Endangered species News

Criminals and drug users are entering the California National and State parks at night and poaching redwood burls and other knotty growths from the world's tallest trees, some nearly 2,000-years old.

The slaughter of giraffe Marius at a Copenhagen zoo has prompted interest in just how many healthy animals are actually slaughtered by zoos in Europe and worldwide. It seems numbers are unknown, however scientific thought is that slaughters are necessary

Madagascar is the world's fourth largest island and is considered a "biological hotspot." Over 90 percent of its wildlife are found nowhere else on the planet. Man's threat to the island's diverse ecosystems, and unusual wildlife is a real concern.

Washington - The Endangered Species Management Self-Determination Act, currently in committee in the Senate, seeks to leave protection of endangered species up to the Governors of each state and automatically remove protections for animals after five years.

Chris Knowlton looks forward to facing and becoming intimately involved with a black rhino. He's the lucky winner of an auction that gives him a permit to legally shoot one of the endangered beasts. Now he fears for his life, right in his own backyard.

In 2009 Norway announced that it was setting out to catalog every species contained within its borders. To date this had led to over 1,000 new species being discovered.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has launched a review of whether it should take North Pacific humpback whales off the endangered species list.

Only 55 adult Maui's dolphins are known to survive off the coast of New Zealand. A plan has been launched to try and save the few dolphins that are left.

Six endangered red wolves have been shot in the last month in North Carolina, prompting the federal government to advertise a reward made up of contributions from conservationist organizations.

Hoyerswerda - One of seven endangered Cuban crocodiles hatched at the Hoyerswerda Zoo was given the name "Fidel". Apparently his name has caused some problems due to associations with the Communist revolutionary, Fidel Castro, and has had to be changed.