The Anthropocene threatens climate & life itself

I don’t remember exactly when or where I read a statement like this:  Future generations may live in a world with no elephants – but it jolted me.  The more I thought about that possibility, the more unhappy I felt, and I turned my animal-world attention to elephants. 

All the good things said about these unique and iconic wild animals are true; they have appeared in human history seemingly forever, and they must not be allowed to disappear now!  But now, of course, they’re confronted by the most menacing foe of all -- the Anthropocene (an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems).

Mammoth tusk

A few recent media articles point to the long-time existence of elephants and their cousins on this planet, their relationship to walruses and one physical change that some elephants have undergone because of widespread poaching and slaughter.  

Elephant tusks are the common element in all three stories: tusks mean ivory, which means money – truly the "root of all evil" where elephants are concerned. 

Submerged ancient tusk

About 3 years ago, some 150 miles off the California coast and around 10,000 feet down, scientists found and retrieved a tusk from the ocean floor.  That find was followed by research to learn what creature it had come from, and when and why.

It turned out to have come from a young female mammoth who had died on land, then her remains were carried out to deep sea, where that tusk waited for millennia to be discovered.  It was spotted by scientists looking for something else – but they happily took on the “tusk task.”

https://tinyurl.com/ypexjj33

Multi-purpose tusks

Water Deer

“Elephants have them.  Pigs have them.  Narwhals and water deer have them. Tusks are among the most dramatic examples of mammal dentition . . . ” 

The question is, how did teeth lengthen into ever-growing tusks in some mammals, including walruses?  It didn’t happen overnight, but over long evolution: certain mammals changed enough for conditions to be right for tusks to replace their teeth.

The appearance of soft tissue attachments supporting the teeth and a state when the animal’s teeth aren’t continuously replaced -- those are the 2 conditions that can lead to the independent development of tusks.

https://tinyurl.com/2zje98st

Tusklessness can protect

Although these ever-growing, projecting teeth called tusks are used for “fighting, foraging, even flirting,” war and widespread poaching can cause growth in some elephants to be halted.  Mozambique’s 15-year long conflict (1977-1992) illustrated this.

 Occurring mostly among females, the rising number of tuskless females there accompanied a dramatic drop in elephant population overall – an evolutionary shift obviously not curtailed by overall population decline.

 Tuskless female

Now, however, both population and tusk growth are seen as necessary to restore Mozambique’s ecosystem because “Elephants use their tusks as tools to dig for water, strip bark for food, excavate minerals and salts, carry loads, defend themselves and battle other elephants, among other uses.”  

https://tinyurl.com/55tch4zk

Targeting lead ammo

Saved from DDT years ago, the American bald eagle then became prey to lead poisoning from the spent ammunition hunters used to shoot animals that eagles scavenge. 

Sick Bald Eagle

And make no mistake: Lead poisoning effects are devastating, as one scientist says, affecting all systems of an eagle’s body and slowing population growth.  Besides saving eagles from lead and its perils, poisoned wildlife and tainted meat become non-issues with lead-free ammo.  

While some states and sports already ban lead ammunition, other individuals and organizations fight to keep it.  They argue, inaccurately, that it’s better than copper bullets, that its after-effects are not as debilitating as claimed and even that they want to use up their store of lead ammunition.

A video for an anti-lead group details the many reasons to move away from lead (https://sportingleadfree.org/who-we-are) and in a related story, a bird-rehabber says, “I’m not opposed to hunting, but we moved away from lead in gasoline, paint and plumbing and now we need to do the same with ammunition.”

Beware the Anthropocene!

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                                        Meet Bucky, a squirrel whose teeth just kept growing. 

                                        A woman who took pity on him trimmed his teeth

                                        with manicure scissors, according to The Dodo.   

                                         To comment, go to 1moreonce.blogspot.com.   

Hell on earth for Ukraine’s animals

Spring: the season of joyous re-birth, this year accompanies horrific war, with terror, death and destruction in Ukraine.  The images are all around us – cruelty toward people, their homes, their security, plans and dreams.

But “War is hell” for innocent, defenseless animals too. 

                       Liza                           HSUS image 

Since the invasion of Ukraine began, animal mentions and sightings have been few.  And painful. Fleeing from their country, two people carried their cats with them – one nestled inside a coat, while the other was inside a carrier.  No mention of food and water – these pet lovers must have trusted those necessities of life would be available once they reached safety.

Of the two dogs I saw, the first was barking from inside a pet carrier in the street.  A woman and her two children had taken their pet with them in a desperate rush to escape.  They were killed; the dog lived, at least until that moment. 

I saw the second dog from a distance, crossing a street.  (Had he too lost his people?  Where was he going?  Was he moving blindly away from his last trauma and toward the inevitable next one?)

What in the world is happening to animals in this besieged country?  What do they think is going on?  How panicked are they?  How many of them were left behind in hopes they’d be more safe staying where they were?

Domestic animals count on people in the best of times, and even moreso in the worst.  

           Bonifacio                                HSUS image

Then there are zoo animals, no doubt terrified if not already dead.  And those in shelters, by definition intended to care for them -- what about those poor creatures?  Reported by Humane Society International (HSI), three volunteers were killed trying to deliver food to shelter animals who had been without it for days.

I was reminded of the novel I read recently, about a young Asian elephant, Violet, newly arrived, then trapped in the Belfast, Ireland zoo during World War 2.  That alone was upsetting enough, but then came the sounds of war as the German blitz began in the city and moved ever closer.  

With “true grit,” the young woman-keeper of Violet managed to move her out of the zoo to safety.  But of course, most all of that was fiction.  (The Elephant of Belfast, by S. Kirk Walsh)

To help Ukraine’s animals during these desperate times, simply google “How to help Ukraine animals,” then sit back and choose your charity.  (You may be amazed at the number of helping organizations.)

https://www.thedodo.com/daily-dodo/man-helps-ukrainian-refugee-families-and-their-dogs-stay-together

Ukranian dog (name unknown)     HSUS image

As for Ukraine’s European neighbors, they’re also involved.  Connecting with animal welfare groups in Germany, Italy and Poland, HSI reported on their efforts to help Ukraine’s animals, including those whose families took them when they fled.  The Romanian Red cross and Berlin’s aid station were among those cited.

“Animals do not go to war, but they are too often among its victims,” said one official, on the terrible, and wholly unfair, reality of this situation.

https://blog.humanesociety.org/2022/03/animal-welfare-crisis-grows-more-critical-in-ukraine-as-war-rages-on.html 

Occasionally in this blog, I’ve tried to recognize “heroes for animals” – those who work, unstintingly “above and beyond,” for animal welfare.  Wherever they are around the world, such animal advocates are simply wonderful.  Right now, though, Ukrainians go still further by saving lives while under fire, often at risk of their own lives. 

Heroes all.

Spring.  Despite the awfulness happening in our world right now -- and even because of it -- we need to think of, and savor, spring.  It’s beautiful but brief, and it inspires . . . hope!   https://tinyurl.com/2p8679vb

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