A legislative and regulatory battle over slaughter of wild horses is dividing conservation celebrities and American Indians in the Southwest and Mountain West.

"On John Bassler's 143-acre Piney Run Foxhound Training Preserve in Milford, Va., a densely wooded property lined with electrified fences to keep about 30 wild foxes inside contained, the chase is recreation, he said, part of a Virginia tradition commonly known as 'fox penning.'"

"Federal scientists investigating an unusually high number of dead bottlenose dolphins washing up on the East Coast said on Thursday the carcasses are showing up at a rate that is seven times higher than usual."

"MELBOURNE, Fla. — The first hint that something was amiss here, in the shallow lagoons and brackish streams that buffer inland Florida from the Atlantic’s salt water, came last summer in the Banana River, just south of Kennedy Space Center. Three manatees — the languid, plant-munching, over-upholstered mammals known as sea cows — died suddenly and inexplicably, one after another, in a spot where deaths were rare."

"Dozens of dead or sick Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have washed ashore along beaches from Virginia north to New York, including several baby dolphins in Delaware, since early June."

"Suit filed on behalf of harvesters of sea urchin, abalone and lobster accuses federal agency of illegally terminating program designed to protect fisheries."

"WASHINGTON -- Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe failed for more than a year to discipline two supervisors who retaliated against whistle-blowers at an Oklahoma field office, the Interior Department's inspector general says in a harshly worded letter that accuses Ashe of damaging the agency's credibility and integrity."

"FRESNO, Calif. -- Mountain residents and the Fresno County sheriff are squaring off against a federal wildlife agency over frogs and toads -- an Endangered Species Act fight that spreads like wildfire along the Sierra Nevada."

"Honey bees are being fitted with tiny radar antennae to find how disease and pesticides are effecting the insects as they hunt for food."

"NEW YORK -- The vast highlands and open spaces of China, Tibet and Mongolia – once roamed by snow leopards, wild camels and yaks, Tibetan gazelles, wild sheep and goats – are increasingly dominated by domestic goats that produce hair for the lucrative cashmere trade. Soft and warm, cashmere scarves and sweaters, and cashmere-wool blend coats and suits fetch top prices in exclusive shops."

"TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- A $50 million federal plan released Wednesday for keeping hungry Asian carp from reaching the valuable fish populations of the Great Lakes calls for reinforcing electrical and other barriers currently in place and for field-testing other methods, including the use of water guns and hormonal fish love potions."

"Pesticides sprayed on crops could be making honey bees susceptible to a fatal parasite and contributing to recent declines in bee populations, according to a study."

"Climate change is making poison ivy grow faster, bigger and meaner."

"HAYWARD -- Every summer day, volunteers and park workers stand guard on a small island in San Francisco Bay. At the first sign of a threat, they race into action -- blowing whistles, clapping hands and blasting horns."

"SAN DIEGO — Hollywood has just cast SeaWorld as a bad guy. But SeaWorld has decided to diverge from the story line."