In brief: No protection for at-risk walrus

Anchorage, Alaska – Pacific walrus need additional protection from the threat of climate warming but cannot be added to the threatened or endangered list because other species are a higher priority, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday.

Walrus will be added to the “warranted but precluded” list, said agency spokesman Bruce Wood, a designation under the Endangered Species Act that allows delays in listing if the agency is making progress listing other species and does not have resources to make a decision on others.

“The threats to the walrus are very real, as evidenced by this ‘warranted’ finding,” said Geoff Haskett, the service’s Alaska region director, in a statement. “But its greater population numbers and ability to adapt to land-based haulouts make its immediate situation less dire than those facing other species such as the polar bear.”

Wrong drug may cause abortion

Fort Lupton, Colo. – A Colorado woman who is six weeks pregnant said a pharmacist at a grocery store mistakenly gave her an abortion drug instead of an antibiotic and now she fears the error will cause her to miscarry.

Mareena Silva told Denver’s KMGH-TV that the pharmacist at the Safeway in Fort Lupton gave her methotrexate last week. The drug, intended for another woman, is used in chemotherapy and to terminate early-stage pregnancies.

Silva said she took a pill and checked the bottle after becoming sick. She was rushed to the hospital.

Doctors said Silva could miscarry or have a baby with birth defects.

Woman dies after cosmetic injection

Philadelphia – A woman who had a cosmetic injection in her buttocks at a hotel near the Philadelphia airport died early Tuesday, prompting a police investigation.

Detectives said the woman and three companions traveled from London. Two of them had traveled to the city in November to have their buttocks enlarged and, on Monday, one received another injection while the other had a hip augmentation.

Detective Joseph Murray said the 20-year-old woman who had the buttocks injection later complained of chest pains and trouble breathing. Paramedics were called, and she was taken to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital where she died. Her name was not officially released.

The results of an autopsy by the Delaware County medical examiner’s office haven’t been released.