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July 12, 2000
California condors succumb to lead poisoning from a carcass containing lead shot.  Of 21 endangered condors, five have been found dead in Arizona.  Thirteen have been recaptured and treated.  Wildlife officials are trying to capture the three who are unaccounted for

July 10, 2000
Federal wildlife officials plan to shock wolves to condition them to keep them away from cows.  The much-vaunted wolf-reintroduction program has predictably come up against the stone wall of the cattle industry.  After killing off most of the Sheep Mountain pack, FWS has trapped and penned the four remaining wolves on Ted Turner's ranch in Montana.  Every time they attempt to approach a nearby penned calf, they will receive an electric shock.  As this experiment is being conducted at taxpayer expense, it amounts to yet another subsisdy for the already heavily-subsidized cattle industry.

June 30, 2000
FWS proposes protection for piping plover nesting areas.  In response to a lawsuit by Defenders of Wildlife, the US Fish & Wildlife Service is proposing protection for 189 milesof Great Lakes shoreline and 1672 miles of coastline from the Carolinas to Texas.  The Great Lakes poulation consists of only 32 breeding pairs.  The Atlantic coast populations is down to 1400 pairs listed as "threatened".  More Information including opportunity to comment until September 6 at http://plover.fws.gov

June 26,2000
Federal judge orders observers Hawaian longline fishing boats to protect sea turtles because these fishers were found to be negligent in their responsibility to protect the turtles.  The leatherbacks in particular are highly endangered.  The judge also charged the National Marine and Fisheries Service to prepare an EIS  by April 2001 on the impact of the longline fishery on sea turtles.

June 26, 2000
Desert tortoise population down as much as 80%.  Listing the desert tortoise as a threatened species in 1990 has not halted further decline.  The decline is attributed to off-road vehicles, livestock grazing, mining,
and general development, but more recent deaths seem to be due to stress-induced disease.  The Center for Biological Diversity attributes the further decline to the failure of the Bureau of Land Management's failure to implement a recover plan and is now suing the agency to do so.

June 20, 2000
AP reports that the federal government is expected to announce plans  to reintroduce grizzlies to Idaho.  The plans involve transferring 25 Canadian or American bears over a period of five years into the almost 6,000 square mile Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return wilderness areas in Idaho and Montana.  The project is being opposed by Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne and the state Congressional delegation.  There are 2,000 campsites in the wilderness areas and 100,000 residents and several boy scout camps in the area around the wilderness areas that the bears would be allowed to occupy.

June 17, 2000
The Economist predicts the end of fox hunting in Britain.   While unswayed by arguments that foxes die a cruel death at the teeth of the hounds, columnist Bagehot expects a ban against the sport to pass Parliament because a majority of members oppose it.  Lord Burns', who was assigned to conduct an inquiry, reported that killing a fox with hounds "seriously compromises the welfare of the fox." Bagehot was concerned that the kill should be quick but did not come to terms with the cruelty of the chase itself or that some foxes die from overexertion after a prolonged chase by the slower but strong-on-endurance hounds.  Nor did he mention companion animals savaged and killed by the hounds or the hounds killed on roads and railroads while intent upon the chase.  Instead, he deplored the effect on some elements of rural society that revolves around hunting, and the loss of jobs if packs were disbanded and hunters decided not to keep horses.  MP Gordon Prentice commented: "The real distinction is not between town and country, but between the people who relish killing for fun and those who, like me, are repelled by it,"  Neither Bagehot or Burns seemed to realize that "controlling" the fox population by whatever means resulted in accelerating the birth rate with no lasting effect on the population.

June 6, 2000
Extinction by 2007 feared for Indian elephant.  Only 800 mature bull elephants remain compared to 5,000 10 years ago.  Poachers are killing c. 10% of the population annually.  They are after their tusks, and bull have the biggest tusks.  Training methods that torture the animals into submission cause the deaths of half the trainees according to India's Minister of Sodial Justice and Empowerment.  Other factors are logging and loss of habitat to human development.  This situation is especially tragic in view of the high intelligence of these animals.

June 1, 2000
Pacific leatherback turtles close to extinction.  Researchers estimate that at the present rate of decline only 50 female turtles will come ashore to deposit their eggs at Playa Grande, Costa Rica in 2010, and that's not enough to sustain the population in the wild.  In 1988-89, 1,367 females nested at Playa Grande, but only 117 in 1998-99.  On Mexican beaches the population was less than 250 in 1998-99, down from 70,000 in 1982.  Richard Reina, a marine biologist at Drexel University, called for reforms in the fishing industry.  As it is fishers are paid by the boatload which discourages them from taking time to free entangled turtles.  In the meantime, he  urged governments to continue to protect nesting beaches and support hatcheries.  When mature, leatherback turtles are five feet long and weigh an average 1000 pounds.

May 2000
Cormorants found slaughtered on Little Charity Island in the Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge.  Investigators estimated that c. 500 nesting and brooding double crested cormorants were shot, many while sheltering their young.  The slaughter is under criminal investigation with the miscreants subject to a $5,000 fine or 6 months in jail if caught.  Authorities said the slaughter has interfered with their study of the effects of the burgeoning cormorant population on other species.


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