See Animals Wild

Before the Italian wolves started crossing back into France from Italy, they had been missing since the 1930s. However, France is a sparsely population country- its population is similar to the UK but in a country about 4 times bigger.

The wolf population has grown at a good rate for the last 25 years and now has reached between 500 and 600. The thing is that when wolves reach adolescence the usually leave their family pack and disperse looking for a mate, to set up a pack of their own. In good habitat, this dispersal may only be 20 miles. However in the current situation where humans have destroyed wolf populations around the world, that expansion often does not lead to the meeting that would allow a new pack to form.

In these instances the dispersing wolf can cover a huge distance. Dispersal of hundreds of miles is not unheard of.

As the wolf pack recovers in France, these dispersing wolves are likely to wander into areas that they have not been seen in for a long time.

In this instance, a wolf has been seen in northern France for the first time in a century. There is plenty of prey in this part of France, and while areas have a higher human population than much of their current range healthy populations are found in areas with far more humans. There is plenty of space, and more than enough wildlife for the wolf to eat. If the wolf population of France continues to grow (as it will unless humans stop it) they will eventually settle in northern France permanently. This is likely to have a positive impact on local biodiversity, and while some mitigation effort may be required there are many positive impacts that will likely occur, including a significant reduction in cars hitting deer.

The first country has gone live in this new section of the website. In the shadow of mankind is a section of the website that is devoted to wildlife that often lives in our shadow., from animals that we see from time to time on the roads, to those that are rarely seen but have a positive impact on the health of the British landscape it is important that those who share their space with these animals continue to give them space.

However, this is the beginning of what I hope will become a global network. Anyone who lives with interesting wildlife on their doorstep and would like to be able to share it with the world (and potentially see a financial rewards, I am interested in hearing from you. There will be several ways to list your place to stay/wildlife guide business/campsite etc. Keep an eye on the in the shadow of man world map page, and the link should go live in the next few days.

Ivanka Trump the eldest daughter, and advisor of the president, has boasted about the emission reductions that have occurred under the Trump administration. It is certainly true that emissions this year have been 9.2% lower than the previous years, but of course this ignores the reason.

Trump has not done something to cause this drop, indeed anything that he has said on this topic has gone in the opposite direction.

Continue reading “Ivanka Trump boasts about the greenhouse gas emission reductions of the last year”

The leuser ecosystem on the island of Sumatra, is home to a fascinating range of animals, not found together anywhere else. In particular, this ecosystem supports tigers orangutans elephants and rhino.

While these traps are sometimes set for trophy animals such as those above, they are more often set for smaller animals for bush meat. This means a piecemeal solution will not work. We need to improve the earning potential of people in this part of the world so that they can get their meat from sustainable places. This in theory can be done through tourism, though until the end of the epidemic this is likely to be hard to get off the ground.

Boris plan includes these 10 aims

1. A ban on combustion engine sales by 2030, with grants for electric cars, and funding for charge points. The sale of some hybrid cars and vans will continue until 2035.
2. A previously announced pledge to quadruple offshore wind power by 2030, to 40GW, enough to power every UK home.
3. Moves to boost hydrogen production, with the promise of a town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.
4. Investment of £525m towards new nuclear power, based on “the next generation of small and advanced reactors”.
5. £1bn next year for funds to insulate homes and public buildings, using the existing green homes grant and public sector decarbonisation scheme.
6. An extra £200m invested in carbon capture initiatives.
7. Support for greener energies in the aviation and maritime sectors, with £20m committed to the latter.
8. 30,000 hectares of trees planted every year, as part of nature conservation efforts.
9. Moves to promote public transport, cycling and walking, although no new schemes were announced.
10. A pledge to make London “the global center of green finance”.

Continue reading “Comparing Boris Johnson 10 point green plan to the guardians 9 point to hit net zero”

The British government has once again brought forward the date at which UK companies will no longer be allowed to sell fossil fuel cars new. The new date is set to be 2030, by which time all new cars must be electric or some other green energy source.

Continue reading “The British prime minister has pledged to bring forwards the date at which new fossil fuel car sales will be banned”

The British government has requested listing the vast peat bogs of northern Scotland as a UNESCO site.

The many positives in this move. It is one of the world’s largest peat bogs that survives, and in places that peat goes down more than 15m.

Continue reading “UK government has asked UNESCO to list the huge peat bogs of Scotland”

A recent study showed that just 1% of the world’s population is responsible for 50% of the aviation emissions each year.

Continue reading “Aviation is a large source of carbon emissions, but blame is not spread evenly”

One of Trump’s big aims during his first term was to greatly increase oil and gas extraction, to the point where the USA is energy independent.

For those who have looked at the data, there are several problems with this.

Continue reading “Trump determined to push licensing on arctic refuge drilling far enough that Biden cannot reverse it”

The number of wild boar is increasing dramatically across much of Europe. From Spain which have areas supporting populations of hundreds of thousands of boar, to France and even in the UK where boar in the forest of Dean are already being culled regularly to keep their population under control.

Italy has perhaps the worst problem, certainly one of the worst, then estimated 2 million boar roaming the country. It seems to be up for debate as to whether groups of boar can be territorial, nevertheless, when the young leave their parents they disperse into areas around. This has been an increasing problem in the outskirts of Rome, the ball has taken up residence.

In this instance, in the playground of Mario Moderni school (situated near the Vatican) a marksman turned up, shot them with a tranquilizer dart, and took them away to be killed.

The boar had been in the area for a while, indeed the pupils have started to feed it.

It is unclear why authorities felt the need to act in this way, it is more common to catch them in a humane trap. It is of course possible that they were thought to be too dangerous to the health of the students (though what this episode will do to them mental health is anyone’s guess). Allowing predators in Italy to recover would likely hugely reduce this problem – no admittedly if they have become comfortable living in towns humans may need to change how we behave to stop their ability to remain.