Wildlife Weekly Wrap-Up: 01/13/2017

January 13, 2017

Your weekly roundup of wildlife news from across the country

Manatee Mortality Rate Rising

A record 104 manatees died due to watercraft in 2016, per the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s preliminary manatee mortality report. There was also a high in overall manatee mortality, with 520 manatees reported dead from a variety of causes.

Find out more about the report >>>

Polar Bear Recovery Plan

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service just released a recovery plan for polar bears, which stated that “the single most important action for the recovery of polar bears is to significantly reduce the present levels of global greenhouse gas emissions.”

Southwest Alaska Islands

We applaud the Obama administration for making the Southwest Alaska islands a designated historic landmark. Defenders of Wildlife funded the remote cameras used on this island that led to a Native resolution which led to a change in the fly over patterns of planes which reduced walrus stampedes and deaths to juvenile walrus.

Learn more about these Alaska Islands >>>

Rusty Patch Bees Protected:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) granted the rusty patched bumble bee full protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Tuesday. This is the first bumble bee species in the US to be protected by the ESA. Defenders of Wildlife has petitioned FWS to fully protect the Western bumblebee and yellow-banded bumblebee, which are in decline on the coasts and in river valleys where commercial farming is widespread.

Rare Whale Sighting in California:

Whale watchers in Southern California were treated to a rare sighting of Eastern Tropical Pacific killer whales on Saturday. Five orcas, including a small calf, were seen near Point Vicente last Saturday. Eastern Tropical Pacific whales, identified by their darker saddle area behind the dorsal fin, are usually seen from San Diego to Hawaii and south to Peru.

See the rare sighting here >>>

A mixed bag for Manta Rays:

The National Marine Fisheries Service proposed to list the giant manta ray on Thursday. That’s great news, however they denied consideration to list to another highly imperiled species, the reef manta ray. Defenders of Wildlife will continue fighting to bring an end to the wasteful gill trade and all other threats to manta rays.