National Trust gave long list of species that have suffered in the past year
The disappearance of reliable seasonal patterns is causing chaos for the flora and fauna of the UK, a long-running annual audit of the impact of weather on nature has found.
Extreme weather events, from storms and pounding rain to searing heat and drought are putting huge pressure on animals, plants and the environment, the report from the National Trust says.
Continue reading...Just in time for Christmas, Adams county SPCA adopts out 598 animals and reunites 125 with their owners
An animal shelter in Pennsylvania reached a milestone this Christmas season, celebrating one of the rare moments where less is more.
The Adams county SPCA, which houses dogs, cats and other homeless, abandoned or lost animals, was empty for the first time in 47 years, according to a Facebook post from the shelter, reported by CNN.
Continue reading...Temporary roadside barriers set up to channel tens of millions of crabs migrating to the coastline
The welcome mat has been rolled out for scores of red crabs as they make their annual coastal dash on Christmas Island.
Each year, the first substantial rain of the wet season triggers tens of millions of adult red crabs to leave their forest homes, in the interior of the island, and march towards the coast to mate and spawn.
Continue reading...There are now seven known species of soft-furred hedgehogs, which look like a cross between a mouse and a shrew
Scientists have identified five new species of soft-furred hedgehogs from south-east Asia.
Two of the species discovered are entirely new to science, while three have been elevated from subspecies level by researchers, who carried out DNA analysis as well as detailed physical observations of the mammals.
Continue reading...Wolves are the first part of a plan to reintroduce the endangered species into the state after it was eradicated in the region
In an effort to restore an endangered species, Colorado just released five gray wolves in the western part of the state.
On Monday, Colorado parks and wildlife released two female and three male wolves on to remote public land. The predators were captured and brought over from Oregon, after Wyoming, Idaho and Montana refused to share their wolves citing interstate migration and financial concerns.
Continue reading...Commission’s proposal to downgrade animal’s ‘strictly protected’ status not based on scientific evidence, say conservationists
Wolves could be hunted again across western Europe after the European Commission proposed to reduce their protection, in what lawyers said was an ominous move against effective environmental laws.
The commission has proposed that EU member states downgrade the wolf’s status under the Berne convention from “strictly protected” to “protected” after two decades in which the species has returned to many countries from which it has been extinct for decades, including Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Continue reading...Dozens of the animals died after they were treated with anti-parasitic medicine
A Japanese zoo has launched an investigation after apparently killing 31 of its 40 squirrels by mistake with treatments meant to kill parasites, officials said.
Keepers at the Inokashira Park Zoo in Tokyo treated the animals with anti-parasitic medicine on 4 December as part of a sanitary precaution, while also spraying insecticide over their nest boxes.
Continue reading...Atsushi Ozawa accused of using car to kill common pigeon, which vets said died of traumatic shock
To some, they are another species of feathered friend; to others, they are rats with wings whose droppings deface historic buildings.
But in Japan, pigeons may have become the victims of crime, after police arrested a Tokyo taxi driver on suspicion of deliberately driving into a flock of the birds, killing one of them.
Continue reading...Health ministry says posters in English outside apartment buildings in Athens were ‘absolutely false’
Greece’s health ministry is seeking police help against hoaxers who tried to scare foreign tourists out of short-term rental apartments in Athens by inventing a bedbug crisis.
A ministry statement said the posters stuck up outside apartment buildings in the city centre, festooned with fake ministry and Athens municipality logos, were “absolutely false”.
Continue reading...Woman was reported to have just gotten married and the man paddleboarding with her as her groom
A shark attacked and killed a Boston newlywed off the coast of the Bahamas on Monday, according to authorities and reports.
Local police said the woman, 44, was bit by a shark at about 11.15am in New Providence. The woman was paddleboarding with a man at the time of the attack, presumed to be her husband.
Continue reading...The animal escaped handlers during a rest stop in Ontario while being transported to a zoo in Quebec
A kangaroo that escaped its handlers during transport to a new home has been captured east of Toronto after a weekend in the wild, but not before delivering a punch in the face to one of the police officers who brought her run to an end.
The female kangaroo hopped over her handlers late on Thursday during a rest stop at the Oshawa Zoo and Fun Farm in Ontario, the park’s head keeper Cameron Preyde told CBC.
Continue reading...Taronga Wildlife hospital tracked three turtles that had been rescued, with one swimming as far as Longueville
Endangered green sea turtles spend much of their young lives in close proximity to people, including travelling deep within Sydney harbour, new research suggests.
Satellite tracking shows turtles frequenting busy waterways, including the harbour and Parramatta River, around Wollongong harbour, Brisbane Waters near Gosford and up the Hawkesbury River, as far as Cottage Point.
Continue reading...Beijing’s strained relations with the west are less easily mollified by loans of cuddly endangered bears
As the UK’s only giant pandas leave Edinburgh zoo , returning to their native country after a 12-year sojourn away from China, the era of panda diplomacy also looks to be coming to an end.
Tian Tian and Yang Guang will board the panda express back to Sichuan less than a month after three giant pandas left the Smithsonian national zoo in Washington DC, ending the zoo’s five-decade panda programme.
Continue reading...Border collie Jessie sniffs out elusive species last seen in 1937 among dunes of South Africa
An elusive, iridescent golden mole not recorded since before the second world war has been rediscovered “swimming” in the sand near the coastal town of Port Nolloth in north-west South Africa.
The De Winton’s golden mole (Cryptochloris wintoni), previously feared extinct, lives in underground burrows and had not been seen since 1937. It gets its “golden” name from oily secretions that lubricate its fur so it can “swim” through sand dunes. This means it does not create conventional tunnels, making it all the harder to detect.
Continue reading...New Zealand’s national icon is also one of its most vulnerable birds and conservationists believe it was absent from capital for generations
Two kiwi chicks have been born in the wild around Wellington for the first time in more than 100 years, one year after the national bird was reintroduced to New Zealand’s capital.
The fluffy and flightless kiwi is one of the most vulnerable birds in New Zealand and conservationists believe it has been absent from the capital for generations.
Continue reading...The climate crisis, invasive species, overexploitation of resources and pollution could break down crucial ecosystems. We asked experts to lay out the risks and offer some solutions
The continued destruction of nature across the planet will result in major shocks to food supplies and safe water, the disappearance of unique species and the loss of landscapes central to human culture and leisure by the middle of this century, experts have warned.
By 2050, if humanity does not follow through on commitments to tackle the five main drivers of nature loss critical natural systems could break down just as the human population is projected to peak.
Continue reading...Sanctuary sets up heaters to take chill off rescue animals that have lost habit of entering full hibernation
Workers at a bear sanctuary in Pristina are working hard to look after a lion that wants to play in the snow and bears who were removed from their natural habitat when they were cubs and also enjoy the snowy conditions because they do not hibernate any more.
As the winter’s first snowfall covered Bear Sanctuary Prishtina in the Kosovan capital, visitors enjoyed the sight of a lion playing before quickly taking shelter indoors where a heater was installed to fend off temperatures which fell below freezing.
Continue reading...Use of cattle from country free of mad cow disease means product is safe, experts say, and patients can still donate blood
Bone cows, specially bred in mad cow-free Australia, are being used instead of human donors for dental and medical bone grafts.
While bovine grafts have been tested for spinal fusion, foot reconstructions and to fix skull traumas, the Australian versions are predominantly used in dental work to strengthen degraded jaws before tooth implants.
Continue reading...Pollution has tamped population density by 99.5%, but scientists think cultural icon could aid in tissue repair and cancer recovery
Ecologists from Mexico’s National Autonomous University on Friday relaunched a fundraising campaign to bolster conservation efforts for axolotls, a native, endangered fish-like type of salamander.
The campaign, called Adoptaxolotl, asks people for as little as 600 pesos (about $35) to virtually adopt one of the tiny “water monsters”. Virtual adoption comes with live updates on your axolotl’s health. For less money, donors can buy a virtual dinner for one of the creatures, which are relatively popular pets in the US.
Continue reading...Louie Turnbull pleads guilty to owning dangerously out of control animals after they attacked woman’s dog by east London canal
A man whose two dogs were shot dead by police in front of him has been given a suspended sentence for owning dangerously out of control animals.
Viral footage circulated on social media of Metropolitan police officers killing Louie Turnbull’s canines beside an east London canal in May this year.
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