The US Navy is considering more low frequency active sonar (LFAS) testing around the Azores, c. 1,000 miles west of Portugal, despite 17 documented cetacean strandings in the Bahama area trials in March and unusual strandings and deaths, in previous trials off the California coast, Hawaii and Greece.  Perfidious navy officers succeeded in getting a lawsuit dismissed by convincing the judge that navy was planning no more trials.

Species are dying out faster than science can count according to Sir Robert May, scientific adviser to British Government. He deplored the lack of taxonomists and lack of funding, for studies identifying new species before they disappear.  Less than 15% of the world's species have been catalogued.  With the present number of taxonomists, Prof. Paul Henderson estimated it would take 600 years to complete to complete the survey.

Leatherback sea turtles  are rapidly approaching extinction.  Their numbers were down from 115,000 in 1982  to 24,500 in 1996 primarily due to commercial fishing's drift nets, gill nets, and longline industrial fishing methods. It looks as if it will take an overhaul of fishing methods plus protection of nesting beaches to save this slow-maturing species.

Plans to move an American airbase threaten Okinawa's remnant of its rare dugong population living on the  northern part of the island that has been set aside as a nature sanctuary.  Dugongs are close relatives of the Florida manatees.  US armed forces already have several large military bases on the island.

The Buffalo Field Campaign, whose members have tried to protect buffalo leaving Yellowstone National Park from the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL),  The Ecology Center and Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers, filed suit for a temporary restraining order under the Endangered Species Act to stop DOL, the Forest Service and National Park Service from hazing buffalo with helicopters on Horse Butte, illegally harming bald eagle nests. The suit was denied after the agencies announced they would stop hazing with helicopters in the Horse Butte area, which is important to other species such as grizzly, wolf, lynx, wolverine, trumpeter swan, and boreal owl.  Another  lawsuit to remove DOL's permit to haze with helicopters anywhere is contemplated. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) eliminated the White Cloud wolf pack by shooting 3 of the remaining 4 wolves after a rancher complained about predation on calves.   A pregnant female escaped, but without the support of remaining pack members, she is unlikely to survive. This is the third wolf pack FWS has eliminated in Idaho in six months rendering the wolf reintroduction program inane as well as cruel.  Meanwhile, employees of Wildlife Services, formerly called Animal Damage Control (or more appropriately just "Wildlife Damage), continue to wage their ongoing war against wildlife on both public and private land for the perceived benefit of livestock ranchers at an annual  cost of $45 million to US taxpayers and the loss of 1.8 million animal lives. 

Commercial shell fishers have filed suit in Santa Barbara to force FWS to remove threatened sea otters from their fishing grounds.  Otters do not survive capture and relocation well.  Meanwhile, conservation groups threaten California Fish and Game with a lawsuit unless they put a stop to the  drowning of sea otters, harbor porpoises, elephant seals, sea lions and murres by the gill net fishing fleet in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.  Sea otter populations have dropped dramatically" in recent years. 

Massachusetts drew fire from gun manufacturers when it announced in April that it would enforce handgun regulations.  Thirty four other states have laws regulating handguns like any other consumer product, but Massachusetts is the first to resolve to enforce them. Its law requires tamper-resistant serial numbers inside the barrel to be read with an infrared detector, an attachable or built-in lock, other child-proofing features, and an indicator to show if a gun is loaded. Cheap handguns are banned outright.  A few gun dealers have moved to nearby states and gun makers have threatened to boycott the state. 

A bullet went through a grouse, traveled another mile, and killed the shooter's 18-year old brother.  This happened in Finland.  Ballistic experts said the bullet fired from a .308 rifle could have killed someone as far as two kilometers ( c. a mile and a half) away.

Spiny dogfish (a small member of the shark family) have declined by 75% along the Atlantic coast since the 1980's due to European demand, the increasing taste for shark in US, and no limitations on catches.  This long-lived species does not reproduce until 12 years old and then just 6-10 eggs after a gestation period of almost two years. Because they are larger, females are the preferred catch.  New regulations limit catch to 4 million pounds, barely 10% of 1998 catch.  Cutting off fins for the Asian market and discarding mutilated fish is forbidden.

Albatross population in the Falklands down 30% in 20 years.  The primary cause is that they go after the bait on fish hooks, get hooked and drown when they are pulled through the water.  British, South African and American boat crews fish at night when the birds are asleep or use scare devices to shoo the birds away from their lines, but illegal pirate fishers don't bother. Albatross, who have a spectacular wingspread of as much as 12 feet, can live for 50 years, mate for life and produce only one chick every two years.  Bird organizations are calling for better pirate patrols and a moratorium on fishing in the Antarctic.

Fish farming problems.  In addition to the obvious pollution caused by confining large numbers of fish in a small area, there is the problem of escapees polluting the genetic integrity of wild fish as when North American west coast salmon were found swimming in the sea near New Zealand.  These escapees were a special threat because they had been genetically altered with a growth hormone gene to grow to up to 500 pounds. Some have misshapen heads and other abnormalities. Last year 100,000 Atlantic salmon escaped from a fish farm on Puget Sound.  Another fish farm on British Columbia's Indian Bay has killed at least 14 Steller's sea lions.  The kills were legal because Canada has as yet no law protecting endangered species. Southern US farms can get special permits to kill cormorants taking advantage of the bounty laid on for them.  These fish farms have contributed to an increase in the crested cormorant population that has northern sport fishermen demanding their demise.

Some cheery news for a change. 
The City of Vancouver, BC has refused to kill an estimated 200 coyotes living in the city and its extensive parks, saying that it is up to people and their companion animals to adapt to the coyotes.  An estimated 2000 coyotes live in areas immediately surrounding the city.

Alaska has withdrawn from sale 126 oil and gas leases in Cook Inlet while awaiting decision whether to protect remaining population of beluga whales under the Marine Mammal Protection Act or the Endangered Species Act

The Supreme Court has rejected  the bid of cattle ranchers to prevent the Interior Secretary from enforcing 1995 regulations that limit the number of animals they can turn loose on public land.

The crested ibis population in China has grown from 7 individuals in 1981 to 200.  The presumed extinct ivory billed woodpecker has been spotted in southern US and the Javan rhinoceros, a Viet Nam war victim also thought to be extinct, has be photographed 80 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City.