skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Groups Want Protections for Florida's Black Bears

play audio
Play

Monday, March 28, 2016   

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - While state wildlife officials say Florida's black bear population is on the rise, a coalition of scientists believes more needs to be done to preserve and protect the animals and their habitat.

Dozens of scientific, environmental, and conservation groups are backing a petition to have the Florida black bear protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Jaclyn Lopez, the Florida director for the Center for Biological Diversity, says last year was particularly deadly for the black bear.

"The number of bears we lost to just human forces - not even the background factors, like the effect of habitat loss or even just natural mortality, but human factors alone - we lost about 15 to 20 percent of the population," says Lopez.

The state estimates the adult black bear population to be about 4,300, however its surveys were conducted prior to last year's hunt, in which more than 300 bears were killed in two days.

A spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Commission says there is no "magic number" at which a species would be listed as endangered, and that the petition will be reviewed in the next 90 days.

While the overall number of bears may be on the rise, Lopez says it doesn't change the fact that the populations are extremely fragmented and face mounting threats from human population growth.

She says that will further isolate them from each other and, if current policies continue, make the bears and other species increasingly vulnerable.

"Lots of other species and animals and plants depend on the same habitat that the bear depends on," Lopez explains. "So, using the bear as sort of an umbrella species to have this conversation, the agencies and our elected officials have failed us, and have failed the bear."

Last year's bear hunt was the first in the state in more than two decades. State officials have not yet decided if there will be another hunt this year.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021