Most recent fatality marks 17th beluga to die at Niagara Falls, Ontario, aquarium since 2019
A fifth beluga has died at Canada’s Marineland, as questions mount over the future of both the controversial theme park and one of the world’s largest populations of captive whales.
The most recent fatality marks the 17th beluga to die at the Niagara Falls aquarium since 2019.
Continue reading...Documentary about Billy Mail’s connection with orphaned pup Molly airs on National Geographic next week
National Geographic will be streaming a new documentary about an unlikely bond between a man and an otter in Shetland.
Billy Mail met Molly, a starving pup, in 2021 when he saw her jumping off a pontoon into the sea near his Shetland home. Mail wanted to see how close he could get to her before she fled. But it turned out that Molly had no intention of running away.
Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story will be available from 14 November on Disney+, and will air on 15 November on National Geographic
Continue reading...A 61-year-old man was surfing on Friday morning when a shark bit him, completely severing his leg
A shark bit a Maui surfer on Friday and severed his leg, authorities said.
The man, 61, was surfing off Waiehu Beach Park on Friday morning when a shark bit him. Police officers who arrived to the scene first tried to control the bleeding with tourniquets. His right leg was “completely severed just below the knee,” Maui county said in a news release.
Continue reading...Use of bird hand-puppets to rear young among innovative methods unveiled as part of project to restore species
Sea eagles were last seen soaring over the shimmering mud flats and brackish tidal waters of the Severn estuary more than 150 years ago. Now wildlife charities have unveiled innovative plans to bring the raptor back to the estuary, which flows into the Bristol Channel between south-west England and south Wales, by 2026.
“Sea eagles used to be common in these regions. But they were wiped out through human persecution,” says Sophie-lee Williams, the founder of Eagle Reintroduction Wales, which is leading the project. “We strongly believe we have a moral duty to restore this lost native species to these landscapes.”
Continue reading...Bondi beach’s newest residents may look strange to human eyes, but goose barnacles are a normal part of the natural marine environment
Goose barnacles look as strange as their name, with a long, noodle-like stalk emerging from smooth white plates. The crustacean, also known as percebes, is also extremely expensive – in Europe, where it’s enjoyed as a delicacy, a kilo might cost hundreds of dollars.
And this week, a bunch washed up at Horseshoe Bay, south of Adelaide.
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Continue reading...Wild squirrel that was taken in by Mark Longo seven years ago was confiscated after conservation officials received reports of ‘potentially unsafe housing of wildlife’
A New York man who turned a rescued squirrel into a social media star called Peanut is pleading with state authorities to return his beloved pet after they seized it during a raid that also yielded a raccoon named Fred.
Multiple anonymous complaints about Peanut – also spelled P’Nut or PNUT – brought at least six officers from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to Mark Longo’s home on Wednesday, Longo said.
Continue reading...Department’s finances were slashed during austerity and campaigners say more cuts will stall progress to meet nature and climate targets
Rachel Reeves has been urged not to cut the government’s environment funding in the budget as analysis shows the department’s finances were slashed at twice the rate of other departments in the austerity years.
Between 2009/10 and 2018/19, the environment department budget declined by 35% in monetary terms and 45% in real terms, according to Guardian analysis of annual reports from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency and Natural England. By comparison, the average cut across government departments during the Conservative austerity programme was about 20%. During the first five years of austerity, it was the most cut department.
Continue reading...The mammals were once common across Europe but urban development has pushed them towards extinction
Hedgehogs are now listed as “near threatened” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list after a decline in numbers of at least 30% over the past decade across much of their range.
While hedgehogs were once common across Europe, and were until now listed as of “least concern” on the red list, they are being pushed towards extinction by urban development, intensive farming and roads, which have fragmented their habitat.
Continue reading...Researchers gain deeper understanding of bird migration in study that could have ‘profound’ implications for windfarms
The yearly travel plans of birds up and down Australia’s east coast have been revealed for the first time, using the same tool that tracks the weather – a development experts say could have “profound” implications for conservation as more windfarms are built.
Scientists have used weather radars to show that bird migration across eastern Australia occurs in structured patterns. While many Australian bird species are known to be seasonally migratory, scientists previously did not know to what extent a distinct system existed.
Continue reading...Citizen power forced Germany’s greenest city-state into a binding agreement balancing housing and nature
When Fritz Schumacher laid out his vision for Hamburg a century ago, the sketch looked more like a fern than a town plan. Fronds of urban development radiated from the centre to tickle the countryside, bristling with dense rows of housing. The white spaces in between were to be filled with parks and playgrounds.
Schumacher was Hamburg’s chief building officer in the early 20th century, and a pioneer of green cities with widespread access to nature. “Building sites emerge even if you don’t invest in them,” he warned in 1932. “Public spaces disappear if you don’t invest in them.”
Continue reading...Just designating key areas will not meet 30x30 target on nature loss, study says, pointing to oil drilling in parks
Biodiversity is declining more quickly within key protected areas than outside them, according to research that scientists say is a “wake-up call” to global leaders discussing how to stop nature loss at the UN’s Cop16 talks in Colombia.
Protecting 30% of land and water for nature by 2030 was one of the key targets settled on by world leaders in a landmark 2022 agreement to save nature – and this month leaders are gathering again at a summit in the Colombian city of Cali to measure progress and negotiate new agreements to stop biodiversity loss.
Continue reading...Grizzly No 399 was at least 28 years old and beloved by many in Grand Teton national park
A famous grizzly bear beloved for decades by countless tourists, biologists and professional wildlife photographers in Grand Teton national park is dead after being struck by a vehicle in western Wyoming.
Grizzly No 399 died on Tuesday night on a highway in Snake River Canyon south of Jackson, park officials said in a statement on Wednesday.
Continue reading...NSW environment minister hopes ‘Mickey will be flying free by tomorrow’ after successful capture by wildlife services
A sulphur-crested cockatoo called Mickey that had been “living on brioche” inside a Sydney supermarket for four weeks has been captured by wildlife services and is expected to be set free soon.
The New South Wales environment minister, Penny Sharpe, announced on Tuesday evening that the bird had “been safely captured by wildlife rescuers after spending way too long in Macarthur Square”.
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Continue reading...Greater bamboo lemur births in captivity are extremely rare and park is only UK collection to have bred it this year
Cotswold wildlife park has successfully bred one of Madagascar’s most endangered lemurs.
The as yet unnamed youngster was born to a breeding male, Raphael, and female, Bijou, at the wildlife park.
Continue reading...Snake appears in top of fifth inning of Dodger v New York Mets game before being wrapped in towel and removed
A snake slithered through the Los Angeles Dodgers’ dugout during game two of the National League Championship Series on Monday.
The reptile appeared in the top of the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ 7-3 loss to the New York Mets. It wasn’t big enough to put a scare into anyone.
Continue reading...Residents and marine scientists unable to identify pale masses, as myriad theories are blown out of the water
They are slimy on the outside, firm and spongy on the inside and surprisingly combustible. And in recent months, they have been washing up on the shores of Newfoundland.
The depths of the Atlantic have long held mysteries, but the riddle of the mysterious white “blobs” spotted on the beaches of the eastern Canadian province has baffled both residents and marine scientists.
Continue reading...Wan Yee Ng was arrested in June with a bag of 29 turtles as she prepared to paddle across Lake Wallace, affidavit says
A woman who wanted to smuggle turtles across a lake and into Canada by hiding the creatures using socks in a duffle bag has pleaded guilty to a smuggling charge.
Wan Yee Ng was arrested in June in Vermont as she was about to enter an inflatable kayak with the bag of 29 eastern box turtles and paddle across Lake Wallace to the border with Canada, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.
Continue reading...The keen birdwatcher encourages others to take 20 minutes out of their day, describing the experience as ‘meditative’
In early October the comedian Geraldine Hickey went looking for tawny frogmouths, a charismatic bird with a frog-like beak and mottled feathers.
“They’re a good-looking bird,” Hickey says, though it hasn’t yet appeared in her annual bird calendar, a project she started as a “lockdown thing” that has gained its own dedicated audience.
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Continue reading...A popular Facebook group posts videos of animals seen a half-mile from a well-populated Anchorage neighborhood
Millions of people worldwide tuned in for a remote Alaska national park’s “Fat Bear Week” celebration this month, as captivating livestream camera footage caught the chubby predators chomping on salmon and fattening up for the winter.
But in the vast state known for its abundant wildlife, the magical and sometimes violent world of wild animals can be found close to home.
Continue reading...Conservation trust says Boki ‘not out of the woods’ yet but doing well after operation to drain buildup of fluid
A brown bear that underwent brain surgery in the first operation of its kind in the UK is doing well but is “not out of the woods” yet, a charity has said.
Boki went under the knife on Wednesday after an MRI scan revealed he had hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain.
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