Wildlife

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:

Maine wildlife officials have
confirmed that wounds on the carcass of a
bobcat who was killed in a fight with a much
larger cat may have been made by an eastern
cougar. The fight was witnessed by hunter
Anthony Fuscaldo. Officially extinct in
Maine since 1938, and in the rest of New
England and eastern Canada much earlier,
the eastern cougar was restored to the list of
living species last year when tracks and scat
were found in New Brunswick, shortly after
a farmer shot one in western Quebec.
Sightings continued throughout the decades
of supposed extinction, but most turned out
to involve bobcats, lynxes, the occasional
extra-large housecat, and some tame exotic
cats who were released by their keepers after
growing too big to handle safely.

Elephants are in trouble from
habitat loss in Sri Lanka and the Indian
province of West Bengal. On December 10
the International Wildlife Coalition appealed
for letters on behalf of about 130 elephants
who have been trapped in the Handapangala
area of Sri Lanka by land-clearing operations
of the Pelwatte Sugar Company. A govern-
mental pledge that the elephants would be
allowed a migration corridor between
Handapangala and Yala Park apparently isn’t
being respected. Letters may be sent to
President D.B. Wijetunga, Presidential
Secretariat, Colombo 1, Sri Lanka. Bear in
mind that elephants may not be a top priori-
ty, as parts of Sri Lanka are involved in a
prolonged civil war. Meanwhile, on
December 27, a brush fire drove 50 starving
elephants out of the Jaldapura sanctuary, 90
miles west of Calcutta. The fire was put out,
but the disoriented elephants had no idea
how to get back home after being stoned
from village to village by both farmers wor-
ried about their crops and thrillseekers, and
had trampled to death six of their tormentors.
At deadline, several hundred drummers and
a fleet of trucks were trying to turn them
around before they entered Calcutta proper,
still 60 miles away.
Endangered Peary caribou– the
“miniature reindeer” of Santa Claus leg-
end––have increased in number from 4,000
to 8,000 over the past five years due to
favorable weather during calving, the
Canadian Wildlife Service reported
December 25.
The World Society for the
Protection of Animals on December 20
renewed an appeal for international sanctions
against China and Taiwan for failing to curb
illegal wildlife trafficking.
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