Showing posts with label Canada lynx. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada lynx. Show all posts

Thursday, 29 February 2024

British power plant burns old growth Canadian forest destroying wildlife habitat

The Drax power plant near Selby, North Yorkshire, UK has been receiving a couple of sets of government subsidies worth £6bn because it is claimed that the electricity produced by this powerplant comes from burning plant biomass - trees from ecologically unimportant areas in Canada. 


In this instance, biomass is renewable organic material from trees. It should also be carbon neutral with the carbon produced from burning wood being cancelled out by the carbon absorbed by trees growing.

But the problem with this process is that Drax is receiving subsidies in order to burn wood from old-growth forests which provide a unique habitat for ecosystems in Canada. It's probable, that these forests provide a habitat for the Canada lynx which is my connection to the cat in this article.

In the UK, in 2017, in a sustainability report, Drax promised not to take timber from no-go areas which means protected forests, primary forests, old-growth forests and forests classified as having a high biodiversity value.

Government support for Drax can only be justified because the wood that they use for their power stations has been sourced sustainably and I presume in compliance with good carbon neutral policies. And in compliance with wildlife conservation. That's not mentioned in The Times article: Power plant burns rare forest wood.

The wood comes from primary forests as mentioned and therefore Drax should not receive government subsidies which have amounted to £6 billion as I understand it in the past.

In a letter to The Times British Members of Parliament have said the following: 
"Continued wood burning biomass harms forests, communities and contributes huge amounts of carbon emissions to the atmosphere."
In response, Drax did not deny clearing old-growth forests for its power stations. However Drax said that its 2017 report was "not a policy and is now obsolete." It's been superseded by 2019 document they say. A spokesperson for Drax said: "We are confident our biomass is sustainable and legally harvest and meet the requirement of our 2019 sourcing policy."

Comment: the company is wriggling out of their responsibilities. Sorry by entirely typical of big business.

Secondly, it seems extraordinary to me that Drax and the UK government can even contemplate chopping down forests and burning them in power stations in the UK. How can that be a good policy? 

That would seem to go totally against the fundamental principles of being carbon neutral. In preserving nature. In preserving habitat for wildlife. In doing the right thing. In protecting the planet. How does this Drax policy in partnership with the UK possibly enhance sustainability, nature, and protect the planet?

The UK government should be as ashamed as Drax. Typical of double talking big business in league with unethical British politicians. I hate them all.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Is the Canada lynx endangered?

No, the Canada lynx is not considered endangered. You may dispute this assessment by the IUCN Red ListTM. It is the experts who work on behalf of the Red List who make the classification. The Red List's purpose is to "determine the relative risk of extinction" of the world's species. They classify the Canada lynx as "Least Concern". This means it is considered to be "widespread and abundant". It is the lowest (softest) classification in terms of risk of extinction. Where do they get the population numbers from? Trappers? The Red List says that the population is stable. The assessment has not altered since 1996.

Is the bobcat a lynx?

Yes, the bobcat is part of the genus lynx. There are four cats that are part of this genus:
  1. Lynx lynx - Eurasian lynx
  2. Lynx canadensis - Canada lynx
  3. Lynx pardinus - Iberian lynx
  4. Lynx rufus - the bobcat
They all look like a lynx, which is helpful. It is the name that misleads as the three cats other than the bobcat have "lynx" in their name, whereas the bobcat does not.

The full classification for the bobcat is as follows: Kingdom: Animalia - Phylum: Chordata - Class: Mammalia - Order: Carnivora - Family: Felidae - Genus: Lynx - Species: L. rufus.

The group called "genus" is low in the taxonomic ranking. Classification of species is simply organising species in much the same way you organize files. The difference is that scientists use latin terminology, which is a throwback to the 1500s and before when scientists first classified the species.

Friday, 11 November 2011

Bobcat Description

Two fine bobcat photographs accompanying this bobcat description. I really like these photographs. The smaller one is a bit different. The photographer has the Flickr username of mikewiz. The original photo on Flickr is a lot darker than my adjusted version. The larger photo is very good for supporting a description of the bobcat.

The bobcat has some other names: bay lynx, lynx cat and pallid bobcat to name three. This medium sized to small wild cat is the size of a cocker spaniel. The largest male was recorded as weighing 26.8 kilograms and the largest female weighed 15.9 kilograms. Bobcats in the north are larger than those in the south of their range. The size of the bobcat's skull is similar in size to that of the domestic cat.

The legs are long and head relatively small. The tail as we know is short. In fact it is about 14 inches long, with white fur underneath and banding on the upper surface. The ears have classic lynx tipping - tufts of black fur growing out of the end of the ear flap. The back of the ears are black with a white eye spot, which can be seen in the photograph.

Male Bobcat - Photo copyright Tory - see in large format on Flickr

These photographs are published here with the photographers' express permission. Please ask the photographer if you wish to use either.

Bobcat - protected by copyright
Please ask photographer for permission
to use.

The bobcat has a ruff growing from the cheeks and neck. The quality of its fur is the reason why it is hunted and trapped. It is thick and soft. The cat's eyes are ringed with white fur ("spectacles" in cat fancy language). The chin is white as is the belly and the insides of the limbs. Dark spots and bars overlay these areas. The coat varies in color: buff to light grey and yellow/reddish brown.

Melanistic bobcats have been recorded. These cats are black with ghost markings. There have also been albino bobcats. The Canada lynx is similar in appearance to the bobcat. The bobcat has smaller and less hairy feet than the Canada lynx indicating that the Canada lynx is better adapted for traveling in snow.

Associated pages: Mexican bobcat, Florida bobcat.

Bobcat Picture

This is a camera trap bobcat picture from siwild on Flickr. This sort of wildcat picture is not pretty in the conventional sense. This is because the camera trap camera is less sophisticated in terms of its ability to create high image quality. However, being motion activated it captures the kind of image that you don't get with human operated cameras. They are wilder, more real. You get a real sense of what it is like in the wild for the wild cats.

Bobcat Picture - in the wild - camera trap image - by siwild - see it on Smithsonian Wild

I have improved the image quality slightly although there has been no adjustment to the content.

You can see the moon above the bobcat. This bobcat picture was taken in the state of Virginia, USA. The words on the lower RHS of the photograph is the name of the manufacturer of the camera.

The bobcat is the most common wildcat in the USA. It occupies areas in the east of the US from where the puma (cougar) has been removed or extirpated. The bobcat is part of the lynx genus. In Canada the Canada lynx is that country's version of the bobcat. The Eurasian lynx is the biggest of the lynx cats.

Tuesday, 1 November 2011

Is the lynx Canadian?

Canada lynx - Photo by Oregon State University
The Canada lynx is one of four species of lynx cat. This is the full list:
  1. Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis)
  2. Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx)
  3. Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus)
  4. Bobcat (Lynx rufus)
They are all a member of the Genus "lynx". They are all medium sized wildcats.

The answer therefore to the question, "Is the lynx Canadian?" is that the question is badly formed. The question should be, "Is the lynx found in Canada?". To that question the answer is, "Yes, and in Spain and Portugal (Iberian lynx) other countries of Europe, Central Asia, Russia (Eurasian lynx) and the United States (bobcat).

See more on the Canada lynx.


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