SALVAR AL AGUILUCHO CENIZO EN ESPAÑA (HELP SAVE THE MONTAGU´S HARRIER IN SPAIN)

Salve al Aguilucho Cenizo, la rapaz esteparia más amenazada de Europa

Fuente: SOS Cenizo Andalucía 

El Aguilucho Cenizo es la rapaz europea que ha tenido un mayor descenso en su población en los últimos 15 años. Es una de las pocas rapaces que cría en el suelo, eligiendo prados naturales. La expansión de la agricultura sustituye este tipo de vegetación por praderas cerealistas, en armonía con modalidades de cultivo ancestrales que ofrecían un lugar perfecto para la nidificación de los aguiluchos. Esta armonía se rompe con la llegada de la agricultura productivista, donde se sustituyen variedades de cereal de ciclo largo por las actuales de ciclo corto para recolectar a mediados de junio. En estas fechas las aves se encuentran en plena época de desarrollo de pollos y son incapaces de volar, por lo que son atrapados por las cosechadoras, dándoles muerte o dejándolos mutilados.

El Aguilucho Cenizo está protegido por la legislación europea, clasificado según el Libro Rojo de los Vertebrados en España como Vulnerable a la Extinción, por la destrucción de su hábitat natural, y es responsabilidad de la Junta de Andalucía protegerlo para evitar que la especie desaparezca definitivamente de nuestros campos.

La Junta de Andalucía activó un Programa Regional del Aguilucho Cenizo, con el que se localizaban los nidos y se marcaban para evitar que las cosechadoras afectasen directamente a las nidadas. Sin embargo, el Programa Regional del Aguilucho Cenizo lleva parado desde 2011, y los aguiluchos han sido abandonados a su fatal suerte. 

Reclamamos a la Junta de Andalucía que busque una solución al problema, que se reactive en 2015 el Programa Regional del Aguilucho Cenizo, conveniando fincas con presencia de la especie y subvencionando variedades de cereal de ciclo largo para evitar afecciones fatales a las poblaciones Andaluzas. 

Tu firma es importante para salvar al Aguilucho Cenizo (Circus pygardus)!

Por favor, firma AQUI.

SAVING THE MONTAGU´S HARRIER, THE MOST ENDANGERED BIRD OF PREY IN EUROPE

The Montagu's Harrier is the European bird of prey that has had the biggest decline in its population in the last 15 years. It is one of the few birds of prey which breeds on the ground, choosing natural meadows. The expansion of agriculture replaced this type of vegetation with cereal crops, which had been in harmony with ancient cultivation methods and offered a perfect place for the breeding of the Harriers. This harmony is broken with the arrival of the productivist agriculture or intensive cereal farming, where long cycle cereal varieties are substituted by the current short cycle varieties to be hatvested in mid-June. At this time the birds are at the height of development in the nests and are unable to fly, so they are trapped by the harvesting machines, killing them or leaving them mutilated.

The Montagu's Harrier is protected by European legislation, classified according to the Red Book: Vertebrates in Spain as Vulnerable to extinction due to the destruction of its natural habitat, and it is the responsibility of the Junta de Andalucía (Governing Body of Andalusia) to protect it to avoid that this species disappears forever from our fields. 

The Junta de Andalucía activated a Regional programme of the Montagu´s Harrier by which the bird nests were located and marked to avoid that the harvesters directly affected the clutches. However, the Regional programme of the Montagu's Harrier has been inactive since 2011, which means that this species has been abandoned to its own fate.  

We ask the Government of Andalusia to seek a solution to this problem, reactiving the Regional programme of the Montagu's Harrier in 2015, searching conservation agreements with the farmers whose farms have the presence of the species, subsidizing them for planting long cycle cereal varieties to prevent fatal losses in the Andalusian populations of this harrier. 

Your signature is important to save the Montagu´s Harrier (Circus pygardus)!

Please sign HERE.

INDONESIA: HORROR AT THE SNAKE SLAUGHTERHOUSES

Source: Google Images.

By Gundhramns Hammer

February 3, 2015

If you are thinking of impresing you neighbour with an expensive item, you may fall prey to the snakeskin print fashion trend which is putting some wild populations of reptiles on the verge of extinction.

This trend is spreading like powder all over the world. The demand for reptile skin products is so great that this industry is indeed contributing to the destruction of wild snake populations.

In Indonesia, for example, people have set up a true reptile skin mafia which is behind the big fashion firms at the other end of the line.

And this means animal suffering.

We humans do not have any right to put through hell any snakes, for this is exactly what happening at the snake slaughterhouses (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Horror and cruelty at the snake slaughterhouses in Indonesia. Source: Williams (2015).

"In Vietnam snakes are often inflated with air compressors until they finally suffocate, elsewhere the reptiles are skinned alive after being nailed to a tree", explains Rob Williams (2015) in a recent report on The Independent.

Our attitude must change if we want to survive as a species. We depend entirely on the health of the environment.

In the wild, snakes play an important role in the ecosystem´s functioning. Take them away and there will be an explosion of their prey such as wild rodents which will eat the crops. This is already happening in some parts of the world.

So it is a good thing leaving snakes alone.

Furthermore, we must keep snakes from going into extinction.

Thus, an important thing you can do to help snakes is NOT buying any reptile skin leather product. 

Not even if it is conveniently labelled "ecologically sustainable", for reptiles in farming exploitations depend on meat coming from animal factories (chickens, pigs, cows, etc.) which are totally antibiospherical by themselves, thereby bringing down the "sustainable" tag. 

The following will inform you more about Indonesia´s reptile skin mafia:

The gruesome details behind snakeskin purses

Source: Journeyman Pictures

View original

This shocking report has already been forcing change at the highest levels of Swiss politics. Travelling to Indonesia, it reveals the brutal roots of the world's luxury reptile skin industry.

"Move over leopard, the star animal print this year is snake!" For the image-conscious elite, snake skin handbags come at a price, but not with a conscience. Tracing the supply chain back to its violent origins, it appears even protected reptiles are not safe. In the rudimentary slaughterhouses instant death is not guaranteed and often the snakes are skinned alive. Laws exist to prevent this, but they are easily circumvented. With illegal snake skin supplying the major fashion houses the industry has a lot of power, which the UN regulating body has failed to control. "Overall the policy makers involved in this trade must accept that there are a range of major problems". [Video 1]

Video 1. The gruesome story behind the high fashion reptile skin purses.

References

Williams R. (2015). Stomach-churning images show shocking truth about Indonesia snake slaughterhouses. The Independent (UK), Tuesday 03 February 2015. 1 p.