Wildlife

280 bears massacred in shocking Florida bear hunt

More than 200 bears have been savagely massacred in a bear hunt in Florida, USA despite widespread outcry from animal rights activists.

The week-long cull – branded a “trophy hunt” by activists – began across the state yesterday amid furious protests.

One of the first kills of the hunt went to 49-year-old Bryan Smith, who claimed: “He had a good life and a good death.”

Several lactating females have also being killed, according to local media reports – meaning their cubs will starve to death.

The hunt was approved after officials claimed Florida’s black bear population had grown to 3,500 – up from several hundred in the 1970s – and presented a safety hazard.

Almost 3,800 permits were sold for the hunt to blood-thirsty Americans before the deadline on Friday.

Those with permits are allowed to use firearms and bows to kill the creatures this week – but unleashed dogs or bait are banned.

Animal activists deplored the hunt saying that: “There is not a bear problem in Florida but a leadership problem. If wealthy land developers have their way in Florida we will have no bears or panthers and will be left with the endless strip malls of box stores.”

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.4 Earthquake hits the Mid-Indian ridge.

5.3 Earthquake hits Pakistan.

5.2 Earthquake hits El Salvador.

5.2 Earthquake hits off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan.

5.0 Earthquake hits the Mid-Indian ridge.

Record-Breaking 408 Earthquakes Hit Bay Area City

A whopping 408 earthquakes have hit San Ramon, California, in the past two weeks, including 11 in one 24-hour stretch.

This record-breaking earthquake swarm is nothing to fear, however, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Periods of tectonic unrest are common in the area and probably don’t presage a larger quake, the USGS said.

Most of the quakes affecting this Bay Area city are tiny. The one that kicked off the swarm at 8:50 a.m. Pacific Time on Oct. 13 was a mere magnitude 0.8. People don’t usually feel earthquakes until they reach a magnitude of 2.5; quakes between magnitude 2.5 and 5.4 can be felt but rarely cause much damage.

The quakes are hitting on the north end of the Pleasanton Fault in the Calaveras Fault zone, according to the USGS. Swarms of small earthquakes are common in this fault system. In fact, in 1990, a swarm of 351 earthquakes struck over a 42-day period. The largest quake in that swarm was a magnitude 4.2, a level unlikely to cause serious damage.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:

No current tropical storms.

NewsBytes:

Florida, USA – A King tide has caused flooding in parts of Florida. While South Florida cities have dealt with nuisance King Tide floods each October, now they’re becoming deeper, more widespread and chronic.

Environment

Indonesia Smoke Haze Death Toll Rises

The death toll from acrid haze blanketing parts of Indonesia has climbed to 19, a minister said Wednesday, almost double the previous figure as the crisis from widespread forest fires worsens.

For nearly two months, thousands of fires caused by slash-and-burn farming in Indonesia have choked vast expanses of Southeast Asia, forcing schools to close and scores of flights and some international events to be cancelled.

An estimated half a million people have suffered respiratory illnesses since the fires started in July. Indonesia’s disaster agency previously stated the fires had killed 10 people, some of whom died while fighting the blazes and others from the pollution.

Wildlife also affected

The environmental catastrophe that is unfolding across Indonesian Borneo is threatening to engulf precious sanctuaries where a third of endangered great ape’s entire population hangs on for survival.

For two months, uncontrolled fires have been raging across the Borneo landscape, spewing up thick black clouds of smoke that have caused respiratory infections in 500,000 people.

The financial cost for Indonesia is also immense, with the fires costing the economy as much as £30billion. Conservationists are warning the fires’ impacts have taken a sinister twist by setting light to huge swathes of virgin peat swamp forest, a precious tropical wilderness where endangered clouded leopards and orangutans keep one step from extinction.

But, it is the Sabangau Forest, with the world’s largest population of nearly 7,000 wild orangutans, which is facing the greatest threat. For the orangutans, recent decades have seen their wild kingdoms eroded by the onset of logging and the turning over of forest for oil palm plantations.