Debbie Geddes caught a unique fish in upstate New York when she was out on Lake Champlain with her husband. She snapped a photo of the double mouthed fish and now thousands are sharing it on social media.
Things are getting a little ornery in the great outdoors.
A nonprofit is targeting the Trump administration in a new lawsuit protesting the historic expansion ofhunting and fishingacross 2.3 million public acres.
On Tuesday, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed anoticeof intent to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for expanding recreational hunting and fishing access across 147 wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries,a move announcedin August.
A nonprofit is targeting the Trump administration in a new lawsuit…
Our lawsuit focuses on leopards imported from Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique—the United States has imported more than 1,000 leopard trophies from these countries alone within a recent five-year period.Photo by Chip Litherland/AP Images for the HSUS738SHARES
The number of leopards in sub-Saharan Africa has plummeted by 30% in just the last 20 years, putting the future of these unique animals in jeopardy. Yet the U.S. government continues to allow Americans to import nearly 300 leopard trophies a year.
Today, the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International, along with our coalition partner Center for Biological Diversity and a South Africa-based ecotourism safari operator involved in the conservation of big cats,filed a lawsuitagainst the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for allowing these imports. Our lawyers also sent the agency aletter
Wildlife Gray wolf #DefendCarnivores, #EndTheWarOnWildlife, #EndangeredSpeciesAct, #StopExtinction
BOISE—As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week that the removal of wolves from Endangered Species Act protection nation-wide is “very imminent,” new data from Idaho show the ugly face of state wolf management there.
According to an analysis of records obtained by Western Watersheds Project, hunters, trappers, and state and federal agencies have killed 570 wolves in Idaho during a 12-month period from July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020. Included in the mortality are at least 35 wolf pups, some weighing less than 16 pounds and likely only 4 to 6 weeks old. Some of the wolves shattered teeth trying to bite their way out of traps, others died of hyperthermia in traps set by the U.S.D.A. Wildlife Services, and more were gunned down in aerial control actions. The total mortality during this period represented nearly 60 percent of the 2019 year-end estimated Idaho wolf population.
“There is nothing scientific about the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s management, which seems to be guided by anti-wolf hysteria among some members of the ranching and hunting communities, rather than any sort of conservation ethic,” said Talasi Brooks of Western Watersheds Project. “It is cruel, morally and ethically reprehensible, and policy is set through a process which denies conservation interests any voice.”
About 400 wolves have been killed each year in Idaho for the past several years, and the 570 wolves killed in 2019-2020 is record-breaking, perhaps reflecting Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s (IDFG) incentivization of wolf killing. This level of population disruption leads to population-level effects among wolves, including population decline, a younger, destabilized population, and ultimately more livestock conflicts.
“It’s sickening to see how wolves have been slaughtered in Idaho once federal Endangered Species Act protections were lifted,” said Andrea Zaccardi, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “If wolves are delisted nationwide, this cruelty could extend to all wolves within our country’s borders. This treatment of our nation’s wildlife is unacceptable.”
“Idaho’s reckless, violent, massacre of wolves and their pups not only showcases the worst of state wildlife “management,” it shines a light on the darkest corners of humanity. To maim, bludgeon and actively seek to destroy a native animal, that is familial and social by nature, is disgusting,” said Samantha Bruegger, Wildlife Coexistence Campaigner with WildEarth Guardians. “Tragically, the Idaho narrative clearly shows, to the rest of the country, what can happen to wolves if they are delisted from the Endangered Species Act.”
“Idaho is not ‘managing’ wolvesbut is attempting to reduce the state wolf population to the brink of federal relisting while jeopardizing region-wide recovery of a native carnivore. This inhumane mass killing of wolves abuses federal recovery objectives and is one of many reasons why Endangered Species Act protection is so important for gray wolves nationwide,” said Zoe Hanley of Defenders of Wildlife.
IDFG recently announced it had awarded approximately $21,000 in “challenge grants” to the north Idaho-based Foundation 4 Wildlife Management, which reimburses wolf trappers a bounty up to $1,000 per wolf killed. The Foundation also has received funding for wolf bounties from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. A single individual may now kill up to 30 wolves under IDFG hunting and trapping rules—a new increase from the 20 wolves previously allowed.
“It is beyond tragic that Idaho has become the poster child for animal cruelty through their pathological destruction of wolves,” said Brooks Fahy, executive director of Predator Defense. “I find it hard to believe that most Idahoans would approve of this indefensible carnage being carried out on behalf of zealots in the ranching and hunting community. Time and again we see that removing Endangered Species Act protection and allowing states to manage wolves generally leads to mass slaughter.”
“Wolves are a native species and part of our iconic Western wildlife heritage,” said Derek Goldman, Northern Rockies Representative of the Endangered Species Coalition. “It’s deeply disappointing that Idaho Department of Fish and Game is abandoning science and ethics in its zeal to eradicate wolves, when many nonlethal, less-costly approaches to conflict prevention already exist.”
Gray Wolf pups. Photo by Tim Fitzharris.
Other Contact
Andrea Zaccardi, Center for Biological Diversity, (303) 854-7748; Zoe Hanley, Defenders of Wildlife, (509) 774-7357; Brooks Fahy, Predator Defense, (541) 937-4261; Talasi Brooks, Western Watersheds Project, (208) 336-9077; Derek Goldman, Endangered Species Coalition, (406) 370-6491
[Here’s an idea; how about not breeding at all (especially if she wants to be a role model for today’s world). She could always adopt (another dog or cat)…]
“I’m sitting here, I’m like, Do I freeze my eggs? Can I afford to do that?” the New York Democrattold Vanity Fairwith a laugh in a cover story for the magazine’s December issue, published Wednesday.
“My orthodontist was telling me about how she was doing IVF, and I’m, like, asking her what her experience is like,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Two Minnesota duck hunters likely are alive today as a result of good choices they made before and after falling into cold water, and because rescue personnel worked quickly with the tools at hand to ensure a positive outcome.
In both situations – one occurred in Crow Wing County on Oct. 3, the other in Itasca County on Oct. 11 – hunters found themselves in life-or-death struggles after their duck boats capsized. The close calls come amid a year in which 15 people to date have died in boating accidents, the highest number in more than a decade. While most boating-related incidents occur during the summer, a higher percentage of those that occur during the cold-water season are fatal.
“Since this spring, we’ve seen more people participating in outdoor activities than usual, and that has continued into the fall,”…
While our once- beautiful planet Earth dies before our eyes, humans can now begin “opening up real estate”…on the Moon for Water? Never mind that the Arctic is the warmest it’s been in 3 million years—let’s just keep ignoring Human-caused Climate Change: precious forests burning/dying around the West and the world, increasing species extinctions on our doorstep—just keep killing all Earth’s life, until we all are miserable, scrounging environmental refugees on a hot, lifeless planet. Humans are responsible for the massive changes happening today. Yet, we refuse to stop our destructive behaviors. We look to other worlds so we can ruin them as well.
Maybe frigid, barren Mars –or Venus?– with its 800 degree temps, sulfuric acid atmosphere–why not live there, after we ruin Earth?
Chris WoodyardUSA TODAY0:190:49https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.419.0_en.html#goog_720247585
LOS ANGELES — Tens of thousands of residents in California’s Orange County remained under evacuation orders Tuesday as two wildfires continued to threaten upscale neighborhoods.
As morningcame, the Silverado Fire had consumed 17square miles with only 5% containment, prompting an expansion of the evacuation orders to include sections of Mission Viejo, the Orange County Fire Authority reported.
About 70,000 Irvine residents were under evacuation order and another 6,000 in nearby Lake Forest.
To the east, the Blue Ridge Fire has burned about 23¾square miles with no containment as of Tuesday morning. Officials said more than 8,700 homes are under evacuation.
They include 5,958 in the Chino Hills, 2,500 in Yorba Linda and 276 in Brea. Ten Yorba Lindahomes weredamaged by the flames, butno structures had been reported lost in either of the two blazes.
About 1,000 firefighters were battling the Blue Ridge Fire and another…
Climate change is eroding beaches all over the Caribbean – even though the region contributes a tiny fraction of the emissions heating the planetSupported byAbout this content
Christopher Serju in Kingston, Jamaica
Tue 27 Oct 2020 06.00 EDTLast modified on Tue 27 Oct 2020 12.26 EDT
Hellshire beach, Jamaica, in 2008. The beach has largely disappeared since due to erosion. Photograph: Zickie Allgrove/Getty Images
Sunbathing mothers keep an anxious eye out for children enjoying horseback rides, as groups of young men engage in energetic games of beach football and cricket. Further along, a boombox blasts as the smell of fresh fish wafts across the shoreline.
For years, this was the scene at the Hellshire Beach in Portmore, St Catherine, on a public holiday or weekend when Jamaicans and visitors alike would flock to one of the island’s most popular beaches. Today, however, parents no longer bring their children. The horses…
During a 12-month exploration of the ocean around Australia, scientists last week discovered an enormous detached coral reef in the Great Barrier Reef — the first to be discovered in over 120 years. According to the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the reef measures more than 1,640 feet, which is taller than the Empire State Building, the Sydney Tower and the Petronas Twin Towers.
A team of scientists led by Dr. Robin Beaman discovered the massive reef off North Queensland on October 20, before diving to explore it on Sunday. They found that the base of the “blade-like” reef is nearly a mile wide and rises over 1,600 feet to just 130 feet below the ocean’s surface.
“This unexpected discovery affirms that we continue to find unknown structures and new species in our Ocean,” Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Ocean Institute, said in a news release Monday. “The state of our knowledge about what’s in the ocean has long been so limited. Thanks to new technologies that work as our eyes, ears and hands in the deep ocean, we have the capacity to explore like never before. New oceanscapes are opening to us, revealing the ecosystems and diverse life forms that share the planet with us.”
The Great Barrier Reef, the largest in the world, is home to more than 1,600 species of fish and over 400 species of hard corals. But it is facing an ecological catastrophe, as more than 50% of its corals have died in the last 25 years, mostly due to climate change causing mass bleaching events. The reef is at risk of losing its coveted World Heritage status because of ocean warming damaging its health.
But scientists are continuing to explore the mysteries of the Great Barrier Reef — and they aren’t giving up hope that it could be saved.
“To find a new half-a-kilometer tall reef in the offshore Cape York area of the well-recognized Great Barrier Reef shows how mysterious the world is just beyond our coastline,” said Dr. Jyotika Virmani, executive director of Schmidt Ocean Institute. “This powerful combination of mapping data and underwater imagery will be used to understand this new reef and its role within the incredible Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.”
A newly-discovered 500-meter tall detached reef adds to the seven other tall detached reefs in the northern Great Barrier Reef.
© Greg NashOcasio-Cortez discusses family planning, possibly freezing her eggs
