Hello! It's wonderful to see you here! This blog has been created for the sole purpose of educating others about our world's wildlife (including insects!) population. Thank you so much for visiting and I hope I'll see you again soon! NOTE: From time to time, I will be adding an animal image in my posts that may be offensive to some.
Bear with head stuck in jar killed
Police in a Minnesota town shot and killed a young black bear that got its head stuck in a large plastic jar rather than risk anyone getting hurt. The 2-year-old male bruin had been sighted several times over a period of days in the Frazee area and then showed up during the town's Turkey Days celebration last weekend, the Star Tribune reported Wednesday. Police said they didn't have a tranquilizer gun readily available and so killed the bear to avoid anyone being injured, the newspaper said. "With all the people around ... you're never sure what the outcome is going to be," said Rob Naplin, a state Department of Natural Resources wildlife supervisor.
Prosecutors said a Hercules, Calif., woman has been sentenced to house arrest after she pleaded guilty to illegally importing a stuffed tiger from Vietnam. Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday that Nicki Phung, 31, was sentenced to six months of home confinement and three years of probation
after pleading guilty to a violation of the Lacey Act, which bans importation or exportation of wildlife barred from sale by U.S. law, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.
Phung was also ordered to pay $5,000 to a nonprofit group aimed at the protection of big cats. The woman's boyfriend, Steven Tieu, 38, received the same punishment when he was sentenced for the same crime in April. The couple had been accused of importing the mounted tiger from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in December 2007 without the proper permits.
Narwhal 
From wallpaper to web stickers, Defenders has some pretty cool stuff on our website.
Download and explore!
View wildlife photos from Defenders supporters -- and send in some of your own!  |  |
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The 3 Rs
Back-to-School season is once again upon us and it’s time to think about the “Three Rs” -- not “reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic,” but “reduce, reuse and recycle.”
Reduce waste by packing lunches in reusable containers. Sort out last year’s supplies to find those that can be reused. And recycle any packaging that your new supplies come with.
Find more tips at the Environmental Protection Agency’s web site.
Have an Enviro Tip to share?
E-mail us!
With their sensitive whiskers, Pacific walruses forage the shallow seabed of the Bering and Chukchi Seas for crabs, worms and clams -- their favorite food. These large marine mammals can grow to be two-tons and can eat more than 200 pounds of food each day.
But change is afoot in the Arctic. As a warming world robs these creatures of the sea ice they depend on, walruses are finding themselves farther from their feeding grounds -- and closer to catastrophe. Will these tusked creatures survive?
Read “Walrus in a Warming World” in the latest Defenders Magazine.
| Action of the Month Troubled SeasOur oceans are in trouble. Global warming is causing the death of corals, fish stocks are being overfished to the point of collapse and imperiled marine wildlife like whales and sea turtles are suffering a combined assault from these and other threats.  |  | ||
| Feature Story Wolves Return to NorthwestSightings of wolf pups have been confirmed in both Oregon and Washington, meaning that breeding pairs have been established for the first time since their extinction in these states decades ago. The good news came just as a judge in Montana handed down his decision to temporarily restore federal protections for Northern Rockies wolves. |  | ||
| Defenders Updates Judgement for Rights The world’s last remaining North Atlantic right whales won an important victory last month. A federal court held that the Coast Guard must ensure that shipping routes into east coast ports will not negatively impact these struggling marine mammals. Ship strikes cause at least three deaths per year, and with only 350 of these whales left, even the loss of one brings these animals closer to extinction. >> Read More EPA Tightens Toxin Ban Proposal Thanks to thousands of Defenders activists and our allies, the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed to tighten restrictions on carbofuran -- effectively banning the deadly pesticide in the U.S. The dangerous neurotoxin is one of the most highly used pesticides around the world, but poses extreme risks to wildlife and humans. In the past four years alone, carbofuran has killed millions of birds. >> Read More Boreal Bonanza Last month, Canadian officials declared their intention to protect half the country's boreal forests. The unprecedented move safeguards an area the size of Great Britain, keeping it off-limits to commercial development. More than 41,000 Defenders activists spoke out to protect Canada’s boreal forests, known as North America’s Bird Nursery. |  | ||
| Wildlife Heroes Farewell to Conservation Crusaders
In June, the conservation community lost two heroes in a tragic plane crash near Lake Placid, Florida. Dave Maehr and Mason Smoak were doing what they love on that fateful day, surveying black bear populations around the Smoak family ranch. Dave was a biologist from the University of Kentucky, a visiting scientist at Florida’s Archbold Biological Station and a leading authority on Florida Panthers and black bears. Mason was a citrus farmer who cared for the land and the wildlife that lived on and around his ranch. He volunteered countless hours to assist Dave’s work, and together they formed a partnership that uncovered invaluable information on the habits of black bears in the region. | |||
Alaska’s wolf slaughter is out of control. This year alone, 124 Alaskan wolves were gunned down from the skies. Nearly 800 wolves have been killed by aerial hunters in the last five years.
And just this summer, 28 wolves were executed near their dens -- including 14 defenseless wolf pups illegally killed by Alaska state officials.
On August 26th, Alaskans will head to the polls to ban the awful practice of aerial hunting -- before another deadly season begins.
With just two weeks before a crucial vote in Alaska, the powerful Safari Club International and Gov. Sarah Palin’s administration are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into a last-ditch effort to kill hundreds more wolves by continuing a brutal aerial hunting program in the state.
We can’t let their money buy this vote.
Please donate now to help Alaskans for Wildlife run this powerful ad in Alaska newspapers -- and stop the barbaric aerial hunting program in the state. GO HERE!
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