In a world where “rattlesnake round-ups” are considered good family fun, the arrest of a Florida man who tortured and killed a rattler comes as a refreshing change.

From Tallahassee.com:

According to the weekly Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission law enforcement report for Oct. 25, in mid-September, Ward Lee Waff “taunted the pygmy rattlesnake continuously … kicked the snake into the roadway, attempting to get a car to run over the snake,” and then shot it repeatedly with a .22 caliber rifle, sending it flying off the roadway.

In the video, Waff, 45, asks the snake if it would “bite one of my dogs. Would you bite one of my children?” before capturing it and holding it before a number of braying dogs in the back of a truck. He can be heard laughing as he torments the reptile.

[…]

In the report, Waff is described as having a criminal history with FWC and is “currently on probation for fish and wildlife violations that were committed in the past.”

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By Herp News

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Central Park Zoo is debuting a pair of snow leopard cubs that were born this past summer.

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A reptile attack was the last straw for a Phnom Penh family locked in a land dispute who sought legal intervention yesterday.

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VANCOUVER, B.C. — ANGKOR GOLD CORP. (“ANGKOR”) has completed preliminary exploration on the Blue Lizard Prospect, South Oyadao Exploration Lease, Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. The prospect …

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By Herp News

VALHALLA, N.Y., Nov. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Turtle Beach, the leading audio brand in the games industry, today announces the iSeries line of high-end media headsets. The iSeries headsets are packed with innovations that Turtle Beach first introduced to gaming headsets but are new for mobile users, including features that improve chat and voice call quality and provide an unmatched level of …

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Scientists from the Philadelphia Zoo are working to save the frogs of Haiti.

From Scientific American:

As much as 99 percent of Haiti has been deforested over the past few decades, as the country’s desperate people have cut down trees to make way for agriculture or charcoal production. This massive habitat loss has put the entire nation’s biodiversity at risk. Only a few untouched habitats remain.

The La Hotte land frog’s habitat is one of those areas. “It’s a very beautiful forest,” (Carlos) Martinez (Rivera, amphibian conservation biologist with the Philadelphia Zoo,) says. “There are a lot of tree ferns, pines and magnolia trees. It feels like going to any other tropical rainforest. But it’s a very tiny patch of forest.” The trees are still being cut down to produce charcoal or to clear land for cash crops such as parsley, celery, broccoli and carrots.

With so much of the country already deforested and more trees likely to be lost in the coming years, the Philadelphia Zoo in 2010 set out to save some of Haiti’s endemic frogs that live in those fading forests. They captured 154 frogs from nine species and brought them back to Philadelphia to establish a captive breeding program. “You can protect wildlife like frogs in a small space,” says the zoo’s chief operating officer, Andy Baker. “Trying to keep a genetically viable population of tigers takes the entire global zoo community, whereas in a relatively small room you can hold a genetically and demographically viable population of an entire species of frog. Our return on investment on species protection for animals like reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates can be very high.”

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By Herp News

The bay cat is arguably the world’s least-known member of the cat family (Felidae). Although first described by scientists in 1874, no photo existed of a living specimen until 1998 and a wild cat in its rainforest habitat wasn’t photographed until five years later. Given this, scientists with Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Imperial College London were taken aback when their remote camera traps captured numerous photos of these elusive cats hanging out in a commercial logging concession in Sabah, a state in Malaysian Borneo.

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By Herp News

Parametric Sound Corporation , a leading innovator of audio products and solutions, and Turtle Beach, the market leader in video game audio, today announced that preliminary proxy materials have been filed …

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Based on a single tooth from Australia, scientists believe they have discovered a giant, meter-long (3.3 feet) duck-billed platypus that likely fed on fish, frogs, and even turtles, according to a new study in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. At least twice the size of a modern duckbilled platypus, the scientists say the extinct giant likely lived between 15 and 5 million years ago.

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A breeding population of a critically endangered harlequin toad thought to be extinct in Costa Rica has been discovered in a tract of highland forest in the Central American country, reports a paper published in Amphibia-Reptilia. Atelopus varius, an orange-and-black harlequin toad, was once relatively common from central Costa Rica to western Panama. But beginning in the 1980′s the species experienced a rapid population collapse across most of its range.

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A new study shows that snakes can optimize their vision by controlling the blood flow in their eyes when they perceive a threat.

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THE fifth annual Scales and Tails Reptile Festival on Saturday at North Ipswich Reserve promises to be entertaining and educational.

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The wisdom of linking oddball songwriter Nellie McKay with the jazzy string quartet Turtle Island wasn't immediately clear but, at The American Theatre on Friday, the pairing was often magical.        

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Carrying an alligator bag on an airline flight is fine, but live alligators are banned from boarding. That might explain why a toothy reptile was slithering around Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Friday.

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Do you scream when you see a lizard? Read on to find out why lizards are important to us. Text and pictures J. Subramanean

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Check out this video “Snake Whisperer,” submitted by kingsnake.com user smetlogik.
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By Herp News

(CNN) — Carrying an alligator bag on an airline flight is fine, but live alligators are banned from boarding. That…

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The alligator will eventually find a new life in a reptile park — after getting a few months of treatment for stunted growth.

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Carrying an alligator bag on an airline flight is fine, but live alligators are banned from boarding. That might explain why a toothy reptile was slithering around Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Friday.

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By Herp News

Carrying an alligator bag on an airline flight is fine, but live alligators are banned from boarding. That might explain why a toothy reptile was slithering around Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Friday.

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By Herp News

He has counted sea-turtle nests in the Key West National Wildlife Refuge for nearly a quarter-century but federal biologist Tom Wilmers never saw a year like this. “It's a year beyond my wildest dreams,” Wilmers said. “It's phenomenal … fabulous.”

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Edgar Ortega is a reptile guy.

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Tortoise Energy Capital Corp. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2013, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $1.1 billion and its unaudited net asset

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Tortoise North American Energy Corp. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2013, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $264.8 million and its unaudited

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Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2013, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $459.4 million and its unaudit

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Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2013, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $2.2 billion and its unaudited ne

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Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2013, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $399.0 million and its unaud

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By Herp News

Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2013, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $233.2 million and

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Tortoise MLP Fund, Inc. today announced that as of Oct. 31, 2013, the company’s unaudited total assets were approximately $2.0 billion and its unaudited net asset value

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Researchers returning from an expedition to a cloud forest in Colombia have released photos of the world’s most recently-discovered carnivore, the olinguito.

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By Herp News

Researchers returning from an expedition to a cloud forest in Colombia have released photos of the world’s most recently-discovered carnivore, the olinguito.

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Police seized 16 pythons, a venomous snake and a lizard from a house in east Gatineau on Wednesday and a 24-year-old man is facing charges.

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SINGAPORE – A monitor lizard was caught on camera taking a stroll near Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. A contributor to citizen journalism website Stomp sent in a picture, saying that he saw the lizard while he was in the vicinity today. He added that he was surprised to see the monitor lizard stalking about on a grass patch near the hospital. Visit STOMP for more stories.        

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Planning on heading for next year’s G20 Summit in Australia? Don’t bring your snake.

From the Brisbane Times:

Police have been granted the power to search anyone carrying eggs, cans of beans, model planes, surfboards, insects or reptiles near security areas, under new laws for the G20 summit.

The G20 Safety and Security Bill was passed in Parliament on Tuesday night, making it easier for police to strip search and arrest trouble makers during next year’s G20 summit.

Included in the bill is a vast list of items banned from designated “security areas” in Brisbane and Cairns.
As well as knives, swords, guns and explosive tools, the list of prohibited items includes glass bottles or jars, metal cans or tins, eggs, reptiles and insects.
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Under the laws, a police officer may seize a prohibited item if the officer reasonably suspects a person in a security area has possession of the item without a lawful excuse, or if the person is about to enter the restricted area with a prohibited item without a lawful excuse.

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By Herp News

More than 25,000 green sea turtle nests were counted on 26 state beaches this year, more than twice the previous record.

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This notice provides stockholders of Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. with information regarding the distribution paid on Oct. 31, 2013 and cumulativ

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Police seized 16 pythons, a poisonous snake and a lizard from a house in east Gatineau on Wednesday and a 24-year-old man is facing charges.

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By Herp News

A major premise of biology, as any high-schooler can tell you, is the study of the connections between organisms. Perhaps nowhere is there a better example of this than in Malaysia, where the population of Endangered Malayan tigers (Panthera tigris jacksoni) is being undercut by dwindling prey. A recent study by MYCAT, the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers, highlights this connection by presenting a distinct correlation between prey and tiger population.

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By Herp News

A major premise of biology, as any high-schooler can tell you, is the study of the connections between organisms. Perhaps nowhere is there a better example of this than in Malaysia, where the population of Endangered Malayan tigers (Panthera tigris jacksoni) is being undercut by dwindling prey. A recent study by MYCAT, the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers, highlights this connection by presenting a distinct correlation between prey and tiger population.

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An alligator snapping turtle was found in Oregon reservoir last week.

From KGW.com:

It was the first time the invasive species was found in eastern Oregon, according to Rick Boatner of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The species is native to the southeastern United States, Boatner said. It can grow to 250 lbs.

“I’d hate to see these turtles get established in Oregon,” Boatner said. “We already have problems in the Willamette Valley with common snapping turtles.”

He added that the alligator snapping turtle can be very aggressive, and it’s a safety hazard to people.

“It has quite a bite,” he said.

Read the full story here.

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