By Rhishja Larson •
August 7, 2009
The lower stretch of New Jersey’s Rahway River is under threat. There is increasing pressure to bisect the wetlands with yet another unnecessary road project - despite the fact that it is home to wildlife found no where else in the area.
One of the residents of this marsh habitat is the Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin), listed as a species of special concern. Nonprofit group National Biodiversity Parks (NBP) hopes to protect and conserve this highly threatened area by studying its diamondback terrapin population.
The field data collected by the study will document the habitat’s value and generate recommendations concerning the long-term conservation of the terrapins on the Rahway River, inclusive of is feeder creeks - and as a result, protect this habitat for the multitude of resident and migratory species that require this specialized habitat for their survival.
By Rhishja Larson •
August 6, 2009
A man in Toronto with 13 prior wildlife crime convictions will serve time after being busted with “a plethora” of poached wildlife.
In a “precedent-setting” sentence, The Star has reported that Toronto-based Pak Sun Chung has been sentenced to 106 days plus an additional nine months in jail for two federal offenses under the Species at Risk Act. The judge also banned him from hunting or fishing in Ontario.
Repeat offender Chung was found this time with what is described as “a plethora of wildlife, alive, dead, and quartered.” He also reportedly has $27,000 in fines related to the 13 prior convictions. Chung was previously arrested twice for the same turtle poaching crime in less than six weeks during 2007.
By Jake Richardson •
March 6, 2009
The gray wolf population in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Utah, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan has recovered enough since being listed as endangered in 1974 to be removed from the list of species that are threatened and endangered.
Secrectary of the Interior Ken Salazaar concurred with the January decison of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the animal.
By Alex Felsinger •
February 18, 2009
The parents of a 5-year-old Australian boy who was eaten by a 14-foot-long crocodile have asked authorities not to euthanize the animal, presumably recognizing that the crocodile was merely protecting its river home from an intruder.
The parents run a crocodile sight-seeing business, so it seems that they must understand that the animal is not vicious or sick. The animal will be sent to a zoo or park, but unfortunately will not be released back into the wild.
