Environment news

• In boost for Renzi, Italy drilling referendum fails to draw quorum

  17-04-2016 23:59
  By Crispian Balmer ROME (Reuters) - A referendum aimed at curbing Italy's offshore oil and gas industry was sunk on Sunday when it failed to secure the necessary quorum, with a sizeable majority of voters shunning the ballot, initial data showed. The result was a relief for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who had called on people to abstain, saying the vote was unnecessary and would have hurt the economy. Turnout was estimated at just over 30 percent according to preliminary data supplied by the In
  
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• Beyond the reach of urban root-grubbers: Country diary 100 years ago

  17-04-2016 23:30
  
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 18 April 1916The lambs, very white beside the grey-fleeced ewes, complained in infantile tones when the rain drifted in dense clouds over the windswept fields, but the leaf-buds, opening almost visibly, welcome the warmer wind and invigorating rain. Round those Cheshire farms where damson trees line the hedges as well as the orchard borders white blossom is everywhere, and in many orchards cherry, plum, and pear are well decorated; a few yards f
  
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• Italy drilling referendum fails to draw necessary quorum - initial data

  17-04-2016 23:29
  ROME (Reuters) - A referendum aimed at curbing Italy's offshore oil and gas industry was sunk on Sunday when it failed to secure the necessary quorum, with a majority of voters shunning the ballot, initial official data showed. The result was a relief for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who had called on people to abstain, saying the ballot was unnecessary and would end up hurting the economy. ...
  
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• What price cheap milk?

  17-04-2016 22:30
  
  A penny on the price of milk could be the difference between a river system teeming with salmon, sea trout, otters and bullheads, and degraded streams full of silt.Hundreds of acres of maize grown in the West Country to feed large dairy herds housed in sheds allows milk to be produced slightly cheaper than from cows that eat grass. Continue reading...
  
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• From Africa to Somerset – sand martins lead the way

  17-04-2016 22:30
  
  The sound fell from the sky like notes from a stave; a chorus of twitters, tweets and rattles. Newly-arrived sand martins – my first long-distance migrants of the spring – hawking for invisible insects in the Good Friday sky, above the River Brue on the Somerset coast.After the long flight from Africa, this Easter sunshine was just what they needed, to bump up their energy levels and get ready for the breeding season to come. Continue reading...
  
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• Russia says door not closed for oil output freeze

  17-04-2016 21:54
  DOHA (Reuters) - Russia's oil minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday the country was not closing the door on a global deal to freeze output levels although he was disappointed that no decision had been taken. A deal to freeze oil output by OPEC and non-OPEC producers including Russia fell apart after Saudi Arabia, during talks in the Qatari capital, demanded Iran join in despite calls on Riyadh to save the agreement and help prop up crude prices. Novak said he had travelled to Doha expected all
  
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• Nigeria pipeline saboteurs vow further Niger Delta attacks

  17-04-2016 21:03
  By Tife Owolabi YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - A group that claimed responsibility for a major attack on a pipeline in Nigeria's oil-producing Delta region said it will carry out more strikes, just days after President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to crack down on "vandals and saboteurs". The Niger Delta Avengers has said it carried out the attack on a Shell underwater pipeline in February which interrupted oil flows and forced the company to shut down its 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal f
  
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• Saudi-Iran tensions scupper deal to freeze oil output

  17-04-2016 20:36
  By Rania El Gamal and Reem Shamseddine DOHA (Reuters) - A deal to freeze oil output by OPEC and non-OPEC producers fell apart on Sunday after Saudi Arabia demanded that Iran join in despite calls on Riyadh to save the agreement and help prop up crude prices. The development will revive oil industry fears that major producers are embarking again on a battle for market share, especially after Riyadh threatened to raise output steeply if no freeze deal were reached. Some 18 countries, including non
  
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• Qatar says OPEC needs more time for freeze deal

  17-04-2016 20:25
  LONDON (Reuters) - Qatar's oil minister Mohammed al-Sada said on Sunday OPEC needed more time for consultations to reach an output freeze deal. Earlier on Sunday, oil industry sources told Reuters OPEC and non-OPEC producers failed to reach a deal to freeze oil output at talks in Doha, Qatar, but could resume discussions in June. (Reporting by Reuters OPEC team; writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson)
  
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• Ecuador's Esmeraldas refinery still down after quake

  17-04-2016 19:23
  Ecuador's 110,000 barrel-per-day Esmeraldas refinery remained down on Sunday as a precautionary measure though will likely soon restart after a major earthquake in the OPEC nation that killed at least 235 people, the state oil company said. Petroecuador said it would assess when to restart operations during the day after verifying that no infrastructure was damaged by the 7.8 magnitude quake which struck off the country's Pacific coast on Saturday.
  
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• Russia, Saudi debate oil deal draft at Doha talks

  17-04-2016 18:56
  DOHA (Reuters) - Talks between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers in the Qatari capital of Doha have been running for over four hours with Russia and Saudi Arabia debating the wording of a proposed freeze on output, an industry source present at the talks said on Sunday. (Reporting by Reuters OPEC team; writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson and Elaine Hardcastle)
  
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• Julian Usborne obituary

  17-04-2016 17:25
  
  My younger brother, Julian Usborne, who has died aged 76, was an extraordinary mixture; engineer, shopkeeper, builder, prankster, painter, farmer, conservationist and furniture-maker all in one.The son of Thomas, a civil servant at the Ministry of Transport, and his German wife, Gerda (nee Just), Julian spent his childhood, and the second world war, in a house in Weybridge, Surrey, that our parents bought as a bargain because it was often under the flight path of enemy bombers returning after a
  
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• Oil freeze deal in doubt as Saudi-Iran tensions spike

  17-04-2016 17:18
  By Rania El Gamal and Reem Shamseddine DOHA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia demanded on Sunday that Iran join a global deal on freezing oil output, jeopardising the chances of an agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC producers that was supposed to prop up the price of crude. Riyadh had earlier insisted on excluding Iran from the talks because Tehran had refused to stabilise production, seeking to regain market share after the lifting of Western sanctions against it in January.
  
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• Kuwait lowers crude, refining output as workers strike

  17-04-2016 17:18
  Kuwait reduced its crude oil output and refining production on Sunday as part of an emergency plan to help the OPEC member deal with the largest petroleum workers' strike in years. Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has lowered crude output to 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) from its normal production level of about 3 million bpd, company spokesman Saad Al-Azmi said in a posting on the KOC Twitter account. State refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) is producing some 520,000 bpd, down from 93
  
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• Doha oil output debate runs into third hour - sources

  17-04-2016 16:46
  Talks between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers in the Qatari capital of Doha have been running for over two hours with the main debate focusing on the wording of a proposed freeze on output, industry sources said on Sunday. It also said producers in and outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries should agree to freeze oil production at "an agreeable level" as long as all OPEC countries and major exporting nations participated.
  
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• More than 1,000 diesel cars caught without pollution filter, figures show

  17-04-2016 16:32
  
  Government urged to crack down on rogue practice of garages removing compulsory diesel particulate filters from vehiclesMore than a thousand diesel cars have been caught without an essential pollution filter that traps deadly particles, according to government figures. But experts warn the rogue practice of removing the filters, which contributes to air pollution-related deaths, could be far more widespread.Almost 29,000 people die prematurely each year in the UK owing to particle pollution, cau
  
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• RRS Boaty McBoatface wins poll to name £200m polar research vessel – video explainer

  17-04-2016 16:22
  
  The Natural Environment Research Council have conducted a poll to help decide the name of its new £200m polar research vessel and the winning name is – RRS Boaty McBoatface – receiving 124,109 votes. Four times more than RRS Poppy-Mai, which came in second place. The final naming decision lies with Duncan Wingham, chief executive of the NERC, who faces a tough dilemma, between the credibility of his organisation and the overwhelming burden of public opinion Continue reading...
  
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• RBS pulls back fossil fuel investments as green deals grow

  17-04-2016 14:44
  
  New figures show bailed-out bank cut investments by 70% in oil and gas firms in 2015 while doubling UK green energy loans to £1bn a yearRoyal Bank of Scotland has reduced its global lending to oil and gas companies and doubled its green energy loans in the UK to £1bn a year, according to new figures released to the Guardian.
  The move may indicate a change of direction for the bailed-out bank, which was until recently one of the world’s biggest financiers of fossil fuels and had
  
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• Shift in global winds caused record flooding in the Balkans

  17-04-2016 14:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  Disastrous floods in the Balkans two years ago are likely linked to the temporary slowdown of giant airstreams, scientists found. These wind patterns, circling the globe in the form of huge waves between the Equator and the North Pole, normally move eastwards, but practically stopped for several days then -- at the same time, a weather system got stuck over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia that poured out record amounts of rain. The study adds evidence that so-called planetary wave res
  
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• The innovators: fruitful idea turns waste food into a tasty snack

  17-04-2016 14:34
  
  Two friends created their Snact product to try to provide a solution to the millions of tonnes of fruit and veg discarded each year With forklift trucks carrying pallets of fruit and vegetables between sellers, and voices from all corners of the world shouting at each other, New Covent Garden market can be an intimidating place in the early hours of the morning. But this is where environmental enthusiasts Ilana Taub and Michael Minch-Dixon found inspiration for an idea to use goods that would ot
  
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• Boaty McBoatface wins poll to name polar research vessel

  17-04-2016 13:45
  
  NERC chief has final say and faces dilemma between credibility of the organisation and burden of public opinionForget the EU referendum. The major test of modern democracy has fallen into the hands of the Natural Environment Research Council – over the naming of a boat.As the polls finally closed for the naming of its new polar research ship, the NERC confirmed that the votes were overwhelmingly in favour of RRS Boaty McBoatface.Continue reading...
  
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• Italians go to polls in drilling referendum Renzi did not want

  17-04-2016 13:40
  By Crispian Balmer ROME (Reuters) - Italy went to the polls on Sunday in a referendum on offshore oil and gas drilling rights, a vote which Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said he hopes people will not take part in. For the ballot to be valid, more than 50 percent of the Italian electorate must vote but Renzi has urged people to stay away, saying that the referendum is unnecessary and might end up hurting the economy. It would be a blow to Renzi if substantial numbers did turn out, suggesting vo
  
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• New Doha oil deal draft says all OPEC members must join - sources

  17-04-2016 13:03
  DOHA (Reuters) - A new draft of a deal to freeze oil output that is to be agreed later on Sunday in Doha has a line saying all OPEC members should be part of the agreement, industry sources said. The change appears to be a major obstacle for clinching a binding deal, given that OPEC member Iran had decided not to send representatives to the meeting. (Reporting by Reuters OPEC team; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson)
  
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• Oil producers to start talks later on Sunday - sources

  17-04-2016 12:45
  DOHA (Reuters) - OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha will start talks at around 1200-1230 GMT on a deal to freeze output, hours behind schedule as the initial plan has run into complications, sources said. Talks were meant to begin early Sunday morning but were postponed due to what looked like a new spike in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, sources told Reuters. (Reporting by Reuters OPEC team; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson)
  
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• Kuwait says lowers crude oil output to 1.1 million barrels per day under strike plan

  17-04-2016 11:55
  Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) said on Sunday it had lowered crude output to 1.1 million barrels per day crude (bpd) under a plan to cope with a strike by oil workers, down from its normal production of about three million bpd. In a posting on the KOC Twitter account, company spokesman Saad Al-Azmi said oil production had reached 1.1 million barrels per day as a result of the emergency plan to handle the strike.
  
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• Oil freeze deal faces trouble as Saudi-Iran tensions spike

  17-04-2016 11:51
  By Rania El Gamal and Reem Shamseddine DOHA (Reuters) - A meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers on an agreement to freeze output ran into last-minute trouble in Qatar on Sunday due to what looked like a new spike in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, sources told Reuters. Oil ministers met with the Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani - who was instrumental in promoting output stability in recent months - in an attempt to rescue the deal designed to bolster the flagging pr
  
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• France committed to UK nuclear project - BBC cites Macron

  17-04-2016 10:13
  France will go ahead with construction of the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in Britain, the French economy minister was quoted as saying by the BBC. Emmanuel Macron was quoted by the BBC as saying the 18-billion-pound project was "very important" for France and state-owned utility company EDF. "We back Hinkley Point project, it's very important for France, it's very important for the nuclear sector and EDF," Macron told the BBC.
  
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• Oil ministers heading to see Qatari emir as freeze talks delayed

  17-04-2016 10:08
  DOHA (Reuters) - A meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers on an output-freeze deal in the Qatari capital of Doha will start later on Sunday after ministers meet the emir of Qatar, industry sources told Reuters. Sources said earlier that the meeting had been delayed due to last-minute changes requested by OPEC's de facto leader, Saudi Arabia. (Reporting by Reuters OPEC team; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson)
  
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• Wild animals of the north – in pictures

  17-04-2016 10:00
  
  The northern hemisphere is home to some incredible and diverse species, this gallery by Dieter Braun celebrates some of them with facts and beautiful illustrationsContinue reading...
  
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• Doha oil meeting faces last-minute delays

  17-04-2016 09:18
  DOHA (Reuters) - A meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers on an output-freeze deal in the Qatari capital of Doha has not yet started and is running one hour behind the initially agreed schedule, two sources familiar with the development said on Sunday. One of the sources said the delay was due to last-minute changes requested by OPEC's de facto leader, Saudi Arabia. (Reporting by OPEC newsroom; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson)
  
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• Italians go to polls for drilling referendum Renzi did not want

  17-04-2016 08:24
  Italy went to the polls on Sunday for a referendum on off-shore oil and gas drilling rights, a complex issue that the government hopes voters will shun. For the ballot to be valid, more than 50 percent of the Italian electorate must vote and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has urged people to stay away, arguing that the referendum is unnecessary and might end up hurting the economy. Opinion polls suggest that a quorum will not be reached and it would be a blow to Renzi if substantial numbers did tur
  
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• Kuwait acting oil minister says confident, optimistic on freeze

  17-04-2016 07:56
  DOHA (Reuters) - Kuwait's acting oil minister Anas Khalid al-Saleh, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an oil producers' meeting in Doha on Sunday, said he was confident and optimistic that the meeting would agree on freezing crude output. (Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Writing by Andrew Torchia)
  
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• Kuwaiti oil and gas workers begin strike

  17-04-2016 07:39
  Kuwaiti oil and gas industry workers began a strike on Sunday over public sector pay reforms which they fear could reduce salaries and diminish other benefits, union members said. Non-Kuwaiti workers in the industry did not go on strike, however, and it was not immediately clear if oil and gas output was seriously affected. Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC), a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) and one of five state-owned companies affected, has said there is a contingency strategy to e
  
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• The eco guide to grass-fed

  17-04-2016 07:00
  
  Using products from livestock reared on grass as opposed to grain improves the lives of farm animals – and it has health benefits, too‘Grass-fed” is the new organic. It appeared on Whole Foods’ new trend list, with “heirloom ingredients” and “ancient grains”. US sales of grass-fed labelled milk, eggs, yogurt, butter, cheese and even protein powders are soaring.The attraction is that livestock are reared outside, deriving most of their diet from gra
  
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• Doha oil producers close to agreeing output freeze - sources

  17-04-2016 06:48
  By Rania El Gamal and Reem Shamseddine DOHA (Reuters) - Oil producing countries meeting in Doha on Sunday appeared close to agreeing on an output freeze to prop up crude prices, the first such deal in 15 years, official sources told Reuters. A draft agreement circulating in Doha and seen by Reuters says countries' average daily crude oil production in each month would not exceed the level recorded in January this year. The freeze would last until Oct. 1 this year, and producers would meet again
  
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• Saudi to announce reform plan on April 25 - Bloomberg

  17-04-2016 06:10
  Saudi Arabia will announce on April 25 a comprehensive plan to prepare the kingdom for an era in which it does not rely heavily on oil, Bloomberg quoted deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman as saying. The “Vision for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” will include developmental, economic, social and other programmes, Prince Mohammed told Bloomberg. Part of the vision, a package of economic reforms known as the National Transformation Plan (NTP), will be launched a month or 45 days after
  
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• Draft Doha agreement would freeze output until October

  17-04-2016 06:08
  A draft agreement among oil producers meeting on Sunday in Doha says average daily crude oil production in each month would not exceed the level recorded in January this year, according to a copy of the draft seen by Reuters. The freeze would last until Oct. 1 this year, and producers would meet again in October in Russia to review their progress in engineering "a progressive recovery of the oil market", the draft reads.
  
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• Ecuador's 110,000 bpd Esmeraldas refinery halted after quake

  17-04-2016 05:31
  QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's 110,000 barrel-per-day Esmeraldas refinery has been halted as a precautionary measure after an earthquake, Pedro Merizalde, head of state oil company Petroecuador told Reuters. Crude production in OPEC's smallest member was not, however, affected, other state oil officials said. (Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by James Dalgleish)
  
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• France 'committed' to Hinkley Point

  17-04-2016 01:20 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The French government is "completely committed" to building the UK's Hinkley Point nuclear power plant, France's economy minister tells the BBC.
  
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• ‘I was shocked: most of the coral in the Great Barrier Reef is dead or dying’

  17-04-2016 01:04
  
  Australia’s world heritage site is the largest living thing on Earth. But warm water driven by El Niño is bleaching the reef, and a recent report calls for it to be listed as in dangerI pulled on my mask and dropped off the back of the boat into the warm water above Nursery Bommie, a dive site at Agincourt Reef more than 70km offshore from Port Douglas, in far-north Queensland, Australia. It is widely regarded as one of the most spectacular tourist reefs in the area.As soon as I cou
  
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• Great Barrier Reef: the scale of bleaching has the most sober scientists worried

  17-04-2016 01:04
  
  Australia’s world heritage site is the largest living thing on Earth. But warm water driven by El Niño is bleaching the reef, and a recent report calls for it to be listed as in dangerI pulled on my mask and dropped off the back of the boat into the warm water above Nursery Bommie, a dive site at Agincourt Reef more than 70km offshore from Port Douglas, in far-north Queensland, Australia. It is widely regarded as one of the most spectacular tourist reefs in the area.As soon as I cou
  
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• Biofuels, plastics and drugs: is this the future of our farms?

  17-04-2016 01:04
  
  Climate change and poor returns on wheat and dairy drive rural revolution in ‘future-proof’ agricultureFarmer Rob Pickering last week planted nine hectares of flood-prone land in Lincolnshire with an African plant called miscanthus, or elephant grass. By selling the fast-growing crop as biofuel for Drax power station, he should earn as much as he would from selling wheat on the world market.Pickering is part of a rural revolution that, thanks to climate change, low commodity prices a
  
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• Australian night parrot legend lives on but bird remains as elusive as ever

  17-04-2016 00:31
  
  Conservationists are putting fragments of information together to learn more about this enigmatic winged creature that only three living people have seenSomewhere here among the red-dirt channel country of south-west Queensland is a bird that was, until recently, literally a legend. Continue reading...
  
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• Protecting the enigmatic night parrot at Pullen Pullen reserve – video

  17-04-2016 00:06
  
  Bush Heritage Australia has purchased 56,000ha of land in a secret location in south-west Queensland to protect the only known population of night parrots. Once common throughout central Australia, no confirmed sightings had been recorded for more than a century until 2013 Continue reading...
  
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• Robots, lasers, poison: the high-tech bid to cull wild cats in the outback

  17-04-2016 00:02
  
  A trial of ‘grooming traps’ is aiming to eradicate one of the biggest threats to Australian wildlife – feral felinesContinue reading...
  
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