More than 2,000 scientists from 67 countries on Sunday petitioned for a moratorium on commercial fishing in Arctic waters newly exposed by thinning sea ice. The letter, which the Pew Environment Group released on the eve of the International Polar Year 2012 conference in Montreal, Canada, calls for further study on the impact of fisheries on seals, polar bears, and humans living in the region. The international waters, which scientists believe could be ice-free in summers in ten to 15 years, h... Read More
DNA recovered from leech stomachs could be used to gather data on endangered animals, according to a group of European scientists. After discovering that DNA from goat blood fed to lab-raised leeches could still be detected in them more than four months later, geneticist Thomas Gilbert and his team at the University of Copenhagen joined up with WWF-affiliated ecologist Nicholas Wilkinson to collect samples of the bloodsuckers from Vietnam's Annamite mountains. When they tested the leeches, the... Read More
Authorities arrested two men over the weekend on suspicion of misdemeanor reckless endangerment for allegedly setting dangerous booby traps on a popular Utah hiking trail. The traps included a trip wire that would send a spiked boulder swinging across the trail and a bed of sharpened wooden stakes. The suspects, aged 19 and 21, claim the traps were intended for wildlife, but law enforcement officers dispute this theory, noting the trail is primarily used by humans. A U.S. Forest Service employ... Read More
Ted Nugent is set to plead guilty in federal court today to illegally killing a black bear on Alaska's Sukkawan Island in 2009. The rocker and Republican activist was filming his television show Spirit of the Wild when he wounded one bear in a bow hunt before shooting and killing another. Alaska limits hunters to one bear per season, and Nugent violated the federal Lacey act by transporting the illegal kill off the island. The plea deal, signed on April 14, requires Nugent to pay a $10,000 fin... Read More
Mexico's senate voted unanimously on Thursday to pass a long-term climate change law that will curb carbon emissions and shift energy production to renewable sources. The bill aims to reduce emission growth to fifty percent by 2050 and obligates government agencies to use renewable energy. Mexico will also explore hydro-electricity, bio fuels, and solar and geothermal energy options. "No developing country in the world has a climate law, let alone a climate law that has this vision and this am... Read More
