1940 - Environment

Environment

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency agents raid Brooklyn petshops and oblige them to release birds held in violation of a 1913 law (and a more recent treaty with Mexico) that forbids keeping indigenous wild birds in captivity. A songbird of the canary family, the house finch (Carpodacus purpureus) has been taken illegally by nets in the Sierra and sold through the 1930s to petshops at a few dollars per hundred. Brooklyn-born MIT graduate and National Audubon Society conservationist Richard (Hooper) Pough, 36, has seen a Macy's advertisement for "California linnets," gone to the store, recognized the "linnets" as house finches, and alerted federal agents. Many dealers release their birds in advance of any raid in order to avoid fines. The house finch will propagate itself throughout the northeast, move north to Canada, and move south to Mississippi, entertaining listeners with perhaps the most musical call of any wild bird.

Isle Royale National Park is established by act of Congress on the largest island in Lake Superior. The 539,341-acre park has an outstanding moose herd.

Serengeti National Park is created in Tanganyika by the British, who have added land to the 900-square-mile lion sanctuary set aside in 1929 and extended the list of protected species to include giraffes, buffalo, rhinoceroses, and most carnivores. Serengeti is the first national park in East Africa (see 1961).

An earthquake in Romania November 10 registers 7.3 on the Richter scale and leaves 1,000 dead, thousands injured.

An Armistice Day blizzard blows into Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa November 11 on the heels of warm weather.