The bizarre-looking creature, dubbed Rhynochocyon udzungwensis, is a type of giant elephant shrew, or sengi. Continue reading →

The UK fishing industry is warning it faces ruin because of EU quotas which result in thousands of tonnes of dead fish being dumped back into the sea. Continue reading →

Seeing it disappearing into the bamboo forest, Liu Bin, the 28-year-old keeper, had tears in his eyes. "Xiang Xiang is just like my child, who has grown up and will leave the family to live a life independently," said Liu, "I hate to part with Xiang Xiang but I hope it can survive on its own and will not forget me."

Born in 2001, Xiang Xiang, whose mother was ar?ificially inseminated, has spent the last three years in a 200,000-square-metre wildness training compound. With three years’ training, Xiang Xiang has learned how to build a den, forage for food and mark its territory, and it has also developed defensive skills by howling and biting just as a wild giant panda would do, said Zhang Hemin, head of the China giant panda protection centre here.

Experts from the centre performed Xiang Xiang’s last physical check-up and gave it a number of inoculations, before releasing. Xiang Xiang has been released at the height of the bamboo shoot season, making it easier for it to find food, informed Zhang. "The release of Xiang Xiang marks a significant change in ways of saving the endangered species by training the pandas to live in the wild before releasing them, which would top the agenda of China’s efforts to that effect," said Zhao Xuemin, deputy head of the State Forestry Administration.

Chinese scientists have given priority to artificial breeding and protection of the hairy creatures before releasing them to nature, Zhao said, adding that the release also marks the start of China’s efforts to carry out wildness training on other endangered species. According to Zhao, China also plans to release Chinese alligators, David deer, wild horses and red ibis, among others, into the wild after wildness training.

The admission came after warnings about such trees from ministers from over 100 countries at a UN conference in Curitiba, Brazil. They urged a "precautionary approach" towards them after hearing that they could "wreak ecological havoc throughout the world’s forests".

Some 16 countries around the world are developing GM trees, and more than a million have already been planted in China. At least 24 species, from papaya to silver birch, from olive to teak, have already been modified; the most commonly treated are poplar, pine and eucalyptus.

The process can speed growth: GM poplars can grow four times faster than traditional softwood trees used for timber and paper. It has also reduced their content of lignin, which strengthens trees but make the wood harder to pulp and whiten for paper.

Other modifications enable them to produce their own pesticides to fight off insects, to resist diseases and to enable them to endure heavy doses of herbicides so that plantations can be drenched to kill weeds without harming the trees.

A GM orange tree, developed in Sp?in, bears fruit after only one year of life, instead of six. Danish scientists have worked on modified Christmas trees, with a view to developing specimens whose needles do not fall off. And in the boldest suggestion yet, an American professor has suggested that trees could be modified to make the moon habitable by growing "huge greenhouses over their heads".

But the ministers in Brazil were concerned that genes from the modified trees could spread great distances on the wind and across national boundaries. Tree pollen can travel up to 2,000 km. And, because trees can live for centuries, modified examples pose a long-term threat to the world’s forests.

Contamination by genes conferring fast growth, for example, could make some forest trees crowd out other species; genes that produce insecticides could decimate rainforest ecosystems, the richest on earth; and genes that reduce lignin could make trees more vulnerable to pests.

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs denied late last week that GM trees had ever been grown in the open in Britain, until given details by The Independent on Sunday.

All the plantations have either been destroyed by protesters or cut down at the end of the experiments. Britain’s only GM trees are now elms, resistant to Dutch elm disease and being grown in "a controlled environment" somewhere in Dundee.

The scientists developing them say they will not plant any outside because they fear "terrorism" by protesters. They will not disclose precisely where they are or give details of the numbers, but confirm that there are "more than a hundred" of them.

Elm

Being grown at a secret indoor location by Abertay University scientists and modified to be resistant to Dutch elm disease. The scientists hope the trees will in time replace the 20 million taken from the British landscape by the disease.

Poplar

Grown at Jealotts Hill Research Station at Bracknell, Berks, and modified so that the wood is whiter for making paper. Most, grown by the biotech firm Zeneca, were destroyed by protesters, but a few were successfully harvested.

Eucalyptus

Grown by Shell Research Ltd at Sittingbourne and West Malling, both in Kent. The tree was modified to resist the use of herbicides, as in most current GM crops. The experiment is now over.

Apple

Greensleeves and Jonagold apple trees, modified to resist insect pests and fungal diseases, were grown by the University of Derby, but destroyed by protesters.

Governments worldwide have issued an unprecedented warning about the greatest biotech hazards so far: GM trees. Trees modified to grow faster, yield better wood, produce whiter paper, resist pests and disease and tolerate herbicides are increasingly being cultivated.

Elms resistant to Dutch elm disease are being grown in Dundee, Scotland. But the scientists involved will not say precisely where they are, or even exactly how many of them are being grown.

The Government was forced to admit for the first time last week that GM poplar, apple and eucalyptus trees have been cultivated outdoors in Berkshire, Derbyshire and Kent.

The admission came after warnings about such trees from ministers from over 100 countries at a UN conference in Curitiba, Brazil. They urged a "precautionary approach" towards them after hearing that they could "wreak ecological havoc throughout the world’s forests".

Some 16 countries around the world are developing GM trees, and more than a million have already been planted in China. At least 24 species, from papaya to silver birch, from olive to teak, have already been modified; the most commonly treated are poplar, pine and eucalyptus.

The process can speed growth: GM poplars can grow four times faster than traditional softwood trees used for timber and paper. It has also reduced their content of lignin, which strengthens trees but make the wood harder to pulp and whiten for paper.

Other modifications enable them to produce their own pesticid?s to fight off insects, to resist diseases and to enable them to endure heavy doses of herbicides so that plantations can be drenched to kill weeds without harming the trees.

A GM orange tree, developed in Spain, bears fruit after only one year of life, instead of six. Danish scientists have worked on modified Christmas trees, with a view to developing specimens whose needles do not fall off. And in the boldest suggestion yet, an American professor has suggested that trees could be modified to make the moon habitable by growing "huge greenhouses over their heads".

But the ministers in Brazil were concerned that genes from the modified trees could spread great distances on the wind and across national boundaries. Tree pollen can travel up to 2,000 km. And, because trees can live for centuries, modified examples pose a long-term threat to the world’s forests.
Contamination by genes conferring fast growth, for example, could make some forest trees crowd out other species; genes that produce insecticides could decimate rainforest ecosystems, the richest on earth; and genes that reduce lignin could make trees more vulnerable to pests.

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs denied late last week that GM trees had ever been grown in the open in Britain, until given details by The Independent on Sunday.

All the plantations have either been destroyed by protesters or cut down at the end of the experiments. Britain’s only GM trees are now elms, resistant to Dutch elm disease and being grown in "a controlled environment" somewhere in Dundee.

The scientists developing them say they will not plant any outside because they fear "terrorism" by protesters. They will not disclose precisely where they are or give details of the numbers, but confirm that there are "more than a hundred" of them.

Elm

Being grown at a secret indoor location by Abertay University scientists and modified to be resistant to Dutch elm disease. The scientists hope the trees will in time replace the 20 million taken from the British landscape by the disease.

Poplar

Grown at Jealotts Hill Research Station at Bracknell, Berks, and modified so that the wood is whiter for making paper. Most, grown by the biotech firm Zeneca, were destroyed by protesters, but a few were successfully harvested.

Eucalyptus

Grown by Shell Research Ltd at Sittingbourne and West Malling, both in Kent. The tree was modified to resist the use of herbicides, as in most current GM crops. The experiment is now over.

Apple

Greensleeves and Jonagold apple trees, modified to resist insect pests and fungal diseases, were grown by the University of Derby, but destroyed by protesters.

For almost a week, poor Rip had to wear one of those cones of silliness to keep him from gnawing at the burn-like sores, but the cone actually came in handy as his tail episode coincided with his neutering. Nothing like a two-for-one use out of that cone! Of course, he didn’t like it much. The first few days he wasn’t sure how to hold his head up, so he couldn’t manuever through doorways or up stairs. If he wasn’t so pathetic, he would’ve been very funny. But he handled that challenge the way he responds to absolutely everything, including our cat: good naturedly. My husband and I keep saying, "Oh, when he gets over this, we’ll see his personality” but we’ve already seen enough to know we are very lucky. He is a sweet, well-behaved, obedient dog who lets us know every day how happy he is to have a home. And we’re just as happy to have him, challenges and all.

In many cases road and rail building, dam construction and irrigation schemes partly or totally financed by the EU’s executive Commission contradict conservation programmes promoted by?the 25-nation Union itself, a new WWF report asserted.

"Europe has to take responsibility for its own species, but at present the European Union is using its funds both to support biodiversity and undermine it," said Stefanie Lang of the WWF European Policy Office in Brussels.

According to the report, entitled "Conflicting EU Funds", a new highway from Toledo to Cordoba across central- southern Spain will seriously damage a prime lynx area that is protected under the Union’s own Natura 2000 network.

The report said only about 100 of the lynx — the world’s most endangered cat species — survive, including only 25 breeding females, out of a population that totalled 600 as late as 1995.

Roads, dams, rail lines and other projects are not only destroying the animal’s habitat but also creating barriers between different groups and preventing interbreeding, essential for maintaining healthy populations.

A similar picture can be seen in north-eastern Poland, according to the WWF, where a Helsinki-Warsaw road, the Via Baltica, linking Finland to south and western Europe is slicing through migration corridors for lynx and wolves.

In Greece, while the EU’s environmental directorate is supporting a project protecting brown bears, its regional development counterpart is funding the Egnatia highway through the Pindos mountains where many bears live, the report said.

It also cited EU funds used in Portugal for agricultural subsidies, which had led to the mismanagement and decline of cork oak forests, and cash from Brussels used to overfish Bluefin Tuna in the Mediterranean.

The WWF, formerly known as the World Wide Fund for Nature but now using only its initials, called on the EU to withdraw funds for member countries’ infrastructure projects that conflict with its own nature protection rules.

"If we are to preserve the remaining national heritage of Europe, which is essential for long-term economic prosperity, the EU cannot afford to continue funding the destruction of habitats," said Gerald Dick of the WWF Global Species Programme.

"We will analyse the conclusions (of inspectors) … and may start lifting restrictions from Apr. 1," Sergei Dankvert told Reuters.

"This does not mean that the ban from all firms will definitely be lifted. Concrete decisions will be taken on concrete firms," he added.

Russia introduced the ban on fresh Norwegian salmon imports on Jan.1, saying the fish contained unacceptably high levels of toxic metals. Moscow also said Norway’s monitoring standards were inadequate.

Norway’s authorities have said various national checks had shown contents of cadmium and lead in fish were far below levels permitted by the European Union.

Last month Russia’s Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said Moscow and Oslo were close to a deal to lift the ban.

Dankvert said Norway had agreed to accept Russian inspectors to check the Norwegian system of food safety monitoring, of fish farms, fishing fleet and fish processing facilities in the middle of March.

He said that Russia was also examining with the European Union the possibility of creating an electronic system of monitoring sales of fish caught by Russian fishermen in the Norwegian economic zone to prevent illegal fishing.

The salmon ban followed an incident in October when the captain of a Russian trawler fled to Russian waters taking two Norwegian coastguard inspectors, who had boarded it on suspicion of illegal fishing.

The incident off the Svalbard islands north of the Arctic circle on Oct. 15 sparked a diplomatic row between Moscow and Oslo over the Arctic fishing rights — an issue of bitter disputes for decades.

Both Moscow and Oslo have denied any relationship between the incident and the salmon ban.

While the as-yet unclassified animal in the grainy night-time photographs bears some similarity to viverrids (cat-sized tropical mammals with mongoose-like pointed muzzles), Indonesian hunters and biologists say they have never seen anything like what the photographs depict. Meanwhile, others are skeptical, insisting that the subject of the photos is just another viverrid, perhaps with slightly different coloration and features than typical examples of the species.

WWF has been working in the region for years, and of late has been trying to block approval of a new palm oil plantation that would eat up 7,000 square miles of currently pristine Indonesian forest, some of which is within the boundaries of the Kayan Mentara National Park. "We are working with the government of Indonesia to look at alternatives in the lowlands which, in fact, are much more suitable for growing palm than the highlands," says Ginette Hemley, vice president for species conservation at WWF in the U.S. "For us as conservationists these photos underscore the urgency of protecting what is some of the last remaining untouched forest in Southeast Asia, both lowland and upland."

WWF said the proposal — filed for a meeting of the 1979 Berne Convention on protecting wildlife to be held at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg next week — was "unacceptable and irresponsible."

"It is incredible that Switzerland, with a wolf population of two or three individuals, has the audacity to ask the Council of Europe to allow hunting," said Joanna Schoenenberger, a specialist in the WWF’s European Alpine Programme.

Swiss officials said what they sought was a change in the wolf’s status under the Convention from "strictly protected" to "protected", like the lynx, thus allowing controlled culling in order to maintain a manageable population level.

"The aim is to limit the scope for conflict with mountain farming," said one government official.

Wolves were driven to extinction throughout most of western Europe by the start of the 20th century, largely by hunting and the expansion of human settlements and upland farming into areas in which they had ranged free.

RETURN TO THE ALPS

But over the past few decades, partly as a result of the Berne Convention, some have returned to the Alps — stretching from France across northern Italy and Switzerland to Austria — with the help of conservationists.

Single animals came back to Switzerland from Italy in 1995.

"But none of these individuals have reproduced. Any culling in the Alps would be a disaster for the wolf population here," the WWF’s Schoenenberger said in a statement.

The Strasbourg meeting, on Nov. 28 and Dec. 1, is a session of the Standing Committee of the Berne Convention, named for the Swiss capital where it was signed and aimed at preserving European wildlife and its natural habitat.

The Council of Europe, which links countries inside and outside the European Union in the west and east of the continent, supervises implementation of the Convention.

Swiss officials argue that the wolf population presents a threat to local communities in mountain areas and to their livestock, especially sheep.

Farmers often blame wolves for the loss of sheep. But the WWF, formerly known as the World Wide Fund for Nature, says dogs are usually the killers.

Four hens found dead in a small village of Caraorman had tested positive for the H5 type of bird flu, the authority said, adding that the samples would be sent to Britain to determine if it was the virulent H5N1 strain.

"We have discovered four hens tested positive for the H5 virus in the village of Caraorman," said authority spokeswoman Alina Monea.

Monea said the village, which has no road access, would be quarantined and 2,000 domestic birds would be slaughtered. She did not say when the results of the tests would be known.

The Balkan state last month became the first country in mainland Europe to detect the deadly H5N1 virus in poultry in two villages in the Danube delta, Europe’s largest wetlands near the Black Sea.

Several migratory birds, which use the delta to rest on their way south, have also tested positive for the disease in the past month.

The H5N1 strain has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003 and led to the slaughter of millions of domestic birds as scientists feared the virus might mutate into a form that could be easily transmitted between humans.