Thursday, November 29, 2018
Woman completes Triple Crown of hiking in a single year
When Heather “Anish” Anderson’s boots touched the ground in Grants, New Mexico this November, they marked the first time a woman has completed the triple crown of hiking in a year. In just over 8 months and nearly 8,000 miles, Anderson walked the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail in a single calendar year, averaging 25 miles a day. No stranger to walking, Anderson is a three-time triple crowner and holds the self-supported thru-hike speed record on the Pacific Crest Trail, completing the 2,650-mile hike in 60 days.
Hunters are ditching lead bullets amid worry of poisoned wildlife and meat
Lead bullets have long been the standard in hunting, but The New York Times reports that many hunters are choosing copper bullets as evidence grows that lead ammunition may harm wildlife and poison game meat. According to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, lead exposure is the leading cause of death in California condors, which feed on the carcasses of game animals killed by lead bullets. The Humane Society reports that between 10 million and 20 million animals, from bears to vultures, die each year from lead poisoning. Still, some hunters worry the push to move away from lead bullets may be a ruse to limit gun rights or ban hunting and are hesitant to make the switch. Of the 10 to 13 billion rounds of ammunition sold in the United States each year, 95 percent contain lead. At least 30 states regulate the use of lead ammunition. California recently imposed a statewide ban on the bullets, which goes into effect in July 2019.
Trapper captures record setting Python in Everglades
As part of a program to remove pythons from the Everglades, officials in Florida say a trapper has caught a 120-pound, 17-foot, 5-inch female Burmese Python. The snake is the third caught under the South Florida Water Management District Python Elimination Program that measured over 17 feet in length. Pythons are an invasive species in the Everglades and have no natural predators. Officials say the snakes have decimated native wildlife populations. Since March 2017 when the Python Elimination Program began, python hunters have eliminated 1,859 pythons stretching a combined length of more than two miles and collectively weighing more than 11 tons.
