The Wildlife News

March 2008

  • In a Warmer Yellowstone Park, a Shifting Environmental Balance

    Ralph Maughan

    In a Warmer Yellowstone Park, a Shifting Environmental Balance By Jim Robbins. New York Times. This is really about the spread in the Lamar Valley of what is usually regarded as a noxious weed (I certainly hate it) — the Canada thistle. It seems grizzly bears and pocket gophers love it, and the griz, ever…

  • Special Washington cougar hunt backfires

    Ralph Maughan

    Story in the Seattle Times. Is cougar hunting breeding chaos? By Sandi Doughton. Seattle Times science reporter. Hunting large carnivores does not have easy, predictable effects; and a recent law passed and signed in Washington state due to increasing cougar attacks on livestock and pets in NE Washington appears to have had the opposite effect…

  • Federal judge orders return of ESA protection to a "distinct population segement" of bald eagles in Arizona

    Ralph Maughan

    The biggest significance of this story is that the federal judge is not buying the “Kempthorne doctrine” that the term “distinct population segment” of the ESA means almost nothing. Federal District Judge Mary Murguia thinks it does, and she reversed the FWS’s 2006 bald eagle delisting decision as applies to desert-nesting bald eagles, calling it…

  • Six Nevada gold mines are worse mercury polluters than Jerritt Canyon?

    Ralph Maughan

    Although articles about the now-shuttered Jerritt Canyon mine have said it was the worst mercury polluter in the United States, a more recent article says that 6 other Nevada gold mines pump out more mercury into the air, with Barrick Goldstrick mine (a huge series of pits) alone putting out 30 times as much as…

  • Nevada closes Jerritt Canyon Mine for mercury releases

    Ralph Maughan

    Here’s a real story. It’s about the poisoning of Idaho. Nevada and this mining company should be paying we Idahoans reparations. Nevada closes mine for mercury releases. Idaho officials say Jerritt Canyon has tainted Gem State waters and fish. The mine will have to fix its pollution control equipment. By Rocky Barker. Idaho Statesman. This…

  • Billings Gazette makes 8 dead sheep into "crime of the century" story.

    Ralph Maughan

    Talk about over-the-top bias . . . ! Would this story make any local news if the sheep were killed by something other than a wolf? Eight dead sheep is normally not news. The fact that the owner won’t seek reimbursement indicates this is not about economics, but social hostility, aided and abetted by the…

  • Wolf migration into Oregon could cause an unusual alliance

    Ralph Maughan

    Idaho wolves are moving into Oregon, but soon wolves in Eastern Oregon will no longer be a federally protected species (assuming delisting actually happens). However, Oregon has its own strict, but only partially completed state wolf plan. So wolves will remain legally protected in Eastern Oregon (but by the state). According to the Wallowa County…

  • Meat Packer Admits Slaughter of Sick Cows

    Ralph Maughan

    The President of Westland/Hallmark Meat testified to Congress that he got sick viewing the secret video of his employees maltreated sick cows so they could be slaughtered. He reluctantly said the sick meat got into the food supply. The video prompted the largest meat recall in U.S. History. Story in the New York Times. Meat…

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‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”

Jim Fowler

“Our forests offer much more than just beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Each one has a different story to tell.”

Raveena Tandon

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