 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 Keep reading How to Celebrate World Turtle Day: Avoid Shrimp Caught Overseas (or maybe in LA)  In the budget compromise, Republicans defunded the BLM Wild Lands program. Ostensibly, its to promote oil drilling, but the “wilderness plan” also happens to be the latest right-wing conspiracy. “Wilderness policy” is the 2010’s black helicopters and FEMA. Keep reading Also sold out in the budget: “Wilderness Policy,” the right’s current “black helicopters”  Ambitious English squirrel used Kia as stash. Killer, buying the grizzly attack myth, tried to commit suicide by bear by ODing in Yellowstone. Yellowstone bison saved by public. More animal news Keep reading Squirrel stalls car with 6 lbs of peanuts; Why not to try “suicide by bear”  A stunning 17% of crows studied in Alaska have deformed beaks, a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey says. No one has ever recorded so many crows with deformed beaks before; it’s reached Chernobyl-like levels on the Kenai Penninsula, where 36% of beaks are misshapen. Keep reading Record 17% of Alaska Crows Deformed; Worse on Kenai  Manatee, by Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute So far no manatee has turned up oiled after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill earlier this year. But 656 of the goofy, endangered marine mammals have turned up dead, according to the latest statistics from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. That’s a devastating 13% of the population. The biggest problem was a cold spell last winter, but we may never know if or what role the oil had. Cathy Beck, who manages the Manatee Individual Photo-identification System (MIPS), says the oil spill was “extremely worrisome,” but so far no oiled manatees in the area where the oil spread. Their next concern is that the remaining oil will seep into the seagrass manatees eat. They’ll be on the lookout for any oil or dispersant residue this winter when they capture 10 or so (as they do each year) and give them a physical, including testing blood and tissue samples. Defenders of Wildlife, Save the Manatees and other wildlife groups sued BP saying they violated the Endangered Species Act by harming the 27 threatened or endangered species that live in the gulf. Save the Manatees says that the big problem was the cold weather at the beginning of the year, which also lead to spectacular photos and record manatees counts (5,076) as the manatees crowded around natural springs and power plants to stay warm. “In total, more than 300 manatees are believed to have died from this lingering event, shattering the previous Keep reading Manatees Not Showing Oil, But Dying a Lot  BP is funding recovery of the endangered sea turtles “I think the consensus in the turtle community is that there’s no harm keeping healthy animals safe. That was the emphasis of our request for funding. I think that was by far the most important thing in our mind,” says George. Keep reading How is the Money BP Pledged to Help Turtles Being Spent?  Loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings are swimming off into Alabama’s gulf coast again. After the BP oil spill, they were moved to FL. Now the water’s safe enough. Keep reading AL Gulf Water Safe Enough for Baby Turtles  When BP restarts burning off spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico (possibly as early as Friday), they’ll have to have a trained biologist on board to search for sea turtles entrapped in the muck, thanks to a deal struck with wildlife groups July 2. Keep reading BP To Have Biologist On Board (Looking for Sea Turtles) When They Resume Oil Burns This Week  A network of turtle volunteer groups have the data to make decent map of every turtle nest in the gulf, including species and probable hatching time. Keep reading Turtle Volunteers’ Vast Map of Gulf Nests Aids in Emergency Transplant Out of BP Oil  Hundreds of volunteers are assembling booms at Boom B Qs Funny thing about all that hair and fur being shorn around the country to great fanfare to sop up the BP gulf oil spill: nobody wants it. Or at least the people actually cleaning up the oil say it isn’t as good as the store-bought booms they’re using. But that hasn’t stopped people from sending it in and reporters from extensively covering the sweet but so far futile gesture. Last week the official spill Facebook page, Deepwater Horizon Response, put out this deeply unpopular message: We are not using hair booms at this time but are using commercially available sorbent boom when possible. In a February 2010 NOAA field test, commercial sorbent boom absorbed more oil and much less water than hair boom. Widespread deployment of hair boom could exacerbate the debris problem. There is adequate supply of …sorbent boom for now, but we do encourage ideas of alternative solutions by calling (281) 366-5511. The main group amassing hair, Matter of Trust, does some amazing recycling and has been championing and testing hairmats since at least 2007. The hair, stuffed inside pantyhose, really seems to work. But even they say only the hazmat crews should install and remove the booms. They’re taking the rejection graciously, but proceeding full steam ahead: BP hasn’t spent a lot of time thinking about the properties of hair, fur, wool and fleece. And they’re a little busy right now…. Matter of Trust is Keep reading Your Hair Probably Isn't Going to Clean Up the Oil Spill–and Neither Is Your Dog's or Alpaca's |
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