lions, with names such as Zeus and Shakira, were freed after the use of wild animals in circuses was outlawed in Peru in 2011 and Colombia in 2013.

The Colombian circuses gave up the

 lions voluntarily but police had to launch

 raids to free the lions in Peru (AFP

Photo/Cris Bouroncle)

Saved from the lion tamer's whip, they have been rounded up with the help of authorities by Animal Defenders International (ADI), an animal rights charity.

"It's truly wonderful that these lions, after a lifetime of suffering and abuse in circuses, are going home to Africa," said the president of ADI, Jan Creamer.

"All of the lions when they arrive from the circuses have health problems, parasites, disease," she added.

"All of their lives they haven't had enough food, so they have long-term malnutrition problems."

Recent months have been spent in straw-lined cages in a refuge north of Lima, however, they have been well fed and are in generally good health, Creamer said.

Twenty-four lions rescued in Peru were driven from their temporary rescue center to Lima airport to be picked up by a cargo plane that brought another nine over from Colombia.

Late Friday, the airlift took off, transporting the big cats to their new life.

"We are on our way!" read a post on the ADI website.

"The 33 lions are on board the ADI Spirit Of Freedom Flight, on route to their wonderful new lives at Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary, South Africa."

Graphic, including map, illustrating how lions from circuses in Peru and

 Colombia are to be released into a game park in South Africa (AFP Photo/

Tamara Hoha)

The contingent of big cats includes Shakira, named after the Colombian pop singer. Her minders say she likes to play with a tire and eat watermelons.

From one of 10 Peruvian circuses comes "Ricardo, the one-eyed lion" and from another "Joseph, the almost-blind lion."

'Heading home to paradise'

Together, the 33 were to take a 15-hour flight to South Africa in travel cages inside the plane chartered by ADI.

They will arrive on Saturday in Johannesburg and be taken on to the Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary in the north of the country.

"The lions will be in their natural habitat for the first time in their lives," Creamer said. "They should fit right into that habitat. It's the best environment for them."

ADI says it is the biggest transfer of such large captive animals ever.

Workers carry a cage containing a former circus lion at the El Dorado Airport

 in Bogota, Colombia, April 29, 2016. Nine former circus lions will be taken to the

 Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary in South Africa where ADI (Animal Defenders 

International) officials said they will enjoy natural enclosures with drinking

pools, platforms and toys. Reuters/John Vizcaino

In the circuses the lions were poorly fed and trucked around in cages, the group said. The Colombian circuses gave up the nine lions voluntarily but police had to launch raids to free the lions in Peru.

The rescuers say that one of the Peru contingent, Smith, attacked a teacher from a school party when she was invited into his cage by a lion tamer.

"Almost all of the rescued lions have been mutilated to remove their claws, one has lost an eye, another is almost blind, and many have smashed and broken teeth so would not survive in the wild," ADI said in a statement.

At their new home, "the lions will enjoy large natural enclosures situated in pristine African bush, complete with drinking pools, platforms and toys," it added.

"The lion habitats will be steadily expanded over the coming months as the lions become familiar with their new life and are introduced to each other."

The cost of the transfer is $10,000 per cat, ADI said.

"These lions have endured hell on earth," Creamer said.

"Now they are heading home to paradise."

As the final lion boarded, we were ready to fly! https://t.co/saoaOdVjMh #lionsbacktoAfrica pic.twitter.com/2ZStgRJnEn

— ADI (@AnimalDefenders) April 29, 2016

Related Article:

Abused circus lions flown to new home in South African bush

#SpiritOfFreedomFlight is cleared for takeoff and we're off! Simba is taking a nap! https://t.co/saoaOdVjMh pic.twitter.com/eVrUB9Yq6Q

— ADI (@AnimalDefenders) April 29, 2016

Fighting animal cruelty in LatAm, one tweet at a time

MSN – AFP, Alina Rodriguez, 10 Feb 2015

Veterinarian Carmen Soto treats a toucan that lost the upper half of 

his beak after being attacked by youths, on February 4, 2015. (AF)

Veterinarian Carmen Soto is gently swabbing what is left of Grecia the toucan's bright beak, preparing to fit him with a prosthesis to replace the part hacked off by vandals.

The images of the bird's mutilated red-and-yellow beak caused outrage last month in Costa Rica, where donations for a prosthesis came pouring in after his story went viral on social media -- a new weapon in the fight against the age-old problem of animal cruelty in Latin America.

Appalled citizens sent in $3,000 to outfit Grecia with a prosthetic beak after a gang of rowdy youths attacked the bird, which activists say is a sort of half-wild, half-tame mascot for the central town of Grecia.

A similar case shook Honduras in January, when a group of young people blew up a stray dog with fireworks and posted a video online.

And in Peru, social media users were repulsed when a man whose children had been bitten by the neighbor's dog claimed revenge by tying the animal to the back of his car and dragging him through the street.

Veterinarian Carmen Soto, in charge of an animal rescue centre, in
La Garita, Alajuela, 45 km north of San Jose. (AFP)

Such cases usually go unpunished in Latin America, where laws against animal cruelty are mostly weak or non-existent.

The network of organizations fighting the phenomenon is also small and underfunded.

But social media is changing that, said Cynthia Dent, executive director for the Humane Society International in Latin America.

"Twitter and Facebook have increased our awareness of cases of cruelty in Latin America, said Dent from the Costa Rican capital San Jose, the group's regional headquarters.

"In the past we would only hear about it when there was a case reported in the press. But now we have outraged people who take advantage of social media to highlight these cases of cruelty and join forces against them."

Those protests are starting to spill over from the Internet to the street, pressuring the authorities to act.

"The visibility that social networks give to animal cruelty puts more pressure to pass laws," Dent told AFP.

$2 fines

Demonstrators have held rallies in recent months in Honduras, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay calling for harsher laws to fight animal cruelty.

In countries such as Mexico and Uruguay, animal cruelty is a crime but offenders are rarely punished.

Most countries in Latin America impose only a small fine for abusers.

In Colombia, for example, the fines range from $2 to $20.

"These laws are on the books, but they're not enforced. Prosecutors aren't trained to implement them," said Leonora Esquivel, head of animal rights group Anima Naturalis Mexico.

In Costa Rica, a country whose economy depends on tourists drawn to its world-famous rainforests and wildlife, activists are calling on Congress to impose prison terms for animal cruelty -- a fight that has gained momentum since the attack on Grecia the toucan.

Lawmakers wary of the legislation are trying to amend it to continue allowing bullfights, a tradition inherited from Spain during the colonial era that remains popular in much of Latin America.

In Venezuela, bullfights remain legal alongside cockfights and "coleo," a Latin American twist on rodeo where cowboys on horseback try to grab young bulls by the tail and pull them to the ground.

Bulls are also at the center of a legal row in Colombia, where a court last week ordered the reopening of the bullfighting ring in the capital Bogota, whose mayor, Gustavo Petro, had ordered it closed in 2012 as part of a campaign against cruelty to animals.

Bodies of 500 sea lions found on Peruvian beach

Yahoo – AFP, 23 Nov 2014

Peruvian authorities are investigating the deaths of some 500 sea lions

that appeared on a northern beach (AFP file)

Peruvian authorities were investigating Sunday the deaths of some 500 sea lions whose rotting corpses were found on a northern beach.

Environmental police told the official Andina news agency that the decomposing bodies of adult and juvenile sea lions were found on a beach in Santa province about 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Lima.

Police are investigating a complaint from the governor of the local Samanco district, who said the sea mammals had been poisoned by marine farmers and fishermen who harvest shellfish.

Sea lions come close to the shore to look for seafood and scallops to eat.

City workers hauled away the corpses, which risked posing a public health hazard.

In early November, the bodies of another 187 sea lions were found in the Piura region farther to the north of Peru, along with four dead dolphins and the corpses of sea turtles and dozens of pelicans.

Wildlife officials are investigating those deaths but have yet to announce their findings.

A range of possible causes are being considered, including disease, entanglement in fishing nets, the ingestion of plastic trash and hunting.

Leave that iguana in the jungle, expert tells Costa Rica

Yahoo – AFP, Oscar Nunez, 30 Aug 2014

A nurse at the Simon Bolivar Zoo's veterinary surgery gives a medicine to a

squirrel in San Jose on August 28, 2014, Costa Rica (AFP Photo/Ezequiel Becerra)

San Jose (Costa Rica) (AFP) - Thousands of parrots, monkeys, iguanas, toucans, turtles and other rainforest animals are kept as exotic pets in Costa Rica, a practice putting some species at risk, according to experts.

The Central American country, famous for its rich biodiversity, won plaudits from conservationists two years ago for banning sport hunting in a pioneering move to protect wild animals.

A macaw eats at the Simon Bolivar Zoo's

 veterinary surgery, in San Jose on August 28,

 2014, Costa Rica (AFP Photo/Ezequiel Becerra)

But scientists and activists -- gathered this week for the country's first-ever conference on the issue of captive wildlife -- say tropical animals face another major threat in Costa Ricans' long-time love of exotic pets.

"There are no precise figures, but we know it's a problem of great magnitude, because a study by the environment ministry found that 25 percent of households have a parrot or a parakeet as a pet," said Andrea Aguilar of the Instituto Asis, a key figure behind the conference.

That would add up to nearly 400,000 exotic birds in cages, she said.

Aguilar's institute runs a shelter for wild animals in La Fortuna de San Carlos, a lush region in northern Costa Rica that draws large numbers of foreign tourists with its famous wildlife and tropical vegetation.

The shelter takes in wild animals kept as pets that fall sick or are wounded by people, cars or electric shocks.

It gives them veterinary care and, when possible, prepares them for an eventual return to the wild.

Cindy Rivera, a nurse at the Simon Bolivar 

Zoo's veterinary surgery, weighs a turtle

 in San Jose on August 28, 2014 Costa

Rica (AFP Photo/Ezequiel Becerra)

"Costa Rican law forbids keeping wild species as pets, but the law isn't enough because there's a very deep-rooted custom. People don't realize that wild animals are not and cannot be pets," Aguilar told AFP in an interview ahead of the First Congress on Wildlife Rescue, Recovery and Freedom in San Jose.

She said people have a range of reasons for keeping pets such as white-faced capuchin monkeys, green iguanas or songbirds. They are drawn to the animals' beauty, they want to entertain their children or they feel it brings them social status.

But the underlying problem is that people are largely ignorant of the animals' diets, growth, life span, habitat, diseases and behavior.

"A family falls in love with a baby white-faced capuchin because it's funny and affectionate, but when it reaches two years old its behavior will change. It will become aggressive, bite and pull people's hair. That's when it becomes a problem at home," she said.

Such animals often end up being mistreated or killed, or, with luck, in a shelter, she said.

By that point returning them to their native environment is difficult. They lack survival skills and are unlikely to be accepted by other members of their species.

Traffic in exotic animals

The international traffic in exotic animals exacerbates the problem.

A Spider Monkey sits in an enclosure at the

 Simon Bolivar Zoo in San Jose, Costa Rica 

on July 28, 2013 (AFP Photo/Hector Retamal)

The illegal $20-billion-a-year trade has taken a major toll on Costa Rica's biodiversity, as animals are captured and sold abroad, Aguilar said.

One of the goals of the three-day conference is to prod the Costa Rican government to expand environmental education programs for locals, foreign visitors and ecotourism operators.

"It's important to make people understand that wild animals have to live in the forest, because they have different needs from domesticated animals," said Aguilar.

Protecting the environment is also key for the Costa Rican economy, which depends heavily on tourism and attracted 2.4 million visitors last year -- many of them drawn by the country's tropical wildlife and forests.