Frans Schepers

GOOD NEWS FOR BASKING SHARKS IN IRELAND

Many people will probably not know this amazing species. Basking sharks are one of the largest species of the shark family. They are the second largest species of any fish, reaching sizes in excess of ten metres and weighing several tonnes.

There is some good news for #baskingsharks in #Ireland, just a week after the launch of the #wildlifecomeback report last week in Cambridge, which stresses the importance of legal protection for wildlife recovery in Europe.
Basking sharks are to get special protection under new regulations that have been introduced in the Republic of Ireland. They are now protected under Ireland's Wildlife Act. The basking shark is a globally-threatened species, which faces a high risk of extinction.

So this step of protection in Ireland hits the nail on the head, and will hopefully lead to its recovery. I hope we can include the basking shark in the next wildlife comeback report!

Make sure you look at the video to see some amazing behaviour of this wonderful animal:
https://lnkd.in/e4NgCEXp

Well done 🇮🇪!

#RewildingtheSeas

WOLF CULLING TRAGEDY IN SWITZERLAND 🇨🇭

A tragic and shameful situation is unfolding in #Switzerland. Tragic, because almost 70% of the country’s wolves are about to be killed for decision of the government. Shameful, because Switzerland is in breach of the legally binding #BernConvention on the conservation of European #wildlife and natural habitats which lists the #wolf as protected species - and so does the Swiss national law!

It is even very ironic, as this Swiss government is breaching the international convention agreed in its own capital. Will the #BernConvention let this happen?
And it is also a breach of the - until now - world celebrated ‘Swiss direct democracy” as consultation didn’t happen and the government recent decision contravenes the popular vote of 2020 where the majority of voters rejected the proposed downlisting of the species in the Swiss hunting law.

The map below is the ‘war’ plan’ on wolves of this Swiss government. Each wolf pack has a symbol: Red circle = shoot down whole pack; Black circle = shoot puppies. What is about to happen on Friday is simply terrible and extreme, a-scientific and immoral.

Yesterday morning, an Open Letter signed by 158 environmental and animal protection organisations from 37 countries was sent to Swiss Federal Counsellor Albert Rösti, head of the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications, urging him to cancel the proposed cull of up to 70% of the country’s wolf population.

According to the signatories of the joint letter 👉🏻 https://lnkd.in/eAmN2_M4:

“These radical, unilateral measures don’t just threaten Switzerland’s fragile wolf population, they negatively impact the entire Western-Central Alps wolf population. Preventative measures, such as electric fences and guardian dogs, are effective at reducing livestock predation and should be more widely implemented. There are better ways to coexist with this keystone species than random, large-scale killing and culling.”

The cull planned by the Swiss government will be the most extreme ever implemented in Europe since the recovery of the species. Entire packs will be exterminated in some cantons, while juvenile wolves will be targeted in others.

In Rewilding Europe, we will continue working to demonstrate how we can coexists with wolves, and we undersigned the letter. For our standpoints and solutions to live peacefully with wolves in Europe see 👉🏻https://lnkd.in/eTDeXGd8

Switzerland going back to the Middle Ages - I thought humans had civilised in the meantime... A very bad example for the entire world.

#wildlifecomeback #coexistence #wildereurope #stopthewolfcull