California Rejects Flat-Tailed Horned Lizard’s Bid For Endangered Species List – via Herp Digest

By Steve Walsh, Aired 12/9/16 on KPBS News.

California wildlife officials on Thursday voted against putting the flat-tailed horned lizard on the endangered species list.

For decades, development has been closing in on the lizard. Agriculture has been encroaching on its territory as far back as the 1930s. Recently, solar farms and other development, along with off-road vehicles, have been degrading the lizard's territory in Coachella Valley.

“The flat-tailed lizard, we believe, is sort of a bell weather for the health of the desert in the southern part of the state,” said Ileene Anderson, senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, which seeks to protect the lizard.

Last year, the 3.5-inch long lizard received a reprieve when the California Fish and Game Commission made it a candidate for the state's endangered species list.

The action stopped events like road rallies, said Ron Kwait, president of the Tierra Del Sol Four Wheel Drive Club.

“We can’t do that because of the possibility of it being listed,” Kwait said.

Thursday, the commission voted to not include the lizard.

The staff agreed the flat-tailed lizard's numbers are dwindling in Coachella Valley, but other populations are still thriving in Southern California.

Yellowstone reject vaccination plan for bison

January 2014: Yellowstone National Park managers have rejected a plan to use air rifles to vaccinate the nation's last herd of purebred bison against the cattle disease brucellosis.This is despite worries from the ranching community that unvaccinated bison could put cattle in neighbouring states at risk from the bacterial disease, which can cause cows and bison to miscarry.

Park officials said they decided against vaccination because of its $9 million price tag, questions about its effectiveness, and its possible impact on the wild bison as it would required shooting the animals once a year for three decades.

"We have concerns about how that repeated contact might impact bison behaviour and their visibility to park visitors," said Al Nash from Yellowstone.

Nash also said there was no documented case of wild bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle, which he said signifies the success of existing measures designed to separate the park's herd from domestic livestock.

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Japan to reject international shark trade regulation

The Japanese government has decided to reject landmark rules on the trade in sharks, an official said Friday, opting for status quo despite a global push to protect the predators.

TOKYO: The Japanese government has decided to reject landmark rules on the trade in sharks, an official said Friday, opting for status quo despite a global push to protect the predators.

Japan is filing a "reservation" about the regulation under the 178-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to restrict cross-border trade in the oceanic whitetip, the porbeagle and three types of hammerhead shark.

"It is the Japanese government's position that the species should be managed under the existing management bodies," said a Japanese diplomat assigned to the issue.

Asian nations led by Japan and China - where shark fin soup is considered a delicacy - tried to block the regulations in March at a Bangkok convention, but greater support for the measure from the rest of the world overwhelmed them.

Continued