Deer, antelope and bats among wildlife pummeled during Southern freeze
JOHN FLESHER and JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press
Feb. 24, 2021
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DALLAS (AP) As many people in the southern U.S. hosted neighbors who had no heat or water during the vicious February storm and deep freeze, Kate Rugroden provided a refuge for shell-shocked bats.
Starving and disoriented, the winged mammals tumbled to the snow-coated ground as temperatures plunged to levels rarely seen in the region.
“They burned through their energy reserves as they tried to wake up and get away from the cold and ice, said Rugroden, of Arlington, Texas, one of numerous rehabilitation specialists nursing stranded bats plucked up by sympathetic people. “And there aren t any insects out there for them to eat yet.
But they decided that should not be their immediate focus.
Instead, the county Agricultural Advisory Commission voted 10-0 for its solar subcommittee to spend less of its time on the concept of âagrivoltaicsâ â a policy where solar panel farms are used to enhance crop growing â and spend the bulk of its time on other solar-related issues. This includes mapping areas where developers can build such facilities.
âI move that we do everything we can to recommend to the solar subcommittee, that they move forward to completion of a policy that may be presented to (county officials), and we leave the door open and we continue to work on agrivoltaics, as (part) of a comprehensive policy,â Commissioner Karl Wente said. âThis is just a sliver of the pie.â
Snow Geese Migration Blots Out Sky Over Wildlife Refuge in Missouri yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
DNLR/
DAR)
The first hatchery-raised sea urchins outplanted in Kāneʻohe Bay are 10-years-old, and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit (
DAR) are celebrating the milestone anniversary. The sea urchin hatchery, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (
NOAA) and
DAR, successfully transplanted the first cohort in January 2011 and has since released 600,000 sea urchins across the state.
Project staff raise the sea urchins until they’re large enough to be released into the wild. (Photo credit:
DNLR/
DAR)
These sea urchins have proven to be incredibly successful at controlling invasive seaweed, a major priority for coral conservation in Hawaiʻi. To date, the sea urchin biocontrol project has treated more than 227 acres of reef in Kāneʻohe Bay, and has recently expanded to the Waikīkī Marine Life Conservation District to control invasive algae.