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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAbused Circus Tiger Gets Fairy-Tale Ending
Last edited Thu May 26, 2016, 10:29 PM - Edit history (1)
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - April, 2016
Photograph by Animal Defenders International
Hoover the tiger will be sent from Peru to Florida on Friday after spending more than a grim decade with a traveling circus.
By Laurel Neme
PUBLISHED April 21, 2016
Alongside crates of asparagus, Hoover the tiger will be airlifted Friday from Peru to Florida, where hell settle into a new home in Tampa after a lifetime of suffering.
Hoover has spent his entire nearly 12 years performing tricks with a traveling circus in Peru. His harrowing journey to a new life reads like a bestselling thriller. The plot lineOperation Spirit of Freedomwas conceived by Jan Creamer and Tim Philips, co-founders of Animal Defenders International (ADI), a U.K.-based organization dedicated to stopping animal abuse and saving animals in distress...
An eight-hour standoff with Circo Koreander followed, leading to the rescue of Mufasa the mountain lion, who had been chained to the back of a truck for 20 years...
After being nursed back to health, Mufasa was released last November in Perus Taricaya Ecological Reserve, in the Amazon rain forest. One month later he died from kidney failure and other age-related problems. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160421-tiger-hoover-circus-rescue/ Abused Circus Tiger Gets Fairy-Tale Ending

Its frightening but true: Our planet is now in the midst of its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals the sixth wave of extinctions in the past half-billion years. Were currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural background rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate were now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day [1]. It could be a scary future indeed, with as many as 30 to 50 percent of all species possibly heading toward extinction by mid-century.
Unlike past mass extinctions, caused by events like asteroid strikes, volcanic eruptions, and natural climate shifts, the current crisis is almost entirely caused by us humans. In fact, 99 percent of currently threatened species are at risk from human activities, primarily those driving habitat loss, introduction of exotic species, and global warming. Because the rate of change in our biosphere is increasing, and because every species extinction potentially leads to the extinction of others bound to that species in a complex ecological web, numbers of extinctions are likely to snowball in the coming decades as ecosystems unravel.
Species diversity ensures ecosystem resilience, giving ecological communities the scope they need to withstand stress. Thus while conservationists often justifiably focus their efforts on species-rich ecosystems like rainforests and coral reefs which have a lot to lose a comprehensive strategy for saving biodiversity must also include habitat types with fewer species, like grasslands, tundra, and polar seas for which any loss could be irreversibly devastating. And while much concern over extinction focuses on globally lost species, most of biodiversitys benefits take place at a local level, and conserving local populations is the only way to ensure genetic diversity critical for a species long-term survival.
In the past 500 years, we know of approximately 1,000 species that have gone extinct, from the woodland bison of West Virginia and Arizonas Merriams elk to the Rocky Mountain grasshopper, passenger pigeon and Puerto Ricos Culebra parrot but this doesnt account for thousands of species that disappeared before scientists had a chance to describe them [4]. Nobody really knows how many species are in danger of becoming extinct. Noted conservation scientist David Wilcove estimates that there are 14,000 to 35,000 endangered species in the United States, which is 7 to 18 percent of U.S. flora and fauna. The IUCN has assessed roughly 3 percent of described species and identified 16,928 species worldwide as being threatened with extinction, or roughly 38 percent of those assessed. In its latest four-year endangered species assessment, the IUCN reports that the world wont meet a goal of reversing the extinction trend toward species depletion by 2010??? http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160421-tiger-hoover-circus-rescue/
Did your pet die recently? Progressives can have their "sign of the times" like religious zealots, can't we? I am asking the rather sizable (Nazi-type, volunteer Freeper and a bunch of professional, international trolls, not those silly Trump-trolls this OP will allow FBI agents to begin investigating for terrorism, hate-crimes, the RICO act etc.) I am asking really wealthy educated people if they think humans can adapt to far less oxygen quickly. If God is comey, he should be here by now... I don't think Homo Sapiens can dodge this bullet!

Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)

Mufasa...

Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)and then I go straight down to Roswell to tell REAL space-aliens, not Albuquerque illegal aliens about you! Now my damned radio station began playing "When you walk on by will you call my name:" Aliens - the dangerous, experimenting on humans type - already found us! Beam us up Scotty, no intelligence, (oops spelling error) life-forms are monitoring this website.
But waite... You could use a Democratic Underground Jury - to sue me for insulting your name. Then, you have a chance to become the REAL Trump running mate! (I hope everyone takes this spooky ghost or poltergeist sounding attack seriously.)
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Alien's Ghosts.
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)Ted Kennedy died and Romney took power in Massachusetts, not long after I got out of Alabama (aka Red-Neck, Republican Hell) where this old hippy spent early childhood feeling sorry for black people. This time I tricked um. I moved to a Republican state, where hate crimes, racism and Trump will not be tolerated.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Crimson Tide...
Why do they call Alabama the crimson tide?
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)Or is this a serious question?
CHECK THIS FAKE AIRPORT MOVIE OUT - WITH LINDA BLAIR - WHERE THEY REALLY BEAT THE HELL OUT ON A NUN! and get more exorcisms or exercise, everyone, by carrying signs in a real old-style protest.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)Crimson Tide = Red Tide Roll Tide = rolling waves
Red Tide
Red tide is a common name for a phenomenon known as an algal bloom (large concentrations of aquatic microorganisms) when it is caused by a few species of dinoflagellates and the bloom takes on a red or brown color. Red tides are events in which estuarine, marine, or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in the water column, resulting in coloration of the surface water. It is usually found in coastal areas. It kills sea life, of several species - in massive numbers - every year. If Climate Change does not accelerate this natural phenomenon, the Red Tides will assuredly add to species extinction caused by humans. You cannot work in Beijing without wearing an more expensive, state-approved, medical mask. Large corporations have utterly destroyed the air and water of one of the most beautiful, historic cities on Earth, which was once called the Forbidden City.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)In the Forbidden City, the architecture of the Song dynasty (9601279) was noted for its towering Buddhist pagodas, enormous stone and wooden bridges, lavish tombs, and extravagant palaces.
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)only ones suffering the consequences of the pollution problem are the 99%.
End rule by psychopath.
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)I visited Roswell and the only spaceship they had was fake and it blew off the museum, only to be stolen by some high-school boys. What will their wealthy world be like without beautiful beaches and big game hunts? Domestic stock and fancy salads could also vanish quickly. What will the rich brats breath, eat and drink, as the entire ecosystem collapses?
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)Crop destroying insects already gained extra breeding cycles in many areas, as birds and other predictors, which kept the pests in check vanish. What is the top 1% of wealth-holders thinking? Oxygen is being replaced by carbon monoxide at an alarming rate. Do these wealthy fools plan to breathe money?
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Number9Dream
(1,544 posts)What a beautiful, incredible creature.
malaise
(263,719 posts)but way too many are despicable scumbags
Jnclr89
(128 posts)I don't see how the giants of Africa will make it in the next 50-100 years. Elephants, Rhinos, and Lions. Poachers are now tranquilizing elephants and rhinos, then cutting their entire faces off with chainsaws, still alive. Selling their ivory to the ever increasing Chinese market. Elephants and Rhinos are killed so often every day, I don't see a fruitful future for them. So sad.
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)It will highlight endangered, African species. and I live in New Mexico, where Republicans are threatening to sue if a small group of endangered Red Wolves are released into the wild ANYWHERE in this state! I'll add the Red Wolf tragedy to the comment section of the O.P.