Your weekly roundup of wildlife news from across the country

Cracking Down on Ivory
This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized new regulations to help protect elephants from the demands of the ivory trade. Previous rules had loopholes that allowed those selling illegal ivory attempt to pass it off as legal. But with the new regulations comes a near-total ban on the commercial trade of ivory in the U.S., putting an end to the trade of products that had served as a cover for illegal ivory. More than 300,000 African elephants are killed for their ivory tusks each year, pushing the species closer to the brink of extinction.
Learn about the new ivory regulations >

Back in the Wild Again
Officials recently released a Florida panther in Big Cypress National Preserve. The endangered cat had been getting too close to a residential community. The two-year-old male is in a safer spot now, and we are reaching out to wildlife managers in the area to help them take simple steps on how to keep Florida panthers safely uninterested in this community.
Read more about this panther and watch video from the release >

A Bear Doesn’t Care
Yellowstone National Park has launched a new awareness campaign to remind everyone how to hike, fish, or do other outdoor activities safely in bear country: By carrying bear spray! If you come across a bear unexpectedly, it won’t care how far you’ve hiked, if you work in the area, or anything else – it will react the way a bear would. So it’s important to know what tools to carry (like bear spray), how to use them, and what else to do to keep yourself safe and bears out of trouble.
Learn how to use bear spray >

Protect the Pallid!
The Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released their proposal to help protect the pallid sturgeon while building a dam on the Yellowstone River – one that would make it nearly impossible for the fish to reach their spawning grounds upstream. They propose including a bypass channel – but biologists say this measure is unlikely to help. What the pallid sturgeon needs is more open river, not less. We’re continuing to push for a better solution that will keep this “dinosaur fish” on the map instead of simply watching it disappear.
Read about the proposed dam on the Yellowstone River >

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