Deadly Fighting Intensified In Iraq; Hunters Club Says Money Will Help Rhinos; National Zoo's Panda Cub To Debut Next Week
WHITFIELD: Now to Iraq where there's been a stunning surge in violence. At least 60 people have been killed and nearly 300 wounded since December 1st. The city of Fallujah is at the center of the fighting where al Qaeda-linked fighters are battling government troops. Michael Holmes is live for us now from Baghdad. So Michael, tell us more about the situation there.</s>MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. There's been a lot of sporadic violence off and on during the day in Anbar Province, as you said, Fallujah and also Ramadi are the two cities that have been at the center of this. Fallujah, of course, very familiar, resonating with Americans where a lot of Americans lost their lives fighting Islamists too. Now, what has been happening there is that the tribes, the Sunni tribes, many of whom, of course, feel disenfranchised by the government of Nuri Al-Maliki. They've been opposing the government for some time. That also allowed a situation where al Qaeda-linked fighters, the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria, have come into that area and that's where we've seen this fighting start. It all began actually when the government tried to shut down a protest camp in Anbar Province. It was protesting against the government. Well, today we have seen a various incidents inside Fallujah to Ramadi. It's been calm most of the day, but we've just been getting information there has been an Iraqi army strike on a guest house in Ramadi. This is according to Ramadi police, which hit this guest house owned by a Sunni tribal leader. Three people killed, seven wounded. There was a clash between Ramadi and Fallujah on the road there between these fighters and the army. There was also another incident where, according to people inside Fallujah we spoke to, Iraqi army vehicles were heading towards Fallujah, only a kilometer or so outside of that city, when tribal leaders there attacked that convoy, according to them. An Iraqi army tank, a Humvee were damaged or destroyed and there were injuries in that as well. So it's a very -- this all goes back to Sunnis feeling left out of governance in Iraq. That's sort of the origin of it all, but a lot of concern about where this could lead -- Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Lots of concern indeed. All right, thank you so much, Michael Holmes. Stay safe there in Baghdad. All right, tonight a group of hunters in this country will bid on a permit to kill one of the world's most endangered animals. The Dallas Safari Club says killing one black rhino will help save dozens others. Their auction is drawing a whole lot of anger and attention by the FBI. Our Ed Lavandera reports.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Coming this close to a black rhinoceros is rare. There are only 5,000 left in the world. In the country of Namibia in Southern Africa there are only 1,700 still alive. Thousands of miles away in this convention hall in Texas, the Dallas Safari Club says it has a way of helping save this ancient beast. The group will auction off a permit from the Namibian government to hunt and kill one black rhino. The club's executive director, Ben Carter, says sacrificing one animal for the greater good is smart conservation.</s>BEN CARTER, DALLAS SAFARI CLUB: It's going to be able to raise more money than any other way you could do it to help provide for all the conservations needs that we need for the black rhino.</s>LAVANDERA: The auction has sparked death threats, which the FBI is investigating along with a vicious debate over how to save this endangered species. Critics call the auction a sad joke. (on camera): Marcia, tell us where you're joining us from.</s>MARCIA FARGNOLI, SAVE THE RHINOT TRUST: I'm sitting in Namibia in Africa.</s>LAVANDERA (voice-over): Marcia Fargnoli is CEO of Save The Rhino Trust and works with the Namibian government to protect the rhinos. (on camera): Do you agree with this tactic, the way they are doing it?</s>FARGNOLI: I personally don't agree. This is actually saying that one rhino is worth dead much more than it is alive.</s>LAVANDERA: The black rhino hunting permit will be auctioned off Saturday night. It's a closed event. You have to have a special ticket to get in. No cameras allowed inside. Organizers say it's to protect the identity of the bidders. The Dallas Safari Club estimates the permit could sell for as much $250,000, even up to a million dollars. (voice-over): The Dallas Safari Club says all of the money will be donated to Namibia's conservation efforts to save the black rhino and that the government has picked a handful of rhinos that can be targeted by the hunter who wins the auction.</s>CARTER: They've already picked out two or three black rhino males that are old, nonbreeding males. They're not contributing to the population anymore. In fact, black rhinos are very territorial and they are very aggressive. They actually are detrimental to the population when they get old like that.</s>LAVANDERA: But animal conservation groups say it would be better to keep the rhino alive and raise money through tourism, selling the opportunity to see these animals up close in the wild.</s>JEFFREY FLOCKEN, INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE: I can't state strongly enough how perverse this is to say that killing this animal is the best thing for these animals. It is a critically endangered species.</s>LAVANDERA: The black rhino is in the crosshairs of controversy and both sides say they're doing what's best for this wild beast. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.</s>WHITFIELD: The Consumer Electronics Show is often where you find the next big thing in gadgets. We've got the best and worst of what the future holds, next. But first, Bao-bao, the baby panda getting ready to enter the spotlight, the public will get to see her at the Smithsonian National Zoo starting next week. Here's Tom Foreman.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's so warm.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At just 17 pounds, 5- month-old Bao-bao is already a heavyweight in the world of conservation.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's 58 centimeters.</s>FOREMAN: A rare success in the long fight to preserve the giant panda.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pandas are notoriously difficult to breed.</s>FOREMAN: Laurie Thompson tends to Bao-bao and says there are many reasons. Pandas are naturally solitary and usually don't mate well in captivity. Artificial insemination is uncertain and even when new ones are born, they often don't make it.</s>LAURIE THOMPSON, NATIONAL ZOO BIOLOGIST: Unfortunately, they are very -- sort of in the first month or so, they are very fragile and you often don't know that there is anything wrong.</s>FOREMAN: The panda's American journey, however, has been key to the species' survival.</s>THOMPSON: So this is the crate that Ling-ling was shipped in in 1972.</s>FOREMAN (on camera): The first panda.</s>THOMPSON: Yes.</s>FOREMAN: U.S. scientists have helped the panda along ever since the first bears were sent here from their native China following a visit by President Nixon. Researchers in the National Zoo are now among the top authorities in the world for breeding them. Yet births like this remain rare.</s>THOMPSON: Every year you kind of hope for it and every year it's been a disappointment since 2005.</s>FOREMAN: Habitat loss has left only 1,600 pandas in the wild, some 300 in captivity. Small wonder, then, that this new arrival, this rare bear, is being treated with such care. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.