While most of us think of tobacco as a carcinogenic, researchers have now shown that it can benefit humans too.
A report examining whether genetically modified tobacco plants can be used to fight off environmental toxins, including pond scum, has been released by researchers in the U.K. Such toxins can turn a safe supply of water into an unsafe source for drinking and swimming.
The scientists hope they can use the tobacco plants to increase the availability of safe drinking water in developing ...
Brent Foster, a Canadian Geographic photographer, is in Rwanda teaching multimedia journalism at a University in Kigali. Last week he had the opportunity to get away from teaching for a bit and went out and got some stunning shots of Mountain Gorillas. Looking at them, it's immediately apparent why we have such a visceral connection with these great apes.
For more, have a look at Brent Foster's blog.
Coming up at the end of the week we'll be publishing a Field Report interview with Foster where he talks about shooting a pictorial for our April issue. Stay tuned. I'll post a link.
Think the North American Grizzly is a powerful, almost-invincible animal? Think again. For such large beasts, these bears are surprisingly vulnerable to the environmental impact of the most populous mammal on earth: us. They suffer from overfishing - because they depend on the salmon spawn and they're losing more habitat as urban cities sprawl across valuable forest.
Yet now there's another worry for conservationists: the grizzly bear trophy hunt. According to the David Suzuki Foundation, the population of bears is severely threatened by this activity. Over the last 30 years 11,000 grizzlies have been killed in and around Provincial Parks and protected areas in B.C.
The hunt is by no means a new practice, but because of other factors like climate change, pollution and overfishing, conservationists and activists have begun to focus on it as doubly detrimental to grizzly populations. In the natural world, where so much is uncontrollable, it is easy to see why there is suddenly increased attention on the trophy hunt, precisely because it can be stopped
Interestingly enough, the most strenuous regulations on killing the bears, and selling grizzly products are outside of Canada, where grizzlies are either extinct or endangered. And more troubling is the fact that most trophy hunters come from these countries (usually either the U.S. or Europe) to hunt the bears.
Fortunately, there is something you can do. The David Suzuki Foundation is holding a letter writing campaign addressed to the Premier of B.C. and his Environment Minister. If you go to the David Suzuki Foundation website there is a page dedicated to just that.
The Mountain View Conservation Centre, in Fort Langley B.C., is making headlines across Canada, and it’s not good news.
The centre breeds and houses endangered animals so they can eventually be reintroduced to the wild. But in recent months, three of their giraffes have died. Two giraffes died in a cold snap, and one died in early February during a simple operation: hoof-trimming.
This giraffe fiasco drew attention from B.C.'s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. And now the centre faces animal cruelty charges under the criminal code and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
To make matters worse, current and former staff have made allegations of animal abuse and neglect.
Read more about the charges on CanWest’s Canada.com, and on the B.C. SPCA website.
