[San Jose, June 9. Images via Zooborns.]

San José, CA—-- Happy Hollow Park & Zoo is proud to announce the birth of endangered Red Ruffed lemur quadruplets on May 17, 2009. The births are the first of a kind for Happy Hollow and mark an important step for both the Zoo and this endangered species. The babies, two females and two males, have become more visible as the mother has started to leave the nest box for small periods at a time.

While not all of Stossel's ideas are so convincing (like how he thinks that pregnant women should not be protected by laws in the workplace), some of the other issues he touched upon made sense. In this clip, he presents the idea that in order to get animals off the endangered species lists, people should be allowed to own and farm them, that way poachers won't kill wild animals to profit on them, because there will already be an established market for the goods made with these animal products. While this idea surely won't sit well with many, it seems to be a somewhat valid way to protect the existence of these species. It's also proven to be a successful approach to animal conservation, as this practice has vastly increased the number of bison in America, and rhinos in South Africa.

Despite the objections of Gov. Palin, the Federal government announced yesterday that the beluga whale, the beautiful white species that all of us sang about in second grade, would be placed on the endangered species list. According to the New York Times, Palin "opposed the beluga listing in part because of its potential to restrict coastal and offshore oil and gas development." Because who needs whales when you can drill, baby, drill?!?

The Times also states that Palin hates the whales because they're screwing up "other projects, including the expansion of the Port of Anchorage and a proposed bridge over Knik Arm that would connect Anchorage to the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and Ms. Palin’s hometown, Wasilla." Oh, snap! Whales just busted up your Bridge to Nowhere! Baby Beluga FTW!

While I don't think there's a "F*** the Whales" bumper sticker on the back of the Hate Talk Express, Palin often seems to place Alaskan energy innovation over species preservation, issuing a "issued a last-minute statement of opposition to a ballot measure that would have provided added protections for salmon from potential contamination from mining" in August of 2008 and claiming that her objection to adding polar bears to the endangered species list "is based on a comprehensive review by state wildlife officials of scientific information from a broad range of climate, ice and polar bear experts." Whew! That's good to know, Sarah. Seeing as you don't even believe that global warming is a man-made phenomenon, I'm glad you're there to ensure that the polar bears are well looked after!

I suppose we shouldn't expect too much from a woman who shoots wolves from helicopters, but Sarah Palin's unwillingness to recognize the importance of each living thing on this earth makes it incredibly frustrating to listen to her preach about a "culture of life" for our country. Thankfully, the beluga whales will keep on living, for now, as long as there are people who recognize that once a species goes extinct, there's no bringing it back. You can drill to the bottom of the earth, you can build a bridge to eternity, but once a species is lost, it's gone, baby, gone.

Whale Protection is Bolstered As Palin Objects[New York Times]
Bearing Up [New York Times]
Political Radar: Palin- Global Warming Not Man-Made[ABC News]