The Endangered Species Act of 1973 turns 50 this year in December.

It protects species that are on the brink of extinction. A study by the Center for Biological Diversity found the Endangered Species Act has prevented the extinction of roughly 291 species.

“The intent of the law is to protect the whole ecosystem that the species needs to thrive,” said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. The center is a nonprofit conservation organization focused on ending extinction.

As a species declines in population, they are put on the endangered list.

“The bald eagle, the peregrine falcon, the American alligator, grizzly bears, gray wolves, so many species are still here because of the Endangered Species Act,” Curry said. “Eighty percent of listed species are moving toward recovery.”

While the Act has saved species and their habitats and allowed their populations to recover, critics are skeptical.

“A lot of critics of the act say, ‘Oh look, less than 100 species have ever come off the list’, but that's because recovery takes time. It takes time to address those threats, to prop them back up, and to get them the help that they need,” she said.

A 2019 report by the United Nations found that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades.

“All of this is happening because of habitat loss, development, invasive species, pollution, pesticides, climate change, and then direct exploitation of animals,” Curry said. “Wildlife populations around the globe have declined on average 69 percent over the last 40 years.”

Experts say the Endangered Species Act is just one tool in helping protect the planet’s biodiversity. For example, this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the Fender’s blue butterfly was down-listed from endangered to threatened under the Act.

“When we decide to protect a species and give it funding, it generally does recover. Extinction isn't inevitable, we can do something about it,” Curry said.

A team of wranglers — including one on horseback — chased down and captured a wayward steer named Lester across several lanes of a Detroit-area freeway.

State police in-car video shows the tail-end of Sunday afternoon's chase on northbound Interstate 75 in Holly, about 57 miles northwest of Detroit.

A rider on horseback and three people in two ATVs can be seen chasing Lester in and around fields and woods along the east side of the freeway as the state police car follows slowly behind on the shoulder.

At one point, Lester races from near a clump of trees toward the freeway lanes and is quickly cut off by one of the ATVs before running behind the vehicle and into traffic. Three vehicles pass the steer as it runs into the northbound lanes.

The rider on horseback catches up and lassos Lester, which then runs into the median and hops a guardrail onto the freeway's southbound shoulder before it is stopped.

“Eventually after much tom foolery, the critter was captured and removed from the freeway,” the state police wrote on the agency's Twitter page. “Troopers reopened the freeway and things quickly got back to normal. The bovine was not charged and is back in the pasture with a story to tell all the other livestock.”

Lester had been on the lam for several weeks from a ranch where Lester and four other bovine were relocated after escaping from pens at an animal rescue facility in Rose Township, said Bill Mullan, a spokesperson for Oakland County.

Another agency called in wranglers who initially captured the group, but Lester escaped again and was on the loose until his recapture Sunday.

It’s not easy watching loved ones get old.

“We don’t know if she’ll be here another day, another year,” said Mary Beth Thompson.

Thompson's 12-year-old dog Wren is in her final days.

“Very sweet, and she’s funny, the way she used to chase me,” said Thompson.

Wren is a cancer survivor and she’s losing some mobility in her hind legs.

“I just feel like, oh, when did she get old? We'll love her until she doesn’t want to be here anymore,” said Thompson.

The family invited Lauren Smith Kennedy to help them create a special memory of Wren.

“End-of-life pet photography is just what it sounds like. So it’s either photographing senior animals that are at the end stages of their lives or companion animals that have a terminal illness,” said Kennedy.

Earlier in 2021, Lauren offered to take some end-of-life photos of an acquaintance's pet and posted the finished product online.

“I put it out there on my social media, on my personal pages and it just blew up and I found out that there was such a high demand for it,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy says people were offering to fly her all over the country for these sessions with their pets. She simply could not keep up. So she created something new.

“How can I just make a resource for pet owners, so it’s one central list where they can just go and look. So that’s when the Tilly project started, it’s an organization dedicated to being a network not only for end-of-life photographers but clients seeking those services to get together and find each other,”

Kennedy says the website currently has over 500 photographers across the country. She named the project after one of her cats that passed away.

“I am still on a journey with my own grief and the loss that I had and I think that this allows me to honor these connections and friendships and love. It’s definitely why I named it the Tilly project, it feels like it’s a great way of honoring her,” she said.

Michelle Crossley, who works for the Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement, an advocacy and resource group for those dealing with the loss of a pet, says people need to grieve properly.

“One of the biggest things is for individuals to be able to talk about it, that’s a healing property,” said Crossley. “Participating in chat rooms, paying some sort of tribute to their companion animal that they’ve lost, but starting from the get-go just being able to talk about it.”

It won’t be easy for the Thompsons to say goodbye to Wren. But when the time comes, Thompson will know.

“We had a talk and I looked her right in the eyes and I said you tell me when it’s time,” said Thompson.

Kennedy hopes that she and other photographers can be there before it’s time, to capture the love between pet and person.

LAS VEGAS — A Las Vegas feed store says it's facing a shortage of a drug designed to treat parasitic worms in large animals because customers are purchasing it as a treatment for COVID-19.

The drug, Ivermectin, was the subject of a warning for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. Though it's been studied in connection with treating COVID-19, the FDA strongly recommends against non-prescription human consumption of the drug.

But that's not stopping people from trying to get their hands on Ivermectin in the Las Vegas valley.

V&V Tack and Feed normally stocks and sell Ivermectin for use on horses. But right now, they're completely sold out of the horse dewormer, and store associate Shelly Smith suspects a lot of her customers aren't using it as intended.

"I had a gentleman come in, and he was an older gentleman. He told me that his wife wanted him to be on the Ivermectin plan," Smith said. "I immediately brought him over here because at that time, I had this sign hung up, and I told him this isn't safe for you to take. And he says, 'Well, we've been taking it, and my only side effect is I can't see in the morning.' That's a big side effect, so you probably shouldn't take it."

Smith says the demand for Ivermectin started increasing months ago, so she decided to put out a warning sign next to the drug.

"The first sign came about several months ago when you started seeing articles about Ivermectin treating COVID," Smith said. "So when I was ordering my Ivermectin, I noticed our distributors had that [warning], so I figured let me hang one too just to let people know, 'Do not take this.'"

Smith says the demand for the drug has continued to increase in recent weeks, and she's been receiving four or five customer calls a day inquiring about Ivermectin. That's why Smith hung up a second sign, now requiring customers to present a picture of their horse before they can buy Ivermectin.

"I don't want people taking Ivermectin horse wormer because it's horse wormer," Smith said. "You need to prove to me that you have a horse in order for me to sell you this product because you should not be taking this product. This is not for humans to take. This is to treat parasites in horses.

Dr. AJ Manship at Desert Pines Equine Center concurs. He doesn't recommend any humans take Ivermectin — and most animals, for that matter.

"It can have a lot of serious consequences in people and actually in some veterinary species as well, especially if the correct dose is not administered," Manship said. "In animals, we saw a lot of neurologic diseases, so seizures, coma, death if it's overdosed. A lot of people that own shepherd dogs will be familiar with this. They're very sensitive to this drug, and it can kill them. Any time these drugs are used in an unintended manner, there's a really high likelihood of complication, and it's just not safe."

One of the repercussions of the Ivermectin is that horse owners now have none to give their animals. Shelly Smith says she can't find a single supplier who has Ivermectin in stock right now, and she has no guarantee that will change anytime soon.

This story was originally published by Ross DiMattei on Scripps station KTNV in Las Vegas.

A stray dog who relentlessly tried to run off with a purple unicorn plush toy from a North Carolina discount store is up for adoption.

Duplin County Animal Services wrote in a Facebook post that 1-year-old Sisu was picked up on allegations of larceny and breaking-and-entering after he tried to swipe the toy multiple times from a local Dollar General.

The department said Sisu had obviously set his eyes on the purple unicorn that had a red, sparkly horn and hooves.

After multiple attempts to take the toy, animal control officers were called to the store to get the dog.

The responding officer ended up purchasing the unicorn for Sisu, and made sure he had it nearby when he was taken to the shelter.

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A photo posted to the department's Facebook page shows Sisu peacefully resting his head on his new friend.

Duplin County Animal Services is looking to find Sisu a forever home.

While obviously determined, animal control officers describe Sisu as sassy with other dogs and very vocal.

Sisu is also an obedient pup and “loves unicorns from Dollar General.”

He weighs about 67 pounds. Anyone interested in adopting Sisu must fill out an adoption application and email it to dcanimals@duplincountync.com.

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