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A man was caught on camera getting dangerously close to a mama bear and her cubs while apparently attempting to pet them at a Tennessee national park. Paige Marple was at Cades Cove in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park on July 13 at about 3pm when she captured the moment when a man got far too close to a black bear and nearly got attacked as a result. In the video, which Marple shared on Facebook, a man wearing a grey shirt can be seen holding out his hand while walking towards a trio of cubs that are following...

A new publication from the Global Warming Policy Foundation reviews the impact of wind energy on the environment and finds that it is already doing great harm to wildlife. “The Impact of Wind Energy on Wildlife and the Environment” contains contributions from both researchers and campaigners, with a focus on birdlife. Professor Oliver Krüger describes his cutting-edge research, which has shown how birds of prey and ducks are being killed in their thousands in Germany. The risk to these species is so great that there is a possibility of whole populations being wiped out. Klaus Richarz, the former head of...

A "badly decomposed" body was discovered in a Florida lake Thursday, according to police, with witnesses claiming they saw a congregation of alligators dragging it into the water. The body was found in Lake Maggiore’s mangroves in St. Petersburg at around 8 a.m., according to reports. “We’re unable to tell anything about it — gender or race or anything,” St. Petersburg police spokeswoman Yolanda Fernandez said. Otis Crawford and his partner Patricia Kays, St. Petersburg residents, told the Tampa Bay Times they were near the lake eating breakfast when they saw about 10 alligators dragging the body through the water....

Wildlife officials say they were forced to euthanize a friendly young black bear after it grew too familiar with people who regularly fed and took selfies with it. Since the beginning of June, Oregon police received regular calls about the bear, which was usually spotted near its favorite boat ramp at an Oregon park. On Thursday, they found the animal surrounded by a pile of trail mix and sunflower seeds that appeared to have been left behind intentionally by some passersby. The police concluded the bear had grown too habituated to human interaction, and could pose a threat to people's...

Federal land managers on Wednesday proposed sweeping rule changes to a landmark environmental law that would allow them to fast-track certain forest management projects, including logging and prescribed burning. The U.S. Forest Service, under Chief Vicki Christiansen, is proposing revisions to its National Environmental Policy Act regulations that could limit environmental review and public input on projects ranging from forest health and wildfire mitigation to infrastructure upgrades to commercial logging on federal land. "We do more analysis than we need, we take more time than we need and we slow down important work to protect communities," Christiansen told NPR. The...

We have a family of foxes that live nearby. There have been multiple reports of sightings. In fact, my son and I saw one of the parents and two of the kits in our driveway last night.

A two-year-old boy was mauled to death by a leopard Wednesday which attacked him at his family's staff quarters inside Kruger National Park in South Africa. The terrified toddler was bitten repeatedly on the neck and body, and despite his distraught parents rushing him to hospital, he was pronounced dead on arrival. The boy was stalked by the female leopard at the technical services area just inside the Malelane gate into Kruger.

Cecelia DeWitt, a member of the Coldwater High School track team in Michigan, has a few running goals she wants to complete before college: After her junior year, she had planned on running her first half marathon, which would prepare her to go the full 26.2 after her senior year. So she signed up for the Bayshore Half Marathon in Traverse City on May 25 to achieve the first part of it. Her dad, Joe, did the same, and helped her train in preparation for their big day. Everything seemed to go accordingly to plan on race day until the...

Probably not the headline you want to run in the first full week of your presidential campaign. ... Fix the subways? Bill de Blasio can’t even fix the potholes. Fix the potholes? He can’t even keep the rats at bay. I suppose he could fill the potholes with the rats. De Blasio’s presidential quest would on the surface appear to be a bit of a curiosity given that after considerable pressing of flesh in Iowa and New Hampshire he remains at 0 percent in the polls. Where do you go with that? “If I work hard, I think I can...

VIDEO On May 2, 2019 I discovered hundreds of baby frogs had invaded my patio. As mysteriously as they arrived, hours later they all split. If you have any ideas on why so many frogs arrived in my patio and then later just as mysteriously all left, please let me know in the comments below.

Researchers have found cocaine in all samples of shrimp tested in a rural area of eastern England, with ketamine also widespread. Lead author Thomas Miller from King’s said that “concentrations were low” but that the compounds “might pose a risk to wildlife.” One of Miller’s colleagues, Leon Barron, called the regular occurrence of illicit drugs in wildlife as a result of “surprising”. “We might expect to see these in urban areas such as London, but not in smaller and more rural catchments,” he added.

A captive cassowary, the large flightless animal considered the most dangerous of birds, killed a man Friday near Gainesville, Fla. The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a death investigation, spokesman Lt. Brett Rhodenizer said Saturday. About 10:30 a.m., authorities received a call from a witness stating the man fell and had been attacked by the bird at a property off Alachua County Road 235 — northwest of the University of Florida in Gainesville — where the cassowary and other captive wildlife are housed. The man, whose name was not released, had sustained “serious injuries” and was transported to a...

Thomas Devaney Lane, 61, was arrested for causing a disturbance while threatening to "destroy everyone" with his army of turtles. Lane first started causing trouble at various establishments in Indiatlantic. At least seven calls to 911 were made about Lane's behavior, WKMG reports. Police later apprehended Lane and escorted him to department headquarters, where he began yelling at the dispatcher and pounding on the walls and glass. After leaving the police department, Lane went to a nearby 7-Eleven. It was there that Lane harrassed employees and even called 911, saying “I need to leave now or you will all be...

Thousands of adorable but poisonous Bufo toads, which can kill pets and are dangerous to children, have invaded a suburban Florida neighborhood. Cane toads, as they are known, range from 6 to 9 inches in length. Their babies are dime-sized, though, and those are the creatures hopping around in droves. “I just see a massive amount of toads or frogs everywhere, covering every square inch,” said Jennifer Quasha, who lives in an affected area of Palm Beach Gardens, to WPTV. “You can’t even walk through the grass without stepping on one.”

WYOMING GRIZZLIES SHIPPED TO CALIFORNIA SIGNED INTO LAW GOV. MARK GORDON SIGNED BILL INTO LAW By EHUNTR -February 20, 2019 WYOMING GRIZZLIES SHIPPED Photo Credit: Pexels Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed several bills into law late last week. One particular bill would allow grizzly hunts to take place if the state feels that its needed. “The grizzly bear population in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem has recovered by all measurable recovery criteria, since at least 2003, with approximately seven hundred (700) grizzly bears currently living in the ecosystem;” Bill SF0093 Another part of the bill includes the relocation of problems bears...

A 350-pound gator greeted an unsuspecting Florida woman at her front door Tuesday morning, causing the panicked homeowner to flee. When Geri Staples heard the aggressive knock, she peeked out of a clear window in her door to see who — or what, rather — was causing the ruckus. To her surprise, an estimated 10-foot-long alligator was on the other side, and it appeared to be frustrated. "I saw him right there and he hit the door, and that’s when I ran [upstairs]. I wasn’t sure if he kept pounding like that if he could actually open the door with his...

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers confirmed through a necropsy that a jogger on Horsetooth Mountain in Larimer County survived a rare attack by a young mountain lion by suffocating the animal to death. “After additional investigation, including examination of the lion, we have confirmed the victim’s account that he was able to suffocate the animal while defending himself from attack,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials tweeted Tuesday morning. It’s unclear whether the runner — who has not yet been identified publicly — strangled or smothered the mountain lion. He had no weapons, so he killed the cat with his...

An Indonesian woman has been mauled to death by a huge pet crocodile on the island of Sulawesi, officials said Wednesday. Deasy Tuwo, the head of a laboratory at a pearl farm in Minahasa in North Sulawesi, was killed by the 4.4-meter (14-foot) reptile last Thursday, authorities said. The 44-year old's badly mauled body was found by colleagues the following morning, Hendrik Rundengan, from the local conservation agency, told AFP. "The indication is that she fell into the crocodile's enclosure," he said, adding the incident was still being investigated by police. The crocodile, named Merry, had eaten one of the...

JAKARTA: The world's only known albino orangutan has been released back into the jungle more than a year after she was found emaciated and bloody in a remote corner of Borneo, an Indonesian NGO said on Friday (Dec 21). Environmentalists rescued "Alba" from a cage where she was being kept as a pet by villagers in Central Kalimantan in April last year. She was found with dry blood smeared around her nose - the result of her violent capture - and weighed just 8 kilogrammes, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) said. The blue-eyed primate, covered in fuzzy white hair,...

I voted for Trump. Now his wall may destroy my butterfly paradise. The Republican party is abandoning the conservative principles I treasured. By Luciano Guerra Luciano Guerra is a nature photographer and outreach coordinator and educator for the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas. December 17 at 6:00 AM Right now, in Mission, Tex., we don’t worry about immigrants who crossed the border illegally or drug smugglers. We worry about having to defend our private property from seizure by the federal government. I work at the National Butterfly Center — which is along the U.S.-Mexico border — documenting wildlife and...