Whooping Crane Hunts
Three of the 100 eastern whooping cranes shot dead in GA; reward offered
Three endangered whooping cranes were found shot dead Dec. 30 near Albany, GA, and the USFWS is offering a $12,500 reward. Only 100 fly in the eastern flock out of 384 total (most of the rest live in the Aransas/Wood Buffalo flock.) These three were making their first trip to Florida, flying with older birds. Hunters have a long history of shooting white whooping cranes (Sandhill cranes are gray). The agency isn’t officially blaming hunters so far, but who else is out there shooting giant birds? Tennessean
Wolf and elk populations both dropping near Yellowstone
The population of elk in the Yellowstone area is down to 4,600 from 6,000 last winter. But you can’t blame just wolves. Their population is down to 37, from 100 in 2005. Wildlife News
Imagine if Sarah Palin were an animal rights activist
She’d be labeled a terrorist and jailed, says Green is the New Red. That’s because there’s a Bush-era exemption to free speech specifically for animal rights activists, whom the right considers dangerous even though their main weapons seem to be soy-based foods and TNR cat programs. “The SHAC 7 were convicted of “animal enterprise terrorism” for running a website which posted the names and addresses of individuals tied to the animal testing lab Huntingdon Life Sciences,” the blog notes. How different is that from Palin’s bullseyes?
Video surfaces of tigers tossing squirrel in Buffalo, NY, zoo
The zoo later captured and rehabbed the squirrel. Now cellphone video has emerged. –MyFox
Some of the birds falling dead from the sky are just drunk
Dozens of starling have tested positive for alcohol after eating fermented grapes. MetroUK
Peta has a Glee auction
Gothamist and Scouting NY try to find a home for a pretty gray pit bull found tied to the Williamsburg Bridge in the blizzard
Thanks to the Glen Beck wannabees this stuff is occasionally taken at face value.