Wildlife Weekly Wrap-Up: 05/19/17

Your weekly roundup of wildlife news from across the country

WildSights:

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Wild stories from the Week:

It’s Bear Awareness Week! Human-related deaths and habitat loss remain significant threats to long-term grizzly bear recovery. Read about the work we do to help bears and humans co-exist with each other: http://dfnd.us/1NfCzLY

Your voice matters! The #EPA asked which regulations to gut – and the public answered: http://dfnd.us/2qSf3So

With only 78 Southern Resident orcas left, there’s never been a more important time for the federal programs that can help recover the species. Unfortunately, the current administration has shown signs that it will make drastic cuts to these programs: http://dfnd.us/2qtgbsD

Lola, a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, lost her flipper fifteen years ago due to entanglement with fishing gear and predators. Now students are helping the amputee out with a 3-D printed flipper: http://dfnd.us/2pQRXqV

Here are a few ideas of what you can do to help imperiled species on #EndangeredSpeciesDay:

Our Defenders in Action

In the Northwest:

In Montana, our Senior Representative Suzanne Stone co-organized a workshop on LionShield, a nonlethal technology, with Resolve, a nonprofit wildlife conflict mediation and intervention organization. There was a presentation on how the LionShield system works and to discuss results from the trials in Kenya. The group then discussed how LionShield and other real-time alert technologies can be used by wildlife managers, ranchers, and conservationists in the US. The workshop also took time to examine technology is currently being used to mitigate human-wildlife conflict on a global scale.

International:

In San Diego, our Senior International Counsel Alejandra Goyenechea represented Defenders at the IATTC SAC meeting, during which parties met to discuss topics including sharks and mobulid rays. We participated as an advocate for sharks and mobulid rays and intervened on staff recommendations that included evaluating the adequacy of measures for silky sharks. This also included developing and implementing a data sampling program for sharks in Central America as well as the need for future data collection on hammerheads to develop an assessment of the species. The management of sharks discussed at this meeting were also reflected on this new report released by CEC this week.