Fall in biodiversity in chernobyl zone

I kinda forgot about this whole blog thing, and havn't actually shared it with anyone aside from my girlfriend so time to share I think?
BBC news reported that biodiversity has fallen in the chernobyl zone, a disaster that happened in ukraine in 1986 (26th April to be precise), although of course you all knew that right? Fauna in the zone has developed various tumours, with avian species sporting tumours around the eyes, on the feet and neck. It makes you wonder if hiroshima had the same side effects (I'v not searched for any papers from back then, but I doubt there would be any?) and if the people who ordered the attack (Harry Truman) and the pilot (Paul Tibbets) thought of all of the wildlife they were destroying and possibly mutating afterwards as well as all of the human loss of life. I find it strange how someone could make those decisions, even during war, which ended up killing over 100,000 people. I know this is a strange blog post but hey, why not!

Welcome

Hey all, it seems a bit silly to be typing this when I have no followers and the whole blogging concept still feels alien, although lets give it a go. As you can see from my current information (although most of you probably know me personally at this stage...) I am nineteen years old, going into my third year at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. Yesterday I returned from Tenerife where me and my girlfriend Sophie were volunteering for  Atlantic Whale Nation (link) for just under a month. It was good fun, collecting data and raising awareness on whale watching boats, and it also opened my eyes to many an atrocity going on in the natural world. Obviously most people are aware of some form of brutal scheme, whether it be whaling (brought up recently at the International Whaling Convention (IWC) at Agadir in Morocco, which I shall touch on more fully later), the pet trade of primates, or the deforestation of key habitats for palm oil. There are always many more shocking things going on that people don't realise about as it isn't featured on the front page of the guardian or CNN top stories. One of the events that I became aware of through AWF is explained in great detail in the documentary The Cove (2009) (link). The basic outline being that hundreds of dolphins are driven into a cove of Taiji, Japan. Dolphin trainers from around the world travel to select these animals for their multi-million selling shows in places such as Sea World, paying several thousand pounds for a dolphin. The dolphins left unpicked are killed, often for its meat which is passed off as other meat products. I definitely recommend this documentary, it makes you think before paying for one of these shows.
An interesting fact about cetaceans in captivity:
Killer whales can live up to 80 years in the wild, however one in captivity is limited to a mere 5 years due to the stress of the crowd and noise mixed with cramped living conditions.