USDA determining if investigation into tiger death warranted

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is determining whether an investigation is warranted into the death of a tiger that bit a western South Dakota wildlife sanctuary director, an agency spokeswoman said Wednesday. Officials will look into whether any noncompliance with federal law contributed to the incident at Spirit of the Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, where nearly 20 animals have recently been transferred away, said Tanya Espinosa, a spokeswoman for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Report: Staff shortages hamper US wildlife refuges

Hundreds of national wildlife refuges that provide critical habitat for migratory birds and other species are crippled by a staffing shortage that has curtailed educational programs, hampered the fight against invasive species and weakened security at facilities that attract nearly 50 million visitors annually, a group of public employees and law enforcement said Wednesday. Staffing at the nation's 565 wildlife refuges and related properties shrank nearly 15 percent in the past decade, and more than one-third of those locations don't have any staff on site, the Washington, D.C.-based Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said.

Obama visits far-flung Midway Atoll in conservation push

Halfway between East and West, President Barack Obama traveled Thursday to one of the most remote corners of the Pacific Ocean to amplify his call for global action on environmental protection. Few Americans have ever visited Midway Atoll, a far-flung speck of coral reef with black-footed albatrosses and spinner dolphins - and that's exactly Obama's point.

Obama to visit far-flung Midway Atoll in conservation push

Halfway between East and West, President Barack Obama is traveling Thursday to one of the most remote corners of the ocean - Midway Atoll - to amplify his call for global action on environmental protection. Few Americans have ever visited the far-flung speck of coral reef, with its black-footed albatrosses and spinner dolphins - and that's exactly Obama's point.

Obama’s : ‘Our Conservation Effort Is More Critical, More Urgent Than Ever’

Praising Harry Reid as "one of the best leaders that the Senate ever had," President Obama told a gathering in Lake Tahoe, Nevada on Wednesday, "I could not have accomplished what I accomplished without him being at my side." Obama counts conservation as one of his major accomplishments, as he unilaterally protects vast swaths of land and sea from development, an effort that has noticeably accelerated as he reaches the end of his term.

15 states to appeals court: Overturn endangered frog ruling

Fifteen states are asking a federal appeals court to reconsider a Louisiana landowner's attempt to keep the government from listing 1,500 forest acres as essential to an endangered frog. A 2-1 June ruling upheld a district judge's decision that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was within bounds in declaring the land part of a critical habitat for dusky gopher frogs, now found only in Mississippi.