Conservation News ~ 29 May 2020

• Researchers have discovered a new subspecies of a beloved Australian bird
• Dolphin mom adopts baby whale and takes care of it for three years
• Cactus-dwelling couple proves rumors that Bald Eagles nest in saguaros
• Climate change is driving widespread forest death and creating shorter, younger trees
• European firms are investigating loophole to import Myanmar teak
• Expansion of hunting on National Wildlife Refuges threatens imperiled species
• Novel virus could spread rapidly among endangered orcas
• Mining company blows up 46,000 year old aboriginal sacred caves
• US lawmakers unveil bold $100billion plan to remake NSF
• Small scale mining for gold has produced long-lasting toxic pollution from 1860s California gold rush
• Vegan senator Cory Booker demands congress slow animal slaughter speed during COVID pandemic
• Scientists record rarely heard sounds made by Narwhals
• Campaigners in Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region oppose $21m conservation project
• New iguana species found hiding in plain sight
• Officials discover new species of crayfish for Ohio after 45-year search
• The UN says Good health is an environmental right
• US lets corporations delay paying environmental fines amid pandemic
• St. Louis wildlife facility sends Mexican wolf pups to Arizona, New Mexico to help save the species
• Endangered species, slender loris spotted near Tirumala
• US States defend Endangered Species Act lawsuit
• Humpback whales have made a remarkable recovery, giving us hope for the planet
• New study shows why glass frogs have see-through skin
• ESPRESSO confirms the presence of an Earth around the nearest star
• New public lands rules will let Alaska hunters kill bear cubs in den
• The coronavirus is pushing China toward a meatless future
• Loggers injured a Brazilian environmental official, but Administration remained silent
• Brazilian taxpayers subsidizing Amazon-clearing cattle ranches
• A new sanctuary for the Sumatran rhino is delayed amid COVID measures
• Manyana bushland clearing halted as protest group launches federal court challenges
• NFWF announce release of Killer Whale research and conservation program 2020 request for proposals
• Fossil of ancient long-tailed bird found in China
• Mississippi River Delta marshes have hit a tipping point
• White House again ok’s oil drilling in California’s Carrizo Plain National Monument
• Portugal generated enough renewable energy to power the country for 1 month
• Surgical masks wash up on Sydney beaches after 40 containers fall off cargo ship
• Chattanooga Zoo’s Giraffe herd has arrived
• Israel seals bat caves for visitors to shield endangered species from virus
• New roads in Asia a significant threat to already endangered tigers
• Army Corps tried end run around endangered species act
• Engineers develop near-zero emissions engine technology
• Antarctic Penguin poop emits laughing gas
• COVID masks and gloves litter seabed in the Mediterranean
• During height of pandemic, plant-based food sales increased by 90 percent
• Global priorities for conservation of reptilian phylogenetic diversity in the face of human intervention
• Dinosaur-dooming asteroid struck earth at ‘deadliest possible’ angle
• Venezuala rejects illegal seizure, sale of CITGO in the US
• US Department of Energy rushes to build advanced new nuclear reactors
• Lionfish second species to threaten Aegean ecosystem
• Sixteen nabbed for illegal hunting in Eastern Cape
• Scientists find genes to save ash trees from deadly beetle
• A rewilding success story in Gorongosa National Park
• New species of Pygmy Seahorse about the size of a grain of rice discovered in Indian Ocean
• A new critically endangered frog named after the ‘man from the floodplain full of frogs’
• Okarito gecko species rediscovered decades later
• Alberta minister says it’s a great time to build pipeline because COVID restrictions limit protests
• Nesting loggerhead sea turtle found dead in Cape Hatteras National Seashore beach
• Kangaroos are victims of the world’s largest commercial slaughter of terrestrial wildlife
• Spain seeks to pass new climate law to reach net zero by 2050
• Nestle is building a $100million vegan food factory in China
• Irish man faces US charges on trafficking rhino horns
• Youn climate activists call for EU to radically reform farming sector
• Indonesia may bar citizens from working on foreign fishing boats after spate of deaths
• Locusts will devour crops and livelihoods in Pakistan
• Australia’s failing environmental laws will fuel further public health crises
• Public returns to St. Peter’s square, Pope calls for Defense of Environment
• Chinese customs seize 10.7kg of endangered species products
• Wild donkeys to roam Danube Delta once again
• Endangered shorebirds unsustainably hunted during migrations
• The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is going to be bad
• Mink fur farms may have infected humans with COVID
• COVID has erased 600k clean energy jobs in two months
• Scientists say intrusion into nature led to pandemic
• Southern reaches of Western Ghats yield 3 new plant species
• New native grass species have been discovered on the Iberian Peninsula and Menorca
• Endangered baby lemur born at San Jose’s Happy Hollow Zoo
• Rare long-necked dinosaur that roamed the polar world unearthed in Australia
• China’s air pollution is now worse than pre-COVID levels
• Florida beachgoers have rare encounter with 800-pound leatherback sea turtle nesting during daylight hours
• A proposed mine in Alaska will endanger brown bears
• Kiwi included in proposed South African meat legislation
• NRDC experts show us how we can slow the spread of Zoonotic disease
• Researchers create global arsenic-in-groundwater maps to highlight threats
• Rare white grizzly bear sighted in Canadian Rockies
• For the first time, Washington will regulate Columbia-Snake River dams if they violate federal pollution rules
• Algae is now growing on melting Antarctic snow due to climate change
• Dam failure threatens a Dow chemical complex and Superfund cleanup
• Ramu NiCo has been dumping millions of tons of toxic mine waste into Papua New Guinea’s waters
• South Africa to probe Giraffe, Meerkat, Rhino shipments to China
• New study finds goats respond to human cues the same way dogs do
• Bumblebees clever trick fools plants into flower
• UK approval for biggest gas power station in Europe ruled legal
• Animal source for COVID continues to elude scientists
• Assam students, environment activists launch online campaign to stop coal mining in elephant reserve
• Brazil minister calls for environmental deregulation while public distracted by COVID
• UC becomes nation’s largest university to divest fully from fossil fuels
• Sea Shepherd files lawsuit to block New Zealand seafood exports to US in bid to protect Maui dolphin
• Vegan food orders increase 104% in Hong Kong
• 2 degrees of warming will push most tropical rainforests above their safe heat threshold
• South Africa’s abalone black market is being squeezed by COVID
• Swiss parliament group demand subsidies for vegetables instead of meat
• White House postpones New Mexico oil and gas auction
• New House Bill looks to protect our rivers and other waterways by halting White House
• Locals stage latest fight against PNG mine dumping waste into sea
• Illegal logging mafia stripping hornbill habitat in NE India
• Mining company pressing to enter Ecuador’s Los Cedros Protected Forest
• Papuan farmer dies after police assault at palm oil company
• Bottlenose dolphins spotted in Finland for first time in 70 years
• 12 ft SC alligator treated like an amusement ride by pest control agents before it was killed
• Contentious Guatemala nickel mine ignores COVID lockdown
• The BLM went out of its way to provide pandemic relief to oil companies
• New Zealand ditches GDP for happiness and wellbeing