Number of Devil's Hole pupfish increasing

The tiny Devil's Hole pupfish, found only in a small, deep pool in the desert near Death Valley, has been teetering on the brink of extinction for years. In the spring of 2006 there were only 38 of them, down from roughly 500 in the mid-1990s. Times staff writer Bettina Boxall reports:

The reasons for the decline are unclear. But government scientists trying to reverse the trend appear to be enjoying a bit of success. The autumn count of the iridescent blue fish has risen for three years, to 126 this fall, the first steady increase in more than a decade.

Convinced that the pupfish problems are tied to a shortage of nutrients, biologists took the unusual step of feeding the fish. "It was not done lightly," said Bob Williams, Nevada field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "When you start to artificially augment a wild population, it is a sign the species is really in trouble."

The high-nutrient fish food, made at a federal research lab in Montana, is based on a mix given to Rio Grande silvery minnows in a New Mexico hatchery. The Devil's Hole feeding started last fall and continued over the winter and into spring to try to maintain an adult spawning population.

Winter is the most difficult time for the pupfish, and Williams said supplemental feeding will probably be considered in the coming months.

Invasive mussels found in Colorado reservoirs

Exotic mussels that compete with native species and clog pipes, pumps and boat motors have been found in two more Colorado reservoirs, the Colorado Division of Wildlife announced.

Larvae of quagga mussels have been discovered in Jumbo Reservoir in Logan County and Tarryall Reservoir in Park County, the agency said Thursday.

Quagga mussels, the related zebra mussels or their larvae, have also been found in Grand Lake, Lake Granby, Shadow Mountain Reservoir, Willow Creek Reservoir and Lake Pueblo, the Granby-based Sky-Hi Daily News reported.

Colorado officials are inspecting boats at several reservoirs in hopes of preventing the spread of the mussels, wildlife officials said. (Parts of the Colorado River serve Southern California, by the way.)

Native to Eastern Europe, quagga mussels multiply by the millions, clogging pipes (as pictured above) and competing with fish for food. They've been spotted throughout California as well.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo credits: (top) California Department of Fish and Game; (right) Bill Tate / U.S. Geological Survey

Sarah Palin under intense fire from animal rights groups

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has never hidden the fact that she's a proud hunter from her home state of Alaska, first with a famous photo (below) through which many Americans initially came to know of her with a caribou she shot, to Wednesday's photo (above) of the governor carrying a tote bag with the slogan "Real Women Hunt Moose."

But some animal rights advocates and activists have taken issue not only with her hunting practices, but more so her administration's stances on issues in Alaska regarding animal welfare.

Michael Markarian, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, slammed the VP nominee in a blog post, saying Republican presidential candidate John McCain's choice "cemented" his organization's decision to endorse the Democratic ticket of Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden instead.

Markarian's stinging criticism of Palin:

Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-Alaska) retrograde policies on animal welfare and conservation have led to an all-out war on Alaska’s wolves and other creatures. Her record is so extreme that she has perhaps done more harm to animals than any other current governor in the United States.

Palin engineered a campaign of shooting predators from airplanes and helicopters, in order to artificially boost the populations of moose and caribou for trophy hunters. She offered a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf as an economic incentive for pilots and aerial gunners to kill more of the animals, even though Alaska voters had twice approved a ban on the practice. This year, the issue was up again for a vote of the people, and Palin led the fight against it — in fact, she helped to spend $400,000 of public funds to defeat the initiative.

What’s more, when the Bush administration announced its decision to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Palin filed a lawsuit to reverse that decision. She said it’s the "wrong move" to protect polar bears, even though their habitat is shrinking and ice floes are vanishing due to global warming.  (Note: It's not the first time L.A. Unleashed told you about Palin's polar bear controversy.)

The choice for animals is especially clear now that Palin is in the mix. If Palin is put in a position to succeed McCain, it could mean rolling back decades of progress on animal issues.

French film icon and well-known animal enthusiast Brigitte Bardot also has been harsh about criticizing Palin, referring to the governor's joke about the difference between her and a pitbull having to do with lipstick, our Dish Rag reports from Britain's Telegraph:

Referring to Palin's pitbull-with-lipstick crack, Bardot adds: "I know dogs well, and I can assure you that no pitbull, no dog, nor any other animal is as dangerous as you are. By denying the responsibility of man in global warming, by advocating gun rights and making statements that are disconcertingly stupid, you are a disgrace to women and you alone represent a terrible threat, a true environmental catastrophe."

Bardot lashed out at Palin for supporting Arctic oil exploration that could threaten ecosystems and for dismissing measures to protect polar bears.

"This shows your total lack of responsibility, your inability to protect or simply respect animal life," she wrote.

The 74-year-old former film star is notorious in France for her outspoken views on immigration, the environment and animal rights. She has been convicted and fined four times in Paris for anti-gay and racist remarks.

But all the criticism may have little to do with how pet owners view her ticket, as McCain had their votes over Obama earlier this summer. However, we must note, that survey was taken before Palin was unleashed into the political campaign.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo credits: Top: Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images; Below: Associated Press

Supreme Court hears case about Navy sonar and whales

The Supreme Court appeared split Wednesday on whether environmental laws can be used to stop the use of sonar off the coast of Southern California, which environmentalists say is adversely impacting marine mammals' quality of life, even to the point of death.

The Times' David Savage reports:

The case has turned into a dispute over whether judges, acting on a suit brought by environmentalists, have the power to halt a government project because of its failure to carry out an environmental impact statement in advance.

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper cited this failure by the Navy when she issued her order.

On Wednesday, she came under criticism from several justices.

"Is Judge Cooper an expert on antisubmarine warfare?" asked Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. "Isn't there something incredibly odd about a single district judge making a determination on that defense question ... contrary to the determination the Navy has made."

Justice Antonin Scalia said the law requiring environmental impact statements was "procedural" only. It did not give judges the power to stop government projects, he suggested. And Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said that in balancing the interests, the judge did not give enough weight to the Navy's concern. He described it as the "potential that a North Korean diesel electric submarine will get within range of Pearl Harbor undetected."

On the other side, Justices John Paul Stevens and David H. Souter wondered how the Navy could know its sonar would not harm the whales until it had studied the matter. "The whole theory of the environmental impact statement is we don't really know what the harm will be," Stevens said.

The Navy said it is working on an environmental impact statement on its training exercises, but it will not be complete until February, when the exercises are scheduled to end.

Savage reports that the sonar emits a powerful sound wave in the water -- as "if we had a jet engine in this courtroom and you multiplied that noise by 2,000 times," said Los Angeles lawyer Richard B. Kendall, who represented the environmentalists.

Kendall said beaked whales, in panic, dive deeply to escape the sound, and they sometimes suffer bleeding and even death when they try to resurface. He also cited the Navy's own estimate that 170,000 dolphins and other marine mammals would flee the sonar.

The whale pictured here in 2002 offers a similar argument, when a beaked whale washed ashore in the Canary Islands after a military exercise involving sonar. Scientific tests pointed to undersea noise from naval maneuvers by Spain and other NATO countries as the likely cause of the mass stranding, the Associated Press reported.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Juan Medina / Associated Press

Endangered turtles return to Monterey Bay

From the Associated Press:

MOSS LANDING, Calif.—Scientists say endangered leatherback turtles have returned to Monterey Bay to feast on jellyfish after nearly disappearing from the area in recent years.

Moss Landing Marine Laboratories researcher Scott Benson says marine biologists counted more than 300 of the giant endangered turtles in the bay this year.

Benson said a strong upwelling of nutrient-rich cold water this year brought greater stocks of jellyfish, which attracted the turtles.

Poor upwellings in previous years have sent the turtles elsewhere to find food.

The 70-million-year-old leatherback species is the largest of all sea turtles. Benson says the Pacific's leatherback population has declined by 90 to 95 percent in the last 25 years because of egg poaching and turtles getting caught in fishing gear.

Photo: Scott A. Eckert/Widecast

U.S. to designate 'critical habitat' for polar bears

From the Associated Press:

ANCHORAGE -- The federal government will designate "critical habitat" for polar bears off Alaska's coast, a decision that could add restrictions to future offshore petroleum exploration or drilling.

Federal law prohibits agencies from taking actions that may adversely modify critical habitat and interfere with polar bear recovery. That probably will affect oil and gas activity, said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of three groups that sued to get a critical habitat designation.

"Other than global warming, the worst thing that's going on in polar bear habitat right now is oil development and the potential for oil spills," Siegel said.

Bruce Woods, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage, said it's not known what area in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska might be designated for polar bears, especially given that sea ice conditions are changing and areas now covered by ice might in the future be open water.

The agreement to designate critical habitat was filed Monday in Oakland as a partial settlement of a lawsuit brought by Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Siegel's group.

They sued in March after Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne missed a January deadline for declaring polar bears threatened or endangered.

Kempthorne on May 14 declared polar bears "threatened," or likely to become endangered, citing their need for sea ice, the dramatic loss of sea ice in recent decades and computer models that suggest sea ice is likely to further recede.

The settlement sets a deadline of June 30, 2010, for a final rule designating critical habitat for the polar bear.

Photo: Subhankar Banerjee / Associated Press

One-fourth of wild mammal species may face extinction

At least 25% of the world's mammal species in the wild are threatened with extinction. This news comes from an international survey released Monday that blames the loss of wildlife habitat as well as hunting and poaching for the steep declines. Times staff writer Ken Weiss reports:

The baiji, or Chinese river dolphin, is teetering on the edge of extinction and may have already joined the list of species that have vanished from Earth. Others are not far behind, such as the vaquita, a small porpoise that has been drowning in fishing nets in the northern part of the Gulf of California; the North Atlantic right whale; and various monkeys and other primates hunted by poachers in Africa.

Scientists have determined that about 25% of the world's 5,487 species of mammals face extinction. The proportion of marine mammals in trouble appears to be higher, with an estimated one-third under serious threat of being wiped out. Many are killed when they are struck by ships or become entangled in fishing gear and drown.

About half the world's remaining species of apes, monkeys and other primates face threats from hunting or deforestation to make way for farming, said Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International.

For a photo gallery of endangered animals, including the black-footed ferret, above, click here.

Photo: Greg Wood / AFP/Getty Images

Palin's policies favor development over environment

U.S. Geological Survey biologists believe that, if current climate-change trends continue, every polar bear in Alaska could be gone by 2050, but The Times' Kim Murphy reports that may not be a major concern to Republican vice presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin:

Palin's administration has fought federal protections announced in May for polar bears, going to court to assert that the projections for a dramatic shrinking of the bears' icy habitat are unreliable and that polar bears are already protected enough.

Since becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee this month, Palin has championed a balance between energy exploration and environmental regulation. A review of her record as governor shows that, most often, she has tilted that balance in favor of oil and gas development, mining and hunting -- the economic backbones of a state that many residents consider both a scenic treasure and an exploitable resource.

"From further oil and gas development to fishing, mining, timber and tourism -- these developments remain the core of our state," Palin told state legislators last year.

"We here in Alaska share concerns about wildlife, of course -- every Alaskan has concerns about wildlife," she later said. "We're going to continue to . . . make sure that polar bears survive, and thrive, for decades to come."

Since Palin became governor in 2006, the state has sought to ramp up a program that encourages the shooting of wolves from aircraft in areas where they compete with human hunters for moose, caribou and deer.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photos: Polar bear, California Museum of Science & Industry; Sarah Palin with caribou she shot, Associated Press

Process to genetically engineer animals gets green light

The Food and Drug Administration today opened the way for a bevy of genetically engineered salmon, cows and other animals to leap from the laboratory to the marketplace. The Times' Karen Kaplan and Thomas H. Maugh II report:

"It's about time the federal government has acknowledged that these animals are on [the] doorstep and need to be regulated to ensure their safety," said Greg Jaffe, director of the project on biotechnology at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington.

Many experts, however, fear that the proposed regulations do not go far enough to protect and reassure the public. In particular, they argue that the approval process would be highly secretive to protect the commercial interests of the companies involved and that the new rules do not place sufficient weight on the environmental impact of what many consider to be Frankenstein animals.

Animals can't be treated exactly like drugs, said Jaydee Hanson, a policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety in Washington. "Drugs don't go out and breed with each other. When a drug gets loose, you figure you can control it. When a bull gets loose, it would be harder to corral."

The genetically modified animals have a variety of potential uses:

Some, like many agricultural crops now in use, are more disease resistant. One company, for example, has produced a cow that is not susceptible to mad cow disease.

Others are more nutritious or grow faster, improving the diet and enhancing farmers' profits.

Some would serve as sources for organs for human transplants, expanding the small pool of donor organs now available.

Others, called biopharm animals, would be used to produce drugs such as insulin, which are now manufactured in yeast or bacteria.

The full story here.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Pat Sullivan/Associated Press

More updates on rescuing animals stranded by Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike continues to take its toll in Texas. The Houston Chronicle reports on efforts near Lubbock, Texas:

Agriculture officials said late Tuesday they've found about 4,000 dead cows in portions of two Southeast Texas counties searched in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

Some cows left stranded or that perished might never be found, though. "They're being eaten by alligators," said Kathleen Phillips, spokeswoman for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Meanwhile, the storm's strong winds and heavy rains heavily damaged the rice crop, equipment and storage facilities east of Houston. One official estimated losses will be in the millions of dollars.

"It's not a pretty sight," Dwight Roberts, chief executive officer and president of the Houston-based U.S. Rice Producers Association, said Tuesday while out assessing losses.

The Beaumont Enterprise also checks on rescue efforts:

The Humane Society team arrived with land rescue vehicles, boats, a mobile command center and a 75-foot transport vehicle capable of carrying 200 animals to safe ground.

Sleeping in tents and trucks behind the Beaumont animal shelter, the animal rescuers are coping with limited resources like many in Southeast Texas.

And, finally, the Galveston County Daily News weighs in:

Many residents left their pets with what they thought was enough food and water to get them through a few days. But when the storm’s devastation was much worse than people expected and recovery efforts dragged on, panicked residents started calling the city’s emergency operations center to ask police officers to check on their animals.

Volunteers set up a temporary shelter in the police substation, bringing trailers full of food, cages, leashes and medicine with them. Truckloads of supplies continued to arrive throughout the afternoon.

-- Alice Short

Photo: Ida Navejar, 19, an evacuee from Galveston, Texas, dresses one of her pet Chihuahuas during a visit with her family's five animals, which are being boarded at the Austin Humane Society. Credit: Harry Cabluck / Associated Press

Hundreds of jellyfish wash up on Morro Bay beach: good for turtles, bad for swimmers

Hundreds of jellyfish washing up on Morro Bay beach show the population is healthy and booming, but beachgoers should be aware of possible stinging, experts say.

David Sneed of the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports:

The jellyfish are likely moon jellies, a common jellyfish species that is known to breed in great numbers, said Steve Johnston, a staff member at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Occasionally, a couple of things conspire, he said, and the conditions are just right for a population explosion.

The factors that control jellyfish population are algal blooms -- which the jellies feed upon -- water temperature and currents. Jellies float at the mercy of winds and current and, inevitably, some of them drift close to the shore and get caught in the surf where they wash ashore and die, Johnston said.

On the beach, the jellies look like translucent, gelatinous blobs.

People who spend a lot of time on the water report seeing large schools of the animals floating offshore.

"The concentrations of them in some spots are pretty amazing," said Mike Harris, a marine biologist with the state Department of Fish and Game in Morro Bay.

Harris said he's also seen more leatherback sea turtles in the area. Leatherbacks feed on jellyfish.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

Greenpeace says Nobu, De Niro serve endangered fish

Greenpeace is calling out celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa and actor Robert De Niro, alleging that DNA tests show their Japanese fusion chain Nobu is serving critically endangered bluefin tuna at its London eateries.

Undercover investigators for the environmental group ordered cuts of tuna from three Nobu locations in London and put them through DNA tests that determined several were Atlantic bluefin. The species is listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's red list of threatened species for overfishing.

The Telegraph reports:

Nobu does not specify on its menus which species of tuna it serves. Requests for the information by campaigners have been met for several years with a terse "no comment".

Although it is not illegal to serve Atlantic bluefin, also known as northern bluefin, many chefs, including Gordon Ramsay, have dropped it because of concern that fishing is at higher levels than stocks can withstand. At Nobu Berkeley St, which has one Michelin star, investigators asked for Atlantic bluefin (hon maguro in Japanese) but staff told them the restaurant did not stock it.

However, DNA tests proved that the fish they were given was indeed Atlantic bluefin. At Ubon, Canary Wharf, also owned by Nobu, investigators ordered Atlantic bluefin and were served a dish that did not test conclusively either way.

Greenpeace writes on its blog that co-owner Robert De Niro "seems to be angling for the title of ‘Godfather of ocean destruction’" and compares offering bluefin tuna to "serving up rhino burgers or tiger chops."

-- Tony Barboza

Photos: Top, Nobu Matsuhisa. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times; bottom, Robert De Niro. Credit: Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press

Condor ill with lead poisoning dies at L.A. Zoo as fight to protect species spreads to Argentina

A 4-year-old female condor captured Friday in Big Sur and rushed to the Los Angeles Zoo for treatment of lead poisoning has died, according to the Monterey County Herald:

The bird, identified as Condor No. 336, was shaking and weak when found by Ventana Wildlife biologist Sayre Flannagan, who caught it in a net on the ground in Big Sur.

Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, the only nonprofit group in California that breeds condors for introduction to the wild, said the condor was released three years ago at Pinnacles National Monument and was living and scavenging in Big Sur.

It was initially taken to the Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic in Monterey, given a blood test that showed "really high, life-threatening levels" of lead, and given emergency treatment, according to Ventana Society senior wildlife biologist Joe Burnett. The bird was then taken to the Los Angeles Zoo for more comprehensive veterinary treatment. (L.A.'s zoo has a condor habitat.)

The bird appeared to rally at first, he said, but weakened and succumbed Sunday.

A normal adult condor weighs 18 to 25 pounds, said Burnett. Condor No. 336 was down to 10.9 pounds when captured.

"It's hard to bounce back from a weight loss like that," Burnett said.

National Park Service superintendent Eric Brunneman at the Pinnacles told the County Herald that Condor No. 336 was "perhaps our most well-known condor," because the bird had been featured in a video on YouTube eating a deer heart:

Condor No. 336's death comes on the heels of a contentious battle over lead ammunition and the implementation on July 1 of a bill banning the use of lead ammunition in hunting.

California's condors are a fiercely guarded endangered species that has recently faced wildfire threats from Big Sur to L.A. and a West Coast-based struggle to procreate.

In the latest development in protection efforts, officials at the Pinnacles National Monument also announced today that a team of U.S. and Argentine scientists are joining forces in a five-year project to boost the condor population soaring above California and the Andes.

The Associated Press' Debora Rey reports:

Scientists from Pinnacles National Monument in central California visited Argentina this week to improve tracking and studying techniques of the birds, whose 9-foot wingspan has inspired reverence among indigenous people of the Americas for centuries.

The number of California condors is estimated at around 300 — half of which are in captivity — and they are still in danger of extinction. The Andean condor, a different species, has fared better: There are between 2,000 and 3,000 of the birds gliding over Argentina's snowy crags.

Argentine and U.S. scientists have been working together since the early 1980s, when the California condor was on the brink of extinction. U.S. scientists applied successful efforts in Argentina to breed condors in captivity and then release them to salvage a waning California population.

“The situation of the condors in both countries is grave,” said Pinnacles biologist Denise Louie.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Polar bear sightings stir climate debate

Federal wildlife monitors spotted nine polar bears in one day swimming in the open ocean off Alaska's northwest coast -- prompting environmental groups to say the sightings are a strong signal that diminished sea ice brought on by global warming has put U.S. bears at risk of drowning or dying from fatigue.

The Associated Press reports:

Summer sea ice last year shrunk to a record low, about 1.65 million square miles in September, nearly 40% less than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000 and most climate modelers predict a continued downward spiral, possibly with an Arctic Ocean that's ice free during summer months by 2030 or sooner.

Conservation groups fear that one consequence of less ice will be more energy-sapping, long-distance swims by polar bears trying to reach feeding, mating or denning areas.

The nine bears were spotted on a flight by a marine contractor, Science Applications International Corp., hired for the Minerals Management Service in advance of future offshore oil development.

The MMS in February leased 2.76 million acres within an offshore area slightly smaller than Pennsylvania.

To catch up on polar bear news around the world and their role in the ongoing controversy over the Endangered Species Act, check out L.A. Unleashed's archives.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo on top; bottom: World Wildlife Fund;Jonathan Hayward/Associated Press

Mexico to spend millions to save porpoises

Mexico plans to invest $16 million to save the highly endangered Gulf of California harbor porpoise in the upper part of the gulf, asking reluctant fishermen to adopt safer methods or give up their trade entirely, the Associated Press reports.

Scientists say the population of the porpoise known as the vaquita marina -- Spanish for "little sea cow" -- has dwindled to 150 or fewer. In the undated photo above released by Proyecto Vaquita, a porpoise lies dead on a beach along the Gulf of California.

Plans include paying fishermen to avoid the porpoise's habitat, give up drag nets that drown dozens of the animals each year or give up fishing, Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira said in Ensenada.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: EFE/Associated Press

Amphibian deaths may signal disaster; also, Mediterranean fruit fly infestations cease in CA

Our friends at the Times' environmental blog Greenspace have a few animal-related items up today:

First: California declared a victory today in the battle against the annoying Mediterranean fruit fly, according to a story by Times staff writer Jerry Hirsch.

The 103-square-mile Los Angeles County quarantine is no longer being enforced and will be formally lifted after paperwork is completed in a few days. The California Department of Food and Agriculture said there were no remaining Mediterranean fruit fly infestations in the state, after determining them to have cleared out of Los Angeles, Santa Clara and Solano counties.

Second: The death of frogs, salamanders and other amphibians could be a sign of a larger biodiversity disaster, according to an article published online this week by researchers from UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University, Tami Abdollah reports.

"What makes the amphibian case so compelling is the fact that amphibians are long-term survivors that have persisted through the last four mass extinctions," the study found.

Above is a Yellow Dart frog, photographed in 1997 at the Santa Barbara Zoo.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Stephen Osman/Los Angeles Times

Pesticides are killing West Coast salmon

Three common pesticides are helping push the Pacific Coast's prized but imperiled salmon closer to extinction according to a new federal report, Times staff writer Eric Bailey writes.

Bailey, who has followed the West Coast salmon industry's crisis this year, reports:

The National Marine Fisheries report says the pesticides interfere with basic functions of the fish: their ability to find food, reproduce, even to swim. The three pesticides -- malathion, diazinon and chloripyrifos -- have been used for decades by farmers and home gardeners.

Joshua Osborne-Klein, an attorney with the nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice, said the report pointed to a need to find alternatives to the chemicals.

The fisheries service is expected in coming months to make recommendations on potential remedies to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which governs pesticide use. Agency officials could order restrictions or prohibit use of the pesticides.

The sudden collapse of the chinook salmon run in California's Sacramento River, where the salmon return to spawn, has led to various government moves such as the federal government declaring the West Coast ocean salmon fishery "a failure," and the inking of a 10-year agreement between the United States and Canada aimed at preventing overfishing of salmon off the western coast of Canada and southeast Alaska.

That's not even mentioning another West Coast fish-related drama with the delta smelt.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Kimberly White / Bloomberg News

Times editorial blasts Bush administration on Endangered Species Act

Earlier this week, L.A. Unleashed posted that the Bush administration had proposed a regulatory overhaul of the Endangered Species Act that would allow federal agencies to decide on their own if their projects would affect animals protected by the act.

A Times editorial published today weighs in on the matter, criticizing the move on a variety of levels from the possibility of corruption to the timing of the proposal:

Because of a 30-day public comment period, instead of the usual 60 or 90 days, the rule could be adopted and in place before the presidential election. Though it might well be overturned by Congress, the courts or perhaps a new administration, the process would take months, giving federal agencies the chance to push through their projects.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images

Condors in danger, animal researchers resilient despite bombings, find a dog park, and celebrities and their pets -- The Times' weekend animal coverage

This weekend in The Times, animal news abounds:

Margot Roosevelt reports: The California condor, a beloved but beleaguered bird, will be unable to survive on its own without a ban on lead ammunition across its vast western habitat, a scientific study has concluded.

Richard C. Paddock reports: Two firebomb attacks last week on UC Santa Cruz scientists who conduct animal research have angered and worried academics throughout the UC system, but the scientists say they will not be intimidated.

*Associated Press reports: Police don't apologize for shooting the two dogs of the mayor of Berwyn Heights in Maryland, described as an innocent victim in a marijuana smuggling scheme.*

On The Times' Outposts blog, Pete Thomas tells the fascinating tale of a woman who was attacked by a grizzly as she jogged on a trail Friday evening in Far North Bicentennial Park in Anchorage, Alaska.

Washington Post reports: Whole Foods Market has pulled fresh ground beef from all of its stores in the second E. coli outbreak linked to Nebraska Beef in as many months.

Home decor retailers face legal risks with animal artifacts such as feathers and bones from endangered species. Jeff Spurrier offers some tips on avoiding legal woes, including keeping proper documentation and being careful about online purchases.

In the Guide, Elina Shatkin compiles a list of off-leash dog parks in such places as the San Fernando Valley, Orange County, Palm Springs and Santa Monica (with a handy-dandy map to boot).

Want an encounter with a leopard shark? In Sunday's Travel section, Christopher J. Bahnsen advises you to head down the 405 Freeway to La Jolla.

And finally, The Times' Dish Rag maven Elizabeth Snead tries to answer a very important question: "Do Hollywood stars look cuter with puppies?" Judge for yourself after viewing Snead's photo gallery packed with more than 35 celebrities.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Chad Olson / Associated Press

*the first version of this post omitted the word "don't"

San Gabriel River becomes a deathbed for ducks

The deaths of at least 50 ducklings in the San Gabriel River that occurred because regulating the waterflow sometimes dries up the waterway, have raised questions about how to protect nature in an urban water system. The Times' Louis Sahagun reports:

What had been for the last six months a vibrant stream teeming with migrating waterfowls and shorebirds early last week became a dry San Gabriel River channel where vultures gorged themselves on ducklings that died when the flows dried up.

The discovery prompted calls for an investigation into the deaths of at least 20 cinnamon teal ducklings, 10 mallard ducklings and 20 adult mallards that had sought refuge in a shrinking pool of water in a concrete basin just south of Valley Boulevard in the city of Industry.

Civil engineers for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works -- Adam Walden, above right, and Sterling Klippel -- "expressed regret that the birds died but pointed out that their mission is to maintain a complex water system for millions of people county-wide, not to protect ducklings."

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

Birds of prey declining, leaving empty nests behind

Raptors in Orange County and other parts of Southern California are declining in numbers, having difficulty hatching chicks and leaving long-inhabited nest sites abandoned, probably because of environmental pressures, the Orange County Register reports:

[Experts] say raptors in Orange and San Diego counties, and perhaps across Southern California, appear to be suffering a variety of harmful environmental changes that are happening all at once: reductions in available prey, drought, West Nile virus and continuing loss of habitat because of expanding human presence and large, destructive wildfires.

The Register talked to several raptor experts at bird sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers who said there has been a decline in adult birds of prey and occupied nests in recent years. The hardest hit species include red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks, kestrels, barn owls (shown above) and white-tailed kites, they said.

The experts also noted that more of the raptors they take in these days, rather than having visible injuries, are are simply weak or starving, signs of general "debilitation" that point to a serious scarcity of prey and habitat.

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Another chance for wildlife near Mono Lake

Times staff writer Louis Sahagun returns to the Mono Lake area and discovers that wildlife is on the rebound in Rush Creek, a major tributary and "the focus of an agonizingly complex and decades-long effort to heal a vast wilderness devastated by Los Angeles' insatiable thirst."

Now, 14 years after the city was ordered to reduce the quantity of tributary water it had been diverting into the Los Angeles aqueduct since 1941, Rush Creek has among the highest concentrations of yellow warblers in California -- roughly three pairs per 2 1/2 acres.

"Restrict grazing and bring back the water and things really start hopping," said field biologist Chris McCreedy.

That's the good news. Orchestrating the restoration continues to be a challenging process for the Mono Lake Committee, a nonprofit group of environmentalists and concerned citizens organized in 1978 to save and protect a bowl-shaped ecosystem roughly half the size of Rhode Island.

Nonetheless, Geoffrey McQuilkin, executive director of the 16,000-member group, said he is often asked, "Why is the Mono Lake Committee still around? You got the water you needed years ago. Isn't Mono Lake saved?" His stock response: "We still have a long way to go."

Photo: Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times

Rejuvenated Bolsa Chica wetlands flourishing

Occasionally, there is some positive environmental news to report. Times staff writer Susannah Rosenblatt takes a look at the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

Two years ago, the saltwater oasis off Pacific Coast Highway was a desiccated oil field littered with drilling rigs.

Now, waters lap sandy shoals next to Bolsa Chica State Beach as thousands of terns squawk and flutter, jammed together in a wall of white feathers and gray chick fuzz.

With every spawning grunion and nesting sparrow, the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach are springing back to life, fulfilling the dream of conservationists who fought for decades to save one of Southern California's most sensitive ecosystems....

As the ecosystem changes over the next five years, biologists are anticipating that as many as 60 fish species will settle in Bolsa Chica. (Of 135 species recently observed in the restored area, 27 are fish.) Divers transplanted eel grass from Cabrillo Beach in hopes of providing shelter to the shyer species of fish, such as pipefish and surf perch.

Photo: Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times

Study says many coral species are threatened with extinction

Nearly one-third of the small animals that make up the most massive and elaborate structures in coral reefs face an elevated risk of extinction from global warming and various local problems, an international group of scientists meeting in Fort Lauderdale reported. The Times' Kenneth R. Weiss has the details on the endangered corals:

     The worldwide assessment of more than 700 species of corals showed that 32.8% were threatened with extinction, especially those that formed large mounds or intricate branches resembling antlers.

     Coral reefs provide hiding places and a habitat for 25% of all marine life and are a major source of food for the poor and of tourist revenue in tropical countries. Some of the threats are global, including elevated ocean temperatures that have stressed corals so much that they are "bleached" bone-white. A massive bleaching brought on by warmer waters in the 1999 El Nino resulted in a vast decline of the world's reefs.

     Corals also face excessive and destructive fishing and polluted runoff that buries them under sediment or bathes them in nutrients that fuel out-of-control growth of algae and bacteria. Compounding the problem are various diseases that kill corals when they are under stress.

Photo credit: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times

Small research center provides window into global warming

High on a jungle hilltop, at a unique research center in the middle of the Panama Canal, scientists are studying three-toed sloths (like the one pictured), howler monkeys and jungle flora to better understand evolution and the practical effects of global warming.

The biological secrets being studied at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are more than just thesis fodder. Scientists say some provide clear warnings of a planet in peril and could provide clues to ways to save it. Chris Kraul reports in today's L.A. Times:

Barro Colorado Island was formed in 1911 when the Chagres River was dammed to help create the Panama Canal. The flooding formed an isolated refuge for thousands of plant and animal species.

The Smithsonian set up shop here in 1923, when the canal was under the control of the United States. Its continued existence was assured through the terms of the canal's transfer to Panama in 1999. Now, an average of 300 biologists a year from 15 countries use STRI's uniquely self-contained ecosystem to study animal and plant life.

"It's a precious jewel of tropical biological research," said Kate Milton, a UC Berkeley zoologist who has studied howler monkeys here for 30 years.

Photo: Max Planck Institute

Infected Yellowstone elk might be killed

Federal officials are considering killing or capturing elk in Yellowstone National Park infected with a livestock disease that's spreading to the area's bison, the Associated Press reports. A tentative proposal, drafted by federal officials, sets a goal of eliminating the disease brucellosis. The AP reports:

      Government agencies have killed more than 6,000 wild bison leaving Yellowstone over the last two decades in an attempt to contain brucellosis, which causes pregnant cattle to abort their young.

      Cattle in parts of Wyoming and Montana where bison haven’t roamed for decades are being infected, and livestock officials in both states are now targeting elk as the cause.

     “We’ve got way too many elk,” said John Scully, a rancher living in Montana’s Madison Valley. “Clearly with so many elk, the risk rises. We need to reduce their numbers.”

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Thomas Lee / Associated Press

A drop in the penguin population

University of Washington professor P. Dee Boersma fell in love many years ago with a flightless bird that does its soaring underwater. Looking at the penguin and chicks above, it's easy to see why. Now she's delivering some heart-breaking news about the focus of her affection and decades of fieldwork. The largest colony of Patagonian penguins, also known as Magellanic penguins, has plunged by about 22% over the last two decades.

Reasons abound. As Boersma explains in the latest issue of BioScience, these sentinels of marine health are being devastated by overfishing, oily pollution and even pressure from hordes of tourists. Read more from Times staff writer Kenneth R. Weiss at Greenspace, The Times' environmental blog.

Photo:  P. Dee Boersma / University of Washington

Pandas, sharks and more -- an animal news roundup from today's Times

The eight young pandas evacuated during the recent earthquakes in China have become the Beijing Zoo's media darlings, Barbara Demick reports.

Visitors to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta can pay to swim with whale sharks, but some experts says the practice could be risky for the sharks, Richard Fausset reports.

Speaking of risk, some SoCal surfers are opting to take the risk of a swim in the shark-populated waters at a beach north of Ixtapa, Mexico, Pete Thomas reports.

President Bush urges offshore drilling in wildlife refuge areas, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger disagrees with tampering with California's coast.

Meanwhile, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a nonprofit coalition of hunting, fishing and other organizations, filed  a lawsuit against the Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management in U.S. District Court in Washington, saying the government agency "failed unequivocally" to monitor and mitigate the effects of gas and oil drilling on wildlife in Wyoming, Tami Abdollah reports.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's refusal to let firms test for mad cow disease denies consumers a safety net, a Times editorial says.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Andy Wong/Associated Press

At 74, primate expert Jane Goodall still doing good works

Although she has more than a half-century under her belt, renowned primatologist Jane Goodall doesn't show any signs of slowing down anytime soon. The 74-year-old is still traveling the world doing acts of environmental good and is working on a new book.

Over the last 22 years, Goodall has traveled tirelessly, staying no more than three weeks in one place as she tries to educate Earth's top primates about environmentalism, inspire hope and get them to save their planet, The Times' Tami Abdollah writes in a Q&A in today's Calendar section:

Abdollah: Is your work still centered around or focused on chimpanzees?

Goodall: Not really. It's very, very important to me that we continue to study, that we do it in the right way, that there's enough money for it, that we try to protect those chimpanzees into the future by working with all the people living in poverty around the park and then hoping more and more of them will enable part of the land to regenerate so the chimps are no longer trapped as they are now; they're surrounded by cultivated fields. In five years, you get a 30-foot tree. So they're coming back, but you know, the villagers if they wanted could cut them down, there's nothing to stop them, except goodwill.

In the photo above, Goodall helps students plant a tree at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice at the University of San Diego.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times

Alaska salmon affected by global warming

Alaskan wild salmon has been an uncommon success story among over-exploited fisheries, with healthy runs and robust catches that fetch ever- higher prices at fish markets and high-end restaurants in Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo and London. So the emergence of disease, Times staff writer Kenneth R. Weiss reports, has come as a shock to fishermen and fisheries managers:

Fishermen and regulators who have cooperated to save species from overfishing and local environmental hazards have been caught unprepared to deal with forces beyond their control: how to manage a fishery for climate change....

Cold-temperature barriers are giving way, allowing parasites, bacteria and other disease-spreading organisms to move toward higher latitudes.

"Climate change isn't going to increase infectious diseases but change the disease landscape," said marine ecologist Kevin D. Lafferty, who studies parasites for the U.S. Geological Survey. "And some of these surprises are not going to be pretty."

Photo: Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times

South Korea's Cabinet offers to resign over U.S. beef

South Korea's entire Cabinet, including Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, offered to resign today to take responsibility for the government's handling of beef imports. Bloomberg News reports:

Han and the other 15 Cabinet ministers told President Lee Myung-bak that they would step down, said Kim Wang-ky, a spokesman for Han.

Lee agreed in April to lift a ban on American beef to win support from U.S. lawmakers for a wider free-trade accord, sparking mass protests (pictured above) against his 4-month-old government by people concerned about mad cow disease. Lee's approval rating has fallen by half since he took office in February, undermining his ability to win support for tax cuts and public works projects promised during the campaign.

"It's not just about beef anymore but everything about the Lee Myung-bak government that has lost public trust," said Kim Jung-youn, a 35-year-old Web designer who has participated in the rallies since May 2. "The resignations are just a show. It would be best for Lee himself to step down."

South Korea was the third biggest buyer of U.S. beef before imposing a ban in December 2003 over concerns about the brain-wasting disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Scientists say mad cow disease is spread in cattle by tainted animal feed. Eating contaminated meat from infected animals can cause a fatal human variant that has been blamed for the deaths of 151 people in Britain, where it was first reported in the 1980s.

The letters on the banner pictured read "Denounce the government's notification of U.S. beef imports."

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Bak Seung-ryul/Associated Press