Pete Thomas Outdoors

Tiger cub found inside suitcase at Thailand airport doing OK

What looked like a beating heart was the tip-off for X-ray scanners at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport. Inside an over-sized suitcase being checked in by a 31-year-old Thai national was a sedated tiger cub packed alongside a stuffed toy tiger, presumably to try to fool authorities manning the scanner.

Piyawan Palasarn claimed she was carrying the animal for someone else when she was arrested Sunday. She had been booked on a Mahan Air flight to Iran but it remains unclear if that was her final destination.

Details of the incident weren't revealed until Thursday. The wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC stated on its website that an investigation is being conducted to determine whether the cub was caught in the wild or captive-bred, and its place of origin.

The cub is being cared for at a Bangkok wildlife care facility and it's hoped DNA will help determine to which subspecies it belongs. It arrived at the facility dehydrated and exhausted but is doing much better and has begun to walk.

 "I was a bit shocked because an animal isn't supposed to be treated like this," Nirath Nipanant, chief of the airport's wildlife checkpoint, told the Associated Press. "Had the animal passed the oversize baggage check and gone through four to five hours of travel, its chances of survival would have been slim."

Tiger populations throughout Asia are critically threatened because of widespread poaching and black-market trading operations. Tigers are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Chris Shepherd, the Southeast Asia regional director for TRAFFIC, applauded the way authorities handled the situation but added: "If people are trying to smuggle live tigers in their check-in luggage, the obviously think wildlife smuggling is something easy to get away with and do not fear reprimand.

"Only sustained pressure on wildlife traffickers and serious penalties can change that."

Palasarn, who was charged with two smuggling-related charges, faces up to four years in prison and a $1,300 fine.

-- Pete Thomas

-- Top image courtesy of TRAFFIC. Bottom image courtesy of Suvarnabhumi Airport Wildlife Checkpoint of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation

-- Editor's note: A slightly different version of this post appears on the GrindTV.com outdoors blog

People pose a greater threat to sharks than vice versa

It may not seem so to surfers in Florida, which boasts more shark attacks than anywhere else on the planet, but the statement is true: "Humans are top predators too, and they pose more of a danger to sharks than sharks do to people."

That's the first paragraph of a column written by Wendy B. Dial of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. She adds: "Some anglers love to catch and kill sharks just for the thrill, while people harvest most sharks primarily for their meat, fins, hides and jaws."

In fact, people pose more of a threat to all fish and animals, than those creatures pose to them. As for sharks, Dial credits the International Shark Attack File for this statistic: The odds of a shark attack on a human are 1 in 11.5 million, and of a fatal shark attack, zero in 264.1 million.

Sharks definitely deserve a break. There are 350 different sharks, whose role in the world's oceans is vital, as they provide balance to the marine ecosystem. They're slow to reproduce--for many species it takes 14 years or more--and have only a few pups.

Thus, they're vulnerable to fishing pressure. Yet, an estimated 100 million sharks are killed annually.

In Florida, most attacks are merely bites to the hands and legs of surfers and swimmers: cases of mistaken identity. "If a school of Spanish mackerel swims by, schools of blacktip sharks may follow, seeking dinner," Dial explains. "They are usually to blame in most 'bite-and-release' attacks on humans. They grow to 6-8 feet."

Other sharks blamed for attacks off Florida: spinner sharks, bull sharks and hammerhead sharks.

Concludes Dial: "The ocean is a wild environment for humans (Homo sapiens), but it is home to sharks. As apex predators, sharks maintain the natural balance of life in the sea."

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of lemon shark courtesy of Matthew Potenski/Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Sea Shepherd activist now captive aboard Japanese whaling ship

It comes as  no surprise that Peter Bethune, a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society captain who sneaked aboard a Japanese whaling ship to make a citizen's arrest of its captain, is now captive aboard that vessel.

Bethune boarded the Shonan Maru 2, which is operating with five other Japanese vessels in Antarctic waters, on Sunday with a bill for $3 million to replace the Ady Gil, which was destroyed after a collision with the whaling vessel early last month. Bethune, a New Zealand resident, was captain of the Ady Gil.

According to the Associated Press, Bethune will be delivered to Japan and face charges of trespassing and assault. It remains unclear how or when he will be transported as the whaling fleet expects to be at sea a few more weeks.

Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, which sponsors the annual hunts and purports them to be of scientific purpose, claims Bethune used a knife to cut protective netting so he could board the Shonan Maru 2.

The so-called Whale War between the Sea Shepherd and the whalers has been dramatically escalated this season, with two vessel collisions and several bouts with water cannons. Sea Shepherd crewmen have also used rotten-butter bombs and high-powered laser beams to harass the whalers as they try to fill their quota of nearly 1,000 minke whales.

Sea Shepherd crewman sneaks aboard Japanese whaling ship

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society continues to discover bold new ways to generate publicity for its campaign against Japanese whaling in Antarctic waters, but today the controversial group's audacity level reached a new high.

Presently, according to Sea Shepherd, the captain of its vessel Ady Gil, which early last month was struck by a whaling ship and later sunk, is aboard the Shonan Maru 2 and will attempt a citizen's arrest of the whaling ship's captain.

Capt. Pete Bethune of New Zealand used a jet-ski and sneaked aboard in the dark. He will present a bill for $3 million to the vessel's captain--that's the cost of replacing the Ady Gil--and demand that the captain deliver the ship to the nearest Australian or New Zealand port, so he can be arrested.

So far this season there have been two collisions and several tense confrontations between the two groups. It will be interesting to learn how the whalers, who annually target about 1,000 minke whales in the region, will react to Bethune's presence and demands.

Sea Shepherd believes the whalers ought to be charged with attempted murder for the Ady Gil incident, which produced only minor injuries. The whalers claim the collision was Sea Shepherd's fault.

As of 6 p.m. Sunday night (PST) there was no word of this latest intrusion on the Institute of Cetacean Research website, which like Sea Shepherd has been posting updates on the conflict between the groups. Below is the Sea Shepherd news release. Please check back soon for updates. --PT

Sea Shepherd bombards Japanese whalers with classical music

Fans of "Apocalypse Now" might recall as one of the movie's most vividly compelling scenes the classical song "Ride Of The Valkyries" blaring across the land as a squadron of helicopters attacks a Vietnamese village.

Fans of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's campaign against Japanese whaling in the Antarctic might be pleased to learn that Capt. Paul Watson and his crew are using the same intimidation tactic during their ceaseless pursuit and harassment of the whaling fleet.

In a video posted today by Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, the words of a Japanese crewman do not translate into, "I love the smell of whale blood in the morning." In fact, the whalers are crying foul to the ICR, which supports the whaling effort. The ICR, in turn, has been documenting the confrontations on its website.

In the latest press release, the ICR states: "At around 15:50 February 9 the Steve Irwin approached to a near-miss (10 meters) distance from the Nisshin Maru while blaring classical music from large loudspeakers and firing a water cannon. The Bob Barker too approached the Nisshin Maru while firing a high-power green laser device. Harassment by both vessels lasted about one hour. There were neither injuries nor damage to the Japanese crews and vessels."

Naturally, the ICR condemns Sea Shepherd and its methods, just as Sea Shepherd and much of the world condemns Japan for hunting whales annually despite longstanding and widespread opposition.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo courtesy of Glenn Lockitch/Sea Shepherd

Reward increased in the case of Hawaiian monk seal killings

The slaying of two Hawaiian monk seals in 2009--the most recent occurring off Molokai on Dec. 14--has inspired an anonymous donor to pledge $10,000 to the Surfrider Foundation, as reward money, hoping it will result in information that will lead to the indictment of the culprit or culprits.

That's in addition to $5,000 offered last month by the NOAA's Office of Law and Enforcement. Kauai's Surfrider Foundation chapter, also, has set up a reward fund link on its website for anyone wishing to donate.

"There are people out there who are still really mad that somebody's doing this and they're willing to give big money to resolve this," Kauai Surfrider's Carl Berg told the Honolulu Advertiser. "We really want to find out what's going on and we really want people to understand these are nature's creatures."

Hawaiian monk seals, which were once slaughtered to near extinction, have recently mounted a very slow comeback. About 1,100 monk seals are dispersed throughout the entire Hawaiian archipelago, most of them on remote, unpopulated islands northwest of the main islands. 

Some fishermen are linking the increased presence of monk seals around the main islands, however, to a decline in the local fishery, which might explain a motive for the killings. But experts say only about 115 monk seals traverse the main islands and that other factors are responsible for the decline of the fishery.

For more information on endangered monk seals, please see the National Geographic page devoted to the species.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of monk seal by Bill Curtsinger/National Geographic

Sea Shepherd loses boat but gains notoriety in anti-whaling war

Did anyone catch the Paul Watson interview Wednesday night on CNN?

The controversial Sea Shepherd Conservation Society captain appeared on the Anderson Cooper show in the aftermath of the collision between the high-speed Ady Gil and the Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru No. 2.

Watson blamed the whalers for intentionally ramming and destroying the smaller 78-foot catamaran in an event that made international news. The captain claimed both vessels were idle when the whaling ship was suddenly driven into the Ady Gil, prompting a rescue effort and reportedly causing a rib injury to a Sea Shepherd crewman. The whalers maintain the collision was the fault of the Ady Gil crew, which had been trying to disable the Shonan Maru No. 2 by towing a rope to entangle the larger ship's rudder and propeller.

It was an expensive confrontation regardless of fault. The Ady Gil, the fastest and most maneuverable of three Sea Shepherd boats, cost $1.8 million. But I have a feeling Watson is not pouting too visibly, because the amount of publicity generated by the incident is worth a fortune to Sea Shepherd's cause.

Perhaps millions more people are now aware of his campaign in Antarctic waters against Japan's annual whale hunts, which Watson claims are illegal and are occurring in a whale sanctuary. While Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, which supports the hunts, labels Watson's group terrorists and extremists, the captain labels them poachers. (Japan hunts whales using a "lethal research" loophole in the wording of an international moratorium imposed in 1986.)

Northern California man pleads not guilty to shooting sea lion

Larry Legans, a Northern California fisherman accused of shooting a sea lion along the Sacramento River, pleaded not guilty Monday in Yuba City to a felony charge of cruelty to animals. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5 in Sutter County.

Legans had already been arraigned on misdemeanor charges but the more serious charge was leveled after it was learned the sea lion, which is being cared for at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, could die from its infected head wound. The sea lion, however, is eating heartily and appears to be on the mend.

A witness reportedly saw Legans shoot the pinniped in the face with a shotgun after it had stolen a fish from his hook. Sea lions, whose numbers have grown exponentially over the years, have become infamous for this tactic and some say they represent a serious threat to the fishing industry.

In Southern California they often shadow recreational fishing boats for hours, casually dining on fish after they've become hooked. Frustrated captains are certain the crafty mammals even teach this practice to their young, which compounds the problem.

But is it right to shoot them because of this? No. But some fishermen might disagree.

--Pete Thomas

Photo: California sea lions perched atop a buoy off Redondo Beach. Credit: Pete Thomas

Sea Shepherd's Christmas greeting to Japanese whalers falls on deaf ears

 

As whalers from Japan continue their assault on minke whales in the turbulent Southern Ocean, the crew of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is feeling snubbed. Its Merry Christmas wish to the whalers and their families, reportedly issued via radio, went unanswered.

This is not surprising. Capt. Paul Watson and his crew aboard the Steve Irwin are perceived as terrorists by Japan, which is conducting annual hunts despite a moratorium on commercial whaling (using a "lethal research" loophole) and widespread global opposition.

I followed this story for the past two years while an employee at the Los Angeles Times' (here's my last LAT post on the issue), and this latest announcement by Sea Shepherd is merely a PR ploy, but you can't fault Watson for trying to keep the story of his cause in the news.

The Christmas message, posted on the Sea Shepherd website: “Shonan Maru No. 2, Shonan Maru No. 2, this is the whale conservation and protection ship Steve Irwin. This is a message from the captain and crew of the Steve Irwin to the captain and crew of the Shonan Maru No. 2. As much of the rest of the world enjoys Christmas dinner and the companionship of friends and family in the comfort of their homes, our two crews are in the heavy seas of the Southern Ocean intent on two opposing missions. You, to protect the whalers from us and we, to protect the whales from you.

"We may be enemies, but on this day, perhaps we can stop and reflect that despite our opposition on the high seas, we are all human beings, and all of us would rather be somewhere else if not for our duties and responsibilities.

"Therefore we on the Steve Irwin would like to express our best wishes for your safety and health. We share the dangers of this unfortunate conflict in these remote and hostile seas and for that reason we share many of the same concerns.