Leaf blowers and beating branches: the fight to stop India’s forest fires

Similipal national park in India has been burning for over a month. The fire was started by poachers and a minority of the local indigenous tribes, who hunt using fire. It hadn't rained there for five months, which makes the ground burn even more. In attemp to put out the fire, a forest department official uses leaf blowers and women help whith leaf branches. The government didn't react quickly and stated that no large trees, animals or human lives have been lost. In reality, the fires have affected about 25% of the fauna and flora of the park. In my opinion it's another example of what climate change is causing. There had never been such big forest fires in this park and it's rare that there's no rain for that long time. Apart from the climate, Indian government and communities are to blame. The government didn't react properly and is not telling the truth. The tribal communities didn't react too because the forest department lost their trust. They are also depending too much on forests and are not educated enough about the danger of it. The fires probably won't stop soon since the used ways of putting it out are not that effective. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/20/battle-against-indias-forest-fires-similipal-aoe

Dead Sea scroll fragments found in desert cave

Archeologiats from Israel have found two dozen Dead Sea scroll fragments from a cave in Judean Desert. It's the first discovery of biblical text in 60 years. During excavations of the Cave of Horror in 60s, 40 skeletons were found. It placed the cave on precarious position, which caused recently to scour it and in result 20 bits of parchment were discovered. It's believed that Jewish rebels were hiding in the canyon about 40km south of Jerusalem in the second century to escape a Roman advance. The fragments of Bible, which had God's name in Hebrew, could be hidden there. I think that's a really nice piece of news. It reminds us that there's still many things that we haven't found which could be important in history of the world. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/16/israeli-archeologists-find-new-dead-sea-scroll-fragments

Great apes given Covid vaccines after outbreak at San Diego zoo

In January at San Diego Zoo, nine great apes have been given an experimental Covid-19 vaccine. They received it from a company called Zoetis for use in animals after eight members of gorilla troop were tested positive. Health officers said they wanted to try their best to protect them from Covid because it's not known how it would affect other apes. In March 2020 scientists said that populations of chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans could be erased during pandemic. Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced it's open to vaccinating some animals, but first the 5 million humans in the area. I think that while Coronavirus is dangerous to animals too, the priority, as the park said, should be vaccinating people. There are ways to keep apes safe, mainly wearing masks around them. If people followed restrictions and the zoos stayed closed, the animals would be safe and they wouldn't need to be get a vaccine. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/05/san-diego-zoo-apes-covid-vaccines-outbreak

Family of trailblazing female Spanish mayor hail DNA match to remains

Earlier this year in a small town in Spain an exhumation was carried out. It was in hope to find María Domínguez Remón, who eight decades ago was Spain's first female mayor, feminist and rights activis. The clues that remain it is her is the location in which she was believed to be, a hole in her skull punctured by a bullet and she was buried with a small brown comb like she would've worn. The great-grandson of Domínguez's sister took DNA tests, which turned out to match with the remains. I think that's a really good news because it helped to remember her and tell other people about her life. She was killed because she was thinking differently, was brave and was a republican. In my opinion she is now the next woman in history that we can look up to. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/02/family-of-anti-franco-spanish-mayor-hail-dna-match-to-remains