• No more protection for gray wolves in Lower 48? Draft rule proposes that

    Macneill Lyons / AP file

    An image provided by Yellowstone National Park, Mont., shows a gray wolf in the wild.

    By John Flesher and Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

    BILLINGS, Mont. -- Federal wildlife officials have drafted plans to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move that could end a decades-long recovery effort that has restored the animals but only in parts of their historic range.


    The draft U.S. Department of Interior rule obtained by The Associated Press contends that roughly 5,000 wolves now living in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes are enough to prevent the species' extinction. The agency says having gray wolves elsewhere — such as the West Coast, parts of New England and the Southern Rockies — is unnecessary for their long-term survival.

    A small population of Mexican wolves in the Southwest would continue to receive federal protections, as a distinct subspecies of the gray wolf.

    The document was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday the rule was under internal review and would be subject to public comment before a final decision is made.

    If the rule is enacted, it would transfer control of wolves to state wildlife agencies by removing them from the federal list of endangered species.

    Wildlife advocates warn that could effectively halt the species' expansion, which has stirred a backlash from agricultural groups and some hunters upset by wolf attacks on livestock and big game herds such as elk.

    Some biologists have argued wolves will continue spreading regardless of their legal status. The animals are prolific breeders, known to journey hundreds of miles in search of new territory. They were wiped out across most of the U.S. early last century following a government sponsored poisoning and trapping campaign.

    In an emailed statement, the agency pointed to "robust" populations of the animals in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes as evidence that gray wolf recovery "is one of the world's great conservation successes."

    Wolves in those two areas lost protections under the Endangered Species Act over the last two years.

    In some states where wolves have recovered, regulated hunting and trapping already has been used to drive down their populations, largely in response to wolf attacks on livestock and big game herds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently reported that wolf numbers dropped significantly last year in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana for the first time since they were reintroduced in the mid-1990s.

    Federal officials have said they are monitoring the states' actions, but see no immediate threat to their survival.

    In Oregon and Washington, which have small but rapidly growing wolf populations, the animals have remained protected under state laws even after federal protections were lifted in portions of the two states.

    Between 1991 and 2011, the federal government spent $102 million on gray wolf recovery programs and state agencies chipped in $15.6 million. Federal spending likely would drop if the proposal to lift protections goes through, while state spending would increase.

    John Flesher reported from Traverse City, Mich.

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Pattycake, the first New York-born gorilla, dies at 40

    Julie Larsen Maher/Bronx Zoo via Reuters, file

    Pattycake, the first gorilla born in New York City, sits in the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo. She has died aged 40.

    By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

    Pattycake, the first gorilla born in New York City, has died aged 40, the operators of the Bronx Zoo announced late Sunday.

    She was suffering from chronic cardiac problems and was under medical care due to her advanced age, the Wildlife Conservation Society said in a statement.

    "Millions of children in New York City grew up with Pattycake at the Bronx Zoo," said Jim Breheny, director of the Bronx Zoo and WCS executive vice president. "Pattycake was a very special animal and her presence will be deeply missed."

    The median life span for gorillas in zoos is 37 years, and Pattycake was the 31st oldest gorilla of the 338 presently residing in North American zoos, WCS said.

    Pattycake was born at the Central Park Zoo on Sept. 3, 1972 and lived there with her parents Kongo and Lulu until moving to the Bronx Zoo in 1983.

    She had 10 infants while at the Bronx Zoo, including twins born in 1995. Her offspring currently reside in zoos in Omaha, Louisville, Utah, Detroit, Boston and Buffalo.

    Related:

    Gang trafficking of endangered great apes prompts global action

    Baby gorilla on black market for $40,000 is rescued

    This story was originally published on Mon Apr 1, 2013 4:16 AM EDT

  • Famed giant Pacific leatherback turtle faces extinction in 20 years

    Reuters/Ricardo Tapilatu/University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the State University of Papua (UNIPA) in Indonesia/Handou

    Turtle researcher, Ricardo Tapilatu tags a female leatherback turtle who just laid eggs on a beach in New Guinea in this 2012 photograph.

    By Verna Gates, Reuters

    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The giant Pacific leatherback turtle, known for its arduous 6,000-mile ocean trek from the U.S. West Coast to breeding grounds in Indonesia, could go extinct within 20 years as its population continues to plummet, scientists say.

    "Sea turtles have been around about 100 million years and survived the extinction of the dinosaurs but are struggling to survive the impact of humans," said reproductive biologist Thane Wibbels of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), a member of a research team studying the fate of these reptiles.

    The leatherback — the world's largest turtle — can grow to six feet long and weigh as much as 2,000 pounds.

    A study published this week in the Ecological Society of America's scientific journal Ecosphere estimates that only about 500 leatherbacks now nest at their last large nesting site in the Pacific, down from thousands previously. The study tracked the turtle's ongoing population decline since the 1980s.

    "If the decline continues, leatherback turtles will become extinct in the Pacific Ocean within 20 years," Wibbels said.

    The Pacific leatherback braves a transpacific journey that is one of the longest migrations in nature. Experts say its continued existence is imperiled by threats like climate change, plastic pollution, fishing methods, predation and human hunting.

    In the past 27 years, the numbers of western Pacific leatherback turtles have dropped by 78 percent, making it critically endangered, said Ricardo Tapilatu, a turtle researcher at UAB and the State University of Papua in Indonesia. He has studied the turtles at their last remaining refuge, the remote Bird's Head Peninsula on New Guinea.

    State University Of Papua / Reuters

    Leatherback turtle hatchlings head into the sea on the island of New Guinea in this 2012 photograph.

    More than 75 percent of all western Pacific leatherback nesting occurs there, numbering 489 turtles in the last breeding season, the researchers said. The turtles forage across the Pacific as far away as the U.S. coast of California, Oregon, and Washington state.

    The research team also included scientists from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service and the World Wildlife Fund Indonesia.

    The turtles can dive as deep as 4,000 feet. To survive the cold depths, the leatherback can control its temperature, staying warmer than surrounding waters. They feed on jellyfish, eating hundreds a day.

    The leathery shell feels like tire tread and it is distinctively different from hard-shell sea turtles.

    Their exact lifespan is unknown, but is believed to be up to 80 years. It is difficult to determine since males never return to the beaches, living their lives in the sea.

    Of the four primary Pacific nesting places of the past century, the Malaysian population is extinct, and the Mexico and Central American populations have fallen 95 percent.

    The leatherback is the only sea turtle that lives in open ocean, negotiating numerous dangers along the way.

    "They migrate 6,000 miles in seven months, and then back, going through the territorial waters of at least 20 countries. There is constant danger of being caught and killed," said Tapilatu, a native of New Guinea.

    For example, fishermen's drift nets and long-lines can snag the air-breathing turtle, drowning it. Humans also introduced wild hogs and dogs to the remote beaches where they nest. The hogs are especially voracious predators of turtle eggs.

    Near the nesting site, local fishermen still capture and slaughter leatherbacks to consume the meat. A local tribe has historically harvested about 100 turtles per year, as well as eggs.

    On some beaches, as few as 20 percent of the eggs hatch due to increased beach temperatures, which could worsen with climate change, Tapilatu said. Sand temperature determines the gender of hatchlings, with higher temperatures favoring females.

    There is hope of restoring the population of the endangered reptiles, the researchers said. The Atlantic leatherback, which is genetically different from the Pacific turtles, has made a comeback through mutual country agreements to ban harvesting adults or eggs on beaches.

    Tapilatu said he plans to return to New Guinea to help replicate that success story with the leatherback turtles struggling to survive in his Pacific home.

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Indiana may drop case against couple who rescued 'Dani' the fawn

    Courtesy of WTHR

    This young deer -- named "Dani -- was rescued by Connersville, Ind., police officer Jeff Counceller and his wife.

    By Susan Guyett, Reuters

    INDIANAPOLIS -- A couple who rescued an injured fawn they named "Dani" and nursed it back to health should not be charged with a crime, a state agency said on Friday, reversing its stance after thousands of people expressed outrage on social media.

    Jeff and Jennifer Counceller faced misdemeanor charges of illegally possessing a wild animal after they brought the injured fawn to their Connersville, Ind., home more than two years ago. They said they planned to nurse her back to health and release her.

    When the Indiana Department of Natural Resources sent an officer to their property last summer to kill Dani under department rules, she was gone from her pen. The state discourages residents raising wild animals because of the threat of disease spreading.

    The Councellers have said they do not know who left the gate open, but it was not them. Dani has been in the wild since then.


    Indiana Gov. Mike Pence got involved in the case after 60,000 people demanded on social media that the charges against the couple be dropped.

    A legal defense fund received more than $2,300 in pledges and the couple made an appearance on "Good Morning America."

    "The Department of Natural Resources today will ask that the charges be dismissed," a spokesman said, after the agency reviewed the matter at the request of the governor. The final decision on the case will be made by a local prosecutor.

    "At the end of the day, the deer survived and that's all that matters," Jeff Counceller, who is a Connersville police officer, said earlier this week. "She's getting to live a hopefully long life and that's all that matters."

    Previous story: Police officer, wife face charges after nursing injured deer back to health

  • Police officer, wife face charges after nursing injured deer back to health

    Courtesy of WTHR

    A police officer in Indiana and his wife face charges for possession of this injured deer they rescued.

    By Vignesh Ramachandran, Staff Writer, NBC News

    An Indiana couple says they were just trying to nurse an injured deer back to health when they took the little animal in, but now they're facing criminal charges, according to local media reports.


    Connersville, Ind., police officer Jeff Counceller rescued the little deer, which he said he found with wounds on it haunches on a porch during a police call two years ago, NBC affiliate WTHR in Indianapolis reported.

    "I was gonna put her back in the woods, but I seen (sic) the injuries and I knew they were life threatening," Counceller told WTHR. So he and wife Jennifer nursed the deer -- which they named "Dani" -- back to health and built a pen for the animal in their backyard near the woods until the deer grew stronger, WTHR reported.

    The couple told WTHR it wasn't a secret that they had the deer, and they had tried calling several deer habitats across the state but found they were too full at the time.

    "She would run around. She would play. We would feed her crack corn and deer chow and other things," Jeff Counceller told WTHR. "Again, we knew someday that we needed to turn her loose."

    Courtesy of WTHR

    The deer, named "Dani," reportedly escaped the day state officials were scheduled to have her euthanized.

    But last year, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources found that the couple should be prosecuted for the illegal possession of a white-tailed deer, according to The Indianapolis Star. State officials were going to have the deer euthanized because she had reportedly been around humans too long, but the deer escaped the day it was going to happen when a gate was left open, WTHR reported.

    The Councellers could be punished with up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine for the misdemeanor charge against them, the Star reported.

    In the last few days, the couple's conundrum has garnered international attention. A Facebook page pushing for the charges to be dropped had more than 19,000 likes by Tuesday evening. A similar petition on Change.org had more than 16,000 supporters by Tuesday evening.

    John Waudby, who created the Facebook page on Saturday, told WTHR he thinks "eventually public pressure will drop these charges."

    Carmel, Ind., resident Suzanne Murray told the Star in an email that she finds "the actions of the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) in this case outrageous and nonsensical."

    A jury trial is expected in March, and a special prosecutor and judge have been assigned to the case, WTHR reported.

    Nicole Pence and Emily Longnecker, both of NBC affiliate WTHR, contributed to this story.

  • 4 bald eagles found shot at Washington state lake

     

    By Vignesh Ramachandran, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Officials and a Native American tribe in Washington state are offering $13,750 for information leading to the conviction of whoever killed four bald eagles near a lake last week, according to local media.


    Authorities tell The Seattle Times they suspect the bald eagles were shot from the trees and dropped into a Snohomish County lake, where their bodies were found floating. The incident occurred east of Granite Falls, the Herald newspaper of Everett reported.

    "I've never seen anything like this in 11 years...it's egregious," Sgt. Jennifer Maurstad of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, told NBC station KING of Seattle.

    Marustad told The Seattle Times it appears the birds were shot with a small-caliber rifle.

    Investigators say the black market for eagle parts can be lucrative, potentially fetching hundreds of dollars, the newspaper reported. Parts could be used in things like high-end artwork or cultural ceremonies, according to The Seattle Times.

    "I don't think he (the killer) had any intention of profiting from them," Maurstad told The Seattle Times. "I think it was just a spur-of-the-moment opportunity."

    Without a permit, killing a bald eagle -- America's national bird -- is a serious offense.

    In the United States, the bald eagle and the golden eagle are protected under multiple federal laws, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Per the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, felony convictions can lead to a maximum fine of $250,000 or two years in prison. Civil penalties are also subject to thousands in fines and imprisonment. Bald eagles are also protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Lacey Act. The bald eagle was removed from the Endangered Species federal list in 2007.

    The act is also a misdemeanor under Washington state law, according to The Seattle Times.

    The Stillaguamish Tribe, a Native American group based in Arlington, Wash., has pledged $10,000 toward the reward fund.

    "The Tribe is shocked and offended at the wanton wastage of wildlife and supports the efforts of state authorities to investigate and prosecute this case," the tribe said in a statement Friday.

  • Shark bait? Rotting whale on Malibu beach raises fear

    View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

    By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

    While officials on Friday mulled what to do with a whale carcass rotting on a beach in ritzy Malibu, Calif., some locals were worried it might attract some unwanted visitors: sharks.


    Five days after the carcass landed on the beach, officials from the city, county and state were still unsure about what to do and who would do it.

    "We have not yet been informed of any removal plans," Malibu spokeswoman Olivia Damavandi told NBC News Friday morning.

    Readers on Malibu Patch exchanged comments criticizing the delay, and how to dispose of the juvenile fin whale, which weighed an estimated 40,000 pounds before seabirds got to it.

    "Burying the whale where it lays will cause an oil slick to emanate from the burial spot, attracting sharks for many years," posted one reader, referring to the fact that the whale's blubber will gradually decay into oil.

    The comments included an earlier incident in San Onofre, Calif., where surfers attributed an increase in shark sightings to the burial of a whale at a nearby beach.

    Damavandi said she didn't know if sharks could become a problem, but added that "as somebody who surfs in Malibu quite often, my common sense tells me it is probably not the best idea to enter the ocean anywhere near the whale carcass."

    Nick Ut / AP

    People on Thursday look at the dead male fin whale in Malibu, Calif.

    Cindy Reyes, director of the Malibu-based California Wildlife Center, echoed that "common sense" gut feeling.

    Officials on Thursday said they feared the carcass was too decomposed to be able to tow it out to sea, and Reyes told NBC News that the center had arranged for a professional marine tow service to go to the site Friday for an evaluation.

    "If it's too decomposed," she said, "it would have to stay where it is."

    Boaters captured video of a humpback whale lifting its tail out of the waters of Dana Point, California. TODAY.com's Dara Brown reports.

    The whale washed up between Paradise Cove and Point Dume, near the homes of celebrities like Barbra Streisand and Bob Dylan.

    It appeared to have been hit by a ship and had a gash to its back and a damaged spine, according to the results of a necropsy by the California Wildlife Center. 

    Fin whales are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. They can grow to up to 85 feet, weigh up to 80 tons and live for up to 90 years.

    The West Coast population of fin whales was estimated at around 2,500 in 2003, down from nearly 3,300 in 1996, the federal government says.

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  • 40,000-pound whale carcass decomposing near Malibu beach homes

    View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

    By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

    A 40,000-pound whale likely killed by a ship was decomposing near the Malibu beach homes of Hollywood celebrities on Thursday, as officials tried to figure out what to do with the carcass -- and the stench.


    "It's not physically capable of being moved because of its condition," Kevin Marble of the L.A. County Lifeguards, told Malibu Patch. "It's so embedded in sand that they won't be able to get it out. The body will be pulled apart."

    The juvenile fin whale's carcass was found Monday morning and vets with the California Wildlife Center later determined it had died from injuries consistent with a ship strike.

    Burying the 40-foot-long carcass could be an option, Marble said, but it would have to be moved since it now sits in a rocky area.

    "It has to be exhumed and moved and buried," he added.

    California State Parks has also been involved in the talks but did not have an immediate plan.

    Nick Ut / AP

    The remains of a fin whale that washed ashore last Monday are seen Thursday on a beach in Malibu. Calif.

    "We don’t have a boat. We don’t have the resources to drag it off the beach," parks spokesman Craig Sap told Malibu Patch.

    NBCLosAngeles.com reported that agencies were trying to figure out who was responsible for dealing with the carcass. A City of Malibu spokeswoman said removal plans had not been finalized, it added.

    The L.A. County Department of Beaches and Harbors said it was not responsible. 

    "It's on a private beach" controlled by homeowners down to the high tide line and the state is responsible for the tidelands, spokeswoman Carol Baker told the Associated Press.

    The whale washed up between Paradise Cove and Point Dume, near the homes of Barbra Streisand and Bob Dylan.

    Biologists say krill are thriving in cleaner waters off the coast of California attracting more blue whales. KNBC's Michelle Valles reports.

    Residents who got up close to the whale included Mari Stanley, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

    "It's a beautiful beast," she said. "It just looked like someone had picked it up and dropped it on the beach."

    Fin whales are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. They can grow to up to 85 feet, weigh up to 80 tons and live for up to 90 years.

    The West Coast population of fin whales was estimated at around 2,500 in 2003, down from nearly 3,300 in 1996, the federal government says.

    Incredible images taken by retired biology instructor Bill Bouton of a small pod of humpback whales lunge-feeding off the coast of California have gone viral.

    Key threats to the species are ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, less prey due to overfishing, habitat degradation and disturbance from low-frequency noises.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Contest to kill Burmese pythons in Everglades includes $1,500 grand prizes

    View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.

    By Brian Hamacher, NBCMiami.com

    South Florida wildlife officials are holding a competition they hope will help eradicate invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades.


    The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Python Challenge will kickoff on Jan. 12 in Fort Lauderdale, the FWC announced Wednesday.

    Florida python permit holders and the general public will get a chance to compete in the month-long competition to see who can harvest the longest and the most Burmese pythons.

    Grand prizes of $1,500 for harvesting the most Burmese pythons will be awarded to winners of both the general competition and the python permit holders competition, with additional $1,000 prizes for the longest Burmese python harvested in both competitions.

    A Burmese python pregnant with 87 eggs was recently found in Florida and is the largest ever caught in the state, measuring over 17 feet.

    In addition to removing the pythons, one of the goals of the challenge is to educate the public of the dangers the reptiles pose to the Everglades ecosystem. Florida prohibits possession or sale of Burmese pythons for use as pets, and federal law bans the importation and interstate sale of the species.

    Python Patrol Reveals Everglades' Snake Problem
    Largest Burmese Python Caught in Florida

    "Part of the goal of the Python Challenge is to educate the public to understand why nonnative species like Burmese pythons should never be released into the wild and encourage people to report sightings of exotic species," Kristin Sommers, head of FWC's Exotic Species Coordination Section, said in a statement. "We also expect the competitive harvesting of Burmese pythons to result in additional information on the python population in south Florida and enhance our research and management efforts."

    For more information on the Python Challenge visit PythonChallenge.org.

    A trapping competition has been announced in South Florida to cut down on the Burmese python population in the Everglades. WBBH's Christina Lusby reports.

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  • Protect rare bird? Move by US has energy backers crying foul

    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Reuters

    The lesser prairie chicken could get listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

    By Ros Krasny, Reuters

    WASHINGTON -- A move by U.S. authorities to consider placing a small grassland bird native to parts of the oil and gas belt on the Endangered Species List has drawn the ire of some Western lawmakers.


    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday announced a plan to consider having the lesser prairie chicken listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

    The lesser prairie chicken is a medium-sized, gray-brown grouse, smaller and paler than the greater prairie chicken, its close relative.

    Once found in abundant numbers across much of Southeastern Colorado, Eastern New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, Western Oklahoma and Western Kansas, the lesser prairie-chicken's historical range of native grasslands and prairies has been reduced by an estimated 84 percent, the service said.

    Lawmakers in major oil and gas producing districts immediately cried foul.

    "A listing will have permanent economic consequences for the people of Texas who live and work in the Permian Basin and the Texas Panhandle," said Representative Michael Conaway, a Republican.

    Conaway's sprawling West Texas district produces much of the state's oil and about one-quarter of its gas.

    Protecting the lesser prairie-chicken "could drive ranching families and energy producers out of business," said Republican Representative Randy Neugebauer, whose district in East-Central Texas is a large agricultural area.

    New Mexico's Steve Pearce, chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, said federal species regulation was being "driven by lawyers for extreme interest groups."

    "Listing cannot come soon enough for the lesser prairie chicken," said Taylor Jones, endangered species advocate for WildEarth Guardians, a Santa Fe environmental group that at one point sued the federal government in an attempt to protect the birds from oil and gas drilling.

    The Fish and Wildlife Service has opened a 90-day comment period on the lesser prairie-chicken and is seeking input from the public and from the scientific community before making its final decision. Four public hearings will be held in February.

    In the meantime, a number of state and federal agencies are working on a voluntary conservation planning effort to conserve the bird's habitat.

    "Regardless of whether the lesser prairie-chicken ultimately requires protection under the ESA, its decline is a signal that our native grasslands are in trouble," said Benjamin Tuggle, Regional Director for the Service's Southwest Region.

    "We know that these grasslands support not only dozens of native migratory bird and wildlife species, but also farmers, ranchers and local communities across the region," Tuggle said.

    Lesser prairie chickens are considered "vulnerable," a step short of endangered, by the UK-based International Union for Conservation of Nature, whose "red list" tracks the conservation status of various species worldwide.

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  • Dozens of stranded sea turtles suffering from hypothermia rescued in Cape Cod

    New England Aquarium

    Dr. Charles Innis, the New England Aquarium's head veterinarian, listens for a heartbeat on a newly admitted 60-pound loggerhead sea turtle. Turtles with temperature in the low to mid 40's can come in with a heartbeat as low as one per minute and still be re-warmed.

    By Reuters

    Endangered sea turtles are becoming stranded on Massachusetts' Cape Cod shores so frequently in recent weeks that wildlife rescuers are scrambling to cope with what could be a record influx.


    In the past four days, some 67 sea turtles suffering from hypothermia have been brought to the New England Aquarium's Animal Care Center care facility near Boston, aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse said Friday. They are among 120 sea turtles that arrived since early November.

    Turtle strandings in Cape Cod Bay typically begin in November during the annual winter migration back to the Gulf of Mexico, LaCasse said. In early summer, the reptiles will migrate back up the eastern seaboard to forage for crab, he said.

    The sea turtles are washed ashore by high winds and tides in the large, shallow bay because they are unable to find their way around the hooked tip of Cape Cod to swim south for the winter, he said. As the water temperature falls, they get stunned by the cold, become weak and float on the surface.

    "It essentially creates a deadly bucket," LaCasse said. "We don't know of it happening anywhere else in the world on this scale."

    As many as 144 sea turtles have been rescued in past so-called stranding seasons, which could last until the third week of December, LaCasse said.

    Usually most sea turtles that get stranded are juvenile Kemp's ridleys but this year, LaCasse said, they include some 50-100 pound huskier loggerheads as well as green sea turtles. All of the turtles are designated as endangered or threatened species.

    The aquarium's Animal Care Center has exceeded its capacity for about 100 turtles, so biologists, nonprofit rescue groups and volunteer pilots on Friday were transporting some of them to other aquariums and rescue centers along the East Coast.

    Massachusetts Audubon

    This leatherback sea turtle stranded in Truro, Mass.

    Six loggerheads were driven to the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, eight Kemp's ridleys taken to the National Marine Life Center on Cape Cod and four were flown to a facility in Virginia, LaCasse said.

    On Monday, four loggerheads will be flown on a corporate jet to facilities in Maryland and Georgia, he added.

    During the rehabilitation process, he said, the turtles are "re-warmed" slowly over a period of days until they regain their strength and can be released into the wild.

    LaCasse said the aquarium, which is reporting on the strandings on its blog, had not yet reached an annual record for stranded turtles, but it was "getting pretty close." 

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  • Arizonans to vote on taking Grand Canyon, other lands from federal control

    National Park Service via EPA

    Boaters travel down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park.

    By Tim Gaynor, Reuters

    When voters in Arizona go to the polls next month, they will be asked to decide a landownership tug of war: Should the Grand Canyon belong to all Americans, or just the residents of Arizona?


    A controversial ballot measure backed by Republicans in the state legislature is seeking sovereign control over millions of acres of federal land in the state, including the Grand Canyon.

    Proposition 120 would amend the state's constitution to declare Arizona's sovereignty and jurisdiction over the "air, water, public lands, minerals, wildlife and other natural resources within the state's boundaries."

    The measure is the latest salvo in the so-called "sagebrush revolt" by Republicans in the West aiming to take back control of major swaths of land owned by various federal agencies, much of it by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management.

    State Sen. Sylvia Allen, one of the Republican backers of the measure, argues that federal retention of the land hurts the economy of the Western states and leaves them struggling to fund public education, nurture their economies, and manage their forests and natural resources.

    "We do not have the ability in rural Arizona to provide jobs for our citizens due to the fact that the federal government controls all the land," Allen told Reuters. "It leaves us at a great disadvantage. We're not able to bring in industry and provide for the jobs that we need," she added.

    The exact area of public land targeted by the measure -- which excludes American Indian reservations and federal installations such as arsenals - was not immediately clear on the Arizona Secretary of State's website.

    The Sierra Club pegged the area at between 39,000 and 46,700 square miles -- or 34 percent to 41 percent of the entire state.

    The ballot measure is just the latest move in a decades-old federal-state skirmish over control of a wide range of natural resources in Western states, often pitting mining, drilling and logging companies against those seeking to protect the environment. 

    The efforts have had mixed success. In May, Arizona's Republican Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a state bill calling on Washington to relinquish the title to 48,000 square miles, arguing that it created uncertainty for existing leaseholders on federal lands in difficult economic times.

    But similar legislation was signed into law by Governor Gary Herbert in neighboring Utah in March, despite warnings from state attorneys that it was likely unconstitutional and would trigger a costly and ultimately futile legal battle.

    Opponents of the latest drive to assert Arizona's ownership say that, if successful, the initiative could undermine protections provided by federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and Clean Water Act, and would saddle Arizona with lands for which it would be unable to care.

    "They can't even fund and ensure that their (state) parks are protected, so how they would take on an additional 25 to 30 million acres of land is a big question mark," Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter, told Reuters.

    No polls have given a sense of whether Prop 120 will prosper during the November 6 election. But Bahr cautioned that, should it pass, it would inevitably trigger fresh litigation for Arizona, which recently fought a legal battle over its tough 2010 crackdown on illegal immigrants all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    "This one is just blatantly unconstitutional," Bahr said of Prop 120. "Does Arizona really need another lawsuit?" 

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