animal welfare, Ocean Conservancy, Tierschutz

Success in a Micro Way

What do tiny plastic beads have to do with animals? Microbeads have been added to many products, e.g. toothpaste, shower gels, soaps, etc. These plastic particles will then wander from your bathroom over the drainage system into the waters flowing into the oceans. And there they will be eaten by the animals. due to the size of these particles there is no way of filtering them out of the water and it has been noticed that some fish are no longer able to swim into deeper water due to the buoyancy connected to the plastic in their system.

A ban has been successfully introduced into law:

“Congress has backed a bill banning the use of microbeads in personal care products. And just last week, President Obama signed this bill into law.

Microbeads might be tiny, but this legislation is huge. The new law means companies will phase out the sale of products containing microbeads over the next two years, and stop making personal care products with microbeads altogether by July 1, 2017.

These small plastic particles have been a staple ingredient in everyday products we use like body washes, facial scrubs and toothpastes. Since they’re too small to be filtered out by water treatment plants, they flow straight from our sinks to the ocean and into the mouths and gills of sea creatures around the world.”

You can read more here:

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animal abuse, animal trade, animal welfare, hunting, Ocean Conservancy, Petition, shark, Tierquälerei, Tierschutz

Noodle Soup is Good, Shark Fin Soup Is Not

Photo: Pete Sinclair and Liz Giles, Sierra Club

Photo: Pete Sinclair and Liz Giles, Sierra Club

People love to watch dolphins swim around their boats, frolic in the waters, but sharks? No way. Therefore, it is hard to find support for saving sharks from being hunted, mutilated, killed, leading to their extinction. But the ocean´s ecosystem depends on these intelligent animals in many ways, sharks being “keystones” to the intricate structure of the ecosystem.

“Sharks are amazing creatures: majestic predators that inspire awe and respect. But millions of sharks are brutally killed through the practice of “shark finning” every year.

This practice involves chopping off the shark’s fins and throwing the shark back into the sea, left to die. Many species of sharks in the Pacific Rim, such as the Oceanic Whitetip, are declining rapidly in part because of this process.

United States Trade Representative Michael Froman is deciding if the United States will protect sharks from this brutal practice. He’s working on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) — a pact that would expand trade of natural resources between Pacific Rim nations and could have devastating impacts on sharks, trees, and other wildlife. We understand the United States is pushing a strong conservation proposal in the TPP that includes obligations to conserve shark populations and actions to deter shark finning. Other countries in the pact are opposing strong and binding environmental provisions.

Tell the United States Trade Representative: Keep Shark Fins off the Chopping Block!”

Please read more here, sign the petition, reblog, share:;jsessionid=CF9AF0FF3D8D2C6D6F0B9AA93AB50BB3.app261b?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=880&s_src=14WAXAXXXX&s_subsrc=14ASFESC2

And learn more here about sharks:

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animal welfare, Ocean Conservancy, Petition, Tierschutz

BP = Believe Publicity?

Photo: Lisa Kelly

Photo: Lisa Kelly

Photo: Ocean Conservancy

Photo: Ocean Conservancy

When the first pictures were published showing how the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had affected not only everybody living in this part of the world, but also flora, fauna and the water many of us were in shock. This major catastrophe has moved from front page news to the back of the papers, and in most cases also to the back of the minds.

“It’s been four years since the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, the largest in U.S. history, claimed 11 lives and gushed oil into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days.

After the disaster, BP spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a PR blitz promising it would take responsibility.

But now that BP thinks everyone’s forgotten, it’s in court trying to backpedal its way out of paying billions in damages leaving behind the dolphins, turtles, wildlife and people who call the Gulf home.

BP is even publicly shaming Gulf residents, running full-page ads accusing them of fraud while refusing to pay billions in claims.”

Please read more and sign the petition;jsessionid=D7BDD3739AE03F29B2EE089AF966CB4B.app260b?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=770

Thank you for spreading the word on animal awareness!