The Surprising History of the Wildlife Trade That May Have Sparked the Coronavirus
A rescued young Sunda pangolin takes his first tentative steps after being released back into the wild. ZUMA For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.This story was originally published by the Food and Environment Reporting Network. For the past 40 years, the Chinese government has promoted the wild…
Trump Has Been Very Bad for Vulnerable Animals. The Administration May Finally Have to Change Its Behavior.
A northern spotted owlRobin Loznak/ZUMA In the past three years, the Trump administration has targeted rules and regulations critical for wildlife survival from every angle: It has stripped long-standing protections and instituted new hoops to jump through in the name of economic growth. It has made it easier for polluters to dump pesticides in lakes and rivers. It…
Car ‘Splatometer’ Tests Reveal Huge Decline in the Number of Insects
A truck driver cleans dead bugs off his windshield at a truck stop in Baytown, Texas. Brett Coomer/AP This piece was originally published in The Guardian and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. Two scientific studies of the number of insects splattered by cars have revealed a huge decline in abundance at European sites…
Ranchers Feel Blindsided by Trump’s Wall
Part of the border fence in Arizona.Astrid Galvan/AP This piece was originally published in High Country News and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. Since 1994, the Malpai Borderlands Group, a coalition of ranchers, has worked to steward approximately 800,000 acres of rangeland in southern Arizona and New Mexico. The group started…
Trophy Hunters Can Bid for a Chance to Kill Deer With ‘Accomplished Conservationist’ Donald Trump Jr.
A Sitka black-tailed deer.Michael Penn/AP This piece was originally published in the Guardian and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. A week-long “dream hunt” with the US president’s son Donald Trump Jr. is being auctioned at an annual trophy hunting convention in Reno, Nevada, alongside expeditions to shoot elephants, bears and giraffes. The four-day…
Australia’s Wallabies, Recovering From Fires, Fed by Carrots Falling From the Sky
A wallaby eating a carrotNew South Wales Environment Minister Environment Minister Matt Kean Thousands of pounds of carrots and sweet potatoes are falling from the sky in Australia, air-dropped to help feed the Brush-tailed Rock wallabies whose habitats have been devastated by massive brushfires. The wallabies, agile marsupials that use their furred tails for balance…