Free Republic

Planted Lynx Fur In Habitat Survey Upsets Legislators Associated Press Monday, December 31, 2001 Lawmakers want an investigation into whether government wildlife biologists planted lynx fur in two national forests to make it appear that the animals were present so that people would be kept out. The Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service are tracking the rare Canadian lynx to determine how many there are and where they live. Data from the four-year survey will be used to determine how best to protect the lynx, which is classified as "threatened." During the 2000 sampling session, biologists planted three samples ...

WHISTLER, British Columbia -- A local lynx padded across the Winter Olympic downhill course Wednesday while a training session was halted because of fog. "Get out of the way," Canadian downhiller Manuel Osborne-Paradis said. "Oh wow -- you do not want to get close to that." Fortunately for the orange-and-black lynx and the skiers, the session was already on hold due to low visibility and none of the Olympic athletes encountered the four-legged feline. Still, officials broadcast a warning over the race radio to make sure no skiers were on the course and eventually the lynx hopped over the barriers...

When XCOR Aerospace last week unveiled the design of its suborbital spacecraft, intended to offer a glimpse of black sky and the Earth below to space tourists, one of those excited about the opportunity to experience what few have before was Esther Dyson. Dyson, of EDventure Holdings, ... is one of the investors who will help make it possible. Dyson is an angel investor, an individual who provides seed money for a young company, typically bridging the gap between self-funding and the later, larger investment by venture capitalists. "She has a knack for finding what's new and different in technology,"...

Bringing back animals which were hunted to extinction in Britain - including the wolf, lynx, beaver and wild boar - would not be difficult, according to a new report. The animals could be brought back to live free in the wild without posing any great threat to people, crops or the environment, it is claimed. A report from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford University (WCRU) said while further work needed to be done on their impact, there was no obvious reason to block their return. The animals roaming free in remote areas would enhance the natural environment and...

Political bullying in original plan triggers review of cats’ protection. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will revisit its Canada lynx-protection plan after acknowledging that a political appointee may have influenced scientific decisions. The 2006 lynx-protection plan is one of eight decisions that may have been politically influenced by former Interior Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald. MacDonald resigned after the Interior Department's inspector general found she had "bullied, insulted and harassed the professional staff to change documents and alter biological reporting." "We need to make sure that the final decisions are based on the science," said Diane Katzenberger, a...

A Kingston man who settled a medical malpractice lawsuit for $11 million 18 months ago is wanted by authorities in connection with the theft of a pregnant Canadian lynx, an animal on the endangered species list. William Franklin Bobbett, 28, of 169 Division St., is accused of robbing the exotic animal business of Robert Derr in Mount Pleasant Township, Columbia County, on April 13. The animal was recovered by the state Game Commission when it was found April 18 in a tree behind a home on Lance Road in Plymouth. Derr said the animal lost its unborn kittens most likely...

Officials have confirmed the presence of a Canada lynx in Vermont for the first time in nearly 40 years. Wildlife biologists from Vermont and New Hampshire identified a set of lynx tracks in a state wildlife management area in Victory on Feb. 7. The Canada lynx is native to Vermont, but the population has always been small. The last time a lynx was spotted in Vermont was in 1968. "It is great to see this once-native species again in Vermont," said Paul Hamelin, a state wildlife biologist in St. Johnsbury. "There have been a few unconfirmed reports of lynx in...

Media coverage of environmental regulators makes them look like dispassionate scientists. But too often they are dangerous religious fanatics. Years ago, when ranchers and farmers told me that our government's environmental regulatory agencies had been captured by fanatics so hostile to the idea of private property that they'd use the endangered-species law to drive just about every landowner off his land, I thought they were overwrought. Then I learned the story of the lynx. Thousands of lynx live in North America, but since environmental officials weren't sure whether there were any in the Gifford Pinchot and Wenatchee National Forests in...

Thirteen-year-old twins Lamb and Lynx Gaede have one album out, another on the way, a music video, and lots of fans. They may remind you another famous pair of singers, the Olsen Twins, and the girls say they like that. But unlike the Olsens, who built a media empire on their fun-loving, squeaky-clean image, Lamb and Lynx are cultivating a much darker personna. They are white nationalists and use their talents to preach a message of hate. Known as "Prussian Blue" — a nod to their German heritage and bright blue eyes — the girls from Bakersfield, Calif., have been...

Laughable lynx lore Back in the previous century, before Coloradans learned the ways of the lynx, environmentalists used to entertain the rest of us by arguing that expansion of the Vail ski resort could jeopardize habitat critical to the survival of that species - which by then hadn't been spotted here in more than a quarter-century. The premise seemed to be that lynx, if they existed, were immobile, unable to move a few hundred feet into vast reaches of land indistinguishable from the tiny slivers coveted by skiers

WYMAN TOWNSHIP -- A hungry bobcat that thought a frail, older house cat sunning himself on a porch might make an easy meal didn't reckon with its 90-year-old owner. Mildred Luce, who raised eight children and was used to being self-sufficient in this rural township 21 miles north of Kingfield, didn't think twice when she looked outside and saw her beloved cat's head locked inside the wildcat's mouth. "I heard a scuffling outside and when I looked out, I saw the bobcat lying on its side facing Smudge with her head in its mouth," Luce said from her Route 27...

Killed, froze and shot lynxA man stands accused of violating hunting and animal preservation laws after he allegedly killed one with a knife, froze hit and then shot the corpse in a forest during hunting season.The lynx was likely taken before the hunting season began in Enebakk, in Akershus County. Authorities then believe the man transported the dead animal south to neighboring Østfold County, where the quota of lynx was not yet taken, NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) reports.But when the predator administrator checked the animal, he suspected foul play."The man was a bit unwilling to display the animal. After a bit...

Finland wants wolf huntFinland has appealed to the European Union for permission to kill wolves that cause problems for their human population.A Finnish delegation lead by EU parliamentarian Henrix Lax asked the EU's environment commissioner Stavros Dimas for the right to shoot wolves and presented a petition signed by 21,000 Finns, newspaper Dagsavisen reports.The EU Commission ruled in January that Finland would stand trial for their wolf hunt.Lax said that it was incomprehensible that Finland's EU membership meant that citizens had to live in fear of wolves," Finnish Broadcasting YLE reported.

Moose rings twiceIt was too early to be the postman, and a family in Buvikåsen found instead that their unexpected visitor was from the animal kingdom.The family had barely risen from their beds when they heard the doorbell chime on a frosty morning during the winter holidays last week.The man of the house, which is on the edge of a forest, tried to spot who their unexpected visitor could be, but the view of the front door was blocked by a veranda roof - but he could hear heavy breathing from the entrance stairs, newspaper Trønderbladet reports.At this point the...

UNDER attack from Iraqi insurgents, his co-pilot riddled with bullets, Australian army helicopter pilot Captain Scott Watkins had just seconds to save his colleague and their damaged chopper. The insrgents, hiding in a line of palm tress near the British base of Camp Dogwood, south of Baghdad,had strafed the British army Lynx helicopter with small arms fire. Captain Watkins had miraculously escaped the gunfire, but his British co-pilot, flying the chopper at the time, was shot in the chest and lay slumped over the controls.

It was more than two years ago that Russ Lawrence shot and killed what he thought was an unusually large coyote one moonlit night. Or perhaps some sort of wolf-dog hybrid. FEATURED ADVERTISER 04 VUE FWD 4 w/Sports Plus Pkg $220 mo. / 47 mos. $8024 48th pymt. Tax, title, reg. extra. .27% APR / $0 Down - Learn more - State environmental officials agreed, but then, just last month, federal wildlife agents came to his door -- and demanded that he turn over the pelt from the 85-pound male canid he had hung on his porch. It turns out...

A biologist has confirmed the sighting of a real Michigan wolverine, about 200 years after the species was last seen in the state that uses the small but ferocious animal as its unofficial nickname. Coyote hunters spotted a wolverine near Ubly, about 90 miles north of Detroit. Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Arnie Karr saw the forest predator Tuesday and snapped pictures of the animal as it ran out of the woods and across a field. The wolverine, a member of the weasel family that grows to about 25 pounds but is ferocious enough to fight off bears...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 November 5 The Lynx Arc Credit: R.A.E. Fosbury (ESA/ST-ECF), et al., ESA, NASA, NOAO Explanation: While chasing the spectrum of a mysterious arc in a cluster of galaxies within the obscure northerly constellation Lynx, astronomers have stumbled upon the most massive and distant star-forming region ever discovered. The notably red "Lynx arc" lies right of center in this color image of the galaxy cluster, a composite of...

In December 2001, The Washington Times reported that employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had planted lynx fur on rubbing posts in two national forests in Washington State to make it appear as if lynx were there in order to compel closure of those forests. Western U.S. Representatives were livid; Congressman Scott McInnis (R-CO), Chairman of the House Forests and Forest Health Subcommittee, launched a congressional investigation. Months later the story is still making news, most recently when environmental groups defended the FWS employees and attacked the investigation as “a witch hunt.” Days ago, The Washington Post...

<p>The General Accounting Office reported yesterday that government scientists knew they should not have submitted falsely labled samples into a national lynx survey and that some supervisors were aware but took no action.</p> <p>"They all admitted they knew it wasn't in the protocol, they weren't allowed to do this," said Ronald Malfi, acting managing director of the GAO office of special investigations.</p>