Wildlife

The Audubon Society reports: The paintings submitted for this year’s federal duck stamp contest feature familiar images of wildlife art: A Cinnamon Teal bobs on a mountain lake. Two Brant tuck in to land in coastal chop. A placid pair of Red-breasted Mergansers float side by side, their jaunty crests aglow in early morning light. But a closer look at …

The Associated Press reports: France’s environment minister has announced a gradual ban on using wild animals in traveling circuses, on keeping dolphins and killer whales in captivity in marine parks and on raising mink on fur farms. Barbara Pompili, France’s minister of ecological transition, said in a news conference Tuesday that bears, tigers, lions, elephants and other wild animals won’t …

Courthouse News reports: Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges Tuesday against a California man who fatally shot a northern elephant seal on a beach on the Central Coast. In September 2019, authorities discovered the corpse of a northern elephant seal on a beach near San Simeon. The animal had been shot in the head. The beach — located off California Highway …

ABC News reports: Public health officials have announced that a squirrel in Colorado has tested positive for the bubonic plague. The town of Morrison, Colorado, in Jefferson County, which is just west of Denver, made the startling announcement saying that the squirrel is the first case of plague in the county. “Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria …

Sky News reports: A gang of monkeys attacked a laboratory assistant and escaped with a batch of coronavirus blood test samples, it has been reported. The bizarre incident saw the troop of primates launch their assault near Meerut Medical College in Delhi, India. According to local media, the animals then snatched COVID-19 blood test samples that had been taken from …

The New York Times reports: As restaurants and other businesses have closed during the coronavirus pandemic, rats may become more aggressive as they hunt for new sources of food, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned. “The rats are not becoming aggressive toward people, but toward each other,” Bobby Corrigan, an urban rodentologist who has both a master’s degree …

Reuters reports: A Chinese lantern, launched by a 60-year-old mother and her two adult daughters in a New Year’s Eve celebration, caused the fire at a German zoo in which dozens of animals were killed, including eight great apes, authorities said. Police in Krefeld, near the Dutch border, said the three women had turned themselves in on learning of the …

It just never ends, does it? Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the US Fish and Wildlife Service has links to powerful agricultural interests opposed to protections for endangered species she would oversee, the Guardian has learned. Aurelia Skipwith, who is already a top official at the interior department, formerly worked at the agrochemical giant Monsanto. New revelations show she also …

The Blast reports: Bristol Palin’s son bagged his first black bear during a hunting trip with the reality star’s ex, Levi Johnston. 10-year-old Tripp just returned to civilization from a camping and hunting trip with his father and stepmom, Sunny Johnston. The former “Dancing With the Stars: Juniors” contestant could be seen posing with the dead black bear after the …

CBS News reports: Like many urban singles, the mountain lion P-22 lives a solitary life in a too-small habitat. And he has a hard time finding a mate in the big city. Famous for traveling across two freeways and making a huge Los Angeles park his home, the lonesome big cat has become a symbol of the shrinking genetic diversity …

First, a report from 2017: The Trump administration’s decision to loosen restrictions around the import of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia has turned attention back to the president’s family’s own connection to the controversial sport. Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump are prolific big-game hunters and during the 2016 campaign, images re-emerged of the pair on a 2011 hunting …

The Associated Press reports: The Trump administration is finalizing major changes Monday to the way it enforces the landmark Endangered Species Act, a move it says will reduce regulatory burden but critics charge will drive more creatures to extinction. The administration was making public a final rule overhauling the way the federal government handles protections for plants and animals at …

CNN reports: The Environmental Protection Agency told staff scientists that it was no longer opposing a controversial Alaska mining project that could devastate one of the world’s most valuable wild salmon fisheries just one day after President Trump met with Alaska’s governor, CNN has learned. The EPA publicly announced the reversal July 30, but EPA staff sources tell CNN that …

CBS News reports: The Environmental Protection Agency has recently reauthorized the use of controversial chemical traps to kill coyotes, dogs, foxes and other wild animals across the U.S. These “cyanide bombs” are meant to protect livestock although some environmental groups are calling for a nationwide ban and saying they are inhumane. According to a recent interim decision, EPA officials approved …

Global News reports: The federal government has passed legislation that bans whale and dolphin captivity in Canada. The bill will phase out the practice of keeping captive whales, dolphins and porpoises, but grandfathers in those that are already being held at two facilities in the country. Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ont., and the Vancouver Aquarium in B.C. are the only …

The Hill reports: The Interior Department on Wednesday announced a plan to expand hunting and fishing opportunities in several federal wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries. The plan would increase hunting and fishing access across 1.4 million acres of public land spanning on 74 national wildlife refuges and 15 national fish hatcheries. “President Trump is committed to expanding public access on …

Courthouse News reports: Warning the bison that once roamed the continental U.S. in the millions are at risk of extinction, three conservation organizations brought a federal complaint Wednesday requesting the animal be listed as a threatened or endangered species. Buffalo Field Campaign, Friends of Animals and Western Watershed Project filed the claim against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) …

Complex reports: A rhino poacher was trampled to death by an elephant and his remains were devoured by a pride of lions, Kruger National Park officials said Thursday. The man was hunting with a group in the preserve in South Africa on Tuesday when he was trampled by the elephant, the Letaba Herald reported. Four other hunters were arrested Wednesday. …

The Texas Observer reports: Late Monday evening, attorneys for the National Butterfly Center asked a federal judge to block the Trump administration from building a border wall at the refuge or using the center’s property as a pass-through to build elsewhere. The motion alleges that federal agents and contractors have been driving without permission through the Rio Grande Valley refuge’s …

The Guardian reports: Japan is facing international condemnation after confirming it will resuming commercial whaling for the first time in more than 30 years The country’s fleet will resume commercial operations in July next 2019, the government’s chief spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said of the decision to defy the 1986 global ban on commercial whaling. Suga told reporters the country’s fleet …