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Norwegian authorities said the polar bear attacked and injured a crew member of the 'MS Bremen' cruise ship who was leading tourists off the vessel on an Arctic archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The polar bear was shot dead by another employee, the cruise company said. GUSTAV BUSCH ARNTSEN / AFP / Getty Images

Polar Bear Shot Dead After Attacking Cruise Ship Guard, Raising Questions of Arctic Tourism

A German cruise operator is under fire after one its employees shot a wild polar bear dead on Norway's Svalbard archipelago after the animal injured a cruise ship guard.

The incident occurred Saturday after the tour ship MS Brennan docked on the island, Norwegian authorities confirmed.

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Animals
Debra McGuire / Getty Images

More Than 17,500 Square Miles Protected for Hawaii's False Killer Whales

Monday the National Marine Fisheries Service designated 17,500 square miles of ocean as protected critical habitat for Hawaii's false killer whales, a dolphin species whose numbers have dwindled to around 150 in the wild.

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Animals
The Florida manatee is one of the animals currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. USFWS / Southeast

Trump Administration Announces Sweeping Proposal to Weaken Endangered Species Act

A week after House Republicans announced legislation intended to weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Trump administration joined the attack with a proposal environmentalists say would favor developers over vulnerable plant and animal species.

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Animals
A Kemp's ridley sea turtle like this one was found strangled by a beach chair Saturday. EPA

World’s Most Endangered Sea Turtle Found Strangled by Beach Chair

An extremely endangered sea turtle was found dead on a Fort Morgan, Alabama beach Saturday, strangled by an abandoned beach chair, the Miami Herald reported Sunday.

The turtle's death was documented by a series of Facebook posts by the Fort Morgan branch of Alabama sea turtle conservation group Share the Beach.

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Animals
The bald eagle was officially listed as an endangered species in 1967. By 2007, it had recovered. Carl Chapman / CC BY 2.0

House Republicans Launch Extinction Bills to Cripple Endangered Species Act

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives announced on Thursday a series of bills aimed at profoundly gutting the Endangered Species Act, including provisions making it almost impossible for imperiled species to gain protection and giving states that often oppose endangered species protection veto power over those decisions.

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Neal Herbert / Yellowstone National Park

Wyoming Expands Controversial Wolf Hunting Season

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission approved an expanded wolf hunting season Wednesday, with a goal of reducing the population to the bare minimum required to keep it off the endangered species list, Defenders of Wildlife reported.

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Animals
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GOP Senator Seeks Major Overhaul of Endangered Species Act

Sen. John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, released draft legislation Monday to significantly overhaul the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Under Barrasso's proposal, individual states would be given key authority over the federal program to conserve threatened and endangered species.

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Politics
Anthony Kennedy swears in Trump Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch. Shealah Craighead / The White House

The Environmental Consequences of Justice Kennedy’s Retirement

When Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement Wednesday, the court lost a key swing vote on environmental issues, The Atlantic reported.

Whoever President Donald Trump nominates to replace the 81-year-old Reagan-appointee, who The New York Times called "an equal opportunity disappointer," according to Grist, is likely to be more conservative and could determine the fate of U.S. climate policy, the Endangered Species Act and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt's attempts to roll back Obama-era clean water regulations, legal experts told The Atlantic.

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Animals
Left: Humboldt Marten. Charlotte Eriksson Oregon State University / Right: Marijuana Plant. Pixabay / CC by CC0

Adorable and Feisty Humboldt Marten Faces Extinction From Pot Cultivation, Climate Change

The Humboldt marten—a rare, house cat-sized cousin to the weasel found in old-growth forests in northern California and Oregon—is being driven to the brink of extinction due to over-trapping, deforestation, road construction, wildfires, climate change and even pesticides associated with marijuana cultivation, the Associated Press reported.

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