WAR ON MOTHER NATURE: We Are Rapidly Approaching An Environmental Catastrophe - Plastic Waste In The Ocean WILL OUTNUMBER FISH BY 2050! [VIDEO]

The study says that plastic waste entering the ocean is one to three orders of magnitude greater than the reported mass of floating plastic debris
in high-concentration ocean gyres and also globally.

April 16, 2016 - OCEANS - A dump truck full of plastic is unloaded into the sea every minute, and experts say the situation is growing worse, with plastic debris expected to outnumber fish by 2050.

With plastic production currently at a twentyfold increase since 1964, generating 311m tonnes in 2014, a new report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has revealed we are rapidly approaching an environmental catastrophe — especially where the world's oceans are concerned. This number is expected to double in the next 20 years and almost quadruple by 2050.

New plastics will use 20% of all oil within 35 years, which stands at around 7% today. And, despite the increasing demand, a mere 5% of all plastics are recycled successfully — with 40% ending up in landfills and a third in delicate ecosystems like the ocean. The remainder tends to be burned to generate energy, which has its own environmental impact not only in the pollution this practice generates, but also because it causes more fossil fuels to be used in order to make new plastic products like bags, cups, tubs and consumer devices.

A sea of plastic

One of the more shocking details in the report addresses how, by 2050, we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish. Sit with that for a moment. The day will come in the not so distant future where the sea will be so clogged with plastic debris, fish will be in the minority.

The report states that every year "at least 8m tonnes of plastics leak into the ocean - which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute. If no action is taken, this is expected to increase to two per minute by 2030 and four per minute by 2050. In a business-as-usual scenario, the ocean is expected to contain one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish by 2025, and by 2050, more plastics than fish [by weight]."

This scenario isn't only horrifying from an aesthetic point of view, the environmental impact has far-reaching ramifications. Think bisphenol A (BPA), DDT, PCBs — three exceptionally toxic chemicals present in plastic. BPA causes a number of disorders, including cancer, diabetes, infertility and obesity. DDT is linked with cancer, miscarriages, low birth weight, male infertility, developmental delay, nervous system and liver damage. PCBs also contribute to cancer and are linked with disorders of the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems.

All three poisons endanger wildlife as well. So much so that UK whales and dolphins are at risk of extinction because of high levels of PCBs in the environment. Another example that illustrates how utterly toxic our oceans have become is when scientists discovered yogurt cups, food wrappers and a shoe in the stomach of a dead orca. How did we arrive at such a point of madness?

Unfortunately, when plastic breaks down, poisons leach into the environment — especially the ocean. Fish are also attracted to these colorful bits and eat them, which invariably saturates their tissues with toxins. In the end, the chemicals arrive on our dinner plates.

As observed in Plastic is Killing the Planet and Our Health — Here's How We Can Turn the Tide:

"Here's the catch: every piece of plastic that was ever made is still with us today as it was designed to last — and it does, for hundreds of years. The ecosystem and our health are choked by it. What will the planet look like in the not so distant future with the ever increasing influx of this hardwearing material? It's a sobering thought and one that doesn't have an easy answer."

What can we do?

The first step in reducing our plastic load is to become informed. The documentary Plastic Paradise is an excellent place to start. We can also get industry on-board to help mitigate the problem.

"One part of the solution is to rethink the way goods are packaged, cutting the demand for plastic. Water-soluble film, for example, can be used to wrap small items. Hard-to-recycle plastics such as PVC and expandable polystyrene could be phased out. [...]

Manufacturers could redesign plastic items so they can be reused better, and rethink their production methods to make recycling easier. More products could be made out of plastics which can be composted on an industrial scale, including rubbish bags for organic waste and food packaging for outdoor events, canteens and fast food outlets." [source]

As consumers, we have tremendous power in turning the plastic tide. Environmentally friendly ideas include:

• Reject single use plastic bags, food containers and bottles
• Rethink shampoo, dish and laundry soap
• Petition your favorite brands to fa

• vor biodegradable packaging like paper and glass
• Contact your local stores and educate them about the damaging effects of plastic
• Avoid synthetic fabrics and opt for hemp, wool, cotton or silk instead
• Swap out plastic wrap and bags
• Seek out supplement brands that aren't housed in plastic
• Don't purchase or consume canned food
• If you have children, choose natural toys

For further details about the above suggestions, click here.

There are several bright spots on the eco-friendly horizon, such as a plastic eating mushroom and a small household device developed in Japan that converts plastic waste into heating oil, gasoline, kerosene and diesel.

As wonderful as these developments are, we are still faced with an overload of plastic - and it will only become worse. Until we get a handle on the underlying problem of consumption and waste, innovative technologies will simply be a Band-Aid for a larger problem. Article sources:

• www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/19/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-sea-by-2050-warns-ellen-macarthur
• www.ecowatch.com/2016/01/20/more-plastic-than-fish-in-ocean

WATCH: Plastic Paradise - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Trailer.

About the author:

Carolanne Wright enthusiastically believes if we want to see change in the world, we need to be the change. As a nutritionist, natural foods chef and wellness coach, Carolanne has encouraged others to embrace a healthy lifestyle of organic living, gratefulness and joyful orientation for over 13 years.

Through her website Thrive-Living.net, she looks forward to connecting with other like-minded people from around the world who share a similar vision. You can also follow Carolanne on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. - Wake Up World.

 

WAR ON MOTHER NATURE: Human Devolution And Vampirism - Poland Approves Logging Europe's Last Primeval Forest?!

March 26, 2016 - POLAND - Poland on Friday gave the go ahead for large-scale logging in the Bialowieza forest intended to combat a spruce bark beetle infestation, despite scientists, ecologists and the EU protesting the move in Europe's last primeval woodland.

"We're acting to curb the degradation of important habitats, to curb the disappearance and migration of important species from this site," Jan Szyszko, environment minister with Poland's right-wing government told journalists.

Szyszko vowed that the logging plans would not apply to strictly protected areas of the primeval forest that was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.

But under the new plan, loggers will harvest more than 180,000 cubic metres (6.4 million cubic feet) of wood from other areas of the forest over a decade, dwarfing previous plans to harvest 40,000 cubic metres over the same period.

Vowing to protect the forest, Greenpeace accused Szyszko of "ignoring the voices of citizens and scientists, the European Commission, UNESCO and conservation organisations."

Along with other environmental groups protesting the move, Greenpeace also said the logging could trigger the EU to launch punitive procedures against Poland for violating its Natura 2000 program.

Sprawling across 150,000 hectares, the Bialowieza forest reaches across the Polish border with Belarus, where it is entirely protected as a nature park.

It is home to 20,000 animal species, including 250 types of bird and 62 species of mammals—among them Europe's largest, the bison.

Europe's tallest trees, firs towering 50 metres high (164 feet), and oaks and ashes of 40 metres, also flourish here, in an ecosystem unspoiled for more than 10 millennia. - PHYS.

 

WAR ON MOTHER NATURE: Human Devolution And Vampirism - 23 Bald Eagles Have Been Killed By Americans So Far This Year; And Japanese "Scientific" Expedition Kills 333 Whales, Including 200 Pregnant Females?!

This eagle was one of five found dead or dying in Delaware this month, after apparently being poisoned. © Delaware Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

March 25, 2016 - EARTH - Here are two stunning cases of mankind's relentless war on Mother Nature: Americans have killed at least 23 bald eagles since the start of this year and Japan's latest 'scientific' whaling expedition has ended with more than 300 animals slaughtered.

23 bald eagles killed by Americans so far this year

I discovered that stunning number while working on a story about the dietary habits of eagles in coastal Alabama. (They like turtles! Watch for the story next week.) Doing some research online, stories about dead eagles just kept popping up.

Someone shot one in Kentucky around New Year's Day. Two more were shot with a high-powered rifle along the shores of a lake in Idaho. Another was killed in Missouri, again with a rifle. And someone killed one early this month near Rome, Georgia.

Then comes the most distressing story. Thirteen eagles have been found dead or dying in Maryland within the last month. Authorities are still unsure what sort of poison was used to kill them, but they have ruled out natural causes. Meanwhile, five more eagles were found dead in Delaware in March.

In 17 years of covering the environment, I can recall a single story about a teen who shot an eagle with a new gun he got for Christmas back in 2008. I remember the photos of the bird, its white feathers soaked in red blood. The kid shot it just to try out his new gun. The whole episode was so depressing.

But 23 eagles in less than three months! That is a lot of dead birds, and puts 2016 on pace to have more eagle killings than any year in decades.

These stories of dead eagles are particularly troubling for anyone who lived through the 1950s, 60s, or 70s, when eagles were so rare that few Americans had ever seen one. At one point, there were fewer than 500 pairs of eagles in the entire country, mostly in remote areas. I was 20 years old before I laid eyes on a bald eagle, and that was in Canada. I didn't see a bald eagle in Alabama until the year 2,000.

Like many birds, eagles were pushed to the brink of extinction by a combination of hunting, habitat loss and DDt, a pesticide that caused the thinning of egg shells, particularly of fish-eating birds, such as eagles, or pelicans. Their recovery since DDt was banned has been dramatic.

The most recent national survey suggests there are at least 10,000 breeding pairs of eagles in the nation. More than 100 of those pairs are here in Alabama. I know of five nests within 10 miles of my home, scattered around Mobile Bay, Weeks Bay and in the coastal rivers. North Alabama is home to many more eagles. I saw three eagles on Monday in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, parents with their young eaglet, who was nearly as large as mom and dad but still couldn't fly.

For anyone who has seen a bald eagle soaring overhead, or crashing down on a fish, it is hard to understand the reasoning behind shooting one. Or poisoning more than a dozen. For those dead birds found around Chesapeake Bay, I suppose someone poisoned them because they had become a nuisance. Perhaps eating catfish out of a farm pond, or stealing chickens from one of the giant commercial chicken farms in Maryland.

Maybe the message to take from all the killings isn't that there are a lot of crummy people out there. Maybe the better message is that there are so many eagles flying around today that they can be sometimes considered a nuisance. Consider this: When I was born in 1970, there were perhaps 500 pairs in the nation. Today, there are about 1,300 pairs in Florida and Alabama alone.

That's a pretty remarkable recovery. Give some credit to the Endangered Species Act, and some to the ban on DDt. But most of the credit goes to the fact that most of us - whether we are hunters, farmers, birders, nature buffs or people who rarely walk on anything but a city street -- are simply awestruck when we see on of these giant, gorgeous birds soaring through the air.

And the last thing we can imagine doing is killing one. - AL.

Japanese 'scientific' expedition kills 333 whales, including 200 pregnant females

Crew of a whaling ship check a whaling gun or harpoon before departure at Ayukawa port
in Ishinomaki City on April 26, 2014.  © Getty Images

In total, 333 minke whales - including 200 pregnant females - were killed, Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research confirmed.

Despite international criticism of the country's whaling activities, Japan sent four ships to the Antarctic region for 115 days on December 1.

In 2014, the UN ruled that the activity in the Southern Ocean, south east of Australia and New Zealand, was a front for commercial hunts.
But the practice has resumed, with Mr Kindleysides urging the Australian government to take action.

Darren Kindleysides, director of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said the 2014/15 summer was the first time in 70 years Japan stopped its whaling activities.

He said: 'That puts the onus on the Australian government to make sure this is the first and the last season of Japan's new so-called scientific program.'

In December, the Australian government said Japan's decision to continue whaling was 'deeply disappointing'.

But conservation group Sea Shepherd said the Japanese fleet had faced little or no scrutiny over the summer and Australia and New Zealand seemed unwilling to send a ship to intercept them.

Sea Shepherd Australia's managing director Jeff Hansen said: 'Once again false promises from the Australian and New Zealand governments have resulted in whales being killed illegally in the Australian Whale Sanctuary.

'The majority of Australians wanted the Australian government to send a vessel to oppose the slaughter. They did not.'

Australian Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson accused the government of doing little to prevent the 'sickening' illegal activity.

'Not in 40 years has an Australian government done so little to prevent whaling on our watch and in our waters,' he said.

Japan claims it is trying to prove the whale population is large enough to sustain a return to commercial hunting. - Metro.

 

WAR ON MOTHER NATURE: 25 MILLION Migrant Birds Are Illegally Killed In The Mediterranean Every Year - New Research!

Two European turtledoves, whose numbers are plummeting across the Mediterranean.© ALAMY

March 11, 2016 - MEDITERRANEAN - Researchers find that the animals are being shot and trapped for food and the pet trade, with the majority of the deaths occurring at just 20 sites.

A new study finds that an estimated 25 million migrating birds are killed as they fly over Mediterranean countries each year. The deaths—by gun, net, or glue-covered traps—include several threatened species. Most of the birds end up being eaten as delicacies. Some are shot for sport, while others are captured alive and sold in the caged-bird trade.

Many bird species living in the Mediterranean are in decline owing to habitat loss, said Stuart Butchart, head of science at BirdLife International and a coauthor of the study. This mass killing could further threaten many species while also affecting the region's environment.

"Birds play an integral role in ecosystems, from pollinating plants and dispersing their seeds to controlling populations of insect pests," Butchart said. "Disturbing the balance of ecosystems by substantially changing bird abundance through illegal killing and other impacts will certainly have impacts beyond the birds themselves."

He cited the example of India, where some vulture species have declined by 99 percent or more because of poisoning by the veterinary drug diclofenac. The drug is used to treat livestock and contaminates vultures when they feed on dead animals. "This has led to a rapid increase in the feral dog population, as vultures no longer dispose of animal carcasses, and consequent increases in rabies cases among people," Butchart said.

The pet trade in the Mediterranean affects more than 450 species, according to the study. Some birds—such as the blackcap, the European turtledove, and the song thrush—are being taken from the wild in numbers approaching 1 million or 2 million each.

Butchart said the trade puts several species at risk. The Eurasian curlew and the ferruginous duck, for example, are both considered "near threatened," while the European turtledove is "vulnerable," meaning it is close to being endangered. "All are taken in numbers that are of concern given the size of their populations," Butchart said.

The killings and trade appear to exist throughout the Mediterranean region, including in five European Union nations. The country with the highest number of bird deaths was Italy, with at least 3 million killings. Malta, Cyprus, and Lebanon had the highest density of bird deaths—as many as 667 birds per square kilometer. The bird trade in Cyprus became infamous after a 2010 New Yorker report by Jonathan Franzen.

Cyprus, according to the researchers, was one of the four worst countries for Mediterranean bird deaths. Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria also appeared on that list. The researchers found that just 20 sites in those four countries were responsible for the bulk of the killings—as many as 8 million birds a year. Syria may be on the list because of the political unrest in that country. "It is difficult to know, of course, but the breakdown in security may well have made things worse in terms of illegal killing of birds," Butchart said.

Identifying these sites may be critical to saving the birds. "The fact that 40 percent [of the deaths] come from just 20 locations is quite significant," Butchart said. "It actually presents a conservation opportunity, because it possibly makes it easier to focus efforts to try and address the problem."

Indeed, plans developed by BirdLife and other conservation groups in Egypt, Libya, and Cyprus aim to reduce the number of birds killed in those countries. BirdLife said the goal is improved regulations and better monitoring, as well as actions to help specific species.

Butchart said it's too early to know if the plans are doing any good, "but we hope that they will help. The major challenge is to raise awareness so that people realize the much wider consequences of their illegal actions, often beyond their national borders."

That's going to take some effort. Previous surveys have revealed that the people of Cyprus don't see bird trapping as an issue, perhaps because they do not see the broader impact. BirdLife has spent the past few years campaigning there to change public perception, including making presentations at schools in the hope that the next generation of Cypriots will help to make a difference for the birds flying over the country's killing fields. - Takepart.

 

WAR ON MOTHER NATURE: Record Numbers Of Rhinos Poached In Africa In 2015 - Report!

A report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) revealed that at least 1,338 rhinos (stock image) were murdered across Africa in the past year.

March 11, 2016 - AFRICA - The number of African rhinos killed by poachers in 2015 increased for the sixth year in a row.

A report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) revealed that at least 1,338 rhinos were murdered across the continent in the past year.

This is the highest its been since 2008 when South Africa banned trade in rhino horns, leading conservation body IUCN said on Wednesday.

The slaughter has been driven by demand for their horn in countries such as China and Vietnam, where they are prized for their purported medicinal properties.

The horn is composed mainly of keratin, the same component as in human nails, but it is sold in powdered form as a supposed cure for cancer and other diseases.

Trade in rhino horns was banned in 1977 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

The international treaty was set up in 1973 to protect wildlife against over-exploitation, and ensure that trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

However, the practice was only banned in 2008 in South Africa, which is said to be home to 20,000 rhinos or 80 per cent of the world's rhino population.

IUCN Director General Inger Andersen said despite stepped up surveillance by field rangers there had been 'alarming increases in poaching over the past year in other vitally important range states, such as Namibia and Zimbabwe' both of which adjoin South Africa.

Demand for rhino horn from South East Asia is being illegally supplied by sophisticated transnational organised crime networks, the IUCN said.

They are sold for about $60,000 a kilo on the black market, making it more expensive than cocaine.

'The extensive poaching for the illegal trade in horn continues to undermine the rhino conservation successes made in Africa over the last two decades,' said IUCN expert Mike Knight.

On the plus side, poaching in Kenya decreased over the past two years and went down for the first time in South Africa in 2015.

According to experts, there were between 19,000 and 21,000 white rhinos in Africa last year and between 5,000 and 5,500 black ones. - Daily Mail.

 

WAR ON MOTHER NATURE: Beneath The Waves - Haunting Photos From Scuba Divers Across The World Show DEVASTATING IMPACT Of Ocean Plastic!

© baretnewswire.org

March 5, 2016 - OCEAN - Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke is once quoted saying, "How inappropriate to call this planet earth when it is quite clearly Ocean." Well, perhaps if it were called ocean, people would be a lot more concerned about what is happening to our marine environments, which are in terrible trouble.

According to NOAA, the world's oceans hold more than 97 percent of the planet's water and may be home to as much as 80 percent of the world's plant and animal species. Without our oceans, life as we know it would cease to exist. These vast bodies of water help regulate weather patterns, they absorb almost one-third of the carbon dioxide we emit, provide many people with vital sources of protein, and most importantly, nearly 70 percent of the oxygen in our atmosphere is produced by marine plants. Without healthy, thriving ocean ecosystems, we would be cooked!

Unfortunately, as we continue to dump more and more plastic into the oceans, this essential ecosystem is starting to collapse. Every year, around 8.8 million tons of plastic trash end up in the oceans. The majority of this trash ends up sinking to the bottom of the oceans or getting swept up in massive gyres, so it can be easy to overlook this problem from the vantage point of land. Scuba divers, who spend their time beneath the surface, however, are constantly faced with the reality of this plastic problem.

In an effort to bring the sights that these divers see and raise awareness for the sake of the oceans, the good folks at Project Aware have
launched a stunning photo campaign called, Beneath The Waves.

While it might just look like this is a mound of trash, this is actually a photo of a sea crab.

We have a tendency to think that when we throw out trash it just "goes away!" Well ... this is where "away" is.

Plants, animals, and trash all float in a tangled mass on the surface.

Many marine animals, some which have never even seen a human, are now finding themselves the victims of human behavior, many miles away.

Even creatures like coral, which are an essential nursery for ocean life, are coming under threat. This large piece was sliced off by a discarded fishing line.

It is estimated that around 700 marine species are in danger of extinction due to plastic pollution.

Lucky for those animals, these divers are here to help.

Discarded piles of rope and fishing nets like these are a hazard to aquatic life.

By working hard to clear out some of the trash accumulating on the ocean floor, the amazing people working with
Project Aware are making a difference, one trash bag at a time.

Hopefully, by documenting this problem and garnering clean up efforts, Project Aware will inspire others to help, in whatever way that they can. Cleaning up at your nearest river, lake or beach is a great way to help, but prevention is the best cure. - One Green Planet.

HUMAN DEVOLUTION: The Latest Stories Of Shocking Behavior And Horrific Violence Of People Across The Planet - Woman In Black Holds SEVERED CHILD's HEAD In Moscow; Indian Man Drugs And KILLS 14 FAMILY Members, Then Commits Suicide; "AX-WIELDING" Palestinian In Brutal Attack On Israeli Guard; 6 Cases Of CHILD "GOOD LUCK" SACRIFICE In Run-Up To Uganda Elections; And Man Stabs 10 SCHOOLCHILDREN In China, Then Kills Self?!

A woman dressed all in black and holding what is thought to be a child's severed head has been arrested near a metro station in Moscow.

February 29, 2016 - HUMANITY - The following stories are clear evidence that people are losing their moral values and codes, devolving and resorting to violence, when by any measure of practical utility, non-violent means would be more effective and humane.

Woman in black holding severed child's head near Moscow metro station detained

A woman dressed all in black and holding what is thought to be a child’s severed head has been arrested near a metro station in Moscow. She was shouting, “I am a terrorist,” and reportedly threatened to blow herself up.

According to LifeNews, the victim was a girl, identified as Nastya M. After the murder, the female suspect went to a metro station, where she was stopped by a local police officer. She immediately took the severed child’s head from her bag and started shouting that she had killed the child. The suspect is currently being detained by police authorities, Russian media reported.

“The end of the world is coming in a second…I’m your death,” the woman is heard shouting in the video released online. “I hate democracy. I’m a terrorist.”

She is heard shouting that she has been “cursed” and “destroyed” “so many times.”

“I'm your suicide bomber… I'm going to die in a second…The end of the world…,” she shouted.

The woman appeared near Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station in northwest Moscow.

Eyewitness Artur Manzhesov told RT he couldn’t believe that the decapitated child’s head being carried by the woman was real.

“I saw her coming out with the head in her hands. I thought, wow, it must be a replica,” he said.

The man says he heard the perpetrator shouting: “Allahu Akbar… The Russians will be hanged like this. The Russians will be slaughtered.”

The woman was dressed in black “like Muslims,” but her face was open, Manzhesov recalled.

“I thought she just went mad… When I saw the head I started shaking… I saw the child’s face and blood coming from it. It was very scary,” he said.

Russia’s Investigative Committee later released a statement that rescuers have found a body of a three or four-year-old child after extinguishing a fire in a Moscow apartment block. A preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect is a children’s nanny in her late 30s, who is a citizen of a “Central Asian country.”


WATCH: GRAPHIC - Woman waves child's head in Moscow.

The suspect waited until the child’s parents left the apartment with an older child, then killed the child and set the apartment on fire, the Investigative Committee said.

The mother of the murdered child was taken to hospital in unconscious after she learned the news, Russia’s Zvezda TV channel reported.

Earlier on Monday, reports emerged that police had found a child’s headless body while extinguishing a fire at a Moscow apartment block. The child was about three or four years old, Interfax reported, citing sources.

The woman, identified by LifeNews as Gulchekhra Bobokulova from Uzbekistan, committed the murder because of her husband’s betrayal. According to LifeNews sources, she failed to explain how the child was connected to her husband. The woman was reportedly drugged, a source in police authorities told Interfax.

People in shops near the Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station have been evacuated, TASS reported, adding that police have sealed some exits from the station.

Indian accountant drugs and kills 14 family members, then commits suicide

Indian man has wiped out his entire family, including seven children, before hanging himself. Police sources report that the assailant added a sedative to the meals, so the drugged victims would not wake up during the bloodshed.

Hasnin Anwar Warekar, 35, has brutally murdered 14 of his relatives in the Indian city of Thane, 20 miles from Mumbai, police report. The carnage is believed to have taken place overnight Sunday, when all the residents of a single-story house were asleep after a family party.

“Prima facie evidence suggests that the accused bolted all the doors of the house and murdered his family while they were asleep with a knife that we found near his body. The accused then hung himself after killing his family", said Ashutosh Dumbare, spokesman for Thane police, as cited by the Indian Express.

The attacker reportedly first killed his wife and two daughters who were sleeping on the first floor and then butchered his own parents and sisters on the ground floor.

Man killed 14 members of his family in Thane, later committed suicide (In pic: sole survivor admitted in hospital) pic.twitter.com/TAq0ExnzgF

— ANI (@ANI_news) February 28, 2016

Man who committed suicide after killing 14 members of his family in Kasarvadavali area of Thane (Maharashtra). pic.twitter.com/rETFNBKsmV

— ANI (@ANI_news) February 28, 2016

#Firstvisuals of the spot where a man killed 14 members of his family,later committed suicide in Thane (Maharashtra) pic.twitter.com/04rJxogdmf

— ANI (@ANI_news) February 28, 2016

His younger sister Subia Bharmar, 21, managed to escape the family’s gruesome fate. She survived her brother`s first attack which left her with cut upper throat and cried for help. Luckily for her, relatives residing nearby heard her shouting and rushed to help.

"One of the sisters was shouting 'Please save me.' We went there and tried to break the door but she said don't come inside as he has a knife and he might kill you too. So we ran and called the police for help," said one of the witnesses, according to IBN live news site.

The only survivor, who has been treated in a local Thane hospital for sustained injuries, has already spoken to police, but her statement shed little light on the motives of the murderer.

“As of now, she is in a shock. It is quite possible that this is an internal family matter, but it is difficult to confirm anything at this point," said Dumbare, as cited by IBN live.

“The exact cause that triggered her brother to kill her family and himself is still unclear. Our investigation is still under way,” the spokesman said.

"It is a very sad incident. Nobody knows why he killed the members but the man was a very nice guy,” commented one of the locals on the deadly incident, pointing out that the suspect “had no quarrel or fight ever."

Warekar used to work as a chartered accountant for a private company, according to police, as reported by the Indian Express. The initial probe into the case hasn`t indicated that any conflicts within the family could have triggered the killings.

However, it has been speculated in the Indian media that an argument over property issues could have led to the massacre.

‘Ax-wielding’ Palestinian in brutal attack on Israeli guard

© ziv121213 / YouTube

A Palestinian has brutally attacked an Israeli security guard in a shopping mall with something that resembled an ax, a CCTV video shows. The assailant, who was a mall employee, is seen striking the father of four multiple times near an elevator.

The incident took place in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, 7km from Jerusalem.

The suspect, later identified as 21-year-old Abu Hammad, approached the guard, Tzvika Cohen, and reportedly asked him to open the elevator door. Cohen wasn’t suspecting the attack as he knew Hammad and the pair worked together at the mall, Channel 2 reported.

Hammad attacked the guard without warning, striking him several times with a metal object that resembles an ax, as seen in security camera footage which is circulating online.

The guard is currently in serious condition at the Hadassah-University Medical Center on Mount Scopus, northern Jerusalem.Two days after the incident the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), police and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) managed to find Hammad, who is a resident of the Palestinian village of Eizariya, located near Maale Adumim.

Hammad confirmed that he “implicated himself into a terrorist attack,” the Shin Bet said, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.

Following the attack, the Israeli government moved to ban all Palestinians from Maale Adumim until Thursday, a spokesman for the settlement said, as cited by AFP. He added that about 500 Palestinian laborers are affected by the ban.

A new wave of violence between long-standing opponents Israel and Palestine erupted in October when Israel attempted to restrict access of Palestinian men to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City area of Jerusalem.

Since then, Israeli security forces have killed at least 168 Palestinians, 111 of whom allegedly initiated attacks. Palestinian assailants have killed 28 Israelis, as well as one US citizen.

6 cases of child 'good luck' sacrifice reported in run-up to Uganda elections 

© James Akena / Reuters

Several children were murdered and mutilated as ‘good luck’ sacrifices in the run-up to the recent Ugandan elections, a charity has announced. It stated that many locals believe such acts bring wealth and power.

Six cases of mutilation and murder were reported in the lead-up to the elections, Shelin Kasozi of Kyampisi Childcare Ministries (KCM), a charity that cares for survivors of attempted child sacrifice, told Reuters.

"Child sacrifice cases are common during election time as some people believe blood sacrifices will bring wealth and power," Kasozi said.

She said the cases were reported from October to February in the districts of Ssembabule, Mukono, Buikwe and Mubende, all located in central Uganda.

Moses Binoga, coordinator of the anti-trafficking task force at the Ugandan Interior Ministry, acknowledged that children had been reported missing during the election period, but could not confirm KCM's reports. He said investigations are ongoing.

He did, however, acknowledge that seven child and six adult sacrifice cases were reported in Uganda in 2015, compared to nine child and four adult cases in 2014.

Referring to the past cases, Binoga said the mutilated bodies of children and adults had been found, some of whom had their hearts or livers ripped out. In two cases reported last year, the victims' heads were missing, he said.

In 2012, 82-year-old grandmother Hanifa Namuyanja was sentenced to 15 years in jail for taking part in the sacrifice of her granddaughter Shamim Nalwoga. The child was found with her tongue and eyes cut out and genitals mutilated.

The United Nations said last year that attacks on albino people in Africa were on the rise, linked to a growing demand from political hopefuls seeking body parts retrieved in black magic.

The February 18 election saw President Yoweri Museveni extend his 30-year rule, in a vote slammed by the US and the European Union. Ugandans also took part in municipal and parliamentary elections.

Referred to as Uganda's 'President for Life’, Museveni was described in a 2001 UN report as one of the “godfathers of the illegal exploitation of natural resources and the continuation of the conflict in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo).”
- RT News.

10 schoolchildren stabbed in China; assailant kills himself

A man in southern China stabbed 10 schoolchildren before killing himself Monday morning, state-run media reported.

All of the children survived and were hospitalized, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The incident took place in Haikou, the capital city of the southern island province of Hainan.

The motive for the attack remains unclear.

China has seen a spate of stabbing attacks at schools in recent years.


WATCH: Man stabs 10 children in China.

In 2014, a man fatally stabbed three children at a primary school in central China and then committed suicide by jumping off a building, Xinhua reported at the time.

An initial investigation suggested that attacker was upset that his daughter was not allowed to attend the school after failing to complete a summer homework assignment, Xinhua said.

In 2012, a man raced toward a school gate in Henan province, flailing a knife as terrified youngsters tried to flee. He chased the students and wounded 23 of them.

Police said that attacker was driven to commit the attack by "doomsday" rumors, Xinhua said at the time. Authorities also said Min testified he was inspired by TV reports about a kindergarten killing in 2010. - CNN.

HUMAN DEVOLUTION: Shocking - 14-Year-Old Indian Girl Gang-Raped By Soldiers On Train?!

Members of All India Students Association (AISA) shout slogans as they hold placards during a protest outside police headquarters in New Delhi, India
© Anindito Mukherjee / Reuters

January 4, 2016 - INDIA - A teenage girl is receiving treatment in India after she was forced to drink alcohol and then raped by two army officers.

The 14-year-old is understood to have mistakenly boarded a carriage reserved for army officers on the Howrah-Amritsar Express in the eastern state of Jharkhand on Sunday.

Once on board, a junior army officer gave the girl alcohol before another two officers allegedly raped her six times when she went to the toilet.

The Indian Express reports the girl had run away from her home in Kolkata earlier that day after not being allowed to visit her friend.

After her family reported her missing, authorities established she had boarded a train when she was spotted on CCTV footage.

Police halted the train at a station in Madhupur, where a search of all carriages was carried out. The girl was found in a near unconscious state in the army carriage with one of the officers, Mandrish Tripathi, beside her.

Officers removed her from the train, Tripathi was arrested, and the train allowed to continue its journey. The victim appeared to be unaware of what had occurred.

When police questioned the girl, it emerged she had been forced to drink alcohol and raped.

After a medical exam confirming this, the girl identified the perpetrators on the railway’s CCTV footage.

By this time, however, it was noon on Monday and the accused army officers had already disembarked the train, The Times of India reports.

While two officers remain at large, Tripathi has been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for supplying alcohol to the teenage girl.

The army is understood to be working with detectives to establish the identities and whereabouts of the other two accused officers.

Following the fatal gang rape of 23-year-old Jyoti Singh by a group of six men on a bus in Delhi in 2012, and the controversy and media coverage that followed, India has increased its scrutiny of such crimes and intensified its approach to dealing with them.

The government has since introduced tougher laws which can result in a convicted rapist being jailed for up to twenty years. - RT.

WAR ON MOTHER NATURE: 8,690 Tree Species In The Amazon May Be On The Verge Of Extinction - Most Of The Planet's 40,000-Plus Tropical Tree Species Are Also At Risk!

More than 8,000 trees are now at risk of extinction in the Amazon rain forest. © Getty

November 27, 2015 - THE AMAZON - The worrying spectre of trees that could hold the secret to the cure of cancer and play host to the richest wildlife spectacular on the planet disappearing in our life times has been highlighted in a new study.

It reveals that between 36 and 57 per cent of Amazonian trees, that is as many as 8,690 different species, are likely to qualify as being globally threatened under IUCN Red List of Threatened Species criteria.

The new study, published tonight in the journal Science Advances, reached its shocking conclusions after comparing results of forest surveys across the Amazon with maps of current and projected deforestation to estimate how many tree species have been lost, and whereabouts.

A global global team made up of 158 researchers from 21 countries and involving Britain's University of East Anglia (UEA) carried out the study, which also concluded that Amazonian parks, reserves, and indigenous territories, if properly managed, can protect most of the threatened species.

8,690 different species of trees in the Amazon are at threat of becoming extinct. © Getty

Professor Carlos Peres from the UEA's School of Environmental Sciences, said: "Forests in the Amazon have been declining since the 1950s, but there was a poor understanding of how this has affected populations of individual species. Our research estimates that more than half of all species may face extinction.

"Fortunately protected areas and indigenous territories now cover over half of the Amazon basin, and likely contain sizable populations of most threatened species.

"But parks and reserves will only prevent extinction of threatened species if they suffer no further degradation. Amazonian forests and reserves still face a barrage of threats: from dam construction and mining to wildfires and droughts intensified by global warming."

And lead researcher Dr Nigel Pitman, of the Field Museum in Chicago, added: "We aren't saying that the situation in the Amazon has suddenly got worse for tree species.

We're just offering a new estimate of how tree species have been affected by historical deforestation, and how they'll be affected by forest loss in the future."

Experts say because the same destructive trends witnessed in Amazonia are impacting throughout the tropics, most of the planet's 40,000-plus tropical tree species are also at risk

William Laurance from James Cook University in Australia warns: "It's a battle we're going to see play out in our lifetimes.

Either we stand up and protect these critical parks and indigenous reserves, or deforestation will erode them until we see large-scale extinctions."  - Daily Express.

 

HUMAN DEVOLUTION: Shocking - Five Men Arrested After Gang-Raping 22-Year-Old Japanese Tourist For Weeks In India!

Indian police officials escort suspects in the alleged gang-rape and extortion of a Japanese tourist held as a sex slave, as they are
brought to the Bankshall court in Kolkata on January 3, 2015 (AFP Photo / STR)

January 4, 2015 - INDIA - Five men have been arrested for kidnapping a young Japanese woman, who managed to escape after some three weeks of repeated gang-rape at gunpoint near a Buddhist holy site in Bodh Gaya, a popular Indian tourist spot.


WATCH: "Racket of miscreants" busted for keeping Japanese as sex slave.

 


A gang of men, some of whom presented themselves as tour guides, reportedly raped a Buddhist student, who came from Japan, after kidnapping and taking her to Paro village in the East Indian state of Bihar.

The student checked into a hotel in Kolkata in November. According to a complaint filed with the local police, the woman was first taken from the city of Kolkata to a beach town of Digha on November 23, where she was forced to withdraw 75,000 rupees ($1,200) from an ATM.

Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya.
(Image from wikipedia.org)

"We have arrested three people who befriended the victim in Kolkata. They have been charged with common conspiracy and intention to kidnap and rape," Kolkata joint police commissioner Pallab Kanti Ghosh said.

"The men managed to extort 76,000 rupees ($1,200) from her and convinced her to travel to Bodh Gaya with them in their car."

There she was reportedly handed over to other two men and taken to a village, where the woman was confined in a secluded basement room and repeatedly raped by five men during the course of some three weeks.

"When her health condition deteriorated due to repeated rape and poor living conditions, she was brought to Gaya (district headquarters) for medical treatment on December 20,"a police officer who is part of the investigation told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The woman then reportedly managed to escape to Varanasi, a city in the neighboring state.

Afterwards, she reached Kolkata where she lodged a complaint of molestation and fraudulent withdrawal of money, but later, giving a statement before the magistrate, she alleged rape.

"(When) we came to know of the incident... we assisted her in registering the complaint with the police," Japan's consul-general in Kolkata, Kazumi Endo, told AFP.

India, the world's second most populous country, has seen lots of rape cases, with many of them underreported – but some, such as the fatal gang-rape of a medical student in New Delhi two years ago, sparking global outcry. - RT.

MASS ANIMAL DIE-OFF: Scientific Study - Planet Earth Could Face Another MASS EXTINCTION; The State Of Biodiversity Is Worsening Significantly!

Reuters / Thomas Mukoya

December 16, 2014 - EARTH -  Animals on Earth continue to disappear at an alarming rate, which could result in another mass extinction over the next few centuries, a study by the journal Nature claims, although researchers are struggling to understand the scale of the problem.

Thousands of animals become extinct every year; pressures on species continue to grow, despite renewed conservation policies across the globe to try and slow the process, and the increasing amount of land and ocean areas being set aside for protection.

“In general the state of biodiversity is worsening, in many cases significantly,” said Derek Tittensor, a marine ecologist with the United Nations Environment Program’s World Conservation Monitoring Center in Cambridge, UK, as quoted by Nature.

The so-called Red List of Threatened Species, compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, discovered that there are 46,000 critically endangered species.

The report found that amphibians are in the greatest danger, with 41 percent of species known to be facing extinction. Second in line are mammals, with 26 percent of species threatened. Thirteen percent of bird species are also in danger of being wiped off the face of the Earth.

Earth faces 6th ‘great extinction’

However, the study's researchers examined just four percent of the 1.7 million species that have been described by scientists, making a reliable threat level to groups difficult to determine. For example, fish, insects, and reptiles have not been adequately assessed.

Current estimates of the actual number of species on the planet range wildly, from two million to 50 million. The main threats to habitats are human activity such as farming and hunting, as well as the possibility that climate change may accelerate the rate of extinction.

But extinctions are nothing new; more than 95 percent of all species have died off over the past 3.5 billion years.

Throughout history, there have been five mass extinctions caused by geological or astrological events such as ice ages or meteors. But the next one – unless something changes – is likely to be caused by human activity. - RT.

WAR ON MOTHER NATURE: Full Scale Of Plastic Pollution In The World's Oceans Revealed For First Time - OVER FIVE TRILLION Pieces Of Plastic!

Plastic pieces in the ocean damage wildlife and enter the food chain when ingested by fish. Photograph: Bryce Groark/Alamy

December 14, 2014 - EARTH - Over five trillion pieces of plastic are floating in our oceans says most comprehensive study to date on plastic pollution around the world

More than five trillion pieces of plastic, collectively weighing nearly 269,000 tonnes, are floating in the world's oceans, causing damage throughout the food chain, new research has found.

Data collected by scientists from the US, France, Chile, Australia and New Zealand suggests a minimum of 5.25tn plastic particles in the oceans, most of them "micro plastics" measuring less than 5mm.

The volume of plastic pieces, largely deriving from products such as food and drink packaging and clothing, was calculated from data taken from 24 expeditions over a six-year period to 2013. The research, published in the journal PLOS One, is the first study to look at plastics of all sizes in the world's oceans.

Large pieces of plastic can strangle animals such as seals, while smaller pieces are ingested by fish and then fed up the food chain, all the way to humans.

This is problematic due to the chemicals contained within plastics, as well as the pollutants that plastic attract once they are in the marine environment.

"We saw turtles that ate plastic bags and fish that ingested fishing lines," said Julia Reisser, a researcher based at the University of Western Australia. "But there are also chemical impacts. When plastic gets into the water it acts like a magnet for oily pollutants.

"Bigger fish eat the little fish and then they end up on our plates. It's hard to tell how much pollution is being ingested but certainly plastics are providing some of it."

The researchers collected small plastic fragments in nets, while larger pieces were observed from boats. The northern and southern sections of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans were surveyed, as well as the Indian ocean, the coast of Australia and the Bay of Bengal.

The vast amount of plastic, weighing 268,940 tonnes, includes everything from plastic bags to fishing gear debris.

While spread out around the globe, much of this rubbish accumulates in five large ocean gyres, which are circular currents that churn up plastics in a set area. Each of the major oceans have plastic-filled gyres, including the well-known 'great Pacific garbage patch' that covers an area roughly equivalent to Texas.

Reisser said traversing the large rubbish-strewn gyres in a boat was like sailing through "plastic soup."

"You put a net through it for half an hour and there's more plastic than marine life there," she said. "It's hard to visualise the sheer amount, but the weight of it is more than the entire biomass of humans. It's quite an alarming problem that's likely to get worse."

The research found that the gyres themselves are likely to contribute to the problem, acting as "shredders" to the plastic before dispersing it.

"Our findings show that the garbage patches in the middle of the five subtropical gyres are not the final resting places for the world's floating plastic trash," said Marcus Eriksen, another of the report's co-authors. "The endgame for micro-plastic is interactions with entire ocean ecosystems."

The research, the first of its kind to pull together data on floating plastic from around the world, will be used to chart future trends in the amount of debris in the oceans.

But researchers predict the volume will increase due to rising production of throwaway plastic, with only 5% of the world's plastic currently recycled.

"Lots of things are used once and then not recycled," Reisser said. "We need to improve our use of plastic and also monitor plastics in the oceans so we get a better understanding of the issue.

"I'm optimistic but we need to get policy makers to understand the problem. Some are doing that - Germany has changed the policy so that manufacturers are responsible for the waste they produce. If we put more responsibility on to the producer then that would be part of the solution." - Guardian.

WAR ON MOTHER NATURE: Massive Oil Spill In Bangladesh - Villagers Struggle To Clean Up, As Oil Threatens Rare Dolphin Preserve; Environmentalists Warn Of An Ecological "Catastrophe"!

The oil tanker was carrying an estimated 357,000 litres (77,000 gallons) of oil when it sank in the Sundarbans’s Shela river, home to
rare Irrawaddy and Ganges dolphins.  © Agence France-Presse

December 12, 2014 - BANGLADESH - Bangladeshi villagers using sponges, shovels and even spoons worked Friday to clean up a huge oil spill in a protected area that is home to rare dolphins, after environmentalists warned of an ecological "catastrophe".

Thousands of litres of oil have spilt into the protected Sundarbans mangrove area, home to rare Irrawaddy and Ganges dolphins, after a tanker collided with another vessel on Tuesday.

The government has sent a ship carrying oil dispersants to the area, which is inside one of three sanctuaries set up for the dolphins.

But environmentalists say the chemicals could harm the delicate ecology of the Sundarbans, a UNESCO world heritage site.

As authorities debated whether to deploy the dispersants, the company that owns the stricken oil tanker said it would buy up the oil that local villagers have collected.

Bangladeshi villagers try to collect oil that spread in the river after an oil tanker sank in the Shela River in Mongla, in a photo taken on December 11, 2014.
© World Conservation Society

"It has no commercial value as it can't be used, but we are using the offer to encourage people so that the cleaning up process speeds up," said Rafiqul Islam Babul of the Padma Oil Company.

"Villagers including children are going out onto the river in boats to collect the oil floating on the water using sponges, shovels and spoons," he said.

"Then they are putting it in small ditches on the river banks and our employees are buying it."

The head of the local port authority earlier told reporters that fishermen would use "sponges and sacks" to collect the spilt oil, which has already spread over an 80-kilometre (50-mile) area.

A Bangladeshi oil-tanker lies half-submerged on December 9, 2014, after it was hit by a cargo vessel on the Shela River in the Sundarbans in Mongla

Amir Hosain, chief forest official of the Sundarbans, admitted that authorities were unsure about the best course of action.

"This catastrophe is unprecedented in the Sundarbans and we don't know how to tackle this," he told AFP.

"We're worried about its long-term impact, because it happened in a fragile and sensitive mangrove ecosystem."

Damage already done

Rescue vessels have now salvaged the tanker, which was carrying an estimated 357,000 litres (77,000 gallons) of oil when it sank.

But officials say the damage the has already been done as the slick has spread to a second river and a network of canals in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, which straddles India and Bangladesh.

Rubayat Mansur, Bangladesh head of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, said most of the oil appeared to have already leaked out of the tanker before it was salvaged.

A Bangladeshi oil-tanker lies half-submerged on December 9, 2014, after it was hit by a cargo vessel on the Shela River in the Sundarbans in Mongla.
© World Conservation Society

"I visited the sunken trawler this morning. Only few hundred litres of oil remain inside, so almost all the oil has spilled into the Sundarbans," he said.

Mansur said oil dispersants were "not appropriate for the mangrove ecosystem" and urged local villagers to help collect the oil from nets that have been placed in the river to contain its spread.

Spread over 10,000 square kilometres (3,800 square miles), the Sundarbans is a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site and home to hundreds of Bengal tigers. The delta comprises a network of rivers and canals.

Mansur said Bangladesh's coastal areas including the Sundarbans were the "largest known home" of the Irrawaddy dolphins.

"Irrawaddy Dolphins can be found in South East Asia. But their population size is very small compared to Bangladesh," said Mansur.

Bangladesh set up sanctuaries in the Sundarbans in 2011 after studies showed that there were hundreds of endangered Irrawaddy and Ganges river dolphins there.

Fishing is banned in the area, but tankers and other boats are allowed to pass through.

The Irrawaddy and Ganges dolphins are both on the warning "red list" of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which says numbers are falling. - PHYS.

MONUMENTAL WAR ON MOTHER NATURE: "Out Of Control" - USDA's Wildlife Services Killed FOUR MILLION Animals In 2013?!

June 14, 2014 - UNITED STATES - For years, the massive toll of wild animals exterminated by the federal government as a service to everything from airports to ranches has bounced up and down like a yo-yo. Last year it was up again.

A coyote keeps pace with a car (not seen) as it runs down the road in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

The more than 4 million animals shot, poisoned, snared or trapped by the Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services in fiscal year 2013 included 75,326 coyotes, 866 bobcats, 528 river otters, 3,700 foxes, 12,186 prairie dogs, 973 red-tailed hawks, 419 black bears and at least three eagles, golden and bald.

Though there's a list of animals killed, there's little data showing the cause for each killing, the methods used and the reasons behind mistakes that lead to massive kills of animals that aren't targeted.

At least two members of Congress have called Wildlife Services secret and opaque for failing to provide more information, and there are mounting calls for an investigation into how it operates.

Wildlife Services says that it responds to requests by government agencies nationwide and works to "resolve human/wildlife conflicts" in a strategic way. "As wildlife damage increases, requests for assistance also increase," said spokeswoman Carol Bannerman. Ranchers and farmers pay half the agency's costs of killing animals that they view as a threat.

But the agency provided no explanation for why the kill total can be 1.5 million in one year and 5 million the next.

Starling. Killed/Euthanized: 1,485,449
Freed/Released/Relocated: 285
Dispersed: 5,914,756 DANIEL BALECKAITIS /AP

Brown- headed cowbird. Killed/Euthanized: 850,505
Freed/Released/Relocated: 0
Dispersed: 211,332 Gray Kramer /USFWS

Near the turn of the century, it hit a staggering 4 million. Two years later, in 2001, it fell to about 1.5 million and stayed relatively low for six years. But in 2008, the number of kills rocketed to 5 million before trending downward to 3 million over the next four years.

Now it's back up, well past 4 million in the most recent count, and critics are pressing for a better explanation for why.

Wildlife Services' primary purpose is to eradicate invasive creatures introduced from other parts of the world. They include greedy feral hogs, giant swamp rats called nutria, big aggressive Argentine lizards called tegus and swarms of hungry starlings that destroy the habitats of animals native to the United States.

But the agency also kills native animals en masse, sometimes based solely on a homeowner's or farmer's perception of a threat.

Birds that invade airports and swipe cattle feed at farms contribute to the high totals. Non-native European starlings, sparrows, pigeons and such accounted for 87 percent of animals killed. Birds in general are singled out as a nuisance.

The rise in the number of exterminated animals came despite growing scrutiny and protest.

Last December, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition demanding that the agency explain the exact reasons why it makes each kill of a native animal, for whose benefit and the methods used. The petition called Wildlife Services "a rogue agency" that was "out of control."

USDA, Center for Biodiversity.

At the time, a Wildlife Services spokeswoman, Lyndsay Cole, responded that it kills birds at 800 airports nationwide so they won't gum up the works of airplanes. Cole said the department kills some animals that are a threat to endangered animals. Other animals, such as raccoons, are eliminated as part of the National Rabies Management Program.

Cole said the agency is guided by a science-based decision-making model. For example, wolves are killed to "lessen the negative impacts of expanding wolf populations," even though those populations are still recovering from earlier government programs that aimed to exterminate them.

Red- winged blackbird. Killed/Euthanized: 306,203
Freed/Released/Relocated: 0
Dispersed: 2,587,755 Toby Talbot /AP

Pigeons. Killed/Euthanized: 91,181
Freed/Released/Relocated: 54
Dispersed: 117,543 NOAH SEELAM /AFP/Getty Images

Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) has railed against the secret methods of Wildlife Services, at one time calling it "one of the most opaque and obstinate departments I've dealt with." DeFazio has asked to know what goes into poisons used by the agency that are a danger to people and harmless animals but hasn't gotten an answer. "We're really not sure what they're doing."

Wildlife Services has been around under different government names for more than a century. It essentially cleared away wildlife for America's westward expansion.

In a 2012 report, Wildlife Services relied on a National Agricultural Statistics Service survey to show that wildlife caused $944 million in agricultural damage in 2001.

Atwood dismissed the "science-based model" Cole mentioned as a document that "basically says they can use whatever methods at their disposal whenever they want."

Her organization's petition called on the USDA and the Obama administration to develop a policy based on ecological science, showing how removing animals from the wild affects the natural balance of the habitats.

In the Northeast, for example, the elimination of red wolves led to a proliferation of coyotes, which the wolves rarely tolerate in their range. Coyotes push away foxes, which prey on deer mice, which spread ticks.

The execution of wolves and other predators, such as bears, allows deer to proliferate across the country, destroying trees that serve as habitat for other animals.

Atwood described Wildlife Services' work as "a staggering killing campaign, bankrolled by taxpayers" and happening "beyond the view of most Americans."  - Washington Post.