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Bear deaths high
Researchers say human-caused grizzly-bear deaths have taken a toll in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem this year, despite estimates that the overall population continues to grow.
Read complete story from the Jackson Hole Daily

Canadian man shoots himself in head with crossbow
A 19-year-old Grasmere, British Columbia, man was in hospital last night after shooting himself in the head with a crossbow. Police said the man was at a small house party at his home and had been drinking when he accidentally shot himself at about 4:30 a.m. yesterday.
Read complete story from Canada's The Province

200-lb wild boar struck by car in Mass.
Massachusetts State Police say a 200-pound Russian wild boar was euthanized after being struck by a vehicle on a road in Lancaster earlier this week.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Doomed fishing boat sent e-mail before sinking
An e-mail sent by a doomed fishing boat to a nearby vessel said it was taking on water in the rear, where the steering was housed, the Coast Guard said Thursday as it searched for two crew members whose fates remained unknown.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Burials at sea help rebuild reefs
If you want to help the Chesapeake Bay in the afterlife, or forever be part of the memories from Baltimore's historic Memorial Stadium, a Georgia company has a burial option you may want to consider.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Lobster prices tank as diners claw back spending
The price of Maine lobster, which accounts for 80 percent of the U.S. catch, is tanking.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Beetle invasion threatens New England trees
wood-devouring beetle has gained a foothold in New England, and authorities plan to cut down large numbers of infested trees and grind them up to stop the pest from spreading to the region's celebrated forests and ravaging the timber, tourism and maple-syrup industries.
Read complete story from York Daily Record

5 dead, 2 missing when fishing boat sinks off Alaska
Two fisherman were missing Thursday after a fish-processing vessel sank in frigid, stormy seas off a remote Alaskan island chain with an 11-man crew. Five men were killed and four survived.
Read complete story from The Tucson Citizen

Raccoon 'burglar' evades Dallas police, wreaks havoc in Kessler Park home
The raccoon tore through the house, ripping up the Venetian blinds in the front bedroom and pulling down drapes in the den, generally terrorizing the couple (in their 80s), who have lived in the home for 36 years.
Read complete story from dallasnews.com

Mountain survivor recalls bug diet on Wash. slope
Derek Mamoyac, a climber who survived five nights alone on a southern Washington mountain and ate insects while crawling toward safety, remembers well how his mountain meals tasted.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

S.D. man 'lucky' after run-in with elk
Duke Venjohn of Custer said he likes to "live on the edge." Admittedly, after a recent experience with his son-in-law Brad Grill of Hot Springs and involving a pair of 6x6 bull elk, he said he may have "slipped over it."
Read complete story from the Hot Springs Star

Wisc. goes after Texas man over wild pigs
Johnson was charged in February with illegally stocking wild animals, a civil infraction. A trial to determine whether he's liable began Sept. 5 in Prairie Du Chien and then delayed. Proceedings are expected to resume Friday.
Read complete story from the The Associated Press

Teen killed when his dad's gun goes off during Daggett deer hunt
A Weber County family is grieving after a hunting accident claimed a 15-year-old on Sunday near Dutch John in Daggett County. The teenage boy was hit with a bullet fired from a rifle carried by his father as they hunted deer late Sunday afternoon in the northeastern corner of Utah near Flaming Gorge.
Read complete story from the Salt Lake Tribune

Woman saves dad's life
Andrews, N.C. — A Fairview Road woman held onto the horns of a rampaging deer for more than 10 minutes on Oct. 11, saving the life of her elderly father, who had been knocked to the ground and attacked by the deer.
Read complete story from the Cherokee Scout

Woman fights deer after poodle attacked
HELENA, Mont. — A 61-year-old woman from Silver Star said she got into a tussle with an aggressive deer after it apparently attacked one of her poodles Monday morning.
Read complete story from the Montana Standard

Hunter saved by GPS feature on his phone
Imagine hunting, far from civilization, when the unthinkable happens — a heart attack.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Hunting down deadbeat parents
INDIANAPOLIS — Vanderburgh County is one of eight counties where the state is launching a program to aggressively collect overdue child support by threatening to suspend the driver's licenses or the hunting and fishing licenses of deadbeat parents.
Read complete story from the Evansville Courier & Press

Geologists discover 'dinosaur dance floor'
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Geologists say they have discovered prehistoric animal tracks so densely packed on a 3/4-acre site that they're calling it a "dinosaur dance floor."
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Dead bear covered with Obama signs found at school
CULLOWHEE, N.C. (AP) — Police at Western Carolina University and wildlife officials were investigating the discovery early Monday of a dead bear cub draped with a pair of Barack Obama campaign signs.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Ebay to ban sales of ivory products in January
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — EBay is banning the sale of ivory products to help protect African and Asian elephants.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Commission prepares for controversial crossbow vote
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is poised to act on a hotly debated proposal that would dramatically expand hunters' ability to pursue deer and bears with crossbows.
Read complete story from The Morning Call

Wildlife officials alarmed by wasting disease find
JACKSON — A moose in Star Valley has tested positive for chronic wasting disease in what state wildlife officials say is the first time the disease has been found west of the Continental Divide in northwestern Wyoming.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Palin hometown a window into her environmentalism
WASILLA, Alaska — Long before John McCain made Gov. Sarah Palin his running mate and before her views on global warming became a campaign issue, Palin's environmental priorities were crystallized in a city where she was mayor and where development long has trumped conservation.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Billions of fish, fish eggs die in power plants
BUCHANAN, N.Y. — For a newly hatched striped bass in the Hudson River, a clutch of trout eggs in Lake Michigan or a baby salmon in San Francisco Bay, drifting a little too close to a power plant can mean a quick and turbulent death.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Report says Arctic temperatures at record highs
WASHINGTON — Autumn temperatures in the Arctic are at record levels, the Arctic Ocean is getting warmer and less salty as sea ice melts, and reindeer herds appear to be declining, researchers reported Thursday.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Government declares beluga whale endangered
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The beluga whales of Alaska's Cook Inlet are endangered and require additional protection to survive, the government declared Friday, contradicting Gov. Sarah Palin who has questioned whether the distinctive white whales are actually declining.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Scientists say stick bug is world's longest insect
LONDON — A stick bug from the island of Borneo measuring well over a foot in length has been identified by researchers as the world's longest insect, British scientists said Thursday.
Read complete story from The Associated Press

Armyworms attacking pastures, wheat in Texas
DALLAS — Texas farmers are once again battling armyworms and the voracious creatures are attacking fields and pastures in formidable numbers.
Read complete story from the Associated Press

Record alligator taken from Flint River
FLINT RIVER, Ga. — A Cataula man and three friends nearly got more than they bargained for when an alligator hunt here near Campers Haven turned into a four-hour ordeal with a 680-pound monster that has been confirmed as the new state record.
Read complete story from the Cordele Dispatch

Two deer test positive for chronic wasting disease
SHERIDAN, Wyo. — Two hunter-harvested buck mule deer in northeast Wyoming have tested positive for chronic wasting disease, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Read complete story from the Star-Tribune

Dog eats bra inserts and lives to bark about it
Crawford, a 2-year-old Brittany, has the honor of being the most recent winner of an unusual insurance claims contest. It's a distinction he earned after a snack of gel inserts from his owner's bra sent him to the veterinarian's office with some gastrointestinal issues.
Read complete story from The Associated Press