Friday, 6 March 2015

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #462 Save the Albatross


1000 Flowers for the Planet - #462 Save the Albatross





Sadly, 17 out of 22 species of albatross are threatened with extinction around the world. Their biggest threat are the hooks on longlines – fishing vessel put out a line that is up to 100km long (yes, kilometres, not metres) and this line can have as many as 20,000 hooks on it. It makes it fairly easy for an albatross to get caught on one of those hooks. At the moment the albatross are being killed by human fishing practices at a rate much faster than that at which they can breed, so their numbers are reducing dramatically, and hence they are threatened with extinction. Birdlife International is an organisation joining in partnership with others who are working on solutions to the problems. More information is available at http://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/we-need-your-vote-save-albatross plus you can help by spreading the word, making donations to their cause, or joining a bird club. Birdlife International actually does a whole lot more than just looking after birds – check them out.

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