It is time to create a new page of “Interesting Wildlife News.” Please put your wildlife news in the comments below. Do not post copyrighted material. Here is the link to the “old” wildlife news of December 17, 2015.
by
Tags:
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
Comments
Quarantine of YNP bison comment period ends COB 2/15. I recommended Alternative 2 for optimum efficiency, effectiveness, least trauma to the bison and successful future placements in other locations in the US.
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=111&projectID=53793&documentID=70262
Thanks for the link Gary. Left a comment.
Thanks, Gary.
Just read in Bozeman news that the comment period has been extended until Feb. 29.
Also an article regarding the Gardiner elk hunt regulations coming up this year.
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/
Thanks for link
Does anyone else find it highly ironic that the bison must be quarantined for a disease that the cattle initially spread seems to me they should be issuing a call for quarantine of cattle that could be relocated to protect the bison and for use in provindibg nutrition to Native Americans as they euphemistically call slaughtering of bison for food
Things are screwed up when the root of the problem is always sidestepped to protect the most destructive animal and the people that raise them
+1 Talk about the balance of power.
From Buffalo Field Campaign:
“Yellowstone National Park has released an Environmental Assessment (EA) for a fifty-year quarantine program which seriously threatens America’s last wild, migratory bison population. There is nothing in this EA for bison advocates to support, as even the “no action” alternative maintains the Park’s ongoing capture-for-slaughter program.”
For a fuller accounting, and guidance is submitting comments:
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/2426/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=19057
Reminder about a previous post:
“Supporting Bison Quarantine Betrays Commitment to Wildlife Defense”
Comment section is also instructive.
http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2014/11/22/supporting-bison-quarantine-betrays-commitment-to-wildlife-defense/
https://www.revealnews.org/blog/wyoming-wont-legalize-mountain-lion-trapping-after-all/
I’m not that familiar with Wyoming Wildlife Federation, but their scientist, responding to the argument that more dead lions will bring back mule deer, was good. My state’s hook and bullet group (MUCC) has been better lately too, when they just interview the states top game mangers and let them say it. But even though they are eloquent and scientific (I’m often cheering at home), I wonder if it’s better coming from the hunting group’s scientist instead. What did Wyoming game managers say on the subject?
Why is it so hard for these “big game” hunters to wrap their tiny minds around this concept:
“Mule deer are in decline because of a lack of suitable habitat, development, and disease.”
Your “tiny minds” comment is inappropriate on this blog. Continue and I will license myself to start calling you names. The statement you quote comes from the people you are criticizing – do you lack an irony meter?
The comment wasn’t directed at you Rork but feel free to “license” away 🙂
Wow, impressive:
But the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, the largest and oldest pro-hunting group in the state, disagreed.
“There is no scientific basis to this argument,” Steve Kilpatrick, a field scientist for the federation, said on the group’s website. “Mule deer are in decline because of a lack of suitable habitat, development, and disease.”
I’m glad they are not always muzzled. But it only makes how badly and irrationally wolves are treated stand out.
Steve Kilpatrick has never, ever, accepted a muzzle, even when he worked for an agency (the cause of some strife in his life). One of the good guys.
WGFD has been coolly neutral on this, citing a few concerns, but not coming out for or against. Oddly, the most vocal opponents have been mountain lion hunters (those that hunt lions with hounds) – they think it’s a bad idea; indiscriminate and likely to set mountain lion populations on a negative trajectory are among their arguments.
From rorks comment.
““It really is indiscriminate,” said Sam Krone, a Republican state representative who voted against the bill. “It not only could affect the lion population, but it could affect other animals and other wildlife.”
The vote occurred against a backdrop of growing concern about the grisly and unintended consequences of trapping, which has injured and killed dozens of species by mistake in recent years, as Reveal reported last month.”
Once the politicians all begin to feel this way, the days of recreational trapping are numbered.
recreational trapping.hmmmm.that is an interesting concept. Reminds me of what Gandhi said when asked what he thought of western civilization. He said-(and I don’t exactly quote)sounds like a great idea; you should try it!
This article needed to come forward to the latest “interesting wildlife news” thread, CC.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/malheur-occupation-oregon-ammon-bundy-public-lands-essay
Conservative Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia is not even cold in his grave as the D’s and R’s are already posturing to name his replacement. The R controlled Senate will have to confirm whoever Obama nominates. R’s want the new President whoever that might be name the new justices; Obama wants to pick his third justice. Oh, the deals that will be made to make one thing or the other happen – and a lot of it will have nothing to do with the nominee’s qualifications to take a seat on the highest court in the land.
So, do you want Obama to name the next justice, or Hillary or The Donald or Teddy Cruz? All possibilities are pretty scary in my mind as the balance of power shifts to the left or right for perhaps many years.
Even if Hillary were to appoint, she is about as centrist as one can get compared to the Possible R’s, so in that sense, I don’t see it going far to the left at all. Even think about Roberts. Perhaps he developed a conscience.
The irony of this whole thing is Internet and social media is making Scalia out to be either an angel,or a devil, further polarizing people into their respective corners. There is no longer a philosophy of what is best for the greater good,,if in fact that ever really existed, but a its my way or the highway attitude.
We are divided, and waiting to be conquered.
I would think the Republican majority would want to act as soon as possible, before Hillary wins. 😉 I hope they don’t know something we don’t. You can’t let the position go unfilled for more than a year? What about all the pending cases? The conservatives are ruining government.
http://time.com/4220762/antonin-scalia-dead-republican-party-senate-congress/
The sitting President make the nomination and the Senate has to confirm (R’s vow a fight against a D President and it appears at first glance they have the votes if they stick together and lose no seats if the confirmation is in the next term. I have no idea who either Obama or Hillary would nominate.
Here is a thought if the R’s win the Presidential election:
Even now, Trump makes a deal and tells Cruz to bow out of the race, and as President nominates Cruz for the SC justice position(he has been an AG in TX, a law professor and clerked for Rehnquist). Cruz, even though he is near batshit crazy IMHO and I can’t stand his whiney voice, is very, very smart. He is, in fact, a Constitutional scholar.
Cruz says no to The Donald. Cruz as President nominates his old mentor Mike Luttig, who has lots of SC and Justice Department experience, and was formerly on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is now the Chief Council for The Boeing Company. Luttig had been short-listed by the R’s before as an SC nominee by Bush the younger.
Both R scenarios scare me. And what scares me most is Hillary as President (with Bill in the background or foreground).
Constitutional scholar?
“Sen. Ted Cruz had a similar reaction — one he was called out for by CBS moderator John Dickerson. “We have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year,” Cruz said. Dickerson pointed out that that wasn’t quite true — Justice Anthony Kennedy was nominated by Ronald Reagan in 1987 and confirmed in 1988.”
http://www.vox.com/2016/2/13/10987814/obama-republicans-scalia
You (we) may not agree with how he interprets the Constitution, but he has earned his spurs – clerked for SC Justice Rehnquist, and 4th Circuit Judge Luttig, as well as served as a chief judicial officer of the State of TX – solicitor general representing the state before the SC. Doesn’t mean they always get the facts straight in an interview or debate.
A little more from Wikipedia (which he/staffers likely wrote and must be true):
++Cruz has authored 70 United States Supreme Court briefs and presented 43 oral arguments, including nine before the United States Supreme Court.[40][46][53] Cruz’s record of having argued before the Supreme Court nine times is more than any practicing lawyer in Texas or any current member of Congress….++
++…At Morgan Lewis [prestigious national law firm], he led the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate litigation practice….++
++ Cruz was also an adjunct professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation..++
The guy is incredibly smart, and knowledgeable and persuasive on the law, and those very qualities scare the crap out of me in any role he might play as a national force of influence in Congress, as President or on any federal appeals court or the SC.
“This should be a decision for the people,” Cruz said on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday. “Let the election decide. If the Democrats want to replace [Scalia], they need to win the election.”
Last I checked, “the people” did decide when Obama was re-elected, who, as the president, is responsible for nominating supreme court candidates. I don’t recall having read anything in the Constitution requiring a certain time frame before one leaves office in order to exercise that duty. Ted Cruz is either being incredibly disingenuous, or he’s not that smart.
Last I checked, “the people” did decide when Obama was re-elected, who, as the president, is responsible for nominating supreme court candidates.
Yep, I thought the same thing. It’s terribly disrespectful to the President also, but then what else is new?
The people do not always decide elections, as Scalia et.al. ruled in Bush v. Gore. It will be interesting if a 4-4 Court is unable to decide the 2016 election, leaving an appeals court to determine who gets to appoint the next Supreme Court justices.
Do you suppose the R’s will use exactly the same “let the people decide” when it comes time for the Senate to confirm the nominee?
Last I checked Congress each member is elected by popular vote, and maybe the Senate is a better indicator of what “the people” as a country want than one guy (elected by a party driven electoral college not a popular vote), though both are propped up by a national party with a party agenda.
The difference being, Cruz is telling Obama he shouldn’t exercise his constitutional authority. I guess he should go back and re-read his Pocket Constitution…unless he only keeps it for emergencies when he runs out of TP.
also, congressional approval rating of 16% compared to mid-forties for Obama tells me which of the two branches probably best supports what “the people” want.
It is pretty hard to tell what “the people want” these days because of that very disapproval rating and the growing division of political philosophies. Comparing approval rating between branches of government is like comparing apples to oranges, and maybe even bananas if you ask for an approval rating of the SC, too. This is because their JOBS ARE DIFFERENT.
You brought it up (senate or president)–my point is Cruz the Scholar seemed to have forgot the constitutional process for nominating supreme court justices. Do you think he’d be saying this if it were a republican president?
He’s not stupid. He knows the process. He (with advise from his political spin gurus) is just trying to muddy the water. And, you can bet if he were a sitting President he’d be doing exactly what Obama is doing. And, the D’s would be doing exactly the same thing as Cruz and the R’s are doing, in the big game. None of them really care about “what the people want.” It is all about what “the Party” wants.
For the record, I don’t think he’s stupid. I do think he’s disingenuous and lacking in integrity; and for all all his waving of the Constitution, I don’t think he’d have any problem stepping on it if it would benefit his party, so with that you can add he’s a hypocrite.
Jay,
+1
I guess we’re not that far off opinion-wise after all
WM,
The guy is incredibly smart, and knowledgeable and persuasive on the law,…..
But has never acquired wisdom. It’s the lack of wisdom that spreads “scaryism”.
A good read on Supreme Court Justices:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/supreme-court-justices-get-more-liberal-as-they-get-older/
http://benjaminstudebaker.com/2016/02/14/how-obama-can-replace-scalia/
Yes, scary, but exciting and interesting, stuff.
Idaho was the only state in the U.S. hunting mountain goat in 1926.
By the late 1930’s the deer population was estimated to be 125,000, elk 25,000, mountain goat 4,000, mountain sheep 2,000, antelope 10,500 and moose 1,000.
Interesting history of Clearwater (Lolo-Selway) “game” animals:
http://www.ictws.org/pdf/50YearsOfGameManagement.pdf
And more history: http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Publications/region/1/clearwater/story/chap17.htm
” Actually wolves were eliminated before 1939 but remained classified as predators.”.
Well gosh, was there spontaneous generation, or did they come down from Canada?
The guy was brilliant. Humor is also a sign of intelligence and this guy really had that too. Big shoes to fill. 🙁
http://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/state/national-elk-refuge-counts–plus-elk/article_71ac2afc-8adc-59ee-8324-cb54ebb16f02.html
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/NPC_Standing_Committee_The_Peoples_Republic_of_China_End_Tiger_Farming_Now/?pv=19
Tiger Farms
humans are capable of any atrocities toward animals if there is a potential for profit, that is why it is essential to create strong laws against cruelty
Are you as badass as a wolverine?!? If your inner Gulo gulo is clawing to get out, take the Badass Wolverine Challenge. It’s a “virtual race” where you commit to one of three levels and get outside every day for a month–walking, running, XC skiing, and/or snowshoeing. The entry fee is a reasonable $15 and supports the Wolverine Foundation (Promoting Science-Based Management Of Wolverines Across Their Global Range). The challenge begins this Sunday, Feb. 21. Details and link to registration site: http://wolverinefoundation.org/donate/wolverine-challenge
I’ve registered a team–and challenge TWN forum folks to do the same!
http://www.sfgate.com/outdoors/article/Study-finds-mountain-lions-are-feasting-on-house-6829205.php
Awesome photos/graphics in this Seattle Times piece on the recovery of the Elwha River after dam removal in Olympic National Park.
http://projects.seattletimes.com/2016/elwha/
Thanks, WM. This has been an interesting renewal of the Elwha to follow over the years.
Any fisheries biologists out there with input on the lower Snake River dams?
WM, I had just finished reading the March/April issue of Northwest Fly Fishing and wished that there was some new information on the Elwha River after the dam removal in that issue. The next thing that I did was check the TWN and there was your link on the Elwha River. Thank you.
Wonderful. It’s amazing how quickly rivers and their life respond.
WHITE GIRAFFE SPOTTED IN TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK TANZANIA, COULD BE ‘TARGET’ FOR POACHERS’?
For more visit http://tanzanialandadventure.blogspot.com/2016/02/white-giraffe-spotted-in-tarangire.html
Now we’re talkin’:
Link:
http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2016/02/10/what-could-lead-to-a-lifetime-hunting-ban-in-44-states-poaching-40-deer/
The onward March of CWD.
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/opinion/columnists/the_new_west_todd_wilkinson/picking-up-the-dead-left-by-wasting-disease/article_47786a28-8bc9-5d64-83e8-36b736f88039.html#user-comment-area
The tenBoma announcement (tracking elephant poachers in Kenya) is a pretty big deal – http://www.fulcrumapp.com/blog/tenboma-announcement/
Latest moose report/count from MN DNR
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/wildlife/moose/2016_moosesurvey.pdf
A slight increase from last year. Encouraging.
Nevada bighorns killed in attempt to stop pneumonia spread.
http://www.rgj.com/story/life/outdoors/2016/02/16/pneumonia-outbreak-prompts-bighorn-sheep-killing/80471472/
Immer Treue,
As it almost always is, this pneumonia was spread to the bighorn from nearby domestic sheep.
If this doesn’t prove humans are a menace to the rest of life on the planet:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rare-dolphin-killed_us_56c60767e4b08ffac127f18d?ir=Green§ion=us_green&utm_hp_ref=green
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rare-dolphin-killed_us_56c60767e4b08ffac127f18d?ir=Green§ion=us_green&utm_hp_ref=green
Sorry for the duplicate link, I meant to add this one:
https://www.thedodo.com/baby-dolphin-dies-for-photos-1607782616.html?utm_source=huffingtonpost.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange
Reminds me that in Yellowstone, people don’t want the impediment of carrying bear spray or having to take precautions, so bears are expendable, because, as we all know, people’s freedom to do whatever they want comes first and foremost, it’s in our Constitution! So carrying bear spray is a choice, not mandatory. 🙁
In happier news, sounds like a good rumble:
http://www.rgj.com/story/news/2016/02/14/environmentalists-get-join-fight-over-sage-grouse-rules/80375302/
Lobo numbers down in the SW.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/mexican-gray-wolf-02-18-2016.html
Additional article about The dip in Lobo numbers.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/2016/02/18/after-years-growth-mexican-gray-wolf-population-declines/80564892/
Thanks. I need to get more informed about genes moving around in that population, and it made me realize how little I know about connectedness or size of gene pool. Spoon feeding would not be unwelcome.
Rork,
Based on what I have heard from the recovery team, the entire wild lobo population is closely related, only extending to “first cousin” status and not much beyond.
That female gray that made it to the Grand Canyon recently got pretty damn close to the lobo recovery area considering the distance she travelled from WY. She could have given a nice little boost to the gene pool for sure. Would it have been contreversial? Yes. Is it going to happen eventually? Most likely.
Rork,
6 page summary of Lobo genetics. Nice little spoonful to get you started.
http://mexicanwolves.heritageparkzoo.org/Genetic%20Management%20of%20the%20Mexican%20Wolf%20Captive%20Population.pdf
I am very grateful Jeff. The writer was very good, trying to explain tricky genetics to people. I was however dismayed to see how tight that bottleneck was, and hope that it will not become another extinction debt story. Had no idea the genetic situation was so dire.
I often wish I was working on a different animal than humans. Not that trying to help humans is without some satisfaction.
My pleasure Rork. Living down here in AZ I have been following this recovery effort since 1998 and have been lucky enough to see the Bluestem Pack in the wild 3 of the last 4 years. They have been prolific breeders and account for a large chunk of genetics in the overall population. Have also seen the Hawks Nest Pack, a neighbor of the Bluestem’s.
Although not as prolific and successful at breeding and raising pups, they still seem to crank out pups and add to the population.
Deadly Spring predicted for New Hamshire Moose calves.
http://www.unionleader.com/Study-A-deadly-spring-for-NH-moose-calves
We had MI articles where people were mistakenly thinking this mild winter would help our moose. We only have 300-400 in the lake-effect-snow-from-superior area (more snow than Buffalo NY, just makes less news, and it accumulates better), plus others scattered about. I thought they were immune near the weather-making machine cause of location (Superior moderates summer heat too – understatement!), but I am often wrong. I have duly suggested deer be thinned as well, to try and keep a special area for moose. Fawn/mom ratio down in 2015 despite horrible winters. Maybe super-cold is not better than just average there, but this is perhaps even worse.
I have many stories of being near Superior. The classic summer tale is being near the lake, in almost freezing drizzle in summer. Drive 15 miles inland – blazing sun, 80F.
Three birds and one mammal considered for status change in Washington state; greater sage grouse, snowy plover, northern spotted owl, & western gray squirrel:
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2016/feb/19/protective-status-considered-four-washington-species/
More on the western gray squirrel:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01758/
Think about what it says to have small once very common mammals disappearing. The eastern cottontail is endangered from clear cutting underbrush for lawns. Humans are truly destroying every habitat. Gobbling up everything and polluting the few habitable places left
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flLFQnW7CUc
Ted Cruz, a dangerous rotten liar!
Dangerous is the first adjective that comes up in nearly every commentary I have seen or heard for months.
We don’t need him for anything… wish he could be deported.
http://mtcowgirl.com/2016/02/18/guest-post-ted-cruz-sends-tom-baiz-a-check/
Whatever makes this guy tick ain’t good. Creepy bastard on every level.
There is something so smarmy and sleazy about him
Dangerous rotten liar is a kind assessment
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/opinion/sunday/for-loggings-crimes-tougher-punishments.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region
The Decorah Eagles are nesting again for anyone interested. One egg so far.
http://biggeekdad.com/2011/03/decorah-eagles-webcam/
“Montana Wild” is a filming company that provides “media content” which seems to be, basically, video of some Missoula guys killing fish and animals. They’ve been busted for commercial filming in Wilderness, commercial filming on non-wilderness federal lands without permits, and fishing for threatened bull trout.
“In one case…a bull trout was caught, netted, handled, and released with the hook and line still attached so the Boughtons could film the fish under water and being reeled in, netted, handled and released again.” http://missoulian.com/news/local/missoula-filmmakers-rd-angler-fined-nearly-k-for-bull-trout/article_4861e34f-0c07-5aeb-8b4b-6c8ba225c60d.html
Still, their fines don’t even come to $6000 for 38 state and 11 federal citations!!! Here’s their website: http://www.montana-wild.com/
and their FB page, where they are getting what they deserve: https://www.facebook.com/Montana.Wild.Productions/
When you do such stuff for the money, the punishment should be more. Goofing with bull trout is bad. We are trying to protect them. You should not even be trying to hook them in the first place (IMHO).
In general I am very disappointed in how weak punishments are for wildlife criminal activity.
Different subject but related. We had a person (I don’t want to call them a hunter) who bullet-shot another guy in a mistaken-for-deer thing, in an area where it seems pretty clear shooting a deer with a bullet was illegal anyway – it was probably pretty dark. It’s deer poacher shoots human. I’m not even sure he’ll do time. Mistaken for game should be jail automatically – hunters should demand this. There is no excuse unless the victim was performing an astonishing imitation. http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/12/hunter_shot_in_stomach_after_m.html
Follow-on stories, none.
“There is no excuse unless the victim was performing an astonishing imitation.”
Who can forget the young mother in Maine who was killed in her own backyard in 1988?–she had on white mittens that supposedly were mistaken for fleeing whitetail deer. Amazingly, some people blamed *her* for her own death! Excerpt:
“Shoot and wound somebody by hunting, Jacques said, and a hunter faced a mandatory 10-year license suspension. Shoot a moose illegally and you got a $2,000 fine.
“But if you [shot and killed a person] and you said you thought it was a deer when you shot them, it was a $200 fine and there wasn’t even any jail sentence imposed,” Jacques said.”
http://outthere.bangordailynews.com/2013/11/13/hunting/husband-of-woman-killed-25-years-ago-urges-hunters-to-use-caution-in-maine-woods/
A critically important message from Captain Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd (2 minute video):
https://www.facebook.com/konbiniuk/videos/970237856357113/
Thanks for posting the video Kathleen
The world was never capable of supporting 7.5 billon fish and meat eating primates
This message should be self evident that it is not always astounds me
Now that the Decorah Eagle cam is up for 2016 it is interesting to note it is the most viewed of any live cam with 340 million views from 184 countries. The live cam is operated by the Raptor resource project. Last July Bob Anderson the president and founder of the project passed away. A celebration of his life was held at the Iowa state fish hatchery where the Decorah eagle nest is located. Bob`s first passion was the reintroduction of the Peregrine Falcon to the Mississippi river along the upper mid west.
JUST missed the second egg being laid last night, Frank. My link to the live webcam “timed out” right at 8:35 and seconds later when I got it back up, she was no longer standing but resting on the nest. So egg 2 has arrived, possibly 1 more to follow.
More Lobo news……
http://azdailysun.com/news/local/wolf-releases-prepare-to-expand/article_86cb47df-5aae-50c0-bccb-876bd916744c.html
Well, that’s good news – I hope they will be especially vigilant about people who will want to destroy them, and not have the same pie-in-the-sky attitudes we see currently in other areas of the country.
or I should say the same pie-in-the-sky attitudes about people always doing the right thing that have led to the conditions in Idaho and elsewhere for wolves, where what should be predictably, people do the absolute worst things.
Gila reintroduction would be satisfying.
People please share widely, no pun intended. This bill is up this week. Below are some of the god awful provisions of the bill, there is no mention of the rider that would delist Wyoming’s and the Great Lakes wolves but it’s there. It too, like the 2010 version that doomed wolves to incessant hunting and trapping in the NRM, contains the sleazy no judicial review clause. Please share and ask your associates to call and write to their and other congressmen against this.
The “SHARE Act ” from Rep. Robert Wittman [R, VA-1] combines several pending bills into one package.
S.2406: SPORTSMEN’S HERITAGE AND RECREATIONAL ENHANCEMENT (“SHARE”) ACT BIPARTISAN
According to the Congressional Budget Office:
“H.R. 2406 would amend existing laws and establish new laws related to the management of federal lands. It would authorize the sale of certain federal land and permit the receipts from those sales to be spent. The bill also would authorize the appropriation of $5 million a year to enforce laws related to the illegal trading of ivory. ”
The bill includes:
S.225: Hunting, Fishing, and Recreational Shooting Protection Act – exempting components of firearms and ammunition and sport fishing equipment from regulations of chemical substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act
S.721: Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act – increasing the proportion of funding that states may use for acquiring land for public target ranges
H.R.327: Polar Bear Conservation and Fairness Act – Requiring the Interior Department to issue permits to allow a hunter to import polar bear parts (other than internal organs) if the bear was legally harvested in Canada from an approved population before the May 15, 2008, listing of the polar bear as threatened.
H.R.578: Recreational Lands Self-Defense Act – Prohibits the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from banning firearms possession in public areas of a water resources development project.
H.R.1099: Hunter and Farmer Protection Act – Revises standards for determining a “baited area” for purposes of the prohibition on taking migratory game birds; limits ability of the National Park Service (NPS) to prohibit transporting of bows and crossbows; gives the NPS authority to establish hunter access corridors.
H.R.1651:Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Reauthorization – extends the authority of the Interior Department
S.1769: African Elephant Conservation and Legal Ivory Possession Act – revises and reauthorizes the African Elephant Conservation Act through FY2020.
The bill also provides special rules to expand access to federal land and waterways for film crews of five people or fewer.
Comedy central –
How absurdly titled, the SHARE Act. Polar Bear Conservation and “Fairness” Act – only concerned with bringing home those same old trophies.
Hunter and Farmer Protection Act: Do hunter access corridors include wolf and elk and bear, etc. migration corridors?
Marksman Training “Support” Act – You’d think shooters were an endangered species.
Um, no.
Just so you know, the provision about bow transport actually is one of the few parts of this that make sense. There are plenty of real things to complain about. The amendments are somewhat interesting, and yeah, sometimes a bit comic: https://rules.house.gov/bill/114/hr-2406
According to GovTrack, this bill has a 35% chance of passing, which is a higher percentage than most other bills I follow. Still, “Only about 21% of bills that made it past committee in 2013–2015 were enacted.”
Only 37 cosponsors have signed on to this bill in the House–33 R & 4 D. (By comparison, the Humane Cosmetics Act has 152 cosponsors. However, it has been given only a 17% chance of getting past committee and 9% chance of being enacted.)
You can check to see if your congressperson has co-sponsored HR 2406 here:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr2406
Here is a You tube video of a sheep transplant last Saturday in the Madison Valley. It was paid for by the SCI and WSF.
Great clip. Thanks Elk
Thanks. Lots of hard work and dedicated people working there! Hope they survive the pneumonia.
Not necessarily wildlife news,,but a new book on the Koch brothers, reviewed by Bill McKibben, goes into great detail in regard to the Koch’s influence on all aspects of life in the US, and the political process. Long but worthwhile read.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/03/10/koch-brothers-new-brand/
This will make for a good read. I can only hope that the $829 million they brag about spending on this election cycle will go to nothing……
I found short quote to be quite important.
“In the backrooms of Congress their operatives are skillful at getting tax breaks after regulatory concessions, and in low-turnout off-year elections, or in local and state contests, their money is often crucial to winning races where few are paying attention. (One result is that the “bench” of progressive politicians moving up to higher office is thin.)”
“where few are paying attention” is critical here. This reasoning, at least partially, explains the Trump phenomena IMO.
I agree.
An interesting study documents that just the fear of predators (and therefore also the actual the presence of predators) has cascading ecosystem effects, neatly summarized in the New Scientist article, Fear of Big Predators Can Alter an Entire Ecosystem (https://www.newscientist.com/article/2078511-just-the-fear-of-big-predators-can-alter-an-entire-ecosystem/?fb_action_ids=10206977286163225&fb_action_types=og.shares), originally published in the peer-reviewed journal, Nature Communications (http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160223/ncomms10698/full/ncomms10698.html)
Bottom line: Yet more evidence that the wild world still needs top predators.
Thanks for pointer. I loved cartoon of fig 1.
http://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Death-Valley-National-Park-super-bloom-wildflowers-6848910.php#photo-9444365
Wow, absolutely beautiful. Thanks! This is something I’ve always wanted to see. This is what we lose when we keep developing every bit of available land. I wonder if this is part of the recent protected area?
I heard one of the great classic songs of all time tonight locomotive breath where Ian Anderson is writibg about human population running amok
It hit hard after hearing that Oregon delisted its small population of wolves with a no judicial review clause
That song could easily be about our legislators. And political system being totally fckd up and run afoul
Anyway a sad time when legislators are complaint in running remnant predator species ragged by opening the door to trophy hunting which it’s really all about
Mexican and red wolf actions are a national disgrace
“Locomotive Breath”–yes, absolutely one of the all-time great rock songs *ever*! Politics, population, species extinction, all hurtling out of control: “Old Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won’t stop goin’–no way to slow down.” For the uninitiated:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNCT6pA5I9A
Crank it up.
Heh. One of my all-time favorite songs –
best lines:
“He hears the silence howling, catches angels as they fall
And the all time winner, has got him by the b*lls
Oh, he picks up Gideon’s Bible, open at page one
But, God, he stole the handle and the train
It won’t stop going, no way to slow down.”
Hopefully, the ‘all-time winner’ will be as it usually is, time and Mother Nature.
Yes. And if Homo sapiens aren’t in that picture, so be it.
Just like the dinosaurs.
Now you’ve got me going – this is actually my favorite Jethro Tull song, and ‘Locomotive Breath’ is my second favorite. Not related to wildlife news (I don’t think), but I’ve always loved it:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2RNe2jwHE0?feature=player_detailpage&w=640&h=360%5D
And this – my top three. The xylophone makes it magical, he always reminded me of a woodland spirit. I guess we can call humans “Thick as A Brick” too: 😉
Sorry to have gone so far off topic with JT (Louise will be sorry she brought it up!)
Anyhoo, it was nice to have a break from wildlife killing contests, public land grab threats, and hostile takeovers of wildlife refuges. Thanks Louise and Kathleen! 🙂
Also, my Siamese foiled all medical predictions and is improving! Fingers crossed, we’ll celebrate her 19th birthday in a couple weeks. I still can’t believe I’m lucky enough to have a cat that old. She definitely has nine lives.
I’m always ready to revisit the greatest era of rock & roll. So glad your kitty has improved–old cats can be so resilient. Wishing her an early happy 19th birthday!
Complicent
I phone spell check
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=12672U
http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/the-malheur-wildlife-refuge-occupation-over-idaho-ranchers-highlight-collaboration-with-the-feds/Content?oid=3722445&storyPage=2
No mention of wolves being beneficial to combatting aspen decline (not to mention in any cooperation with the Feds)?
Researchers have to narrow their focus, and generally scholarly articles seek to answer a specific question. This is one setting they could manipulate experimentally over a defined period of time (and, when they stopped the intervention the system could be expected to return to status quo quickly and independently of further human action). This would be impossible to do on the same time scale in Yellowstone but there certainly have long been exclosures that demonstrate how aspens and other plants rebound in the absence of browsers, which suggests the effect the presence of large predators may have.
Thanks for the link to this interesting article. I hope there is more public discussion on this issue, which I would phrase as the reverse of the Boise headline, the Malheur refuge as an example of the feds’ collaboration with ranchers. Of course, there is no mention of wolves, as this would impede the collaboration. Now is not the time to restore the collaboration, but instead to welcome its demise.
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/opinion/columnists/the_new_west_todd_wilkinson/critics-see-overkill-at-wildlife-services/article_17dd49c8-ac09-5293-bb87-310ff1fe64cb.html
The English Dictionary defines hunting as “The sport or practice of pursuing and killing or capturing wild animals”. Unless someone familiar with this specific issue like Elk 375 or Nancy knows more than I do, this seems like a slaughter. First bison and now elk. Could it be the once greatest hunters in North America have now reverted to easy pickings?
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/gardiner-neighbors-angry-about-tribal-elk-hunt/article_44097b6e-6d03-5024-9b4c-34bddcda6177.html
“Easy pickings” or are Native Americans now pursuing their rights on what are considered tribal hunting lands? Tough call Gary. But best to keep in mind, Native Americans didn’t wipe prey animals (like elk, deer, bison) off the face of the west, a century ago.
Nancy, my remarks for the slaughter of bison and elk are for the current events taking place just north of Yellowstone NP. Of course, I’m well aware of the European-American slaughter of wildlife in the 1800s, but it seems like there is a better way for tribes to “hunt” their historic prey than shooting near houses, roads and a nearby town.
My hope is that the Park Service adopts a quarantine policy where bruceollosis-free bison can be transferred to willing Native Americans and from there, tribal members decide their fate.
And shooting nearly full-term bison cows and dumping the fetus with the gut pile–see photo at “Of bison and betrayal” (March 2014)
http://www.othernationsjustice.org/?p=11187
Only have to Google Gary to realize Gardiner, Montana is a “hot bed” of activity when it comes to all sorts of wildlife coming and going from the Park and the “dibs” on that wildlife:
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/wandering-bison-causing-trouble-in-gardiner/article_530f5d7e-8e00-56e2-bc81-837124a85282.html
http://forums.yellowstone.net/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=17772
Are Native Americans screwing up their hunting opportunities or do they differ little from the “slaughter” of wildlife that happens every year come fall, by mostly, ignorant “white” big game hunters,who often run herds of elk into areas where they can “shot at will?”
It’s certainly happened in my neck of the woods, the “trigger happy” hunters who get into the thick of a herd of elk.
Trigger Happy –
“ready to react violently, especially by shooting, on the slightest provocation”
and, a lot of these horrible incidents have been posted on TWN site over the years.
Also, I noticed that in a couple of these recent articles, you’d have to consider the source. A couple of notorious ranchers who have appeared in TWN’s rogues gallery on several occasions – who can believe them? 🙂
Except, of course, they might have done just that long ago. Estimates of loss of species richness in North America following colonization by the very first native Americans range from 15-42%. One of the four major competing hypotheses for extinction of NA megafauna is over-hunting (others are climate change, disease, and the good old asteroid/comet strike theory). It’s likely hunting played some role in “wiping” many of those species off the face of the map, including some of the predators, not just prey species.
People are people wherever (and whenever) you go.
MA Carrasco, AD Barnosky, RW Graham (2009) PLoS ONE DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0008331
Thanks. Indeed it is common to note that megafauna extinctions happened at different times in different places (Australia, New Zealand, Eurasia, Madagascar, Americas). The timing is associated with modern human arrival, and does not seem to be due to just a weather (as some people speculate sometimes when looking just at the Americas). I don’t mean to claim every extinction was directly due to us, or that it’s all simple and certain.
That is all speculative. What we do know and have proof of is how quickly species disappeared after European colonization in the Americas, Australia. Bringing guns, superstition and religious notions against certain species such as wolves and snakes, bringing livestock and disease, and taking all of something such as land and furs was a totally different mindset than those who were already here. Bison, wolves, beaver, certain birds – of this we have proof.
And of course, the more successful the more they took. Certain animals were nearly wiped out until laws were put in place to protect them, furbearing animals and birds. It’s a matter of degree, so it isn’t quite accurate to imply that, for example, Polynesians who came to Hawaii would have the same footprint as Euopeans.
So the first inhabitants who lived on this continent for thousands of years (35,000?) never managed to wipe out bison, wolves, elk, passenger pigeon, etc – what Europeans have managed to do in less than 500. All proven – no speculation needed.
Or I should say European settlers and their descendants.
You have a computer. Search “Australian megafauna” and such. The Madagascar and New Zealand extinctions too. It’s true that our powers were more limited in the past, but I don’t think we were any smarter.
I think for the ‘greatest hunters in North America’ with such a magnificent and beautiful culture and history, this is what comes of having their culture forcibly taken from them by European colonialism and colonization – so that today, many Native people are no longer in touch with their traditional ways, and have adopted the lawless ways of their oppressors. I’m sure that not all in their tribe approve of this behavior.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-vetting-republican-nevada-gov-brian-sandoval-for-supreme-court-seat-1456344658
Opinions?
He’s playing a game to frustrate Republicans. Two thirds of the senate democrats would vote against this guy and Obummer knows it.
moot point anyway
“WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, a moderate Republican, took himself out of consideration for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday”
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/first-yellowstone-grizzly-spotted-out-of-its-den/38183774
Injured wolf seen near middle school
http://www.brainerddispatch.com/news/3953893-public-advised-be-careful-injured-wolf-spotted-again-baxter
Look closely at pictures, part of rear right leg appears to be missing. Wolf looks pretty healthy otherwise. When one thinks that the legal trapping of wolves has not been allowed the past two years, one could draw some conclusions here: wolf has survived just fine after being trapped more than three years ago; or the specter of incidental raises its ugly head once again.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/12173436/Scottish-Seabird-Centre-Nature-Photography-Awards.html?frame=3582708
http://www.wildcalifornia.org/blog/the-owl-massacre-of-2016-proposed-timber-sale-to-take-over-100-northern-spotted-owl/
I am perpetually dismayed at the shortsighted policies that are created at such great expense by agencies entrusted to oversee natural resources.
Wow. And yet, it’s the barred owl that will get blamed. We’re quite the scummy species, aren’t we. 🙁
A little levity is shortlived.
If you read the USFWS BO and US Forest Service FEIS document you will see that salvage harvesting on private lands of the burned project area is a huge factor in the “take” of spotted owls. You will also notice NO GREEN TREES will be harvested and that large quantities of snags and down wood will left following harvest activities.
Having worked in the Pacific Northwest while implementing the Northwest Forest Plan, I can attest that forest management practices on federal land are extremely comprehensive and restorative in nature. Although there are a few minor improvements I would personally like to see, overall the agencies are doing a A- grade in protecting the resources.
This project went through a rigorous process and although no decision has been made, I would at least read the preferred alternative (if you have not) in the FEIS and then decide what “short sighted” policies you are referring to.
http://a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic.download.akamai.com/11558/www/nepa/100078_FSPLT3_2552456.pdf
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/birds/northern_spotted_owl/pdfs/USFWS_Westside_BO.pdf
Gary you and I frequently have a much different take on the federal agencies managing rescources. The agency I worked for was specifically engaged in restoring marine habitats. I think/know a great deal of the work was compromised by politics and there was far too much tinkering some of it directed to get Congressional funding and based on popular target goals of the current administration. Dam removals were always great projects, many of the others were wasteful, feel good, partnering opportunities. I’ll read the link and thank you for posting it. I think our federal agencies do far too much manipulating of landscapes, species and habitats. Perfecting natural processes is hard to do.
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.motherjones.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2F02%2Fhow-gop-elite-set-stage-for-donald-trump
not exactly wildlife news but if any of you watched the GOP “debates” last night there is plenty to be disturbed about, dismantling the EPA and Department of education at the top of the list. Its hard to say who is crazier and more hateful or distasteful.
http://www.timberjay.com/stories/DNR-seeks-to-fine-tune-the-moose-deer-divide,12547
Redoing the deer regions to match the moose ones, to be better able to knock down deer in the moose zone in MN.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/wolverine-doc-1.3463629
There was a new wolverine documentary last night on “the nature of things”. Where I live, Canadian television (and radio) is common to watch.
Thanks rork for the post. Personally, my favorite mammals are the wolverine and tiger. The video doesn’t play (since I live outside of the viewing area) but I have Douglas Chadwick’s book, The Wolverine Way which describes researchers studying wolverines in Glacier National Park.
Here’s a clip that ought to play for you.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1401652559860209&id=156032577755553
The kits are so pale compared to the adults; thanks, Kathleen.
Fantastic footage. Thanks for the link.
Beautiful. Look at this one too, the little paw pads on the little pup’s feet are just adorable:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/coyote-cub-storm-drain_us_56d18471e4b0871f60eb97ba?ir=Green§ion=us_green&utm_hp_ref=green
Apologies if this has previously been posted; I just ran across it. “Keep It in the Ground: Author Terry Tempest Williams Buys 1,750 Acres of Oil & Gas Leases in Utah”
Excerpt: she and her husband purchased “…an oil and gas lease on 800 acres in Grand County, where we live, just outside of Castle Valley. It’s approximately 14 miles northeast of Arches National Park. And I just think it’s stunning to realize that in our centennial year celebrating our national parks, our public lands, America’s public lands, are being sold for $1.50 an acre…on sale.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/2/18/keep_it_in_the_ground_author?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=postplanner&utm_source=facebook.com
Wow. We really need to stop exploiting land like it’s 1899. I can’t understand why we still do these this. I’m proud that she did this, and I hope she doesn’t get herself in trouble. 🙁
This woman is a hero…
we hear so much about heroism from the right
generally they are people that are paid to do a job, firemen, soldiers, policemen. The real heroes are people that aren’t paid and take tremendous risks in defending actions that protect and advance the common good.
Whoa. She bought some leases with money she’s made selling books and on the speaker circuit, and likely with some help from wealthy friends. She did not lay her life on the line for others, being paid peanuts. This is so disingenuous as to be ludicrous. Next time you’re in real trouble, maybe instead of dialing 911 you can call her at her home in Wilson, WY (where living in poverty is a foreign concept and nobody has any pigment in their skin) instead of a fireman, police officer, EMT, nurse, etc. I wish you much luck with that.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/sportsmens-act-02-26-2016.html
Citizen’s United is killing democracy.
“Since the Republicans took control of the House in 2011 there have been hundreds of legislative attacks on the environment, including more than 177 on endangered species and the Endangered Species Act. In 2015 more than 70 bills targeted endangered species. Republicans also introduced legislation designed to limit the ability of citizens to go to court in defense of species. Earlier this year the Center released a report documenting a 600 percent increase in these legislative attacks since the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United ruling allowing special interests to make virtually unlimited campaign contributions.”
http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2016/02/bad-share-act-passes-house.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=humanenation
If you care start bitching about the heinous “Share” act.
Yes, I’m going to call. It’s unbelievable, isn’t it – exempting judicial review (they love that one), and the continuing of lead ammo.
That photo accompanying the article? I just read that Nike uses elephant leather for sneakers from ‘culls of overpopulated herds’. Grrrrrr.
http://neurope.eu/article/european-parliament-takes-a-stand-against-trophy-hunting/
meanwhile the European Parliament works to end imports of trophy hunting while our ass backward special interest driven Congress tries to foist trophy hunting, trapping and maiming and killing wildlife on most public lands and exempt toxic ammunition and other dangerous activities from ever being banned. The GOP are shameless thugs.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/113/saphr3590hr_20140203.pdf
It is somewhat interesting which parts of the SHARE act the administration spoke out about. Lead and polar bears did not make the list. Perhaps this is calculated – there are enough other things wrong that they can afford to not complain about those things.
One more step toward state management of wolves in WY, MN, MI and MN.
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/jackson_hole_daily/local/wolf-delisting-passes-house/article_62a01aff-e8c4-5b76-ad0e-4c2f483dd89b.html
WI
Thanks, WM.
See how your representative voted here:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/114-2016/h101
I don’t give that Act much chance. I could be wrong. I’m sorry to say almost every sportsperson group I’ve noticed has been plugging it, but not covering it in detail. Trying to make hunters good is harder than making good hunters. *sigh*
I just contacted my representative and said I would not be supporting his campaign
because of his vote on this bill – the only Dem in the state to vote for it.
I would not have given Trump a chance in hell, he is a joke a buffoon but look where he is. I hope people will contact their senators and voice their outrage against the Share act and the Bipartisan sportsman act before Congress passes these outrageous bills
don’t take anything for granted
Idaho man receives probation for shooting dog…thought it was a wolf.
http://www.sltrib.com/home/3589139-155/idaho-man-gets-probation-for-shooting
MN deer hunters already complaining about effort to save moose.
http://www.startribune.com/dnr-proposes-holding-deer-numbers-down-in-northeast-minnesota-to-help-struggling-moose/370389261/
If hunters were “blindsided” it’s cause they weren’t paying attention. I hope MI game managers copy this. Evidence seems good enough to act – perhaps a “never in doubt” error though. I’d like an experimental control area, but maybe we don’t have enough time, or moose, to afford that, which sucks.
Oh come on. Can’t these people help out for the sake of helping moose? So unbelievably selfish of them. Gotta have it all right now.
BTW, has anyone seen The Revenant? It is hauntingly beautiful. There’s an almost primeval scene with the buffalo and wolves. I hope it wins tonight.
I was pleased to see that The Revenant won three of the best awards – cinematography (outstanding), Best Director, and Best Actor for Leo. I was disappointed that the sound editing and music didn’t win – it truly is something. Not only the score, but the sounds – in the opening scenes you can hear bugling elk.
Ida, I saw “The Revenant” and since I know the story fairly well and have read the original account of it, as it was published in a Taos, NM newspaper in the mid 1800’s. I was not impressed with movie. The acting and scenery was outstanding but this event did not happen in the Canadian Rockies. It happen in South Dakota.
Google “Man in the Wilderness” produced in 1971 and directed by John Houston with Richard Harris as Hugh Glass. In the movie Hugh Glass is referred as Zack Bass. It is much better movie and the movie portrays the events more realistically.
Elk, I’ll have to check that one out – I seem to remember that title, The Man in the Wilderness? I’d like to read the book now too.
Elk,
Saw Man in the Wilderness in the 70’s. If for no other reason I want to see the Revenant just to compare/contrast.
Sort of like the Mad Max/Road Warrior “remake”. Too much CGI in the new one. Found it difficult to feel empathy for anyone in the new movie.
I felt a bit for the bear, perhaps cause it was very slightly less of a caricature than the humans. Maybe it’s better than I thought for some reason.
http://www.salon.com/2016/02/26/scalias_elite_hunting_pals_meet_st_hubertus_patron_saint_of_rich_guys_with_guns/
Oregon’s official wolf count is 110 for the year 2015.
“The department uses hard evidence (tracks, sign, remote camera footage, visual observations) when counting wolves and that is why the population figures are referred to as a minimum known population. Wildlife biologists believe the actual number of wolves is likely higher.”
The report: http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/docs/oregon_wolf_program/Oregon_Wolf_Annual_Report_2015.pdf
Equally as important to the numbers (maybe even more) is that this is a whopping 36 percent increase in the number of wolves OR officially counts as the increase from 2014.
Washington wolf population for 2014 was reported in early March 2015. That data showed an official wolf count 30 percent higher than 2013. They are a little late this year with their report.
The 2015 WA wolf count will become available (if not before then) at the WDFW Commission meeting on March 19.
So, what will be the official WA wolf count and the percentage increase? Will they officially have 100+ wolves as does OR.
And, how many wolves will there be in combined WA and OR a few months after denning season, we many as 300+? Will WA start translocation to other areas of the state soon, to meet their own delisting objectives?
Listened to the Utah contingent and their lawyer, who will be asking the Feds to dispose of Federal lands in Utah, give a presentation to the Idaho joint Senate and House Resource and Conservation committees this afternoon. Interesting how the legal rationale is playing out. The attorney isn’t attacking it as the Feds can’t own lands in the west, but because they own so much, the 12 states aren’t on equal footing with the other 32 states. All the cases he referenced were equal footing cases that the Feds lost. It is interesting, before I was in the no friggin’ way this could happen camp. I got a bad feeling listening to him. The enabling act question for new states was brought up and how the state Constitutions all have similar language. His contention is that that language isn’t a bar but rather a mechanism for the Feds to quiet title to the lands and any property attorney wouldn’t view that language as a bar for the Feds disposing lands to the states. He gave examples starting Louisiana of the similar language and Louisiana got the lands. North Dakota and Nebraska as well.
Linden Bateman out of Idaho Falls made a rambling statement that he has been getting lots of correspondence about the subject and he was completely befuddled at how his constituents couldn’t trust their Idaho elected officials to make this decision but could trust unelected east coast bureaucrats to control the destiny of Idaho lands.
It’s worth a listen when it gets put up in the archives.
YNP birthday – March 1, 1872
pictures
http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/07/yellowstone-national-park/100100/
Yes, and ironically, the park is capturing for slaughter its own wildlife within park boundaries:
https://www.facebook.com/buffalowild/photos/a.397888970858.173562.193861605858/10153964799480859/?type=3&theater
Kathleen,
have you made that bison tattoo across your back?
Help Stop Recreational and Commercial Trapping on Public Lands in Montana
https://www.gofundme.com/dyqky7ng
Thanks for the link Jerry. Passed it on.
I often wonder if the numbers wouldn’t be much higher in our species, if not for all the availability to “hunting/trapping” opportunities? Yeah, a stretch but…..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers_by_number_of_victims
Were you going to make a point clearly enough to permit contradiction, or is it just a drive-by?
You choose Rork. Its obvious some of us can be frightening and arrogant too often, even to our own species.
Eric T. OMG scary. Please God don’t let these greedy evil bastards screw us all out of our cherished heritage of open, unhindered (mostly) access to our collective commons. I, like most, was under the impression that once the law was rightfully explained and understood, no one could challenge public lands ownership, even this SCOTUS. The nightmare here is Congress can do whatever a majority of both houses and the Prez. want. A majority Repub. House & Senate and Prez. Cruz or Rubio is an unthinkable scenario. Ironically Trump has said he thinks it’s a bad idea, but the guy has no core beliefs so him as a savior is thin gruel.
Trump is correct on this issue – better than the others in his party.
Check voting records here: http://scorecard.lcv.org/
Rubio and Cruz had 5% and 6% respectively, this issue was open space and public lands.
Someone please tell me I’m wrong, public lands ownership is inviolable.
“… it is important to keep in mind that these attempts are unconstitutional, according to case law dating back to the 1800s, and therefore will only serve to waste state taxpayers’ money. Each of the state attempts to force Congress to turn over public lands references the state’s enabling act—the language that made it a state to begin with.”
There’s more, including SCOTUS rulings on the issue and Constitutional language:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/03/11/1698221/state-efforts-to-reclaim-our-public-lands-traced-to-alec/
Wentz was asked about the language in state’s constitutions and their respective enabling acts. Wentz contends that the language is being misinterpreted and that it is typical property law language that allows for a process to quiet title the lands to the states.
The media archive is posted, it is the February 29th meeting:
http://lso.legislature.idaho.gov/MediaArchive/ShowMediaByCommittee.do
Wentz is coming at it from a completely different angle then what is usually discussed about the Feds disposing lands to the states. The equal footing doctrine may or may not have legs. But for $14 million it’s worth it to him to try right?
Close encounter with Yellowstone elk:
https://www.facebook.com/xtremeidaho/videos/553699204805891/
Poor thing. 🙁 Thank goodness there were no guns involved.
I was suprised at the the number of snow machines in the rearview mirror toward the end of the video! Was the vehicle with the #5 tag part of the convoy or a separate party? I am not familiar with the rules of these activities in the park.
If you want to read an excellent historical novel about Hugh Glass try Lord Grizzly by Fredrick Manfred,It was the runner up for the national book of the year for 1954.
Thanks, I’ll check it out – I want to read the current book too, but I don’t know if it will have the same visceral effect that the sights and sounds of the film had. It is very emotional and reaches some deep place in your heart.
Arizona news story – Georgetown University Professor vs Arizona Wildlife Sanctuary.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2016/02/26/roberts-wildlife-sanctuary-under-fire-neighbor/80943664/
The crux of the story is a lawsuit by a disgruntled neighbor (who happens to be a Georgetown University Pharmacology Associate Professor) that may consequently close the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center (SWCC), a non-profit wildlife sanctuary, located in Scottsdale, Arizona. The SWCC also works with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to rehabilitate the endangered Mexican Grey Wolves, of which they currently care for over 10. If the lawsuit results in the closure of the SWCC, many of its wildlife residents – which are approximately 300 animals – will be displaced with nowhere to go; therefore, many may need to be euthanized. Please share this story and sign their petition. Thank you.
https://wildlandsconnections.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/news-landowner-traps-red-wolf.pdf
This is absolutely sickening and criminal. This landowner has a red wolf (one of 45 left in the world) in a trap for five days while he pushes for a permit to kill it. Th red wolf is still an endangered species why has this wolf not been released and the landowner arrested and punished? the in the hell is going on here?
I haven’t read either the book referenced above or “The Revenant” (which means one who has returned, esp. from the dead, e.g. Lazarus) but am reading that book’s author Michael Punke’s “Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell and the Battle to Save the Buffalo and the Birth of the New West”.
Mr. Grinnell, among other things, founded Forest and Stream Magazine, The Audubon Society, and Boone and Crocket Club with Theodore Roosevelt. He was with Custer when the latter found gold in the Black Hills and was with Custer right before the battle of Little Big Horn.
I recently was granted permission to photograph birds and bison on the Fort Hall Reservation. Tribal elders tell me the Yellowstone bison are bigger but I won’t have to put up with the traffic and tourists.
http://www.startribune.com/state-deer-hunters-group-opposes-expanding-crossbow-hunting/370744671/
is mildly interesting for all you hunters. That’s in MN. Some gun hunters, rather than getting out in the bow season, would rather just complain about bow seasons. It’s true that in MI some new people have shown up with crossbows and get in my way, but it hasn’t been that bad, and some of them really have been people who may not be able to deal with hunting bows – not that you need 70lb bows to kill deer. There is a problem in some people thinking they can make 50 meter shots – cross-bows are loud as hell, so you want the “arrow” (bolt) to get there within about a third of a second.
Brief report: There have been about a million articles about the deer cull in my fair city (Ann Arbor) for the last two months, which recently ended with 63 dead (target was 100). We do not know the sex/age breakdown yet. I can’t recommend any as being very interesting unless you seek comment-wars entertainment. Cull was via USDA sharpshooters in parks. A bit pricey, but less in-your-face than some other methods (mostly at night). In the Oak Openings park west of Toledo, with more favorable conditions, the same people killed over 100 deer in just 2 days.
http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism
Not exact;wildlife but given the awful state of the GOP and what they don’t bring to the table, a good read and frightening.
Rabid comes to mind. Good read Louise.
Nancy or any one else that can help – I am looking for publications that used to be available on line about park fauna and flora but which are not listed any more. They were written by park personel including Gearge M. Wright in the 1930s. One of the sections discussed the situation of elk in the Yellowstone River drainage and how they were ruining the range by their over abundance like 6000 animals when it could support 3000; lots of pictures to show range conditions. This is a missing link:
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/fauna2/fauna2b.htm
An interesting article about this man and others that were involved with the early National Park system: http://www.georgewright.org/261duncan.pdf
Barb,
Might want to check out these links.
Possible there are photographs here from Wright? Mentioned the shop was to open in 2013:
http://www.ypf.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6019
On this link, there is a copy from Wright’s journal, source is Pamela Wright Lloyd, his daughter:
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/people/nps/wright/
Googled Pamela Wright Lloyd and got a few links for her. Might be able to contact her regarding her Dad’s work in Yellowstone?
https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=ie7&q=+&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7TSNF&gws_rd=ssl#q=+pamela+wright+lloyd+yellowstone+park
http://allafrica.com/stories/201603030579.html
A similar story. Since when is 500 lions ‘overpopulation’?
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/02/23/cecil-the-lion-zimbabwe-200-lions-overpopulation_n_9297298.html
Oregon Legislature passes state wolf delisting bill:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/wolf-03-02-2016.html
Seems a bit early by a year or two, but is a reasonable effort to stop litigious wolf advocates who are trying to by-pass the agreed State Wolf Management Plan – an aspect CBD and others will never admit to. And, there is CBD’s shill, Amaroq Weiss, once again trying to spin the issue with half-truths.
Vote in the OR Senate was 17-10 (comprised of 18 D’s and 10 R’s), after already being passed by the House. Hardly a close call and definitely not on party lines. No indication the Governor will not sign.
http://katu.com/news/local/oregon-senate-approves-wolf-delisting-bill-intended-to-block-suit
17-11
They admit to the lawsuit and admit this law is to bypass judicial review. Weiss didn’t have much for whoppers today, by my standards for him. I admit that the idea that listing protects from threats like illegal killing wasn’t the best argument. I wish the people of Oregon good luck going forward – keep an eye on the managers.
rork,
From the CBD press release:
“The legislature has no business inserting itself into a matter that rightfully needs to be decided by a court of law,” said Amaroq Weiss, West Coast wolf organizer for the Center for Biological Diversity. “The only conscionable thing for Gov. Brown to do now is to veto this special-interest driven bill.”
Amaroq Weiss is a she- and a rather loud one at that, who loves to twist facts. Interesting that she and the other plaintiff groups on the one hand accuse the state of not following the law. Then they pee all over the state when they do change a law.
Kind of hypocritical don’t you think? That is what Legislatures do – they make laws and they change them. Saying the existing law (which CBD likes) is ONLY within the purview of the court, and not within the prerogative of the Legislature and the Governor which more accurately reflects the will of the people is kind of a goofy statement. Heck a bunch of D’s who are in the majority voted to pass it. The Governor is a D, too, as well as a former environmental attorney, as I understand it. Will she sign the bill into law?
If Governor Brown signs it sort of makes Weiss look kind of silly.
Is there a question whether the OR Governor will sign this wolf legislation into law? Remember this only affects wolves in the Eastern 1/3 of OR, as wolves are federally ESA listed in the western 2/3.
http://www.opb.org/news/article/wolf-oregon-removal-endangered-species-list-delisting-bill/
WM how do you defend no judicial review statutes?
I did not mean to say I found Weiss’s arguments good ;). Or the legislature bad – but that’s cause we aren’t talking about Michigan.
“World wildlife day: Animals are being slaughtered one by one, not saved two by two”
Excerpt: “We have to act now, or we may have to build another ark to protect this planet’s wonderful diversity not from a flood, but from ourselves.”
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/03/world-wildlife-day-animals-are-being-slaughtered-one-by-one-not-saved-two-by-two
this will likely be bad news
http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/regional/wildlife-officials-plan-announcement-on-yellowstone-bears/66262420
And how terrible and ironic, just as bears are emerging from their dens. I can just hear it now, what a conservation success story (where’s my barf bag):
http://www.eastidahonews.com/2016/02/yellowstone-bears-emerging-from-dens/
From Buffalo Field Campaign: “150 buffalo are now in Yellowstone’s trap. The Park intends to “process” them for slaughter next week. They have announced media tours for Tuesday and Wednesday, which BFC will be present for. It’s going to be brutal. PLEASE DON’T STOP contacting Yellowstone and demand they set these buffalo free! Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk dan_wenk@nps.gov / yell_superintendent@nps.gov / 307-344-2002. THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION FOR THIS MURDER OF WILD BUFFALO!
Accompanying photo is here: https://www.facebook.com/buffalowild/photos/a.397888970858.173562.193861605858/10153969814660859/?type=3&theater
Also, photo of gored bison in Stephen’s Creek capture facility and link to news release issued today:
https://www.facebook.com/buffalowild/posts/10153970034925859
Re-posting this–the first one is hung-up in the ‘awaiting moderation’ queue. Will remove the active email links and see if that helps.
From Buffalo Field Campaign: “150 buffalo are now in Yellowstone’s trap. The Park intends to “process” them for slaughter next week. They have announced media tours for Tuesday and Wednesday, which BFC will be present for. It’s going to be brutal. PLEASE DON’T STOP contacting Yellowstone and demand they set these buffalo free! Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk dan_wenk(at) nps.gov / yell_superintendent(at)nps.gov / 307-344-2002. THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION FOR THIS MURDER OF WILD BUFFALO!
Accompanying photo is here: https://www.facebook.com/buffalowild/photos/a.397888970858.173562.193861605858/10153969814660859/?type=3&theater
Also, link to news release issued today:
https://www.facebook.com/buffalowild/posts/10153970034925859
The comfort of guests and customer service remain a focus of all Wildlife Expeditions trips, with multi-day tours including – in addition to the Mercedes safari vehicle with roof hatches for easy viewing – regular breaks, beverages and meals, high-quality binoculars and spotting scopes, field guidebooks, two nights’ lodging near the park, National Parks entrance fees, souvenir water bottles and kid activity packs on request.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/03/prweb13245158.htm
I wonder if they’ll get a tour of the bison captures struggling against barbaric rings through their noses, where the ‘comfort’ of the animals is not any priority at all. Or grizzlies being shot when they decide they don’t feel like following the rules or carrying bear spray.
oh sorry, grizzlies being ‘euthanized’, when the visitors don’t feel like following the rules or carrying bear spray. Maybe a selfie with a bison too?
Did anyone see this? It is so outrageous that it’s almost comical (almost):
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/01/florida-drops-everglades-open-fracking-bill
Un-frickin-real. Frack the ‘glades!!!
Anhinga Trail webcam: http://video-monitoring.com/everglades/royalpalm/
Just as in Idaho, while Oregon wolves are increasing, livestock depredations are decreasing. Apparently, non-lethal ranching practices are part of the reason.
http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2016/03/01/oregons-wolf-population-jumps-to-triple-digits/
Fact or fiction? “By the time the curtain closes on the Obama administration, we are on track to have delisted more species due to recovery than all previous administrations combined,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe told the AP. “We’ve done that because of several decades of hard work, like with the grizzly bear.”
http://yellowstoneinsider.com/2016/03/03/yellowstone-grizzly-bear-delisting-could-come-next-year/
Some more good news. Thanks, USF&W!
Alaskan Polar Bears Can Now Chill in Protected Area Bigger Than California (But It’s Just the Tip of the Iceberg!)
That is good news. Now if we can roust a bunch of the DC “Deniers” out of office in November we can start on something bigger.
This is from last August, so maybe it’s been posted, but maybe not. “Without humans, the whole world could look like Serengeti”
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/au-wht082015.php
http://newsdaily.com/2016/03/u-s-land-managers-reject-development-near-grand-canyon/
Yay!!!
But I’m sure the developers wouldn’t let a little detail like that stop them! Among the many things wrong with the idea.
I sent a message of thanks to the Kaibab Nat’l Forest Supervisor, Heather Provencio.
hcprovencio@fs.fed.us
Immer,
From the article, I’d like to know what the probability is that these source wolves could have come from MI. And, then if there are those that are seen (and apparently mistaken for coyotes, shot and somehow reported), there have to be some(many?)more elsewhere in Iowa.
Does IA even have an official count?
WM,
This report doesn’t say much as to origin.
My gues would be MN or WI. Some complainers saying if DNA needed to positively ID wolves, how can you blame those that shot them. Likely answer, to rule out hybrids, and possibly insight to origin of wolves.
I doubt Iowa has a count, nor do they recognize a viable population. Yet, they are clear that more wolves are on the way.
It’s just so tiresomely disingenuous. OK, let’s play along for a bit – if they really did think it was a coyote, why the automatic, knee-jerk reaction to shoot and kill the animal? If there was a question as to what the animal was, why the automatic, knee-jerk reaction to shoot and kill? If a wolf, why the automatic, knee-jerk reaction to shoot and kill? Shoot first, ask questions later.
It’s just a terrible cultural holdover from European settlement of this country and other countries. By and large, I’ve yet to see any other culture that makes up our nation so anti-wolf.
WM, is it your personal crusade to rid the nation of wolves? I think you’ve got enough to keep you busy in WA and OR? Is this supposed to bolser the delisting of wolves in MI? (My God! They’re infiltrating IA!) Mind your own beeswax for MI and elsewhere. 🙂
Ida,
Four sentences of WTF! WM, has never “crusaded” to rid the world of wolves. I live in MN, which shares a border with Iowa. The question was directed to me, and my interpretation of the question was, what is my take on the dispersal of wolves into Iowa. No agenda, just a question.
You and I obviously see the situation differently. WM is right there whenever there’s any mention of delisting, or where he feels is the trend of the ESA, and not shy about discrediting of wolf advocates also. So he isn’t objective. I usually am tolerant, but sometimes, enough is enough. It appears he does have an agenda.
Obviously we “do” see the situation differently. Though I would conclude I advocate for wolves to a greater degree than might WM, I find WM to be about the most “objective” poster on this blog, and that’s why many dislike what he has to say.
Interesting analogy, with objectivity and centrism, just as with our political shenanigans in this country, no one to the left or right is satisfied with the central/objective view.
Immer’s opinion that “Though I would conclude I advocate for wolves to a greater degree than might WM, I find WM to be about the most “objective” poster on this blog, and that’s why many dislike what he has to say.”
He has certainly answered a lot of my questions and presented material pertinent to topics of interest to me over the years.
Thanks, WM.
Immer,
Indeed, mine was a request for your opinion on the origin of the Iowa wolves. One apparently was shot in the very SE part of the state, and the other in the very NW part of the state. So, how many uncounted dispersers are out there, where did they come from and how widely dispersed are they?
These would seem valid inquiries. I would hope others would like to know more, as well.
Also important is what steps adjacent state wildlife agencies are prepared to for management when they arrive? Responding to wolf mortalities like, “I thought it was a coyote,” is but one.
I guess they don’t have a wolf management plan.
http://www.cof.orst.edu/leopold/papers/Newsome_BC_2015.pdf
There are two ways to fix this problem–both are easy and neither is likely: (a) start prosecuting people who kill wolves as coyotes; (b) close coyote hunting where dispersals are expected/common.
Neither of these is likely because (a) the FWS is gutless when it comes to recovering large carnivores, and (b) the power to end coyote hunting in these areas rests in the hands of those who have no desire to do so (quite the contrary, actually).
The biggest impediment to the recovery of wolves is the FWS’s utter refusal to adopt policies shown to be effective at mitigating the greatest threat to wolves–human intolerance.
My guess is that the average individual in Iowa does not expect to see a wolf and could probably not identify one as opposed to a coyote. If there was a thought process at all it would be “wow, that is a f#@%ing big coyote”.
I am also STRONGLY opposed to shooting somthing just to kill it. just sayin.
Do water fowl hunters on misty mornings have the same difficulty properly identifying particular fowl that FLY in, have the same difficulty PID their targets as do the sluggards who have been shooting these wolves?
So I actually read the article and,
“”Going forward, hunters need to know the difference between the species,” said Gipp. “On our end, we will provide additional wolf-coyote identification tools on our website and in our publications. We know hunters want to do the right thing and we want to help them.””
The problem with news paper articles and taking them as a primary source of information is that they are, well, newspaper articles. You,me, and probably no one else knows what all was investigated concerning this except the ones directly involved in the investigation which led to the above quote. Disappointing as it may be
As for your analogy, I would bet that, yes it has happened and if your expecting perfection from humans expect to be disappointed.
“In a civilized and cultivated country wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen. The excellent people who protest against all hunting, and consider sportsmen as enemies of wild life, are ignorant of the fact that in reality the genuine sportsman is by all odds the most important factor in keeping the larger and more valuable wild creatures from total extermination.” Teddy Roosevelt
Unfortunately that bizarre quote/mentality? probably continues to this day. Passed on from father to son (and daughters too) in too many rural areas, here in the west. Cherry picking of course “the more larger and valuable wild creatures from total extermination” by a host of game management officials?
http://www.outdoorhub.com/stories/2015/06/24/12-inspirational-quotes-hunters-know/
Two more “I thought it was a coyote” wolves shot in Iowa.
http://m.kcci.com/news/tests-confirm-2-wolves-shot-in-iowa-more-moving-in/38338874
Remington has an article written by Jim Beers regarding this incident.
http://tomremington.com/2016/03/07/wolf-sensitivity-on-the-great-plains/
Ha! I read the ‘comment’. Apparently people have the right to shoot before verifying what they’re shooting at, without question. Lookout! Or as Elmer Fudd would say, ‘be vewy, vewy careful out there’.
I can only imagine what Beers has to say.
He’ll probably have some sort of false analogy with which to begin, such as the shutting down of lead smelters and the importance of lead to the commercial airline industry (of which there is none).
Let’s just say that when I mentioned the Crusades yesterday, I was being facetious. Apparently, others are more serious in their comparisons of wolves invading Iowa! *eyeroll*
“How will public confidence in the integrity of USDA science be enhanced when all of the reviews are kept secret?” asked Ruch, noting that a stated objective of the policy is to “ensure public confidence.” “Given how this complaint was handled, no wonder scientific integrity lapses inside USDA are never resolved and simply fester. Something now unmistakably clear is that no scientist in their right mind should report political manipulation of science inside USDA.”.
http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/usda-justifies-scientific-suppression-as-its-policy.html
Elwha: Roaring Back to Life
http://projects.seattletimes.com/2016/elwha/
http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=afe7d7387151def1a9ab883cf&id=5d8c4af5a4
From Stephen Capra
on lobbies, guns and the “sportsman act”
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/can-a-big-dog-protect-big-cats/38396758
“We had less livestock depredation last year, we know that and that’s good news as it’s trending downward. What’s happening is we’re getting a handle on wolves in problem areas, causing problems in different areas, and that’s what we expected”.
Overall, Aasheim said wildlife officials are happy with the new status quo, with less complaints from hunters as well as a healthy elk population.
http://newstalkkgvo.com/wolf-trapping-season-ends-hunting-season-over-in-march-state-fwp-officials-discuss-numbers-and-outcomes/
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks 2015 livestock and wolf body count. Seventy-four confirmed and or probable livestock deaths statewide (not counting two horses) and 51 wolf deaths by WS, landowners and others.
file:///C:/Users/owner/Downloads/2015_YEAREND_FINAL.pdf
“getting a handle” – wanna be more fuzzy? Could mean killing enough wolves in the right places from those lips but could mean ranchers and wolves both learn. In MI, with no hunting and steady wolf population, depredations went down.
http://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Researchers-Utah-s-Great-Salt-Lake-is-drying-up-6871415.php#photo-8273540
“Getting a handle on”. It has the intended connotation of there being this big problem that, by God, we’re finally getting under control. Those big, bad wolves who ’cause problems for people’. They cause problems for a very small, but influential minority.
Well, it’s good PR, but those of us who follow these things know that wolf management isn’t necessary.
For the gazillionth time, there are already remedies in place for livestock depredation, and the facts show that livestock depredation is only about 1% or so! There’s even something called ‘perceived threat’, so that if a wolf so much as gives a cow or a rancher a side-eye or looks at him for too long, the wolf can be shot!
For people who don’t follow wildlife issues or even care about them, as I say it is good PR, if they even bother to read it. Those of us who do follow these issues know better.
Since I don’t eat beef and haven’t for years, I really don’t care at all about the ‘plight’ of ranchers. If they all went bankrupt tomorrow, I’d crack open a bottle of champagne and celebrate. Forcing a livelihood where the land cannot support it is no one’s ‘right’. And I care about the ‘plight’ of hunters having enough elk even less. Depending upon what you read, elk are either too many or too few. Or hunters shoot into herds and are totally unethical. And increasingly, I don’t care about government jobs that allow these kinds of activities.
I read a couple articles yesterday where Idaho is again throwing good money after bad by approving another 400K for a wolf killing board. And that the educated millennials are leaving Idaho in droves. Too bad. Idaho wants that.
Giving up meat is a decision I have never regretted, and always feel rewarded for – that I don’t contribute in any way to the misery and violence that it takes for people have it.
Why Educated Millennials Are Leaving Idaho
Idaho Lawmakers Back Spending another $400,000 to Shoot Problem Wolves
That’s awesome–I wish everyone could understand that the rewards of living vegan (as in my case) are so much greater than any perceived “sacrifice.” For anyone interested in exploring this further, I have a page dedicated to it–here: http://www.othernationsjustice.org/?page_id=3183 If you scroll to the bottom of the page a couple of short videos are posted; the one by Evolve! Campaigns is up-beat and nongraphic (in terms of violence) (though there *are* some terribly sobering images of children).
I’m not totally vegan yet – but I am phasing out more and more anything that taxes the environment unnecessarily for things that are not necessary for living, and definitely no animal products for the frivolous and for vanity such as fur and leather. Palm oil is getting difficult to avoid – labeling is dishonest i.e. ‘cottonseed oil or soybean oil and/or palm oil’. Cooking from scratch and buying from local farms is a lot more fun and you know what ingredients you are getting/using. Local eggs when you know the chickens is great!
Yet another instance of “Once thought to be solely the domain of human beings…”
“Syntax is not unique to humans”
Excerpt: “Japanese great tits use different calls to coordinate a variety of social interactions, each of which requires specific behavioural responses. Syntax provides rules for combining the elements from a small vocabulary to generate novel meanings that can be readily recognized. These rules may be an adaptation to social and behavioural complexity in communication systems, such as in human language.”
http://phys.org/news/2016-03-syntax-unique-human-language.html
http://www.care2.com/causes/sea-lion-pups-may-be-starving-because-consumers-want-pizza-and-fish-oil.html
how many natural resources and habitat can humans consume, and still expect that the negative consequences won’t really bite us in the ass?
http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/british_columbian_government_using_judas_wolf_in_unethical_hunt/
I can’t imagine seeing all of my family members slaughtered. This wolf watched all his family massacred and then everywhere he goes the rest of his family is murdered. I am so saddened, it seems there is no limit to the treachery, madness and mayhem that humans inflict on wild animals legitimized by the label management.
or the label sport and tradition.
For those who love our national parks & monuments & public lands…don’t miss this very nicely-done page from Center for Western Priorities–“The wrong side of history: 100 years of opposition to our nation’s natural treasures”
http://westernpriorities.org/special/2016/monuments/
Homepage: http://westernpriorities.org/
30-second PSA:
Heartwarming story 🙂
http://metro.co.uk/2016/03/09/penguin-swims-5000-miles-every-year-for-reunion-with-the-man-who-saved-his-life-5741518/
It looks like the Bundys and others involved at Mulheur are being indicted with more charges.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/ammon-bundy-and-fellow-militants-hit-with-new-federal-indictment/
The superseding indictment lists 26 defendants. Each is charged with the initial charge of conspiring to impede federal agents. It newly accuses some of the protesters of: possession of firearms and dangerous weapons in federal facilities, use and carry of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, and depredation of government property.
Most recent news on the OR state wolf delisting bill. Will Governor Brown sign, do nothing (in which case the bill still becomes law) or veto:
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/travel/outdoors/2016/03/09/environmentalists-pressure-gov-brown-veto-wolf-bill/81551246/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=
“What faith can people have in government if we’re no longer allowed to challenge decisions made by an agency in court?”
Pahahaha. I found that a rather crappy argument – “you’re harshing our law-suit”. They should come to MI, where the legislators pass laws a second or third time cause the citizens killed the first versions via referendum. And the poor Gov – she’ll have to make some people mad.
From BFC’s 3/10 update from the field:
“Thirty of the country’s last wild buffalo were loaded into livestock trailers inside Yellowstone and shipped to slaughter on Wednesday (3/9) morning by the InterTribal Buffalo Council. Approximately seventy more will suffer the same fate this morning (3/10). …The noise in the trap was deafening. Buffalo were slamming against the walls, ramming into each other, and bellowing in fear or to find family members. The sounds they made with their voices and their bodies took over everything. They were crammed into the trap’s “bull pen,” where park wranglers on catwalks — silent for the media tour, but normally “yipping” and hollering — jabbed and prodded them from above, forcing them to move to desired locations and where pushed into “the Silencer.” This squeeze chute is Yellowstone’s new machine which they claim to be more humane, but tell that to the wee calf we saw who had both of her horns broken off in that “kinder, gentler” apparatus. Every buffalo put up the fight of their lives, like the warriors they are. The little calves gave extra effort to escape with tenacious determination. They would jump, buck, thrust, kick and rear up, trying everything they could to break free. But they can’t. Sometimes they would jump too far, too fast, and the squeeze chute would close on their mid section, or their horns. They were so scared and tried so hard to get out. Their tails were curled into “nines” — the most unmistakable sign that a buffalo is in serious distress.”
Please read the full eye-witness account and view the photos–the young bison with the bloody horn is especially heartbreaking. Following the account you’ll find suggestions for action you can take.
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/media/update1516/031016.html
Disgusting. It is horrible to me that humans revel their dominance so much that they are capable of these thing. Why on earth can’t they be left alone? I’m glad the bison fight them with everything they’ve got. What kind of an a*****e enjoys this kind of work, torturing wildlife? Nothing will make me happier than to see this stuff ended for good.
And when I think of all the nitwit tourists funneling through Yellowstone as tourists, stupidly taking selfies, or putting their little brats on the backs of bison for a photo, ignorantly blissful about what horrible stuff goes on behind the scenes, killing bears, wolves, bison and others, it makes me never want to visit Yellowstone again.
I can only imagine what kind of window dressing they’ve got planned for the upcoming anniversary. blech.
Yes, and so many places–both for-profit and nonprofit, not to mention the park itself–capitalize on serene and beautiful images of YNP bison in their promotional materials–where the hell are they when these atrocities take place?
It would be nice if a protest could be planned – peaceful and quietly, just holding signs of photos of the bears, bison and wolves as people go into the park during this so-called celebration. It really bothered me when a Yellowstone PR spokesperson was not firmer about visitors carrying bear spray – ‘it’s your choice’. Blech.
No doubt we’d all get arrested immediately; but the Bundys being ranchers got to do whatever they liked – crapping on Native American sacred grounds, etc.
You know, photos enlarged on big signs of the bison and wild horses being abused and cruelly rounded up, workers losing their tempers and kicking burros repeatedly, coyote contests where the dead are stacked up like cordwood, killed wolves and bears next to grinning fools. Duct tape over our mouths because we are bullied into silence would be good, too. Ag-gag and park-gag laws.
Nobody working for YNP enjoys this. Nobody, and I’ve actually taken the time to find this out by talking to them. Most of them loathe this. They can take some moral high ground position and quit, or they can keep their jobs and do them, and quietly work on ways to end this. Many of them are so far down the organizational chart that they have little hope of influencing policy, but still try. Calling them assholes and suggesting they enjoy this – you could, for once, stop removing all doubt that you are a fool and remain quiet. Focus your ire where it belongs – not at YNP employees on the ground, but at executive and legislative leaders in the state of Montana and at complicit bureaucrats in DOI and DOA taking orders from the current administration.
As to the “nitwit” tourists below, with their “little brat” kids and their “blissful” ignorance, having the nerve to visit a national park to see wildlife and wild places. Wow. Trump ain’t got much on you.
Oh you and your poor, helpless souls. Save your bullshit for someone who believes it. Nobody is working on ways to end it except for the WFC and you know it. I couldn’t care less what you think of me, and your defense of this atrocities. How long must people wait for something to be done?
Buffalo Field Campaign.
I don’t know how these people can sleep at night, I really don’t. If they really didn’t like it, they would quit. I don’t think people should rely on the YNP employees to end it, and yes, I realize that everyone in the hierarchy is complicit, but that doesn’t let the YNP peons off the hook. And don’t ever expect me to shut up.
Oh, I was remiss in not correcting one other point you (tried) to make yesterday. Of course, people should enjoy visiting the national parks and seeing wildlife. It’s part of the reason they were created (the other part being an only safe haven for wildlife and plants in an ever diminishing world).
It’s the people who disregard the park’s guidelines for their own protection and that of wildlife who are the nitwits. The park is also negligent in not being firmer in requiring certain reciprocal behaviors from the public. I for one would not want a bear to be shot because of my carelessness, or deliberate selfishness. There was a video of a father trying to put his son on the back of a buffalo for a photo op. Things like that. Bear spray should also be non-negotiable, and a hiker alone does so at his or her own risk.
The parks are not amusement parks, and increasingly I see that is the attitude from all sides, from the President and Interior Dept. on down. Guns in the parks is a ridiculous no-brainer, and that ruling should be reversed.
+1 TC
I highly doubt any YNP employees chose that career path so that they could see an iconic American species viciously slaughtered for political reasons. You can’t blame them for wanting to keep what might very well be their dream job. It’s awful, but there are millions of cows, chickens, and pigs that live in deplorable conditions their whole lives for America’s dinner plate. Would you call a single mother working at McDonald’s an asshole for serving a McChicken made from an animal that has never seen the light of day?
A coworker of mine and I wrote to Gov. Bullock asking him for a “stay of execution”. I also wrote to Superintendent Wenk, asking him to stand up for the wildlife in his park. Make your voice heard and get your friends to make theirs heard as well. It’s frustrating that this crap is still happening, but politics will remain business as usual until enough people voice their opinion.
If it’s your dream job, and you can turn a blind eye to what your dream job is supposed to be about – then your ego and selfishness is more important to you. I can’t imagine sending bison to slaughter is anybody’s dream job.
I’m a near vegetarian, so your addressing the wrong person. A single mother desperate is a bit different. However, the biologist who can’t send bison to slaughter and can only get a lesser job, at least has his dignity and self-respect.
Don’t go telling people to make their voices heard and ass-uming we don’t, because we do that.
We’d hope that people at Yellowstone and other parks are ‘trying to work within the system to make change happen’, but we don’t know if anyone really is doing that.
One more horror show running through my head at night. Wolves being shot from helicopters, judas wolves losing their entire packs, buffalo crammed into terrifying transportation cars headed to death camps, coyote killing contests, penning, bear baiting, and the general mayhem humans wreak on wildlife and animals. Disgusting.
“Pump the brakes: Stop trying to make biking in the wilderness happen” A Writers on the Range opinion appearing in this week’s Missoula Independent
http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/pump-the-brakes/Content?oid=2722737
Take a look at an old proposal to build an 18-story hotel into the Grand Canyon wall. Horror! From the HCN:
http://www.hcn.org/articles/forest-service-rejects-grand-canyon-luxury-village
“Go ahead, make my day”
Clint Eastwood is a conservative, this proves animal lovers cross all political borders. That is something to work on!
https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2016/03/10/clints-correct-about-hunting/
http://vtdigger.org/2016/03/09/olguita-sobko-coyote-killing-needs-to-stop/
a blog by a Vermonter sick of her state’s no protection, no safe haven for coyotes agenda. People, when learning of killing contests, baiting, trapping and snaring are really disgusted. Its time to reform state wildlife agencies. They are as a friend says, hunting clubs with no rules.
Just another little bit of “fallout” generated by the “gut slammer” mentality. When the blank finally hits the fan, and it will, the killing mentality of so many of these “enthusiasts” will only have themselves to blame.
http://newsdaily.com/2016/03/oregon-residents-vote-no-on-canyonlands-conservation/
I could not believe this when I heard it on the news this morning. Apparently, this is the way things are done in the modern world if you don’t like being held accountable (yes, you, Oregon, as well).
To save these elephants from the drought is the official reason. And of course, we’ve read about poor Tillicum languishing away at Sea World. Sad. Dallas, Kansas and Nebraska – I’m sure the elephants will be miserable, and I pray none of them are sickened or perish on the long trip:
US Zoos Secretly Fly 18 Elephants from Swaziland Ahead of Court Challenge
This underhanded action shows what really motivates zoos, and it isn’t elephant welfare.
For anyone interested, here’s the letter (dated last October) from “scientists, conservationists, elephant care, animal welfare and policy experts…strongly opposed to the proposed import of 18 elephants from Swaziland…” and their reasons why.
http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article41815347.ece/BINARY/Letter%20opposing%20importation%20of%20elephants%20(PDF)
Yes, surely there must be somewhere on the entire continent of Africa that these elephants could have been moved to. What a traumatic experience for them – to be home one day, and then transported halfway across the globe in a prison the next, and a bunch of strange beings poking, prodding and gawking at them. Or worse, beating them into submission when they freak out over it. How awful. I had read even the San Diego zoo ‘manages’ elephants in this way.
I hope that something can be done, return them under the best of outcomes, and the zoos penalized for this. I understand they are not first-class zoos either. 🙁
Make that 17 elephants–not 18. One died in captivity even before transport.
http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2016/03/dallas-prepares-to-welcome-5-elephants-1-fewer-than-expected.html/
Predictable. Just think of the awful trauma for him or her. 🙁 But it all is secondary to making a buck on a clueless public. I really do hope these zoos can be prosecuted, or they are driven out of business. I hope that animals rights groups are protesting.
I don’t think I have read more BS in my entire life as was in that article. I wish an necropsy could be produced in court as to what caused the poor elephant’s death, but voila! I bet it won’t be possible. But it really is only a matter of time, because the public is slowly realizing that these places are no better than the slave trade for elephants. I do hope people will boycott the exhibit.
Good news for Louisiana Black Bears. Yall come back now here!
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/140190/20160311/louisiana-black-bear-taken-off-from-us-threatened-and-endangered-species-list.htm
I was going to say, “let the hunting being” but, surprisingly, that isn’t the case:
http://theadvocate.com/news/neworleans/neworleansnews/15145621-171/louisiana-black-bear-off-endangered-species-list-but-hunters-shouldnt-expect-a-season-anytime-soon
Interestingly, the number of LA black bears (500-750) is very roughly equivalent to the Yellowstone grizzly population (700+) but the Northern Rockies states (MT, ID, WY) have already divvied up how many bears can be trophy hunted in each state–and they aren’t even delisted yet.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/states-divvy-up-yellowstone-area-grizzly-hunt/article_2a95a10e-dd25-566f-af9a-51ecaa25d755.html
‘let the hunting begin’
I’ve always loved Louisiana. I worried that hunting would start too. 🙂
Delisting? Maybe ok in some circumstances, but it shouldn’t mean an immediate hunting season.
Check out this sobering image of 2100+ dead birds–all killed by collisions with windows in Toronto:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=989651911111886&id=129598773783875
Also video of another image being created:
Good news! Some of you may recall my many posts about the Oak Flats. It is the land exchange, which was more akin to a land give away to a foreign mining company. Not only is this land a rare desert forest but it is sacred to the San Carlos Apache and the groundwater benefits all in that region of AZ. It is also a rock climber’s heaven.
AZ republican Senator McCain, along with other state representatives have long been trying to get this land. The San Carlos Apache plus many others continued their fight to save the Oak Flats and it paid off. http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/gop-congressman-furious-after-obama-thwarts-plan-to-sell-sacred-apache-land-to-foreign-mining-firm/
It’s been a good month! The Bundy’s have been corralled and charged and the Oak Flats have been saved. Last time to post these for those who weren’t familiar with what would be lost. This is about the San Carlos Apache but so much more, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiME3XWEPjU
http://www.azminingreform.org/content/great-oak-flat-land-giveaway
Saved for now!
Along the same “vein” Yvette.
http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2016/arch-coal-suspends-otter-creek-mine-project
That is fantastic, Nancy.
Wow, fantastic. Thank you, President Obama!
This is what I have always hoped for, to give back in a meaningful way – not just money or the most expedient way for the dominant culture, but the really right way. We’ve screwed everything up so badly, it may no longer be possible all the time, but when it is, Yay!! And it still can be in other places too.
Thanks for posting, Nancy and Yvette.
Good for the Apache tribespeople for their continual protest and occupation. We need another voice in the environmental movement that talks about the ‘sacred’–land and animal–till that voice is finally listened to. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/us/remote-utah-enclave-new-battleground-over-reach-of-us-control.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
I wish someone was fighting for the Tongass National Forest the same way. That same land grab relinquished 75,000 acres of the rare temperate coastal rain forest which is home to the equally rare Alexander Archipelago wolf and many other unusual species. I’ve hiked in some of BC forests and come out to clearing that had been clear cut. The shock of the devastation will stay with me forever.
I know, it seems overwhelming how much human destruction there is, impossible to keep up with – but I think of every victory.
Three Minnesota hunters fined 4K for illegal killing of wolf in Ontario.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/us-hunters-illegal-wolf-kill-1.3483270
that’s good
An interesting editorial on technology and wildlife
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/sunday-review/the-unnatural-kingdom.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0
http://wisconsingazette.com/2016/03/08/u-s-hunters-import-126000-wildlife-trophies/
Trophy hunting is vile. 126,000 animals brought back to the US by wealthy over privileged, morally bankrupt, killers.
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2016/03/14/4422650.htm
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet-11308007/?no-ist
I believe the answer is yes…but the way that question is posed (is the livestock industry destroying the planet?) takes all the responsibility off of the consumers who keep the livestock industry cranking. Those who continue to choose meat, dairy, and eggs are the biggest part of the problem now.
https://www.facebook.com/uniladmag/videos/1810388692317515/
Elective choices are as nothing compared to altering pricing. Take gas. We can ask pretty-please to use less or we can double the price. Hint: Oil companies prefer we use the individual responsibility angle.
http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/blogs/ted-nugent-blog/save-our-deer-herds
This folks is why a predator protection act is needed. The eternally nasty Nugent is not alone, people kill for fun and will continue to try and pass it off as valid “management” until enough opposition is mounted.
Is there anyone more repugnant than Ted Nugent? Oh wait Trump Trump’s Nugent or is at least evenly matched on the gross, useless and dangerous score card.
http://www.carnivoreconservationact.com
A heads up re Grizzly bears; let’s hope people pay attention:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/03/10/warning-to-visitors-yellowstone-bears-emerge-weeks-early-due-to-warm-weather/?utm_content=buffer64142&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Did anyone see this on the news? It just blew me away – talk about amazing abilities:
http://www.inquisitr.com/2875162/service-dog-saves-diabetic-boys-life-thanks-to-this-amazing-ability/
Ida – a couple of rather dated but excellent books re: amazing abilities –
The Tribe of Tigers/Elizabeth Marshall Thomas/1994
A Dog Is Listening/ Roger Caras/1992
Both books share many examples of amazing human/non human relationships/interactions when it comes to non humans, flagging their quote “owners/humans” about all sorts of concerns, dangers etc. including health issues.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/making-sense-world-sveral-senses-at-time/
“The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.” Gandhi
🙂 I’m glad that some are starting to notice the unique talents of other life on this planet, and that we are not the tops at everything, in fact pretty bad at some things.
“Obstacles include a lack of processing facilities and the need to convince the federal government to offer insurance for new crops”
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/project-to-brand-plains-provinces-states-as-protein-region/38502574
So which is it? Protein to feed the world or just more land dedicated to livestock fodder & subsidies?
PARTRIDGE, Kan.—Jim French figures Austrian winter peas provide free grazing, free nitrogen, or both:
http://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books/Managing-Cover-Crops-Profitably-3rd-Edition/Text-Version/Legume-Cover-Crops/Field-Peas
Animal ag likes to claim that it “feeds the world” but this is a ludicrous assertion. (“U.S. could feed 800 million people with grain that livestock eat, Cornell ecologist advises animal scientists”: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/1997/08/us-could-feed-800-million-people-grain-livestock-eat )
The “protein (pulse crop) region” project is really exciting, but you’re right, the deck is so stacked in favor of the status quo…and livestock interests wield such disproportionate power.
The Sweetwater, TX Jaycees just wrapped up their annual rattlesnake slaughter-fest. Science and statistics are not on their side–making it all about greed and bloodlust. And more than 25,000 people throng to it. Attendees, including children, can dip their hands in snake blood and make handprints on a white wall (see pic at link below). Snake advocates say:
“At these events, it’s common to see snakes swollen and bloody from being restrained or thrown by handlers, dead and dying snakes, snakes too weak or stressed to defend themselves, unsanitary conditions, cruelty and dangers to the public. “Rattlesnakes rattle when they are terrified, not angry or preparing to attack. … The sound of rattling at these roundups is in fact a thousand snakes screaming.”
“How to kill thousands of rattlesnakes in just four days”: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/03/12/how-to-kill-thousands-of-rattlesnakes-in-just-four-days/
Very nicely-done video–posted just 6 days ago.
Wow. Weird. I can’t watch. Are we always going to have a witch trial mentality? I can only imagine what it must have felt like to the native inhabitants when these devil-crazed invaders came ashore. The plague without end.
Here we’re trying to restore the population of native timber rattlesnakes, and already people are starting to freak out, and it is going to be on an uninhabited island. “What if they swim to the mainland?” Oh brother. 🙁
The killing contest mentality is a disease spreading nationwide. The ignorance and ability to inflict pain and suffering is mind boggling and terrifying. I know why people become enraged when they see this kind of horror. It is hard not to “hate” this, people that do these things and a system that legitimizes these behaviors by permitting such behaviors as legal. It hurts to see this, and leaves me disgusted and dismayed.
“Supporters have filed letters in support of gassing, many arguing that the roundup will be doomed without it.”
Just let the lunacy of that sentence sink in. There is truly a divide in this country between ignorance and rational thinking.
“Just let the lunacy of that sentence sink in. There is truly a divide in this country between”
+++!
I would be more afraid of some human beings than I ever would be of any rattlesnake, cobra, wolf or grizzly. *shudder*
Those photos are very bizarre and strange. The one with the smiling Texas beauty queen and cowboy among what looks to be hundreds of snakes especially. Blech.
BTW, did anyone watch CBS news over the weeked – where they called the kidnapping of the 18 young elephants in Swaziland a ‘rescue mission’? The zoo’s spokesperson cried crocodile tears (sorry crocs!) to the camera as he bemoaned what a trial it had been to get them ‘safe’ to the zoo (while the camera shows an elephant sanding in a concrete enclosure!), and Jack Hannah approves. Double blech.
Whenever I think of captive elephants, Tilicum, Blaze who was ‘euthanized’ at Yellowstone, Cecil, and all the other poor animals, I think of this song by Neko Case, People Got A Lot of Nerve. How true and sad:
Thanks for that, Ida. Here’s an interview that touches on her fascination with what can’t be tamed, and a bit farther down in the interview, empathy for animals: http://www.avclub.com/article/neko-case-24843
Awwww, thank you. 🙂
Further to TC Prof Sweat, if you are employed by and trying to make change within a corrupt system, I don’t know how much change we can reasonably expect. (If you work for PEER, my apologies).
TC seems to want to paint all who disagree with the brush of being a Donald Trump supporter – but for the record I am not, I’m voting Democrat. Haven’t decided for whom yet tho. But, I can understand why generally Americans are completely fed up with their ineffectual government.
Goodnite, all.
You really are insufferable. Try infusing any of your posts with just a bit of logic, and perhaps something within sniffing distance of a supportable argument acquainted with the facts. I did not say you were a Trump supporter. And I did not say disagreement with the government or its policies (here, the bison slaughter) were character faults. I DID say that casting broad aspersions based on ignorance (YNP employees as a__holes and sadists that enjoy torturing animals, and tourists as ignorant nitwits with children that are brats) was very Trump-like. To wit, denigrating people you do not know because they either annoy you, or to seek the approval of others. I suspect the latter as much as the former. I also said if you disagree with governmental policies at the federal or state level you might direct your ire towards those development and implementing said policies, to which you pretty much replied the people on the ground should just get new jobs. Again, exposing your ignorance – you have no idea how tight the wildlife biologist job market is, nor how long and hard most NPS folks have to work to land a position at YNP. And you claim “we do not know” if folks at YNP are trying to change policy from within. Correction – YOU do not know. Shocking, that. Now, how about if you stop misquoting me?
OK. These issues are very heated, as you realize I know. I know people are caught between a rock and a hard place in these jobs – but I see too much leaning towards one side (livestock industry demands) and not the other (restoration of damages)! That’s what really bugs me the most.
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2016/mar/14/new-report-washingtons-wolf-population-continues-grow/
WA wolf population grows by 32 percent.
Indeed, that is the official number. One pack out-migrated to ID, too, so maybe the increase was even greater than 32 percent, including those dispersers and others that likely went uncounted. Unofficial count 100-110 maybe?
WM, it appears the touchet pack in SE WA has moved into oR as well.
Bret,
Thanks for the additional out-migration information. I don’t have time to look it up. Did OR count them in their tally, or are they yet another element of undercount what is actually out there?
looks like the Walla Walla pack in OR is in same area as former Touchet pack ?
compare 18 packs, and eight breeding pairs vs suitable wolf habitat area
https://sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2014/11/Cleland_Valerie.pdf
“32% increase” means nothing
the minimum number of breeding pairs in Washington increased from five to eight – the first increase since 2011
that’s enough to cause hysteria
+
Despite their growing numbers, wolves were involved in fewer conflicts with livestock than in 2014. Martorello said the department determined wolves from four packs were responsible for killing a total of seven cattle and injuring one guard dog.
+
Under the state management plan, wolves can be removed from the state endangered species list once 15 successful breeding pairs are documented for three consecutive years among the three designated wolf-recovery regions.
” so maybe the increase was even greater than 32 percent, including those dispersers and others that likely went uncounted.”
+++
Because lone wolves are difficult to document and they account for between 10-15% of the known winter population (Mech and Boitani 2003, page 170), our minimum known estimate was multiplied by 0.125 to account for unknown lone wolves on the landscape
so, lone wolves are not uncounted – they are counted at 12.5% of population
from WA wolf conservation and mgt plan:
“Estimates of suitable habitat calculated from four of the model results (estimates from Houts 2003 not available) range from a low of about 16,900 square miles (Carroll 2007) to a high of about 41,500 square miles (Carroll et al. 2006). Maletzke’s (unpubl. data) results were about 26,700 square miles and Larsen and Ripple (2006) results were about 19,000 square miles. The average of the four models was about 26,025 square miles. Maletzke’s (unpubl. data) projection may be the most realistic because it used the parameters identified by Oakleaf et al. (2006) as the most important predictors of suitable wolf habitat, and it was able to use current WDFW GIS data layers for elk densities in the state. Both Larsen and Ripple (2006) and Carroll (2007) projected lower amounts of total suitable habitat because their results did not portray southwestern Washington as potential wolf habitat. The Carroll et al. (2006) model results were highest because they projected the Puget Sound lowlands as potential habitat. These differences in the models are likely artifacts of the parameters and GIS data layers used.”
Mareks,
Let me be clear about the accuracy of(or lack thereof) your statement. Bullshit!
Every wolf counted has been confirmed, not estimated:
Annual Survey of Wolves in Washington – 2015
“The table below shows the results of an annual survey of wolves documented in Washington in 2015. The survey confirmed the presence of at least 90 wolves in 18 wolf packs with a total of eight successful breeding pairs, reflecting the continued growth of the state’s wolf population. Wildlife managers note that the actual number of wolves in the state is likely higher than those confirmed by the survey. ”
Mareks,
The key here is wolf numbers CONFIRMED and CONFIRMED by the survey as minimum number. Every wolf counted is attributed to a pack except 1 lone wolf, also COUNTED. See table.
The full report, I gather, will not be available until after the next Commission meeting, or even as late as the end of March.
And, Mareks, once again you play fast and loose with a quote from a study of MN wolves, attributable to Mech and Boitani. Even at 12.8 percent the WA minimum is over 100.
And, there will be about another 40%+ increase in a couple months when the new pups are born.
Not to take sides, but 20% annual mortality average with 35% to 65% pup survival.
take a pill and read WA wolf 2014 annual report, Whopping Moron:
“Monitoring Techniques
The most common monitoring techniques … were used by biologists to EVALUATE pack size and reproductive success, identify pack territories, monitor movements and dispersal events, identify possible new areas of wolf activity, and mitigate conflicts with livestock in 2014.
… biologists use a combination of the above techniques to DERIVE a minimum number that is known to exist at the end of each calendar year. Thus, our estimates of total wolf numbers and reproductive success (e.g., pup production) were likely conservative and the actual number of wolves in Washington may be SLIGHTLY higher.
Because lone wolves are difficult to document and they account for between 10-15% of the known winter population (Mech and Boitani 2003, page 170), our minimum known estimate was multiplied by 0.125 to ACCOUNT for unknown lone wolves on the landscape
… If evidence collected during the most recent calendar year suggested that packs and/or breeding pairs were present on the landscape the previous year, our estimates (e.g., total number, packs, breeding pairs) will be UPDATED to reflect this new information. This means that numbers from past reports are subject to change and may differ from numbers included in the most recent annual report.”
once again you play fast and loose with a quote from a study of MN wolves, attributable to Mech and Boitani. Even at 12.8 percent the WA minimum is over 100.
+++
how many mistakes can you make in one paragraph,bozo?
and again – read at least one wolf annual report. Just one.
1) my quote was from WA wolf 2014 annual report
2) it stated that lone wolf number is accounted at 12.5%
3) in MN lone wolf number is accounted at 15%
4) Mech & Boitani have made a summary of several studies across North America (not just in MN)
Mareks,
Wait until the 2015 report is published. If the language you quote is EXACTLY as in the 2014 report, you can gloat all you want. In the meantime, the Mech Boitani reference from 2003 does not include the NRM population. Does it translate to this area – I don’t know, but believe Mech has been more liberal in his belief the uncounted wolves could be higher.
And, the wording SLIGHTLY, from the 2014 report does not, to me anyway, connote, a small number of uncounted/unconfirmed/undocumented wolves. They keep popping up undiscovered and uncounted in nearly every range. They just get counted the following year.
1)to remind one more time – you will not lecture [WA] wildlife professionals how to do wolf survey
and they account lone wolves at 12.5%
2)the increase you tend to whine about is made thanks to breeding pairs (not ‘uncounted lone wolves’)
and the number of breeding pairs in Washington increased from five to eight – the first increase since 2011
3) read at least one wolf report before open your mouth
15 pairs of breeding animals in one very large (by eastern standards constitutes recovery). That is a travesty.
Not really wildlife news (or is it?), but a good article from the LA Times that considers the Trump phenomenon. People on the GOP side are coming to the rude awakening that their leaders really do not have their best interests at heart, with the top 1% holding as much wealth as the remaining 99%, people haven’t recovered from the last recession, etc. It’s like a ‘revolution’, in a way. I’m glad others agree with what I’ve been thinking about this:
Who Created Donald Trump? The Republican Establishment Now Trying to Stop Him
Record Idaho Deer Season
https://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/media/viewNewsRelease.cfm?newsID=8106
Elk not too shabby either.
It is a better “harvest” than they have had in the distant past that so many remember as being the “good old days”.
Compare these numbers with the current ones:
http://www.wafwa.org/Documents%20and%20Settings/37/Site%20Documents/Working%20Groups/Elk%20Workshops/1984%20Edmonton%20Alberta%20Elk%20Workshop/1984%20Edmonton%20Alberta%20Elk%20Workshop/Idaho%20Elk%20Population%20Status-Depredation%20Problems.pdf
Looks like elk numbers are way up from back in the mid 1970s.
Hey Barb,
What’s Rockholm have to say about this? Probably a pack of lies.
You read my mind. I was thinking that there are those who will never admit to this and will continue to spread their poisonous rhetoric, for those who even care enough to read or hear it, and will believe it – and for politicians who will help them spread it for their own gain. Go to any web site comments section and you can see it. Number one with a bullet in comments is usually that obsessed somsai character, and (can’t face)Reality22 is usually down the line sputtering as well.
These are ridiculously high numbers, and we all know they will never be enough deer or elk. We cannot seem to be able to allow predators to have deer and elk, no matter how much we take. Nearly 70,000 deer and 28,000 elk seems like more than enough, but it won’t be. We can’t even leave roadkill for predators, or bison for the grizzlies coming out of hibernation!
The unfettered greed is appalling.
I see nothing to celebrate about these high deer and elk numbers. But for those so inclined:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/beer-recycled-water-half-moon-bay-brewing-company_us_56e88484e4b065e2e3d7c1f3?ir=Green§ion=us_green&utm_hp_ref=green
I rarely come across anything that Rockholm writes. Probably he is saying they are cooked up numbers from IDF&G.
Numbers do not lie (at least in this case). Lawsuits vs on the ground conservation, I will choose the latter every time.
http://rmefblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/hunters-tep-up-to-benefit-conservation.html
“The record national total, up almost 30 percent from the previous year, resulted from a spectacular surge in purchases of firearms and ammunition triggered by concerns over the potential of tighter firearms-related regulations”
“The windfall is welcomed by state wildlife agencies, almost all of which heavily depend on federal aid grants, often called “P-R” (Pittman-Robertson) grants, to fund wildlife-related programs.
Almost all state wildlife programs, including Texas’, are funded solely by money generated through sale of hunting licenses and the excise tax reimbursements from the Wildlife Restoration Program”
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Run-on-guns-ammo-adds-millions-to-parks-revenue-4489164.php
Total closure of coastal Coho fishery is being considered this year in Washington state.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/officials-consider-drastic-step-to-boost-coho-no-fishing-this-year/
“No matter how pristine a river, if the ocean can’t provide food, the fish won’t make it home. And conditions have been poor in the ocean for years now.”
It is dire beyond belief…and one has to wonder if it isn’t already too late.
“Human activity is pushing marine life to the brink of collapse, warned a leading international conservation group, which found that overfishing, destruction of marine habitats, and climate change has led to the loss of almost half the world’s marine mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish within a single generation.”
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/09/16/human-activity-pushing-marine-life-brink-collapse
Comment period is now open on USF&W site for grizzly delisting. Put docket #fws–r6–es–2016–0042 in the search and you can comment here http://www.regulations.gov/#!home
View comments made already here: http://www.regulations.gov/#!searchResults;rpp=25;po=0;s=fws%25E2%2580%2593r6%25E2%2580%2593es%25E2%2580%25932016%25E2%2580%25930042;dct=FR%252BPR%252BN%252BO%252BPS
View the WG&F draft for delisting here: https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/content/Wildlife/Hot%20Topics/FINAL-DRAFT-GB-Mgmt-Plan-3-15-16.pdf
Oregon’s Governor Brown signed into law the bill for state wolf delisting in the Eastern 1/3 of the state (where they are already federally delisted).
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2016/03/15/gov-brown-signs-bill-affirming-wolf-delisting/81815326/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=
I have a couple of questions:
* Are there any wolves in the Western 2/3 of the state? It seems disingenuous for the state to tout that only part of the area is being delisted.
* When does hunting start?
* What steps are being taken to help those who can’t distinguish between wolves and coyotes? Update of eye exams such as for a drivers license, pocket flash cards, etc.
Ida, the Rouge and Keno pack are in western OR.
ODFW has a wolf/coyote identification characteristics chart on their website.
Ida perhaps you can find some answers here:
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/specific_wolf_info_west_zone.asp
Thanks Barb. It’s also good to see the wildlife advocate groups being included.
There is a wolf plan review panel meeting on Friday, 3/18/2016 in Salem OR.
Wolf Plan Review Guest Panels:
Invited Guests Panel Number 1
Cascadia Wildlands
Center for Biological Diversity
Defenders of Wildlife
Oregon Wild
Invited Guests Panel Number 2
Oregon Cattlemen’s Association
Oregon Farm Bureau
Oregon Hunters Association
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/agency/commission/minutes/16/03_march/index.asp
Isle Royale wolf future update with narrowed EIS Scoping letter, from the National Park Service (or why is this taking so friggn’ long to make a decision?):
Dear Friend of Isle Royale,
Last year the National Park Service (NPS) began considering a broad range of management actions as part of determining how to manage the moose and wolf populations at Isle Royale National Park for at least the next 20 years. Following public comments and additional internal deliberations, the NPS has determined that it will revise and narrow the scope of the EIS to focus on the question of whether to bring wolves to Isle Royale National Park in the near term, and if so, how to do so.
Revised preliminary draft alternative concepts have been included in a public scoping newsletter, which is available online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/ISROwolves. As a result of the revised scope, the NPS is offering an additional public comment period that will close 30 days after an amended notice of intent is published in the Federal Register. All comments already submitted have been posted online, however, we welcome additional input at this time. If you would like to submit additional comments for consideration, you must submit written comments online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/ISROwolves or mail or hand deliver them to the park.
Sincerely,
Phyllis Green
“broad range” is not true. My suggestion to reintroduce woodland caribou and lynx was not even on their map.
I like that one. Are there any surviving populations of woodland caribou left in the US?
A good read Helen –
“Jim Peek, a professor emeritus of wildlife resources at the University of Idaho, is hopeful that the decline of logging over the last generation will set the caribou habitat up for a natural resurgence. As cut forests thicken up, deer move out, taking the predators with them.
But Peek says the burden falls on people to make sure the habitat survives.
“If the habitat’s there and we’ve done our job … and [the caribou] still blink out, I’ll feel like we did our best under the circumstances.
“If they vanish without any help, I think it’s very serious. We’re just too damn selfish.”
http://www.inlander.com/spokane/the-last-of-the-herd/Content?oid=2137991
Here’s quite a detailed report on Oregon’s wolves from about a year ago. It does show the Rogue and Keno packs on the west side, but the majority of the state’s wolves are on the East, next to that wolf-hostile state of Idaho. How does the state plan to protect them there? I hope OR-7 will be protected, because these people won’t care and perhaps will target him. Somebody posts a photo of a collared wolf and sent it to Wolf Patrol, before I get accused of having trust issues with hunters. 🙂
As far as telling the difference between a wolf and a coyote, you really can’t miss that big honking collar around the wolves’ necks, which is why I suggested eye-exams for the legally blind.
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2015/03/14/wolves-come-western-oregon/24781001/
Here’s some more info on Isle Royale:
With Only Two Wolves on Isle Royale, National Park Service Eyes Importing Animals
They won’t have to ‘import’ from very far at least. Only Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Instead of wasting animal life by killing them, help them re-establish, and provide a means to migrate so that this isolated population doesn’t happen again.
We plan to make a big refrigeration system to freeze Superior every winter, though some radicals have called for a boardwalk.
🙂 Yes, I was thinking an ice bridge or since the Lakes are dredged anyway, a sandbar. Maybe Nature will take care of it naturally.
http://siberiantimes.com/ecology/casestudy/news/n0614-new-insurance-scheme-offers-compensation-for-big-cat-attacks/
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/seaworld-current-orcas-at-parks-will-be-last/38558524
“The forever war
Wildlife Services has been researching nonlethal means to protect livestock for decades. So why is the federal agency still killing so many carnivores?”
This week’s Missoula Independent, alt. weekly:
http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/the-forever-war/Content?oid=2733262&showFullText=true
Great article Kathleen. I learned more about Wildlife Services than all of the other articles I’ve read during the past 5 years.
Considering the ranching community funds the agency more than the federal government, human nature to stay with using the same lethal controls and having a “body count” makes sense why over 60,000 coyotes were killed in 2014. The argument to increase funding for Wildlife Services to decrease lethal removals is an interesting paradox too.
YAY! Obama Administration Cancels Energy Lease in Badger-Two Medicine–BLM concluded the Solenex lease violated National Environmental Policy Act, National Historical Preservation Act
http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/03/17/u-s-interior-cancels-energy-lease-badger-two-medicine/
Buffalo Field Campaign video from the recent media tour provided by Yellowstone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs30xrIWCaI#t=239
Good news for people looking to avoid GMO as much as possible:
“Senate blocks anti-GMO-labeling bill”
Excerpt: “Certain legislators opposed the bill outright #&0151; organic farmer Senator Jon Tester (MT) unsurprisingly tells the New York Times it’s “bad, bad, bad policy””
http://www.grubstreet.com/2016/03/senate-voting-gmo-labeling.html
organic farmer but sleazy politician that put wolves back in the cross hairs and eliminated judicial review of the agency’s rule. I don’t appreciate any legislation that blocks the role of the courts.
Stats for Idaho’s wolf “management” program as of 3/11/16:
https://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/hunt/?getPage=121
Doesn’t include Wildlife Services’s control actions.
Solicitation for scoping comments on EIS Copper Project and Land Exchange
“Dear Interested Public:
On March 18, 2016, the Tonto National Forest issued a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Resolution Copper Project and Land Exchange. The EIS will analyze the environmental effects of: 1) a mining proposal submitted to the Tonto National Forest by Resolution Copper Mining, LLC; 2) the exchange of 2,422 acres of federal land near Oak Flat for 5,344 acres of privately held land elsewhere in Arizona; and 3) any necessary amendments to the Tonto National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan.
The Tonto National Forest is seeking comments from the public to help in determining the scope of the environmental analysis. The 60-day scoping comment period will last from March 18 to May 17, 2016.
How to Submit Comments:
Submit a comment at http://www.ResolutionMineEIS.us
Email written comments to: comments@ResolutionMineEIS.us
Send written comments via postal mail to: Resolution EIS Comments, P.O. Box 34468, Phoenix, AZ 85067-4468
Send fax or voicemail to 866-546-5718
Attend an open house public meeting
The open house meetings will be held from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. with a formal presentation at 5:30 p.m., followed by a brief question and answer session.
March 31, 2016, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. Queen Valley Recreation Hall, 1478 East Queen Valley Drive, Queen Valley, Arizona.
April 4, 2016, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. Superior High School, Multi-purpose room, 100 Mary Drive, Superior, Arizona.
April 5, 2016, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. Elks Lodge, 1775 East Maple Street, Globe, Arizona.
April 6, 2016, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. Southwest Regional Library, 775 North Greenfield Road, Gilbert, Arizona.
I have attached an information handout that provides general information regarding the project. For additional project details, please visit http://www.ResolutionMineEIS.us or contact Mark Nelson, Tonto National Forest, 602-225-5222.
Sincerely,
NEIL BOSWORTH
Forest Supervisor”
Resolution Copper EIS_Information Handout.pdf
FYI everyone, please pass it on 🙂
https://www.earthhour.org/celebrating-earth-hour
Do we have the will to make it happen?
https://www.change.org/p/susana-martinez-ban-snare-trapping-on-our-public-lands?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=544232&alert_id=vBZctMtUzz_Dx4A1rZY5P1VBubSwkLvBQDT%2FSVQMLc5CNpIefXLxv4%3D
anti trapping petition related to NM cougars please share widely
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/News/Chinese-jailed-30-years-for-slaughter-of-226-elephants-/-/1840340/3123746/-/ca8766z/-/index.html
responsible for killing a quarter of all elephants in four year period. In jail for 30 years or must pay billions in fines.
Oh Idaho….
http://magicvalley.com/lifestyles/recreation/landers-pet-dogs-caught-up-in-idaho-s-wolf-control/article_3fba77aa-17f1-54c8-af3a-f5b3208835f9.html
How much of this “take over” of federal lands can we sit still for? Trapping is a commercial activity conducted on federal land (USFS,BLM). When trapping is ongoing it effectually limits other uses by restricting recreation for fear of damage to pets or children. These federal agencies have strong standing in regulating the use of federal forests for commercial use. They do it for movie production, timber, mining and other uses, why ignore commercial trapping? Trapping operations are not confined to a certain area but are widespread across the federal land and have the one intent, to kill or maim. Even other commercial uses do not have that intent. Federal agencies should require a full evaluation according to law re the impact of all commercial activities including trapping. That is a free reign commercial enterprise on my federal land and I’m sick of it.
Larry, why trapping isn’t going away anytime soon. Humming this song as I read this article “I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and bright”
The fur industry has figured out how to kiss the fashion industry’s butt, big time.
http://jezebel.com/5946371/fur-is-back-big-time—heres-why
Interesting article as I thought that Russia and China were the main countries fueling the trapping industry.
Larry, because the states control their own wildlife, they make the trapping rules, not the feds. Some states, like CA, have recently banned bobcat trapping while my state, WY, has no quota on bobcats, just a season.
Besides that trapping is cruel and I do not support it at all, it incenses me that we are selling our wildlife for profit. Deer, elk, sheep…you are not allowed to go out, hunt, and then sell your meat. That is a big no-no. But predators, fur-bearing animals, that’s o.k. to make a profit on.
Those comments don’t do much to change the image of the fashion-conscious as having brains or empathy. Spoiled, amoral wenches indeed. One just wants to look edgy. Just go out wearing a signboard covered with the bloody photos, that ought to do it.
🙁
I don’t know why the petroleum pollution argument even comes up – wasting animal life and pollution aren’t the same thing. People seem to lump animal rights and animal welfare and anything to do with ‘green’ and ecology into the same bucket. They’re under the same heading but different. And today, animals hardly sustainable. I hate this groupthink, and that people can’t think for themselves. It’s a good thing that most people cannot afford it, and truly it does make a person look selfish and uncaring, and socially unaware. It really does feel like a social setback for women (who mostly wear it) at least, and fur doesn’t and never will again have the cachet it had many years ago. Ostentatious displays of wealth are unappealing in today’s world, and it can look extremely cheap too.
I do think that if these people absolutely must have it, your grandmother’s vintage coat is the way to go, and her vintage jewels too. Classier and there’s no need to kill an animal, steal their fur and then die it an absurd, unnatural color! But it might increase demand, IDK. 🙁
oops, that should read, ‘and today, killing animals is hardly sustainable’. Raising animals for in deplorable, cheapest way possible conditions ought to dissuade anyone from buying, and might even make a lot of people ill.
This should debunk a lot of that pollution propaganda.
“fight off decay… cycle of decay.” Of course those same claims of inevitable decay and pollution can be made for many manufactured products – from the shoes and clothes you wear (regardless of what they are made of), to the finish on your dining table, to the computer and peripherals used to type the words that appear on this forum.
Amazing how one can disaggregate an issue like pollution propaganda. And, let’s not forget everything is subject to a rule of physics – something about objects moving to higher states of entropy (disorder), if I recall correctly.
So, that takes us back to the moral and cruelty arguments which appear to be more defensible.
“This should debunk a lot of that pollution propaganda.”
This is also true of leather. Check out the horrifying pictures and videos (2) of tannery workers who provide the world’s leather.
Excerpt: “As long as the first world continues to export these sorts of dangerous jobs to impoverished and easily-exploited developing nations, our desire for affordable plush leather will carry a steep price—paid in human suffering.”
http://gizmodo.com/how-leather-is-slowly-killing-the-people-and-places-tha-1572678618
A life preserver of good news thrown from the Humane Society (as usual), just when needed:
Armani Goes Fur Free
Ida Lupines,
Quite true, states are the regulators of trapping seasons, regs and such. But first we have to acknowledge that trapping is a commercial activity on federally owned land (USFS, BLM, USFWS). Try to do most any other commercial activity such as filming (commercials, documentaries or other for commercial gain) and your activity is subject to several federal provisions that are in place to safeguard those federal lands/resources from damage (NEPA, ESA and others). Trapping again gets a free pass with no oversight as to the impact it has on federally controlled natural resources. Just with regard to the ESA, the incidental take of an endangered species is itself a crime without an incidental take permit. It goes further, the imbalance of prey, ESA species that are “worried” or “harassed” through the commercial trapping operation constitutes a crime. My point is: (a) trapping is commercial, (b) trapping is indiscriminant, (c) there has not been a study done or an evaluation as to the effects on the federal lands or the federally protected species/resources (migratory birds included) as a result of the commercial enterprise known as trapping. What’s good for Jeep and their off-road filming for commercials is good for lynx, and the watersheds of our national lands. NEPA and the like are required by law.
Hear, Hear!
http://www.adn.com/article/20160317/alaska-seabird-die-takes-strange-turn-carcasses-found-freshwater-lake
6000+ murres found dead in lake, possibly looking for food. And humans mining krill for pet food and fertilizer.
I worry about environmental issues for Cuba once $$$ can be made. The President is accompanied by an army of CEOs. More modern-day colonialism. I’d love to visit Cuba, some of the old architecture is gorgeous. I like to enjoy a country for its own unique character, not the comforts of home: 🙁
Cuba Has An Ambitious Plan to Protect Its Environment From Tourists
http://siberiantimes.com/business/profile/features/f220-air-route-to-a-dream-vacation-as-siberia-offers-you-its-glittering-travel-jewels/
My goodness, it’s like a fantasyland. Look at that beautiful dress, and some of the jewel-like photographs.
The last time I looked those tickets were almost $2000 round trip from Anchorage. It is on my bucket list.
++American Martha Madsen – from Homer, Alaska – owns the Explore Kamchatka Guest House, and has lived on the peninsula for 21 years. In 2000, she opened an Alaskan business, Explore Kamchatka. ‘We like to help make amazing ideas possible,’ she said.++
I have talked with Martha and if one wants to go she is the one to deal with.
And they are flying Boeing 737’s, the safest commercial aircraft in the world based on fewest accidents/airmile flown. And this recent Russian 737 crash last week can’t be blamed on a faulty aircraft – landing in exceedingly windy conditions where they probably should not have tried.
Wolf pack SE of Jackson Hole are killing 500 pound calves and are paying the price.
Mike Jimenez of the USFWS has been on the front line of protecting wolves for over 20 years in this region and when he says it’s time to take action, I’m satisfied. It’s amazing that commenters sitting at a computer know more on the ground information and how to properly react than folks like Mike.
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/wolves-kill-yearlings-get-killed-themselves/article_3c26a960-a6e8-5e86-8fe8-a08282129e21.html?_dc=758993810698.3312
Gary,
I agree wholeheartedly with your summation of Mike Jiminez. To anyone who thinks differently, please at least read Rick Bass’s The Ninemile Wolves.
Also depredations in this case have occurred on Private land. Though I do not care for the use of “Judas Wolves”, at least in this case,
“Using location information from a tracking collar fitted on one pack member, Wildlife Services shot the wolves aerially — most recently when they were actually among cows in a pasture.”
I’m not satisfied Gary, although I have the utmost respect for Mike Jimenez and his history as a champion for wolf reintroduction.
16 strong and this pack wasn’t “detected” until 2014?
These comments by Jimenez stand out:
“Nonlethal techniques in the Hoback Basin were not attempted to try to get the canines and cows to play nice, Jimenez said”
Why were they not attempted? Could it have made a difference?
Techniques like using riders to keep an eye on livestock or guard dogs to protect them were not practical because of the large size of the pasture where the conflict was occurring, Jimenez said. He did not name the ranch involved”
Trying to wrap my mind around “were not practical” and the “large size” of the pasture involved, given these were yearlings (kids) and everyone of them, worth about a grand ($$) or more on the livestock market today.
“It’s amazing that commenters sitting at a computer know more on the ground information and how to properly react than folks like Mike”
I live IN ranching country Gary, so I’m not just “sitting on a computer” weighing in.
Had low flying planes, twice, in my valley last week. According to a local wildlife biologist they were they because:
“Wildlife Services was in pursuit of wolves that hit a local ranch the week before. It is a necessary component of the management of wolves that offenders be removed”
A wolf (or wolves) took a newborn calf. On property that for years, was steppe sagebrush and part of, from what I can gather, nothing more than an area for cattle to go and come from – associated land amongst a couple of ranchers. And FYI, the land is right next to a contained calving operation area.
Lights, night time calving attention (folks coming and going) and no one heard mother cows announcing a predator in their mist, just yards away?
The price of beef today, has a lot of ranchers increasing their herds and they’ve got to put them someplace (on those large pastures, they may or not, have garnished a few bucks from – keeping the land under sagebrush – for government payments in the past) juggle them around a bit more and pay less and less attention, because an extra hand or two (while needed) might make a dent in profits.
With regard to “the amazing commenters sitting at a computer” and with due respect for USFWS Jimenez, count me in the above category for now because I honor the line in the sand, “Thus far and no further”. For the same reason I don’t shoot pileated woodpeckers that hammer on my soffit during the nesting season. Lazy people shoot first and scoff at the nonlethal methods later. Is no one capable of thinking like a wolf? There is no crime in trying to survive.
Larry, fully agree. laziness is the only excuse. Here is a new arsenal in Defenders toolkit for ranchers. Looks promising–from Africa. http://www.eshepherd.biz/index.html
Who pays for it? Not a loaded question, but an introduction to discussion on the topic, with the proviso that it actually works on both sheep and cattle.
Immer This was from the Defenders blog so I assume it is a new addition to their experimental arsenal that they are using in specific situations in ID where they work with ranchers.
If they can prove that it works, then it could be another tool ranchers could use.
Leslie,
I’ve got no problem with the devices, but when the matter of expenditure comes along, and it will (providing they work) the issue of money will arise.
I’m neither a fan nor antagonist of ranching, but the bottom line for many is money.i don’t want the government paying for it, the ranchers won’t want to pay for it, and as one who advocates for wolves, it’s time to pony up.
That Montana wolf stamp resonates in the not so distant past.
The only good thing about it is that is underscores the fact that adequate remedies for livestock depredation exist and are already in place, such as collaring packs so their every move is known – so that wolves should not need further interference such as delisting and hunting seasons in WY, and that Joe Schmoe, who doesn’t know his butt from a coyote, should not need to be involved.
Although it is disappointing that the effort was referred to as ‘taking them out’; a rather poor choice of words (not very scientific), and Wildlife Services’ activities are still on the sly. I really don’t believe a word they distribute.
Does anybody watch their valuable calves or do we not feel we have to anymore?
BLM ranger arrested in Utah (Grand Staircase) for a casual discussion in the office where he mentioned IEDs (he’s a veteran)–and was arrested the next morning by Garfield County deputy sheriffs for having made a threat. More of the ‘locals vs. Feds’ land management controversy.
The Independent (“a voice for Utah”): http://suindependent.com/jeff-ellison-blm-ranger/
and High Country News: http://www.hcn.org/articles/blm-ranger-jailed-escalante-ellison-utah-sheriff?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=56efce9204d30130ff8f1d3f&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
Boy, this stuff just pisses me off. These local yokels really don’t get it. Here’s hoping for a massive “die off” of that generation of idiots.
But fact is, local yokels tend to stick together, Ida.
“I have been friends with the Ryan family for about 10 years now,” said Plains resident Briaunna Lacey. “They are an incredible family and I stand by them 100 percent.
She says she doesn’t envision a peaceful end.
I think Jake should stay strong and stand up for himself instead of turning himself in peacefully,” she said. “I think everyone here would protect him.”
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/eyes-on-plains-as-fbi-seeks-man-facing-charges-for-oregon-standoff/38648394
Article in Oregon Public Broadcast News on BLM and grazing leases:
http://earthfix.info/news/article/backlog-grows-for-rangelands/
The ultimate solution to this disgusting practice is to allow more areas for bison to migrate, but in the immediate future my hope is more bison can be quarantined and then transferred to Indian tribes and other areas of their historic habitat.
You can e-mail Rick and let him know your thoughts.
https://www.yellowstonereports.com/report.php?cid=4474
Cheer for the home team!
🙂 It’s not often there’s anything to cheer about for the home team.
Perhaps this was posted somewhere else already…
Photos: Estimated $4 million in damage at Malheur Refuge following militia occupation
http://missoulian.com/photos-estimated-million-in-damage-at-malheur-refuge-following-militia/collection_89fd3f8b-5d2d-5a70-bbd6-660e948962bd.html
Wow. And the Interior Dept. and Director of USF&W adding insult to injury, as usual. Can’t wait till they are out of office. Hopefully they can ‘leave early for other opportunities’ like Ken Salazar did, and we can’t have hope with a new regime.
Why can’t the Bundys at least pay some, if not all, of the damages?
oops, that should read ‘we can have hope with a new regime’. Sally Jewell is like the Stealth Interior Secretary these last months anyway – does anyone know what she’s been doing besides screwing up the sage grouse protections and trying to sell it to the public, continually talking about getting kids into our National Parks, and making a show of picking up trash on beaches (that really should be a given for everyone)? We really expected more from a Secretary of the Interior.
WTF?
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/japanese-fleet-returns-with-quota-of-333-whales-in-antarctic/ar-BBqRV9W?li=BBnbfcL
“Research”…oh, and the fact that whale meat is lucrative.
“…makes no secret of the fact that whale meat ends up on dinner tables and is served up in school lunches.” -ALSO- “Some experts say that Japan’s refusal to give up the Antarctic mission despite censure by the international court is largely due to a small group of powerful politicians.”
http://news.discovery.com/animals/whales-dolphins/japan-fleet-kills-333-whales-in-antarctic-hunt-160324.htm?platform=hootsuite
Adding injury to injury, over 200 were pregnant.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160325-Japan-whaling-minke-whales-Antarctica/
Nineteen elk in one night.
http://www.kxlf.com/story/31562121/wyoming-wolves-kill-19-elk-in-suspected-surplus-killing?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_KXLF_Butte
Sad. Question(s): why haul them into one group? One might think that the wolves will come back to feed, unless damage was minimal enough for elk to be contributed to food banks…just asking.
Then again, fodder for the next Jim Beers “The world is coming to an end because of wolves essay”.
Nineteen elk killed in one night by wolves; Oh Hum, yawn…. Another human caused mortality that we immediately blame on wolves. Human caused? Yes. How can we create a buffet of elk, (concentrated feeding ground) and then blame wolves (or any carnivore) from exercising their inherent ability to earn a living? Shame on us for creating an ecological sacrifice area which a feeding ground is and then blame wolves for helping themselves to dinner. Go back to the fact that wolves are the ecological police that have been created over millennial to correct what tries to undermine a healthy ecosystem (too many ungulates in any given part of the ecosystem). In these situations most people can’t see the “forest for the elk”. Hunters greed gets in the way. For those that cry out to stop this outrageous killing, enough, stop. Go work on something useful, like plate tectonics.
+1
I really can’t believe that these old tales are still with us in the 21st century! Where is all of this taking place, Wyoming? Where wolves are protected? And where coincidentally we artificially feed elk despite scientific questions about disease spreading. Perhaps it was a good thing the wolves took possibly sick elk? Says it all I think, a smear campaign to get them delisted, when the end run of a rider was an EPIC FAIL.
USA TODAY picked up the story too:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/03/25/wolves-kill-19-elk-suspected-surplus-killing/82249160/
Well, it is enough to get WY hunters/ranchers and legislators in a huff – surplus killing is surplus killing for the purpose of headlines. And that is what counts in the end.
As for rounding up carcasses, is that some sort of teaching moment for wolves engaged in this behavior, or to make a point of the perceived scale of the event? All but two were young of the previous year, it appears, yearling calves.
Would not be a bit surprised if 3S activities in WY increase.
Will WFG thru their WS consultants in the helicopters thump the more senior members of the responsible wolf pack? Will WY get its delisting wish along with MI, WI and MN when the Congressional types show their contemporaries the gorey photos? I think this will be playing in DC for awhile, as a federal trial court judge’s ruling on delisting gets a look by an appeals court.
“Well, it is enough to get WY hunters/ranchers and legislators in a huff – surplus killing is surplus killing for the purpose of headlines. And that is what counts in the end”
What mankind is capable of: (happens too often)
“The same thing happened up there last year, the last day of the season,” Hoppe said. “There’s a herd bunched together, and people just kinda lose sense of what hunting’s all about. Bad things start happening left and right. They leave cripples all over; it’s all those cripples that really bothers me.”
http://www.bozeman-magpie.com/thebigmt-full-article.php?article_id=164
C’mon Nancy, that’s old news, it doesn’t matter. Isn’t it better to just anthropomorphize.
Nancy,
With so many elk calves taken (smaller/less experienced with danger to self), it certainly give weight to one of the arguments that wolves don’t always JUST take the sick or the injured. I’ve called bullshit on that assertion many times here. And, that is the one that will resonate with those who oppose larger numbers of wolves.
“Do wolves really attack their prey just for the fun of it?
No. When they kill more than they can eat in one sitting, the pack usually comes back for second helpings.
Wolves achieve a very low yield on hunting expeditions in the wild; somewhere between 4 percent and 8 percent of their attacks are successful. (Lions, by contrast, manage a kill rate of 27 percent or more when they hunt in groups.)
Consequently, wolves are opportunistic hunters.
****If the chance to kill prey en masse presents itself, they have been known to go after more than they can consume. But they’re rarely wasteful. Hungry wolves are not above scavenging, and they often return to their kill—or another animals’—days later.
Mass kills are rare. Most of a wolf’s favorite prey species—ungulates like deer, elk, moose, and caribou—can mortally wound their attackers with one swift kick, so wolves tend to focus on the most vulnerable individuals.
It isn’t often that a lucky wolf pack happens upon an entire herd of young, sick, or elderly prey. (It does happen, though. When elk transition from winter to spring diets—from woody vegetation to fresh green shoots—they go through a period of weakness and lethargy” OR……when they gather in masse at feeding stations?
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/11/do_wolves_kill_for_sport.html
This 19 In One Night incident is a sterling example of why Wyoming needs to get rid of the feedgrounds. And so much more.
I’ve been telling folks that this was not a ” waste kill” , a “thrill kill” , or a ” surplus kill”. It was wolves having a night out for a family dinner, and they knew just where to go…that 24/7 smorgasbord where the easy meat can be had. Except that didn’t really get the chance to eat. Now that ur brilliant Game & Fish managers have messed with the carcasses, lined ’em out, left tracks and human scent all aorund, the wolves won’t likely come back to finish what they started. I have no idea what will be done with the carcasses, but I look at that line and see coyotes, raven, eagles, magpies , crows and everything else down to microbes finishing the process of adding positive energy to the ecosystem over the objections and outrages of the Stockgrowers, the Outfitters, and the Inflamed Ignoramuses.
When Chronic Wasting Disease finally does march into the 17 feedgrounds in western Wyoming, EVERYONE will wish there were a lot more wolves handy to mitigate the spread of CWD. If they have theirs heads on straight, and passed their 7th grade biology class with a better than C+ grade.
This is a teachable moment, folks. Predator-Prey Relationship. Biology 101 field study
+ 10 CC.
http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2010/04/28/wolves-make-few-unnecessary-elk-kills-study-says/ This brought back memories.
WM,
In a sense, you just contradicted yourself. As JB has mentioned countless times, “wolves are coursing predators”, and though they will take large, seemingly robustly healthy prey, they will target the more compromised, whether it be older, sick, injured, or as you just pointed out “smaller/less experienced to danger to self.”
Pitching chum over the stern in this case, on this site, is rather unwarranted.
nature,if left alone,wastes nothing
Immer,
Indeed, wolves are opportunist. My point was that there are those on this very forum that totally ignore that wolves get young of the year, which other than being young are not sick, injured or somehow genetically inferior. This pack of wolves clearly targeted calves (17 of 19 were calves according to the article, and it appears such in the photos). And I certainly acknowledge that calves might be more wary, or less the object of the surplus killing if they might have been in the presence of wolves more often since birth, or away from a feeding ground.
My point as stated in my post was that calves were almost exclusively targeted- and that is what will resonate with the anti crowd and even some of us in the middle. Makes no difference if they are among the more vulnerable to opportunist wolves because of their relative stature in the prey community – albeit maybe temporarily.
I always go back to a statement behavioral ecologist Professor Dale Lott made when observing wolves go after a bison calf. It appeared to him the calf was fine in every respect, except that it was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Another aspect to consider is that elk calves are usually most vulnerable in the first few weeks of life, and then much less so as they are pretty fast on their feet and can escape with mom or the herd. This, surplus, killing of 17 seems to dispel the universality of that statement, especially if involving a feeding ground. Was deep snow involved here, fencing or other factors, as well as not appreciating the risk to self?
I hope an analysis is done on the circumstances surrounding this incident. And, back to your point about chum over the stern. That was not my intent.
WM,
Just curious but what evidence do you base your assertion on that some who post on this site ignore the fact that wolves take calves? It seems that ones that participte here are a fairly educated, reasonable bunch who understand the reality of the wolf/prey relationship, and don’t subscribe to the “only old and sick” narrative.
WM,
Your follow up comment is spot on, though I feel few on this forum think wolves only prey upon the sick/injured.
Your question of deep snow, fencing are highly relevant. I’d also be interested if yearlings killed were evenly distributed between genders.
White tail does around here will keep their doe fawns with them for a long time, not so much the young bucks.
Just like a 6-month foal can’t outrun its mother, a calf is not going to outrun a healthy adult elk. Factor in inexperience to escaping predators, and there’s your “disadvantaged” age class.
These calves are closer to a year old – about 10-11 months. WY birth dates are typically mid May- mid June. Median is May 31 based on recent vaginal implant transmitter study research (Barbknecht, Andrea Ellen, “Ecology of elk parturition across winter feeding opportunities in the brucellosis endemic area of
Wyoming” (2008). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. Paper 14930.).
No doubt a bit slower than Mom at 10 months (but not as smart), but not easy for a wolf to catch unless other factors are in play, I would submit. That is precisely why most wolf killed calves are neo-natals within the first few weeks.
Again, I hope somebody with the right credentials studies this incident and objectively reports on it, as well as prognosticates on the likelihood of it happening again at feeding grounds.
I could see the same thing in a few years in WA and OR as wolf populations grow and expand. I guarantee if it happens at the Oak Creek Range in WA copious amounts of shit will hit the fan with great velocity and wolves won’t be welcome on the east side of the Cascades. Tolerance will go to near zero in Eastern WA.
I just emailed the article on the surplus killing to a friend who passed up legally killing a wolf during elk season last year. He just opined that he might change his mind if presented an opportunity next year. Not that he wants a wolf for any reason, but he now vividly connects the link between future elk populations and wolf nutritional needs.
_________
Jeff N.,
It is relatively rare,but I have seen it in posts here, and more disturbingly in wolf advocacy pieces by some conservation groups – they emphasize the weak/old/injured and sometimes just completely omit the young (I guess it is convenient include them in the “weak” category without further acknowledgement). And that is why, on occasion, I am compelled to call bullshit. See Yellowstone study referenced by Jay above.
Oops. Study Jay cites BELOW.
WM–I should have been more specific–my point is that even 10-month calves are still not physically comparable to healthy adults to avoid predation (either through escape, or fending off predators).
Also, I don’t think your statement that wolf predation on calves is mostly restricted to neonates; data from IDFG shows that calf predation on 6-month or older calves is greatest by wolves, followed by lions.
http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/docs/fgNews/2010aug.pdf
That should say “also, I don’t think your statement that wolf predation on calves is mostly restricted to neonates” is entirely true…
“wolves don’t always JUST take the sick or the injured. I’ve called bullshit on that assertion many times here. ”
Straw man. Nobody with a lick of sense says that. I see you and raise you one “I call bullshit on the assertion that wolves will extirpate white-tails in upper MI”.
Calves make up what, 20-30% of a population, and yet this incident was nearly 100% predation on calves. So how does that not illustrate wolves are very selective for disadvantaged prey (very young, old, sick or weak)?
Jay,
What you say is true – but again it is the VERY young. One of my points was that some here, and many wolf advocates elsewhere, will focus on the weak/old/injured that wolves take, without even mentioning the very healthy/very young they also take, or in this perhaps unique instance the young which almost make it to recruitment age (1 year old).
So, did they already work their way thru the available weak/injured/old, and nothing else was left except to target an entire group at the next higher tier of fitness (less 2 of 19)?
The graph on page 1075 illustrates how strong selection is by wolves on elk: http://www.cfr.washington.edu/classes.esrm.450/Wright2006.pdf
Jay,
Nice graph that supports the premise postulated long ago on Isle Royale of targeted prey population age cohort.
Might of been posted?
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/24/oregon-wildlife-refuge-damage-photos-militia-standoff
Eel grass making a comeback in Hood Canal. I think it would be cool to take a kayak out over one of these underwater meadows.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/local/eelgrass-shows-surprising-recovery-in-hood-canal-2ebeedf5-4f61-4a02-e053-0100007f1823-373303471.html
Was this posted?
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/Rescue-helicopter-captures-rare-wolf-footage/38678604
Can just imagine, some/many? elk, head/big game hunters gashing their knuckles, as they viewed that footage.
A meal for a pack of wolves but I’d guess outrage, in the hunting community?
And then the killing of 19 elk:
“This is a rare event. A lot of people call it surplus killing,” said Lund. “It has been observed on other occasions, just not very often. This was one of those events. Several wolves came in over one night and killed 19 elk. Normally one or two elk a night here and there is no big deal, but 19 in one night is fairly rare.”
Lund said that he suspects that he knows which pack of wolves killed the elk.
“The one [pack] that has been hitting this feedground as far as we can tell is called the Rim Pack. I think there are nine wolves in that pack,” said Lund”
Game farming elk comes to mind – feeding stations for the benefit of elk hunters, and economy in this area?
But fact is “several” other hunters of different species (wolves, lions, bears, on down the line) also native to the west, gathered to take advantage of surplus and have for centuries, till our species started to “manage” how the planet should be in “our likeness”
https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=ie7&q=+&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7TSNF&gws_rd=ssl#q=+defination+of+in+our+likeness
Not to mention all that religious crap about animals/other species being here for the “benefit of mankind 🙂
“Not to mention all that religious crap about animals/other species being here for the “benefit of mankind”
Big bingo!
For those of you experiencing a bit of cabin fever, or perhaps looking for a new read, hot off the press
http://www.carterniemeyer.com/
Wolf Land
thx a bunch Immer!
Probably not a good introduction as there is a reason why certain species are native to certain areas.
http://wildlife.org/nonnative-mountain-goats-expanding-in-yellowstone/
Gary – a good read on mountain goats:
http://eol.org/pages/328659/details
Idaho moose tick problems
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2016/mar/22/tick-infestation-can-make-moose-look-ghostly-gray/
Something I have always wondered about. With all the manhandling F&W types do with wolves, bison, wild horses, elk, deer, big horn sheep and mountain goats – can’t moose be treated for flea and ticks with the many types of repellent that are around? They do collar moose calves (at the risk of abandonment by their mothers) so I have always wondered why they can’t treat for fleas and ticks, or give innoculations? With all the interfereing we do, a hands off approach might be received with a little skepticism, to say the least.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/27/bison-coming-home-to-montana-indian-reservation.html
Damn, there bring in sum mere furiniers. I betcha these are 60 tims mere bigger an meaner then our native populatins.
There’s been a lot of talk about the wolfpack that took down 19 elk ( mostly yearling calves) at a State of Wyoming feedground near Bondurant last week.
It might be helpful for folks to watch this 24-minute interview with Yellowstone Park’s head wolf biologist Dr. Doug Smith on YouTube. He addresses a LOT of issues surrounding wolves, including the myth vs. reality of so-called ” thrill kills ” or ” surplus kills “.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tXplYRCUpk
To the point: Smith says from his experience when wolves do in fact engage in a ‘surplus kill’ , it is almost a certainty that the prey were unhealthy.
I’m not sure he said it exactly like that, Cody. Context is important, and in managed environments where there are sheep, livestock, miniature horses (remember the ones killed one night near Superior, MT?), or in the case of elk near feeding grounds they could be healthy and still the subject of surplus killing. Also consider surplus killing of turkeys in the Midwest, where they killed hundreds in a night before intense management of the birds prevented their mass demise (one year according to the statistics wolves killed thousands of them in the 1990’s I think) And, when you think about it nothing goes to waste in nature. Wolves will eat nearly anything they kill or even critters they don’t, so the truth (or rationalization) that they will always eat what they kill is an absolute truth.
And, I bet historically, when wolves went after livestock in the 1700-1800’s in the US there were surplus events involving livestock. And, those stories were told and retold, and the numbers grew. I doubt Doug Smith would disagree with anything I just said.
Not wildlife news by any means,but in the past, some of us discussed the author Jim Harrison. A poet/writer who may not have been for all tastes, but if you really got into his writing, you weren’t reading words, you were there.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/28/arts/jim-harrison-free-spirited-writer-dies-at-78.html?_r=0
This was on PBS Newshour tonight–just watched it.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remembering-author-jim-harrison-in-his-own-words/
Thanks Kathleen.
Sorry to hear this. 🙁
Not Willife News, but I thought I’d post is for (ironic) comic relief. Kind of dismaying to hear about, even something as nice as a holiday tradition is no longer sacred. If anything exemplifies the downfall of the nation, taking candy from babies must be it:
Easter Egg Hunts Gone Wild
Well, it’s at least similar to wildlife news in that you could say the excessive greed of those parents is comparable to wolves and their ‘surplus’ killing-for-fun…and human animals are only expressing their nonhuman animal heritage. Or something.
You’re right! What the news reports about the wolves fail to mention is that human hunters take tens of thousand of elk yearly, and many times in the most unsportsmanly-like manner. So that news report and the outrage by wolf mythologizers about the (shocking!) 19 elk taken fell a little flat for me. 🙂
“Predators drive social complexity”
http://phys.org/news/2016-03-predators-social-complexity.html
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2016/03/28/us-supreme-court-denies-effort-overturn-tongass-national-forest-protections
Thanks timz. And thankyou to the lawyers.
Yes timz thank you for posting
It’s very good news
I wish there were a way to overturn the 75000 acres that were part of the “conservation” give away last year
“Ron Aasheim with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks report the mountain lion was initially tranquilized and later euthanized”
Wonder why this lion was euthanized after being tranquilized. Had to of been somewhat scared to death, finding its self treed in the middle of this subdivision:
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/slideshow-mountain-lion-spotted-in-belgrade-subdivision/38747950
Maybe it was another ‘mistake’ (overmedicated), and they put a spin on it to make it sound acceptable. I don’t trust these accounts as far as I can throw them into the nearest wastebasket.
And as far as any kinds of wildlife killings being justified and ‘not taken lightly’ – I don’t buy it. Killing should not be acceptable but for the rarest of circumstances. It should only ever be a last resort, IMO.
The truth comes out:
Why Wyoming Wants Authority Over Yellowstone Wolves
Who knows what really was behind this ’19 elk killed’ story. All I can see is that these people are as devious as hell and will say and do anything.
Here’s a lovely example of Montana’s fine citizenry (careful, bad language in video).
God help these poor animals if and when they are delisted from these people. They don’t sound very bright:
http://helenair.com/news/natural-resources/authorities-investigating-video-of-truck-chasing-grizzly-driver-says-bear/article_503a8479-9920-5270-bb4f-224f9cd5fdc8.html
Did anyone see this? It was over at Wolf Patrol, a rancher opposed to aerial shooting by wildlife services (basically having his ‘rights violated’). I thought it was important to show that not all ranchers support this. Who does, I wonder?
Ranchers Against Wildlife Services
The fools over at a certain website are all in a tizzy about the ’19 elk’ and criticizing Doug Smith, naturally. Who posed those elk, all lined up, I wonder? It is getting more farfetched by the minute.
Ida,
There are hundreds (thousands?) of co-op contracts across the country between WS and counties, cities, port authorities (that would be airports), federal facilities (from military reservations to NASA facilities), and other groups that require their services.
One lone rancher, or the Sacramento Bee, and that goofball Senator from OR aren’t going to stop WS from doing their jobs. WS isn’t going away.
And, with reference to the article you cite, and the term rancherS in the title, I’ve never heard of man named “Tara” but then Johnny Cash did recall a boy named “Sue.” 😉
🙂
It may be true that their ‘services’ are required in other places, but I was glad to see that there are ranchers who don’t want to have to run for cover every time they hear a plane overhead. I have read of other ranchers who don’t necessarily feel the same way as the torch and pitchfork crowd.
I can’t understand who has lit a fire under WY Game and Fish about concerns for big game. All the articles say only WY Game and Fish are concerned, which is pretty significant I would say.
Thousands of elk and deer aren’t enough for hunters? I’m not concerned about it because wolves need to eat too. Who knows what caused them to leave their prey – maybe they were frightened away, or who knows, if the story is even true.
I do think that WY will use any trick in the book to get them delisted again. Calling it ‘sport’ hunting is ridiculous. No other creature kills for fun except for humans. I truly am dismayed that in the 21st century we are still trying to make wolves evil, giving the impression of their hunting as evil intent. The only creatures with evil intent are humans.
Spend a little time over at the Humane Society and you’ll see a whole nauseating list of human deviates. The latest horror story is someone who hung a dog from a tree and then sexually assaulted the dog, who later died! Blech. Why don’t we have more concern about things like that, and not wolves hunting elk.
One of those over at a certain website was saying how Doug Smith cannot look her in the eye. Perhaps he’s afraid of these people.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/29/scientists-back-federal-plan-protect-alaska-predators
I just can’t get over these coincidences of all the livestock depredations and attacks on elk that are happening, while WY is trying desperately to delist wolves and the smell of desperation in the morning :)(the “Sportsmen’s Act” must be stalling and the riders have been halted, at least for the moment). I don’t know if this post from the NYT was ever posted, but it is as relevant today as it was in 1500 or in 2100:
In states like Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, an age-old antipathy to wolves flourishes, unchecked…
Hear we go, predictable. Really laying it on thick now. I though a ‘calf born last year’ was a yearling and not a technically a calf? You might need to sob into a tissue, be warned:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/25/wyoming-elk-kill-stokes-frustration-about-wolf-pro/
Some of the comments are about baiting wild game at feeding stations.
An elk calf is an elk calf until it becomes a year old. Sometime between middle/late May and as late as October or early November (although many of those calves probably do not survive). When it becomes a year old, it is a “yearling”, hence the name. For convenience calves generically make the transition in early summer as a cohort for purposes of demography analyses.
None of the comments I read at that site approach accuracy, on either side. As is often the case. Baiting ungulates to hunt is not legal in WY and that is not the avowed or real purpose for feedgrounds, and wolves are not decimating ungulate populations in WY.
Thank you!
ABC Report: 10 of the Worst-Sited Wind Energy Projects for Birds
Yellowstone Bison Trapping Ends Today (Hallelujah!), Estimated 550 Killed
They claim they came in below goal and sound dejected that they didn’t kill more; but they still hold out hope that tribal hunters will bring the numbers up to more acceptable levels. They also write that some are injured and will die on their own, so that will bring the numbers up too. Just wow, to say something like that. They are tops in despicable human beings. ;(
“Bison managers cull the herd every year because of the 2000 Interagency Bison Management Plan, which was created after the state of Montana SUED the park over bison migration into the state”.
“The IBMP set a population target of 3,000 bison in the Yellowstone area. Close to 5,000 roam the area now, and each year bison managers set a goal for population reduction”.
So Ida, I presume the “they” you referred to was YNP. So now let’s presume you Ida are in charge of YNP and being SUED by state of Montana, you are sitting in meetings with IBMP members and they constantly hammer you with why are there 5,000 bison in the park when the agreed upon goal is 3,000? YNP could take much more aggressive actions to cull the herd but they DON’T.
Yes, YNP – even Montana’s governor is easing up, though.
I wish the US public could SUE the state of Montana for destroying a national treasure that belongs to the NATION, not Montana alone – and the lie of brucellosis threats.
I’m thankful all the time that I do not support ranchers by buying their products except for my taxes that if I had any choice in the matter would NOT go to them, just like I can choose not to make investments that are with immoral and unethical companies.
For example, if ranchers do not demonstrate that they are being proactive by trying non-lethal deterrents first, they should be penalized for it with a fine. Gov’t agencies should not roll over for them.
Saying that ‘OR-4 was old anyway’ is a very, very poor answer for shooting him because of some lazy entitled rancher.
“Saying that ‘OR-4 was old anyway’ is a very, very poor answer for shooting him because of some lazy entitled rancher.”
I agree entirely. It reminds me of the old grizzly who was killed by MT FWP for no real good reason–his age was also cited as a contributing factor.
“No country for old bears” http://www.othernationsjustice.org/?p=12626
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1242801622420650&id=197030276997795
Predator Defenses’s take on the sorry and unnecessary death of OR4 and his family. I’m sickened by the killings. The carnage never ends. The livestock producers cry about the lambs being killed but they pack e up for slaughter without a second thought.
Yes. They like to throw their weight around, it looks like. They do it because they can.
I’m not convinced the eleventh hour delisting is going to stop lawsuits either. Isn’t the filing date before the new ruling enough? I hope they are continually sued the crap out of by wildlife advocates.
OR-4, his mate, and two offspring have been terminated by Oregon wildlife officials. Sounds like ODFW followed all of their own rules before deciding to use the lethal option, though some questions arise regarding the landowner’s use of non-lethal deterrents. At 10 years old, he had a good run.
http://www.kgw.com/news/local/eastern-oregon/odfw-shoots-kills-4-wolves-in-oregon/112545210
Would this have been able to have been accomplished without the convenient delisting of only a few weeks ago? Nice to be able to make the rules, isn’t it.
Following their own rules doesn’t really say that much, when they are all stacked for human benefit.
You really don’t know how disgusting this is to the public, or at least the public that has a functioning brain and can put 2 + 2 together. Very sad situation. I hope this rancher has nothing but bad luck from this day forward.
I believe the answer is yes.
Your “functioning brain” sentence is name calling. Are you thereby licensing me to say similar things about you?
As Savebears used to say, the general public could give a rats rear end. Only a comparatively small niche of people are concerned about this, one way or the other.
Wishing bad luck upon said rancher is both approaching schaden freude, and if his problem is with wolves, it only means more dead wolves.
Once again, it’s money. A conduit for those who favor the wolves presence must be able to contribute, be it wolf stamps, license plates, non-hunting deer/elk license with wolf management support box checked…
You’re right – look how fast the wolf stamp was squelched! I do admit to shaden freude thrill about rancher bankrupty and misfortune, I’m not ashamed to admit it. Especially when that’s all the wolf advocates hear and read all the time – a little of their own medicine will do them good.
“Wolves are doing what they naturally do, but have been put in a situation where they are going to be in constant conflict with livestock and hunter’s game.”
There’s no disputing that wolves are in conflict with ranching concerns. In a culture with an economy supported by speciesism, “livestock” are merely private property brought into this world solely to die for a product no one even needs (even though they are sentient individuals who value their lives). Wolves and other predators are merely collateral damage added to the gross and entirely unnecessary death toll resulting from animal agriculture. But to say that wolves are in conflict with “hunters’ game”??? No. HUNTERS are in conflict with wolves’ food. My god, talk about a situation that’s FUBAR in every respect…
Kathleen,
In particular with the reintroduction of wolves to the NRM States, a deal,was made with the devil in order to get wolves reintroduced. That meant ranchers, outfitters, hunters had to be placated, or there would be no reintroduction. Twenty years ago, save a small population in MT, there were no wolves in the NRM states. Now there are > than 2000.
Yeah, I get all that, Immer–I live in western MT. Despite that, what some consider the necessary placating of special interests in order to do the right thing by the ecosystem hasn’t quelled the hatred for wolves AND other predators–in fact, the heedless sense of human entitlement over the survival needs of any other nonhuman animal has increased. See comments:
https://www.facebook.com/MissoulianNewspaper/posts/980102188763477
I find it appalling that as low a number as 1900 – 2000 is considered recovered and adequate. It is not.
I don’t understand why what is thought of as a modern, progressive nation is still in the Dark Ages when it comes to wolves (and retreating more by the day).
Placating and making nicey-nice doesn’t seem to be helping, and is IMO facilitating more harsh rules and killing of wolves.
These people are used to doing whatever they want. The 1800s did not have today’s modern wolf advocates, so we will not make it easy for them by any stretch of the imagination.
It is also appalling that 600 – 1000 grizzly bears is considered recovered enough for hunting!!!! This is going to be a battle royale as well.
You do not understand. The “placation” had to do with the DEAL made prior to reintroduction, and I’m not talking 10/150. That’s why so many on the anti wolf side are pissed, and it continues to feed hatrd for wolves.
I was there at a round table discussion at an Intl Wolf Symposia. The table discussion group was made up of wolf biologists, ranchers, outfitters.
“No one has to change because of your truths. No one has to accept them. If someone isn’t willing to listen, to see where you are coming from and to have an open, honest conversation on something that directly affects both of you – that tells you everything you need to know.
People who need to be placated, who have zero disregard for your feelings or needs – do not deserve a place of honor in your life”
Placating:
http://www.randomthoughtsandlotsacoffee.com/blog/placating-phenomena
Wolf reintroduction 20 years ago, didn’t cause ranchers out here in the west to go out of business in droves (which was the perceived hype back in the 90’s)
And IMHO, many ranchers probably got much more in tune with their “products” needs, like closer supervision of ill, drying or dead livestock from other causes prevalent in the livestock industry. Much more of a threat to profits than wolves or other predators.
Wolves also haven’t managed to eat all the elk, deer, etc. but wildlife managers have managed to spend big taxpayer bucks (fly time) capturing and collaring wolves but for whom?
http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/wolf/wolfWeekly2016.html
Click PDF for a view.
Perhaps time to take another look at the DEAL. A lot has happened in 20 years and the “Who’s Really Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” mentality has shifted more than a few degrees 🙂
Nancy,
I won’t negate any of your statements other than I was at the round table where the hunting and trapping of wolves were part of the deal. Doesn’t matter if I like it or you like it, or anybody likes it. It was part of the deal then, and it is not bending over now for the ranchers and outfitters.
Nancy, you’re right. Now that wolves have been delisted and very aggressive hunting of them is in place, the minimum number might need to be changed. Wasn’t this minimum number agreed to before the delisting. I don’t see why the wolf advocates should be the ones making all the concessions?
I’m sure we’ve all read the latest propaganda reports stating that wolf numbers are stable despite all this, but I sat ‘so what?’. I don’t think that means they can be left defenseless.
How their statistical approach means that there ‘could’ be more wolves out there, and with budget cuts they can’t afford more people in the field.
The great unknown variable is, as usual, what humans will do from year to year to them (Butch and his wolf board for example), or what natural disasters could affect them.
Yes
Yes to Kathleen
Such sad news. I liked this article because it seemed balanced and it also showed that no one really wanted to kill OR-4, Limpy and their two yearlings. At first, I was afraid it was Journey, or OR-7. I’m glad it isn’t.
The only consolation for me is that it may be that he was kicked out of his pack and he has had a long life. I really do like the article I linked because it shows how important OR-4 has been by his successful progeny. This is a rock star wolf and he sounds like such a fantastic mate.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/oregon-just-killed-family-wolves-181546732.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb
Yes, I’ll take consolation from this:
OR4 and his progeny have been largely responsible for the gray wolf’s intrepid return to lands where the species was long ago hunted, poisoned, trapped, burned, and otherwise chased nearly to extinction.
And it never hurts to shine a light on this either:
Cattle farmers, who receive a subsidy from taxpayers to graze their animals on vast ranges of publicly-owned land where the wolves also dwell, worry about wolves killing their property.
Thanks for posting this.
I’d love to know whether any plans to reintroduce grey wolves to the Northeast are in the works. It would be a perfect place – deer overpopulated, hotbed of Lyme disease, plenty of wilderness in the very northern regions, and our farms and ranches are not the ‘vast ranges’ like they are in the West that cannot seem to be monitored and controlled adequately.
If wolves were reintroduced to the Northeast (we have black bears), I’d never have anything more to do with the West, because we’ve got prime wilderness which some want to turn into another National Park at and around Mt. Kitahden, others want to grind up into paper pulp for ‘jobs’. We have the same ‘fence post’ mentality JEFFE speaks of when it comes to wolves tho – shoot first in a knee-jerk reaction, or tweety bird ‘I tot it was a coyote, I did, I did!’
I may visit Acadia again this year for the centennial – there’s a big writeup in our paper over it, and it is very beautiful and historic.
Sad to say but expect it to be crowded, as with all the NPs this year. Hope it’s not as intensely crowded as Yellowstone was last year and will be more so this year.
That’s the thing – it will be Journey one day, I’m sure of it. Take care of him out there, and never give anyone the benefit of the doubt where wolves are concerned, ever.
Yvette, what makes you so certain that ‘nobody wanted to kill OR-4 and his family?’ The rancher certainly did, and I don’t think the gubmint agencies give a rat’s either. I don’t believe a word anymore. I did at one time, but with the repeated lies and the same behaviors over and over again, I have given up on them.
I’m really tired of people making excuses for human behavior. By doing that, we help maintain the status quo and allow wolves and other wildlife to continue to be killed, wild area to continue to be encroached upon, and tacitly agree that we believe human activities take precedence over wildlife for any reason.
I only wish that my tax money wasn’t taken by highway robbery to support these people.
Did I say that? I may have but can’t find it. Where I took it from is this and in the same article:
It’s upsetting. I don’t mean to sound critical of you.
I enjoyed that video of the mountain lion very much – the guys were amazingly cool under that kind of pressure. That kind of good stuff is the antidote to the bad.
One evil fuels another:
“In 2014, more than 113 metric tons of whale meat (equivalent to the amount of marketable meat from 75 minke whales) was delivered to…the largest manufacturer of animal feed for the Norwegian fur industry.”
https://awionline.org/content/norwegian-whale-meat-linked-countrys-fur-industry#.Vv6JkLpDmaw.twitter
Wouldn’t it be lovely and wishful thinking:
I would just love it if people would boycott the businesses around the National Parks in protest to the ugliness that goes on behind the scenes like grizzly, wolf and bison slaughter:
http://www.yellowstonegate.com/2015/02/gateway-towns-gearing-up-for-2016-park-service-centennial/
Wyoming is jumping the gun for grizzly hunting, and there’s a good article from a former employee about the so-called ‘science’ behind grizzly delisting. but not so fast:
“A federal judge says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated environmental laws when it authorized the killing of four threatened grizzly bears in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.”
Read on!
New Ruling Foreshadows Major Legal Battle Over Grizzly Bear Conservation
Continued
This is going to be a several part-er:
Partisan Scientists in Public Service, Part I: The Strange Case of The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team
Wyoming Takes Comments on Grizzly Bear Plan (Jumping the Gun)
Botcotting the gate community businesses does little to sway the government agencies’ actions. And it would likely never happen given the remote location of the gate communities. But you could boycott the park or you can constantly petition the agencies and their administrators… would be more effective and direct your dismay in the appropriate direction.
True, and if some of these businesses are as wolf advocate hostile as I’ve heard, I wouldn’t spend a cent there anyway.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/364/667/144/?z00m=27638983&redirectID=2008884647
crowd stones lion that ventured out of Kenya Park and then rangers shot him. something is terribly wrong with too many humans.
More to the story Louise:
http://newsdaily.com/2016/04/activists-decry-nairobi-road-project-after-two-lions-killed/
Thanks nancy
I had not read that account
One other story outlined that the male lion had been stoned and taunted by a crowd after it ventured from the park which led to its aggressive behavior
You have to wonder why humans revert to mob mentality seemingly so quickly, and not just against other species.
I can’t wrap my head around wanting to see a public execution or acts like stoning. But then again trapping animals although not a public event is similarly hard to comprehend
I remember reading somewhere about a medsvial form of torture called pressing. This involved placing increasingly heavy weights on a person until they succumbed
I Believe that humans are damaged because there are too many of us. Statistically speaking the probability for a high proportion of deranged and damaged dna must be pretty high Considering the scientific and medical advances that extend prolong and allow life even when it would not be normal for other species
We are the lemmings that never go off the cliff we just push everything else off and it appears some of us like the pushing
Louise:
“Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm. But the harm does not interest them. – T.S. Eliot
So true today.
🙂 🙂
https://www.hcn.org/articles/desert-tortoise-militia-occupies-bundy-ranch
“Citing grievous damage to their homeland.”
Thanks, I think we all needed that. 🙂
It goes way beyond whatever original number was agreed to, despite that the situation has changed and that there are more than adequate remedies available to ranchers and the general scaredy-cats out there, especially now that they have been delisted. Idaho’s long arm is reaching into Oregon now too. So let the Rocky Mountains stubbornly and narrow-mindedly and backwardly stick to their ‘number’. But they should follow their own advice and butt the hell out of the rest of the country’s affairs. Let wolves be reintroduced back to their original habitats in other areas of this nation! This bad attitude is pervasive.
The recovery map is a joke, and I wonder why we have to keep wolves so under our thumbs and controlled. It’s weird.
The cattle ranchers and possibly to a lesser extent the hunting community have such a stranglehold on the gov’t agencies that the government agencies have even doctored the science and taxonomy to suit them!!!! It has to be exposed and stopped.
Further to my comment:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/02/us-plan-lift-wolf-protections-doubt-after-experts-question-science
Here’s why you don’t go hiking at night in griz country! A griz family of four, out for a night-time stroll, is caught on a wildlife cam. Reminder: the comment period is open on the proposal to delist the Yellowstone-area grizzlies.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1007305409346536&id=129598773783875
Beginning to feel like Jeff E.
that’s a curious statement.
Do you mean that it feels like sometimes talking to a fence post would be a step up?
If so I can certainly relate.
🙂
Wisconsin: “Walker signs bill outlawing hunter harassment”
Excerpt:
“The bill’s Republican authors say concerns about hunter harassment have grown since the Wolf Patrol, a group of animal rights activists, followed and filmed wolf hunters in Wisconsin and Montana in 2014.”
http://www.heraldcourier.com/news/walker-signs-bill-outlawing-hunter-harassment/article_6b9c0eae-a618-52c7-9717-bffff1e90054.html
Interesting. I’m planning to give Wolf Patrol a donation.
Kathleen, this gave me a chuckle. Is Scott Walker ever going to leave office? Hunters commit the worst violence, cruelty and disrespect for life against animal – and yet when their ‘pastime’ is threatened, it’s ‘whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah’ like overgrown babies.
“Think about all of the things Gov. Walker does, and I will do exactly the opposite,” Sanders promised for how he’d govern in the White House.
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/04/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-wisconsin-scott-walker
The WI teachers and wildlife oughta form some kind of inter-species militia (a *unionized* militia, ha ha!) and just oust his sorry ass. Must be something in the water or air in certain midwest capitols… Check this out from Indiana:
http://boingboing.net/2016/04/02/indiana-women-phone-the-govern.html
There’s even a FB page! https://www.facebook.com/Periods-for-Pence-565501973618299/?fref=ts
These conservatives can’t stay out of any female’s ‘bizness’ can they? Check out SFTHH for what Oregon State U is doing to female wild horses.
As mothers day approaches, I’m reminded of the care and concern for the welfare of little ones, mothers tend to exude. Protecting the herd, bemoaning their fallen comrades and adopting motherless calves say a lot about bison. I look forward to the day when Yellowstone bison are not treated like livestock and sent to slaughter, but I do NOT blame YNP.
https://www.yellowstonereports.com/report.php?cid=4498
Thanks for introducing a much more pleasant thought. 🙂
Probably someone has posted this video of Utah conservation officers releasing a cougar from a trap. In case they haven’t, you will enjoy.
http://www.faithtap.com/6350/utah-officers-bravely-help-free-cougar-from-trap/
http://www.kgw.com/news/local/boat-crew-witnesses-whale-fight-off-everett/116072509
The Pacific Whale Watch Association says there’s a reason orcas are called killer whales.
If posted previously, I apologize.
13 sperm whales stranded on German shores, stomachs loaded with plastic.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/30/plastic-debris-killing-sperm-whales
http://earthberrybotanicals.com/2013/12/08/use-glass-love-planet-bodies-future-generations-come/
You’re right! Glass is beautiful.
The article that Immer linked about the whales full of plastic is very upsetting. That and the sonar racket we make in the oceans to justify our war preparedness. Really bad.
GOOD NEWS for Gulo gulo!!!
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CLIMATE_CHANGE_WOLVERINE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
A more comprehensive report from Western Environmental Law Center:
Excerpt: “Today’s win is a victory not just for wolverine but for all species whose fate relies on the scientific integrity of the Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Bethany Cotton, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians. “We call on the agency to stop playing politics and start living up to its mandate to protect our country’s most imperiled species.” YEAH!!!!
http://yubanet.com/enviro/Judge-Rules-Feds-Improperly-Refused-to-Protect-Wolverines.php#.VwLtYTYrJQY
Great news!!!!!
Lawsuit victories are great news for attorneys and NGO conservation organizations that depend on them for positive press, but except for a few I’m aware of (i.e. northern spotted owl) the majority do little to nothing for the designated species and its habitat.
This lawsuit does nothing to affect climate change and considering the majority of Gulo gulo critical habitat is high elevation, mainly unproductive forest with deep snows, I don’t see any significant on the ground management changes.
Great news for Gulo gulo would be to outlaw all trapping on public lands, reducing our carbon footprint, closing areas to the public where known den sites are located and re-introducing them to some of their former habitats. Excuse me while I go to town in my 40+ MPG Mini Cooper.
Telling USFWS that they have to follow *their own science* at a time when politics are increasingly influencing agency decisions is not insignificant.
“Great news for Gulo gulo would be to outlaw all trapping on public lands”
I-177 is working on that in Montana. http://montanatrapfree.org/
As it stands, Montana could very well reopen wolverine trapping. ESA-listing would prevent that.