SAN ANTONIO— In response to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, the USDA’s federal animal-killing program known as Wildlife Services today agreed to significantly restrict wildlife trapping and other killing in western and southern Texas. The agreement covers more than 40 counties in the Fort Stockton, Uvalde and Corpus Christi districts.

“This victory provides much-needed relief to the fragile mountain lion and black bear populations that call Texas home,” said Tala DiBenedetto, a carnivore conservation attorney at the Center. “The government shouldn’t be throwing away money to slaughter Texas’s iconic carnivores, especially without knowing what kind of damage its actions may be causing.”

Under today’s court order Wildlife Services must provide, within one year, an environmental assessment that analyzes the effects and risks of its wildlife-killing program in Texas. New information shows that mountain lion numbers are declining in the state, that the southern population is at risk of local extinction and that indiscriminate trapping of mountain lions poses threats to black bears, which are protected as threatened under state law.

Pending completion of the Wildlife Services’ study, the court order imposes several measures to protect wildlife across the three districts. For example, it largely bans Wildlife Services from chasing mountain lions with packs of hounds. It also restricts most uses of indiscriminate body-gripping traps and foot snares, as well as any wildlife killing activites by the program on federal public lands. It further limits the use of neck snares and leghold traps to prevent the accidental trapping of mountain lions and black bears.

The order also places a moratorium on Wildlife Service’s killing of mountain lions in the Corpus Christi and Fort Stockton districts, where too-small mountain lion populations are at risk due to declining genetic diversity and habitat fragmentation. These populations face high levels of explotiation because Texas allows unlimited numbers of mountain lions to be killed year-round.

“I’m hopeful that this win will protect vulnerable mountain lions, black bears and other wildlife from painful injuries and brutal deaths,” said DiBenedetto. “Texans deserve to see their native wildlife continue to live and thrive, not needlessly suffer and die by the hands of paid government killers.”

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members 

 FE Team | Published:  December 21, 2025 00:30:17

Seven elephants killed by train accident in India

NEW DELHI, Dec 20 (AFP): A passenger train smashed into a herd of elephants in India’s northeast, killing seven animals on the spot, officials said Saturday.
No travellers were injured in the accident in Assam state, home to more than 4,000 of the roughly 22,000 wild elephants in India.
Senior Assam police official V.V. Rakesh Reddy told AFP that seven jumbos were killed, and one elephant sustained an injury.
Five coaches of the train, which was headed to New Delhi from remote Mizoram state, were derailed.
Authorities have introduced speed restrictions along routes designated elephant corridors, but the latest accident occurred outside of these zones, Kapinjal Kishore Sharma, an Indian Railways spokesman said.
“The loco pilot, on observing the herd of elephants, applied emergency brakes. However, elephants dashed with the train,” he said.
Deforestation and construction activity near their habitats force elephants to stray further afield for food, often bringing them into conflict with humans.
According to parliamentary figures, 629 people were killed by elephants across India in 2023-2024.

2 hours ago

Police in Miyagi Prefecture say a man in his 80s was found collapsed in a forest on Saturday morning, and later confirmed dead.

They say the man was near a bear that was caught in a trap designed for wild boars. They suspect he may have been attacked by the bear.

Police received a call shortly after 8 a.m. saying a person was found lying on the ground near a boar trap in a forest on a mountain in Taiwa Town.

The caller reportedly said a bear caught in the trap was making it difficult to rescue the person. The caller reportedly had gone to look for a member of a local hunting association who had not come back.

Officers who rushed to the scene found Kato Mitsuo, an 89-year-old resident of Sendai City, unconscious with a head injury. He was later pronounced dead.

Town officials say the 1.3-meter bear was a female adult with its leg caught in the trap. It was later put down.

Police say Kato was a member of the hunting association. They are looking into details of the incident.

 December 18, 2025

By Dan Armitage

Ohio’s fur trapping season is underway with more to come as the statewide seasons for beaver and river otter open December 26. Trapping for fox, raccoon, skunk, opossum, weasel, and mink has been legal since November 10.

Some 11,000 fur taker permits were issued last year, about half the number of permits sold in 2009. The most popular counties for trapping were Putnam with 290 permits, Wayne with 282, and Holmes with 232 fur taker permits tendered.

The most recent fur auction organized by the Ohio State Trappers Association last March saw 635 pelts trading hands for a total of $24,275.55, or an average of $3.94 per pelt. At the lower end of the pay scale, possums brought an average of $.91 per pelt, squirrels $1.25, and raccoons $2.74.

Otter pelts, on the other hand, fetched an average of $33.21, followed by $21 paid per gray fox on average; skunk pelts brought $6.41, and red fox pelts sold for an average of $13.06.… Continue reading