Wildlife

Frogs, toads and other amphibians are vanishing so fast nationwide that if the decline continues at the same rate, they’ll be gone from half their current habitats in 20 years, a federal study has found. U.S. Geological Survey officials unveiled the study, done over a decade, on 48 species at 34 sites from California to Colorado high-country to Florida… Read More

The mustangs run with a spirit that makes them legendary here in the West. On a bitter cold morning, they descend from the Swasey mountains of central Utah and gallop for miles across the plains. Stallions and mares, beautiful and strong, guiding their young. It’s an enthralling scene, but also one that infuriates many Americans. Thundering choppers overhead are driving the wild horses, many… Read More

After five years of delay, the federal government today finally proposed to protect more than 739 miles of critical habitat for threatened loggerhead sea turtles on their nesting beaches along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts. These sea turtles face serious threats to their long-term survival from drowning in fishing nets, loss of nesting beaches due to coastal development and sea-level rise. Read More

Sea otters could be facing a $100 bounty on their adorable little heads if a Republican Senator has his way in Alaska, where eating is evidently a capital offense. Senator Bert Stedman just introduced a bill, SB 60, which would authorize the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to pay a bounty to “harvest” sea otters and comes with a fiscal note for $28,000 to pay for the first year, whic… Read More

Mexican officials have unveiled plans to slaughter some 50,000 wild boars that have crossed the border from the United States and now threaten agriculture in Mexico. The Ministry of Environment in Chihauha state said some 3,700 acres of farmland in the border town of Ojinaga have been affected by the large number of feral pigs that have come from Presidio County,… Read More

Just a decade ago, the wildest creatures in the Forest of Dean were deer, sheep, foxes and badgers. But today there are as many as 600 wild boars roaming the 111 sq km (43 sq miles) of ancient Gloucestershire woodland — and they are breeding so fast that hundreds may have to be culled, according to an assessment by the Forestry… Read More

When the 7-foot-long American alligator first came into the care of the Phoenix Herpetological Society (PHS), a group devoted to reptile conservation, it was clear that his young life was off to a bad start. Likely after a skirmish with a larger counterpart, the rescued gator found himself short a tail and in need of som… Read More

The export of polar bear skins, teeth and paws from Canada will continue unabated after a bitter debate at the world’s biggest wildlife summit ended in defeat for a US proposal to outlaw t… Read More