Free Republic

A petition to ban hunting in Oregon is picking up steam. Animal rights advocates are fighting to change the law in Oregon, including banning most hunting, fishing and animal research.One of the people leading the charge of getting this petition out there says they have been trying to get this on the ballot for years, getting more and more signatures each time, though he knows it won’t likely pass. Supporters call the proposal the PEACE Act, short for People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions.

During 2025, a saga unfolded where a dangerous, food-habituated grizzly bear swam across three miles of saltwater to Texada Island in British Columbia, Canada. The bear had been tagged in the left ear. It was a young boar about 4 years old that had been relocated twice due to conflicts with humans. The bear kept coming back. Just before the swim, the bear had been breaking into fishing boats and had stalked two teenagers on the beach. They had to take to the water to avoid the bear on May 22, 2025. COS is the acronym for the Conservation Officers...

A lone gray wolf padded quietly into Los Angeles County before dawn on Saturday — and made history. State biologists say the female wolf may be the first documented in Southern California in 100 years, after the apex predators were wiped out across the state by eradication campaigns aimed at protecting livestock. The last known wild wolf in California was shot on June 12, 1924, by federal trapper Frank W. Koehler in Lassen County. The three-year-old female, known as BEY03F, was spotted on a trail camera in the mountains north of Santa Clarita.

From a tender moment between a crane and her chick to a heartbreaking image of a polar bear cub’s final moments, the finalists for the Nuveen People’s Choice Award of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest stun. Photographers from 113 countries and territories submitted more than 60,000 images for consideration. A judging panel of photography, wildlife, conservation and science experts whittled the finalists list down to 24 photographs that are now competing for votes from the public. “No matter where you are in the world, it’s time to join the jury and vote in the Nuveen People’s Choice Award...

The pellet appears to be .177 caliber, using the knife bolt head to scale the pellet size. The bolt head is assumed to be .25 inches, the size of a bolt head on Outdoor Edge Razor-Lite knives. The knife seems to be a Outdoor Edge Razor-Lite variation, but the identification is not certain. The pellet could be distorted by impact forces, as well. On September 1, 2024, in Willits, Colorado, a resident shot a black bear sow with a pellet rifle. The man said he was attempting to harass the sow to have it move away from his neighborhood, because...

It’s raining reptiles! Iguanas left virtually paralyzed by Florida’s recent unseasonable cold snap are dropping like flies from trees, leaving people to scoop them up by the armload. When temperatures plummet, the cold-blooded creatures become immobile, and in Florida, where upwards of 1 million iguanas are estimated to typically laze in the treetops, that means torrents of reptiles falling. “They’re like little bags of ice,” said Jessica Kilgore of the “nuisance animal removal service” Iguana Solutions as she hefted a 10-pound iguana in her arms. Usually, Floridians are prohibited from handling the iguanas themselves, but this winter, the situation is...

After decades of mystery surrounding its existence, a rare animal once believed to be extinct has been confirmed on remote trail cameras in northern California, offering a thrilling sign of wildlife resilience. Scientists say the coastal marten — a small carnivorous mammal that nearly vanished from the state — was captured in recent footage and DNA samples collected via hair snares, validating that wild populations still persist in the region. The discovery has brought renewed hope for the species and underlines the value of modern conservation tools. Once targeted nearly to extinction during the 20th-century fur trade, coastal martens were...

Before the recent predatory killing of a woman in Colorado by a mountain lion, there were a number of warning events. Kristen Marie Kovatch was killed by a mountain lion on January 1 in Larimer County. According to the Denver Gazette, there were five confrontations with lions in the area from October 28 through December 23. Only one of the incidents involved the killing of a lion that was attacking a dog in the owner’s yard. The Denver Gazette article gleans three lessons from the series of events. The third is a set of recommendations about what to do if...

A female skier was mauled by a snow leopard after getting too close to try to take a photo, with a chilling video capturing her being led away with blood pouring from her face.The footage shows the victim lying prone in the snow wearing a purple ski suit after the animal mauled her on Friday evening in Fuyun County at the northern Chinese border with Mongolia.She is then seen being taken away from the scene with blood pouring from her face.

Researchers found that prohibited species may be sold under false labels.Key Points: -Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that critically endangered shark species may commonly be sold under false labels in U.S. grocery stores. -The scientists revealed that out of 29 samples, 93% were ambiguously labeled as just "shark" meat. -Through DNA testing they found that numerous samples sold in grocery stores came from endangered shark species such as the shortfin mako and great hammerhead. If you spot shark on a menu or grocery store shelves in the United States, the odds are high that...

A fearless muntjac deer weighing just 50 pounds went head-to-head with a nearly two-ton rhinoceros at a zoo in Poland in a caught-on-camera David and Goliath bout for the ages. A caretaker at Wroclaw Zoo in Poland captured the standoff between Maruska the rhino and Mundzak the Chinese muntjac deer in a video viewed millions of times on social media.

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WATE) — The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is investigating after a bear ransacked a candy store in Gatlinburg. This is not the first time the bear has caused damage to the store, but the store is hopeful the bear will be relocated. Glades Homemade Candies shared on social media Friday that this is the fourth time the bear has caused damage at the store. Photos of the damage show a glass door the bear busted through, an overturned sheet pan rack and pans that were once full of sweets dragged outside. The store is located along East Parkway,...

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...