Unfortunately, our species, along with wiping ourselves out, is wiping out many others in our callous inhumanity, greed, pollution, arrogance and lust to kill – even mothers with young. We deserve to wipe ourselves out; other species do not deserve us wiping them out, and don’t tell me it’s the will of God – that’s a cop-out. If we end up in space and find life there, we’ll gleefully mass murder it too (and spread our waste and pollution).
I’ve often seen wolves where I’ve worked and or lived and walked among them. I love to see them because they are vital to maintaining healthy balance (which humans are too lazy to do), and because they are magnificent. I’ve never felt afraid of any wolf or other carnivore; I am however terrified of humans and have been as long as I can remember.
I’ll never understand the joy humans get from shooting and or poisoning wolves, including “conservation” officers.
Carnivores eliminate the diseased herbivores. Without a thriving population of carnivores, diseased animals are much more likely to infect healthy ones. The more diseased herbivores, the greater the threat of viral spillover to humans. Hunting carnivores is an existential threat to humans.
– Lyle Lewis
@lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social:
also consider the birds & insects & plants that are effected without carnivores
Biodiversity loss in all species and every ecosystem linked to humans – report, Sweeping synthesis of 2,000 global studies leaves no doubt about scale of problem and role of humans, say experts by Phoebe Weston, 26 Mar 2025, The Guardian
Humans are driving biodiversity loss among all species across the planet, according to a synthesis of more than 2,000 studies.
The exhaustive global analysis leaves no doubt about the devastating impact humans are having on Earth, according to researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) and the University of Zurich. The study – which accounted for nearly 100,000 sites across all continents – found that human activities had resulted in “unprecedented effects on biodiversity”, according to the paper, published in Nature.
Florian Altermatt, professor of aquatic ecology at the University of Zurich and head of Eawag, said: “It is one of the largest syntheses of the human impacts on biodiversity ever conducted worldwide.”
The team looked at terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats, as well as including all groups of organisms, including microbes, fungi, plants, invertebrates, fish, birds and mammals.
Human pressures distinctly shifted community composition (essentially, which species live where) and decreased local diversity, researchers found. On average, the number of species at human-impacted sites was almost 20% lower than at sites unaffected by humans.
Particularly severe losses were recorded among reptiles, amphibians and mammals, according to the paper. Their populations are often smaller than invertebrates, which increases the chances of extinction.
The analysis covered five drivers of decline: habitat change, direct exploitation of resources (such as hunting or fishing), climate change, invasive species and pollution.
François Keck, lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in Altermatt’s research group, said: “Our findings show that all five factors have a strong impact on biodiversity worldwide, in all groups of organisms and in all ecosystems.”
Pollution and habitat changes, often driven by agriculture, have a particularly negative impact on biodiversity. Intensive agriculture – especially arable farming – involves large amounts of pesticides and fertilisers, which result in a decline of biodiversity, but also shifts the composition of species. The full extent of climate change and how it affects species is not entirely understood.
While the overall effect of human intervention was negative, some ambiguities remained: human impact on wildlife varied by location, as did the degree to which biodiversity was homogenised by human activity, researchers said.
Before this paper there had never been an attempt to combine findings from such a large number of biodiversity research studies examining humans’ impact everywhere on the planet and in all groups of organisms; most studies were limited to looking at either a single location or a specific human impact. This meant it was difficult to make general statements about the impacts of human activity on biodiversity, researchers say.
Keck said: “It’s not just the number of species that is declining. Human pressure is also changing the composition of species communities.”
In mountainous areas, for example, specialised plants are being replaced by those that typically grow at lower altitudes. This process is known as the “elevator to extinction” as high-altitude plants have nowhere else to go. This could mean that while the number of species might remain the same, the diversity is reduced.No worries, Nazi Musk clearly hates diversity like the dutiful hate-filled fascist that he is, and has his DOGE boys (not a mature brain among them) obliterating everything DEI and related in USA gov’t.
“Bending the curve of contemporary biodiversity loss and change is one of the greatest challenges facing our society,” the researchers stated. They said the paper should provide an “important benchmark” for the development and assessment of future conservation strategies.
Lynn Dicks, professor of ecology at Cambridge University, described it as a “useful and important analysis”, but said the findings revealed “no great surprises”.
She said: “We know that humans are hugely changing biodiversity across the planet, causing new and different communities of plants, animals and microbes to form, which can cope with the sometimes very harsh conditions we create.
“A big concern for me is how to ensure that those species that can live alongside us, many of which provide key ecological functions like pollination, decomposition and seed dispersal, have large enough populations and enough genetic diversity to continue evolving.”
Prof Alexandre Antonelli, director of science at Kew Gardens, said the paper showed with “unprecedented clarity the ubiquitous negative influence of human activities on nature”.
He added: “This is an excellent piece of research that demonstrates the importance of biological inclusion – from plants and fungi to mammals and fish – in assessing the impact of humans on biodiversity at local, regional and global scales.”
Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on the Guardian app for all the latest news and features
Endangered apex predator found dead in Oregon, officials say: $30.5K reward offered by Helena Wegner, Mar 21, 2025, Phys.org
An endangered gray wolf was found illegally killed in Oregon, wildlife officials said.
Now, a combined reward of $30,500 is being offered to anyone who has “information that leads to an arrest, criminal conviction or civil penalty assessment,” the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said in a March 19 news release and the Center for Biological Diversity reported.
The apex predator’s body was discovered by wildlife officers March 10 near Sisters.
Officials said it was an adult male gray wolf that belonged to the Metolius pack.
Although this animal was found in Deschutes County, most gray wolves in this area spend their time in Jefferson County, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said.
Gray wolves are federally protected in both of these counties.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is offering a $10,000 reward in addition to $10,500 from the Center for Biological Diversity and the Wolf Welcome Committee. The Oregon Wildlife Coalition also offers a $10,000 reward when a wolf is illegally killed.
These three awards total $30,500.
“Any illegal killing of these magnificent animals is tragic, but the poaching of the Metolius pack’s breeding male may have consigned the pack’s pups to death by starvation or the pack to dissolve,” Amaroq Weiss, the senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release.
Anyone with information can contact U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service at 503-682-6131, the Oregon State Police Dispatch at 800-452-7888, *OSP (*677) or email TIP@osp.oregon.gov.
Sisters is about a 20-mile drive northwest of Bend.
What to know about gray wolves
Not all gray wolves in Oregon are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Some gray wolves were relisted as an endangered species in the state on Feb. 11, 2022, wildlife officials said. Protected animals include ones that are found west of Highways 395-78-95.
Those found east of these highways are managed under the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan.
In 2023, there were at least 178 wolves in the state, including 22 packs.
While gray wolves are in name, they can be many different colors, including white, gray and black, wildlife officials said.
“Approximately half of any gray wolf population actually is gray,” the agency said.
In the U.S., they can be found in many states, including Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, Michigan and Wisconsin, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
Rainforest @pitbullmtkerr.bsky.social:
Lyle What do you mean hunting carnivores is an existential threat to humans?
Lyle Lewis @race2extinct.bsky.social:
Carnivores eliminate the diseased herbivores. Without a thriving population of carnivores, diseased animals are much more likely to infect healthy ones. The more diseased herbivores, the greater the threat of viral spillover to humans.
Rainforest @pitbullmtkerr.bsky.social:
The hunters just killed over 200 wolves in Montana
Lyle Lewis @race2extinct.bsky.social:
Yup. Sooooo stupid. It’s murder-suicide.
Hunting carnivores is an existential threat to humans. Whether pesticides, microplastics, or infectious diseases, Homo sapiens is doing everything possible to rid the planet of Homo sapiens.
Duane Boelman @boelman.bsky.social:
I live in NE Iowa, a hot spot for CWD. My small town is overrun with deer, and at least one neighbor insists on feeding them. This only helps spread the disease; however, I can’t convince him that his perceived kindness is cruelty.
Lyle Lewis @race2extinct.bsky.social:
Your neighbor is a microcosm of most people. Sincere people are going to kill us with kindness.
Roadkill Wallaby Reef Foundation @karmageddon67.bsky.social:
Ridding the planet of Homo sapiens is objectively not a bad thing. What’s objectively bad is taking millions of species and the whole functioning biosphere with them when they disappear.
Lyle Lewis @race2extinct.bsky.social:
That is what is happening….as you know.
Joan Moon @joanstarr.bsky.social:
Ridding the planet of Homo sapiens is Earth’s best shot at long-term survival.
Lyle Lewis @race2extinct.bsky.social:
The sooner Homo sapiens departs, the better the chance for complex life. Unfortunately, it appears it will be simultaneous.
Geese are smarter than people — they look out for each other, Between standing guard while others eat, to switching off which bird leads in a V formation, geese embody cooperation, a value that humans too often forget by Neil Steinberg Mar 25, 2025, Chicago Sun Times
What do geese know that we don’t?
The value of organization, for one. While the structure of the United States government, built over centuries, is being torn apart in a matter of months, we can still look up and see those tight Vs in the spring sky as flocks of Canada geese return north.
Though many geese never leave the Chicago area. A pair showed up at my feeder last week. Most of the birds we get are “LBBs” — little brown birds, sparrows, wrens, finches — shamed by the occasional red cardinal. My feeder has also been visited by everything from ducks to hawks, which, of course, are not interested in the birdseed, per se, but the wildlife below — bunnies and squirrels — scavenging what falls from various beaks.
The geese were nibbling at those paltry leavings when, big-hearted fool that I am, I went outside. The geese removed themselves to a safe distance and I grabbed a heaping scoopful of seed and tossed it on the ground. There. Bon appetit.
Opinion
Have you ever watched geese eat? I hadn’t. One goose would plunge its face into the seeds, happily gobbling. The other wouldn’t. It stood guard, head on a swivel, looking left, then right. This went on for several minutes. Then they’d switch.
“Sentinel behavior,” said Michael P. Ward, an expert in conservation and bird behavior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Trying to detect predators. A lot of things want to eat birds, and they’re better working together, taking turns.”
Cooperation. Looking out for each other. Another practice that has fallen on hard times in the human world.
One doesn’t get a goose expert on the phone every day. I seized the opportunity.
That flying V formation? I assume it’s to keep the flock from getting separated.
“No, it’s actually aerodynamics,” Ward said. “The wind goes around the lead bird. The bird in the very front of the V pays a cost.”
There is no designated head goose. They take turns at the point of the V. Again, sharing the burden.
I suggested more geese are sticking around Chicago due to global warming.
“That is definitely correct,” Ward said. “Winters in Chicago have become more mild. Geese learned to take advantage of human food. Geese are hanging out on people’s roofs. In Chicagoland, the majority of them are staying. Then you have birds that come down from farther north.”
The geese seem to weigh the chance of starving to death in Illinois — where snow can cover the fields they like to forage — against being shot by hunters in Kentucky.
“People see geese as this dumb bird that gets in my way, but if you actually start studying them, they make decisions and have strategies,” Ward said.
Geese are so smart that to tag them, Ward’s team can no longer just drive up in a university van — geese recognize it and flee. He’s taken to having grad students disguise themselves as joggers — geese are used to ignoring joggers — in order to net them for tagging.
So here, too, geese exceed humans, as being not easy to fool.
Thus, they suffer the fate of the savvy of all species.
“They’re the most hated bird in Illinois,” Ward said. “Geese are the poster child for the human/wild bird conflict.”
Why? Several reasons. First, poop. An adult goose can turn out from 1 to 3 pounds of excrement. Every day.
“We’ve done surveys,” Ward said. “The vast majority of people in Illinois want to see more birds. They also don’t want geese in their backyard.”
I sure don’t, and worried, even as I was tossing birdseed before them, that I was inviting this pair of troublemakers to live in my yard. Geese are an enormous nuisance. A number of local businesses make a living chasing them off golf courses and such. But my duo seemed to tire of such easy pickings and moved on.
Geese are also aggressive. They will attack people, usually because they have a nest hidden nearby. In that sense, they are once again better than people, who will attack you for no reason, for the pure pleasure of lording themselves above you. Though there is good news — again, about geese.
“They can’t really hurt you,” Ward said. Yet another difference between geese and people where humans come out worse. Because people can really hurt you, such as by crippling Social Security.
Geese stick together because doing so helps them survive.
“Most of the time, they cooperate because there are so many threats,” Ward said. “There are benefits to cooperating as opposed to trying to be the lone wolf.”
Geese know that instinctively. I’m afraid that’s a lesson Americans keep having to learn anew.
Refer also to:
2021: Maps reveal nation’s forests under attack from wild deer, pigs, and goats
… “Without regeneration occurring, the outcome will be a disaster for the country’s native habitat, the species that live there, and our climate,” says Mr Hague.
These pests are also spilling onto massive swathes of farm, forestry, and privately owned conservation reserves. New Zealand’s largest farmer, Pamu, is working to contain the problem, but says it is a tough battle and extremely expensive. …