population control

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Zimbabwe Approves Killing, Eating More Elephants

Plan targets overpopulation at private game reserve

(Newser) - Dozens of elephants in Zimbabwe are set to be killed in a controversial effort to control soaring population numbers, with the meat to be distributed to local communities. The move comes as officials warn that elephant numbers in the Save Valley Conservancy, a major private game reserve in the...

Japan Offering Families Hefty Sum to Leave Tokyo

New incentive is announced

(Newser) - Japan wants to push some of its population out of Tokyo and into other parts of the country, and it's using money as a carrot. The Guardian reports the government is making a dramatic increase to its relocation fee, which had been 300,000 yen (about $2,250) per...

Feds Want to Destroy 45K Wild Horses

Holding pens are overcrowded; critics say Bureau of Land Management is mismanaging

(Newser) - There are 45,000 horses no one wants, and the US government is suggesting destroying them all, the Verge reports. In what an exec for the Humane Society calls "a complete abdication of responsibility for their care," the Bureau of Land Management's National Wild Horse and Burro...

Brazil's New Weapon Vs. Zika: Gamma Rays

Officials hope by sterilizing male mosquitoes they can curb spread of virus

(Newser) - With the 2016 Olympics in Rio right around the corner, Brazil is bringing in the big guns to fight Zika—specifically, a gamma ray device to sterilize the mosquitoes that carry the virus, Reuters reports. A nonprofit group will breed up to 12 million of the male insects a week...

Why the Feds Killed 3 Million Animals Last Year

Controversial culling hits starlings the worst

(Newser) - Mother Jones calls it President Obama's "kill list," but it's probably not one you'd expect. This newly released list covers the nearly 3 million animals among 319 different species that the government killed last year. Most were classified as invasive species in one regard...

PETA Contest Prize? Free Vasectomy

An inspired way to bring awareness to the neutering issue

(Newser) - This has got to be one of PETA’s weirdest stunts yet: The animal rights group is staging a contest related to its spay/neuter campaign, and the lucky winner will get … a free vasectomy. To enter, you just get your cat or dog spayed or neutered, then submit an...

Forced Abortions Continue in Parts of China

Regional officials reportedly disregard official national policy

(Newser) - China's one-child policy, long a staple of its public policy for urban, ethnic Han Chinese, officially exists on the national level as a series of monetary incentives for those who hold to it and monetary punishments for those who run afoul. Numerous interviews and investigations, however, consistently uncover the policy...

India to Newlyweds: We'll Pay You Not to Have Kids

Half the population is under 25 and exploding

(Newser) - India's overwhelmingly young, babymaking population is putting it on a blistering pace to overtake even China's near-2 billion souls, and the thought of the resource drain is filling government officials with dread. But unlike China, which can simply institute a one-child rule, India's messy democracy must explore alternative ways to...

China Forces Sterilization on 10K People

(Newser) - As part of a plan to control population explosion, China's health authorities plan to sterilize 10,000 people in southern China over the next four days. The campaign in Puning City calls for people who already have at least one child to be sterilized; many who decline the surgery are...

China Faces a Future With Too Many Men

One-child policy and preference for sons skews gender ratio

(Newser) - China has made astounding advances in recent decades, but a destabilizing gender imbalance threatens the country's progress. The one-child policy combined with a marked preference for sons has led to skewed gender ratios: in some areas, up to 168 males for every 100 females. Authorities fear young men who are...

Save the Planet: Use a Condom

Studies point to environmental toll of each kid

(Newser) - You’ve got your hybrid, your low-watt bulbs, and your solar panels: what’s the next step to saving the planet? Try a pack of condoms. New studies point to the hefty environmental toll of each child, particularly in America, the Washington Post reports. Every kid born in the US...

NYC to Kill 2K Geese Near Main Airports

Bird strike that brought down Flight 1549 inspires hunt to kill 2K Canada geese

(Newser) - Sully's revenge: Authorities are going to round up and kill up to 2,000 Canada geese near JFK and LaGuardia airports, reports the New York Post. A bird strike led to pilot Chesley Sullenberger's unexpected detour on the Hudson in January, and the city and Port Authority want to lower...

After 3 Maulings, Anchorage Mulls Bear Policy

(Newser) - Anchorage has long been a bear-friendly town, but with three uncharacteristic maulings last summer some residents want a more aggressive wildlife management policy this year, the AP reports. The city of 285,000 is also home to more than 300 bears and borders a national park that officials have called...

A Year After China Quake, a Baby Boom

(Newser) - The devastation is still raw from the earthquake that snuffed out thousands of young lives in rural China a year ago, reports the Los Angeles Times, but many grieving parents have found new hope in the form of another baby. More than 10% of new mothers in one Sichuan Province...

China Uses 'the Pill' to Stop Gerbil Overpopulation

Officials hide contraceptive meds in gerbil feed

(Newser) - Chinese officials have resorted to contraceptive pills to control the exploding gerbil population threatening a fragile desert ecosystem, the BBC reports. The government is placing feed pellets mixed with the medication by the gerbils’ burrows, which damage the roots of what plants survive there. Authorities have tried measures to boost...

China Hangs Onto 1-Child Policy
China Hangs Onto 1-Child Policy
Mar 10, 2008 6:16 PM CDT

China Hangs Onto 1-Child Policy

Country fears growth boom if rule is rescinded

(Newser) - China will keep up its one-child policy over the next decade as nearly 200 million citizens reach child-bearing age, CNN reports. "Given such a large population base, there would be major fluctuations in population growth if we abandoned the one-child rule now," said the country's family planning minister,...

China May Drop 1-Baby Law
China May Drop 1-Baby Law
Feb 29, 2008 7:32 AM CST

China May Drop 1-Baby Law

Officials want more girls, but fear triggering baby boom

(Newser) - China, faced with an aging population and too few women, may end its controversial one- child-per-family policy. The law that allowed urban couples only one child and rural families two is credited with preventing 400 million births over three decades. But cultural preferences for males has also created a troubling...

South Africa to Lift Ban on Killing Elephants

Government says culling is a 'last resort' population control option

(Newser) - South Africa will lift its 1994 ban on elephant culling, sparking outrage among animal rights activists, the Guardian reports. Killing animals will remain "the option of last resort, acceptable only under strict conditions," said the environment minister. He added that managing the elephant population, which has grown to...

Hollywood Tries Pigeon Birth Control
Hollywood Tries Pigeon Birth Control
Jul 30, 2007 10:05 AM CDT

Hollywood Tries Pigeon Birth Control

Rooftop feeders will hold contraceptive-laced kibble

(Newser) - Hollywood will try to cut its pigeon population by lacing rooftop feeders with birdie birth control. The contraceptive OvoControl P is meant to reduce the spectacular amount of pigeon poop flooding from above, the LA Times reports, and even PETA is on board. "We would much rather they use...

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