Exotic pets are increasingly popular among the wealthy elite, but few are prepared for a long-term commitment and campaigners say many animals are kept in cruel conditions
Champagne glasses clink at an exclusive Bangkok party, where guests in designer clothes laugh and mingle. They take turns posing with a cat, passing it casually from one to the other. But as the camera settles, it becomes clear this is no house cat – it’s a lion cub. One woman, in a red cocktail dress, lifts the animal to her face and blows a kiss at the camera, a glass of wine balanced in her other hand.
Clips such as this are flooding Instagram and TikTok, offering a glimpse into Thailand’s booming captive lion trade. According to a new report by the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand and the Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group the number of lions in captivity has more than tripled since 2018 – a trend fuelled in part by the rising popularity of exotic pets among the country’s wealthy elite. A growing network of lion farms cater to this demand – many of them run by amateurs with little experience in wildlife care.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
05/28/2025 - 04:08
05/28/2025 - 03:33
Exclusive: Defra sources say scheme, which pays farmers to protect nature, will be targeted at ‘small farms’
The nature-friendly farming budget is set to be slashed in the UK spending review, with only small farms allowed to apply, it can be revealed.
Sources at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed the post-Brexit farming fund will be severely cut in the review on 11 June. It will be part of a swathe of cuts to departments, with police, social housing and nature funding expected to face the brunt.
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05/28/2025 - 02:27
After Ofwat imposes two fines totalling £123m, environment secretary says ‘era of profiting from failure is over’
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Thames Water has been hit with a record £104m fine over environmental breaches involving sewage spills, after failing to operate and manage its treatment works and wastewater networks effectively.
The water regulator for England and Wales, Ofwat, confirmed on Wednesday that – on top of penalties for breaches related to dividend payouts – it was issuing the beleaguered water company with £123m in fines that would be “paid by the company and its investors, and not by customers”.
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05/28/2025 - 02:00
Regenerative agriculture has growth potential for the offsets market, but scientists question its green credentials
On a blustery spring day, Thomas Gent is walking through a field of winter wheat on his family’s farm, which straddles the Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire border. Some of the green shoots reach his knees, while the ground between the plants is covered with clover.
Sinking a spade into the soil, Gent grins as he points to the freshly dug clod of earth on the blade. “Look at the root structure,” he says. “It rained 20mm last night. The water has drained down because the soil structure is in the right format.”
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05/28/2025 - 01:20
Estimated 16,000 litres of petroleum products spilled into Indian ocean on 8 May during decommissioning works at Griffin field
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Australia’s offshore energy regulator has launched an investigation into an oil and gas spill at a Woodside Energy project off the Pilbara coast in Western Australia.
An estimated 16,000 litres of petroleum products were released into the Indian Ocean on 8 May during decommissioning at the company’s Griffin field, 58km north-west of Exmouth and 60km from Ningaloo marine park. The field stopped production in 2009.
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05/28/2025 - 01:00
Experts decry lack of UK government action and warn a further 6,000 early deaths could occur
The excess pollution emitted as a result of the Dieselgate scandal has killed about 16,000 people in the UK and caused 30,000 cases of asthma in children, according to a new analysis. A further 6,000 premature deaths will occur in coming years without action, the researchers said.
The Dieselgate scandal erupted in 2015 when diesel cars were found to be emitting far more toxic air pollution on the roads than when they passed regulatory tests, due to the use of illegal “defeat devices”.
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05/28/2025 - 00:01
The government has suggested the material, which it describes as low risk, could also be used in roads and infrastructure in other parts of Japan.
Slightly radioactive soil from near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will be transported to Tokyo and used in flower beds in the prime minister’s garden, in an attempt to prove to a skeptical public that the material is safe.
The decision comes 14 years after the plant suffered a triple meltdown in the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chornobyl.
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05/28/2025 - 00:00
Glyphosate, a pesticide linked to cancer, found at very high levels in menstrual products in the UK, according to report
Toxic pesticide levels have been found in tampons at levels 40 times higher than the legal limit for drinking water.
Traces of glyphosate, a pesticide linked to cancer, has been found at very high levels in menstrual products, according to a report by the Pesticide Action Network UK (Pan UK), the Women’s Environmental Network and the Pesticide Collaboration.
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05/27/2025 - 23:00
Data also shows small but ‘shocking’ likelihood of year 2C hotter than preindustrial era before 2030
There is an 80% chance that global temperatures will break at least one annual heat record in the next five years, raising the risk of extreme droughts, floods and forest fires, a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shown.
For the first time, the data also indicated a small likelihood that before 2030, the world could experience a year that is 2C hotter than the preindustrial era, a possibility scientists described as “shocking”.
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05/27/2025 - 21:47
Unless something extraordinary happens, Labor's new environment minister, Murray Watt, looks set to extend the life of a huge Woodside gas plant in Western Australia. The decision hinges on the impact of the plant's continued operation on Murujuga rock art. A summary of an 800-page rock art monitoring report, released by the WA government, suggested concerns were overblown. However Adam Morton, Guardian Australia's climate and environment editor, says a deeper reading of the report is ringing alarm bells for some rock art experts
‘The spin has been wrong’: rock art expert raises concerns over critical report ahead of Woodside decision
Woodside boss says young people ‘ideological’ on fossil fuels while ‘happily ordering from Temu’
Will Labor take its chance to act on climate? – Full Story podcast
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