i'm glad they got him BUT

what's $150,000 to a billionaire?

it is beyond me how anyone could live among these now dead but once magnificent animals. who really is the beast?


Feds Bust Yacht Pimped Out With Endangered Animal Hides, Tusks
By Tim Elfrink in News
Listen up, foreign billionaires who enjoy pimping out your pleasure yachts with the finest in endangered African animal skins: You might want to keep that luxury boat away from Florida. Surrounded by stuffed lions, mounted, roaring tiger heads and massive carved ivory tusks, U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta announced this morning a major bust of illegal, poached African creatures found on a yacht in the Port of the Everglades.

"Personally, I think these are rather creepy," Acosta admonished the animal poachers of the world. " I wouldn't want to have them in my home.".....

........When they walked into the yacht, inspectors found nearly every surface covered in illegal fur or poached ivory: two leopard-hide rugs, seven ivory tusk ornaments, rugs made from zebra, tiger and jaguar skin, even an anaconda purse. Everything found on board is illegal, thanks to the international Lacey Act, which banned products made from endangered species after 1973........

(ht: nothing to do with arbroath)

ah wicked cool!

(two maine stories in two days)

Right whales gather off coast of Maine

Researchers counted 44 of the endangered mammals about 100 miles offshore – a record winter sighting.

By JOHN RICHARDSON, Staff Writer

Because they are in danger of extinction, North Atlantic right whales are some of the most closely watched creatures in the sea.

Researchers fly over the East Coast looking for them and then, when they find one, zoom in for close-up photos. Many of the individual whales even have names and files containing their photos and life histories.

Until now, however, scientists have had few clues about where many of the whales go in winter, when winds and stormy weather make the search more difficult.

Federal researchers announced Wednesday that an unusually large number of right whales have gathered in recent weeks off the Maine coast in what appears to be a wintering ground, and potentially a breeding ground, for the endangered species. The discovery is expected to enhance efforts to save and restore the population, which now stands at an estimated 325 animals.

Forty-four right whales were seen Dec. 3 in the Jordan Basin area, which lies about 70 miles south of Bar Harbor and 100 miles east of Portland, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Forty-one whales were spotted just west of Jordan Basin on Dec. 14, it said. Bad weather has prevented more recent flights to the area, according to the agency............

(hat tip to americablog)

picture: Right whales' heads and lips are marked by unique patterns of horny bumps, known as callosities, covered with crustaceans. These bumps are the key to identifying individuals. (Photo by Michael Moore, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and another article: Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale Study Says Population In Crisis

hmmmm

'meddling' by our interior department? sort of hard to believe, no? (that my dears is called sarcasm)

let's kill ALL of our flora and fauna. why not? the rapture is right around the corner (and i'm sort of believing that now. NOT because of a god or anything but because of HUMAN BEINGS that are causing our earth to die)

Report Finds Meddling in Interior Dept. Actions
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
WASHINGTON — The inspector general of the Interior Department has found that agency officials often interfered with scientific work in order to limit protections for species at risk of becoming extinct, reviving attention to years of disputes over the Bush administration’s science policies.In a report delivered to Congress on Monday, the inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, found serious flaws in the process that led to 15 decisions related to policies on endangered species.

The report suggested that at least some of those decisions might need to be revisited under the Obama administration.

Among the more significant decisions was one reducing the number of streams that would be designated as critical habitat for the endangered bull trout and protected from commercial use. That rule is already the subject of a lawsuit by environmentalists. .....

monifa

my reason for posting this is two-fold. #1) i'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to have her (it's a dream. i know it would never be right to actually OWN a pygmy hippo) and #2) to bring the rarity of pygmy hippos to everyone's attention. there numbers are dwindling. they are being poached (and goddess knows what).

but still, monifa is kick-ass cute

Zoo celebrates birth of rare pygmy hippo

A zoo in Sydney is celebrating the birth of a rare pygmy hippopotamus.

Monifa, whose name means "I am lucky" in Nigeria, was born three weeks ago after a difficult breach birth.

Unable to stand or feed herself, the piglet-sized hippo had to be nursed round the clock by staff at Taronga Zoo in the Australian city.

Keepers Renae Zammit and Tracy Roberts spent a fortnight sleeping with and hand-feeding Monifa from a teated syringe until she was nursed to full health.

The infant has now moved into her own pen and is ready to follow the footsteps of her father Timmy, the last pygmy hippo born at Taronga Zoo 23 years ago.

Monifa has now doubled in weight and is drinking from a bowl, content to suckle the thumb of her keepers. A delighted Misss Zammit said Monifa was already showing signs of playfulness.

"She's such an inquisitive little thing and loves bath time, she even turns somersaults in the water," she said.............

not one, but TWO dipshites!

Glenn Beck Rants Against Endangered Polar Bears: "They Eat People! They’re Big, Angry Bears!"
Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress
Last night on his CNN Headline News show, right-wing pundit Glenn Beck hosted global warming skeptic Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK). Beck allowed Inhofe to rant about how — with “all the liberals” running the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works — he was forced to sit through hearings on “that nice white fuzzy polar bear.”
Inhofe argued that the polar bear population isn’t endangered. “[I]f anything, it’s an overpopulation problem,” said Inhofe. Beck then jumped in and claimed that, in fact, the extinction of polar bears may be a good thing:
They eat people! For the love of Pete, they’re big, angry bears. They eat people. Not that I say we go out and kill all of them, but I mean, it doesn’t seem to be a problem here. Senator, I can’t take the — I can’t take the lies anymore..........