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1. WOLVES I: FWS To Release Wolves in New Mexico Thanks to more than 5,000 e-mails from DEN activists, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced this week that they will begin translocating previously reintroduced endangered gray wolves into New Mexico's Apache National Forest and Gila Wilderness, a remote area far away from people, roads and livestock. The release in the Gila represents the best chance for wolves' long term survival. Only eight wolves are currently running free in the Southwest. Wolves from the Mule and Pipestem Packs, recaptured last year, are scheduled to be released into the wild in April. FWS received more than 9,000 comments on the translocation proposal, more than half of which supported releasing wolves into New Mexico. During two public hearings held in New Mexico, more than 500 citizens packed an auditorium to make comments. Highlights included stirring testimony from citizens including a grandmother, her young grandson and a Tucson middle school class that presented a quilt made of 30 individual squares supporting wolf recovery. Thanks to all the DEN activists who sent e-mails. Your support was essential to giving this endangered species a chance for recovery. Click here for more information. 2. WOLVES II: Two Charged with Illegal Wolf Shootings A 21-year-old man and a juvenile from eastern Arizona have been charged with killing an endangered gray wolf, found dead more than a year ago in New Mexico's Apache National Forest. Both men were charged with multiple violations of the Endangered Species Act and Lacey Act and face penalties of up to $100,000 in fines and one year in prison if convicted. The investigation determined that the wolf was shot to death near Nutrioso, Arizona, then transported across the Arizona/New Mexico state line in an attempt to conceal evidence of the killing. Investigations continue into the illegal killing of three other Mexican gray wolves in 1998. A female wolf was killed on August 7 in eastern Arizona, a male was found dead of a gunshot wound near the Arizona-New Mexico state line on November 7 and another male was found shot to death on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation on November 23. Defenders has offered rewards totaling $40,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the wolf killers. 3. WILD CATS: Rare Lynx Finally Wins Federal Protection This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) listed the Canada lynx as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The long-awaited action will provide added protection and mandate a recovery plan for the imperiled species, whose numbers have dwindled to just a few hundred individuals in the lower 48 states. Lynx populations have suffered significant declines due to impacts of logging and road building and loss of habitat. The only lynx species in North America, the Canada lynx is a medium-sized wild cat that lives in the northern forests of Canada and the United States. They have large ears for exceptional hearing and broad feet that function like snowshoes to give the cat the ability to hunt on deep snow. The species feeds primarily on snowshoe hares, other small mammals and birds. The announcement comes one week after Defenders and 11 other environmental groups filed a fourth lawsuit in a nearly ten-year legal battle to gain federal protection for the lynx. FWS was first petitioned to list the lynx in 1982 and a decision has been delayed numerous times. Click here for more information. 4. EVENTS: Carnivore Conference Set for November 2000 Carnivores 2000, a three-day conference on the conservation of wolves, bears, wild cats and other predators will be held November 12 through 15, 2000, in Denver, Colorado. Defenders of Wildlife will bring together scientists, natural resource agency personnel, conservation professionals and wildlife activists for a forum on the future of predator conservation and biology in North America. Highlights of the conference will include sessions on various topics relating to conservation and biology, a Sunday night welcoming reception featuring live wolves courtesy of Mission:Wolf and an evening at the Denver Museum of Natural History. Invited speakers include "The Horse Whisperer" and "The Loop" author Nicholas Evans and Far Side cartoonist Gary Larson. For more information or how to register send an e-mail to carnivores2000@defenders.org or click here to visit our web site. A member of the beetle family, Coccinellidae, which means "little sphere," the ladybug is easily recognized by its distinctive red, yellow or orange shell with black spots. There are more than 4,000 species of the familiar insect found in temperate climates world-wide and more than 350 varieties in North America alone. The insect's bright shell pattern serves as warning to predators that it has an unpleasant taste. It can also secrete a foul-smelling liquid from its leg joints that repels most ants and birds. When in danger, the ladybug has also been known to "play dead" since many predators will not eat insects that don't move. Contrary to popular belief, the number of a ladybug's spots are not an indicator of its age. In fact, ladybugs only live four to seven weeks. Despite its small size, the appetite of a ladybug is enormous. A single female can eat up to 75 aphids a day. Because they are such effective predators, many gardeners and farmers welcome the ladybug as a natural means of pest control, in place of chemical-based pesticides. However, some species of ladybug such as the Mexican bean beetle are plant eaters and can be quite destructive to bean crops. 6. DEFENDERS IN THE NEWS: "Resuing Swift Foxes Without Red Tape" "Called 'senopah' by the Blackfeet Indians, the swift fox was long a touchstone of Blackfeet culture. But early this century the species disappeared from the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana and nearly all the Great Plains. The foxes were done in by hunting and by eating poisoned meat intended for coyotes and wolves. Not waiting for federal action, in August 1998 the Blackfeet and their partners, Defenders of Wildlife, released on the reservation 14 pairs of swift foxes from a captive-breeding center in Canada. After more releases they hope to have 250 pairs by 2003." National Geographic magazine, April 2000. Defenders initiated the swift fox recovery program in 1998 through a grant from the Bradley Fund for the Environment of the Sand County Foundation and in partnership with the Cochrane Ecological Institute and the Blackfeet Nation. Click here for more information on swift foxes
DENlines is a bi-weekly publication of Defenders of Wildlife, a leading national conservation organization recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. It is known for its effective leadership on endangered species issues, particularly predators such as brown bears and gray wolves. Defenders also advocates new approaches to wildlife conservation that protect species before they become endangered. Founded in 1947, Defenders is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with more than 380,000 members and supporters.
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