Tag: wildlife

Herbicide threatens manatee immune systems, UF study finds

A new University of Florida study focusing on manatees’ immune systems reveals how glyphosate, the world’s most commonly used herbicide, may threaten manatee health in an environment increasingly impacted by human activities.

“Our research raises important questions about how chemical exposure might influence immune function,” said lead author Maite De Maria, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher who supports the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with the Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine.

The researchers collected blood samples from manatees in the wild. They then tested the animals’ blood cells in the lab to determine how the herbicide might influence their immune system responses. The study, published in Environment International, examined lymphocyte, or white blood cell, responses to glyphosate at a range of concentrations found in aquatic environments.

White blood cells act protectively within the body, patrolling the bloodstream for harmful invaders such as bacteria, viruses, or other pathogens, and acting defensively to fight infection.

The researchers found that glyphosate can reduce immune cell activity by more than 27.3%, potentially compromising the threatened species’ ability to fend off disease.

After being listed as an endangered species since 1973, the West Indian manatee, of which the Florida manatee is a subspecies, was reclassified from endangered to threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2017. The Marine Mammal Commission lists the current population estimate at 9,790 manatees. However, over 2,000 manatees died in 2021 and 2022 alone, according to the Save the Manatee organization. While some of those deaths were attributed to traditional causes, such as cold stress and vessel collisions, most were attributed to starvation due to the loss of seagrass, a primary food source of manatees, in Indian River Lagoon and other warm-water estuaries. Poor water quality is believed to be a leading factor in the drastic reduction of seagrass beds.

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The Infamous Delta Smelt Fish Has Not Been Seen in Nearly a Decade – California Allowed Its Cities to Burn to the Ground Over a Fish That They Can’t Even Find Anymore

The tiny Delta Smelt fish have not been seen in the wild in California in over a decade.

And yet, California Democrats flushed annual water flow into the ocean to save this little fish that they can’t even find in its natural habitat.
Now several cities are burnt to the ground.

They sacrificed entire communities for a fish that doesn’t exist.

A 2021 report by Dan Bacher in the Sacramento News revealed that there have been NO DELTA SMELT seen in the wild since 2012.
They’re extinct.

For the seventh September in a row, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has caught zero Delta smelt during its Fall Midwater Trawl Survey of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The last time Delta smelt – an indicator species for the broader ecological health estuary – were found in CDFW’s September survey was in 2015. Only 5 were caught by state biologists at the time.

After that, the only year that Delta smelt were caught during the entire four-month survey was in 2016, when a total of 8 smelt were reported.

The final results of Fish and Wildlife’s four-month survey of pelagic (open water) fish species, conducted from September through mid-December, won’t be available until around the start of next year. The current September 2022 data is available here on the annual state surveys webpage.

Recent research has shown that the water releases are not providing the benefits to the small fish that they originally thought. Their population numbers are nearly nonexistent in the wild.

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Were Peanut and Fred the final straws?

The vicious, unnecessary, malevolent killing of pet squirrel, Peanut, and pet raccoon, Fred, may have been the final two straws that put Trump over the top in such huge numbers. American voters were shocked that the government could come into their homes and unceremoniously murder two harmless long-time pets just because of some obscure law that didn’t apply. Laugh if you want, but I believe these two pet sacrifices put Trump over the top in larger numbers than he would have gotten had the pets not been slaughtered.

Government has been overreaching for a long time. We hated it then; we hate it now. Until the Peanut incident, the government had cover. But when you threaten a person’s beloved pet, you have gone too far. When you kill it just because you can, you have gone too far. People get extremely attached to pets. Children get attached to pets. It’s lose-lose for the government.

As with everything else the totalitarian Left does, it went a bridge too far and the voters punished them mercilessly for it. Certainly, there were other issues that precipitated a Trump victory — immigration, the economy,  DEI, abortion, men in women’s sports, Afghanistan, Iran. But none of those issues allowed the government to waltz into your house and kill your beloved pet.

When Peanut and Fred were slaughtered, it got up close and personal — in your house and in your face. At least when they raided your house for documents, no one was killed. But this time, two precious pets were.

Now voters knew — if they didn’t already know — how far Democrats would go if they won. I like to think Peanut and Fred didn’t die in vain.

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Escape From Psychopathocracy

You thought Halloween was over, but somehow the horror show won’t stop, and it’s not so much fun anymore. Those oversized ghouls, werewolves, and dead souls you erected in the front yard, like shrines to wickedness, represent something truly roiling and moiling around the zeitgeist of this troubled land: the ruling Party of Chaos. Look at what they have done to you and what they are still doing. Hoaxing you, sucking the life-blood out of you, and lying about everything. Wrecking the country.

     Why does it seem that the Democratic Party is in it solely to remain in power? I will tell you: because it controls the money-flows to the vast cadres of a vicious parasitical bureaucracy and its support system of outside orgs that commit crimes and make war on the rest of us. It’s called “the blob” for a reason. It’s exactly like that monster out of the 1950s horror movies, a shape-shifting leviathan that devours everything in its path with only one purpose, to grow ever larger until it consumes. . . everything.

     In my state of New York last week, the DEC authorities sent a swat team to seize a man and woman’s pet squirrel and raccoon and then killed the animals. Why? Because they could. How is that different from the DOJ swatting and seizing a grandmother for walking through the US capitol building and then stuffing her in prison for the rest of her natural life on misdemeanor charges? It’s not different. They are both demonstrations of deliberate cruelty — and that’s why the squirrel story resonated so widely around the country. You know exactly what it says: we can take whatever is dear to you. . . your pets. . . your livelihood. . . your freedom. . . your life.

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The Assassination of ‘Peanut the Squirrel’

Did state officials execute a squirrel? That appears to be the case for this New York couple whose story set social media ablaze. It’s a classic tale of government overreach. It’s overkill—literally. The squirrel was a social media sensation, having been rescued by Mark Longo of Pine City, New York, several years ago. For some reason, the Department of Environmental Conservation thought ‘Peanut’ and another of Longo’s critters, Fred, the raccoon, were illegally owned. The length at which the state secured search warrants for the Longo home. 

Mr. Longo alleges that he was treated like a terrorist as Peanut and Fred were seized by the state and then euthanized. Let’s call it what it is: the squirrel and the raccoon were brutally murdered because these woodland creatures just had to be taken because they posed a severe risk or something. What a crock. The incident even attracted the attention of the Trump campaign on TikTok. There was a statement that Mediaite thought Trump issued about the death of Peanut but that was fake news…

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P’nut the Squirrel, beloved pet and internet sensation, euthanized after being seized by NY state

P’nut the Squirrel, of internet fame, has been euthanized after the pet was seized by New York state earlier this week, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation.

The seven-year-old gray rescue squirrel, commonly referred to as “P’Nut” on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, was put to death, along with Fred the raccoon, so that the animals could be tested for the presence of rabies, according to a statement from the agency obtained by WETM.  

P’nut’s guardian Mark Longo took to Instagram to memorialize his beloved pet in a video.

Through tears Longo, with his girlfriend at his side, said, “P’nut was the best thing that ever happened to us.”

“RIP MY BEST FRIEND. Thank you for the best 7 years of my life. Thank you for bringing so much joy to us and the world. I’m sorry I failed you but thank you for everything,” Longo wrote in a caption to the post announcing P’nut’s death.

Longo also asked fans for financial help for a “legal battle” and for his non-profit P’Nut’s Freedom Farm.

The DEC claims that P’nut, who was notably docile and friendly over the course of his very public facing life, bit one of the investigators on the hand while being confiscated from his Elmira home on Wednesday.

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Scientists Uncover a Hidden “Sixth Sense” in Geckos, Prompting Questions About Human Extrasensory Potential

Researchers at the University of Maryland have uncovered a hidden and unexpected auditory “sixth sense” in geckos. 

In a study published in Current Biology, scientists revealed that geckos use a specialized part of their inner ear, known as the saccule, to detect low-frequency vibrations—a trait previously unrecognized in reptiles. 

Researchers believe other species could have a similar sixth sense. This would offer new insights into how animals perceive their environment and could have significant implications for evolutionary biology.

“The ear, as we know it, hears airborne sound. But this ancient inner pathway, which is typically linked to balance, helps geckos detect vibrations that travel through mediums like the ground or water,” study co-author and Professor of Biology at UMD, Dr. Catherine Carr, said in a press release. “This pathway exists in amphibians and fish, and now it’s proven to be preserved in lizards as well. Our findings shed light on how the auditory system evolved from what you see in fish to what you see in land animals, including humans.”

Typically associated with balance, the saccule is a part of the inner ear that allows geckos to sense vibrations through mediums like the ground or water rather than through airborne sounds like traditional hearing. 

The saccule’s sensitivity to vibrations between 50 and 200 Hz complements the gecko’s regular auditory system. This finding is significant when considering other reptiles, such as snakes or different species of lizards. 

Traditionally, many reptiles are believed to be “deaf” or “mute” because they do not vocalize sounds or respond well to airborne noise. However, the ability to detect vibrations offers a new explanation. Reptiles may communicate through vibrational signals, challenging long-held assumptions about their sensory perception.

“A lot of snakes and lizards were thought to be ‘mute’ or ‘deaf’ in the sense that they do not vocalize sounds or hear sounds well,” lead study author and PhD candidate Dawei Han explained. “But it turns out they could potentially be communicating via vibrational signals using this sensory pathway instead, which really changes the way scientists have thought about animal perception overall.”

This “sixth sense” in geckos also offers fresh insights into the evolution of hearing mechanisms across species. The saccule, present in both amphibians and fish, now shows its role in reptiles, suggesting that auditory systems may have developed more gradually and with greater complexity than previously believed. These findings highlight how hearing mechanisms likely adapted during the shift from aquatic to terrestrial environments, revealing a more nuanced evolutionary pathway than was once assumed.

The surprising discovery of an auditory “sixth sense” in geckos also raises intriguing questions about the potential for unexplored sensory abilities in humans. It opens the door to new research into the human auditory system, prompting scientists to consider whether we have similar undiscovered pathways that contribute to our perception of the world.

“Think about when you’re at a live rock concert,” Dr. Carr said. “It’s so loud that you can feel your whole head and body vibrate in the sound field. You can feel the music rather than just hearing it.”

“That feeling suggests that the human vestibular system may be stimulated during those loud concerts, meaning our sense of hearing and balance may also be linked closely.” 

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Shock Video: Haitian in Springfield Carves Up Animal in Public

A Haitian migrant was filmed butchering an animal in Springfield, Ohio, providing first-hand confirmation of the illegal migrants’ strange culinary habits highlighted recently by conservatives.

In a video uploaded by journalist Taylor Hansen at the Red Couch Village apartment complex, a migrant can be seen processing a small animal.

“A Haitian is caught on video chopping an animal apart with a machete in public,” Hansen captioned the video posted to X Monday evening.

Filmed surreptitiously through an apartment window screen, it’s unclear what type of animal the man is carving; however, he is seen slicing several filets off the carcass, likely for future consumption.

The video comes as the mainstream media has attempted to downplay claims that Haitians in the area have been feasting on local wildlife, while residents claim pets have been mysteriously disappearing, feared to have been consumed or sacrificed for ritualistic purposes.

The disturbing accounts were highlighted by former President Donald Trump during his debate last month with Democrat nominee Kamala Harris, who scoffed at the claims.

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Ohio Duck Rescue Expert Says Springfield Bird Disappearances Far Exceeding Previous Levels, Believes Rumors “To Be True”

Ohio duck rescuer Lisa Montgomery has been witnessing an uptick in missing ducks and geese in the Springfield area recently, according to an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail.

Montgomery has been rehoming wild geese in the state for a decade, and she’s specifically noticed birds in the city have disappeared at an alarming rate.

After Donald Trump said Haitian “migrants” in the Ohio city are eating dogs and cats, the media went wild claiming he’s spreading racist misinformation.

However, testimonies from locals allege they saw firsthand the illegal aliens were collecting cats, and it is known that animals are often used in Haitian voodoo rituals.

The Ohio bird rescuer said she’s noticed an “unusual” number of water birds going missing in the region, and has “serious concerns” they’re being “murdered for food.”

This year, Montgomery witnessed the geese and ducks disappearing by numbers that “far exceeded” past summers.

“I have over the years had many people reach out from the Springfield area. Recently with concerns of ducks and geese being murdered for food,” she said. “I do have serious concerns over the issue and believe it to be true.”

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YES – Haitian Migrants Are Eating Pets

Donald Trump claimed during the tilted debate that Haitian migrants are resorting to eating human pets. The moderators and Kamala Harris had a chuckle, and NBC, ABC, and the other parrots in the media taunted Trump with headlines that stated the former president was lying once again.

There are countless reports from residents in Springfield, Ohio, and elsewhere that state their pets have gone missing. “These Haitians are running into trash cans. They’re running into buildings. They’re flipping cars in the middle of the street, and I don’t know how like, y’all can be comfortable with this,” a resident named Anthony Harris complained to city officials last month. “They’re in the park, grabbing up ducks by the neck and cutting their heads off and eating them.” There are 911 phone calls from concerned residents stating that Haitian migrants are taking ducks and geese from ponds and eating them.

Springfield was once a small American town with a population of 58,000 as of 2020. Then, over 20,000 migrants arrived, failed to assimilate into American culture, and are completely reliant on US taxpayers. “How many people can they be expected to take? What are the limits to the federal government’s power? Could the federal government simply funnel into Ohio all the millions of migrants flooding in under the current administration’s watch?” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost finally questioned.

Yost accurately noted that the sheer number of migrants arriving in such a short amount of time is utterly unsustainable. Their behavior only worsens matters as his office stated that migrants are “causing car crashes, stealing property – including livestock, squatting in homes and killing wildlife for food.”

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