Conservation News ~ November 16 2018

• Canadian old growth continues to be threatened due to weak government management: https://hashilthsa.com/news/2018-11-06/old-growth-continues-be-threatened-due-weak-government-management-says-ntc
• Understanding how elephants think is key to protecting them: https://e360.yale.edu/features/understanding-how-elephants-think-is-key-to-protecting-them
• Washington just decided to kill three rare wolf families: https://www.thedodo.com/in-the-wild/washington-state-to-kill-three-wolf-families
• Oregon may be over-hunting cougars: https://www.opb.org/news/article/cougar-overhunting-conflict-oregon/
• New system opens the door to transforming CO2 into industrial fuels: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/11/new-system-opens-the-door-to-transforming-co2-into-industrial-fuels/
• Federal Judge blocks Keystone XL pipeline: https://www.washingtonpost.com/
• Scientists argue that BC hasn’t recognized endangered status of Spotted Owls: https://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/articles.cfm?id=149489595
• Researchers capture video of humpback whales ‘trap feeding’: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/researchers-capture-video-of-humpback-whales-trap-feeding
• Rare dolphin found dead in river conservation area in Myanmar: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/asiapacific/2018-11/08/c_137591543.htm
• Marine Protected Areas overlook a large fraction of biodiversity hotspots: https://phys.org/news/2018-11-marine-areas-overlook-large-fraction.html
• Peru cracks down after environmental defenders’ murders: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/peru-cracks-down-after-environmental-defenders-murders/
• Poaching is forcing elephants to evolve away from having tusks: https://futurism.com/elephant-tusks-poaching-evolution
• Scientists discover a rare bird that’s a hybrid of three different species: https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2018/11/09/rare-three-species-hybrid-bird-discovered/
• England’s frog populations could jump thanks to new ‘frog ladders’: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/frog-ladders-britain_us_5be48941e4b0e84388957123
• End of funding dims hopes for a Sumatran forest targeted by palm oil growers: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/end-of-funding-dims-hopes-for-a-sumatran-forest-targeted-by-palm-oil-growers/
• Rare white lion is set to be auctioned off to trophy hunters, instead of going to a sanctuary: https://nypost.com/2018/11/16/sanctuary-fears-rare-white-lion-will-be-auctioned-off-to-trophy-hunters/
• Creation of new Congo Ogooue-Lekati National Park: https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/11706/Creation-of-Ogooue-Leketi-National-Park.aspx
• Scientists develop liquid fuel that can store the sun’s energy for up to 18 years: https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-develop-liquid-that-sucks-up-sun-s-energy
• Anger over ‘back door’ St Lucia dune mining plan: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-11-08-anger-over-back-door-st-lucia-dune-mining-plan/
• Rescued panther meets end 9 months after release: https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20181110/rescued-panther-meets-end-9-months-after-release
• Idaho Fish and Game director Moore announces he will retire: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/nov/07/idaho-fish-and-game-director-moore-announces-he-wi/
• Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier drops fur, deeming industry ‘absolutely deplorable’: https://www.livekindly.co/luxury-fashion-designer-jean-paul-gaultier-drops-fur/
• Alaska fishermen sentenced for killing endangered sea lions: https://www.apnews.com/3d283cc18f9c427f8c4a79665f34a283
• Beaches at risk due to the increase in atmospheric CO2: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181109101435.htm
• Over 600,000 people petition to air banned palm oil orangutan tv ad: https://www.livekindly.co/iceland-palm-oil-orangutan-petition/
• Judge orders USFWS to strengthen protections for threatened lynx: http://wildlife.org/judge-orders-usfws-to-strengthen-protections-for-threatened-lynx/
• China postpones lifting ban on trade of tiger and rhino parts: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-wildlife/china-postpones-lifting-of-ban-on-trade-of-tiger-and-rhino-parts-idUSKCN1NH0XH
• Ancient prairie to be restored at Midlands SC preserve: https://www.postandcourier.com/news/ancient-native-prairie-to-be-restored-at-midlands-sc-preserve/article_a0135314-dd18-11e8-9095-f7d407420c39.html
• Herpes-infected monkeys are running wild in Florida: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/11/florida-rhesus-monkeys-herpes-running-wild-invasive-species/
• Human-shaped species of mushroom discovered in UK: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/mushroom-species-looks-humans/
• Climate protestors blockade energy department in UK: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-46172661
• The House Science Committee is getting a leader who believes climate change is real: https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/midterms-house-science-committee
• Declining Caribou illustrate the challenges of conservation: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/nov/11/declining-caribou-illustrate-the-challenges-of-con/
• Russian Ministry of Environment refuses to export 25 capture beluga whales: https://chelorg.com/2018/11/13/the-ministry-of-environment-refused-to-export-25-belugas-from-primorsky-krai/
• Scientists create energy-producing “bionic mushroom”: https://e360.yale.edu/digest/scientists-create-energy-producing-bionic-mushroom
• First Monarch butterflies reach sanctuaries in Michoacan, Mexico: https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/first-monarch-butterflies-reach-sanctuaries/
• Landmark children’s climate lawsuit hits new roadblock: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/11/landmark-childrens-climate-lawsuit-hits-new-roadblock/
• Environmental activist gives up his life after 111 day fast for a clean Ganga River: https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/blogpost/environmental-activist-gives-his-life-clean-ganga-river
• Leonardo DiCaprio launches vegan clothing line to save primates: https://vegnews.com/2018/11/leonardo-dicaprio-launches-vegan-clothing-line-to-save-primates
• World’s largest humpback whale population booming thanks to the Kimberley: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-13/worlds-largest-humpback-whale-population-booming/10470862
• VW is planning a US$21,000 subcompact electric to challenge Tesla: https://driving.ca/volkswagen/auto-news/news/vw-is-planning-a-us21000-subcompact-electric-to-challenge-tesla
• Rare fossil bird deepens mystery of avian extinctions: https://news.berkeley.edu/2018/11/13/rare-fossil-bird-deepens-mystery-of-avian-extinctions/
• Chocolate giant Cadbury ‘still pushing orangutans toward extinction’: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/orangutans-palm-oil-habitat-rainforest-cadbury-mondelez-oreos-indonesia-greenpeace-a8630801.html
• Honduras aims to save vital wildlife corridor from deforestation: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/honduras-aims-to-save-vital-wildlife-corridor-from-deforestation/
• US White House sides with tribes in Badger-Two Med drilling dispute: https://www.apnews.com/4e559f308479487289d36fdadecb4aa3
• Feted Zimbabwe women rangers denied visas: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46194785
• For the first time since 2010, people who accept climate change control the House Science Committee: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8xp9bx/for-the-first-time-since-2010-people-who-accept-climate-change-control-the-house-science-committee
• Papua New Guinea to create 7,500 km of new marine protected areas in Bismarck Sea: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/png-to-create-7500-square-kilometers-of-new-marine-protected-areas-in-bismarck-sea/
• Chile: Mining waste continues to be expelled into the sea: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/chile-mining-waste-continues-to-be-expelled-into-the-sea/
• Iceland to let loose animatronic orangutan after Christmas ad ban: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/nov/14/iceland-let-loose-animatronic-orangutan-after-christmas-advert-ban-palm-oil
• Endangered rhino leaving zoo for wild: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-46201636/endangered-black-rhino-swapping-north-yorkshire-for-africa
• Hawksbill turtle poaching to be fought with DNA technology: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/13/hawksbill-turtle-poaching-to-be-fought-with-dna-technology
• Arkansas steps up to save endangered Red Wolves: https://blog.nwf.org/2018/11/a-state-steps-up-to-save-endangered-red-wolves/
• Portugal bans all wild animal circuses: https://vegnews.com/2018/11/portugal-bans-wild-animal-circuses
• Paleontologists discovered six new species in the East African Rift: https://phys.org/news/2018-10-paleontologists-species-east-african-rift.html
• Bristol plans to become carbon neutral by 2030: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/nov/14/bristol-plans-to-become-carbon-neutral-by-2030
• Massive crater under Greenland’s ice points to climate-altering impact in the time of humans: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/massive-crater-under-greenland-s-ice-points-climate-altering-impact-time-humans
• Seismic study reveals huge amount of water dragged into Earth’s interior: https://source.wustl.edu/2018/11/seismic-study-reveals-huge-amount-of-water-dragged-into-earths-interior/
• Canadian government invests $150 million in vegan protein development: https://www.livekindly.co/canadian-government-invests-150-million-vegan-protein-industries-supercluster/
• Belarus, Estonia, Norway, and the European Union sign on to a coalition of the willing to protect pollinators: https://www.ipbes.net/news/coalition-willing-pollination-grows-again
• Florida monarch butterfly populations have dropped 80 percent since 2005: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/florida-monarch/
• Invasive species cost millions to eradicate from Alaska waters: https://www.ktva.com/story/39455743/invasive-species-cost-millions-to-eradicate-from-alaska-waters
• Canada conservation land gets $11m boost: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46200874
• Fusion breakthrough as China’s “artificial sun” reaches 100 million degrees: https://newatlas.com/fusion-china-artificial-sun-east/57237/
• Otter fans float plan to bring sea otters back to Oregon coast: https://www.kuow.org/stories/otter-fans-float-plan-to-bring-sea-otters-back-to-oregon-coast-4131
• Washington shoots wolf; ends search for others: http://www.capitalpress.com/Washington/20181114/washington-shoots-wolf-ends-search-for-others
• Gray Wolf population could lose federal protection under GOP bill: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article221647280.html
• Diseases spread by ticks hit record level in US: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/record-number-of-tickborne-diseases-lyme-disease-reported-in-us-2017/
• Palm oil supplier to PepsiCo, Mars, and Hershey resumes deforesting in Indo: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/palm-oil-supplier-to-pepsico-mars-and-hershey-resumes-deforesting-in-indonesia/
• Radar helps Kenya map mangroves and other cloud-covered forests: https://news.mongabay.com/wildtech/2018/11/radar-helps-kenya-map-mangroves-and-other-cloud-covered-forests/
• Brazil’s new foreign minister believes climate change is a Marxist plot: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/15/brazil-foreign-minister-ernesto-araujo-climate-change-marxist-plot
• It is now legal to hunt and kill wildlife in Tanzania: https://www.pulse.ng/bi/politics/it-is-now-legal-again-to-hunt-and-kill-wildlife-in-tanzania-id9103727.html
• Americans voted overwhelmingly to protect our wild places: https://www.outsideonline.com/2363781/what-election-meant-public-lands
• Fin Whales and Mountain Gorillas are back from the brink of extinction: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/fin-whales-mountain-gorillas-extinction-endangered-red-list-whaling-poaching-iucn-a8633211.html
• Raccoons drunk on crab apples cause false rabies scare in West Virginia: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/11/14/raccoons-drunk-crab-apples-cause-false-rabies-scare-west-virginia/