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The Florida 2025 black bear hunt has been a flop as an attempt to manage the bear population in Florida. It may have been successful as a trial run on how to manage a bear hunt. Only 52 bears were harvested. To keep a stable population, at least 600 bears should have been harvested, probably 1500. About 15 % of a black bear population needs to be harvested to keep a stable population. From myfwc.com: There were 52 bears harvested during the 2025 bear hunt, which is a hunter success rate very close to other states with similar hunt parameters....

A California homeowner has finally removed a 550-pound bear living under his house that has been wreaking havoc for over a month. Kenneth Johnson, 63, discovered the massive male black bear had taken up residence in the crawl space of his $1.5 million Altadena home just before Thanksgiving. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) attempted to capture the beast, called Yellow 2120 by researchers, with bait and noisemakers. But their efforts were unsuccessful and Johnson even threatened to sue the department after they allegedly stopped helping with the removal. However, the homeowner finally had a stroke of luck...

In an article published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, Italian researchers mapped the genetics of European Marsican Brown bears (Ursus arctos). They found evidence indicating the bears had been selected by human hunting pressure to be less aggressive. From yale.edu: To investigate, Italian researchers mapped the genes of Marsican bears and compared them with the genes of brown bears in Slovakia and the U.S. Their study, published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, found clear evidence that the Marsican bears had been selected for lower aggression.The study has confirmed what naturalists, ranchers, hunters,, and wildlife managers assumed to be true. Grizzly...

" . .In 1948, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game conducted a unique wildlife relocation project known as Operation Beaver Drop (also called "Operation High-Dive"). The goal was to humanely relocate 76 beavers from overpopulated areas near McCall and Payette Lake in northern Idaho to the remote Chamberlain Basin in central Idaho, where their dam-building could benefit the ecosystem. Traditional relocation methods—using trucks and mules—were stressful for the animals and resulted in high mortality. To solve this, Elmo W. Heter, a conservation officer, devised a plan to parachute beavers from airplanes using specially designed wooden boxes with parachutes made...

You think you’re being watched by satellites and smartphones—but the real surveillance network is perched on power lines above your head. Scientists recently trained artificial intelligence on thousands of hours of crow vocalizations, expecting meaningless animal noise. Instead, the AI detected structured language, syntax, planning behavior, and something far more disturbing: humans are the primary subject of crow communication. This documentary explores how crows recognize individual human faces, assign identifiers, share reputations across generations, and coordinate warnings through a global avian network. From facial recognition experiments and tool-making intelligence to crow funerals, justice systems, and possible encrypted communication, the evidence...

Now here's a story out of Florida that bears watching. Florida's black bear hunt is underway, and troubles' a-bruin. The problem is, as it so often is in wildlife policy: A question of policy based on emotion vs. policy based on science. Ten years ago, a Florida bear hunt shocked the public when photos spread online of bloody carcasses of mother bears loaded in pick-up trucks and splayed out on concrete slabs at hunter check-in stations. The hunt, the first in 20 years, was halted in less than 48 hours after an estimated 304 bears were killed the first weekend....

The highest number of fatal bear attacks recorded in Japan was six in fiscal year 2023. In fiscal year 2025, 13 people were killed in Japan by bears. The most significant number of people attacked, injured, and recorded was 213 in 2023. As of fiscal 2025, the number stands at 230. Japan uses the fiscal year from April 1 to March 31 for most of its administrative accounting. Bears in Japan typically begin hibernating in December, but attacks can occur at any time of year.Japan has used the fiscal year accounting method to record bear attacks since 2006. The Japan...

NEW: Raccoon gets drunk at an ABC liquor store in Ashland, Virginia, and passes out in the bathroom. Hanover County Animal Protection says the raccoon "ransacked" the store before passing out next to the toilet. "Officer Martin safely secured our masked bandit and transported him back to the shelter to sober up before questioning," Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter said in a statement. "After a few hours of sleep and zero signs of injury (other than maybe a hangover and poor life choices), he was safely released back to the wild, hopefully having learned that breaking and entering is...

The September day was rapidly fading as 12-year-old Kaci Bulkley settled in for a shot at her first elk, a huge bull, 600 yards away. She couldn’t quite get her custom-built 7mm Remington magnum rifle steady enough, so her dad, Hazer Bulkley, offered some help. “I wasn’t feeling too steady. So my dad took off his shoe, and put it under the gunstock” Kaci told Cowboy State Daily. That provided the solid rest she needed, so she pulled the trigger and landed a lethally solid hit. “He (the bull) took about 10 seconds to go down. He went about five...

Country music star Riley Green sparked outrage after posing with a slain animal he killed less than 12 months after he was hospitalized for a hunting injury. The 37-year-old shared the images in a carousel on his Instagram account, captioning the post: 'That was a hell of a drag out… blessed to be back out here #weouthere #bowhunting #bigboy.' In the first image, he was lying down in the shrubbery with the giant dead deer spread out in front of him.

What began as rare encounters off the Iberian coast now shows up in captain’s logs from Galicia to the Strait of Gibraltar, and in wary chatter on VHF. Experts say it looks learned, even coordinated. Insurers are watching. Mariners are changing habits mid-season. It started like a shiver through the deck plates. A coastal freighter off Cape Finisterre rolled on a glassy swell, the night bridge lit soft blue, an ordinary watch with the engine ticking steady, when the helm shuddered as if from a hidden hand. The bow kept true, but the autopilot clicked off and the rudder felt...

Decades ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established a regulatory requirement to report the taking of grizzly bears in self-defense in the lower 48 states.From 50 C.F.R. 17.40(b)(1)(i)(B):Grizzly bears may be taken in self-defense or in defense of others, but such taking shall be reported by the individual who has taken the bear or his designee within 5 days of occurrence… The penalties for failing to report to the authorities within 5 days are up to six months in prison and a $25,000 fine.Tim Sundles of Buffalo Bore Ammunition recently created a video about handguns for defense against wild...

..... If you were to believe the press and social media, we’re in the midst of a ‘killer whale uprising’. But claims about their murderous intent are blatantly untrue. The evidence doesn’t stand up. Killer whales do attack, and sometimes kill, trainers in captivity (not surprisingly) but, unlike polar bears, great white sharks and many other top predators, they have never killed a person in the wild. How many attacks have taken place? So what’s happening? Since May 2020, there have been more than 500 reported attacks on sailing boats, as well as some fishing boats, RIBs and motorboats. It...

BOSTON (AP) — It wasn’t a croc — there really was an alligator on the loose in Boston. And the story of the city’s slithering saurian appears to have a happy ending. The small alligator, spotted along the Charles River in Boston multiple times this week, has been rescued and delivered to safety, wildlife officials in Massachusetts said Thursday.

A Mississippi mom shot dead one of the aggressive monkeys that escaped from an overturned truck last week to protect her young children. Jessica Bond Ferguson said she and other Heidelberg residents had been on high alert after word spread that monkeys — believed to be carrying dangerous diseases but later confirmed by officials not to be — had been roaming loose since Tuesday. Early Sunday morning, her 16-year-old son ran into the house, claiming he had seen one of the animals in the yard. “I shot at it and it just stood there, and I shot again, and he...

“This disproves the claim we don't know anything about the deep sea." VIDEO AT LINK.............. It might be much of a looker, but this is one of the deepest fish ever seen on camera. Image Credit: Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre ====================================================================== In 2023, scientists captured fish at depths exceeding 8 kilometers (4.8 miles) and recorded them even deeper. These findings not only set new records for deep-sea fish, but also suggest we may be nearing the maximum depths at which fish can exist. At the western edge of the Pacific Ocean lies a series of trenches down to 11,000...

A surfer at Steamer Lane says a sea otter bit her foot and then climbed onto her board Tuesday evening, holding it hostage for roughly 20 minutes as rescuers rushed in. Isabella Orduna was paddling out when she felt "a nip" on her foot. She rolled off and turned to see an otter perched on her board. Orduna says that after biting her, the otter took over her board for at least 20 minutes and, in the moment, she didn't know what to do.

Yesterday evening I killed a skunk in my backyard and left it to be picked up this morning. I set my trail camera out because when I killed a skunk previously, it was gone by morning and I was hoping it would happen again.Sure enough, it was gone but no photos on the camera. There was a brief blur but nothing else.This is a mystery to me and the only thing I can think of is that an owl might have swooped in and snatched it up.Any thoughts? I know the camera was working because later last night it captured...

Researchers and filmmakers are exploring the Superior Shoal, an underwater mountain in Lake Superior. (Courtesy of Inspired Planet Productions) ============================================================== * There is an underwater mountain in the middle of Lake Superior * Scientists and filmmakers think it could be a hotbed for aquatic life * They’re using underwater drones to document the volcanic mound * Known to some as the “Freshwater Everest,” if you want to explore this mountain, you don’t go up, you go down. ============================================================= In the middle of Lake Superior, near the boundary between Canadian and US waters, sits the Superior Shoal, a mountain that’s completely...

They might be small but grasshopper mice are top level carnivores. AWWWWOOOOOO! Image Credit: Minden Pictures/Alamy You might think that only werewolves howl at the Moon, but this spooky season, we’re bringing you another creature with a lot to say at nighttime. Meet the grasshopper mouse; it might be small, but it has one heck of a voice. There are three species of grasshopper mouse that are closely related to deer mice: the northern grasshopper mouse (Onychomys leucogaster), the southern grasshopper mouse (O. torridus), and Mearns’ grasshopper mouse (O. arenicola). The southern grasshopper mouse is found in northern Mexico and...