Endangered Species

Summary:

This discussion provides a description of the current threats to polar bears and how the current legislative regimes in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia and the the United States respond to these threats.

Summary:

This paper explores the background of the manatee and the issues the species faces. It then sets forth some of the applicable laws that are currently in place, followed by a consideration of the benefits and shortcomings of those laws. Finally, it reflects on some changes that have been suggested, and, ultimately, introduces a new approach—providing property rights to the West Indian Manatee—with a response to potential criticism in mind.

Summary:

This article explores the evolution of animal rights, specifically examining the influence of the property status of animals in the U.S.

Summary:

The international trade in wild-caught reptiles has been cause for increasing concern, especially over the last few years. Federal, state and foreign laws are seemingly broken everyday as hundreds of thousands of reptiles are imported and exported each, mostly for the pet trade. In addition to depleting our natural resources and threatening many species with extinction, the reptiles are treated inhumanely and can even pose a health risk to people and the environment.

Summary:

This paper focuses on the changes that have occurred from 2005 to the present in each DPS, including three non-essential experimental populations located in Yellowstone, Central Idaho, and the southwestern U.S.; the Northern Rocky Mountain DPS; and the Western Great Lakes DPS.

Summary:

The gray wolf was persecuted almost to extinction in the United States. Under the Endangered Species Act, the gray wolf has made a great recovery. Several legal issues are still unresolved however.

Summary:

Controversy has arisen over how best to deal with populations of feral cats. While cat advocates fight against killing cats, bird advocates and others see them as destructive to protected species. Legal issues of property ownership, causation, and classification of cats are central to the question of human liability for feral cats.

Summary:

This article summarizes the international and American laws affecting chimpanzees. Each law is described, and the ways in which each law works well and works poorly are discussed. Generally, all laws affecting chimpanzees as they are currently written, do not adequately protect the species from the most salient threats to its survival.

Summary:

This summary provides a brief examination of the biology of whales, including habitat, reproductive cycles, and feeding.

Summary:

This article provides a brief biological summary of the polar bear.