There is a report (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3177663.ece) that a loop-hole in EU law (they obtained an exemption in 2003) is allowing people in Poland and Hungary to kill wild European or Black-bellied (http://www.petwebsite.com/hamsters/european_hamsters.htm) hamsters (Cricetus cricetus) so that their pelts can be tanned (Budapest is a centre for such activities) before being sold via a dealer (including one called Chichester in Niagara, New York) to the fashion and sports trade (it is used for making pillows, jacket linings and fishing flies). This larger relative of the 'pet' Golden hamster (pictured above) is regarded in Eastern Europe as an agricultural pest (it eats grain as well as insects, small birds and mammals) and is hunted (it is claimed, largely by gypsies) largely for economic reasons. This seems rather strange when the German government is simultaneously attempting to repopulate areas of East Germany where this animal has largely disappeared (http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,455996,00.html).
This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Monday 14 January 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
A New Type of Money Laundering?
Thames Water is the UK's biggest privatised (thank you, Mrs Thatcher!) water company, with around 15 million customers. All such water...
-
The UK government continue their quest to turn England's rivers back into sewers. They first facilitated the privatised water companies...
-
North Yorkshire's Drax electricity-generating station was an enormous coal-fired plant, later converted to burn 'biomass'. In ...
No comments:
Post a Comment