"South Carolina’s newest social media star is young, friendly, and could weigh up to 700 pounds. It’s a bull elk that likely wandered from North Carolina across state lines, the first time an elk has been spotted in the woodlands of South Carolina in more than 200 years."

"The Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge will span New York and five New England states. It will be the 18th refuge created under President Obama."

"Worldwide populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles have plunged by almost 60 percent since 1970 as human activities overwhelm the environment, the WWF conservation group said on Thursday."

"Scarcely two months have passed since the Obama administration announced a major breakthrough in its program to resurrect the population of the world’s most endangered wolf."

"Conservation groups dismayed as Japan and other pro-whaling nations vote against plans for a protected area for whales, dolphins and porpoises".

"Bycatch is now the No. 1 killer of cetaceans. Some say the IWC, one of the oldest international environmental organizations in history, hasn’t kept pace."

"Hundreds of snow leopards are killed illegally every year in remote mountains from China to Tajikistan, further endangering the big cats that number only a few thousand in the wild, a report said on Friday."

"Tasmanian devils have developed a natural immune response to the deadly facial tumour disease, confirming research that suggested the animals were rapidly evolving in response to the overwhelming threat."

"New Jersey's first expanded black bear hunt in more than three decades ended Saturday, just days after lawmakers advanced a measure that would remove the animals from a list of game species."