December 12th, 2012- The Cove Guardians in Taiji report the fisherman preparing the 100+ bottlenose dolphins that have been kept overnight from the previous days hunting. Trainers from marine parks around the world soon arrive at the cove to place their bids on the life of one of these prime specimen of marine mammal captivity. Not even a full three hours after the fisherman have woken up and started the day, 12 souls were given to the devil. 12 souls taken to captivity…not even three hours later. A mother tries to save a baby before the calf dies fro being entangled in the nets. The day goes on, more dolphins lives of freedom are taken, with a total of 32 at the end of the day.

December 13th, 2012- 28 more dolphins are taken from the cove, and sent to marine parks. 2 dead bodies are found from within the cove and immediately removed. Total of 60 dolphins taken.

December 14th, 2012- The dolphins and the Cove Guardians get a break. Mother Nature does her best and sets in a downpour, preventing any selling of dolphins.

December 15th,2012- 31 dolphins taken into captivity today, rendering a total of 93. 93 lives just ruined, taken, abused, tortured, and ultimately put to an end in just 4 days.

The fisherman and trainers are expected to finish selecting dolphins on the 16th, and the Cove Guardians will report.

The amount of grief felt in the hearts of thousands worldwide can be felt even by the type of words on a computer. But none are experiencing the pain and mourning like those bearing witness in Taiji, updating the world, keeping us aware, documenting the events with every detail. For this we thank you, for without you we would know nothing of these events.

In the past 4 days, 93 lives have been taken in Taiji. Families have been separated, never to see each other again. 93 babies, mothers, and fathers have been sentenced to a life of sadness for a crime they never committed.

Some consider it a blessing that these beautiful animals weren’t slaughtered on the spot, killed…upon a deeper analyzing, though, it is not so. There is no difference between the fisherman slaughtering them in the cove and them being taken into captivity. Captivity is death, just slower.

This is Taiji.

Due to increasing international awareness of this hunt and slaughter by documentation of the hunt, and global protest, the numbers have dropped drastically over the past 4 years. Ric O’ Barry in an interview for “The Examiner” is quoted saying:

“I really see progress in Taiji. I know the numbers, I know that the dolphin meat sales have dropped dramatically in the last four years.” He attributes this largely to the toxic mercury in the dolphin meat. “We are able to get to the Japanese people with the mercury contamination issue, and I see measurable results.” O’Barry adds, “That’s what keeps me going.”

Ric O’ Barrys words are true. Progress in stopping this barbaric slaughter in Taiji is noticeable. With a set normal quota of around 2,000 dolphins. From September 2011 to April 2012, 848 dolphins were herded into The Cove. According to reports published by Ceta-Base, 719 of these animals were killed. This number represents a slight decline compared to the previous year’s hunt in which 1,297 were captured and 849 were killed.

For those activists and dolphin lovers around the world who cannot make it out to Taiji with Ric O’ Barry and the Sea Shepherd Cove Guardians, Ric O’ Barry is the head of a campaign for you, called Japan Dolphins Day 2012. Peaceful protests are currently scheduled on August 31 and September 1 in 82 cities across the globe. Many of the events will take place in front of Japanese Embassies. Activists seek to draw international attention to the plight of the Taiji dolphins and to urge the government of Japan to let the dolphins live and be free. To see if there is an event near you visit, Japan Dolphins Day 2012. If there is not an event near you, Ric O’ Barry and Save Japan Dolphins STRONGLY encourage you to create and host one of your own! For help starting an event contact  the Save Misty the Dolphin team on Facebook.

The Vancouver Aquarium’s 46-year-old Kavna, the oldest captive beluga whale in North America, died around 3 p.m. today after what veterinarians called a “long and healthy life.”

Kavna was the inspiration behind one of Canadian troubadour Raffi’s biggest hits “Baby Beluga,” which he penned after a brief encounter at the aquarium in 1979.

“just heard the news, sad she’s gone. Loved meeting her in ’79 ~ gave me a kiss, inspired a song now known to millions!,” the singer, whose full name is Raffi Cavoukian, tweeted Monday night.

Kavna had been displaying “inconsistent behaviour” over the past few weeks, according to an aquarium media release, and had undergone bloodwork and other tests to determine the cause of her behaviour. Over the next two days a full necropsy will be completed to determine the cause of her death the release said.

However, most wild belugas live about 25 or 30 years and, at 46, aquarium spokeswoman Charlene Chiang said Kavna was at the end of a long life.

Kavna first came to the aquarium from Churchill, Manitoba in the summer of 1976 and gave birth to a calf named Tuaq in 1977. Tuaq only lived 16 weeks before dying of a deep-seated infection.

The aquarium’s other belugas are Aurora, a female arrived who also came from Churchill, Manitoba in the summer of 1990, and her daughter Qila.

Veterinarians estimate Aurora was born around 1987. Qila was born at the Aquarium on July 23, 1995. Her father, Nanuq, was moved to Sea World in the United States.

Lately I have been seeing more and more people talking and spreading propaganda that sharks are these evil species of fish that go around biting off peoples legs for the sheer joy of it, when this is just not true. The opinion of the majority of the people in today’s society on sharks has been altered by media and stereotypes, and so people have become blinded to the crazy and irrational idea that these creatures are just not much of a threat to humans as they are made out to be. They choose not to do the research but to base their feelings on those of Hollywood and others.

Due to these reasons people do not understand why activists are wanting to conserve sharks.. they wonder this while they are holding competitions to see who can murder the biggest one. They do not seem to understand that sharks have shaped the evolution of the oceans for over 450 billion years and if you remove them and the ecological balance and diversity that is inside the oceans crumbles. Sharks are the apex predator of the ocean and are very critical to the survival of the oceans.

Not only do people not want the shark to be conserved, they don’t want them to be conserved for an incorrect stereotype. Their own ignorance is the reason that hundreds and thousands of sharks have lost their lives and continue to lose their lives. Just the very idea that sharks are monsters that live to kill humans is an atrocity! Sharks kill on average 5 people a year. 5 people. Ostriches kill 100. Coke machines falling over on people kill 9. 6 million people die every year from smoking, around 6 billion people die from automobile accidents every year.  Sharks have been wrongly accused of being man hunting monsters for too long.

I once heard a comedian talking about sharks, and I found that I really loved this comedian.. he said something along the lines of… “What are people talking about shark attacks? There has not ever been a shark attack in all of history. There has been shark defense. The ocean is the sharks home and you are choosing to go into it… his turf. You invading his area, and he has the right to defend himself. If some weird creature plopped into yo living room, you would probably take a chunk out of him too. First time a shark comes up on land and bites you, then you can scream about a shark attack. But until that happens, you better respect them.”

No shark attacks a human unprovoked… sharks aren’t even hunters, they’re scavengers! If you’re out in the ocean doing something stupid or crazy, something you probably shouldn’t be doing, then you’re taking that risk.

Bottom line, sharks are not some evil creature from the depths of the ocean that have the sole intention of eating a human.

From sea to tank in the name of “conservation”. The capture of these belugas is intended to improve the genetic diversity of belugas in captivity in the U.S. which would, reportedly, make the beluga population more stable. The captive beluga population that is. The creatures that would never exist in nature – the offspring of Canadian beluga whales mated with Russian beluga whales – to prop up the artificial lives of captive animals.
Georgia Aquarium chief zoological officer William Hurley says there are 34 belugas in U.S. captivity, with 4 of them being under the care of Georgia Aquarium. Many of those animals are past child-bearing age, and only two males have contributed to the artificial insemination efforts carried on throughout the country, Hurley said, adding that importing additional animals will make for a greater success at breeding efforts. Georgia Aquarium’s 17-year-old female beluga, Maris, gave birth in May, but the infant calf died just a few days later. The aquarium is still waiting on reports from the necropsy.

So, basically, the Georgia Aquarium’s breeding program for the beluga whales has gone down the drain, so now they want to import 18 healthy belugas from Russia to the United States in an attempt to restore the reproduction of captive belugas. While the process of capturing whales is dangerous to the animals, not infrequently resulting in their death, importing them can add additional deadly risks to the whale, physically and mentally.

Beluga whales are extremely social cetaceans with very complex family bonds and the removal from their home pod can cause great stress. Evidently the previous failures of breeding are reasons to rape the oceans of more beluga families in the wild. It has not been yet determined as to whether nor not the belugas will be brought into the country, but Russian scientists have already collected the specimens of choice from the Russian Sea of Okhotsk.

“Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along.”

Every day we are presented with situations and factors that give us opportunities to change the world, even in the smallest of ways. Small actions do not mean small significance… all the little things come together to form something big. That does not mean, however, that we always choose to take them… unfortunately I am not capable of saying I take every chance to help and change the world and be honest while saying it.

Even in just your ordinary trip to the grocery store, there are several different moments when you have the power to change the world, you just might not be noticing them! Here are some common situations…

When you arrive at the grocery store, where are you? In a parking lot. What is always in a parking lot? Trash. Trash that you can very quickly and easily pick up and put in the trash bin, or even a recycling bin! This was a perfect opportunity for you to create change! By the simple act of picking up a couple pieces of trash off the ground, you have played a small, but big, role in restoring the health of our planet!

Now, while I like to focus on changing the life of our animal friends around the Earth and the Earth itself, change is not only evident in this area.

When you walk into the grocery store, who do you see? People. What do people do to other people? Talk. Normally when you walk through a place, you do not talk to other people unless you have to. I am guilty of this, as well. But, I can also tell you from personal experience that just a subtle act of kindness from these people can make the rest of your day better. Happiness is contagious. You giving that person(s) a simple hello, smile, or holding the door open for them, picking up something they may have dropped, letting them in line ahead of you, or any common courtesies can start a chain reaction in that person.. and others around you! They see you doing these things, and it sorta gives them a push to do it as well! You are changing the world!

We’re about to get crazy. Lets put both of these scenarios together. You are at the grocery store, when you see some people in the same section as you… greet them and begin a conversation with them. Not just any conversation though, one about a topic of change, like recycling, the effects of using a water purifier/aluminum bottle instead of plastic water bottles, using reusable cloth bags instead of plastic bags when you check out, buying reusable products, biodegradable products, the list could go on! You inform this person about all these things they never knew, and then they pass it on to their friends and so forth! Now you’re creating change by the bucket fulls.

Think back to my original question. We choose to destroy the world instead of create a new one… What does that say about mankind itself?

Opportunities to make the world a better place are essentially knocking on our door everyday, just waiting for us to take them and make something beautiful of them… whether or not we do, well, that is all up to you.

While New Zealand procrastinates on implementing conservation methods and plans to help save these rare, playful, and highly intelligent creatures, their population decreases. The Maui dolphins are facing critical threats, killing very valuable members of their dwindling population count with one human induced death occurring every year. A female was killed by a net as recent as January… But a greater and darker threat looms over the lives of these marine mammals, reducing their chances of recovery.

The mineral extraction company TTR has recently completed tests to mine the Maui dolphin seabed to mine iron ore, and they are liking what they see. They are expected to file for a mining license before August. If this happens, the Maui dolphins do not stand a chance.

On May 2nd, 2012 AVAAZ, the online petition site, delivered over 20,000 pleas for the the government of New Zealand to protect these creatures, and save the Maui dolphins and bring them back from the brink of extinction.

Friday, (March 2nd, 2012) was the opening day of the movie version of the incredible story of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. For those of you who are not aware of this story, let me enlighten you of the back-story…

A young boy residing in a polluted, grim world visits a strange creature called the “Once-Ler” (whose two green arms are his only features that are seen) inquiring the history behind the poor state in which the world is now. So, the Once-Ler explains to the boy that he arrived in a beautiful, cheerful world containing happy, playful fauna that spent their days romping around blissfully, but soon began to chop down “Truffula trees” in order to craft a useful invention that he thought of, insisting that his new creation is highly necessary for everybody. Soon the Once-Ler starts to make profit off of these versatile yet simple-looking inventions, contacting all his relatives to help him with his business. However, a small orange creature called the “Lorax” tries to urge the Once-Ler to cease cutting down so many Truffula trees, pleading that doing so could harm the environment, but the Once-Ler ignores him and continues to grow wealthy off of selling his invention. However, eventually the supply of Truffula trees runs out and not only is the land left in serious pollution, but the Once-Ler’s new family business goes bankrupt and the creatures that once resided within the forest must leave. After the Once-Ler has finished telling the boy his story, he provides the boy with “the last one [Truffula seed] of all,” and tells him to plant this tree and nurture it so he can grow a forest of Truffula Trees.

*Plot overview from Wiki-Pedia*

Here is the reality of this children’s book that touched the hearts of many…

Deforestation – the act of cutting down and removing all or most of the trees in a forested area

Rainforests once covered around 14% of the Earth’s surface and humans have depleted 8% percent of it already, and experts on the subject estimate that they will be consumed and forced to extinction in less than  40 years. These rain forests are cut down for many reasons, most resorting to money— greed, just like the Once-Ler.

The act of deforestation has many devastating effects on the environment, with the most dramatic being the loss of habitat for millions of species— refer to when the woodland creatures were forced to leave the land of the truffula trees because they could no longer feed on the truffula fruit. Seventy percent of global land animals make their home in the forests and cannot survive the destruction of these lands.

Deforestation also creates changes in climate, also known popularly as global warming.  Forest soils are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking tree cover they quickly dry out. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor back into the atmosphere. Without trees to fill these roles, many former forest lands can quickly become barren deserts.

Deforestation is bad. It rids millions of species of animals of home and food causing death to many. It means less rain causing drastic effects upon the atmospheres water cycle. It means less air for us to breathe, less oxygen to clean the air allowing smog. It means a greater risk of global warming becoming a horrible reality for all to suffer. But it’s not too late. We can restore our rain forests, and provide a brighter future for many generations.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

-Dr. Seuss