Dogs Don't Eat Warblers--in Prospect Park or Anywhere

Warbler Flavored Milkbones

Birders harass dog people in Prospect Park saying they disturb ground-nesting birds. But only six species nest on the ground here, none exclusively. Some aren’t even in the park in the summer.

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Thousands of nearly endangered sharks gathering and jumping off Palm Beach

Spinner sharks launch themselves out of the water while feeding on schools of small fish. See them jump and spin among surfers.

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Manta rays get some protection from fishermen hunting their gills

By calling manta rays a vulnerable species, scientists hope to stop or at least track the market in its gills. Used in Chinese medicine, the ray population is down 30% in 10 years.

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Horseshoe crab embryos moving legs inside supposedly doomed eggs plucked off beach

Horseshoe crab eggs may not be as delicate as we thought. Many are growing despite being uncovered by tide and roughly cared for in a NYC apartment.

Keep reading Embryos moving in horseshoe crab eggs picked off beach

Go see horseshoe crabs mate tonight

The best night of the year to see horseshoe crabs mate on east coast beaches is the full moon in June. Check your local tide chart to find high tide is.

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How to Celebrate World Turtle Day

If you have the chance, help turtles cross roads. Otherwise, avoid certain shrimp caught overseas (or maybe in LA) til shrimpers start really using turtle exclusion devices

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A turtle needs back wheels like a fish needs a bicycle & other animal news today

Israeli turtle Tzvika now has back wheels. Drug-Sniffing Dogs Mostly Wrong. Right whales return to FL to calve, get stuck in fishing lines. And other animal news today.

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Court says fisheries can’t punish sea lions when dams and fishermen kill more salmon

Court rules NOAA can’t just ignore the amount of salmon killed by dams and fishermen, then go nuclear on sea lions, who kill far less of the migratory fish.

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ESPN Nuttily Claims Obama May Ban Fishing

When my husband David sent me a story about the Obama administration’s secret plan to abolish fishing, I assumed it was from The Onion. But it’s ESPN who’s getting the word out that the president could single-handedly “prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation’s oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.” You really don’t have to know anything about this upcoming report to know that’s not going to happen.

ESPNOutdoors writer Robert Montgomery then basically turns over the ESPN platform to Phil Morlock, whom he describes as director of environmental affairs for Shimano, a Japanese maker of bikes and fishing equipment. Montgomery lets Morlock ululate uninterrupted for paragraph after paragraph, using preposterous phrases like “Big Green.” A more accurate description would have been that Morlock is a lobbyist for fishing and hunting groups. He’s on the board of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), the group that lobbies for hunters and anglers. And he’s just started a similar group in Canada.

What works for the hunting industry is scaring hunters that Obama has a secret plan to take their guns away. Gun sales rose after Obama was elected. Morlock clearly wants to infect anglers with the same psychosis that makes hunters feel aggrieved and embattled.

Hunters have long tried to rope fishermen into their “sportsmen” mantle. Morlock and Montgomery whine that Obama isn’t considering the huge economic impact of fishing. (I guess they don’t have Google.) Hunters love to conflate stats on how many people fish and hunt

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Will Asking People To Text for Dolphins Work Post-Haiti?

Last night dolphins near Taijii, Japan, were oblivious to the break The Cove won an Oscar. The film’s hero, former Flipper trainer Ric O’Barry, has been trying to show Taijii’s dolphin slaughter to the world for years, even if it meant walking around with a TV on his chest. So, it’s no surprise he’d use the stage for the dolphins. O’Barry unfurled a banner saying “TEXT DOLPHIN TO 44144”.

What was the reaction? Twitter immediately ricocheted the message around thousands of time–and it’s still bouncing. This USAToday blogger says the sign–and its inherent naughtiness–got him to look up the film. But over at the Huffington Post, they ran a story explaining “What Happens if You Follow Ric Barry’s Sign?” The answer: you’re signed up for text message updates, up to 30 a month. Call me old-fashioned, but I subscribe to his blog, so that’s about 30 more than I need.

The Haiti earthquake taught the public that the easiest way you can donate money to a cause is by texting a charity. I doubt that causes can ask you to just text them anymore without people worrying how much it will cost. The various charities send you back a confirmation before your cellphone carrier sends off your money, Charity Navigator explains. If you haven’t done it, you won’t know that.

O’Barry wants you to write a letter to Obama. Taiji was, predictably, annoyed at the win. Controversy is swirling, the LA Times says. But what else does controversy

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