By Chad Love

Heartbreaking news for all the gustatory adventurers who love a good armadillo burger: eating one may cost you an arm and a leg...literally, because researchers have now found a definitive link between armadillos and human leprosy cases.

From this story in the New York Times
Armadillos have never been among the cuddly creatures routinely included in petting zoos, but on Wednesday federal researchers offered a compelling reason to avoid contact with the armored animals altogether: They are a source of leprosy infections in humans. Using genetic sequencing machines, researchers were able to confirm that about a third of the leprosy cases that arise each year in the United States almost certainly result from contact with infected armadillos. The cases are concentrated in Louisiana and Texas, where some people hunt, skin and eat armadillos.

By Chad Love

Polar bear hunting in the U.S. is no longer allowed. But American hunters who have shot polar bears in Canada and tried to bring their trophies home find themselves stuck in a legal limbo, unable to import their bears, which were listed under the ESA in 2008. 

From this story in the Kansas City Star:
Until they were classified as a threatened species in the United States three years ago, a Canadian polar bear was the ultimate trophy for many elite American sport hunters...Today, the rare trophies from those hunts - generally a skin and claws, along with the skull and the penis bone, known as an "oosik" in the Native language - are in a legal limbo that stretches from the Arctic Circle to the Canadian capital in Ottawa to the halls of the U.S. Congress.

By Chad Love

A year after the BP oil spill, fishing charter captains who lost a season's worth of business are still fighting to make BP pay.
 
From this story on abcactionnews.com:
If you charter the 'Searose' for a day from Dunedin City Marina, you’re bound to catch a bouquet of fish for dinner. Captain Dan Adams, who sits at her controls, says the start to the summer has been good. "We're right in our season," explained Adams. But Adams' small, fishing charter business is still hurting from last summer, when he says he lost 90% of his clients during the Gulf oil spill. His BP claim is in the tens of thousands of dollars.

By Chad Love

Paddlefish season is in full swing in a number of states, and earlier this month one Oklahoma angler pulled in a new state-record spoonbill.
 

From this story in the Oklahoman