New policies threaten even the hardiest animals

As they did after the shock and terror of 9/11, hosts on “our” radio station stuck to the business of playing great music. No ranting, no hand-wringing.  It was a relief to tune in and think of something else for a change.

Since last year's presidential election, and the unbelievable daily fallout since then, it’s been pretty much the same pattern. Occasionally, connected with surprising or worrisome news of the day, a host may simply point out that the music may soothe listeners in “these troubled times.” That’s as far as it goes: Professionalism at work.

 But this blog is about and for animals – creatures who can’t speak for themselves, can’t go to a legislator’s office or email and complain about their treatment, can’t change the circumstances that affect them.

Which is why I’m here to say: "horseshoe crabs" and call your attention to a NYTimes headline from April 23: “The World We Could Lose” (“Tax cuts and executive orders can be reversed. The effects of President Trump’s environmental policy cannot.”) 

Related more to spiders, ticks and scorpions than to crabs, horseshoe crabs have been around since prehistoric times. Now, thanks to humans, their continuation is threatened.  These days, humans use Limulus polyphemus for medical tests, bait and fertilizer – so much so that the number that can be “harvested” is limited in some states.  HC eggs are desperately needed food for migrating birds traveling from South America to their nesting places in the Arctic.

 

As oceanographer Sylvia Earle writes in that NYTimes piece, loss of critical habitat is the top threat to Atlantic horseshoe crabs, but the runner up is “human predation” like that just cited. Our habits of “consuming wild places and wild life” could mean the end of this long-lived (till now) species.

One other captivating reason to be aware of horseshoe crabs: their technical name, Limulus polyphemus, reflects the early mistaken belief that, like “Polyphemus,” the cyclops in Homer’s Odyssey, horseshoe crabs have just one eye. 

    

“Protect Horseshoe Crabs!”    

P.S. on African elephants

Sometimes it pays to leave late for a doctor appointment and forget to take anything to read. So once there, I grabbed a copy of Smithsonian magazine (January 2017), in which I found an article about a favorite topic – elephants – by an admired writer – Elizabeth Kolbert (Pulitzer Prize winner for The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History). 

Kolbert writes about a scientist whose studies of DNA-laden African elephant dung and analysis of trafficked tusks helps him pinpoint "hotspots" for elephant poaching so law enforcement efforts can be focused there.   

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/new-tool-fight-against-elephant-poaching-180961425/

In the last post, I forgot to include the website for Save the Elephants, the organization founded by elephant expert and protector Iain Douglas-Hamilton. It’s  www.savetheelephants.org.

Sheldrick caretaker with orphaned baby elephant

Finally (for now!) on the subject of elephants, you might want to know about an African elephant sanctuary, one that’s sadly over-populated with orphaned baby elephants (and rhinos). Hoping that if and when the unconscionable poaching of elephants and rhinos for their tusks and horns is ended, the numbers of orphaned wild baby animals will also drop.  https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/index.asp

Iguana at the vet

For some delightful reading, follow this link to a fascinating story about exotic animals and their veterinarian – in New York City! 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/nyregion/exotic-animal-hospital.html

                                                                                           sumspic