For the first time in history, Pennsylvania hunters have taken to the fields and woods on a Sunday to pick out a trophy to take home.
“That’s a huge win for hunters, since many have extremely busy schedules that severely limit their hunting time,”said Bryan Burhans, the Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director, according to a news release.“By providing additional opportunity to hunt on a likely day off, it only increases the likelihood of keeping them engaged in hunting and helping to recruit new hunters.”
Burhans said turning the opening day to an opening weekend doubles the opportunities for hunter participation in the hunting season.
The antlered deer season opened on Saturday, and included a day of Sunday buck hunting on In Wildlife Management Unit 4D, which encompasses the part of Lycoming County south of…
While better than the 2019 season, this year’s totals are still below 2018, which had the highest numbers since 2013.
“It’s good to see this year’s numbers are on the rebound,” said Eric Lobner, the DNR’s wildlife management bureau director. “We’ve got some work to do.”
The 2019 season fell as late as possible in the year, while 2018 was as early…
Paul A. SmithMilwaukee Journal SentinelView Comments0:001:06https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.427.1_en.html#goog_1058481868
Eight shooting incidents, including one fatality, occurredthrough the first seven days of the 2020 Wisconsin gun deer hunting season,according to the Department of Natural Resources.
This year’s number is twice as many as were recorded in the entire 2019 season and represents an uptick from the five-year average of 5.2 incidents.
While many factors are at play, accident rates in boating and other forms of outdoor recreation have generally increased this year as more people utilize the state’s woods and watersduring the coronavirus pandemic.
“With every data trend and average there is a high and a low side,” said Jon King, DNR hunter education administrator and conservation warden.”This year with the increase in outdoor activities we have seen an increase in users and incident rates.”
Shooting incidents have generally fallen in recent decades due to mandatory hunter education, blaze orange clothing…
Vehicles are pulled off to the side of the road as the Bond fire, driven by high winds, approaches Santiago Canyon Road in California on Thursday.Photograph: Leonard Ortiz/APAssociatedPressThu 3 Dec 2020 10.49 EST
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Powerful winds pushed flames through southernCaliforniacanyons early on Thursday as an out-of-control wildfire burned near homes and forced residents to flee.
The blaze in Orange county’s Silverado Canyon began late Wednesday as a house fire and quickly spread to tinder-dry brush as wind gusts topped 70mph (113km/h). The Bond fire exploded in size throughout the night and as the sun came up, an enormous plume of smoke was visible for miles.
Firefighters struggled in steep terrain amid unpredictable Santa Ana winds that have raised fire danger for much of the region.
The outgoing Trump administrationannouncedThursday it will auction off leases to oil and gas companies in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 6, setting the stage for drilling in a pristine region that has been the subject of a decades-long controversy.
“Congress directed us to hold lease sales in the ANWR coastal plain, and we have taken a significant step in announcing the first sale in advance of the December 2021 deadline set by law,” said Chad Padgett, Alaska director of the Bureau of Land Management, in a statement Thursday.“The law makes oil and gas development one of the purposes of the refuge, clearly directing the (Interior) secretary…
Updated 10:49 AM ET, Thu December 3, 2020An adorable festive koala broke into an unsuspecting couple’s home and set up camp in their Christmas tree.
(CNN)Picture a Christmas tree and you’ll probably think of baubles, tinsel and fairy lights, but one Australian woman came home to find an unusual adornment: A koala.Surprised by the unusual visitor, Amanda McCormick, who lives in Coromandel Valley near Adelaide, southern Australia, called local koala rescue organization 1300Koalaz.”This evening our hotline operator took a call. At first she thought she was the victim of a prank call,” wrote the organization in a Facebook post Wednesday.”But no, a koala desperate to get in the Christmas spirit had wandered into Amanda McCormick’s house and decided it wanted to be the fairy on the Christmas tree.”
Koala populations are in decline due to increased human impacts on natureDee Hearne-Hellon, 1300Koalaz co-founder, told CNN that it is not unheard of for koalas to enter homes, but it’s not an everyday occurrence.”The koala was a healthy juvenile female and was released out the front of the house, which is in a really lovely area for koalas if they have to live amongst us,” said Hearne-Hellon. “The koala was still in the same tree she chose to climb when I saw her today (Thursday).”The team celebrated the successful removal on Facebook with a festive ditty: “Tis the season to be jolly, Koalalalala Lalalala.”However, Hearne-Hellon warned against trying to move koalas by yourself.”(The) best thing to do is leave them alone as they can get aggressive and call 1300koalaz to remove them,” she said. “As cute as they look they have very long claws and very sharp teeth.”
First baby koala born in Australian wildlife park since devastating New South Wales bushfiresKoalas are one of Australia’s most famous animals, but populations are under increasing threat due to the impact of humans.Bushfires, habitat fragmentation, vehicle collisions and dog attacks — all which hurt koalas — have been getting worse over the last decade.That has led to species population decline and increased disease among koalas, according to research published in the academic journal PLOS ONE at the end of October.The number of diseased koalas increased over the course of 30 years, while the number of sick koalas that could be released back into the wild dropped, the study said.An earlier version of this story made the common but forgivable error that koalas are a type of bear. While they share some physical characteristics with bears (fuzzy ears, cute noses), they are marsupials.
A10-year-old hunter was shot in the forearm Saturday during a group hunt in Westmoreland County, according to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
The youngster was reported to be in stable condition with non-life-threatening wounds.
According to DWR, the child was struck by a single pellet of buckshot fired by a “very experienced hunter” about 130 yards away. The shooting occurred during a drive hunt that involved using dogs trained to chase deer.
The incident took place on property that featured tall cutover, typical of a property that had been logged in recent years.
According to DWR, an investigation into the shooting is continuing and the case will be referred to local prosecutors to determine whether charges should be filed.
Saturday was one of two early “either-sex” hunting days in the Northern Neck, days during which hunters can legally shoot both buck and doe white-tailed deer. Such days, especially…
Wed 2 Dec 202009.00ESTLast modified on Wed 2 Dec 202023.37EST
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Nations are planning production increases of 2% per year and G20 countries are giving 50% more coronavirus recovery funding to fossil fuels than to clean energy. Photograph: Dazman/Getty Images
The world’s governments are “doubling down” on fossil fuels despite the urgent need for cuts in carbon emissions to tackle the climate crisis, a report by the UN and partners has found.
The researchers say production of coal, oil and gas must fall by 6% a year until 2030 to keep global heating under the 1.5C target agreed in the Paris accord and avoid “severe climate disruption”. But nations are planning production increases of 2% a year and G20 countries are giving 50% more coronavirus recovery…
Male red wolf, translocated from St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge, takes his first steps on Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. [Photo Credit: Running Wild Media]
By Lisa Sorg, NCPolicyWatch.com Just seven wild red wolves are still alive in the world, all of them in eastern North Carolina, the result of federal wildlife officials’ flouting a court order, according to a legal complaint filed Monday by the Southern Environmental Law Center.
The complaint alleges that despite a 2018 court order to protect the species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to introduce previously captive red wolves from zoos and nature centers into the Alligator and Pocosin wildlife refuges, which are designated as an official recovery area.
Nor has USFWS continued its coyote sterilization program in the recovery area. That program is important because it keeps coyotes and red…
An adorable festive koala broke into an unsuspecting couple’s home and set up camp in their Christmas tree.
