BOOKS: Rhinos and Elephants on the brink of extinction

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

The Last Rhinos:  My Battle to Save One of the World’s Greatest Treasures by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence Thomas Dunne Books,  c/o St. Martin’s Griffin (175 Fifth Ave.,  New York,  NY  10010),  2012. 333 pages,  paperback.  $16.99.

Kony’s Ivory:  How Elephant Poaching in Congo Helps Support the Lord’s Resistance Army by Kasper Agger and Jonathan Hutson Co-produced by the Enough Project,  The Resolve,  Invisible Children,  & the Satellite Sentinel Project (with DigitalGlobe),  January 2013. 16 pages.  Free download from Enough,  1333 H St. NW,  10th floor,  Washington,  DC  20005;  <www.enoughproject.org>.

The Last Rhinos,  by the late South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony and his brother-in-law Graham Spence,  and Kony’s Ivory,  by Enough Project staff members Kasper Agger and Jonathan Hutson,  offer superficially opposite perspectives on the role of the Lord’s Resistance Army in poaching,  particularly of elephants for ivory,  in Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Read more

BOOKS— Wolves in Ireland: A Natural and Cultural History

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

Wolves in Ireland:   A Natural and Cultural History  by Kieran Hickey Four Courts Press (7 Malpas Street,  Dublin 8,  Ireland);  in U.S. c/o ISBS,  920 NE 58th Ave.,  Suite 300,  Portland,  OR  97213),  2011.  155 pages,  hardcover.  $45.00.

National University of Ireland geography lecturer Kieran Hickey in Wolves in Ireland assembles apparently every extant scrap of information available in ancient manuscripts and public records to make a case that wolves had a formative role in shaping Irish culture.   Read more

BOOKS: Deerland: America’s Hunt for Ecological Balance & the Essence of Wilderness

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

Deerland:  America’s Hunt for Ecological Balance & the Essence of Wilderness  by Al Cambronne  •  Lyons Press (246 Goose Lane,  Guilford,  CT  06437),  2013.  263 pages,  paperback.  $18.95.

Opens Al Cambronne,  “We live in Deerland.  The U.S. now has over 30 million deer,  a hundred times more than a century ago.  They routinely disrupt entire ecosystems.  They ravage our gardens and suburban landscaping,  and every year they kill and injure hundreds of us on our highways…Still,  deer are magical.  Their mere existence makes the woods feel wilder.  They signify far more to us than just meat,  antlers,  or a graceful,  mysterious creature slipping through the shadows…We commute farther and borrow more so that we can live beside them.  If money remains,  we buy vacation homes where we’ll see even more of them.  A few of us happily spend two or three years’ salary for a small piece of untillable land on which we can hunt them…Regardless of how you may feel about hunting,  in many parts of America we now have a very real problem with too many deer.  In some of those places,  hunting is a big part of the solution.  It’s also,  some would argue,  a big part of the problem.” Read more

California bans lead ammunition

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

LOS ANGELES––California Governor Jerry Brown on October 11, 2013 endorsed into law a total ban on the use of lead ammunition for hunting––the first adopted by any state,  though use of lead ammunition is regulated in at least 30 states.  The California Fish & Game Commission will have until July 1, 2019,  to fully enforce the lead ban. Read more

Friends of Animals sues to stop plan to kill barred owls instead of protecting spotted owl habitat

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

 SACRAMENTO––A U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service plan to kill federal protected barred owls to benefit endangered northern spotted owls violates the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,  Friends of Animals alleged in an October 1,  2013 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento,  California. Read more

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