Free Republic

Gun control advocates used plight of iconic California condor to push legislation. A pro-hunting group is up in arms after obtaining emails that it says indicate that a federal official withheld critical data on lead blood levels in the California condor until after gun control advocates in the California state legislature used the iconic bird’s plight to help push through a law last year to ban lead ammunition. ... Lawrence Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel, accused the Fish and Wildlife Service of deliberately sitting on the report in order to bolster the chances of passage of Assembly...

HELENA, Mont. — Eight years after federal biologist Ed Bangs began reintroducing gray wolves into the northern Rockies, the wolf may be taken off the federal endangered species list within a year. Within two years, if all goes according to plan, the grizzly bear population that lives in and near Yellowstone National Park also will be taken off the list. And far to the south, National Park Service biologists Elaine Leslie and Chad Olson are eagerly awaiting a critical step in the effort to bring California condors back to the Grand Canyon area. Sometime in October, the first chick hatched...

<p>FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - An avid hunter was sentenced Friday to 60 months probation and ordered to pay $20,000 for killing a California condor protected under the Endangered Species Act. Britton Cole Lewis, 29, of Tehachapi, also must perform 200 hours of community service.</p>

Hunter Sentenced For Killing Condor Lewis To Serve Probation, Pay $20,000 Fine A hunter from Tehachapi has been sentenced to five years probation for killing a California condor. Britton Lewis, (pictured, left), was also ordered to pay $20,000 fine for killing the endangered bird. Lewis pleaded guilty in May to shooting the condor. He was charged under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which carries less severe penalties than the Endangered Species Act. Lewis said he did not know anything about the condors and did not know they were endangered. He said he wished he could take back what he...