N0 Cruelty to Animals

HAVE FUN!!!!!

SINCE WE ALWAYS HAVE NEW MEMBERS - HERE ARE THE RULES - YOU CAN ONLY GUESS 1X BEFORE NYACK COMES BACK WITH THE ANSWERS AS TO WHICH LETTERS ARE CORRECT.

HOWEVER IF YOU REALLY THINK YOU KNOW THE ANSWER - YOU CAN GUESS - BUT PLEASE DON'T GUESS UNLESS YOU ARE PRETTY SURE - IT MESSES THINGS UP IF YOU GUESS PART OF IT AND NOT ALL OF IT - THEN I NEVER KNEW WHAT LETTERS TO TAKE OFF ETC. HOPE THAT MAKES SENSE!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _    _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _

Letters available

A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z

Hi Nyack! May I have R please

HELLO, Desanka!

Letters Guessed

R

_ _ _ _ _ _ R _ _ _    _ _ _    _ _ _ _ R

Letters available

A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z

T please.

G' Morning, Koala!

Letters Guessed

R, T

_ _ _ _ _ _ R _ _ _    _ _ _    _ T T _ R

Letters available

A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,S,U,V,W,X,Y,Z

May I have an "E" please Nyack

Californias Red Otter?

You know what? That is SO darn close we are gonna call it a winner!-

California Sea Otter

CONGRATULATIONS JON!

29

ACTION ALERT: Protect the California Sea Otter! PLEASE SIGN !

ACTION ALERT: Protect the California Sea Otter! PLEASE SIGN !

Animals (tags: sea otters, california, wildlife, threatened, oil spills, humans, endangered, survival, protection )

Simone
- 79 days ago - thepetitionsite.com

The California sea otter was listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act of 1977. At that time, the primary threat was oil spills. That still remains a primary threat today

add comment | demote?: duplicate bad link spam not worthy Your problem report has been submitted. Thank you!

send green star

Wow.....Yea I finally guessed one. Thank you Nyack........! I just woke up and half asleep when I typed the answer. Well, almost the whole answer, lol.

Sea Otter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_otter

The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg (30 to 100 lb), making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals. Unlike most marine mammals, the sea otter's primary form of insulation is an exceptionally thick coat of fur, the densest in the animal kingdom. Although it can walk on land, the sea otter lives mostly in the ocean.

The sea otter inhabits offshore environments where it dives to the sea floor to forage. It preys mostly upon marine invertebrates such as sea urchins, various molluscs and crustaceans, and some species of fish. Its foraging and eating habits are noteworthy in several respects. First, its use of rocks to dislodge prey and to open shells makes it one of the few mammal species to use tools. In most of its range, it is a keystone species, controlling sea urchin populations which would otherwise inflict extensive damage to kelp forest ecosystems. Its diet includes prey species that are also valued by humans as food, leading to conflicts between sea otters and fisheries.

Sea otters, whose numbers were once estimated at 150,000–300,000, were hunted extensively for their fur between 1741 and 1911, and the world population fell to 1,000–2,000 individuals in a fraction of their historic range. A subsequent international ban on hunting, conservation efforts, and reintroduction programs into previously populated areas have contributed to numbers rebounding, and the species now occupies about two-thirds of its former range. The recovery of the sea otter is considered an important success in marine conservation, although populations in the Aleutian Islands and California have recently declined or have plateaued at depressed levels. For these reasons the sea otter remains classified as an endangered species.

RECOVERY AND CONSERVATION

During the 20th century, sea otter numbers rebounded in about two-thirds of their historic range, a recovery that is considered one of the greatest successes in marine conservation. However, the IUCN still lists the sea otter as an endangered species, and describes the significant threats to sea otters as oil pollution, predation by orcas, poaching, and conflicts with fisheries – sea otters can drown if entangled in fishing gear. The hunting of sea otters is no longer legal except for limited harvests by indigenous peoples in the United States.  Poaching was a serious concern in the Russian Far East immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, however it has declined significantly with stricter law enforcement and better economic conditions.

The most significant threat to sea otters is oil spills. Sea otters are particularly vulnerable, as they rely on their fur to keep warm. When their fur is soaked with oil, it loses its ability to retain air, and the animal quickly dies from hypothermia. The liver, kidneys, and lungs of sea otters also become damaged after they inhale oil or ingest it when grooming. The Exxon Valdez oil spill of 24 March 1989 killed thousands of sea otters in Prince William Sound, and as of 2006 the lingering oil in the area continues to affect the population. Describing the public sympathy for sea otters that developed from media coverage of the event, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson wrote:

As a playful, photogenic, innocent bystander, the sea otter epitomized the role of victim ... cute and frolicsome sea otters suddenly in distress, oiled, frightened, and dying, in a losing battle with the oil.

The small geographic ranges of the sea otter populations in California, Washington, and British Columbia mean that a single major spill could be catastrophic for that state or province. Prevention of oil spills and preparation for the rescue of otters in the event of one are major areas of focus for conservation efforts. Increasing the size and the range of sea otter populations would also reduce the risk of an oil spill wiping out a population.However, because of the species' reputation for depleting shellfish resources, advocates for commercial, recreational, and subsistence shellfish harvesting have often opposed allowing the sea otter's range to increase, and there have even been instances of fishermen and others illegally killing them.

In the Aleutian Islands, a massive and unexpected disappearance of sea otters has occurred in recent decades. In the 1980s, the area was home to an estimated 55,000 to 100,000 sea otters, but the population fell to around 6,000 animals by 2000. The most widely accepted, but still controversial, hypothesis is that orcas have been eating the otters. The pattern of sea otter disappearances is consistent with a rise in orca predation, however there has been no direct evidence that orcas prey on sea otters to any significant extent.

Another area of concern is California, where recovery began to fluctuate or decline in the late 1990s. Unusually high mortality rates amongst adult and sub-adult otters, particularly females, have been reported.^[92]Necropsies of dead sea otters indicate that diseases, particularly Toxoplasma gondii infection and acanthocephalan parasite infection, are a major cause of sea otter mortality in California. The Toxoplasma gondii parasite, which is often fatal to sea otters, is carried by wild and domestic cats and by opossums, and may be transmitted by domestic cat droppings flushed into the ocean via the sewage system. Although it is clear that disease has contributed to the deaths of many of California's sea otters, it is not known why the Californian population is apparently more affected by disease than populations in other areas.

Sea otter habitat is preserved through several protected areas in the United States, Russia and Canada. In marine protected areas, polluting activities such as dumping of waste and oil drilling are typically prohibited. There are estimated to be more than 1,200 sea otters within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and more than 500 within the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

Congratulations Jon, that was brilliant!

Noted and signd Nyack, thanks for the information.

Let The Sea Otters Go Home petition has been closed as it's signatures have been met.

Bill to save California Sea Otters has been met, no longer signable. Bill passed

Congratulations Jon Noted and signed the petition Nyack :-0

Hiya- I put all the history at Care2 about the otters- even tho some petitions may be closed, so you can see  (if you are interested) what the issues facing what the struggles are, and have been.

Not only necesssary to "SIGN".

The California legislature passed AB 2485, and Governor Schwarzenegger signed it into law a bill to help the California Sea Otter,(a few years back)- in addition to it being listed on the United States Endangered List.

However this protection still isnt enought to stop Shell Oil from drilling and destroying the otters habitat.

Signed as many as I could. Thanks Nyack