Polar bears develop taste for dolphins as Arctic warms

Yahoo – AFP, June 11, 2015

A polar bear eats a white-beaked dolphin in the Smeerenburgfjorden fjord,

 in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, on July 4, 2014 (AFP

Photo/Samuel Blanc)

Oslo (AFP) - Norwegian scientists have seen polar bears eating dolphins in the Arctic for the first time ever and blame global warming for the bears expanding their diet.

Polar bears feed mainly on seals but Jon Aars at the Norwegian Polar Institute has photographed dolphins being devoured by a bear and published his findings in the latest edition of Polar Research this month.

"It is likely that new species are appearing in the diet of polar bears due to climate change because new species are finding their way north," he told AFP.

A polar bear eats a white-beaked dolphin

 in the Raudfjorden fjord, on the 

northwestern coast of the Norwegian 

archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, on

July 2, 2014 (AFP Photo/Samuel Blanc)

The first incident he documented was in April 2014 when his team came across a polar feeding on the carcasses of two white-beaked dolphins.

Although dolphins are regularly seen in the Norwegian Arctic in the summer months when the ice has melted, they have never been observed during winter or spring when the sea is usually still covered in sheets of ice.

But Norwegian scientists have reported a strong retreat of ice and two nearly ice-free winters in recent years which they said could have attracted the dolphins further north, where they probably became trapped by the sudden arrival of dense ice blown into a fjord by strong northerly winds.

Aars said the bear he photographed had probably caught the two dolphins when they surfaced to breathe through a tiny hole in the ice.

"Even if they saw the bear, the dolphins did not necessarily have any other choice," he said.

Saved one for later

In the photos a visibly skinny old male bear devours one of the dolphins and appeared to have stored a second one under snow for later -- something which scientist had never seen before.

"We think that he tried to cover the dolphin in snow in the hope that other bears, foxes or birds would have less of a chance of finding it. Maybe to be able to eat it a day or two later, once he had digested the first one," said Aars.

A male polar bear with the carcass of a white-beaked dolphin it has partially

 covered with snow to keep for later having already eaten another one at Raudfjorden

on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard (AFP Photo/Jon Aars)

After the first incident in 2014, a further five cases of dolphins stranded or captured and then eaten by bears have been reported.

"I don't think that this signifies a great upheaval" in the diet of the carnivores, said Aars.

"It's just that the polar bear is coming into contact with species they have not been used to meeting until now."

Sitting at the top of the Arctic food chain, polar bears are opportunistic predators that are also known to feed on small whales if the opportunity arises.

Australian Minister Rebuffs Claims People Smugglers Paid to Return Boat to Indonesian Waters

Jakarta Globe, Erin Cook, Jun 10, 2015

Indonesian officials check a lifeboat stranded on Karang Jambe beach, in
Kebumen, Central Java, on Feb. 25, 2014. (EPA Photo/Himawan Nugraha)

Jakarta. Australia’s Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton has denied claims that officials had paid the crew of a boat turned back from Australian waters to Indonesia, which ran aground on a reef near Rote island, East Nusa Tenggara province.

The boat, carrying 65 people from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, was intercepted by the Australian Navy in May while heading to New Zealand.

Police have charged the crew with people smuggling offenses and it was during questioning that the allegations of payment were made.

Rote Police Chief Hidayat said the boat’s captain, Yohanes, said the six crew members had been paid $5,000 cash each by an Australian official named Agus.

“I saw the money, the $5,000 was in $100 bank notes,” Hidayat said.

Dutton was asked on Tuesday if the payment had taken place, to which he said only “no,” before referring to the government policy of not speaking publicly about “on-water matters.”

A statement released by the Immigration Department said: “The Australian government does not comment on or disclose operational details where this would prejudice the outcome of current or future operations.”

The “turn back the boats” policy has been a source of tension to Australian and Indonesia’s relations, with an estimated 15 boats towed back to Indonesian waters since it was enacted at the end of 2013.

A joint letter by the passengers to the New Zealand government pleading for asylum also alleges the payments were made.

Speaking to Fairfax Media, Don Rothwell, a professor in international law at the Australian National University, said payments could itself be seen as a form of people smuggling, though the move would be a first.

“If Australian officials were to pay crews to take those people to Indonesia, I suspect that Indonesia and some other regional neighbors would take a dim view of that conduct from Australia,” he told Fairfax.

Rothwell said payments would not violate Australia’s Migration Act.

Related Article:

Australia's record as humanitarian world leader 'has deteriorated', says US official

Women to Power Sri Lanka’s Mangrove Conservation Plan

Jakarta Globe, Amantha Perera, Jun 08, 2015

A worker carries a sack of plastic bottles collected from the beach for a
 recycling project during World Environment Day in Colombo, Sri Lanka
on June 5, 2015. (Reuters Photo/Dinuka Liyanawatte)

Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s new mangrove protection scheme, the world’s first country-wide initiative, is relying on women like Michel Priyadarshani, head of a fisherwomen’s group in eastern Ambantotam village.

Priyadarshani and her colleagues did not understand the importance of mangroves for the ecosystem, including the fish population, until they benefited from a program offering microcredit in return for looking after the coastal forests.

“Now we know — and from us, our husbands and our community also have become aware,” Priyadarshani said.

Since 1997, Sudeesa, a national organization that works to protect coastal ecosystems, has given women living near mangrove forests financial assistance — mainly loans of $50 to $2,000 each — incentivizing them to care for the delicate trees.

Now the program is about to go island-wide. Sudeesa, together with the Sri Lankan government and US-based environmental conservation group Seacology, recently launched a five-year, $3.4 million mangrove preservation initiative.

Sri Lanka is the first nation to promise to protect all its mangroves, experts said.

Mangrove trees grow in saltwater, forming a vital part of the natural cycle in coastal lagoons. Fish and other marine creatures like prawns use the deep roots as breeding areas.

The forests protect coastal communities from abrupt tidal shifts and storms, while slowing shore erosion.

“People who live near mangroves tell us the trees act as a buffer against the wind and heavy rains, breaking their intensity just before they make landfall,” said Douglas Thisera, director for coastal conservation at Sudeesa, formerly known as the Small Fishers Federation of Lanka.

Mangrove swamps also store carbon, sequestering it in the top few meters of underwater soil and keeping it there longer than other trees.

Micro-loans

K D Wijitha, who runs a group bringing together women from 23 villages in the northwestern Kalapitiya area, said they had learned to look after the mangrove forests.

“We make sure that they are safe,” she said.

Thanks to the Sudeesa program, Kristina Jospin from Samadigama village in northwestern Puttalam District received training and financial aid to operate a small bakery, which allows her to support her sick husband and four children.

Sudeesa credit officer Suvinetha de Silva said the program usually targets the poorest women, who are unable to seek credit from banks.

The new national scheme aims to set up 1,500 community groups around Sri Lanka’s 48 lagoons, which will offer alternative job training and micro-loans to 15,000 people. The groups will be responsible for the upkeep of designated mangrove forests.

Pilot projects showed a high success rate, said Duane Silverstein, executive director of Seacology. Almost 2,000 loans were made to women, with a repayment rate of over 96 percent.

“With very small loans of around $100, several of the women were so successful that they already employed additional women,” he said.

Half of loan recipients under the new program will be widows, while the rest will be male and female school dropouts.

Seacology and Sudeesa officials said each community group will be responsible for around 8.5 hectares of mangrove forest. The government has agreed to provide rangers to patrol the forests.

The program also plans to replant 3,885 hectares of mangroves.

The new government of President Maithripala Sirisena has brought the island’s 8,815 hectares of mangroves under the Forest Ordinance Act, making it illegal for anyone to exploit them for commercial purposes.

“It is an extremely vital decision because now all mangroves around the island can be protected with the active participation of the Forestry Department,” said Sudeesa chairman Anuradha Wickramasinghe.

Prawn damage

Some three decades ago, Sri Lanka had at least 98,842 acres of mangroves, Thisera said. But the bulk has been destroyed due to commercial exploitation and firewood use.

“The biggest threats to mangroves in Sri Lanka include prawn farms, which have been greatly curtailed in recent years, collateral damage from the civil war, and impoverished people cutting down mangroves to use or sell as charcoal,” Seacology’s Silverstein said.

The worst damage occurred in the northwest of the island nation, where commercial prawn farms took off in the 1990s. But most of these farms have been abandoned in the last few years due to the spread of disease.

The new mangrove protection scheme plans to introduce other trees that can provide an alternative fuel source, such as coconut husks.

Silverstein said the government’s enthusiasm for protecting the mangrove forests could push other countries in the region to follow suit.

Defense Secretary B.M.U.D. Basnayake told Silverstein the national armed forces could help with replanting efforts.

Sudeesa’s Wickramasinghe said the program’s success would depend on how far local communities buy into it.

“We have to make them understand the mangroves are a boost to their lives and their incomes,” he added.

Thomson Reuters Foundation

Half of live dolphins caught in Japan exported despite hunt outcry: report

Yahoo – AFP, 7 June 2015

Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams takes part in a march in London in
January 2015, against the annual slaughter of dolphins in the Japanese town of
Taiji (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)

About half of live dolphins caught in the Japanese coastal town of Taiji were exported to China and other countries despite global criticism of the hunting technique used, a news report has said.

The so-called "drive hunt" method has been criticised overseas as cruel and Japanese zoos and aquariums were recently forced to vow not to buy animals caught with the controversial fishing.

A total of 760 live dolphins were sold between September 2009 and August 2014 in Japan, Kyodo News said Saturday, quoting data from Japan's Fisheries Research Agency and other statistics.

They show that 354 were exported to 12 countries, including 216 to China, 36 to Ukraine, 35 to South Korea and 15 to Russia. One dolphin was exported to the United States.

Eleven dolphins were also exported to Thailand, followed by 10 each to Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, seven to Georgia, five to Tunisia and four each to Egypt and the Philippines, Kyodo said.

UN data showed the export of live dolphins from Japan between 2009 and 2013 was almost entirely to zoos or aquariums, Kyodo added.

All live dolphins are only supplied from Taiji which came to worldwide attention after the Oscar-winning 2009 documentary "The Cove" showed pods forced into a bay and slaughtered with knives, in a mass killing that turned the water red with blood.

Some are captured alive and sold to aquariums, fetching about 1 million yen ($8,030) each.

Last month, Japan's zoos and aquariums voted to stop using dolphins caught by the method, as demanded by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).

The vote was prompted by WAZA's suspension of the Japanese chapter (JAZA) in April over the issue.

WAZA regards drive hunt fishing -- where pods of cetaceans are herded into a bay by a wall of sound -- as "cruel", a charge local fishermen reject.

Many of the dolphins are butchered for food, but campaigners claim there is insufficient demand for their relatively unpopular meat to make the hunt economically worthwhile.

They charge that the high prices live animals fetch when sold to aquariums and dolphin shows is the only thing that sustains the hunt.

ASEAN, China pledge early conclusion of COC on sea disputes

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-06-06

Liu Zhenmin, right, and Noppadon Theppitak at the 21st China-ASEAN Senior
Officials' Consultation, June 4. (Photo/CNS)

China and ASEAN agreed to reach an early conclusion on the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, as senior officials met Thursday in Beijing for the 21st China-ASEAN Senior Officials' Consultation.

"We agreed to remain committed to the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct [DOC] of Parties in the South China Sea and the early conclusion of a COC through consultations." Chinese vice foreign minister Liu Zhenmin told reporters after the consultation.

His words were echoed by Noppadon Theppitak, deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, who chaired the consultation, which ran from Wednesday to Thursday.

"We recognize that the COC was not meant to resolve bilateral disputes, but enhance confidence building between the parties concerned, to help prevent and manage incidents at sea." Noppadon said.

Despite reports of "increasingly tense territorial disputes", Noppadon said that China-ASEAN had "candid, friendly and useful exchange of views" on the South China Sea.

"We re-emphasized the need to exercise utmost self-restraint and avoid activities that could complicate the situation. We saw the need to come up with 'dos and don'ts' in support of this objective." he said, adding that no single issue should dominate the multifaceted ASEAN-China relations.

The China-ASEAN strategic partnership has maintained momentum for growth, with bilateral trade exceeding US$480 billion last year and all 10 ASEAN members becoming prospective-founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

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Nearly 400 dead in China ship sinking as search for bodies widens

Yahoo – AFP, Neil Connor, 6 June 2015

The "Eastern Star" cruise ship, which had more than 456 people on board when

 it overturned on June 1 in a storm on the Yangtze, has been fully raised during 

the salvage operation in Jianli, China's Hubei province (AFP Photo)

Jianli (China) (AFP) - Rescuers extended their search for victims of a Chinese cruise ship sinking to include a vast stretch of the Yangtze river Saturday, as the confirmed death toll rose to 396, marking the country's worst shipping disaster in nearly 70 years.

With most bodies retrieved from the battered ship, officials widened the search scope to 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) of the Yangtze in the hope of finding 46 people still unaccounted for, state news agency Xinhua said.

Only 14 survivors have been confirmed out of the 456 people -- mostly tourists aged over 60 -- on board when the "Eastern Star" rapidly sank on China's biggest river in a storm on Monday, in the central county of Jianli.

Rescue workers look at the sunken 

passenger ship being lifted by cranes in

 the Yangtze river in Jianli in China's

 Hubei province on June 5, 2015

(AFP Photo/Johannes Eisele)

The Ministry of Transport late Saturday ordered water traffic authorities and shipping companies to assist in the hunt, which stretches from Jianli in Hubei province, past the cities of Wuhan and Nanjing, to Shanghai on the east coast.

The death toll jumped by over 200 after rescuers used massive cranes to hoist the vessel out of the water on Friday and began recovering bodies trapped inside.

Xinhua put the number of dead at 396 as of noon local time (0400 GMT) on Saturday.

The figure makes it China's worst shipping disaster since 1948, when up to 4,000 on board the SS Kiangya were killed when it sank near Shanghai.

A government spokesman said on Thursday that no further survivors are expected to be found.

Freak tornado

As images showed the blue and white vessel's caved-in roof, state broadcaster CCTV said rescuers' torches were visible inside the ship overnight.

Online images showed workers wearing surgical suits handling body bags in the vessel's dark cabins, while others slept on a nearby floating platform, exhausted by their grim work.

At a nearby funeral parlour, AFP saw men also dressed in the white suits driving a convoy of about 20 mini-vans adapted to carry coffins towards the disaster site.

Reports citing witnesses said the 76.5-metre-long (250 feet) and 2,200-tonne ship overturned in under a minute, and weather officials said a freak tornado hit the area at the time.

The vessel was cited for safety infractions two years ago, according to a notice by the Nanjing Maritime Bureau, but no further details have been given about the state of the ship.

Cranes raise the sunken vessel "Eastern Star" (C) in the Yangtze river

in Jianli, central China's Hubei province (AFP Photo)

Investigators will probe the ship's structure for flaws, CCTV said, after the ruling Communist party's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee vowed to leave "no doubts remaining" about the disaster.

Information about the sinking and media access to the site have been tightly controlled, and online criticism of the search operation quickly deleted.

China's stability-obsessed Communist rulers often seek to contain anger over the official handling of disasters, fearing that it could spiral into dissent.

Beijing clamped down on criticism in the wake of the Sichuan earthquake, which killed tens of thousands in 2008, and when dozens died in a high-speed rail crash in the eastern city of Wenzhou in 2011.

Angry scenes

Relatives of those on board the Eastern Star clashed with police earlier this week, and an angry woman berated officials at a press conference in Jianli on Friday.

A group of relatives from Nanjing, the city in the eastern province of Jiangsu where the boat began its journey, argued with officials from their home town at a meeting in Jianli on Saturday morning, AFP learned.

Local residents take part in a candlelight 

vigil to pay their respects to victims of the

 sunken ship in Jianli, China's Hubei province

on June 4, 2015 (AFP Photo)

A city official refused to make clear commitments to families about them receiving the bodies, showing "impatience", a woman at the meeting surnamed Zhang said.

He responded to questions by telling relatives they should do his job if they were not satisfied, she added.

Family members who emerged from the meeting looked visibly upset as they hugged each other and walked away arm in arm, shaking their heads.

Other relatives who had arrived in Jianli were growing impatient at the lack of information and the lack of access to the disaster zone.

"We have come all this way, but all we are doing is waiting," said Jin Weifeng, who travelled from Shanghai to seek news of his mother-in-law Wang Shuisheng.

A petition posted by family members on social media service WeChat called for "key state leaders" to apologise, an investigation, compensation and the "death sentence" for the ship's captain -- one of the few survivors of the disaster -- who is in police custody.

Local reports said other ships in the area on the day of the accident had dropped anchor after a warning of heavy storms, but the Eastern Star continued on.

More than 3,400 soldiers and 1,700 paramilitary police are part of the rescue effort, Xinhua reported, with the Transport Ministry saying Saturday that 254 additional vessels and more than 2,500 people would join the search operation.

Related Article:

Hundreds still missing after China cruise ship sinks

Protecting the ocean could boost economy by $900 bn, says WWF

Yahoo – AFP, 4 June 2015

More than $920 billion could be generated by 2050 and 180,000 jobs created
by expanding the ocean's protected zones, according to a study published
Thursday by conservation group WWF (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

Lisbon (AFP) - More than $920 billion could be generated by 2050 and 180,000 jobs created by expanding the ocean's protected zones, according to a study published Thursday by conservation group WWF.

"Every dollar invested to create marine protected areas –- commonly known as MPAs –- is expected to be at least tripled in benefits returned through factors like employment, coastal protection, and fisheries," the campaign group said in a press release.

Research by Amsterdam's VU University, commissioned by the WWF, said the economic benefits of protecting more of the oceans would greatly exceed the costs, by easing the damage from overfishing, pollution and other environmental factors.

The researchers estimated that between $490 billion and $920 could be generated in the next 35 years by expanding protected marine areas, a process that could also create between 150,000 and 180,000 jobs.

The WWF report was released Thursday to coincide with an international conference in Portugal on the future of the oceans.

The WWF is pushing for 10 percent of the earth's oceans to be listed as protected by 2020 and 30 percent by 2030. At present, less than four percent of the oceans are designated for protection.

"MPAs are known to attract and sustain coastal tourism and recreation, supporting growth of employment and commerce," the group argued in its report.

"Globally, MPAs have been shown to increase fish size, density, biomass as well as species richness."

It added that coastal ecosystems play an important role in fighting climate change by capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

"Existing protected areas in regions like the Mediterranean, the Coral Triangle and coastal Africa, demonstrate how people can benefit from increased ocean protection," the report said.

The WWF called on the world's governments to "include strong targets and indicators for the ocean" when they meet in September to agree on an international agenda for sustainable development.

It added that the international climate talks due in Paris at the end of the year would be another "critical opportunity" for world leaders to act to protect the oceans.

Spanish tuna tradition, a Japanese gourmet delight

Yahoo – AFP, Elodie Cuzin, May 31, 2015

Spanish fishermen in the Strait of Gibraltar have kept alive a 3,000-year-old netting
tradition that brings in tuna so tasty, buyers come for it all the way from Japan
(AFP/Cristina Quicler)

Spanish fishermen in the Strait of Gibraltar have kept alive a 3,000-year-old netting tradition that brings in tuna so tasty, buyers come for it all the way from Japan.

Silence falls as the fishermen on board their orange and blue boats stop calling out to each other and switch their engines off, to examine the surface of the water.

Four divers jump in. Their mission is to alert the boat crews when the 200-kilo (440-pound) bluefin tuna swim into the nets.

The fishermen wait to trap their prey in an "almadraba", a system of nets stretched across the water off a beach in Zahara de los Atunes, on the southern tip of Spain.

The tiny resort is named after the tuna that have been caught here in this stretch of water since the Phoenicians ruled the Mediterranean from around 1200 BC.

The tradition survives, despite the threat from overfishing by industrial trawlers.

Each year, bluefin tuna swim through the strait from the bitter cold of the Atlantic into the warmer Mediterranean to lay their eggs.

Fishermen lay the almadraba to create a submarine system of chambers that trap the biggest of the migrant fish.

Bloody yet sustainable

At last a diver pulls at the rope and cries out: "Haul it up!"

With pulleys they draw the tight mesh up to the surface of the waves, the silver-red scales of dozens of giant tuna fish glittering in the sunshine.

Several men jump into the nets and kill the fish with knives, turning the blue waves red.

"We bleed the tuna to stop them suffering and to get the best quality possible," said Rafael Marquez, a 45-year-old almadraba fisherman.

If the fish feel fear, he says, "they give off a substance that spoils the flesh".

This fish bloodbath has prompted shock and criticism, but the Almadraba Producers' and Fishermen's Organisation insists the tradition respects the environment.

"We were the ones who raised the alarm, along with the environmentalists" in the early 2000s about the harm done to tuna stocks by mass trawling, said Marta Crespo, the organisation's deputy leader.

"If the fishing were done only using almadraba, there would be as much tuna in the sea as sand on the beach."

The Spanish biologists' and naturalists' association Hombre y Territorio says it considers the almadraba a form of "sustainable fishing".

"Its 3,000-year history shows that the almadraba is sustainable," said Crespo. "It is the most ancient fishing art in the West."

An international plan launched in 2006 has saved the bluefin tuna from overfishing for the time being and stocks have recovered, she said.

That led countries to raise quotas for fishing in the Mediterranean and Atlantic this year for the first time since 2007, to about 16,000 tonnes -- of which 700 tonnes are for the almadrabas.

Best tuna in the world

At the Frialba factory on the waterfront in Barbate, a dozen employees await, armed with hooks and knives as the boats come back with 60 tonnes of tuna on board.

With swift strokes they slice off a tuna's head and tail and part it into four huge fillets of deep red, for storing at minus 60 degrees Celsius.

Japanese buyers run from one fish to another, choosing the fillets they want to send back home.

Bluefin tuna from the almadrabas is "number one in the world for quality", says Hori Mi-Zu Yosuke, director of the Japanese tuna company Sirius Ocean.

In the 1980s more than 90 percent of the tuna caught by the three fishing companies in the organisation was sold in Japan.

But now young local companies are selling a bigger share -- some 30 percent of the catch -- in Spain itself.

"Tuna is everything to us, to this area. It creates lots of jobs," said Andres Jordan, head of one such company, Gadira. "It is the cream of the ocean."

The wholesale price is about 12 to 14 euros a kilogram (about $7.00 a pound) but the retail customer will pay up to 45 euros per kilo for the prized tuna belly.

When salted and dried, it retails for up to 100 euros ($110) a kilogram.

Slicing in the Frialbad factory gives Jesus Cota, 38, an appetite. After work he orders a serving, straight up in the Japanese style.

"I love fresh raw tuna," he says. "It is red gold."

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Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Hundreds still missing after China cruise ship sinks

Yahoo – AFP, Neil Connor, 2 June 2015

Chinese divers rescue an elderly passenger from the Dongfangzhixing ferry

 which sank in the Yangtze river, Hubei province, on June 2, 2015 (AFP Photo)

Rescuers pulled at least three people from the wreckage of a capsized Chinese cruise ship Tuesday as fears mounted for the more than 400 people still missing after the boat sank in a storm.

Just 14 people have been confirmed as surviving after the Dongfangzhixing, or "Eastern Star," a tourist boat rapidly overturned late Monday on the Yangtze river in central China, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Six bodies have been recovered from the wreckage, leaving hundreds more still missing, possibly trapped within the ship which apparently sank in a matter of seconds with 458 people on board, state media said.

An elderly survivor is rescued from the

 Dongfangzhixing ferry which sank in the 

Yangtze river on June 2, 2015 (AFP Photo)

Local reports said the passengers were mostly aged over 60.

Television footage showed rescuers on top of a section of the ship's hull which remained above water, some pressing their ears against it.

"Rescuers knocked on the ship and received responses," the Hubei Daily newspaper said. "Three people were found alive."

Zhang Hui, a 43-year-old tour guide on board, described a storm roiling the boat which tilted by as much as 45 degrees just after 9:00 pm local time (1300 GMT) on Monday, Xinhua said.

"Rain poured down on the right side of the boat, many rooms were flooded," Zhang said, according to Xinhua. "Even if the windows were shut, water leaked through."

Passengers began taking soaked quilts and TV sets into the ship's hall around 9:20 pm (1320 GMT), Xinhua quoted Zhang as saying, in what appeared to be an attempt to keep the items dry.

Passengers seemed to have little warning before the ship sank minutes later with Zhang recalling he had "30 seconds to grab a life jacket".

Chinese relatives of passengers on the

 Dongfangzhixing ferry which sank en

 route from the eastern city of Nanjing to

 the southwestern city of Chongqing, react

 as they wait for information at a hotel

in Nanjing, on June 2, 2015 (AFP Photo)

The captain and chief engineer, who were among the few survivors and being questioned by police, both reportedly said it had been caught in a freak "cyclone".

Foreign journalists were barred from coming closer than about two kilometers from the centre of rescue efforts, which appeared to be a hive of activity where army personnel had parked trucks and pitched tents.

As heavy rains continued to hit the area, an AFP photographer saw more than a dozen ambulances driving away from the rescue area, and at least two body bags apparently containing dead passengers.

CCTV said the 250-feet (76.5-metre) long vessel had floated three kilometres (1.9 miles) down river after it capsized in Jianli county, part of the central province of Hubei.

Teams of police worked to get small motorboats in the water to search for survivors in the rain, while other emergency personnel looked on from the shore.

Xinhua reported that three divers found one 21-year-old man in a small compartment Tuesday afternoon, saying he was given diving apparatus and able to swim out by himself.

State broadcaster CCTV showed rescue workers carrying an elderly woman on a stretcher, adding that another 65-year-old woman was in "good physical condition," after being hauled from the boat.

It also showed Chinese Premier Li Keqiang peering through binoculars and giving instructions at the scene.

A local man surnamed Wang told AFP the storm on Monday night was the worst he had seen in years.

Chinese rescue workers carry a body

from the capsized passenger ship 

Dongfangzhixing which sank in the

Yangtze river in Hubei province on 

June 2, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Johannes Eisele)

'All-out rescue efforts'

Xinhua said an investigation by the ministry of transport had determined the ship was not overloaded and had a sufficient number of life jackets.

There were 458 people on board the Dongfangzhixing when the ship capsized at 9:28 pm, CCTV said, including 406 Chinese passengers, five travel agency workers and 47 crew members.

The vessel was owned by a firm that operates tours in the scenic Three Gorges dam region, some distance from the accident site.

The boat sent no emergency signal and seven people from the boat swam to shore to raise the alarm after it sank, according to reports.

The ship started operations in 1993 and was due to be retired in three years, the 21st Century Business Herald quoted an unnamed former senior executive with the Chongqing Eastern Ship Company as saying.

The accident occurred in the middle reaches of the Yangtze, a wide and rapidly flowing waterway which at 6,300 kilometres is Asia's longest river.

Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier ordered "all-out rescue efforts" to find any survivors.

The Hubei Daily said about 150 boats -- including about 100 fishing vessels -- and more than 3,000 people were involved in the rescue effort, including 140 divers.

A survivor is rescued by divers from the Dongfangzhixing vessel which sank

in the Yangtze river, Hubei province, on June 2, 2015 (AFP Photo)

Distraught relatives of the passengers gathered at a Shanghai travel agency on Tuesday, sobbing and pleading for information on their loved ones' fate.

One man expressed his grief with a tearful apology to his parents, who were among the hundreds of missing.

"I still have so many things I want to tell them. I thought they would come back safe and sound," added the man.

A 64-year-old man surnamed Zhang said he spoke to his wife on the boat Monday evening hours before the accident, and she told him about poor weather and heavy rain.

"I usually call her twice a day. But today, after I heard the news... the phone call never got through," he said.