Animals that Start with B - Listed With Pictures, Facts
SAVING THE FLORIDA KEYS MOLE SKINK
The Florida Keys mole skink is one of the rarest and most mysterious of Florida natives. This small, five-inch-long lizard has shiny, armor-like scales, a pinkish-red tail and a brown body. It's a secretive animal, living under rocks, leaves, debris and washed-up beach vegetation called tidal wrack. It's also the southernmost U.S. Mole skink, found mainly in Dry Tortugas and the Lower Keys along Florida's shoreline, living in sandy areas where it burrows deep for refuge.
BACKGROUNDBut this little lizard is in trouble much deeper than its burrows. Its populations are currently in sharp decline because of urban development in the past and sea-level rise now and in the future, which causes flooding that destroys its habitat. Human population has spurred development along the shoreline in the Florida Keys, destroying many of the nooks and crannies this mole skink calls home.
OUR CAMPAIGNThe Center is working to halt destructive sea-level rise and prevent the extinction of Florida Keys mole skinks. In 2010 we filed a petition to protect 404 southeastern aquatic species, including the skink, under the Endangered Species Act. In its 2011 response to that petition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that the mole skink may warrant the Act's protection — but the agency failed to make a final decision. So in 2013 we filed a lawsuit seeking protections for this mole skink and its habitat, and a few months later, the Service agreed to make a protection decision by 2017. Under the Trump administration, that year the Fish and Wildlife Service unlawfully denied Endangered Species Act protection to Florida Keys mole skinks, along with 24 other highly imperiled species. So we had to sue again in 2019, and a year later we prevailed in court.
Following that 2020 legal victory by the Center, in 2022 the Service finally proposed protecting Florida Keys mole skinks as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The agency also proposed designating 7,068 acres of protected critical habitat.
Check out our press releases to learn more about the Center's actions for the Florida keys mole skink.
Man Kept Record 69 Wild Animals Illegally In Fish Farm Leased From NParks, Gets Jail
NParks officers got the fish farm manager to call Arshad for the combination number to the gate lock. But Arshad claimed he was out doing deliveries and driving and would message the combination to the manager when it was safe for him to do so.
The NParks officers then got the fish farm manager to cut the fence leading to the site with a wire cutter, and they saw Arshad's car parked inside.
The officers found 69 live animals, including 42 leopard geckos, two California King snakes, two sugar gliders, three bearded dragons, an Irian Jaya blue tongued skink and South American horned frogs.
There were also animals that were protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The officers then came to a locked sliding door at a room and knocked multiple times, but there was no response. When they eventually managed to open the door, they saw Arshad inside, lying down on a sofa.
Asked why he did not open the door, Arshad lied that he had been sleeping and did not hear the commotion. Another two animals were found in enclosures in the room.
The NParks officers then noticed a CCTV console in the room and asked Arshad to hand over the footage. Arshad claimed the system was spoilt.
The officers seized the 69 live animals, the CCTV console and Arshad's mobile phone, which had a damaged screen.
Investigations uncovered the extent of Arshad's lies - he had lied about driving when the fish farm manager contacted him. He was already at the site when NParks officers arrived.
He deliberately locked himself in the room and ignored the officers' calls and knocks. He also lied that his phone was damaged from being run over by a car.
In truth, he had deliberately smashed it on a table in the locked room before NParks officers found him. He also lied about the condition of the CCTV system, which was fully functional.
Footage retrieved from the system came from four CCTV cameras installed by Arshad at the site.
The footage showed Arshad closing and locking the gate after the officers arrived, hiding dubia roaches which are used to feed reptiles and scooping out turtles into a smaller container.
Defence lawyer S S Dhillon said his client is married with a son, and had been running his aquarium business since 2015.
The main business dealt with ornamental fish, sales of equipment and related logistics supply, said Mr Dhillon.
He said his client was taken aback by the NParks officers' sudden arrival and "flew into a state of panic".
He had smashed his phone "in a state of frenzy as he was getting increasingly panicked from the phone calls that he was receiving", said the lawyer.
Mr Dhillon said the terrapin and turtles found at the site had come from a customer who gave them to Arshad when Arshad delivered tanks to the customer.
Arshad had taken them "out of goodwill" to care for them, claimed the lawyer, asking for six weeks' jail instead.
The prosecution said this was the largest number of illicit wildlife kept by an offender, but Mr Dhillon countered by saying there were only 17 such cases reported since 2001 so this "limits the weight" of the prosecution's argument.
He added that there was no evidence of import, intended export or sale in his client's case.
For each charge of intentionally keeping wildlife without approval, Arshad could have been jailed for up to six months, fined up to S$10,000, or both.
King Charles III Diagnosed With Cancer Following Hospitalization For Prostate Procedure
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