Toxic paint from the ship has already begun killing off coral in the area

The Australian authorities have said a Chinese bulk carrier which ran aground off Queensland has caused widespread damage to the famed Great Barrier Reef.

The cleanup is likely to be the biggest operation ever undertaken there.

The Shen Neng 1 was refloated on Monday night, in a salvage operation brought forward because of the threat of bad weather and heavy seas.

The Australian government has indicated that a prosecution will follow because the ship ran aground in a no-go zone.

Divers have now had the chance to deliver an early assessment of the harm done to the reef, and have found coral damage and paint scrapings that stretch for more than 1km (0.6 miles).

The head of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said there was significant scarring, and that the cleanup was likely to be the biggest operation ever undertaken on the world heritage-listed reef.

The damage might not have been so extensive had the Shen Neng 1 simply run aground and stopped.

But the winds and currents meant that the 230m (750ft) coal carrier kept on grinding against a coral shoal for more than a kilometre during the week it was stranded, turning coral into dust.

The authorities are particularly worried about toxic paint that has been scraped off the hull - because it has immediately started killing off corals in the vicinity.

The paint is designed to stop things growing on the hulls of ships, and it could be weeks before the full extent of the damage is known.

The Chinese vessel is now in safe anchorage, having been refloated in a salvage operation brought forward because of the threat of bad weather.

It is believed that the operation was completed without adding to the two tonne oil spill which seeped from the vessel immediately after it went aground.

The Cove exposes the slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises off the coast of Japan every year, and how their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan and other parts of Asia, often labeled as whale meat. The majority of the world is not aware this is happening as the Taiji cove is blocked off from the public. The focus of the Social Action Campaign for The Cove is to create worldwide awareness of this annual practice as well as the dangers of eating seafood contaminated with mercury and to pressure those in power to put an end to the slaughter.

And it’s been working. The film has been making waves since it premiered last year. Critical praise and audience awards worldwide have focused international attention on Taiji and the annual dolphin drives off the coast of Japan.  Under intense pressure, Taiji called for a temporary ban on killing bottlenose dolphins. The film, which was originally rejected, was shown at the Tokyo Film Festival due to public outcry. Residents in Taiji are being tested for mercury poisoning, and for the first time Japanese media are covering the issue.

Close to a million people have signed on to the campaign, but this is just the beginning. The fisherman are clearly rattled, but haven’t stopped killing dolphins.

Visit the website here: The Cove

I'm sad to say I have ate there and have said some good things about Hump in Santa Monica. When I heard they where serving whale my gut was wrenched. I only hope someone is convicted or if a immigrant they lose their Visa. In my eyes this is no different then killing a innocent person.

Here is the story:

A high-end sushi restaurant in Santa Monica, California,  said on its website Friday that it is closing its doors after criminal charges were filed alleging it served illegal whale meat.

"After twelve years doing business...The Hump will be closing its doors effective March 20th, 2010," the restaurant said in a statement on its website which was monitored in Tokyo.

While admitting and apologizing for its "illegal actions," the restaurant said the closure is "a self-imposed punishment on top of the fine that will be meted out by the court."

U.S. media reported earlier this month that prosecutors had confirmed The Hump had sold Sei whale meat on at least three occasions since October and the chef was facing up to a year in prison and $100,000 (about 9 million yen) in fines while the owner of the restaurant was facing up to $200,000 in fines.

Sei whales are listed as an endangered species.

Crew members who worked on the U.S. film "The Cove," which won this year's Oscar for best documentary for its depiction of a controversial dolphin hunt in a Japanese town, tipped off local authorities about the restaurant, U.S. media reported. They visited the restaurant last year, secretly filming the whale meat in a $600 meal they ordered and pocketed samples.

Polar bears will not survive without action to tackle climate change and save their rapidly disappearing Arctic habitat, conservationists have warned

WWF, the conservation charity, said that the five countries which are home to the polar bear must commit to action on global warming to save the animal, which is reliant on the sea ice

Recent analysis by the US Geological Survey and World Conservation Union found that two-thirds of the 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears in the world could be lost in the next 50 years as warming temperatures melt the ice

But WWF said an agreement signed in 1973 by the five Arctic states - Canada, Russia, the US, Greenland/Denmark and Norway - commits them to saving protecting the bear and its habitat

While the original deal focused on threats from hunting that had decimated populations, WWF's polar bear co-ordinator Geoff York said polar bears could not now be protected without addressing climate change

"Without the sea ice habitat, the polar bear will not survive in the long term..."

"...There are other threats, such as oil and gas drilling, shipping and toxins, but they pale in comparison to climate change and the loss of the sea ice," he continued

Next week the five nations which are party to the 1973 Agreement for the Conservation of Polar Bears and Their Habitats will meet in Norway for the first formal meeting in more than 25 years

Mr York said delegates must agree to push their countries to commit to urgent and effective action to cut the greenhouse gas emissions which cause climate change

"Anything less would be an abdication of the responsibilities of these nations under the polar bear agreement," he said

WWF wants the representatives of the five polar bear nations to formally call for urgent global action on climate change and to show strong leadership in attempts to achieve a new international deal on cutting emissions in Copenhagen in December

He said while the polar bear was important, tackling climate change was about much more than one species - and that human survival could also be at risk without action

peta

Death toll up to 17,400; overdue report describes PETA's deadliest year ever

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An official report from People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), submitted nine months after a Virginia government agency's deadline, shows that the animal rights group put to death more than 97 percent of the dogs, cats, and other pets it took in for adoption in 2006. During that year, the well-known animal rights group managed to find adoptive homes for just 12 pets. The nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) is calling on PETA to either end its hypocritical angel-of-death program, or stop its senseless condemnation of Americans who believe it's perfectly ethical to use animals for food, clothing, and critical medical research.

Not counting animals PETA held only temporarily in its spay-neuter program, the organization took in 3,061 "companion animals" in 2006, of which it killed 2,981. According to Virginia's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), the average euthanasia rate for humane societies in the state was just 34.7 percent in 2006. PETA killed 97.4 percent of the animals it took in. The organization filed its 2006 report this month, nine months after the VDACS deadline of March 31, 2007.

"Pet lovers should be outraged," said CCF Director of Research David Martosko. "There are thousands of worthwhile animal shelters that deserve Americans' support. PETA is not one of them."

In courtroom testimony last year, a PETA manager acknowledged that her organization maintains a large walk-in freezer for storing dead animals, and that PETA contracts with a Virginia cremation service to dispose of the bodies. In that trial, two PETA employees were convicted of dumping dead animals in a rural North Carolina trash dumpster.

Today in Southampton County, Virginia, another PETA employee will face felony charges in a dog-napping case. Andrea Florence Benoit Harris was arrested in late 2006 for allegedly abducting a hunting dog and attempting to transport it to PETA's Norfolk headquarters.

"PETA raised over $30 million last year," Martosko added, "and it's using that money to kill the only flesh-and-blood animals its employees actually see. The scale of PETA's hypocrisy is simply staggering."

To speak with a spokesman contact Tim Miller at 202-463-7112.

Visit ANIMAL PRESERVE

It looks like a quality preserve but it says in the tour it has the animals in cages. Makes you wonder how often they are caged up. Also the website is outdated but very informative.

Perched on the edge of the Mojave Desert, forty miles northeast of Los Angeles, California, Shambala is a surprising paradise and the only wild animal preserve of its kind in the United States. Since 1972, this unique eighty acre wildlife habitat has provided a haven for endangered exotic big cats. Currently, almost seventy animals live at Shambala, including African lions, Siberian and Bengal tigers, leopards, servals, mountain lions, bobcats, a lynx, and a Florida panther.

Most of these animals were born in captivity, with many of them being orphans or cast-offs from circuses, zoos and private owners who could no longer care for them. None of them has ever been in the wild. All depend upon humans for their needs. With expert veterinary care, carefully planned diets and constant attention by a dedicated staff of professionals, Shambala provides a dignified life for these precious wild animals.