Texas drought hampering wildlife reproduction, ‘killing deer like flies’

BY RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, ASSOCIATED PRESS13 October 2011 HOUSTON — In a 30-mile area of the Texas Panhandle, biologists found 76 white-tailed deer — but zero babies. Not far away, they located only three quail on a stretch of road where they would see 15 in a normal year. In South Texas, a biologist reports a […]

‘Unusual mortality event’ continues: 4 dead dolphins wash up on Gulf Coast beaches in 5 days

By Ben Raines, Press-Register 12 October 2011 DAUPHIN ISLAND, Alabama –  A dolphin carcass, bloated and violet in the morning sun, was found on Fort Morgan early Saturday, bringing the number lost since the BP oil spill to more than 400. Three other dolphins have washed up in Alabama in the past week, including a […]

Drought, wildfires taking toll on Texas deer

By John Gill, Special to Scripps Texas Newspapers24 September 2011 Mother Nature is still tossing curve balls at wildlife and hunters.First, she came with a withering statewide drought and then she hurled widespread wildfires, some that are still burning in the Lone Star State. Allan Cain, biologist and project leader for whitetail deer at the […]

Native New England cottontail rabbits disappearing

By Zach Howard; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Barbara Goldberg17 September 2011 CONWAY, Massachusetts (Reuters) – The New England cottontail rabbit, in sharp decline for decades throughout the Northeast, is on the verge of disappearing from several states, with the reason somewhat a mystery, wildlife experts say. The once-prolific breeder, already no longer found in […]

Extinction looms for last resident killer whale pod in Scottish waters

By Niamh Anderson18 September 2011 FOR at least three decades they have made the waters off the west of Scotland their own, delighting visitors and residents alike. But now it seems the country’s only resident pod of killer whales is doomed to extinction and pollution could be to blame. The nine whales have failed to […]

Persistent organic pollutants killing orcas worldwide

By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature 30 August 2011 Killer whales, the ocean’s fiercest predators, are easily recognisable by their black and white markings. But their future seems less clearly defined. Marine experts are concerned about an invisible threat to the animals that has been building in our seas since World War II. That was […]

Polar bear shot dead by BP guard in Alaska

By Richard Hall27 August 2011 British Petroleum has again drawn the ire of environmentalists after a security guard at one of its Alaskan oil fields shot dead a polar bear, an animal listed as threatened with extinction. A BP spokesman said the security guard shot the bear on 3 August after it approached employee housing. […]

Texas drought takes toll on wildlife – Sections of major rivers have dried up completely

By John Burnett26 August 2011 The unfolding calamity that is the Texas drought has thrown nature out of balance. Many of the wild things that live in this state are suffering. Sections of major rivers — like the Brazos, the Guadalupe, the Blanco, Llano and Pedernales — have dried up. In many places, there aren’t […]

Arctic warming unlocks fabled Northwest Passage

The Arctic may be the world’s next geopolitical battleground. Temperatures there are rising faster than anywhere else in the world, and the melting ice will have profound consequences on the roof of the world, opening strategic waterways to shipping, reducing the ice cap on Greenland, and spurring a rush to claim rights to the wealth […]

Australia agricultural pesticides destroying Great Barrier Reef: government report

By Timothy McDonald13 August 2011 The Queensland and Federal Government’s first report card on water quality in the Great Barrier Reef has found pesticides used in agriculture are causing significant problems for the reef. The report says some farmers need to be more careful with their chemicals, finding that nearly one-quarter of horticulture producers and […]

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