Endangered Asian elephants are also being targeted by poachers. Elephant poaching in Africa and Asia is being fuelled by China’s economic boom, says a study of the ivory trade. Authors of the report say the number of ivory items on sale in centres in southern China has more than doubled since 2004, with most traded illegally. The survey comes amid reports of a dramatic rise in rhino poaching... 

If the Sarah Mclachlan ASPCA ad for abused animals makes your heart sink, the idea of caged bears kept under inhumane conditions to have their gall bladders milked daily for use as a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) might bring you to tears. Even more heart wrenching is a recent report of a mother bear killing her cub and herself to stop a life of continued torture and pain. A bile farm worker in... 

Belief it can cure cancer has led to a huge rise in poaching of endangered animals. Britain is to ask China, Vietnam and other Asian countries to tell their citizens that rhino horn has no medicinal value, in an attempt to halt a wave of rhino poaching that may drive the endangered animals to extinction. Although long known as a powdered ingredient in traditional Asian medicine, a recent belief in... 

An unusual snowfall hit the Atacama desert, near Copiapo, Chile, Sunday. This has been the wettest winter in decades for Chile’s arid northern desert, where fractions of an inch of rain have done major damage in some areas and set the stage for spectacular floral displays in the weeks to come. July came and went with major storms that together dumped more than five times the annual average of... 

The scientist who claimed polar bears were drowning because of melting ice caps is being investigated for ‘scientific misconduct’. Dr Charles Monnett, an Alaskan wildlife biologist working for the U.S. government, stunned the world after spotting four polar bear bodies floating in the sea miles from shore. He suggested the high winds and waves of a recent storm had exhausted the predators,... 

California’s Central Valley, which has long been considered the nation’s breadbasket, has also become a new hotbed for property crime. Except instead of stealing things like cars and high-dollar electronics, thieves there are stealing fruits and vegetables from farms, as well as farm equipment, and even the copper used to power water systems. Dismal economic conditions, fewer rural law... 

The Earth will enter a new 'Little Ice Age' due to low sunspots. American researchers say sun spot activity will start to recede in the next two years leading the Earth towards a new ‘Little Ice Age’ in the coming years. Three separate studies conducted by scientists of the American Astronomical Society’s solar physics division say solar activity will start to recede after... 

Spectacular: A time-lapse photo shows lightning bolts striking around the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain. The Chilean volcano which erupted on Monday has sent a towering plume of ash across South America, forcing thousands from their homes, grounding airline flights in southern Argentina and coating ski resorts with a gritty layer of dust instead of snow. Booming explosions echoed across the... 

An extensive check has shown that earthquake-hit Christchurch escaped any serious damage from a 5.5-magnitude aftershock on Monday. The jolt occurred at 9.09am and was centred 20km southwest of Christchurch at a depth of 15km. Two more aftershocks have been recorded: a 3.8-magnitude tremor at 11.41am and one measuring 4.7 at 5.04pm on Monday. Both were 20km west of Christchurch at a depth of 10km. The... 

Multiple tornadoes slammed western and central Massachusetts, destroying buildings, flipping vehicles and leaving four people dead and dozens injured. At least three tornadoes struck the city of Springfield, Mass., alone, with a fourth unconfirmed twister possibly touching down in the city, Mayor Dominic J. Sarno said. Many of those storms also blasted the areas surrounding the city of more than 150,000... 

The huge Avoca Beach waterspout was filmed from the air passing dramatically near built-up areas. Four colossal waterspouts swirled around off the coast of Sydney today amid dramatic thunderstorms. The gigantic twisters – created when tornadoes form above the sea – occurred near Avoca Beach, which lies just to the north of Australia’s capital. The amazing natural phenomena caused a huge stir... 

TEPCO now sheepishly admits that nearly 60 tons of radioactive water leaked out of the crippled nuclear power plant. So far the only good news to accompany the Fukushima catastrophe has been that for all the fallout, the radiation has been mostly contained due to Northwesterly winds which have been blowing any radioactivity mostly out and into the Pacific (coupled with relatively little rainfall),... 

At least six people have been killed in Oklahoma and Kansas as a new round of tornadoes struck the central and southern US, barely 48 hours after the deadliest twister in modern history hit the town of Joplin, Missouri, killing 122. Authorities in Dallas evacuated the airport and a baseball stadium on Tuesday night when the violent storms moved east, wreaking havoc across a region already suffering... 

One of the big threats from the global warming moonbat types is that a rise in temperature will melt the polar ice caps causing the oceans to rise, with the cataclysmic result of skyscrapers being under water. Let’s face it, if you think that the commute into Manhattan is bad now… just wait. There is only one problem with this scenario, Mother Nature isn’t being cooperative. You see it is... 

The cowardly Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan handed 60 trillion yen HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Reasearch Program) over to the Federal Reserve Board crime syndicate immediately after his country was attacked with HAARP and nuclear terror, according to Japanese security police sources. The extortion money was paid off following threats to use HAARP to cause Mt. Fuji to erupt. For those of...