INCREASED SIGHTINGS OF SNAKES NOT AN INDICATOR OF INCREASED POPULATION (SW Ontario, Canada) - via Herp Digest

By Peter Langille, AM 800, 7/18/17

(Editor- Similar articles are appearing in the media from Ontario to Arizona to Azerbaijan (see article following this one) to Australia. Reasons given of course vary. None, that I have seen, say that there is an increase in the number of snakes.)

There are more reports of snake sightings in the area, particularly in the LaSalle area.

But Herpetologist (snake expert) Steve Marks of the Essex County Field Naturalist Club says it's not because we have more snakes.

He explains the weather we've had in the past few weeks is the main reason snakes:

"it's possible people are seeing more because of the cool nights we've been having." says Marks, "In the mornings snakes need to warm up after such a cool night so it's possible people are just noticing more snakes because they're more actively basking in the sun”

He says the largest snake in this area is the Eastern Fox Snake which can reach 4-5 ft. long on average and a few over 6 ft.

But Marks adds, they're completely and totally harmless to people and pets.

He says the Northern Water Snake is also quite large and lives near waterways and are known to be a basking snake.

Marks says the benefit of the Eastern Fox Snake is that its main prey is mice, which is where all rabies come from.

He says the rarest and most endangered snake in this region is the Massassauga Rattler, of which there are fewer than a dozen in Southwest Ontario.

Reptile rift raises concern for sea turtles in Pinellas, Florida, USA (The only person licensed to keep tabs on sea turtles was fired by Clearwater Marine Aquarium) – via Herp Digest

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. —Eric Glasser, WTSP-10News- 7/18/17-  You could say it is bad timing for locally nesting turtles, and right at the peak of nesting season.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium and the biologist in charge of its turtle nesting program have suddenly split up, and that's got some people worried about whether hundreds of the reptiles and their eggs are getting the protection they need.

The Clearwater Marine Aquarium is clearly committed to the welfare of Florida's turtles, but a few weeks ago they had a reptile rift with their only biologist licensed to oversee the marking and monitoring of turtle nests along more than 20 miles of Pinellas County's beaches. 

Former co-workers taking part in a turtle release in Tarpon Springs Tuesday couldn't say why biologist Laura Wright was let go.

Still, Pinellas County had a $135,000 contract with the aquarium, paying them to record nest locations and mark them for protection.

Without Wright on staff, CMA can't do that work, but it still has other turtle tasks. 

“Lighting surveys on the beach, and escarpment surveys, which is very high points of the sand where it makes it very difficult for turtles to come up onto the beach and nest. We're still responsible for that stuff under contract,” said CMA sea turtle biologist Sierra Petrone.

Pinellas County says in the meantime, though, it appears Wright continues to work on her own.

In fact, a worker on Indian Rocks Beach said he saw Wright on an ATV at about 8:30 Tuesday morning still looking for turtle nests, Still marking them. Still collecting and sharing that important data with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

There's concern, though, about how long Wright will be able to keep up the work without the financial resources of the aquarium, and what could happen on busy beachgoer weekends without those warning signs and proper monitoring. 

Sue Mulcahy, who watched Tuesday’s turtle release, worried that beach visitors might accidentally "put their umbrella sticks in there. Crack the eggs. Or put their chairs on there. Or heavy containers.”

And when it comes to accurately keeping track of species and nest numbers, “If someone doesn't keep up with it, they’re not gonna have any idea,” said beach visitor Billy Eidson.

Wright's friends and fans have started a GoFundMe page to help offset the expense of patrolling and marking the beaches. As of Tuesday afternoon, it has raised more than $1,000.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium, meanwhile, has expressed interest in getting someone else permitted. But for now, FWC says the local license and the responsibility that comes with it belong to Wright.

Pinellas County says it is no longer paying the aquarium for the portion of the contract that dealt with identifying and monitoring sea turtles nests along its beaches. 

Using science to combat illegal wildlife trade

July 28, 2017 by Layne Cameron , Meredith Gore

Leading scientists from around the world convened this week at the International Congress for Conservation Biology in Cartagena, Colombia, to discuss how to better leverage science to combat illegal wildlife trade—both within countries and across international borders.

"The scope and scale of illegal wildlife trafficking today is unprecedented," said Meredith Gore, an associate professor of fisheries and wildlife at Michigan State University and Jefferson Science Fellow at the U.S. Department of State. "Illegal wildlife trafficking is a crime that can converge with other serious crimes, such as drug trafficking."

Gore joined other researchers from universities, conservation NGOs, international organizations and national governments to identify new opportunities to bring the full spectrum of scientific knowledge to bear on the problem.

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Dumping turtles (red eared sliders) in Lake Merritt kills reptiles, trashes waterway - via Herp Digest

by Kimberly Veklerov, 7/12/17, San Francisco Chronicle

A popular breed of invasive turtles dumped in Lake Merritt and its tributaries are dying in the brackish water and adding to the growing problem of waste in Oakland’s waterways.

Despite signage warning that the water is a “slow death,” not a glorious turtle retirement kingdom some pet owners seem to think it is, volunteer cleaning crews regularly fish out decomposing red-eared sliders amid heaps of litter.

James Robinson, executive director of the Lake Merritt Institute, a nonprofit that removes trash from the water, said the releasing of turtles is an ongoing problem. People who buy them at pet stores don’t seem to realize they can live upward of 50 years, he said.

“At some point, your kids grow up and don’t take care of Timmy the Turtle anymore,” Robinson said. “People just outgrow them and then they’re like, ‘Be free, turtle, go be home.’ And they throw it into the equivalent of a lake of acid.”

The red-eared slider needs fresh water to survive. In Lake Merritt, a tidal slough where salt water from the bay meets freshwater from creeks and storm drains, the turtles undergo an osmotic process that leads to dehydration or complete organ failure, Robinson said.

A few might survive, but they become weakened by the saline water, he said.

Ancient biology meets modern ingenuity

July 28, 2017

The average person might struggle to get excited about bacterium found in rabbit droppings – but it's potentially a knight in shining armour for our planet.

Researchers at The University of Queensland's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) and US company LanzaTech have developed a computer model that harnesses ancient microorganisms for an environmentally sound industrial waste conversion method.

AIBN researcher Dr Esteban Marcellin said LanzaTech, a gas fermentation company, was particularly interested in a bacterium called Clostridium autoethanogenum, originally discovered in rabbit droppings.

"LanzaTech uses this bacterium (which falls under the broader class of acetogens) as part of its carbon capture and reuse process, whereby industrial waste gases such as steel mill exhaust are converted into useful by-products like ethanol," Dr Marcellin said.

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