https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/02/11/966823691/germanys-merkel-warns-coronavirus-variants-could-destroy-gains-against-pandemic

February 11, 20219:18 AM ET

SCOTT NEUMANTwitter

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses the Bundestag in Berlin on the German government’s measures against COVID-19 on Thursday.Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her government’s decision to extend a COVID-19 lockdown into March, as she issued a stark warning that new strains of the coronavirus “may destroy any success” already achieved in keeping the pandemic in check.

Merkel’sremarksbefore the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, on Thursday came a day after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnsoncautioned Britonsthat they might need to “get used to the idea of vaccinating and revaccinating” to keep up with newly emerging strains of the deadly virus.

Merkel told lawmakers that the agreement between the federal government and state leaders to extend a nationwide lockdown until March 7, with an option to gradually reopen schools, day care centers and hairdressers…

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ks/pr/three-deer-hunters-plead-guilty-lacey-act-violations-fort-riley

TOPEKA, KAN.– Three men have pleaded guilty to federal charges of illegally hunting whitetail deer on a part of Fort Riley where explosives are discharged during training exercises.

Gregory J. Frikken,James C. NunleyandMichael J. Smithadmitted they trespassed on federal property and illegally harvested trophy whitetail deer from that property, all in violation of the Lacey Act. “These hunters entered an area of Fort Riley which is off limits and not open for hunting”, said U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister. “They entered a prohibited area of the Army base, knowing the area was off limits, for the sole purpose of illegally taking large deer as trophies. Their behavior was not only unlawful and selfish, it was potentially dangerous to themselves and thus also foolish. Trespassing on a federal military base is a serious error of judgment, and unlawfully killing trophy deer undermines hunting and hunters who…

“There was no hurt nor malice in his soul, he thought good of everyone and everything”

• https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/man-18-who-died-fighting-19802895
• 19COMMENTS

ByJada JonesReporter

• 19:08, 9 FEB 2021

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Animal rights activists are today paying tribute to a young man killed 30 years ago while volunteering with hunt saboteurs.

Today marks the 30 year anniversary of 18-year-old Mike Hill’s death.

The young man…

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Friend,We just received notice, HB224 Allow the snaring of wolves HB225 Allow Lengthening the Wolf Trapping Season Will be heard and voted on in the Montana House of Representatives Wednesday 2/10 and likely the final vote on the following day. NOW, We need you to contact your Montana representative and urge them to vote AGAINST these two bills, HB224 and HB225. Subject Line:NO HB224 HB225 Email or call. Advise them that you are a constituent and opposed to HB224 and HB225. You do not need to state anything more. If you do, be respectful, use your own words, and it’s best to keep it brief. Thank those who voted against these dangerous bills and urge them to continue! To look up your legislatorand their contact information: https://leg.mt.gov/legislator-lookup/ HB224will legalize snaring for wolves with cables that are much stronger, the loop that much bigger, and the…

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson

February 10, 2021 0 Comments

At the killing contest in Williamsport, Indiana, contestants drag coyotes they massacred. They punch holes into the animals’ legs so they can hang them upside down and weigh them.Photo by the HSUS2.1KSHARES

It is a bloody scene at the Texas weigh-in of the “De Leon Pharmacy and Sporting Goods’ Varmint Hunt #1” on a cold January morning this year. Participants in this wildlife killing contest are unloading the bodies of bobcats, grey foxes, coyotes and raccoons from their trucks, which are expensively outfitted for the killing with raised decks, comfortable chairs and gun mounts. Sixty or so animals have been slaughtered over the contest’s 21-hour period, using assault rifles and other powerful weapons.

Our undercover investigator is on site,documenting the goings-on. The animals have gun shot wounds in their heads and bodies, with…

In a [geologically] recent discussion on wildlife issues with some longtime friends, I felt a little out of place to learn they were all against the reintroduction of wolves to places like Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. No, they weren’t a group of hunters selfishly seeking authority over nonhuman life; these good folks were understandably upset because the wolves are being killed in horrible ways, ever since their removal from the federal endangered species list left them at the mercy of state game department policy makers. While I share their outrage and the urge to end the suffering of wolves, I have to argue that at least the ones “that got away” will go on to fill a gap in biodiversity.

The point of recovering endangered species should be to bring back and/or protect enoughdiversity to allow nature to function apart from human intervention. The presence of predators like wolvescan help torestore a sense of natural order and nullify the claims by…

ByPatrick Pester-Staff Writer6 hours ago

Don’t panic; it won’t get that close.

• https://www.livescience.com/potentially-hazardous-asteroid-whizzes-near-earth-2001-fo32.html

3D illustration of an asteroid flying past Earth.(Image: © Aleksandra Sova via Shutterstock)

An asteroid as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge is long will hurtle past Earth next month. But although it will be the biggest and speediest asteroid to fly by our planet this year, there’s no reason to panic.

The space rock, officially called 231937 (2001 FO32), is about 0.5 to 1 mile (0.8 to 1.7 kilometers) in diameter and will come within 1.25 million miles (2 million kilometers) of Earth at 11:03 a.m. EST (1603 GMT) on March 21 — close enough and large enough to be classified as “potentially hazardous,”according to a databasepublished by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

An asteroid is designated as “potentially hazardous” when its orbit intersects with Earth’s at a distance of no more than…