Posts by Danny Groves
UK Government urged to phase-out single-use plastics by 2025 not 2042
4,000 billion pieces of unnecessary single-use plastic waste could be consumed in the UK between 2026 – 2042 Eighteen leading environment charities (including WDC), coordinated by Wildlife and Countryside Link have put further pressure on the UK Government to phase-out all non-essential single-use plastics by 2025 to tackle the scourge of plastic pollution. More than…
Read MoreScientists offer help to Putin to help free captured whales
A group of scientists representing a range of international organisations, including WDC, have written to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin expressing concerns about the welfare of 87 belugas and 10 orcas currently held in a facility in Srednyaya Bay in Nakhodka, Russia. All were captured last year for sale to Chinese theme parks and dolphinaria,…
Read MoreCandidate conservation areas earmarked in Western Indian Ocean and Arabian Seas
Scientists and observers from 15 different countries have met to map important habitats for marine mammals in the western Indian Ocean and Arabian Seas. The meeting, held in Dhofar was attended by experts from WDC and was the first to look at habitats for rare and endangered whales and dolphins across the Western Indian Ocean…
Read MoreTV reality star Charlotte Crosby offers VIP photoshoot to raise funds for WDC
Reality TV personality, Charlotte Crosby is giving fans the unique opportunity to join her on an exclusive VIP photoshoot to help raise funds for WDC. Charlotte, who rose to fame after appearing in the hit reality TV show Geordie Shore, will join the lucky winner and a friend at a five star hotel, where they…
Read MoreControversial captive dolphin facility to close following another dolphin death
A dolphinaria in Arizona, US has announced that it will close for the immediate future following the death of a fourth dolphin that it held captive. The latest bottlenose dolphin to die was 22 year old Kai, who had not been eating, swimming or breathing normally in recent days according to an official statement. The…
Read MorePlastic found in all whales and dolphins examined for UK research project
Scientists examining dolphins, whales and seals washed up dead around the UK have found every single one had plastic in their digestive systems. All 50 bodies from 10 different species that had died from a variety of causes contained microplastic particles – mostly synthetic fibres that may have been shed by clothes or fishing…
Read MoreAre France and Spain looking to weaken protection for whales and dolphins?
As EU governments continue to negotiate the terms of the Technical Measures under the European Common Fisheries Policy, it is emerging that French and Spanish Ministers seem set to choose fishing interests over the legal protection of dolphins, and other protected marine life, from entanglement in fishing gear in European waters. Entanglement in fishing nets and gear…
Read MoreOrcas held in Russian whale jail face threat from ice
The 11 orcas captured last year for sale to China and currently held along with 87 beluga whales in small sea pens described as a ‘whale jail’ near Vladivostok, may start dying after many have reportedly developed frostbite. As temperatures begin to drop at the site, ice is starting to form on the surface of…
Read MoreNo change in Norway as number of whales to be killed remains high
Norway’s Minister of Fisheries has announced today that the country has set itself the same number of whales that it will seek to kill in 2019 as were slaughtered in 2018. The quota level will be 1278 minke whales, a very high figure given the lack of demand for the meat in Norway. Some of…
Read MoreJapan to resume commercial hunts the day after leaving IWC
According to reports from Japan, whalers there are looking to begin a commercial whale hunt (killing whales for profit) one day after Japan formally withdraws from the IWC (International Whaling Commission – the global body that regulates whale hunting), on July 1st. This will be the first time Japan has openly hunted whales commercially for…
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