Biting Back: Snake Venom Contains Toxic Clotting Factors

The powerful venom of the saw-scaled viper Echis carinatus contains both anticoagulants and coagulants finds a study published in the launch edition of BioMed Central's open access journal Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases. These may be a source of potent drugs to treat human disease. This snake is responsible for most human bites and its venom causes coagulopathy which results in symptoms of blood clotting, hemorrhage and stroke. The diametric effects of snake venom on blood are of interest because of medical applications, and although snakes can be considered as dangerous to humans -- they may yet save live. Because of its abilities to inflict damage on blood, the snakes venom could be useful in the medical field to stop blood flow when it needs to be stopped.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130226193845.htm

Avoiding Violent Images for an Anti-Poaching Campaign

Disturbing online videos document the illegal killing and trade of wildlife, including film of poachers who shoot elephants with AK-47 assault rifles to take only their tusks, and poachers who shoot rhinos with tranquilizer guns and remove their horns with chain saws. But the World Wildlife Fund does not focus on such imagery. A new public service campaign by the group, for example, features a print ad that shows a majestic elephant in profile, its trunk curled into an ampersand above its tusks. “I am not a trinket,” says the headline. Another print ad features a photo of a healthy rhinoceros over the headline, “I am not medicine.” It continues, “At least one rhino is killed every day due to the mistaken belief that rhino horn can cure cancer and hangovers.” So why the change in marketing? Many people are thrown off by gruesome images and tend to turn away, no matter what the message may be. So by showing the animals simple beauty, the target audience is more likely to pay attention and want to help those animals keep their beauty they are so well know for. The World Wildlife Fund is particularly eager to promote the campaign in advance of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in March in Bangkok. So far, the campaign has been received well and is expecting to continue to be received well. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/business/media/world-wildlife-fund-anti-poaching-campaign-avoids-violent-images.html?ref=earth&_r=0

Oil Giants Heading to Trial in Water Pollution Lawsuit

Nearly a decade after it was first brought, a lawsuit accusing two oil giants of widespread groundwater contamination in New Hampshire is expected to go to trial for their crimes. The two oil companies  that are faced with this lawsuit are Exxon Mobil and Citgo. In 2003, New Hampshire sued 26 oil companies, claiming the gasoline additive M.T.B.E, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, caused groundwater contamination in a state where 60 percent of the population relies on private wells for drinking water. M.T.B.E. has been used in gasoline since the 1970s to increase octane and to reduce smog-causing emissions. While it was credited with cutting air pollution, it was found in the late 1990s to contaminate drinking water when gasoline is spilled or leaks into surface water or groundwater. New Hampshire is seeking more than $700 million in damages to test and monitor every private well and public drinking water system in the state and to cover cleanup costs where needed to ensure the safety of its citizens by not allowing this to happen again, and/or for the problem to worsen. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/us/2-oil-giants-face-trial-in-new-hampshire-water-pollution-suit.html?_r=0

11,000 Elephants Slaughtered in National Park Once Home to Africa’s Largest Forest Elephant Population

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced February 6 that a national park, once home to Africa's largest forest elephant population, has lost a staggering 11,100 individuals due to poaching for the ivory trade. In Gabon's Minkebe Park, which holds about 40,000 elephant,  have revealed in recent surveys in areas of  the park revealed that two thirds of its elephant population have vanished since 2004, with a majority of these losses have probably taken place in the previous five years. Many environmental agencies are worried about the depleting elephant populations due to poaching because they fear in a few years there won't be any elephants left. 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130206141539.htm