He’s So Cute! Well, Dumptrump Is Back In Action, Let Endangered And Threatened Species Designations

He’s so cute! Well, dumptrump is back in action, let endangered and threatened species designations don’t mean jack squat any longer. Let’s kill off ALL of God’s magnificent and varied creatures. And by god let’s be rid of sharks (I calendared Shark Week 2025 last fall). Moronic POS orange jaysus, burn in hell, hopefully it will be telecast!

Knoxville News Sentinel

How listing hellbenders as endangered species could restore rivers | Word from the Smokies

The giant salamander species in Appalachia was already in trouble when Hurricane Helene devastated swaths of its habitat in North Carolina.

Excerpt from this story from Knox News:

By now, the story of Hurricane Helene is a tragically familiar one: the endless rain, the swollen rivers, the angry water indiscriminately destroying lives and homes. The storm killed more than 230 people across five states, including 104 confirmed dead in North Carolina and 18 in Tennessee.

But humans aren’t the only species whose communities were ravaged by the floodwaters. Helene devastated some of the few remaining healthy populations of an iconic Appalachian species: the eastern hellbender. The species was in trouble even before the hurricane hit. Based on data gathered prior to Helene, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Dec. 10, 2024, proposal to list the giant salamander as an endangered species.

“The best populations across the species’ entire 15-state range were in Western North Carolina,” said Will Harlan, southeast director and senior scientist for the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit based in Tucson, Arizona, that works to decrease threats to biodiversity worldwide. “This was the one place where there were a few populations that were relatively stable and reproducing. Helene changed all that. The very strongholds that were left for hellbenders were exactly the same places that were hit hardest by Helene. That’s just been tragic, and why this listing is even more timely and important.”

Far eastern Tennessee had also held prime hellbender habitat, with populations thriving in the Nolichucky, Holston and Doe rivers, all of which suffered Helene’s wrath. This “critical stronghold” was severely damaged by the storm, Harlan said.

The eastern hellbender, an aquatic salamander whose adults reach an average length of 20 inches - slightly less than two footballs laid end to end - has been in decline for decades. Feeding primarily on crayfish and breathing through its skin, the species is extremely sensitive to environmental degradation. And its long life cycle - hellbenders can live more than 30 years in the wild and need about six years to reach sexual maturity - means that populations can take a long time to recover once degraded.

The eastern hellbender, an aquatic salamander whose adults reach an average length of 20 inches - slightly less than two footballs laid end to end - has been in decline for decades. Feeding primarily on crayfish and breathing through its skin, the species is extremely sensitive to environmental degradation. And its long life cycle - hellbenders can live more than 30 years in the wild and need about six years to reach sexual maturity - means that populations can take a long time to recover once degraded.