Worldwide Panda Competition

China recently held a worldwide competition for a lucky few to become “Pambassadors” (Panda Ambassadors). 62,000 people from 50 countries submitted online applications for the once in a lifetime chance to both work with Giant Pandas and help promote their cause.

On September 25, China chose 12 semi-finalists to come to Chengdu in South West China for one week of intense training before the 6 winners are chosen. Throughout this first week, the prospective “Pambassadors” will learn about threats to the Panda’s existence, study their habitats, prepare their food, and even clean the Panda’s enclosures. The final test to determine the winners will consist of a question and answer session, building a Panda Ladder (a favorite of those in captivity), and a creative presentation to show the semi-finalists’ personalities.

The six winners will spend one month learning even more skills through the nursing of Panda cubs before returning to their home countries to educate their country on Panda conservation. Furthermore, Bernama.com, the Malaysian National News Agency, writes that “The six ‘pambassadors’ will spend a month working as panda keepers in Chengdu, China and blog about their experiences at pandahome.com in an effort to raise awareness of the endangered animals’ plight.”

This worldwide panda competition is titled “Project Panda” and was “launched by Chengdu research base in collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature,” (Bernama.com) also known as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in the United States.

According to the WWF, there has been recent success in the fight to save the Panda. For example, WWF highlights three major areas that have seen recent improvement:

• Panda habitat is increasing with the development of new reserves and green corridors.
• Some threats to panda survival such as poaching and illegal logging have been significantly reduced.
• Community development projects to help people sustainably coexist with pandas have been very positive.

However, despite recent success, the Panda remains on the ICUN’s Red List as an endangered species.

Maybe these six chosen Panda Ambassadors can take their love of the species and transform it into education and awareness. As “Pambassadors,” it will be their responsibility to note the various problems facing the Panda and go even further to offer possible solutions to the world audience.

If each “Pambassador” can inspire their own country to fight just a bit harder for the restoration of the Panda then maybe the world can look beyond political agendas in the name of conservation and operate for a united purpose: To Save the Giant Panda!

To view news footage of this story reported by Clarissa Ward, see Good Morning America. 

Shark Fin Soup: Delicacy VS Animal Cruelty

Shark Fin Soup

Shark fin soup is a delicacy most commonly found in Asian countries such as China and others in the Far East.  The soup is made up of shark fin and chicken (or other) stock; the shark fin itself is essentially tasteless so the stock is added to bring flavor, whereas the fin adds only texture. This delicacy costs about $100 per bowl and is usually served at special occasions like weddings to demonstrate one’s wealth. However, weddings alone do not support the shark finning trade; it is the restaurants that have the most to gain from selling such high-end food.

Sharks returned without fins

On the less glamorous side of shark fin soup is the devilish act that allows the soup to exist: shark finning. Shark finning occurs when fishermen hook a shark, brutally chop off all its fins, then dispose of the body since it holds no value. Most of the time, sharks are returned to the ocean alive in this painful condition. Unable to swim, the sharks immediately sink to the bottom and later die of starvation, are eaten by other fish, or drown due to the lack of water flowing through their gills for oxygen.

Shark Finning in action

Even with the alarming consequences of shark finning, shark fin soup remains in high demand. John Platt, on the Scientific American blog Extinction Countdown, writes that shark fin soup is actually “extinction in a bowl.” Evidence of the impending “extinction,” as Platt puts it, is clearly visible in the dissipating shark populations.  

"According to a recent report by the marine conservation organization Oceana, Hong Kong imports up to 10 million kilograms of shark fins, representing up to 73 million sharks, every year. The fins, imported by fishermen from 87 different countries, can fetch more than $1,300 each."

Sharks are beginning to reach emergency status because with all of the overfishing they are not given enough time to even attempt repopulation. Sharks as a species take at least seven years to reach maturity and only raise one or two pups at one time any given year. Moreover, shark extinction will have an adverse effect on the ocean’s ecosystem as a whole; without the presence of such a top predator the entire food chain will suffer.

Ultimately, it does not matter how much fear man has toward a species, no animal deserves to be treated with such malice.  So what is it going to take for shark fin soup to become extinct and for sharks to thrive naturally once more? In order for conservation efforts to succeed, the work can never stop. We need to put more sharks on the Endangered Species List and promote harsher punishments for illegal fishing activities.

Blacktip Reef Shark

After all, the most beautiful sight in the world is an animal living safely in its natural habitat. 

For more information, go to:

Stop Shark Finning

The Pew Charitable Trusts

Humane Society International

Coral Reef Gardening

Coral Gardening from Jonathan Clay on Vimeo.

What started off as an inspired scheme to save the coral reefs has now become a full fledged rescue mission. The organization Corals for Conservation began this amazing project in 1999 in Fiji where effects of over-fishing and coral destruction for tourism and commerce had begun to chase away prospective inhabitants.

It is well known that a coral reef is not simply a beautiful piece of living art on the ocean floor but that it is home to thousands of species of marine life. And without the opportunity for food and shelter that the coral reefs provide, many fish go elsewhere. With the fish gone, the coral reefs that were once teaming with life and color are left barren landscapes of coral skeletons. Coral destruction leaves a previously healthy coral reef dead, turned white as snow. Fish are fickle creatures, just like women, they are attracted to beautiful colors and prefer socialization. Therefore, without the bright color or crowds to attract the fish to the coral, the local community’s fishing industry also suffers due to lack of supplies.

So, to bring help to all, Corals for Conservation began “The Coral Gardening Initiative” to bring back the coral reefs and fish as well as help improve the local economy. This initiative would not be as successful as it is without the dedication of the local community. Ultimately, the Coral Gardening Initiative

“focuses at restoring degraded coral reef ecosystems by working in partnership with marine resource owners to develop community-based marine management plans and to implement strategies to rectify problems such as over-fishing and coral reef decline.”

There are two ways the Coral Gardening Initiative works:

1. Marine scientists trim bits and pieces off of rare or endangered corals and grow them for two years to about one hundred times the size of the trim to create what they call “Mother corals.” Next, small trimmings from the “Mother corals” are used as seeds in dead and dying coral reefs. Over time, those small bits from the “Mother corals” become what scientists refers to as second and third-generation corals that become part of the appropriately named coral gardens. The habitual trimming and re-planting eventually bring corals that were on the brink of destruction back to life. Once the coral begins to grow again, the fish follow almost immediately.
2. If there is an extremely degraded coral reef, scientists may decide to build a coral castle rather than a coral garden. A coral castle is the result of gluing stones together with cement and then transplanting coral on top of the stones to create a makeshift fish house.

• According to Corals for Conservation, a “Majority of the Hotels or Resorts that the project works with, is using this as a recreational/restoration activity for tourists (International and local) as part of effective management of their Marine Park.”

If the Coral Gardening Initiative sounds like a small amount of work, keep in mind that the Marine scientists and the local communities care for these coral gardens and castles on a daily basis to ensure their health and safety. Transplanting coral is only the beginning because participants in the Coral Gardening Initiative must work to

“remove overabundant coral-killing predators, to weed excessive seaweeds that are smothering corals, to dust sand kicked up by snorkeler's off of massive corals, and to replant corals broken by careless divers and storms to dead reef areas."

I am extremely proud of Corals for Conservation for bringing so much success to such a massive undertaking and I urge my readers to visit the Corals for Conservation website to learn even more about this amazing conservation project. 

Desensitized to Human Rights Footage?

On the EarthRights International blog, Brad Weikel writes about the official YouTube blog and how Steve Grove of YouTube and Sameer Padania of WITNESS have been writing a series of blog posts all summer long about the impact of online videos in human rights advocacy campaigns. It turns out that Grove and Padania asked their readers to respond to questions posed on the YouTube blog; there was quite a large response. To see the full blog post go to it here. I, however, only wish to answer one of the three questions posed to the world audience. 

When referring to digital human rights advocacy:

How can we stay alert to human rights footage without getting de-sensitized to it?

This is a vital question that can be rephrased for any important cause. For example, it could also be asked about gun violence in video games; yet, the one way people never get de-sensitized to human rights footage is the fact that it is happening everywhere. No matter where a person lives, he/she is never far from someone in need, whether it be a homeless man around the corner or a veteran home from war who can no longer work to support his/her family. It may seem that human rights issues surround the continental United States, but the fact is they exist here at home too. And, the phrase “human rights” does not simply refer to the rights of humans; it refers to animal rights as well. As long as people comprehend that human rights issues are not just images on a screen located millions of miles away but that they are somewhere close to home, the world’s eyes will remain alert. 

The easiest way to make a difference in the world is to find one cause that speaks directly to you and your life. Whatever cause awakens emotion in your heart, volunteer your time, donate any amount of money, or simply advocate for the cause on social media sites to reach a wider audience. Any amount of effort put toward your chosen cause, whether it be large or small, can help immensely.