Connect to share and comment

Daddy bear Pyros keeps Pyrenees numbers up

Agence France-PresseMay 12, 2013 08:15
The number of bears roaming the Pyrenees remained stable at a minimum of 22 last year, thanks largely to the continued virility of Pyros, the undisputed daddy of the colony. At 24, Pyros is close to the average life expectancy for brown bears but he still had the energy to father three cubs by two different mothers during 2012, according to a report by French state conservation body, the ONCFS. Pyros was introduced into the mountains that straddle France and Spain in 1997 as part of efforts to sustain an indigenous population that had been hunted to the point of extinction.

Authorities say fatal Montana bear mauling could have been prevented, proposes $9K in fines

The Canadian PressApril 30, 2013 16:31
BILLINGS, Mont. - The death of a Montana animal trainer mauled by a pair of 500-pound captive brown bears could have been prevented if standard safety procedures had been followed, federal authorities said Tuesday. Benjamin Cloutier, 24, was killed in November while cleaning the pens of two Syrian brown bears — named Griz and Yosemite — at Animals of Montana, a private enterprise near Bozeman that provides captive-bred predators and other animals for photography shoots and motion pictures.

CITES votes against greater protection for polar bears

March 7, 2013 17:17
Bangkok, Mar 7 (EFE).- The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, voted on Thursday against adopting stronger protections for polar bears during its meeting in Bangkok. The CITES voted against a proposal presented by the United States with the support of Russia to halt the polar bear trade. Canada, the only country authorized to export polar bear skins, teeth and paws, had opposed the proposal.

International ban on polar bear trade rejected

March 7, 2013 05:45
A major meeting of governments on threats to endangered species on Thursday rejected a ban on international trade in polar bears amid fears it would distract from the bigger threat of global warming. The proposal had divided conservationists, who agree that the main risk to the world's largest carnivorous land animal comes from habitat loss but differ over whether international trade also puts the bears at risk of extinction. Polar bears are widely seen as the animal on the front line of global warming and will be hit-hard by melting polar ice caps.

International ban on polar bear trade rejected

March 7, 2013 04:18
A major wildlife meeting of world governments on Thursday shunned calls to ban international trade in polar bears, despite growing fears for the world's largest carnivorous land animal. A US proposal to add the polar bear to Annex I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was rejected by 42 votes to 38, with 46 abstentions among the nations present for the poll in Bangkok. Polar bears are currently listed on Annex II of CITES, which imposes strict controls over their international trade.

U.S. appeals court upholds protection for polar bear

March 1, 2013 13:30
By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Friday upheld Endangered Species Act protections for the polar bear. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit means the bear will remain listed as threatened, the lower of two levels of federal protection.

Rare sun bears found abandoned in Cambodia factory

February 22, 2013 08:15
Two rare Malayan sun bears have been rescued in Cambodia after being discovered in an abandoned garment factory, a zoo official said Friday. The male and female bears were rescued by officials from the Phnom Tamao Zoo and the Wildlife Alliance, who found them in the factory in southern Kandal province last week, according to zoo director Nhek Rattanak Pich. "The bears were left with no food and no one to care for them after the factory owner fled the country," the Wildlife Alliance said on its website.

Switzerland's only bear killed amid threat fears

February 20, 2013 12:46
Switzerland's only recorded wild bear has been culled after fears that it could pose a threat to humans, the authorities announced on Wednesday. The male bear, known as "M13", was shot dead by wildlife rangers on Tuesday, said Adrian Aeschlimann, spokesman for the Federal Office for the Environment. "The cull was carried out according to the management plan for bears in Switzerland," he told AFP. M13 lived in the mountainous Graubuenden region of eastern Switzerland, on the border with Italy, spending spring seasons in the Val Poschiavo.
Syndicate content