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FLORA AND FAUNA
Romania to ban wild animals in circuses
 by Staff Writers
 Bucharest (AFP) June 13, 2017


Malaysia seizes 300kg of pangolin scales
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) June 13, 2017 - Malaysian customs officers have seized almost 300 kilograms of pangolin scales being smuggled through the main airport, officials said on Tuesday.

The 288-kilogram (635 pound) haul was found at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last Friday in 12 boxes labelled as oyster shells on the waybill.

The scales worth around 3.69 million ringgit ($870,000) arrived from Ghana on a Turkish Airlines flight, the customs department said in a statement.

Authorities are investigating.

The scales of the endangered pangolin, the world's most heavily trafficked mammal, are highly prized in Vietnam and China where they are misleadingly touted as having medicinal properties.

Malaysia last month made its largest haul of such scales, 712 kilograms estimated to be worth more than nine million ringgit.

Pangolins are indigenous to the jungles of Indonesia, parts of Malaysia and areas of southern Thailand, and their meat is considered a delicacy in China.

Four pangolin species can also be found in Africa. Increasingly they are smuggled to Southeast Asia from Africa, but the majority go to China.

Soaring demand has seen an estimated one million pangolins plucked from Asian and African forests over the past decade.

Tigers, lions, bears and other wild animals will be banned from circuses in Romania after the country's parliament passed a bill on Tuesday in a move welcomed by animal rights groups.

Any animal "born in captivity or captured in the wild", regardless of how tame they are, will not be allowed to be used in public shows, the bill states.

Circuses will have 18 months to comply with the law and transfer animals to reserves or zoos.

"No tiger, lion, bear or elephant will suffer any more in Romania for the amusement of people," Magor Csibi, director of WWF Romania, said in a statement.

"Our society is evolving."

President Klaus Iohannis must sign the bill into law before it comes into effect.

Circus owners could face criminal charges -- and a one year prison sentence -- if they fail to comply with the new rules.

Circuses will still be authorised to use some animals though, such as dolphins and exotic birds, in certain situations.

The decision in parliament comes after 11 animals, including two tigers, were killed in a fire in January at a building housing animals for Romania's Globus Circus in Bucharest.

Following the incident, a public campaign to ban the use of trained animals in circuses -- which garnered more than 60,000 signatures -- also put pressure on the authorities to act.

Six EU countries have already implemented bans on circuses that use wild animals, while about 15 other countries have partial restrictions.

FLORA AND FAUNA
Japan zoo toasts birth of panda cub, snug in mum's furry hug
 Tokyo (AFP) June 12, 2017
 A Japanese zoo celebrated the first birth of a baby panda in five years Monday, with the tiny cub small enough to fit in the palm of a human hand. Eleven-year-old mum Shin Shin gave birth just before noon, officials at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo said in a statement. Pandas are born pink, hairless and weighing around 100 grams (three-and-a-half ounces) - so small it can be difficult to determine t ... read more
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