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☆ How Wolves Became a Pawn in the Culture Wars - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Erica Berry | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For generations, America waged a war against the wolf; now with the animals repopulating the Mountain West, the wolf war has taken on a new shape: pitting neighbors against neighbors as they fight over how to manage wolves. It’s a lesson in how even in extremely polarized times, it’s possible to make heated issues less divisive. The predominant narrative of the Big Bad Wolf, which has its roots in biblical stories and Northern European fairy tales, arrived with colonization of America. Government-funded extermination programs incentivized the killing of wolves, largely as a project of “civilizing” the wilderness, an offshoot of Manifest Destiny. By the mid-20th century, wolves in the contiguous United States had been shot, poisoned and trapped almost to extinction, with just a few stragglers in the Upper Midwest.

Persons: civilizing Organizations: America, Rockies, Government Locations: Colorado, America, United States, Upper Midwest

☆ They were slaughtered for their blubber, and nearly wiped out in Brazil. Decades later, humpback whales are making a comeback.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

In the 1980s, thousands of humpback whales were slaughtered in Brazil for their blubber. A few decades ago, a population of only 300 to 500 humpback whales survived in the country, scientist Jose Truda Palazzo, who works at the Humpback Whale Institute in the state of Bahia, told the news agency. Humpback whales have grown to about 30,000 in Brazil after being decimated in the 80s. REUTERS/Leonardo BenassattoThe population growth in humpback whales should be taken as a good sign for marine conservation not only in Brazil, but worldwide, Palazzo said. The effort to track the whale population is supported by "citizen scientists," non-professionals with a passion for science who support the work of the scientific community.

Persons: repopulating, Jose Truda Palazzo, Leonardo Benassatto, Palazzo, Julio Cardoso Organizations: Reuters, Service, Whale Institute, REUTERS Locations: Brazil, Wall, Silicon, Bahia, East

☆ Why Do Cats Hold Such Mythic Power in Japan?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Hanya Yanagihara | Kyoko Hamada | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Now the sun was fading, and Mihoko and I went to a coffeehouse to discuss the lack of cats. (Later, I also thought that the cats’ relative scarcity made them more precious; at one number, they were curiosities. Or maybe, even, it was possible to believe that the cats knew something we didn’t. Although Tokyo, with its 14 million residents, remains one of the largest cities in the world, other parts of Japan are emptying of humans. But although the humans hadn’t been able to replace themselves after a certain point, the cats had had no such problems.

"At this time, we do not believe the cause is related to the FAA outage experienced earlier today." Share this -Link copiedNearly half of Southwest flights delayed just weeks after mass cancellations Nearly half of Southwest Airlines flights were delayed as of about 11:15 a.m. Share this -Link copiedMore than 540 Delta flights delayed, 14 canceled More than 540 Delta flights were delayed as of 9:13 a.m. ET, the airline had three flights canceled and 208 flights delayed, amounting to 21% of its overall flights, according to FlightAware. Alaska Airlines had 11 flights canceled and 149 flights delayed, also amounting to 21% of its overall flights, FlightAware noted as of 8:53 a.m.

In a statement Tuesday, the agriculture ministry said 9.98 million animals had been killed this season, surpassing a previous record of 9.87 million that were slaughtered in fiscal 2020, during a previous bird flu crisis. The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, known as Zen-Noh, gave a higher tally, saying approximately 10.9 million birds had been killed as of Tuesday night. “The market price is expected to soar.”The spread of bird flu has already pushed up egg costs around the world in recent months. In Japan, wholesale prices for eggs reached a record high last month as shipments dropped, according to public broadcaster NHK. Avian flu is caused by infections that occur naturally among wild aquatic birds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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