ELLENTON, Fla. — The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will end “The Saddest Show on Earth” in May, following a 146-year run.

Kenneth Feld, the chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus, told The Associated Press declining attendance combined with high operating costs are among the reasons for closing.

Feld said when the company removed the elephants from the shows in May of 2016, ticket sales declined more dramatically than expected.

The company broke the news to circus employees Saturday night after shows in Orlando and Miami.

Ringling Bros. has two touring circuses this season and will perform 30 shows between now and May. The final shows will be in Providence, Rhode Island, on May 7 and in Uniondale, New York, at the Nassau County Coliseum on May 21.

This is truly groundbreaking for the welfare of all wild animals and will set the stage for the humane treatment and respect these sentient beings deserve. They were born free and deserve to live free in the wild where they belong. -World Animal News

Source: AP

A mother organgutan and her tiny baby who have been named Mama Rindi and Baby Rindi, were rescued by Borneo locals, after finding their way onto a rubber plantation.

This was a dangerous situation to be in as many people do not tolerate the animals which can result in them being brutally attacked or killed. The pair was lucky enough to be discovered by local residents from a nearby village who took compassionate action and contacted International Animal Rescue (IAR), which immediately sent members of its Human Orangutan Conflict (HOC) team to find them.The following morning, the entire rescue team set out to capture the pair. IAR’s marksman successfully hit Mama Rindi with the first shot of his dart gun and she and her baby both landed safely in the net stretched out below them.After being captured by IAR’s rescue team, they were examined by a the organization’s veterinarian who confirmed their good health and approval of relocation and release.The pair was loaded into a carrier and relocated to a safer place in the rainforest where they would be released. Finally, the pair was safely released. “This mother and baby are safe now but their story could have ended in tragedy had it not been for the actions of our team. Although some people know to contact us if they spot an orangutan near their village, others still react aggressively to the apes’ presence. By searching for food in the rubber tree plantation, the mother ran a serious risk of being attacked and killed, leaving her tiny baby to be taken and sold as a pet. It’s a great relief to know they are safe,” said IAR CEO Alan Knight.The reason that this and other rescues like it are so important for the state of orangutans is that the population of Bornean orangutans has declined by more than 80 percent over the past 75 years and unfortunately, there is little awareness or understanding of the problem locally.

Because of a heightened state of concern for the Bornean orangutan population, they have been moved from Endangered to Critically Endangered, which is just a step away from extinction, on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, while the outlook for Sumatran orangutans does not look to be any better.

The number of orangutans in need of rescue sadly continue to grow due to deforestation and land clearing for palm oil and rubber plantations, logging and mining. The loss of habitat is also making it harder to find safe places to release those who can be returned to the wild. However, rescue teams are hard at work trying to improve the state of the rainforest and abolish palm oil plantations, which are critically harmful to orangutan habitats.

“While the situation for orangutans is a bleak one, we wouldn’t be working to save them if we didn’t still have hope for their future.  Our teams in Indonesia will continue their lifesaving work during the year ahead with as much determination as ever to fight for the orangutans’ survival,” added Knight.

Source: Care2

Photo Credit: Care2, International Animal Rescue

Sadly Tilikum, the orca who was stolen from the wild in the 1980’s and sold into a life of captivity, has died today at the age of 36 at SeaWorld Orlando. Tilikum inspired the documentary “Blackfish” exposing the dark secret of captive orcas and marine mammals at SeaWorld.

SeaWorld Orlando announced that Tilikum passed away on Friday. His cause of death has yet to be determined. He is said to have had “many health issues”.

Tilikum arrived at SeaWorld 25 years ago and has lived a life of captivity ever since. He was father to 14 orca calves since he arrived at SeaWorld Florida.

Tilikum was 22 feet long and weight 11,800 pounds (5 1/2 tons) as one of the largest captive orcas in the world.

In the wild, orcas swim hundreds of thousands of miles each year with their family pods. Tilikum was a baby when he was stolen from his family and ocean home, for a life of entertainment.

Tilikum killed his trainer, Dawn Brancheau, in 2010. The 40-year-old handler was interacting with Tilikum before a live audience at SeaWorld Orlando when he pulled her from a platform and held her under the water. Another sad reason why orcas do not belong in captivity, they are wild animals.

We are not able to give a wild animal like Tilikum, everything they need in captivity like their natural habitat that they were designed to live in.

Do not purchase a ticket or support captive orca or dolphin shows. These animals deserve to be free in the wild where they belong.

On New Years Eve, the tusk-less bones of a beloved small elephant named Sabre, was found by wildlife officials in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

Sabre was named so because he had unusual tusks which slanted downwards like the extinct sabre-toothed tiger’s canines. Due to the decomposition in the bones that were found, Sabre was most likely killed in late November.

Several days before finding sabre’s bones, wildlife officials found a freshly slaughtered male elephant who had his face cut off in order for poachers to take his tusks. Both Sabre and the unnamed male perished within 1.5km of one another, though a month apart.

Sabre’s skeleton was found just one day after China announced it would ban the ivory trade by the end of 2017.

Borneo’s elephants are the smallest in the world, and have not been affected by the global poaching crisis for ivory until now. Benoit Goossens, director of Danau Girang Field Centre in Sabah, said the grisly finds indicate that a professional hunter and trader may be setting up an ivory trading business in Sabah.

Asian elephants altogether are less of a target for poachers because only some of the males have tusks, compared to African elephants who are a major threat for poachers because all African elephants have tusks. Asian ivory is also considered less valuable than African ivory, due to its brittleness and propensity to yellow.

Sabre was discovered by conservationists on a palm oil plantation in October. In an effort to keep him safe, he was moved to Kawang Forest Reserve where he was satellite collared and then released into the wild.

“We were obviously wrong,” said Goossens.

“There are no words to express our sadness,” said wildlife vet Pakeeyaraj Nagalingam. A member of Sabah’s Wildlife Rescue Unit, Nagalingam aided in Sabre’s rescue and translocation in October.

“It looks like there is no safe place for elephants in Sabah any more. The relevant authorities who are responsible for enforcement of illegal wildlife poaching and other illegal activities must work harder and smarter,” he said.

“The loss of these elephants is especially sad when the world is waking up to the African elephant crisis and closing its domestic ivory markets,” said Elizabeth Bennett, vice president of species conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society. “Only when all ivory markets are closed and demand for ivory ceases will all of the populations of elephants across Africa and Asia be safe from such poaching.”

Bornean pygmy elephants are about one fifth smaller than other Asian elephants and are gravely endangered. There are only 1,500 to 2,000 living today, in a decreasing habitat fractured by industrial palm oil plantations. Deforestation and habitat loss are the largest threat to the world’s smallest elephants.

Palm oil plantations consider the elephants to be pests, however, they draw tourists to the region and ecologically support the forests and floodplain through seed dispersal.

“My hope is that Sabah wakes up … we are losing our megafauna, the rhino is gone, the banteng [wild cow] is going, the elephant will be next,” Goossens said. “Those crimes should not go unpunished. Let’s not lose our jewels, the next generation will not forgive us.”

Source & Photo Credit: The Guardian

Mountain Lion P-45 faced the death penalty from ranchers in the Santa Monica Mountains in Malibu, whose goats and alpaca were believed to be killed by the Mountain Lion last month.

The last permit to shoot the mountain lion was granted to a rancher after P-45 attacked alpaca and sheep on her ranch.

Animal welfare media, legislation and advocacy groups, such as: World Animal News, Jane UnChained, Social Compassion In Legislation, Mountain Lion Foundation and Project Coyote, held a press conference before a meeting in Malibu, which was held to discuss the kill permit.

The press conference, took the National Park Service by surprise and over 250 people showed up, most of which opposed the shooting of beautiful Mountain Lion P-45.

After members of the public and National Park Services spoke about the issue, the meeting concluded and the last permit holder, Victoria Vaughn-Perling, had to make the decision about whether or not to spare P-45’s life. The next morning, Victoria voiced that she wanted a stay of execution for the mountain lion, sparing its life.

“We are so thrilled that as a result of the collective effort by key animal welfare and media groups in Los Angeles, we were able to convince the owner of the Malibu Alpaca Farm and her attorney to end the use of the kill permit for P-45. Due to the uproar from animal advocates and humane ranchers who wanted the Mountain Lion to li壯陽藥
ve, their is hope for Mountain Lions in the Santa Monica Mountains” – World Animal News