Conservation groups are suing the federal government over its failure to finalize a protection zone for endangered leatherback sea turtles off the Pacific coast of the United States.

The groups filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court, saying the National Marine Fisheries Service missed a deadline to designate 70,600 square miles off the Pacific Coast as a turtle safety zone.

Leatherbacks can grow up to 1,200 pounds and an immense range, swimming from Indonesia to the U.S. West Coast to lay eggs.

The Center for Biological Diversity and other groups' complaint says the government agreed in January 2010 to create the safety zone rules within a year.

"Around this time last year, we were practicing long jump and triple jump in these pits and some students found some turtles and turtle eggs," says Fiona Lockhart, who along with classmate Kolby Zinger-Harris, are documenting the entire project.

"We rescued some of the turtles and put them in an aquarium, nurtured them and took care of them until they were big enough and we released them back into Fascieux Creek," says Lockhart.

The little reptiles are Western Painted Turtles and they're struggling for survival.

"I've had kids in tears because of this and this should be all protected," says KLO teacher Michelle Hamilton. "The turtles are also considered an at risk species. They're blue listed, a special concern with the species at risk act, so it has to be protected."

"This area (the schoolyard) was originally a wetland before it was developed," says Zinger-Harris. "Since the turtles have come back we're trying to recreate the wetland and build it again so that they have somewhere to come to every year."

The long jump pit was moved to the opposite end of the schoolyard since the discovery, and on Friday a large number of KLO grade seven students began the work of rebuilding the area and protecting the habitat.

It's a project that will become a learning tool at the school for years to come. The lessons learned won't simply include learning about the environment and habitats, but also how students can bring about effective change and learn to deal with real world politics.

It would seem that Daemonosaurus represents a lineage that did not extend into the later Mesozoic," said researcher Hans-Dieter Sues, a vertebrate paleontologist at the National Museum of Natural History.

The newfound dinosaur's fearsome name comes from the Greek "daimon" for "evil spirit," "sauros" for "reptile," and "chauliodus" for "outstanding teeth." The name alludes to legends of evil spirits at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, where the remains of this species were discovered, and to the large, serrated front teeth found in its upper jaw.

"The huge front teeth of Daemonosaurus would have been useful for seizing and killing prey," Sues told LiveScience. Moreover, its short, deep snout "suggests powerful biting."

Based off the size of this skull and the bodily proportions of other early dinosaurs, "I would estimate an overall length of 5 feet, as most of these animals have really long tails, and Daemonosaurus would have stood as tall as a large dog," Sues said

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission spokesman Keith Stephens was quoted by MSNBC as saying he probably "crawled up on a chain link fence" and used his weight to push it down in order to make his escape. Pretty smart move by that alligator.

Finding the lovesick alligator won't be easy. The nature center is near the Arkansas river and on the edge of swamps and bayous. There are plenty of his cousins in those waters, too.

Worse, they never put a microchip into him, so any technological means of tracking him can't be used. Stephens said they wanted to keep the center "as natural as possible," thus the decision to not put any implants into him.

The South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center has been around for 15 years, and since that time there have been no incidents of anyone being hurt.

But that changed this past Saturday when a 10 year old Corpus Christi girl walking with her family was bitten by a diamond back rattlesnake. That family is asking that the gardens be closed down. The Amado Garza family has hired an attorney to make their message clear they say, they know the botanical gardens are suppose to get you as close to nature as possible, but not at the cost of risking your life.

The ploy? A lifelike snake—looking something like a coiled python—in a cooler. Victims of the joke were directed to get bottled water from the cooler. Their reactions to finding the snake were recorded on a video that has garnered more than 45,000 views on YouTube.

“My property manager Sonny (Lunsford) has been doing that to everybody he can at the Charlotte Auto Fair for the last several years—putting a ‘Free Drinks’ sign on that cooler and setting it out near where he parks,” Earnhardt told Sporting News after qualifying third in Friday’s Nationwide time trials.

This time about 50 rescuers took about two hours --- and three nets of varying sizes -- to finally bring the turtle under control.

Some of the workers swam with the netted reptile, leading it into a cage which was escorted by two boats to an islet where its condition is to be assessed.

"This is one of the most endangered animals in the world and there's very little known about it," said Tim McCormack of the Asian Turtle Programme, a Hanoi-based conservation and research group.

Local media reported that the critically endangered soft-shell turtle, which weighs about 200 kilograms (440 pounds), had been injured by fish hooks and small red-eared turtles which have appeared in the lake in recent years.

The animal's status in Vietnam stems from its history and its home in Hoan Kiem Lake (Lake of the Returned Sword), rather than its rarity.

"It's very important culturally here," said McCormack.

Little Tikes will work with the Sea Turtle Conservancy to shine light on imminent threats to sea turtles including climate change, marine pollution, marine debris, oil spills, and artificial beach lighting. Little Tikes will sponsor a turtle in the yearly "Tour de Turtles" race and will donate a portion of the proceeds from co-branded turtle merchandise to the Sea Turtle Conservancy .
"Little Tikes makes products that are safe and durable for kids, and we believe in making this a safe planet for sea turtles as well," said Rosanne Kubitsy, Senior Director of Marketing, Little Tikes. "We want to make sure that turtles grow to their adulthood age of 33 years -- so celebrating our product's 33rd anniversary gives parents the opportunity to educate their kids about sea turtles in a fun way!"

Investigators will look at whether some shrimp boats taking part in an emergency shrimping season ahead of the Gulf oil spill removed devices from their nets that are intended to allow turtles to escape, said Sheryan Epperly, sea turtle team leader for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Wildlife officials say at least 35 endangered sea turtles have washed up on Gulf coast beaches, but it's not clear what's killing them. Necropsies have shown no signs of oil.

The Washington, D.C.-based conservation group Oceana has said officials need to determine what is killing the turtles quickly. Some experts have speculated the turtles may have eaten fish contaminated by the oil spill.

“The taxpayers of this island are being taken advantage of,” he said. “I’m sure the board members aren’t aware of a lot of these facts, so we’re going to educate the public about something that is going on that is very sad, and is taking jobs.”

Cera is part of an organization that has been watching USDA activity throughout the United States. Many are trappers who have been put out of work by the governmental agency, which, in its Wikipedia definition, “is one of the few Federal Agencies that actively competes with private sector companies. Aided by taxpayer funding they are often able to undercut the prices charged by private companies.”

Cera, who was the original trapper for Lee County’s iguana eradication program, said he had few qualms about the agency taking over when his contract was not renewed.

“This is not a sour grapes effort on my part,” he said. “But after watching three years of the same information in their public presentations, hearing a lot of ‘I don’t knows’ from their expert and having one of their researchers admit that they based their research on my original research, I started to do a little researching of my own.”

Gov. John Kasich “supports the regulation of dangerous wild animals to ensure the public’s safety and animals’ humane treatment,” Jones, added. The governor “also believes any new regulations should be developed in a transparent way with input from the public and those who have interests at stake.”

The Humane Society of the United States said Monday that data collected from news reports and government documents indicate Ohio ranks fourth among the 50 states in dangerous incidents involving big cats, bears, and primates. Since 1990, at least 29 people in Ohio, including eight children, suffered injuries and one person was killed. It urged Kasich “to move quickly to issue regulations that will restrict the sale and possession of dangerous wild animals.”

arry Serpa, a Nature Conservancy biologist, turned over 1,000 rocks in the Garcia River Forest before finding two coastal specimens, a male with a tail and a tadpole, in 2009.

He was looking because The Nature Conservancy has been working to restore the forest ecosystem along with The Conservation Fund, which helped purchase the land in 2004. To date, Serpa found more than a dozen other tailed frogs and tadpoles.

The coastal tailed frog is one of only 5,000 species of frogs in the world that uses a cloaca. Other frogs fertilize eggs after they've been laid by the female, like salmon.

We want to thank everyone for their concern and kind words during this hard time for our family. What we ask now is that everyone takes a step back and allows our family the time to grieve and heal. No matter what occurred yesterday at the farm, Bruce Stephenson was a wonderful family friend and we need time to ourselves to handle this tragedy. We ask that our reptile community gives our family the chance to heal without additional stress. Within a few days we will have more, but right now, please respect our privacy.