Environment

Wolves: Their Own Worst Enemy?

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Wolves may be in the crosshairs as the Alaska Board of Game debates predator control measures statewide — but a new report finds that the controversial carnivores may be their own worst enemy. A wolf cull is, for some, “a good thing,” notes the Anchorage Daily News; “for others, it is very bad.” Alaska’s aerial predator-control program, not to mention hunting and trapping by licensed citizens, claim about 1,250 wolves annually, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. However, studies by wildlife biologists in Denali National Park show that “at least” 60 percent of dead wolves are killed, and sometimes cannibalized, by other wolves from rival packs. The National Park Service monitors the area’s 18 wolf packs with the help of radio collars placed on the alpha male and female pairs of each pack — the animals most likely to be killed in a territorial battle.

Economy

Diamond Dilemma in Botswana

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Botswana is moving ahead with plans to build a state-of-the art diamond cutting facility — at a time when declining diamond sales are threatening the jobs of thousands of miners. Government officials see the facility, which will expand the types of diamond processing in Botswana, as a path to economic diversity, reports The Voice of Francistown. Even as the officials rave about the possibilities of the high tech diamond park, its Debswana Diamond Company — a joint venture with South Africa’s De Beers Group — is meeting with the mine workers union to discuss mine closings and layoffs throughout the country. Worldwide diamond sales are down in the face of the global recession, and Botswana’s economy is hurting. Diamond mining is Botswana’s economic mainstay, and the source of most of the country’s funding for development and public health.

Featured

Divisions of Kosovo

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Since Kosovo’s secession from Serbia, the fledgling country is at peace — but struggling with severe poverty and unemployment, along with simmering ethnic tensions in the mostly Serbian north. Photo: Kosovo Serbs/jungle/arctic

Nation

L.A. Targets Health Insurance Revocations

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The Los Angeles City Attorney’s office is investigating whether insurance companies have unfairly or illegally revoked the health-insurance policies of more than 8,000 Californians. California Lawyer Magazine reports that the practice may also threaten about 3 million middle-class Californians. In some cases, sick and dying patients lost their health insurance due to alleged “misstatements” made on already-approved applications. These include weight changes or the omission of prior conditions sometimes unrelated to a patient’s costly illness. Insurance companies said they are protecting their businesses against consumer fraud, and that their side of the story is not well publicized due to privacy laws for patients.

Environment

Health Fears for Navy Dolphins, Sea Lions

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The United States Navy plans to use dolphins and sea lions — which can detect underwater saboteurs at night — to protect submarines at a base near Seattle. The Los Angeles Times reports that animal activists are concerned that the Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins, which are unused to such cold water, will suffer in the Puget Sound. Dolphin biologist Toni Frohoff told the newspaper that some of the Atlantic dolphins were captured in the Caribbean and that “they don’t have the physiology to adapt” to 45-55 degree water. At one of two public hearings in Seattle, the Navy offered to heat the dolphins’ holding pens, but critics said the temperature fluctuations might compromise their health in the long run. The Navy has a total 78 dolphins, 27 sea lions and one beluga, all of which are highly trained and can physically help capture trespassers.