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Tag: Animal attacks

  • Wisconsin officials add recommendations to new management plan to keep wolf population around 1,000

    Wisconsin officials add recommendations to new management plan to keep wolf population around 1,000

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    MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin wildlife officials released a revised draft wolf management plan Tuesday that recommends holding the statewide population at around 1,000 animals, a concession to conservatives looking for a hard limit.

    The Department of Natural Resources adopted a wolf management plan in 1999 that calls for capping the statewide population at 350 wolves. The population has roughly tripled since then, leading to occasional wolf attacks on pets, hunting dogs and livestock. Hunters and farmers have pointed to the 350-animal limit as justification for generous kill quotas, angering animal rights advocates.

    The department released a draft of a new wolf management plan in November. The proposal didn’t include a hard population goal, instead recommending that advisory committees monitor local wolf populations and decide whether to reduce them, maintain them or allow them to grow.

    The draft wasn’t well received by hunters, farmers and GOP legislators. State Rep. Chanz Green and state Sen. Rob Stafsholt introduced a bill in March that would require the DNR to set a statewide population goal in its new plan. The measure has yet to get a hearing.

    The plan the DNR unveiled Tuesday still doesn’t set a hard population goal. But it does include a chart laying out recommendations on when to reduce the statewide population, when it would be considered stable and when to let it grow.

    If the number of wolves falls below 799, wildlife officials should look to grow the statewide population, according to the plan. If the population stands at 800 to 999 wolves, the population could grow or be considered stable. If the population stands at between 1,000 and 1,199 wolves, the population would be considered stable or could be reduced. If the number of animals grows to 1,200 or more, the population should be reduced.

    “This approach is expected to generally maintain statewide wolf abundance and distribution at levels comparable to recent years,” Randy Johnson, a DNR large carnivore specialist who wrote the plan, said during a news conference. “The better question is can we make good decisions on the information we have? I think we’re in a good place here.”

    The new draft retains provisions from the original that call for reducing the window for registering wolf kills from 24 hours to eight hours and issuing hunting licenses for specific wolf management zones. Right now wolf licenses are valid in any of the state’s six zones.

    The DNR’s policy board is expected to vote in October on whether to adopt the management plan.

    Green and Stafsholt, the Republican lawmakers who authored the bill mandating a hard population goal, didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the new draft.

    Rob Bohmann and Joe Weiss, chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, a group of influential hunters and anglers that advises the DNR on policy, also didn’t immediately respond to emails.

    Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill in 2012 establishing an annual wolf hunt in the state. The hunt became one of the most contentious outdoor issues the state has ever faced. Ranchers and farmers say they need to protect their livestock from wolf attacks; the DNR has paid out about $3.2 million in compensation for wolf attacks since 1985.

    Animal rights advocates counter that the wolf population isn’t strong enough to support hunting. The state’s Chippewa tribes also oppose any wolf hunting. They consider the animal to be a spiritual brother and don’t allow hunts on their reservations.

    The last wolf hunt in Wisconsin was held in February 2021. The DNR set the quota for non-tribal hunters at 119 animals, but hunters blew past that limit, killing 218 wolves in just four days before the DNR could shut down the season.

    A federal judge in February 2022 restored endangered species protections for gray wolves across most of the country, including Wisconsin. The move outlawed hunting the animal. Wisconsin did not hold a wolf season last year.

    Bob Welch and Jim Steineke, lobbyists for the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, which has pushed for allowing wolf hunters to use dogs to track and corner wolves, didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the new draft plan.

    Charlie Rasmussen, a spokesperson for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, which protects Chippewa tribes’ natural resources across Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, also didn’t immediately respond to an email.

    ___

    This story has been corrected to reflect that Johnson’s first name is Randy, not Larry.

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  • Tourists fined for dingo selfies as rangers warn of rising wild dog attacks | CNN

    Tourists fined for dingo selfies as rangers warn of rising wild dog attacks | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Two tourists who snapped selfies with dingoes have been fined more than $1,500 each for taking the “extremely dangerous decision” to interact with the native wild dogs following a recent spate of ferocious attacks, Australian authorities said.

    In a statement Friday, Queensland Department of Environment and Science compliance manager Mike Devery said the two women were lucky not to be attacked in the separate incidents on the popular tourist island of K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island.

    An image provided by the department showed an unnamed New South Wales woman, 29, laying down next to a pack of sleeping dingo pups. “She was lucky the mother of the pups wasn’t nearby,” Devery said.

    The other tourist, a 25-year-old Queensland woman, appeared in a selfie video posted to social media that showed her with a growling dingo, “which was clearly exhibiting dominance-testing behaviour,” he said.

    “It is not playful behaviour. Wongari are wild animals and need to be treated as such, and the woman is lucky the situation did not escalate,” he added, referring to dingoes by their indigenous name.

    In an update Friday, the department said a 23-year-old woman was hospitalized with serious injuries to her arms and legs after she was bitten by dingoes while jogging on an island beach Monday.

    Tourists Shane and Sarah Moffat jumped in to rescue her, CNN affiliate Nine News reported.

    “There was a big piece missing out of her arm there and there was puncture wounds all up the side of her legs,” Shane Moffat told Nine News.

    The leader of that dingo pack was later euthanized, the department said. It had also been involved in recent biting incidents that led to the hospitalization of a 6-year-old girl, the department said.

    “It was also clear from its behaviour that it had become habituated, either by being fed or from people interacting with it for videos and selfies,” the update said.

    “Our number one priority is to keep people on K’gari safe and conserve the population of wongari (dingoes), and those who blatantly ignore the rules for social media attention can expect a fine or a court appearance,” Devery said.

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  • Drones sweep for sharks along New York’s coast during rise in encounters with beachgoers

    Drones sweep for sharks along New York’s coast during rise in encounters with beachgoers

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    WANTAGH, N.Y. — Off the coast of Long Island, drones sweep over the ocean, patrolling the water for any danger that might lurk below the surface as beachgoers grow more vigilant because of a recent spate of shark encounters.

    Over two days this week, five people reported being bitten by sharks at some of New York’s most popular beaches, leading to heightened surveillance of the area’s waters.

    The sighting of a 10-foot (3-meter) shark on Thursday prompted officials to keep people out of the water at Robert Moses State Park, the same Long Island beach that delayed its opening July 4 after a drone spotted a group of 50 sand sharks off the coast.

    “We are now more vigilant than ever,” said George Gorman, the state’s park director in Long Island. “We have drones in the sky that watch over the waters. We have lifeguards on WaveRunners that watch over the waters.”

    Just a few years ago, encounters with sharks were rare. But more recently, reports of sharks biting people have increased. Last year, eight people reported being bitten by sharks swimming in the shallows off Long Island’s beaches.

    “This year, we’ve already had five bites,” Gorman said, “and the season has kind of just begun.”

    Even if the injuries have not been serious, he and others are concerned by the rise in shark sightings and encounters.

    Cary Epstein, a lifeguard supervisor who pilots drones at Jones Beach, said the tiny battery-powered aircraft make three sweeps each day: once before opening, then sometime midday and a final round before the end of the day.

    “Despite the nervousness over what’s going on right now in New York, people swim in the ocean every day, and they have for centuries,” he said. “But we do have to remember that we are cohabitating, and this is their house.”

    Drones provide an additional vantage point unavailable to lifeguards on the beach, Epstein said as he demonstrated how he uses the drones to patrol the waters off Long Island.

    As he operated one of the drones from the beach, he stared into a small box equipped with controls and a display screen. The craft lifted off, hovering over the sand until it hurled forward over the water and turned into a mere dot as it approached the horizon.

    “When you’re up in an elevated lifeguard station or a lifeguard stand, you can see up and you can see out, but you can’t see straight down,” Epstein said. “When we do have sharks that are eating on these fish, it’s very, very clear to us. You could see it, no questions asked.”

    But, he warned, “just because you don’t see something doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

    Just two months ago, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the addition of 10 drones to its squadron, bringing the total to 18 that can be used to monitor shark activity along her state’s beaches.

    “With New Yorkers and visitors alike preparing to enjoy our beautiful Long Island beaches all summer long, their safety is our top priority,” Hochul said in May. “This year we are taking further action to protect beachgoers by increasing surveillance to monitor for shark activity near beaches off the South Shore.”

    An increase in shark sightings might suggest a healthier ecosystem, some say. Cleaner waters allow the small fish that sharks feed on to flourish. More small fish swimming closer to shore means more sharks nipping at their tails.

    Prior to 2022, New York had only recorded a dozen unprovoked bites. Over the last decade, there were just four people bitten by sharks, according to data compiled by the International Shark Attack File, which tracks shark attacks around the world.

    Florida is usually the country’s leader in shark bites. There were 16 last year, which was twice as many as runner-up New York.

    From his elevated perch on the sand at Jones Beach State Park on Thursday, lifeguard Carl Nowicki pointed his gaze out to sea, scanning the water for activity that might attract a hungry shark, such as large schools of bait fish.

    “If a drone has spotted a shark, we won’t alert the patrons until they’re all of the water because we don’t want them to freak out,” he said. “We’ll be very transparent once everyone’s on the sand. We don’t want to cause a panic at a beach.”

    Mike Berchoff, who was enjoying the sun and water at Jones Beach, goes into the water more cautiously these days. He doesn’t want to be the next beachgoer to be bitten by a shark.

    “I just go out up to my waist. That’s about it,” he said. “I don’t go all the way out there.”

    He’s seen more drones taking off lately, which he said provides some reassurance that beachgoers would be alerted of danger.

    The first known encounter of the summer happened Monday, when a 15-year old girl felt a bite on her leg while swimming. At a different beach soon after, another teen had to paddle back to shore after something began nibbling on his toes.

    A day later, on the Fourth of July, two men reported bites possibly by sharks in two separate encounters 60 miles (97 kilometers) apart.

    This is not the same kind of horror that terrorized the fictional East Coast town of Amity Island in the terrifying movie thriller “Jaws.”

    For one thing, it’s unlikely the marine animals involved in recent encounters were the fear-inducing great white sharks that linger in deeper waters and are rarely seen close enough to shore to be of real concern.

    About a dozen species of sharks swim off the coast of Long Island, none of them considered particularly ferocious, including the sand sharks that are more common in the area and grow to nearly 15 feet (4.6 meters). Their sharp, jagged teeth might cause a fright, but the giant fish are usually docile and typically avoid human contact. A nursery for juvenile sharks is known to exist off Fire Island.

    Sand sharks are unlikely to attack humans unless provoked, according to shark biologists. If they do interact with swimmers, it’s usually unintentional.

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  • Possible shark attacks prompt heightened patrols at New York’s Long Island beaches

    Possible shark attacks prompt heightened patrols at New York’s Long Island beaches

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    NEW YORK — Two swimmers were apparently attacked by sharks off the shores of Long Island on Tuesday, a day after two others reported being attacked while enjoying the water at popular New York beaches.

    At least one beach delayed opening to holiday revelers Tuesday, after officials said drones spotted some 50 sand sharks that morning near a popular beach park. When the beach reopened, swimmers were advised to stay close to shore.

    “We want to make sure swimmers are safe,” Long Island State Parks Regional Director George Gorman told Newsday.

    The beach was closed once more after a possible shark sighting, but officials determined it was a dolphin.

    After a spate of attacks last year, state parks officials have increased patrols and deployed more drones to scout the waters for possible danger.

    “We did have a season last year where we had six swimmers bitten from sharks, so this has turned into a bit of a concern,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told WABC.

    Tuesday’s incidents happened about 60 miles (95 kilometers) apart, including one off Fire Island Pines — not far from another attack the day before when a 15-year-old reported being bitten on one of his feet by a shark while surfing.

    Earlier Monday, another 15-year-old girl was treated for an apparent shark bite to a leg.

    “She didn’t see what bit her, the lifeguards didn’t know what bit her, the drone operator checked the area, we didn’t see,” Gorman said. “So we can’t definitively say what bit her.”

    Tuesday’s shark encounters both occurred just before 2 p.m.

    A 47-year-old man was in chest-deep water off Quogue Village Beach in the Hamptons when he felt an apparent bite to his right knee, Quogue police said. He told authorities that he did not see a shark.

    As a precaution, Quogue police advised swimmers to stay out of the water until officials could assess the risks.

    Soon after, miles (kilometers) away, a 49-year-old man reported having a hand bitten while swimming near Fire Island Pines Beach.

    Despite the attacks, holiday revelers remained on the beach.

    “That’s nature and maybe we are taking over their domain and they don’t like it,” 90-year-old Diana Fratello told WCBS.

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  • Bear helps itself to 60 cupcakes from Connecticut bakery, scares employees

    Bear helps itself to 60 cupcakes from Connecticut bakery, scares employees

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    AVON, Conn. — A hungry black bear barged into the garage of a Connecticut bakery, scared several employees and helped itself to 60 cupcakes before ambling away.

    Workers at Taste by Spellbound in the town of Avon were loading cakes into a van for delivery on Wednesday when the bear showed up. There are between 1,000 and 1,200 black bears living in Connecticut, the state environmental agency says, with sightings last year in 158 of the state’s 169 towns and cities.

    Bakery owner Miriam Stephens wrote in an Instagram post that she heard employee Maureen Williams “screaming bloody murder” and yelling that there was a bear in the garage.

    Williams told TV station WTNH that she shouted to scare the bear off but it retreated and came back three times.

    Williams said the bear charged at her so she backed out of the garage and ran.

    Surveillance video obtained by WTNH shows bakery workers walking around the side of the business to try to scare the bear, but then running away after it scares them.

    The video shows the bear dragging a container of cupcakes from the garage into the parking lot. Stephens said the bear ate 60 cupcakes.

    A baker finally got the bear to leave by honking a car horn, Williams said.

    The four-footed thief was gone by the time police and officers from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection arrived.

    No one was injured in the encounter — one in a series of troubling interactions between black bears and humans in Connecticut.

    A 74-year-old woman suffered bites to her arms and legs last month when she was attacked by a bear while walking her dog in a Hartford suburb, the first such attack this year. There were two attacks last year, including one in October where a 10-year-old boy was mauled in a backyard.

    “The frequency and severity of bear-human interactions is increasing,” DEEP spokesperson Paul Copleman said Friday.

    Statistics compiled by the department show that there were a record 67 reports of bears entering Connecticut homes in 2022. The previous record was 45 in 2020.

    On Friday, a bear cub wandered into a neighborhood near downtown Hartford and climbed up a tree. Local residents were delighted and surprised, saying it was highly unusual for bears to come into the city. Police, animal control officers and state environmental authorities responded, creating a scene for several hours.

    Authorities eventually tranquilized the young bear and planned to relocate it. Its destination was not disclosed.

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  • Pieces that may be from wetsuit, surfboard found after surfer attacked by shark off South Australia

    Pieces that may be from wetsuit, surfboard found after surfer attacked by shark off South Australia

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    Searchers have found what appear to be pieces of the wetsuit and surfboard belonging to a 46-year-old surfer who was attacked by a shark off South Australia’s coast

    SYDNEY — Searchers have found what appear to be pieces of the wetsuit and surfboard belonging to a 46-year-old surfer who was attacked by a shark off South Australia’s coast, and police said they were continuing to search for his remains Monday.

    School teacher Simon Baccanello was attacked Saturday while surfing with others near his home at Elliston in South Australia state. His damaged surfboard was found soon after.

    Local State Emergency Service manager Trevlyn Smith told News Corp the surfboard had “one bite in the middle.”

    South Australia Police said Monday that searchers had found “items of interest” on Sunday near Walkers Rock where the attack occurred.

    “One item appears to be a piece of wetsuit material and the other items appear to be small pieces of white polystyrene (possible surfboard material),” a police statement said. The evidence would be sent for forensic analysis.

    In consultation with Baccanello’s family, police would continue to search Walkers Rock and surrounding beaches for a number of days after high tide, the statement said.

    Searchers say any remains are more likely to drift ashore rather than out to sea.

    Jaiden Millar was one of around a dozen surfers in the water with Baccanello when the shark attacked.

    “I saw his board tombstoning, which means he’s underwater and his board’s getting dragged under … trying to fight his way back to the surface,” Millar told News Corp.

    It was the first fatal shark attack in Australia since Feb. 15 when a swimmer was attacked by a 4.5-meter (15-foot) great white shark off a Sydney beach.

    Less than two weeks earlier, a 16-year-old who jumped into a river from a personal watercraft was killed by a suspected bull shark near Perth.

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  • Man swims to safety after being attacked by shark off Hawaii’s Big Island | CNN

    Man swims to safety after being attacked by shark off Hawaii’s Big Island | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A 60-year-old man was swimming in Hawaii’s Anaehoomalu Bay Sunday when he was attacked by a shark, local officials say.

    The man was about 200 yards offshore when a shark attacked him around 12:40 p.m. HST, according to a news release from the Hawaii Fire Rescue Department.

    The man was able to swim to a catamaran, whose crew helped him out of the water, the release said.

    Crew members helped control the man’s bleeding until rescuers arrived on the scene, according to officials. A first responder on a personal watercraft “transported the patient from the catamaran to the beach where HFD personnel were waiting,” the release said.

    The man was taken to North Hawaii Hospital with bites to his left hand and the back of his leg, said the fire rescue department. His current condition is unknown.

    Anaehoomalu Bay – also known as A-Bay – is located on the west shore of the Big Island. The scenic area is a popular spot for recreational activities like snorkeling.

    Authorities said they do not know the size or species of the shark involved in Sunday’s attack.

    Overall, the risk of being attacked by sharks remains low. Worldwide, there were a total of 73 confirmed, unprovoked shark bites on people and 39 confirmed, provoked bites in 2021, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

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  • Famed LA mountain lion euthanized following health problems

    Famed LA mountain lion euthanized following health problems

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    LOS ANGELES — P-22, the celebrated mountain lion that took up residence in the middle of Los Angeles and became a symbol of urban pressures on wildlife, was euthanized Saturday after dangerous changes in his behavior led to examinations that revealed worsening health and injuries likely caused by a car.

    Officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said the decision to euthanize the beloved big cat was made after veterinarians determined it had a skull fracture and chronic illnesses including a skin infection and diseases of the kidneys and liver.

    “His prognosis was deemed poor,” said the agency’s director, Chuck Bonham, who fought back tears during a news conference announcing the cougar’s death. “This really hurts … it’s been an incredibly difficult several days.”

    The animal became the face of the campaign to build a wildlife crossing over a Los Angeles-area freeway to give big cats, coyotes, deer and other wildlife a safe path to the nearby Santa Monica Mountains, where they have room to roam.

    Seth Riley, wildlife branch chief with the National Park Service, called P-22 “an ambassador for his species,” with the wildlife bridge a symbol of his lasting legacy.

    State and federal wildlife officials announced earlier this month that they were concerned that P-22 “may be exhibiting signs of distress” due in part to aging, noting the animal needed to be studied to determine what steps to take.

    The aging mountain was captured in a residential backyard in the trendy Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles on Dec. 12, a month after killing a Chihuahua on a dogwalker’s leash. An anonymous report that indicated P-22 may have been struck by a vehicle was confirmed by a CT scan that revealed injuries to his head and torso, wildlife officials said.

    State authorities determined that the only likely options were euthanasia or confinement in an animal sanctuary — a difficult prospect for a wild lion.

    P-22 was believed to be 12 years old, longer-lived than most wild male mountain lions.

    His name was his number in a National Park Service study of the challenges the wide-roaming big cats face in habitat fragmented by urban sprawl and hemmed in by massive freeways that are not only dangerous to cross but are also barriers to the local population’s genetic diversity.

    The cougar was regularly recorded on security cameras strolling through residential areas near his home in Griffith Park, an island of wilderness and picnic areas in the middle of Los Angeles.

    “P-22’s survival on an island of wilderness in the heart of Los Angeles captivated people around the world and revitalized efforts to protect our diverse native species and ecosystems,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement Saturday.

    Ground was broken this year on the wildlife crossing, which will stretch 200 feet (60.96 meters) over U.S. 101. Construction is expected to be completed by early 2025.

    P-22 usually hunted deer and coyotes, but in November the National Park Service confirmed that the cougar had attacked and killed a Chihuahua mix that was being walked in the narrow streets of the Hollywood Hills.

    The cougar also is suspected of attacking another Chihuahua in the Silver Lake neighborhood this month.

    Beth Pratt with the National Wildlife Federation said she hopes P-22’s life and death will inspire the construction of more wildlife crossings in California and across the nation. The nonprofit was a major advocate for the LA-area bridge.

    “He changed the way we look at LA. And his influencer status extended around the world, as he inspired millions of people to see wildlife as their neighbors,” Pratt said.

    ———

    Associated Press reporter John Antczak contributed.

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  • Nevada flower listed as endangered at lithium mine site

    Nevada flower listed as endangered at lithium mine site

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    RENO, Nev. — A Nevada wildflower was declared endangered at the only place it’s known to exist — on a high-desert ridge where a lithium mine is planned to help meet growing demand for electric car batteries, U.S. wildlife officials announced Wednesday.

    The Fish and Wildlife Service’s formal listing of Tiehm’s buckwheat and its accompanying designation of 910 acres (368 hectares) of critical habitat for the 6-inch-tall (15-centimeter-tall) flower with yellow blooms raises another potential hurdle for President Joe Biden’s “green energy” agenda.

    With an estimated remaining population of only about 16,000 plants, the service concluded that Tiehm’s buckwheat is on the brink of extinction.

    “We find that a threatened species status is not appropriate because the threats are severe and imminent, and Tiehm’s buckwheat is in danger of extinction now, as opposed to likely to become endangered in the future,” the agency said.

    The proposed mining and mineral exploration poses the biggest threat to the flower. It’s also threatened by road-building, livestock grazing, rodents that eat it, invasive plants and climate change, the service said. It said an apparent, unprecedented rodent attack wiped out about 60% of its estimated population in 2020.

    Ioneer, the Australian mining company that’s been planning for years to dig for lithium where the flower grows on federal land halfway between Reno and Las Vegas, says it has developed a protection plan that would allow the plant and the project to coexist.

    But the listing under the Endangered Species Act subjects the mine to its most stringent regulatory requirement to date.

    It also underscores the challenges facing the Biden administration in its efforts to combat climate change through an accelerated transition from fossil fuels to renewables.

    “Lithium is an important part of our renewable energy transition, but it can’t come at the cost of extinction,” said Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director for the Center for Biological Diversity, which petitioned for the listing in 2019 and sued last year to expedite the plant’s protection.

    The mining company said the decision “provides further clarity for the path forward” and is “fully in line with Ioneer’s expectations” for development of the mine site at Rhyolite Ridge in the Silver Peak Range west of Tonopah, near the California border.

    “We are committed to the protection and conservation of the species and have incorporated numerous measures into our current and future plans to ensure this occurs,” Ioneer managing director Bernard Rowe said in a statement.

    “Our operations have and will continue to avoid all Tiehm’s buckwheat populations,” he said.

    The service’s final listing rule will be published Thursday in the Federal Register.

    The conservationists who sued to protect the plant insist that Ioneer’s mitigation plan won’t pass legal muster. They pledge to resume their court battle if necessary to protect the buckwheat’s habitat from the rush to develop new lithium deposits.

    The flowers are found on a total of just 10 acres (4 hectares) spread across about 3 square miles (7.8 square kilometers). Federal agencies are prohibited from approving any activity on federal lands that could destroy, modify or adversely affect any listed species’ critical habitat.

    Donnelly said the company’s latest operations plan for the first phase of the mine proposes avoiding a “tiny island of land” containing 75% of its population — surrounded by an open pit mine and tailings dumps within 12 feet (3.7 meters) of the flowers.

    The Bureau of Land Management is reviewing the environmental impacts of Ioneer’s latest operations and protection plans.

    But Donnelley noted that USFWS estimated in Wednesday’s final listing rule that the proposed scenario would “disturb and remove up to 38% of the critical habitat for this species, impacting pollinator populations, altering hydrology, removing soil and risking subsidence.”

    “Ioneer’s ‘Buckwheat Island’ scenario would spell doom for this sensitive little flower,” Donnelly said.

    The mine is among several renewable energy-related projects facing legal or regulatory challenges in Nevada. They include another lithium mine proposed near the Oregon border and a geothermal power plant where the Dixie Valley toad has been declared endangered in wetlands about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Reno.

    “Now that the buckwheat is protected, we’ll use the full power of the Endangered Species Act to ensure Ioneer doesn’t harm one hair on a buckwheat’s head,” Donnelly said.

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  • Exam finds famed LA mountain lion may have been hit by car

    Exam finds famed LA mountain lion may have been hit by car

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    LOS ANGELES — The famous Hollywood-roaming mountain lion known as P-22 is drastically underweight and was probably struck and injured by a car, wildlife experts who conducted a health examination on the big cat said Tuesday.

    The male cougar, whose killing of a leashed dog has raised concerns about its behavior, probably won’t be released back into the wild and could be sent to an animal sanctuary or euthanized, depending on its health, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.

    “Nobody is taking that kind of decision lightly,” spokesperson Jordan Traverso said during a videoconference. He added the agency understands “the importance of this animal to the community and to California,” and “we recognize the sadness of it.”

    P-22 was captured and tranquilized on Monday in the trendy Los Feliz neighborhood near his usual haunt of Griffith Park, an island of wilderness and picnic areas in the midst of the Los Angeles urban sprawl.

    State and federal wildlife officials announced last week that they were concerned the aging cat “may be exhibiting signs of distress” due in part to aging, noting the animal needed to be studied to determine what steps to take.

    Tuesday’s examination found the cat had an eye injury, probably received from being hit by a car and more tests would be conducted to determine if the animal suffered additional head trauma, said Deana Clifford, the senior wildlife veterinarian with the department.

    A computerized tomography scan is scheduled for later this week to look into other possible chronic health issues that may have caused his decline, Clifford said.

    P-22 was first captured in 2012 and fitted with a GPS tracking collar as part of a National Park Service study. The cougar is regularly recorded on security cameras strolling through residential areas near Griffith Park.

    P-22 is believed to be about 12 years old, making him the oldest Southern California cougar currently being studied. Most mountain lions live about a decade.

    “This is an old cat, and old cats get old-cat diseases,” Clifford said. “Any of us who had cats at home have seen this.”

    “We’re working through all of those issues and we’ll take a totality of the findings into account to try to make the best decision we can for the cat,” she said.

    P-22 usually hunts deer and coyotes, but in November the National Park Service confirmed that the cougar had attacked and killed a Chihuahua mix that was being walked in the narrow streets of the Hollywood Hills.

    The cougar also is suspected of attacking another Chihuahua in the Silver Lake neighborhood this month.

    P-22 has lived much of his life in Griffith Park, crossing two major freeways to get there. He was the face of the campaign to build a wildlife crossing over a Los Angeles-area freeway to give big cats, coyotes, deer and other wildlife a safe path to the nearby Santa Monica Mountains, where they have room to roam.

    Ground was broken this year on the bridge, which will stretch 200 feet (some 60 meters) over U.S. 101. Construction is expected to be completed by early 2025.

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  • Farmer: Georgia dog injured saving sheep from coyote attack

    Farmer: Georgia dog injured saving sheep from coyote attack

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    DECATUR, Ga. — A Georgia sheepdog is recovering at home two days after killing a pack of coyotes that attacked his owner’s flock of sheep, farmer John Wierwiller said.

    Casper, a 20-month old Great Pyrenees from Decatur, fought off a pack of coyotes who were threatening Wierwiller’s sheep farm, he said. The fight lasted longer than half an hour, left eight coyotes dead and bloodied Casper, with skin and part of his tail torn off, Wierwiller told Atlanta’s WAGA-TV.

    He scampered off but returned injured two days later after Wierwiller put out a call on social media.

    “He was kinda looking at me like, ‘Boss, stop looking at how bad I look, just take care of me,’” Wierwiller said.

    LifeLine Animal Project has raised more than $15,000 for the sheepdog’s hospital bills.

    Though dogs rarely prevail like Casper, packs of coyotes attacking pets have grown somewhat common in rural and growing suburban areas that abut wildlands throughout the Untied States.

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  • Family says coyote attacked toddler outside LA home

    Family says coyote attacked toddler outside LA home

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    LOS ANGELES — A coyote ambushed and injured a 2-year old girl outside her Los Angeles home in a daytime attack before her father chased the animal off, her family said.

    Home security video obtained by KTLA-TV shows the animal grab and drag the toddler across her lawn and sidewalk, just seconds after her father took her out of a car seat, set her down and turned back inside the vehicle to gather her toys. They had just arrived home from her preschool.

    He heard the girl screaming on the other side of the SUV, then realized she was being attacked by what appeared to be a coyote. The father, Ariel Eliyahuo, shouted and charged at the animal, causing it to release the girl, pause briefly a short distance away, then scamper off.

    The girl suffered scratches and bruises in the Friday attack and was treated at an emergency room, where she received the rabies vaccine.

    “She has a lot of scratches on her left leg and one of them is really deep,” her mother, Shira Eliyahuo, told KTLA. “The coyote just kind of dragged her so her face is also a little bit bruised.”

    Coyotes are familiar sights in many Los Angeles neighborhoods, though attacks on people are rare.

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  • California swimmer describes seeing shark attack her

    California swimmer describes seeing shark attack her

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    SAN DIEGO — Lyn Jutronich was resting in the water during her morning ocean swim when something rammed her hard out of the water.

    Jutronich, 50, said she immediately knew it was a shark. She gave her first interviews over the weekend from her hospital bed where she is recovering after the shark bit her leg Friday off the Pacific coast of Del Mar, north of San Diego.

    “I felt a huge, like a really hard hit right, I don’t know how else to say this, like right between my legs and it pushed me, it hurt and it pushed me up and out of the water,” Jutronich described to ABC news affiliate KGTV.

    “I saw it clamp on my leg so I don’t know if I saw it bite my leg or if I saw it after it bit my leg, but I definitely saw the mouth,” she recalled.

    Still clamped onto her right leg, Jutronich said it then shook her once “kind of like a dog.”

    Then it let her go.

    A friend swimming with her saw her being flung around in the water, then he saw the shark’s fin. He helped her get back to shore where lifeguards and emergency crews treated her then rushed her to a hospital.

    She is being treated for puncture and laceration wounds to her upper right thigh.

    The shark is believed to have been a juvenile white shark, but officials are waiting for scientists to confirm that. Juvenile white sharks often swim in the waters off Del Mar’s shoreline.

    Jutronich told reporters she is still processing what happened.

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  • Swimmer attacked by shark in waters near San Diego

    Swimmer attacked by shark in waters near San Diego

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    SAN DIEGO — A shark attacked a woman Friday in the Pacific waters north of San Diego, officials said.

    The woman was treated at a hospital for puncture and laceration wounds to her upper right thigh, according to Jon Edelbrock, lifeguard chief for the city of Del Mar. She received stitches and is recovering.

    The shark may have been a juvenile white shark, Edelbrock said, but officials are waiting for scientists to confirm that. Juvenile white sharks often swim in the waters off Del Mar’s shoreline.

    A lifeguard spotted the woman and her friend just after 10 a.m. as they were heading back to shore following a mile-plus (kilometer-plus) swim, Edelbrock said. Their strokes changed and the friend was waving his arms for help in the water a few hundred yards (meters) from the beach, but outside the surf zone.

    Lifeguards, who did not spot the shark, helped the pair back to shore, he said.

    The beach is now closed for at least 48 hours under the city’s shark bite protocol.

    “She had a diligent swim buddy,” Edelbrock said. “They both maintained their composure quite well.”

    Del Mar is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of downtown San Diego.

    An 8-foot-long (2.44-meter-long) juvenile white shark washed up dead Sunday on the shores of Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve and State Beach, according to KSWB-TV. That’s nearly 3 miles (4.83 kilometers) south of Friday’s attack.

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  • Sheriff: Autopsy will determine if dogs killed Amazon driver

    Sheriff: Autopsy will determine if dogs killed Amazon driver

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    EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. — Investigators are trying to determine if two dogs caused the death of an Amazon driver whose body was found in the yard of a home in rural northwest Missouri.

    Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers said deputies went to a home in Excelsior Springs Monday evening after reports that an Amazon truck had been parked in the same spot for about two hours, with its lights on and motor running.

    The driver’s body was found in the yard in front of the home. His name has not been released.

    Childers said the man had injuries consistent with an animal attack and two aggressive dogs — a German Shepherd and English Mastiff — were at the home. However, an autopsy will be conducted to determine if the dogs caused the driver’s death, he said.

    A deputy shot and injured the mastiff because it was aggressive toward sheriff’s deputies and medical responders on the scene.

    The dogs went back into the house but the deputies could hear them barking and saw blood on the doggie door.

    Childers said he and deputies went into the home and shot and killed the dogs in order to protect deputies, medical personnel and detectives at the scene.

    The homeowners were out of town but the dogs were being cared for, the sheriff said.

    Amazon said in a statement that it was “deeply saddened” by the driver’s death and is helping law enforcement with the investigation.

    Excelsior Springs is about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Kansas City.

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  • Bear mauls 10-year-old in grandparents’ Connecticut backyard

    Bear mauls 10-year-old in grandparents’ Connecticut backyard

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    A 250-pound (113-kilogram) black bear mauled a 10-year-old boy playing in his grandparents’ backyard in Connecticut and tried to drag him away before the animal was fatally shot by police, authorities said.

    The child was attacked about 11 a.m. Sunday in the town of Morris, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening.

    Officers from the state police and DEEP’s environmental conservation force responded and shot the bear, authorities said.

    The boy’s grandfather described the harrowing attack to the Republican-American of Waterbury. James Butler said his grandson was playing near a trampoline when the bear emerged from thick woods behind the house.

    “I heard him yell ‘bear’ and when I looked up, I saw his leg in the bear’s mouth and the bear trying to drag him across the lawn,” Butler said.

    Butler, who uses a wheelchair, wheeled his chair toward the bear and threw a metal bar at its head, he told the newspaper.

    The bear released the boy but then grabbed the child a second time and used its claws to try to roll the boy onto his back, the grandfather said.

    A neighbor alerted by the boy’s screams raced over and scared the bear off by brandishing a pipe and yelling, Butler said.

    Once Butler and his grandson were safely inside the house, the bear returned, walking up a wheelchair ramp and peering at them through screen door, Butler said.

    “We thought he was coming through the screen,” Butler said. “No doubt he was a big threat.”

    The bear was fatally shot by police a short time later.

    Butler, and his wife, Christina Anderson, who was inside the house when the bear attacked, said the boy suffered a puncture wound to one thigh, bite marks on a foot and ankle and claw marks on his back.

    State biologist Jenny Dixon said the risk of negative bear-human interactions is increasing as Connecticut’s expanding bear population becomes acclimated to humans and develops a taste for their food.

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  • Sheriff: Dogs attack family in Tennessee, 2 children killed

    Sheriff: Dogs attack family in Tennessee, 2 children killed

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    MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two young children were killed and their mother was hospitalized after two family dogs attacked them at their home in Tennessee, officials said.

    The dogs attacked a 2-year-old girl, a 5-month-old boy and their mother Wednesday afternoon in the home located north of Memphis near Shelby Forest State Park, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet.

    The children were pronounced dead at the scene and their mother was taken to a Memphis hospital in critical condition.

    The investigation remains active. No further information was immediately released.

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