Good reading on Mongabay 0

There is so much good stuff over there I hardly know where to start. You might consider subscribing to the weekly email.

Top of the list is an interview with Luke Hunter (the same biologist I pissed off with my pincushion post). Coincidentally, roughly a fifth of the interview dealt with that topic:

... does conservation of the species require radio-tagging? There are many, many cases where it does not. I often read proposals by graduate students who are wishing to radio-collar cats to address a conservation issue when they could far better achieve their goal by some other means.

Trapping or darting animals does increase their vulnerability, so it is critical to reduce that as much as possible. The great bulk of biologists I've met are very concerned about this and take great care in reducing the risk.

Take a few minutes out of your life (or off your boss's time clock) to sign this petition. This was my message: "Please cosponsor the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act. Your grandchildren will thank you." Dooo it ...

The article on ethanol, which discuses biodiesel as well, is fantastic. Check out the graphic:

Bookmark this article for future debates on biofuels. Putting crops in your gas tank just forces someone else to replace that crop by clearing more land somewhere else. Rocket science, this isn't. Biofuels from crops are shaping up to be the most ecologically destructive idea ever conceived in the name of profit.

Apparently some Mai Mai thugs, after killing a park ranger, are now threatening to slaughter gorillas in an attempt to extort immunity for their past crimes and brutality.

WildlifeDirect says the violence is nothing new: since the beginning of the conflict in eastern Congo nearly a decade ago, some 150 park rangers have been killed on active duty.

I wish someone important would pick up on my idea to create a United Nations Park Ranger division to help protect designated preserves around the world.

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