Free Republic

polar bear populations are declining in some areas, are stable in others, but are increasing in some parts. The total population in Canada, where two-thirds of the world's polar bears live, is estimated at 15,500..... The world Population of Polar Bears is 22,000 to 25,000. 50 years ago the world Population of Polar Bears was about 5,000 to 8,000.SUMMARY of: Movements and Population Dynamics of Polar Bears Steven C. Amstrup USGS circa 2002The continuing growth in polar bear numbers, the continuing trend in proportion of dens on land, and perhaps changing freeze-up conditions in the last decade all may be...

Stepping gingerly back into the thicket of gun politics, some Democrats are offering up a few proposals to make them less on the defensive on an issue that many claim cost former Vice President Al Gore and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the presidency. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., spoke at a National Wildlife Federation briefing Wednesday afternoon, pushing efforts to expand conservation areas for hunting and fishing grounds as well as better protection of the environment for sportsmen. "Sportsmen have been stereotyped as concerned with one issue: guns. But if you listen to sportsmen as I...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Authorities cut open a slain bear and found a shoe lost by a Florida man while fighting off a bear that attacked his 8-year-old son in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The footwear was discovered in the black bear's stomach during a necropsy at the University of Tennessee Veterinary Medical Center, Smokies spokeswoman Nancy Gray said Monday. < snip > John Pala, a 43-year-old health insurance salesman from Boca Raton with no backwoods experience, literally ran out of his shoes racing to the aid of his young son Evan when the bear pounced on the boy...

It is likely that it will be two or three years before Wisconsin could have a wolf-hunting season, according to a Department of Natural Resources wolf expert. DNR Conservation Biologist Adrian Wydeven said the state's wolf population has stabilized and the number of attacks on livestock decreased in 2007, although more farms are reporting wolf depredation problems. He said a hunting season with an annual harvest goal of 30 to 50 wolves could be part of the long-range solution to control the wolf population. Mr. Wydeven and UW-Madison Wildlife Ecology Professor Tim Van Deelen updated Wisconsin's Natural Resources Board on...

The Associated Press reported Monday details of a proposal by the Interior and Commerce departments that would change how the 1973 law is implemented, allowing federal agencies to decide for themselves - without seeking the opinions of government wildlife experts - whether dams, highways and other projects have the potential to harm endangered species and habitats. Current law requires federal agencies to consult with experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service if a project poses so much as a remote risk to species or habitats. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne defended the changes in a call...

WASHINGTON, DC, August 12, 2008 (ENS) - The Bush administration has proposed sweeping changes to the Endangered Species Act, releasing a plan to give federal agencies the authority to decide without expert consultation whether their activities could harm endangered and threatened species. Administration officials contend the proposal will make the law easier to implement, but critics say the plan would undermine federal protection of imperiled plants and animals. Announced Monday by the head of the U.S. Interior Department, the proposed changes would relax the current requirement that federal agencies consult with federal wildlife experts to ensure activities they undertake or...

NEW CASTLE — A man shot and killed a mountain lion north of New Castle Tuesday night after the animal came too close to him and his wife, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Randy Hampton, a spokesman for the DOW, said the agency received a call about the shooting a little after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. The man and his wife were out for a walk in the area when the mountain lion came out of the brush and was in a "crouch position," Hampton said. The couple's names were not immediately available late Wednesday. "(The mountain lion) began...

The state of Alaska has sued the U.S. government, arguing that listing polar bears as a threatened species will hurt Alaskan oil and gas exploration, fisheries and tourism. The lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in Washington, seeks the withdrawal of a May 14 decision to list the big Arctic bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because climate change is melting their sea ice habitat. "We believe that the ... decision to list the polar bear was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available," Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said in a statement. Polar bears...

The new census tallied more than 125,000 western gorillas in two adjacent areas in the northern part of the country, covering an area of 18,000 square miles (47,000 square kilometers). Previous estimates from the 1980s placed the entire population of western lowland gorillas, which occur in seven Central African nations, at fewer than 100,000. Since then, however, scientists had believed that this number had dwindled by at least half, due to hunting and disease... The new census was the result of intensive fieldwork carried out by the Bronx Zoo-based WCS and the Government of Republic of Congo. The researchers combed...

<p>Wildlife researchers said Tuesday that they've discovered 125,000 western lowland gorillas deep in the forests of the Republic of Congo, calling it a major increase in the animal's estimated population.</p> <p>The Wildlife Conservation Society, based at New York's Bronx Zoo, and the Republic of Congo said their census counted the newly discovered gorillas in two areas of the northern part of the country covering 18,000 square miles. Previous estimates, dating to the 1980s, put the number of western lowland gorillas at less than 100,000.</p>

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia has banned imports of an exotic breed of cat, calling it an extreme risk to the country's native wildlife, a minister said Sunday. So-called "Savannah" cats are a cross between domestic cats and an African wildcat known as the serval. They tend to be spotted with slightly larger ears than other cats and have become popular with some cat-lovers. But environmentalists fear they retain the strong hunting instincts of their African ancestors and could interbreed with millions of feral cats already in Australia, which have wrought havoc on the country's indigenous wildlife. "The risks associated with...

A years-long legal battle for a La Jolla cove may be ending – but for activists on both sides, the seal saga goes on. ___ The air is thick with the stench of seal poop – a scent as sour as the years-long battle for this tiny piece of shoreline. For over a decade, it’s been the pinnipeds vs. the people in a fight for control, with activists on both sides using everything from heckling and restraining orders to lawsuits and a stun gun to draw and redraw their respective lines in the sand. Seals have been gathering here since...

Modern horses, zebras, and asses belong to the genus Equus, the only surviving genus in a once diverse family, the Equidae. Based on fossil records, the genus appears to have originated in North America about 4 million years ago and spread to Eurasia (presumably by crossing the Bering land bridge) 2 to 3 million years ago. Following that original emigration, there were additional westward migrations to Asia and return migrations back to North America, as well as several extinctions of Equus species in North America.

Terrified workers at a mining compound in one of Russia's most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues. At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week. The co-workers at the compound in the Olyotorsky district are trapped and frightened: the gruesome discovery has left them too scared to venture out. A team of snipers, with orders to shoot...

Terrified workers at a mining compound in one of Russia's most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues. At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week. The Kamchatka brown bear is one of the world's largest, with males growing to around 10 feet and weighing up to 1,540 pounds. They can also reach speeds of up to 30...

Bears Trap Geologists In Russia By Sky News SkyNews - Tuesday, July 22 03:07 pm At least 30 hungry bears have trapped a group of geologists at their remote survey site in Russia's far east after killing two of their co-workers last week. (Advertisement) The team of geologists on Russia's seismically active Kamchatka peninsula refused to leave their camp after the bears showed up, a spokesman for the region's emergency services ministry said. He said: "In the interests of safety they didn't come out to work - the people are scared by the invasion of bears." A bear killed two...

Bears and mountain lions are getting into trees, trash and backyards all over Colorado, lured by the smell of easy prey and free meals. They're getting smarter, they're getting fatter, and they're getting killed more frequently, thanks to the thoughtlessness of the humans living in their midst, say Colorado Division of Wildlife officials. In the northeastern quadrant of the state, which includes metro Denver, there have been some 47 reports of human-bear encounters since April. A remarkable number of them involve hummingbird feeders, trash left outside, steaks left on the barbecue, garage doors left open. In Aspen and numerous other...

A mountain lion is chased up a tree in downtown Palo Alto. Another one is shot after mauling a Chihuahua at a Watsonville mobile home park. In Los Gatos, a lion hits a car while trying to cross Summit Road. Peninsula and Silicon Valley residents rarely ponder the lives of mountain lions trying to survive in the Santa Cruz Mountains. But urban development — the razing of habitat for homes, roads and parking lots — is the chief obstacle the wild cats face every day as they hunt for deer and fulfill their instinct to roam hundreds of miles, looking...

Gray wolves in the greater Yellowstone area of the northern Rocky Mountains, which would have been fair game for hunters in three states as a result of a federal government decision in March, were again put under the protections of the Endangered Species Act by a judge in Montana on Friday. The action by the judge, Donald W. Molloy of Federal District Court, took the form of a preliminary injunction and could be reversed. But Judge Molloy’s language showed serious reservations about the Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to remove endangered species protections for the wolves. Environmental groups, including Defenders...

The astonishing spectacle of a leopard savaging a crocodile has been captured for the first time on camera. Seven more pics at the link. I figured that posting them all would be a no-no.

<p>A Canadian woman died last year after stepping barefoot on several caterpillars, doctors reported in a teaching case published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.</p> <p>The 22-year old woman from Alberta died 10 days after stepping on five caterpillars while on a trip to northeastern Peru.</p>

A part-albino Golden Eagle has been found in Southern Colorado and 850KOA has obtained exclusive, copyright photos of the bird just before he was transferred to the Nature and Raptor Center of Pueblo. The male eagle is thin and is being treated for parasites. The eagle's feathers are in such poor condition that it cannot fly. However, Raptor Center Director Diana Miller believes the rare eagle will recover and will be released in the Hoehne area in about three months. The eagle was found in the Pinon Canyon area of Southeastern Colorado by Rancher Tony Hass. His wife, Connie, took...

Australia's iconic Tasmanian devils have started having sex at a younger age since the advent of a deadly disease which threatens to wipe out the species. Data collected before and after the cancer-causing disease appeared showed a 16-fold increase in early sexual behaviour. Scientists fear the disease, which causes facial tumours, could lead to the marsupial carnivore's extinction within 20 to 25 years. "We have found that devils are compensating for the disease by breeding early -- there is a 16-fold increase in the number breeding at the age of one year," The Tasmanian devil is restricted to the island...

An aggressive black bear was shot and killed in a remote section of Denali National Park by park staffers on July 4... The black bear had threatened the life and safety of three park employees ... Three seasonal National Park Service technicians were conducting a botany field study along the remote river when a sub-adult black bear approached their camp ... The three tried to scare it away by yelling, waving their arms and throwing objects at the bear. After being chased off into dense brush, the bear circled back to the camp three or four times. At one point,...

In the Rockies today, a lawsuit is filed to stop energy leasing on Colorado's Roan Plateau, the public gets more time to weigh in on a change in national parks' gun policy, and the BLM rounds up hundreds of horses in Nevada. Ten environmental groups have sued the Bureau of Land Management to keep energy leases on Colorado's Roan Plateau from being auctioned off on Aug. 14. The leases are opposed by hunters and anglers who said wells present a danger to the plateau's wildlife habitat.Groups sue to stop energy leases on Colorado plateauA proposal to change gun policy in...

Three Berea men are among the ten men that were arrested earlier this week on charges of illegally buying, selling and possessing wildlife. 30-year-old Brian Fryer, 46-year-old John Rowland and 21-year-old Jerrod Allen were all arrested as part of a two year investigation by state wildlife officials called "Twice Shy." Members of Fryer's family told 27 NewsFirst that they believe he captured the snakes in the wild and took them to services at the Harmon's Lick Holiness Church in Berea. They also say they doubt Fryer had any idea that he was doing anything illegally. Fellow church members also describe...

Washington state wildlife biologists who conducted a "howling survey" believe a gray wolf pack may be living in western Okanogan County. Washington state wildlife biologists who conducted a "howling survey" believe a gray wolf pack may be living in western Okanogan County. Biologists conducted the survey in the area on July 7. They made wolf-like howls in several areas, and heard both adult and juvenile howls in response. The Department of Fish and Wildlife says that if confirmed, it would be Washington's first known resident wolf pack since the species disappeared from the state in the 1930s. While individual wolves...

Check out this scary video of a burglar stealing a family’s carpet. If anyone finds a carpet on ebay matching the rug in the video, please report it to the local authorities.

Whoops forgot link...APALACHICOLA, Fla. (CBS) - A Florida Fish and Wildlife biologist pulled off a daring rescue Saturday in the Panhandle: He rescued a bear with his bare hands. Officials say a 375-pound male black bear was seen roaming a residential neighborhood near Alligator Point, a neighborhood of about 100 homes on a small peninsula about 40 miles south of Tallahassee. The bear was hit with a tranquilizer dart, but he managed to bolt.. http://boknowsonline.com/2008/07/02/bear-ly-saved/

Okeechobee - Kasey Edwards said he never paid "too much mind" to alligators swimming in canals in Okeechobee County. But early Sunday morning, an 11½-foot alligator had his full attention as Edwards, 18, struggled to free his left arm from the jaws of the reptile. "It's a very surreal feeling. You know, feeling like you're about to die here and you know, praying to God," Edwards said. "I have to give all the credit to God for keeping me out there." He got away with his life and the gator with his left arm.

People in the Silver City/Pinos Altos, New Mexico, vicinity are nervously looking over their shoulders these days, fearing they may be the next meal for a mountain lion prowling the area... On Friday, the body of Robert Nowojski, 55, was found about 75 yards from his Pinos Altos home, severely mauled and partly fed upon. The animal would not leave until Game and Fish officers shot at it. Although not yet confirmed with an autopsy, authorities suspect the lion is responsible for the fatal attack. Hunters with hounds are now tracking the animal. Several people reported sightings of the mountain...

Are the ices of the Arctic north about to melt away for good? Rami Abdelrahman gets the views of a range of Swedish researchers. Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria is one of a number of Scandinavian royals making for the Arctic archipelago on the Swedish ice-breaker Oden this weekend to participate in an event to coincide with and promote International Polar Year. But will there even be a need for such ice-breaking vessels in years to come? Many commentators would have us believe that glaciers and ocean ice are about to go the way of the dodo. Upon their arrival at...

This animation is to reveal how demoralizing it must be to wildlife in hunting season’s first day.

A peregrine falcon named Cielo has died after the 2-month-old bird likely crashed into San Jose City Hall where she and her family have been living on a ledge. She is believed to have died late Monday night or early Tuesday morning after being driven to an animal hospital that specializes in birds on Monday morning. Cielo's siblings, Meyye and Mercury, are alive and well. In fact, her sister and brother, respectively, are flying about, and expected to leave the nest - literally - sometime this summer. The falcon family has drawn widespread interest from bird watchers throughout the world...

Less than a month after declaring polar bears a threatened species because of global warming, the Bush administration is giving oil companies permission to annoy and potentially harm them in the pursuit of oil and natural gas.The Fish and Wildlife Service issued regulations this week providing legal protection to seven oil companies planning to search for oil and gas in the Chukchi Sea off the northwestern coast of Alaska if "small numbers" of polar bears or Pacific walruses are incidentally harmed by their activities over the next five years.Environmentalists said the new regulations give oil companies a blank check to...

A man from B.C.'s Interior not only survived being mauled by a grizzly — he killed the bear as well. John Shorter, 38, was hiking near Dease Lake in Northern B.C. Tuesday when he said he smelled a bear in the area. "I heard a woofing sound, turned, seen a grizz coming at me. I managed to get my rifle up and get one round into the chest.… At that point he got on top of me, obviously, and took me down," Shorter said. "He proceeded to try to maul me in the back of the scalp and on the...

Last night's two hotel guests relaxing in a hot tub in Ouray looked up to find there was another guest in the tub- a bear. The hotel says the bear was just inches away from one guest. Both the guest and the bear got the scare of their lives, the guest screamed and the bear ran and dove into the swimming pool. The Bear made his escape after swimming across the pool The Ouray Police Department says five to six bears have roaming the streets. Even walking down Main Street during the day.

PORTAGE (AP) - The alleged thrill-killing of as many as 600 animals in Columbia and Marquette counties is the worst case in the nation this year, according to the Humane Society of the United States. Josh Kerl, 21, of Portage, and Adam Stalsberg, 22, of Neshkoro, are accused of using a rifle and spotlight to shoot animals from their vehicle in the past year, and HSUS leaders say they want meaningful fines, permanent revocation of hunting licenses and restitution for the deaths of protected animals. "The amount of animals killed and the wide variety of animals involved in this case...

Conservationists who oppose the removal of wolves from under federal protection - and who call the delisting unlawful - sought an emergency injunction Thursday to stop the animals' killing. Last month, a coalition of 11 environmental groups sued the U.S. Department of the Interior in an effort to keep gray wolves in the Northern Rockies region on the endangered species list. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director H. Dale Hall announced the delisting decision in February, and it took effect March 28, divesting the gray wolf of its Endangered Species Act protections. Without those protections, environmentalists say, the gray wolf...

Bringing the wolves back to the Rockies has been a huge success story. So why are we allowed to gun them down?May. 27, 2008 | In Yellowstone National Park's Lamar Valley, the return of gray wolves has turned the wild canines into celebrities. At dusk, scope-toting wildlife watchers and photographers stake out the valley to observe the crepuscular predators. One of the most popular wolves in the valley, known to wildlife biologists as 253M, won the affectionate nickname Limpy, because of a pronounced limp from an injury. Born to the Druid Peak pack, Limpy was wounded in a fierce fight...

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2865856.html Car thieves trapped by pigs A pair of teenage German car thieves ended up calling police for help after they were cornered by a herd of wild boar. Dieter Meier and Reiner Klose, both 18, had abandoned a stolen car and run into thick forests after being chased by cops in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania region. They managed to lose the officers and planned to wait until the next morning but were charged at by a herd of wild boar. They climbed up a tree but the animals would not go away and eventually they had to call police. They...

Wildlife officers said they're looking for a mountain lion that was reported this morning peeking into the cafeteria window at the Boulder Community Hospital, 1100 Balsam Ave. Officers, who are searching in the area of west Mapleton Avenue, said they've not been able to locate the cat. The Mount Sanitas trailhead, which starts just west of the intersection of Fourth Street and Mapleton Avenue, has been temporarily closed while rangers scour the area for the animal. Tuesday, officers with the Colorado Division of Wildlife tranquilized a lion spotted napping under the porch of a home at 755 Pleasant St. That...

Remember the lone, wandering cougar that was shot and killed by Chicago police?Some wildlife experts say it may not have been alone and may not have wandered so far. Are government officials in the Midwest covering up a dangerous and growing cougar population? In some places, they're called mountain lions. Around here, they're known as cougars. There are questions about whether government officials here in the Midwest are waging "the great cougar cover-up" by ignoring evidence and disavowing the wild cats' existence. We know how one cougar's journey ended in the back yard of a Roscoe Village home. But Illinois...

A preventive war worked out so well in Iraq that Washington last week launched another. The new preventive war -- the government responding forcefully against a postulated future threat -- has been declared on behalf of polar bears, the first species whose supposed jeopardy has been ascribed to global warming. The Interior Department, bound by the Endangered Species Act, has declared polar bears a "threatened" species because they might be endangered "in the foreseeable future," meaning 45 years. (Note: 45 years ago, the now-long-forgotten global cooling menace of 35 years ago was not yet foreseen.) The bears will be threatened...

Wildlife officials are still trying to figure out what kind of animal attacked Jose Salazar Jr. in the Sandia Mountains Saturday evening. The 5-year-old suffered a torn scalp and puncture wounds around his neck and arms. He underwent surgery at the University of New Mexico Hospital and is expected to fully recover. Now officials want to know if he was attacked by a mountain lion, bobcat, or bear. Rio Grande Zoo mammal curator Lynn Tupa has a few ideas about what could have mauled Salazar. She said it was most likely a mountain lion. "It was probably an immature cub...

Vernon Byrd was on an all-terrain vehicle in a field off Johnson Road last Tuesday when he said an 8-foot-long snake reared up beside him – and the serpent's head was about shoulder high to him. "I caught something out of my eye, and this snake comes up beside me and looked at me," Byrd said. "I've seen every kind of snake in this part of the country, but I've never seen a snake like this." He called Freddie Mims, a licensed wildlife rescue agent, who said the description of the snake sounded like a king cobra, the world's largest...

As gay couples celebrate their newfound right to marry in California and opposition groups rally to fight the ruling, many struggle with this question: Is homosexuality natural? On this issue, Nature has spoken: Same-sex lovin' is common in hundreds of species, scientists say. Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at New York's Central Park Zoo, were a couple for about six years, during which they nurtured a fertilized egg together (given to them by a zookeeper) and raised the young chick that hatched. According to University of Oslo zoologist Petter Böckman, about 1,500 animal species are known to practice...

A 210-pound alligator fought the law and the law won. But not before the 8-foot reptile sent the Volusia County sheriff's deputy who jumped it to the hospital. Deputy Keith Baughman intended to protect people from the alligator roaming an apartment complex ... so the lawman threw a towel over the gator's eyes and climbed onto its back. And that turned out to be the wrong tactic. The alligator threw off Baughman, then quickly snagged the deputy's left leg in its large jaws... As the alligator clamped down, Deputy Jason Stickels did what he could to free his fellow officer...

The video shot in Jack Foerschler’s barn shows his flock of sheep lying quietly in the dark... The flock seems peaceful, until the animals are suddenly startled. A nanosecond later, a blur leaps into the screen and tackles one of the sheep. The ewe is able to escape momentarily, jumping up from the creature’s clutches, running to the viewer’s left. But the invader is faster. It bounds to its feet and extends a claw toward its fleeing prey. The viewer can see its massive claws, slender muscular body and distinctively long tail. The culprit that killed four ewes, a ram...

Thursday is the deadline set by a federal judge in Alaska for the Fish and Wildlife Service to decide whether the polar bear is a threatened or endangered species. All the evidence shows the polar bear doesn’t need his help. Environmental groups petitioned for such a listing and sued when a decision was not forthcoming by the deadline. They claimed that global warming had already diminished polar ice, would continue to do so and doom the estimated 23,000 or so bears to extinction by perhaps 2050. If the bears were listed, the service would be obliged to designate “critical habitat.”...