According to Argentina’s Wildlife Foundation, a Franciscan baby dolphin died last week at a beach resort in Bueno Aires.The reason of its passing is unbelievable: a group of tourists grabbed him out of the water for selfies. After they used it as a trophy, the poor creature was left in to die in the sand, Metro reports.

“The Franciscan, like other dolphins, cannot remain above water for long,” Fundacion Vida Silvestre wrote on their website. “It has a very thick and greasy skin that provides warmth, so the weather quickly causes dehydration and death.”


With less than 30,000 individuals left in the wild, the Franciscan dolphins are an endangered species with animal rights groups and activists making hard efforts to its conversation and only for a bunch of people to do this? It’s really heartbreaking!


“In their efforts to get a novelty “selfie”, these holidaymakers showed a naïve – and ultimately fatal – disregard for life by hauling this baby dolphin out of the sea, where he or she belonged. One can only imagine the trauma suffered not only by this baby, who was passed around like a toy by marauding tourists, but also his or her grieving mother,” a spokesperson for Peta declared.


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As an animal lover I must admit that I disagree with the zoos. And while there a long way till humans will understand that all wild animals must roam free, this place seems to find the perfect solution. The Lehe Ledu Wildlife Zoo in China turns tables on visitors. So here animals roam free while the humans who want to see them, are caged.

Therefore if you love getting close to wildlife but despair at the thought of an animal living in a cramped, man-made enclosure, you should definately visit this unique place. According to The Daily Mail, the one-of-a-kind zoo acknowledges that humans have encroached upon animals’ natural habitats, therefore, should pay them a visit – but in a safe, secure vehicle.


For those who really want to experience how it feels like getting closer to a lion or a tiger, the Lehe Ledu Zoo offers this unique opportunity. And since the visitors are in safe vehicles you can get as closest as possible to those huge beast without any danger. The tourists also have the possibility to feed the animals. But only under the guidance of the zoo’s staff and with specific food.

There are still some critics who said that feeding the felines by visitors is neither safest or best idea. According to zoo spokeswoman Chan Llang, however, visitors are aware of the dangers and have been warned “to keep their fingers and hands inside the cage at all times because a hungry tiger wouldn’t know the difference between them and breakfast.”

“WE WANTED TO GIVE OUR VISITORS THE THRILL OF BEING STALKED AND ATTACKED BY THE BIG CATS BUT WITH, OF COURSE, NONE OF THE RISKS.”

Since the place open its gates back in 2015, it was sold out for three months. Despite the danger it looks like people prefer to visit wild animals in their natural habitat.


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We’ve all heard the warning that there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050.

People are working on strategies to remove millions of tons of plastic waste from the ocean, but it will end up right back in it if we don’t figure out what to do with it.

Plastic bottles can’t actually be recycled into new plastic bottles, and once plastic is created, it pretty much never goes away.

Adidas plans to get the ball rolling by making 1 million pairs of running shoes out of 11 million plastic bottles recovered from the ocean, near the Maldives.


Adidas strives to eventually eliminate virgin plastic from its supply chain altogether.




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Image: Ben Wallace Photography

Three rhino poachers have been sentenced to 25 years in jail each by a South African court, probably the toughest punishments ever given in a country hard hit by killings of the threatened species, officials said on Wednesday.

The three poachers from Mozambique were arrested in South Africa's Kruger National Park in July 2010 with two freshly chopped horns, rifles and an axe, South Africa National Parks said in a statement.

"The sentencing of these poachers is an indication that as a country we are taking more stringent measures in the fight against rhino poaching," said David Mabunda, chief executive of the park service.

Until now, poachers were typically given up to a few years in jail or fined. The maximum sentence for illegal rhino hunting is 10 years in jail, and for possession of a prohibited firearm 15 years jail, the park service said.

The three poachers received the maximum sentence for each offence, to run consecutively - a longer jail term than those many courts hand down to convicted murderers.

A record 448 rhinos were poached last year in South Africa, home to the greatest number of the animals, as rising demand in Asia for their horns led to an increase in illegal hunting.


The street value of rhinoceros horn has soared to about $65,000 a kilogram, making it more expensive than gold and platinum, as a belief - with no basis in science - has taken hold in recent years in parts of Asia that eating it can cure or prevent cancer.

A decade ago South Africa, home to more than 20,000 rhinos, was losing about 15 animals a year to poachers. But poaching has increased dramatically since about 2007 as the spread of wealth in places like Vietnam and Thailand has enabled more people to buy rhino horn for use in traditional medicine.

The number of rhinoceroses dying unnatural deaths in South Africa, through illegal poaching or legal hunts, has reached a level that will reduce the population if not checked, according to a study by Richard Emslie, an expert in the field.

About half the poaching takes place in Kruger, the country's flagship park bordering Mozambique, where soldiers and surveillance aircraft have been deployed in recent months to slow the carnage.

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