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 May 21, 2016.
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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
Sunday, July 17, 2016
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION GLOBAL REPORT UPDATE JULY 17 2016
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2016/07/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-tse-prion.html
kind regards, terry
My comments for the Wind industry/FWS proposal to kill 6200 eagles annually are very newsworthy…………..I have reviewed the recently completed FWS status report on bald and golden eagles: ”Bald and Golden Eagles: Status, trends, and estimation of sustainable take rates in the United States and the associated DPEIS for the proposed rule. Golden eagle populations are far from being stable nor are they increasing.
My comments provided in the attached file prove both of these reports are filled with methodology bias, filtered and highly flawed non-scientific information rendering these false reports useless in determining any Action on the proposed rule. In fact these two reports are a complete fabrication created for the benefit of the wind industry.
It defies all logic and moral conduct that enough cheap energy is being exported from the US that could produce triple the energy production from all of America’s eagle killing wind turbines, while dirtbags hiding behind fraudulent research are peddling these worthless turbines to Americans.
I have integrated and provided links with these comments. The information found at these links are to be included as part of my comments.
Read my entire 5000 word scientific analysis of This proposal here: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FWS-R9-MB-2011-0094-1370
Thank you both for your concern and informed comments!
I have been after this industry for years for their fraud. I have even offered to help with any wind industry court cases for free, with expert testimony and specific questions for the shill researchers so I could exposed the fraud. But important cases keep getting dismissed by inside judges. I wanted to speak at a recent Altamont hearing but they only allowed 2 minutes speaking time and let the shill researches talk for 20-30 minutes. I then asked Alameda County Supervisors in an email to hold another meeting where I could talk and ask questions of any of the researchers. I never received a response. This industry is a complete fraud and inside rigging is what is keeping it afloat.
On the morning of July 20th I found a grizzly cub of the year killed on the highway west of the summit of Togwotee Pass. I contacted a Wyoming Game and Fish Department team that was camped down the road to come to the scene. The mother bear and it’s surviving cub were still nearby and she kept returning to the area. She had drug the dead cub off of the road and had returned to it once while I was there and stood over it. Both she and the surviving cub seemed greatly distressed and were making unusual noises that I had never heard before. I was very concerned that she would also be hit and killed by traffic if she stayed in the area. The Wyoming Game and Fish biologists removed the cub and we remained on scene and kept an eye on the bear and her cub who circled around several times but did not approach the road again.
I had just recently read a National Geographic article about wildlife mouri ing the death of the relatives, and this certainly appeared to be what we were witnessing.
Another grizzly had been hit by a car and killed on the same road last year, please contact the Wyoming highway department and urged them to try to do more to alert the public to the wildlife hazards on this highway. On a 5 mile stretch of the road we have seen a dead fox, three dead porcupines, a deer and now the grizzly cub in only the last few weeks.
Yes, the idea that animals mourn their lost loved ones is not new. There are many books on the topic–the first one I read was “When Elephants Weep: The emotional lives of animals” (1996)by J. Moussaieff Masson. Another is “The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy — and Why They Matter” (2008) by Marc Bekoff.
I saw (and will never forget) bison mourn a dead herd mate shortly after he was killed by a shooter (there was no “hunting” involved) outside of Yellowstone. From the Animal Sentience journal:
“…it is not only big-brained mammals like elephants, apes, and cetaceans who can be said to mourn, but also a wide variety of other animals, including domestic companions like cats, dogs, and rabbits; horses and farm animals; and some birds. … Human grief may be
unique in our species’ ability to anticipate death and to consider its meaning across time and space, and yet such hypothesized species-specific features do not imply a more profound emotional experience in humans compared to other animals.” http://animalstudiesrepository.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=animsent
Ugh. Doesn’t it make our callous disregard for any creature other than ourselves (and even that is questionable at times)that much more difficult to take. Very sad about the bear mom and cub. 🙁
Cute anecdote: I happened to observe a male ruby-throated hummingbird just sitting on the deck railing for several minutes the other day, not moving. Then, another male, much smaller, fed at the feeders, while he seemed to watch. Normally, the hummingbirds are extremely territorial. Could it have been offspring, and papa teaching where to feed? It struck me as very much in common with us.
“I had just recently read a National Geographic article about wildlife mourning the death of the relatives, and this certainly appeared to be what we were witnessing”
Witnessed wildlife mourning over their dead family members on roads and highways, more than a few times over the years I’ve lived in Montana, Jim.
Contacting highway departments will do nothing, sadly, about alerting or encouraging people to slow down. The human species is too damn much in a hurry these days to care about other species that might just intersect with their schedules on roadways 🙂
Yeah, “they” put some signs up “Wildlife crossings next X amount of miles” but few locals and tourists, in a hurry, pay any attention and those signs don’t even cover (if they’ve done any kind of research at all) all the areas where wildlife have a tenancy to cross (dips and tree covered areas) year after year because they have no choice anymore when migrating back and forth over man made roads and highways.
This will slow one down very quickly.
https://www.facebook.com/Break/videos/10154385408552792/
A new Chicago city ordinance will protect urban coyotes by designating them as beneficial predators. There will no longer be any attempts to control or kill them unless there is a problem coyote. No more hunting, trapping or poisoning.
Big win for coyotes! Big win for humans. Not so good for the rats and geese.
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2016/07/18/urban-coyotes-set-get-city-protection
Yes. Wow, isn’t that great! As it should be. Thanks for posting, Yvette.
awesome Yvette thanks for posting
This is how wildlife/predators should be treated.
This is REALLY bad
http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/fire-destroys-thousands-of-acres-of-wildlife-habitat/279226716
Do they take these kinds of things into account when determining hunting quotas, I wonder, or just appeasement of the squeaky wheels?
They take it into account although sometimes it goes in the opposite direction than what you would think.
In the past there have been times that due to a large fire in winter range the harvest quotas are liberalized to reduce the animal population because the carrying capacity of the land has been so reduced.
“Hours of Beauty: Terry Tempest Williams makes a plea for our national parks” Book review: http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/GreenRoom/archives/2016/07/21/hours-of-beauty-terry-tempest-williams-makes-a-plea-for-our-national-parks
We went to hear Terry Tempest Williams speak last night in Missoula at the university–as always, it was a beautiful and inspirational address promoting not just her newest book (The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks) but the necessary defense of not only national parks, but all our public lands now under siege.
Lucky you, Kathleen! I need to read more of her writing. My favorite in that similar genre is Gretel Ehrlich.
Yvette, maybe you’ve read this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Refuge-Unnatural-History-Family-Place/dp/0679740244
From Wilderness Watch:
“Tell Congress to Reject a Bill to Allow Bikes and Other Machines in Wilderness! We need your help to protect Wilderness across the country!”
“Utah Republican Senators Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch have introduced a bill, “The Human-Powered Travel in Wilderness Areas Act,” that would open Wilderness to mountain bikes and other machines for the first time ever. The bill was instigated by the Sustainable Trails Coalition, one of the most anti-Wilderness organizations to form in recent years.”
Read more from Wilderness Watch: https://wildernesswatch.salsalabs.org/mountainbikelettertocongress/index.html
(I posted a previous message similar to this one but with a link that flagged it for moderation. Trying again.)
https://intheshadowofthewolf.wordpress.com/2016/07/17/ancient-forests-wolves-wildlife-and-the-wrangell-timber-sale/
Please take a moment to comment against the USFS proposed timber logging and road expansion proposals. Option 1 is the option that is no change or no logging.
please spread
Comments can be made via email to comments-alaska-tongass-wrangell@fs.fed.us
The comment period is over (July 18). From a former BLM employee who worked on many environmental analysis documents, I can tell you your comments now will NOT become part of the official record and that is critical.
65 million board feet is a lot of trees and hopefully the agency will choose the least amount of volume for their alternative. They will NOT pick the no action alternative unless it’s found to be in violation of a law(s).
“Rushing to Stop a Fire That Never Came”…Seattle Times
http://projects.seattletimes.com/2016/collateral-damage/
I’m not familiar with the area, but it seems like an over-reaction to the deaths of USFS firefighters and the record year of acres burned. The death of the firefighters had NOTHING to do with this cut line as they died due to mistakes made by them and/or their supervisors. I was a wildland firefighter and there are certain rules that if followed, 99% of the time, you will live to see another day and suffer no major injuries.
I seriously question the need to do it, but it should have been done with better supervision; requiring leaving the biggest trees standing that are more fire resistant, leaving all cut trees greater than 20″ diameter on the ground for wildlife species, protecting streams and other environmental protections.
An independent panel needs to do a review of this project and come back with recommendations. Then the USFS needs to answer why they will not institute each of those recommendations. Now that its done, how will the agency maintain the fire break to keep it effective with it’s current lack of funding. IMHO, predicting where fire breaks should be constructed is like winning the lottery and a complete waste of money. Unfortunately and this is big, firefighting dollars do not come from local districts and is instead “emergency funding” which is basically unlimited, no questions asked, whatever it takes to “fight the fire”. Since this project was a revenue maker, it’s no surprise that it was completed when only 1% of a probability it would be effective.
The heads of most private organizations would be run up the fire pole, but the USFS promoted him!
A dangerous man. Trump considers oil and gas mogul for secretary of energy
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-hamm-exclusive-idUSKCN10100Z
From the Mountain Lion Foundation (not sure if this has been posted, but to be on the safe side):
“The US Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting public comments on their plan to remove the eastern cougar from the Endangered Species List and declare it an extinct subspecies. We believe the federal government should instead be working to restore mountain lions to their historic range . Let them walk unhindered through the prairie states, the midwest, and find a home in the Adirondacks, and the Appalachias. Every single person who signs means so much!”
http://mountainlion.org/ActionAlerts/070816easterncougar/070816easterncougar.asp
Why is this country allowing the East to turn into an industrial wasteland? There is not consideration for any new monuments or national parks (We’re waiting for one in Maine and for Nantucket Sound to be declared a marine sanctuary!). It’s always about the West, and Western politics, especially their views on wolves, dominate the entire country (when those most vocal tell outsiders to mind their own business)! There have been articles and opinion pieces recently about how cougars could the deer population in check here.
I’d love to see some semblance of wildness, or a lot more than we have, and for what we have to be better ‘managed’ and cared for. Our large populations are concentrated in and near the cities, and we’ve got lots of wild areas that could support cougars and even wolves.
The ‘Northeast Kingdom’ would like to have some of her royalty back!
Protect natural habitat and they will come. Look at the predation sites in the relatively small Griffith Park.
Another example how installing GPS collars can benefit wildlife; providing data indicating the importance of quality natural habitat and where corridors should be protected to provide areas for dispersal to wildlife.
I’ve seen only three cougars in the wild, but they were magnificent animals and IMHO should not be hunted by humans unless on their VERY RARE occasions, they attack and injure or worse kill someone. Once they taste human flesh, they are likely to try again and again.
http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/07/20/mountain-lion-close-urban-city
Gary
I agree with your post but ask how do you qualify the idea that once they taste human flesh they are likely to try again. When cougars have attacked humans I have not read much about the reason for the attack, protection of young, predatory response, hunger etc…I’ve seen less on anything related to statistical likelihood of recidivist attacking behavior.
Tim Kaine is cosponsor of the dreadful “BiPartisan Sportsman Act” I wrote this to his website. To his credit he is one of the few that allow comments from others outside of Virginia. This is his website if you want to send a message in advance of a possible election https://www.kaine.senate.gov/contact
Dear Senator Kaine,
I’m a long time Democrat and also a wildlife advocate. Although I can’t imagine a world with Donald Trump as President, I was disappointed to see your appointment as VP candidate. The reason, your stance on wildlife, hunting and the co sponsorship of the BI Partisan Sportsman Act. This Act has repeatedly failed and for good reason. The Act in its many versions attempts to bypass the underlying intent of some National Parks and other public lands by expanding hunter access in some of the few areas that may be limited in hunting or that provide refuge for wild animals, and for humans that do not want to be exposed to hunting.
As habitat dwindles in the US and globally, wild animals have less ability to live their lives and reproduce without the stress of hunting, hounding, trapping and harassment. Humans that value wildlife and are non consumptive users also find fewer places of refugee from guns and violence. Our public lands should not be exploited any more than they already are.
Additionally, the ACT especially is troubling because it specifically targets wolves and ignores recent court rulings that have remanded management of wolves back to the federal government because they continue to be mismanaged by the states. Every ruling ever challenged in the courts regarding wolves have been found in favor of retained protections for wolves because agriculture, hunting and livestock industries continue to scapegoat wolves despite independent scientific consensus that these animals are ecologically beneficial and do not represent the exaggerated threat that special interests rant about. There is a level of persecution against these animals and other predators that is quite difficult to comprehend in light of the body of work that dispels the myths surrounding wolves and other wild predators.
Finally, this act would also exempt polar bear trophies from import regulations, and has in the past allowed for expanded access to parks and public lands using motorized vehicles and exempts lead ammunition from regulation. The Act also includes the expansion of trapping, a pastime that creates excessive suffering and is banned by 38 civilized nations around the world and that most Americans do not even understand is still legal.
Isn’t it time to explore all sides of the issue when considering the impact of hunting, and of the technologies that now exist to make most hunting unfair as defined under the North American Model of Hunting that most serious and fair hunters subscribe to. Last year I wrote a document/report to Congress to object to legislation that was supported by Cynthia Lummis and others to remove wolves from the ESA. The letter was signed by more than 90 scientists and professionals as well as two citizen representatives from each state but the Dakotas. The letter/report is posted here http://www.carnivoreconservationact.com/wp-content/uploads/ReportCongressAgainstHR843and884_12_header.pdf and was written by me and reviewed by a well published carnivore scientist who has produced more than 40 peer reviewed published papers on carnivores.
I urge you as you move into the election to consider your non consumptive wildlife constituency and to examine the demographics of the US population which indicates hunting is on the wane and that wildlife need more protections as their habitat is taken and they try and survive against an onslaught of technology that makes the playing field even less fair than it was considering that hounding baiting, trapping, snaring and motorized vehicles make it almost impossible for any wild animal to live or reproduce unmolested or ecologically successfully. The cell phone and internet now make it even more difficult for wild animals to escape detection.
I would appreciate a thoughtful personal response on how you plan to consider my and others concerns about your position on wildlife protection and our objections to legislation such as the Bi Partisan Sportsman act that are so offensive to many of us.
Sincerely,
Louise Kane
Wow. What a terrible disappointment. I guess for animals, the political parties are either Bad or Worse, lately anyway. I do not want 🙁
oops, should say – ‘I do not want or feel comfortable with this choice’. Why couldn’t she have picked Bernie? It’s almost, but not quite, as bad as appointing one of Donald Trump’s sons to the Interior Dept.! I hate that wildlife and hunting is being used as a bargaining chip to swing votes?
Welp, it’s a vote for the Green Party for me again this time.
The so called “green party” is the Fraud party. You could fill a large prison with the layers people behind the wind and renewable energy fraud. I call them the “green gangsters” or the “green Gestapo” because of the mountain of fraudulent research and rigged reports I have come across.
I agree with you on anything to do with so-called alternative energies. Using the same playbook as the fossil fuel companies, only concerned with profits. Who to vote for? Race or gender of the candidate are not as important as the issues –
The industry has been hiding over 90 percent of their slaughter since 1985 with rigged research. Here are a few articles I have written that clearly discuss the wind industry’s hidden slaughter:
The three part article “Harvesting Eagles” discusses the wind industry’s /FWS rigged research and the corrupt history behind the latest proposal to kill 6200 eagles annually..
https://www.masterresource.org/cuisinarts-of-the-air/harvesting-eagles-1/
https://www.masterresource.org/cuisinarts-of-the-air/avoiding-science-and-transparency-at-altamont-pass-wind-industry-gets-away-with-shoddy-research/
https://www.masterresource.org/audubon-society/money-dead-eagles-aubudon/
This article discusses the 31,000 (2015 numbers) unaccounted for eagle carcasses that have been sent to the Denver Repository since 1997. In this 3 part article even former FWS agents speak out………. “Voice of Dead eagles”
https://www.masterresource.org/cuisinarts-of-the-air/voice-dead-eagles-iii/
https://www.masterresource.org/cuisinarts-of-the-air/windpower-slaughter-shiloh-1/
https://www.masterresource.org/cuisinarts-of-the-air/usfws-special-agents-speaking-truth-to-wind-power-re-shiloh-iv-part-ii/
Additional hidden eagle carcass information and dismal wind energy production numbers are available for congress in this 2 part article “Clean Energy Producers Act of 2015 (H.R. 493): Eagle Slaughter Amnesty for Industrial Wind”.
https://www.masterresource.org/cuisinarts-of-the-air/clean-energy-producers-act-2015-eagle-amnesty/
Here is an excellent article that describes some of the various methods being used to rig wind industry mortality data. “Exposing the wind industry genocide” – The ECOReport
http://theecoreport.com/exposing-the-wind-industry-genocide/
Another article that describes some of the various methods being used to rig wind industry mortality data.Big Wind & Avian Mortality (Part I & Part 2)
http://www.masterresource.org/2013/03/avian-mortality-wind-i
http://www.masterresource.org/2013/03/wind-avian-mortality-ii/
Article that exposes a rapidly declining golden eagle population “EAGLE EXPERT WARNS OF POPULATION COLLAPSE”
http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/12544…….
An article that discusses some of the history behind the industry rigged research. “THE 28 YEAR WIND INDUSTRY COVER-UP” Parts 1&2
http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/9011
http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/9174
An article that discusses wimpy lawsuits that let this industry off the hook. “Bald and Golden Eagles Victorious: Court Invalidates 30-Year “Eagle Take” Rule” (feds vs. federal law)
https://www.masterresource.org/cuisinarts-of-the-air/bald-golden-eagles-court-victory/
Readers will also be further enlightened about the industry’s rigged research if they view the YouTube video “Cheeseburgers and the wind industry”.
I don’t doubt it – it’s the way of business. You can see when you are out birdwatching and watching them that the hawks and eagles look downward for prey. Your average dumbass who says that the birds will ‘learn’ to avoid our constant obstacle courses – that just isn’t going to happen in the near future, if ever, and the near future could spell extinction or not for birds and other wildlife. 🙁
Race is an issue. Has always been an issue. Is more of an issue with this election than any other in my lifetime.
Ida, you should spend some time living in the South.
Yes. I only meant race or gender of the individual political candidate. I’m probably older than you, so I remember when it was quite bad, and what is worse is that we seem to be regressing on this issue. I’ve not lived in the South, but I have visited – and I’ve experienced the gamut from being refused service to being welcomed with open arms. Also experienced this in other areas of the country.
I preferred Bernie, but he moved the DNC well to the left. He now supports Hillary.
I hope people will consider what will happen to the environment under Trump. Hillary has a good record in the Senate on wildlife and the environment. The Democratic Platform is good too.
Every vote for Jill Stein on the Green Party is like a half vote for Trump.
I recall how Ralph Nader’s third party candidacy in 2000 gave us George W. in a razor thin election. I don’t want to live through that again.
I know you’re right. But it is very disappointing, that compromise is always, always the environment and wildlife.
What good is an environment when she turns us further toward being a third world country. Again we have nothing to choose from.
And what if this ‘strategy’ backfires? We could still end up with Trump as president. I’m amazed that he has gotten this far. If she had picked Bernie, she might have been able to get younger people to vote. Who knows what will happen.
I’m not liking reading articles about the latest goings on with the DNC, and reading patronizing articles about compromise being the name of the game. If anyone knows what it’s like to watch in horror as their values are repeatedly compromised, it’s an environmentalist! 🙁
She did not pick Bernie and so its time to move on from that or suffer the consequences under a Trump presidency. I can’t imagine a worse fate. Hilary Clinton may not be perfect but she has am amazing body of experience and dedication to public service. I’m a little tried of the relentless public bashing she receives, much of it coming from the GOP and now Trump. If you say something enough it becomes true even when the nuances are ignored. Trump has perfected the art of appointment if blame but he has no answers, has never done a but of public service and his greatest endorsements come from his kids who expect us to believe the my father is a good dad because he works so hard and never gives up line. a vote for anyone other than Hilary Clinton helps Trump. No statement is made by doing that.
We could still end up with Trump as president. I’m amazed that he has gotten this far.
+++
https://zcomm.org/keeping-the-rabble-in-line/
excerpt from “Keeping the Rabble in Line”
p. 117
chapter “Class”
January 21, 1993
DB: It’s only in America that a billionaire can run for President and pose as a populist, as Ross Perot did. What was your take on his candidacy and the whole Perot phenomenon?
NC: The most interesting period, I thought, was when he just appeared, at the very beginning. He could have come from Mars, as far as anyone knew. Nobody knew what his program was. He probably didn’t have one. He had nothing to say. He was just this guy who said, Look, I made a lot of money and I’ve got big ears and a big smile. Within about two weeks, he was running even with the two major candidates. I think what that indicates is pretty clear. It means the population is so desperate that if somebody lands from Mars, they’ll try him.
Martian – someone who sees the world on a multidimensional level,yet has the understanding that everything and everyone is interconnected like a single organism. Many martians smoke weed and/or use psychedelic drugs to further enhance their knowledge,creativity, and understanding of the universe.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy
“A proposed policy change with low support among economically elite Americans (one-out-of-five in favour) is adopted only about 18% of the time,” they write, “while a proposed change with high support (four-out-of-five in favour) is adopted about 45% of the time.”
When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organised interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favour policy change, they generally do not get it.
+1 Bill Clinton’s administration appointed Bruce Babbitt. I was hopeful for like appointments. My fear is that someone who would sponsor something like the Bipartisan act is either not informed and/or very biased toward pro hunter anti-predator policies. Since Presidents rely on their cabinet and to some extent their closest staff Tim Kaine may well have a great deal of influence. I see sponsorship of that Act as a bad sign. He receives a higher score than deserved on the CL scorecard.
Yes. I hope it isn’t a foreshadowing of who will be appointed as Secretary of the Interior! As soon as Bernie started talking about banking reform, I knew he wouldn’t have a prayer.
I had always planned to vote for Hillary, wavered about Bernie but didn’t think he could win, and was thrilled that we’d have the first woman president. But this bothers me. I’ll still vote for her, but it’s disappointing. Many of the conservative leaning won’t change their minds about voting Dem, I fear – even if the Sportsmen’s Act sweetens the deal somewhat. Blech!
Bruce Babbitt was an amazingly good Sec. of Interior for Bill Clinton.. HOWEVER, now he has flipped and has become a paid lobbyist for California Big-Ag and Southern California water interests in promoting Gov. Brown’s proposed 40ft diameter tunnels, which will swipe huge amounts of water directly from the Sacramento River to Central Valley farms and So. Cal. cities. The Sacramento Delta with its salmon and and other Endangered fish will be left high and dry.
Breaking it down 🙂
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=first+past+the+post&&view=detail&mid=E6AB490B683E1B1404B6E6AB490B683E1B1404B6&FORM=VRDGAR
That was great. 🙂
“I preferred Bernie, but he moved the DNC well to the left. He now supports Hillary.
I hope people will consider what will happen to the environment under Trump. Hillary has a good record in the Senate on wildlife and the environment. The Democratic Platform is good too.”
That has been my view, too. I’ve tried to get some of the Bernie people who refuse to vote for HRC to consider what will happen to our environment, wildlife and federal lands under a Trump administration.
I don’t know that people like me will survive a Trump presidency. <<<< That is only partially hyperbole. I read a headline today that N. Korea's Kim Jong Un, (one of the leaders that Trump has spouted off as being admirable) had one of his premiers executed for not sitting up straight.
Trump will not win. I have more belief in Americans, as a whole, than to believe we will allow that to happen. That is coming from someone who is cynical toward and distrustful of people and government. And, I live in the heart of Trump-redneck-ville, Oklahoma. If I'm wrong, I fear we can kiss this planet good-bye. We simply cannot allow Putin's friend to win.
Another old grizz gone
http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/idaho/grizzly-euthanized-in-eastern-idaho-after-killing-sheep/281634361
http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/07/23/more-national-wildlife-refuges-opened-hunting-and-fishing
bad news
TR would drop kick the USFWS if he could. I believe he created the first NWR to protect birds from plummers and IMO would have never agreed to let these areas become hunting and fishing reserves.
Somewhere things changed and I’m not sure who is responsible but the name needs to change from “refuge” to “killing and farming fields”, because that is what is taking place.
“Somewhere things changed and I’m not sure who is responsible but the name needs to change from “refuge” to “killing and farming fields”, because that is what is taking place”
Agree Gary. Find strength 🙂
++++1
Follow the influence, lobbyists, and money (this was signed almost 20 years ago and was ‘last updated’ June of 2015):
https://www.fws.gov/refuges/youcanhelp/sciMOU.html
http://huntinglife.com/safari-club-international-victory-protects-hunting-throughout-national-wildlife-refuge-system/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160725135357.htm
More bad news
Republicans seem determined to leave an overpopulated, politically and racially divided wasteland for their future generations. The profiteers who think they may be insulated from the impact will be in for a surprise. Everything is connected.
https://morningconsult.com/2016/06/15/rider-filled-house-interior-appropriations-bill-moves-forward-democrats-objections/
I looked at the link quickly and I at first thought it said ‘Morning Insult’. My mind is still boggled that I must be forced to vote for a democratic presidential candidate whose running mate is a co-sponsor of the Sportsmens Act!!! I am extremely dismayed that a fox could be that close to the henhouse and get the bill passed. After we’ve been trying to fight it for years too. What a slap in the face. I thought after 8 years of suffering through Obama and his
giving away the storecompromises and his godawful Interior secretaries who have done untold damage, we’d finally have new hope with Hillary (based on Bill). I guess not!!! I guess it is true that anything to do with the environment is not to be mentioned during an election. It’s almost as bad as having Jon Tester as her running mate.Their are plenty of dirt bags in both parties playing good cop/bad cop with the public. But never in my life have I seen such blatant corruption as I have with the Democrats in recent years, sanctimoniously pushing and rigging their green nightmare on the public.
Yes. It’s truly shocking.
Nationally, Democrats have not even had the power to pass legislation of note since what, 2010? Perhaps “recent years” means the last 4 decades for you.
Read about the Denver Eagle Repository in the article Harvesting Eagles. It was set up by Bill Clinton in 1997 to handle and hide the flood on new eagle carcasses coming in from “green” energy developments. The Denver Eagle Repository is being used by corporate America to hide the cause of death and the bodies of thousands of eagles that have been slaughtered by turbines.
Ah, 20 years ago is recent, I see. I agree wind has problems, and corn has problems, but CO2 is also a problem.
Try an overview of corruption: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_scandals_in_the_United_States
Compare executive branch scandals of current administration with previous one, and for either epoch compare number of house and senate scandals due to D’s and R’s. D’s are not even close.
Wind energy today is as effective at solving C02 problems as flushing a toilet is to cure cancer.
Well gosh, I’ll do all my “business” outside now. Got kind of use to it after last week’s storm. Won’t have to worry about that nasty flush!
https://www.fws.gov/eaglerepository/about.php
“The collection efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides a legal means for Native Americans to acquire eagle feathers for religious purposes, which in turn, reduces the pressure to take birds from the wild and thereby protecting eagle populations. It also, promotes a government to government relationship with federally recognized tribes, as well as, fulfills the U.S. governments trust responsibilities to Native Americans.”
and….
“It is illegal for any individual to possess a bald or golden eagle, including its parts (feathers, feet, etc.). The distribution of bald and golden eagles and their parts to Native Americans is authorized by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and Regulations found in 50 CFR 22. Enrolled Native Americans wishing to obtain bald or golden eagles or their parts, must be at least 18 years old and submit a First Time application for a new applicant and a Re-order form if they have applied in the past. Requests are filled on a first come first serve basis by date of application. Numbers of requests, by far , exceeds the number of eagles available which imposes various waiting times for orders to be filled.”
This is why there is a repository. It had nothing to do with hiding eagle losses by the wind industry.
One problem with the repository was the time it took to obtain a feather or feathers, and for the Zuni Tribe, the frequency and number of feathers they needed to for their ceremonial practices. That is why the Zuni’s were the first tribe to work with USFWLS to build an eagle aviary for injured eagles. If the injured eagle was releasable they were released. If they were not releasable due to long term result of the injury they were allowed to live the remainder of their lives at the aviary, thus, averting the ‘fly or die’ regulation.
The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma followed the Zuni’s and now have one of the largest tribal raptor aviaries in the nation. The molted feathers are collected daily and stored for ceremony.
These tribal aviaries have resolved the problem of the long wait for feathers from the repository.
Oh come on now, without democrats kiss public lands good bye, clean oceans, clean air and water regs would disappear and you could be assured that a trophy hunter Trum would be in the position of Secretary of Interior. Congress needs to be more accountable, more transparent, less sanctimonious, less corrupt and more effective but when it comes to bad environmental policy the GOP is largely responsible for much of the foot dragging obstruction and destructive policies.
Congress is about to be out of session, the Endangered Species Coalition has an easy form to request a face to face constituent meeting with your representatives.
http://action.endangered.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=23430&First_Name=Louise&Last_Name=Kane&Email=louise@kaneproductions.net&Street=18%20Beach%20Plum%20Lane&City=Eastham&State=MA&Zip=02642
I think they provide talking points and help interested parties to set up the meetings. This years lineup of bills with riders to erode ESA protections and remand wolves back to the states is mind boggling. Please put your money where your mouth is, as the saying goes.
Meetings and correspondence matter. or at least they should and have in the past.
“DNA Study Reveals the One and Only Wolf Species in North America”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/science/red-eastern-gray-wolves.html?mabReward=wR2&action=click&pgtype=Homepage®ion=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine
Conclusion is that there is no Red Wolf or Eastern Wolf, just Gray Wolves, Coyotes, and Gray Wolf-Coyote hybrids.
This has been argued before and my answer is always the same:
Even if the Red Wolf of the southeastern U.S. is not a distinct species, it is the ONLY genetic remnant of a unique southeastern Gray Wolf population, an animal native to that ecosystem that has otherwise long vanished.
That in itself is worth conserving…
… Unless one believes that ecologically distinct subspecies of the enormously widely-distributed Gray Wolf are not worth conserving. Shall we let the Arabian Wolf die out as long as the Mackenzie Valley Wolf still exists in the wild?
I wonder what this will mean for a national delisting, when gray wolves have been restored to only a small fraction of former their range (Yes, Dan Ashe, we know they can’t be reintroduced to downtown Denver and Los Angeles!). But they can be reintroduced to the least human populated areas such as Northern VT and Maine. The only state with less people than VT is WY.
Does this have to change the status of Mexican and Red wolves – a subspecies is still a different animal? This ought to present quite a quandary. 🙂
oops, ‘fraction of their former range’.
State Evidence Suggests New Wolf May Be in California’s Lassen County
by Center for Biological Diversity
Wednesday Jun 22nd, 2016 5:23 PM
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/06/22/18787909.php
This article has about 5 trail cam pics of the animal. (Judging from the pics it’s not impossible that it’s a high content wolfdog)
http://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Another-apparent-wolf-sighting-in-California-8321877.php
R.I.P. David Bald Eagle
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/27/487651658/david-bald-eagle-lakota-chief-musician-cowboy-and-actor-dies-at-97
What an amazing life! 🙂
I have another feather story. Near our rather large Black Lake (northern lower MI) I came across a huge cottonwood near the lake, whose base was covered in bird droppings, and about 100 eagle feathers. No nest, just a good lookout. Saw about 8 primaries. Told a friend in Onaway (close) who is Odawa.
Couple of months ago, or so, I had a sparring match with ODFN about after a summers time, I could have enough eagle and Raven feathers for a war bonnet. You’ve stumbled upon one of those areas.
Another warning about the removal of top predators…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/huge-once-hated-fish-now-seen-weapon-against-053052931.html
Yes, and alligator gar (what an awesome fish!) were removed for a reason similar to why wolves are persecuted–the belief that they competed with sport anglers: “To many, it was a freak, a “trash fish” that threatened sportfish, something to be exterminated. … a mistaken belief that they hurt sportfish led to widespread extermination throughout the 1900s, when they were often shot or blown up with dynamite.”
How short-sighted, self-centered, and ignorant humans can be. Thanks for posting–wonderful to know there’s a natural control for Asian carp.
1.3K comments … “one more controversial species”, so to say
I almost don’t know what to say, how awful. Just that I am relieved that we realized our mistake before it is too late for this amazing fish.
Decision on Yantis shooting:
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/sheriffs-body-camera-policy-changes-after-ranchers-death/41581699
deputies are now required to activate the cameras for all public interactions while on duty – does it apply only to the Adams County?
Should be quite the show!
https://weather.com/science/space/news/perseid-meteor-shower-august-facts
Thanks for the reminder!
Wolf OR-7’s Pack Has Pups for Third Straight Year, Neighboring New Wolf Pair Also Has Pups
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/wolf-07-28-2016.html
A scientific analysis determined that Oregon can support as many as 1,400 wolves. Oregon wildlife officials have indicated that there are currently approximately 155 wolves in the state, and that wolves are occupying only a little more than 12 percent of suitable wolf habitat.
“When an 8-year-old wolf has his first-known litter of pups and when his 8-year-old brother is confirmed to have had his third litter, it’s a moment of awe and wonder,” said Weiss.
I agree, give wolves a chance to play rock’n’roll in Oregon,man!
Just a little clarification. Wolves are still protected by the ESA within 2/3 of Oregon and are still under the Oregon Wolf Plan in NE Oregon where 90% of their total reside.
The Oregon Wolf Plan was developed using input from conservation groups and the livestock industry and both groups were in agreement with the adoption of the plan. Wolves are only killed if they repeatedly kill livestock after numerous non lethal attempts have failed. No trapping or hunting is allowed.
Oregon, like California and Washington are politically blue states and I have little doubt they will continue to disperse and increase in population. I doubt their numbers will increase to 1,400 though, as the wild game here is not as prolific as in the Rocky Mountain region. The article didn’t indicate what scientific analysis it referenced but probably from Oregon State University (same institute that promotes trophic cascades which has not been universally accepted yet). Just saying.
They also need to disperse and they are constrained by Idaho’s bloody war on wolves. And by prey, I’m still very saddened by )R 4’s gruesome last moments. That was a tragedy. That wolf had endured numerous collarings and the stress that goes with it, he was mostly not a trouble maker The ODFG should have left them alone.
Caterpillar transformations – click on the caterpillar to see the future butterfly or moth. So amazing.
http://www.ba-bamail.com/content.aspx?emailid=19420
Aren’t they something. I went to my local bird sanctuary the other day and saw quite a few monarchs. I get black swallowtails, and one drinking nectar at my hummingbird feeder was a beautiful sight.
I knew that you of all people would like that. I’m glad to hear you’re seeing monarchs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/science/red-eastern-gray-wolves.html?smid=fb-share
Interesting how this DNA research may keep the Red Wolf off of the endangered species list. My question is how long have Red Wolf been hybridized? Next, how are they different than coywolves?
“That complicates things for the National Park Service, he says. Until now, the goal has been preserving parks, keeping things the same. Now, they may have to let plants and animals move — and they’ll have to help the public understand what’s happening”
http://www.npr.org/2016/08/02/487938345/planning-for-the-future-of-a-park-where-the-trees-have-one-name
Aren’t they beautiful. We stopped to admire some driving through the desert from California to LV, Nevada. Really hot and really beautiful trees, unique and a national treasure. What a beautiful drive.
Wildlife-related in a round-about way…this video was recorded on a nestcam! An amazing time-lapse of the start of the Roaring Lion fire just south of Hamilton, MT in the Bitterroot Valley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIj4b1nRfds
It’s believed to be human-caused. It blew-up incredibly quickly Sunday afternoon (heat, wind, low humidity). Fourteen homes lost and one person dead from heart failure during the evacuation. InciWeb update (updated one min. ago): http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4913/
At InciWeb, you can also click on ‘photographs’ in the menu bar.
The video is frightening and here’s another video of stills of the Roaring Lion fire. And yes, got to wonder what the hell is going thru this person’s mind, with the background music:
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/montana/grizzly-bear-euthanized-after-breaking-into-trailers/42366168
“Due to the bear’s degree of food conditioning and because she did not have cubs with her, the decision was made to euthanize her on Monday”
{Based on photos} officials believed the bear had gotten into garages, a barn and killed chickens in the same general area during the last two years”
During the last 2 years? And that requires a death sentence? No age listed for this bear. Nor any information about what might just of led to her “food conditioning”
Think that dumbf**k over in Idaho, a year or two ago (youtube) encouraging a black bear family, to scale the second level of his townhouse (food conditioned) so he could brag about wildlife what he caught on video…
Course bears are bears 🙂 when trying to hang on to what’s left of their little piece of wilderness:
The bear was not “euthanized.” The bear was EXECUTED. Montana FWP simply kills bears after the fact rather than fine people who maintain attractants in grizzly country and require the use of electric fencing–proven to work.
That bear broke into manufactured homes on the North Fork of the Flathead. What else can one do, turn their home into a prison with electric fencing and razor wire.
How can the Montana FWP fine anyone who maintains attractants in grizzly country and require the use of electric fencing-proven to work? There is no law requiring electric fencing on private property in Montana, it is all voluntary.
“What else can one do, turn their home into a prison with electric fencing and razor wire”
Well yes and why not Elk? Especially when one resides in “bear country”
Sad the double standards when it comes to western states:
a rule or principle that is unfairly applied in different ways to different people or groups OR (adding here) wildlife.
At a place yesterday (its a getaway for the owners who lives elsewhere) and the neighbor’s cattle got in and rubbed downspouts off, ruining the gutters, crapped all over the yard, etc.
The owner of said cows, passed by this place every day and guessing, mighty grateful for the couple of acres of free feed because they did nothing to move them out but hey, they can’t be held liable if their cows aren’t properly fenced OUT.
So imagine two years, this bear has been hanging around (from all accounts) getting into a bit of trouble here and there and then suddenly “someone” signed her death warrant. (Google bears breaking into camp trailers, if you think this is some sort of isolated event)
Elk:
Several years ago now I visited a homestead near Lake Clark National Park (in Alaska). The homeowner had electric fence surrounding his property, including his yard where he kept goats. He also had what he called a “bear dog” whose job it was to chase off bears.
No laws required–just common sense.
How did the aboriginal people up in the Yukon live in grizzly country? This was an entirely different paradigm but it worked.
They even shared their salmon fishing site with the grizzlies.
I just shake my head at the flippant attitude and lack of creativity of some people.
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss1/art42/
I believe you can read the full paper with this site.
http://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Judge-rejects-federal-approval-of-Idaho-gold-mine-9104881.php
It’s a good day today. 🙂
“The mining company’s claims predate the 1980 formation of the River of No Return Wilderness. The company wants to mine two of those claims but must first prove they are valid claims with marketable amounts of minerals. To do that, Winmill said, noting the company’s right to mine in the wilderness, the company must be allowed to do work that includes activities that wouldn’t normally be permitted in a wilderness area”.
I’m a positive minded individual, but IMHO this last statement doesn’t bode well for a permanent restriction for access to the mining company. The Forest Service will go back and make the necessary changes to their analysis and the mining company will be in there screwing up the solitude and environment to some degree. Don’t blame the Forest Service, they are just abiding by the antiquated 1872 law, look hard at you guess it, Congress.
I’m not sure – and I’m no legal expert, but I thought I had read where the mine had to have a history of use so that exploring it isn’t necessary? Not being left idle for decades, and then to run roughshod over the entire area to see if it may still be a viable mine. I hope those fighting this will scrutinize every line and make sure everything is examined closely. You can see that the Wilderness Act means nothing to some – I had to smile when the judge said the worked could walk in and out.
Make that ‘the workers could walk in and out’.
Are we sure the Forest Service is abiding by the law, or did someone’s favorite politician intercede and override the Forest Service? Wouldn’t the Wilderness Act moderate the mining act for modern times, somewhat?
Two situations Ida: If the mine is a claim or if the mine has been patented. If claim has a patent then it is private property.
Ok. But why haven’t they pursued it before now, or maybe they have?
Well. I hadn’t read enough background – the Wilderness Act does moderate activity there – the claim itself isn’t in question but how to get in and out of protected wilderness while doing the least amount of damage. The Forest Service has been sent back to the drawing board. I guess it’s pack mules and gold pans just like in the 1890s:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/letters-from-the-west/article93498982.html
Mechanized vehicles are prohibited by the Wilderness Act, so the mining company is asking for an exemption from the Wilderness Act is what it sounds like to me?
It’s extremely offensive, because the Forest Service knows very well the proscriptions of the Wilderness Act. The court says it violates NEPA as well.
It looks like the court is going to stand by enforce the blocking of mechanized vehicles, especially to the extent the FS tried to pull over. There is also information required that they did not include. So it is a lot more complicated than correcting errors, if they even can be corrected. The mine collapsed some time in the 1920s and no production since 1941. There could even be safety issues.
“Winmill noted that the Forest Service did extensive analysis of some mining claims that weren’t part of the argument, but apparently failed to do so for the ones at issue. He ordered the agency to reveal whatever confidential information the company, provided that justified its claims the development was necessary.”
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/judge-rules-gold-mine-fails-to-follow-wilderness-standards/article_342868aa-88b3-523c-b2f3-56ff7ae047b9.html
Least we forget:
http://www.npr.org/2016/08/04/488579040/one-year-after-a-toxic-river-spill-no-clear-plan-to-clean-up-western-mines
Better late than never.
http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2016/08/breaking-news-obama-administration-grounds-aerial-hunting-inhumane-predator-killing-practices-refuges-alaska.html
Thank you President Obama! 🙂
Oh yeah!! 🙂 For all wildlife out there:
I wish there were more information on the order that revised the regulations. But good news. Thanks for posting Immer
Interesting segment on the PBS Newshour tonight: “In an increasingly damaged sea, one animal is thriving.”
Jellyfish are proliferating. Why? Climate change – check. Over-fishing – check. Dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and algae blooms – check. They are so fascinating–but their numbers indicate trouble.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/increasingly-damaged-sea-one-animal-thriving/
“Ecology of Fear: Researchers Discover ‘Super Predators’ More Frightening Than Bears, Wolves”
Excerpt: “A new study reveals that smaller mesocarnivores now fear humans more than their actual predators, making humans the new ‘super predator.’
“According to the study published in the journal Behavioral Ecology, their fear of humans may have been because over the past years, humans had been hunting more animals than their own predators.”
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/25887/20160802/ecology-of-fear-researchers-discover-super-predators-more-frightening-than-bears-wolves.htm
I have not had a chance to read this yet Kathleen so thanks for posting it. I saw the title the other day and was reminded about a conservation I had with a biologist who first told me that coyotes and wildlife are not nocturnal contrary to what most people think, they have just been forced to become nocturnal because humans persecute them. A terrible thing to consider. How to live in a world where you must only be out from dusk to dawn because you are not tolerated. Humans are blight on the world.
Yes, Louise, truly a terrible thing to consider. And even when harm isn’t directly intended, the human blight affects animals’ survival because we’ve altered their world so significantly. Take artificial lighting, for example. Sea turtle hatchlings are confused by bright nighttime lights and crawl toward them instead of toward the sea; baby puffins (pufflings!), when they emerge from their burrows on Scottish islands, are likewise confused and fly toward mainland lights instead of the open sea. Once on the mainland, they seek out dark places to hide. Human animals impact the lives and survival of nonhuman animals in ways we can’t even fathom. https://www.buzzfeed.com/h2/vflt/hilarywardle/pufflings-pufflings-everywhere?utm_term=.xpZmlAvrQJ#.xh0ZEb4Kyr
No doubt this will only grow more controversial.
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/02/bike-ban-us-wilderness-bill/
Why revise the Wilderness Act to accommodate bikes? Why must we open up every trail to bikes when plenty already exist? Why must the biking crowd (many of whom are rude to hikers and assume all should yield to them) revise the fundamentals of the wilderness ideal? Why can’t more people actually walk into wilderness?
In the same vein, this was in last week’s Missoula Independent. Some good comments posted to it, also.
http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/wilderness/Content?oid=3027160
Wolves at my door! This new wolf pack is only about 40 miles from my residence so maybe, just maybe, I will someday hear the howl of a wolf I have always wanted to hear (without going to Yellowstone!).
http://www.myeasternoregon.com/2016/07/30/enterprise-new-wolf-pack-established-near-silver-lake/
This is great. I just visited Silver Lake. I had no idea.
Here is an update about the Silver Lake Wolves from Oregon Fish and Wildlife:
Pups for Rogue Pack and new “Silver Lake wolves”
ODFW and USFWS have confirmed that OR3 (an eight-year-old male originally from the Imnaha pack) has paired up with OR28, a three-year-old GPS radio-collared female originally from the Mt Emily pack. Based on remote camera images, the two are believed to have produced at least one pup in 2016. They are primarily using the Silver Lake Wildlife Management Unit in western Lake County and have been dubbed the Silver Lake wolves. (A group of wolves is designated a pack when there is evidence of a minimum of four wolves traveling together in winter.)
Wolf OR3 dispersed from northeast Oregon’s former Imnaha Pack in 2011, just a few months before more well-known wolf OR7. But unlike OR7, OR3 had a VHS collar not a GPS collar. VHF collars do not automatically transmit location information and wildlife managers lost track of him after the fall of 2011. OR3 made a brief reappearance on a trail camera in the Cascades in northern Klamath County in summer 2015. His radio-collar is no longer functional. It is unknown if OR3 bred before this year.
Other wolf activity in SW Oregon includes the Rogue Pack, the Keno wolves, and 2 radio-collared wolves (OR25 & OR33). Reproduction has also been confirmed in 2016 for the Rogue Pack, with remote camera photos of 2 pups. Occasional remote camera photos of wolves are captured in the Keno AKWA. Biologists will continue monitoring activities to learn more about these wolves. OR25 (Klamath Co) and OR33 (Klamath and Jackson Co) are both males dispersed from the Imnaha Pack and are each believed to be traveling alone.
One of a few reminders. Oh, and you say you haven’t heard of Earth Overshoot Day? 🙂
https://medium.com/center-for-biological-diversity/appetite-for-destruction-7b90fe83dcbd#.xadnbyjxc
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/grizzly-bear-euthanized-after-developing-a-taste-for-chickens-near-cochrane
I’m not willing to cut the Democrats much slack anymore. They have been bargaining away our public lands, clean air, water, and wildlife. They may not be as bad as the GOP (that would be a tall order for anyone) but they are far from good and have shifted more to the right. I’m growing increasingly worried about Hillary – I watched her on the news tonight and there were a handful of animal rights protesters. Well, the Secret Service came flying out as if a member of ISIS was in the audience! She came back with a remark about the Trump boys and their trophy hunting – but if she supports the Sportsmen’s Act, or is willing to make a deal with it, she will be helping Trump’s sons and others like them get their trophies! I’m not sure how knowledgeable she is on these types of issues, not many are. The Democrats have done a hatchet job on Bernie Sanders, and I see that animal rights people are expendable too. I’ll see how things look and if I must vote for her, I will – but I’m becoming increasingly concerned. I’m in a deeply blue state, so I can vote my conscience. I don’t think her VP supports her entirely on women’s reproductive rights either.
Bear hound/ wolf interactions are once again on display in Wisconsin. As usual, comments are entertaining, and one of the repeat commentators eeriely like one who sometimes frequents TWN.
http://www.ammoland.com/2016/08/wisconsin-wolf-pet-dog-kills-growing/
.
Good read:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/07/national-forest-woodland-midlands-regeneration
Which led to a great talk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_simard_how_trees_talk_to_each_other
8.5m trees have been planted in 25 years
+++
if 600 seedlings are planted per hectare, then it gives 60K seedlings/km2 or ~140 km2 for 8.5M seedlings
140:25 years = 5.6 km2/year
“Between ash dieback and the emerald ash borer, it is likely that almost all ash trees in Europe will be wiped out, just as the elm was largely eliminated by Dutch elm disease,” said Peter Thomas, a tree ecologist at Keele University whose analysis was published in March’s Journal of Ecology.
+++
glad to see reference to Peter Thomas’s work – I like both of his 2 books about trees & forest ecology
“Trees: Their Natural History”
“Ecology of Woodlands and Forests: Description, Dynamics and Diversity”
Talis warned Oliver that self-seeded trees performed better than transplants because they were “at home” in a way that planted trees never can be.
“Transplants are like orphans, deprived of family support – a forest should work like a community, not an orphanage, nor an army.”
http://www.theecologist.org/Interviews/2348935/an_inspirational_forester.html
“An inspirational forester”
Talis Kalnars was a pioneer of ‘continuous cover’ forestry in Britain, writes Phil Morgan. His woodlands were not only beautiful but profitable, as he nurtured the ‘natural capital’ of the forest ecosystem, and only harvested the dividend of high value timber.
“The productive capital of a forest is the forest itself. Clear fell the forest and you are destroying your own infrastructure that you have worked so hard to build up.
“Yes, you realise some money from the timber, but it’s a one-off. And then you have to rebuild your capital from scratch. That’s expensive and difficult because clearfelling has created a hostile environment for trees”.
http://www.heraldnet.com/news/state-to-kill-wolves-from-ferry-co-pack-after-cows-attacked/
They’re going to murder some more innocent wolves in Washington State. Wolves doing nothing wrong, but trying to survive. Not their fault.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/coyote-america-dan-flores-history-science/
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/08/dinosaurs-climate-change
I think trying to connect dinosaur extinction to climate change (in the least) in regard to what is going on now is a stretch. If memory serves me correct, during the 150 million years or so of dinosaur dominance global temperatures and atmospheric CO2 levels were higher. The Deccan Traps were also associated with plate tectonics as the Indain sub continent collided into the Asian mainland.
About the same time there was a giant inland sea in mid continental N America. The dynamics of the earth dwarf the current effects of man.
As an aside,I believe, we are going through a positive feedback cycle as the ice and glaciers from the last period of glaciation continue to melt and recede…which has little to do with man. It’s the cyclical nature of the earths geologic history. That said, l believe man has contributed to this, and most probably has served as a catalyst to accelerate the warming process, and as it continues to accelerate, it will do so at a pace which will make adaptation to the said warming all the more difficult.
from David Archer’s “The Long Thaw: How Humans Are Changing The Next 100 000 Years of Earth’s Climate”
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Thaw-Changing-Climate-Essentials/dp/0691148112
p.6 : The deepest and most profound climate changes in the recent geologic past seem to take place on timescales of millennia and longer. The great ice sheets grow and usually melt on timescales of millennia, a huge response to the wobbles in the Earth’s orbit. The natural carbon cycle acted as a positive feedback, amplifying the response to the orbit.
The climate of the Earth is so dramatically sensitive to the ten-thousand-year orbital wobbles that it might also put on a pretty good show in response to the long tail of the fossil fuel CO2. I will try to convince you that human climate forcing has the potential to overwhelm the orbital climate forcing, taking control of the ice ages. Mankind is becoming a force in climate comparable to the orbital variations that drive the glacial cycles.
p. 153 : Times like today, when the orbit is nearly circular, diminish the solar variability because it doesn’t matter where in the orbit the Northern hemisphere summer comes, it’s about the same distance to the Sun all around the orbit. The last time the Earth was in this configuration was about 400 millennia ago. The interglacial period at that time was about 50 thousand years long, the same as what the trigger model is predicting for our current interglacial period.
p. 156 : If mankind ultimately burns 2000 Gton C (this is about the business-as-usual forecast for the coming century), then it looks as though climate will avoid glaciation in 50 millennia as well, waiting until the next period of cool summers 130 millennia from now. If the entire coal reserves were used (that is, 5000 Gton C), then glaciation could be delayed for some 500 millennia, half a million years. The Earth could remain in an interglacial state until the end of not our current period of circular orbit, but the next circular time, 400 millennia from now.
I think the point of the article was cumulative impacts of human caused global warming could be tipping the scales.
almost exactly what you surmise
“that said, l believe man has contributed to this, and most probably has served as a catalyst to accelerate the warming process, and as it continues to accelerate, it will do so at a pace which will make adaptation to the said warming all the more difficult.”
I believe man has contributed to this, and most probably has served as a catalyst to accelerate the warming process
+++
http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-scientific-consensus.htm
97% of climate experts agree humans are causing global warming.
Surveys of the peer-reviewed scientific literature and the opinions of experts consistently show a 97–98% consensus that humans are causing global warming.
That humans are causing global warming is the position of the Academies of Science from 80 countries plus many scientific organizations that study climate science. More specifically, around 95% of active climate researchers actively publishing climate papers endorse the consensus position.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/48.12/blm-moves-away-from-landmark-northwest-forest-plan
“The balance we’re trying to strike is fulfilling our responsibilities under the O&C Act, while also meeting our responsibilities under laws like the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act,” Brown says. “When we fulfill all of those, we don’t have a lot of decision space.”
Those comments sum up the BLM’s management decisions in a nutshell.
Numerous timber companies partially rely on federal timber in the PNW to run their mills; supplying the demand for lumber while providing steady decent paying jobs (there are quite a few). To continue their operations they are either going to have to use short rotations resulting in the cutting of relatively small trees within large clearcuts, extensive road building and minimal stream buffers on private lands or partially offset these impacts through the purchase of federal timber sales which are the gold standard regarding environmental protection measures.
And if the plans stand, Kerr says, “I’m looking forward to them trying to cut old growth and having people sit in trees again.”
It was wonderful.” Up on the platforms, flying squirrels would sometimes land on protesters. “They’d try to take the food out of your hand,” Wilson says. “We’d see them launch. They’d go to the edge of the platform and just, choooooo.”
I’m quite familiar with these two gentlemen and the organizations they work for, and their basic mindset is NO trees older than 80 years old should be cut on federal timber land and only “managed stands” should be thinned.
In federal forestry agencies today there is the term “you have to crack eggs to make an omelet”. This basically means there are instances when short term impacts occur in order to speed up the restoration of forest stands. I worked on the 2009 thinning sale referred to in the article and I can say unequivocally that this timber sale and every other thinning sale I worked on was implemented with strict environmental protection standards.
“Reading up on the behavior of trees — a topic he learned little about in forestry school — he found that, in nature, trees operate less like individuals and more as communal beings. Working together in networks and sharing resources, they increase their resistance”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/30/world/europe/german-forest-ranger-finds-that-trees-have-social-networks-too.html?_r=1
Goes hand in hand with the link I posted above re: Suzanne Simard/Ted Talk
As THE dominant species on this planet (always putting profits above the existence of other beings) it sadly will be a while longer before we recognize and start connecting the dots.
Like recycling garbage, that 300 million people generate (for building materials) instead of cutting down what’s left of our forests. The list goes on and on………
always putting profits above the existence of other beings
+++
“Intrigued, Mr. Wohlleben began investigating alternate approaches to forestry. Visiting a handful of private forests in Switzerland and Germany, he was impressed. “They had really thick, old trees,” he said. “They treated their forest much more lovingly, and the wood they produced was more valuable. In one forest, they said, when they wanted to buy a car, they cut two trees. For us, at the time, two trees would buy you a pizza.”
This is one of the more beautiful things I have ever read.
“Numerous timber companies partially rely on federal timber in the PNW to run their mills; supplying the demand for lumber while providing steady decent paying jobs (there are quite a few). To continue their operations they are either going to have to use short rotations resulting in the cutting of relatively small trees within large clearcuts, extensive road building and minimal stream buffers on private lands or partially offset these impacts through the purchase of federal timber sales which are the gold standard regarding environmental protection measures.”
Public resources are the life-support system supporting an industry that from what I understand, at this point is struggling to compete with foreign imports. It is extremely frustrating that our government is more than happy to socialize the costs of private profits. By the way, where are these Oregon old-growth forest stands that logging companies are salivating over? The Coast Range is already a checkerboard of clearcuts and theres only like 3% (or some other minuscule amount) of remnant old growth left. That being said, I’m not 100% against thinning and selective cutting of younger growth. I just think that remaining old growth should be sacrosanct. There’s something like 90+ unique species of fungi to PNW old growth forest systems, plus the specialized habitat it provides in that region for Spotted Owl and Marbles Murrelet, as well as countless other organisms. Why does that have to be second to breaking out the public lands defibrillator for companies flatlining in today’s global market? Rant finished 😉
This little blurb on the USF&W Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery page. Mid-July pup report.
“2016 Denning Packs and wolf pups
July 2016
This summer, members of the IFT have documented denning behavior in at least 11 Mexican wolf packs in the Mexican Wolf Recovery Area. As of mid-July, a minimum of 42 pups in 9 packs (Bluestem, Elk Horn, Hoodoo, Iron Creek, Luna, Panther Creek, Prieto, SBP, and Tsay O Ah) have been documented. Six of the 42 pups in the count are a result of cross foster events. Throughout the summer and into the fall, the IFT will continue to monitor and document wolf pup numbers. As the pups get older, the IFT will attempt to capture pups, administer vaccines, and affix pup size radio collars to monitor survival.”
The National Geographic news article repeats the bad rap that Coyotes get by calling North America’s own native Canid ” the most hated animal in America”. But they redeem themselves by reviewing Dan Flores’ book ” Coyote America – a natural and Spuernatural History ” which explains how Coyotes aren’t just surviving in the face of massive eradication attempts, but actually thriving and expanding.
Fine with me. If I didn’t keep cats, I’d love to have a couple Coyotes for companions. They are amazing animals. SOmewhere in that article is the thought the Coyote howl is America’s honest national anthem…none of that ” bombs bursting in air ” stuff.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/coyote-america-dan-flores-history-science/
If any of you made comments to the USFWS re Flathead National Forest Plan then be aware of this notice
“FS Flathead National Forest
You are subscribed to FNF Plan Revision & NCDE GBCS Amendment to the Lolo, Helena, Lewis & Clark, and Kootenai NFs for USDA Forest Service. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
Hello:
The staff of the Flathead National Forest replaced an incorrect figure found in appendix 1 of the draft environmental impact statement for the Flathead National Forest’s draft revised Land and Resource Management Plan (draft forest plan) as the incorrect figure was originally inserted. The correct figure 1-38 (grizzly bear security core, wilderness, and recommended wilderness alternative A south half) is attached.
The corrected appendix in its entirety can be found at http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/flathead/fpr. The original appendix can be viewed on the project website (http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=46286).
FNF_DEIS_fig1_38_GBSecWildRecWildAltASouthHalf.pdf”
More here and comments:
“There is no shortage of excuses why this must be. First and foremost though, there exists the unspoken priority of the plot line: to use corporate proxies claiming conservation values to maintain the death spiral of disaster capitalism”
http://forestpolicypub.com/2016/05/24/report-flathead-national-forest-shirks-its-road-reclamation-duties/
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/04/lynda-stewart-resnick-california-water
not exact;y wildlife but pretty astounding the impacts to wildlife and people
https://summitcountyvoice.com/2016/08/09/colorado-will-kill-bears-and-lions-to-boost-deer-herds/
“Colorado wildlife managers say they are set to start a three-year study on whether killing bears and mountain lions can help boost deer populations in the northwestern part of the state, where hunting is a big part of the local economy.”
According to Anderson, the predator control study will take place in May and June, just before and during the fawn birthing period. He said all predators taken will be utilized to the fullest, including distribution of meat to people that need it, and CPW will use carcasses for education.
This is shocking to me, and it is only a study. Hunting as an ‘economic engine’ at work in the wilderness. Who eats the meat of predators? It really is becoming a stretch to continue with the argument of hunting as conservation.
Ida – might check out this link. Predators don’t seem to be a factor, at all, for mule deer declines, but hey, while there may be many other reasons, predators have a way of getting other predators (human hunters) juices going when local economies depend on the hunting industry (Big Bucks 🙂
http://www.deerfriendly.com/deer/colorado/colorado-deer-population-management-and-hunting-regulations/-2015/behavioral-response-of-mule-deer-to-natural-gas-development-in-the-piceance-basin-july-2015-colorado
Thank you.
I have to tell you all, I finally got to see the Perseids last night (or early this am). Every year, either I fall asleep or the weather isn’t good, or I can’t tell if I saw them or not. But this year, there was no mistaking the falling stars. What a show, what a show! 🙂
Thanks to your reminder, I went out 4 times last night (the moon took its sweet time going down behind the ridge) and never did see a shooting star but I DID see the International Space Station!!! (along with assorted lesser satellites) I just checked its schedule for last night and yes, indeed, that was it. You can track the ISS over your area here: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
I read in the paper that the meteor shower will peak tonight–perhaps I’ll have to sleep out on the deck.
Great viewing between 4 & 5 am this morning, Kathleen 🙂 Lots of shooting stars & 4 satellites.
Damn, missed it. I woke up at 2:50am and went out on the deck–stood out there for 5 minutes and didn’t see even one, so I bagged it. I did get a nice close fly-by from one of our resident bats, though. Earlier in the evening at dusk, having consulted the schedule, I got a great view of the International Space Station AND simultaneously a bat flying through the view. Well, I’m glad *you* got to see them, Nancy.
This 2016 IUCN Red List on endangered and threatened species indicates the biggest threats to species is human caused.
Agriculture, overhunting, poaching, biodervisty loss, pollution, ect., and less about climate change.
Even though numbers within many different species is declining, I see these results as good news. We can change this. We can turn this around. It’s a matter of making it happen. Easier said than done, but overexploitation, overhunting and poaching are high on the list, as is agriculture.
http://www.nature.com/news/biodiversity-the-ravages-of-guns-nets-and-bulldozers-1.20381?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews
I was just about to post this Yvette, thanks for getting to it first. Its a welcome analysis. The claim that wildlife benefit from hunting and that harvest levels are sustainable should by now be falling on deaf ears.
In the US, we can alter the harvest levels. Poaching is a problem, but not a huge one. Near me in MI, I can hardly name any iconic wildlife that has declined in the last 40 years. Yesterday I saw baldies, osprey, cranes, mink, deer, muskrat, trumpeter swan, all vastly more abundant than previously. Coyotes and bear abundant. Wolves expanding their range. Of those, we harvest deer, mink, bear, coyote, muskrat, and I claim with the deer that it is necessary, deaf ear baloney not withstanding. Habitat loss is allot harder to reverse, and I question the sustainability of our farming, so I take these as the much more serious problem, at least here. But I’m not an anti-hunter.
I was thinking of wildlife overall and more on a global scale.
There is definitely a serious problem with species declining with many of the iconic African wildlife. Poaching is driving the problem with elephants and rhinos, but even giraffes have declined by 40% in the last 15 years.
Dr. Peter Kat of Lion Aid says wild lions numbers are in more trouble than is being reported. I remember him talking about this on in interview on Our Wild World radio program. There was a huge difference in the estimated population. http://www.lionaid.org/news/2012/12/lionaid-scientific-estimate-of-lion-populations-in-africa.htm
Then there is this:
“Data on lion numbers is not reliable, said Peter Lindsey, a lion conservation specialist at Zimbabwe university and author of a survey of trophy hunting in Africa. He has argued in academic papers that hunting could be a positive force because it provides an economic motive for maintaining wildlife habitats.
“But in countries like Tanzania, which holds 30-50% of all Africa’s wild lions, trophy hunting appears to be the primary driver of lion population declines outside protected areas,” said Lindsey.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/29/trophy-hunting-just-part-story-behind-declining-lion-numbers-africa
Of course, the great apes are losing habitat and all of those specie’s populations are down.
I was also thinking of the global amphibian losses. Nearly 1/3 of the world’s species are threatened worldwide. Here in my region, it’s the loss of horned lizards that distresses me. I grew up with Texas Horned lizards being everywhere. I’ve not seen one in the wild in decades. I’m sure part of the reason is the region of OK where I live, but it’s well known in these parts that Texas Horned Lizards are disappearing and no one really knows why. I think there is a data gap with the reasons for why horned lizards are declining.
And I’ve not even mentioned the pollinators; the monarchs and the bees. There is plenty of work waiting for young grad students.
“Lost prosthetic leg found in Wisconsin beaver dam”
(You can’t make this stuff up…)
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lost-prosthetic-leg-found-in-wisconsin-beaver-dam/
Here’s the final word on the bear who killed the mountain biker after the cyclist ran into the bear…the investigation is now closed.
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/bear-that-attacked-mountain-biker-was-older-male/article_28be7123-a27d-545e-a07a-230630ecf709.html#comments
http://www.audubon.org/news/new-bill-would-be-lifeline-risk-birds?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2016-08-11-advisory
anybody know anything about this
with Don Young’s name on it, I am immediately suspect and Audubon is often at the heart of predator control programs.
Well, here’s how an article from Endangered Species Law & Policy starts out:
“In a year that has already seen its fair share of attempts to reform the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), another proposal has made its way into the House of Representatives.”
Perhaps it’s seen as a way to keep vulnerable species off the ESA and in state control–because once they’re listed, the Feds call the shots. Just speculating on that.
http://www.endangeredspecieslawandpolicy.com/2016/07/articles/regulatory-reform/bipartisan-esa-bill-proposes-funding-for-state-programs/
I was stunned to see this quote from someone who teaches at the University of Montana, College of Forestry and Conservation:
“Conservation requires unique and innovative strategies, and thinking outside the box,” Thomsen said. “Conserving for conservation’s sake is not going to cut it anymore.”
For instance, the illegal killing of Cecil the lion outside a national park in Zimbabwe a year ago prompted outrage in the United States, but one lesson from Africa is that trophy hunting isn’t always bad, she said. In fact, it can bring money to people who would otherwise have an incentive to poach.
“We see trophy hunting tourism as a way to conserve,” said Thomsen, who would like to pursue research on trophy hunting in collaboration with scientists in Africa. “We see that it has a direct link to (financial) benefits in the communities.” -end of excerpt-
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/um-strengthens-ties-to-conservationists-in-zambia/article_fbcff52a-4e4a-5bc2-8c93-eed2ebc1093b.html?utm_content=bufferd2960&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=LEEDCC
Yet another sad example of humans, “tinkering around” with the lives of wildlife:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/rabies-vaccines-new-brunswick-1.3721095
“Raccoon predators include cougars, bobcats, coyotes:
http://www.eregulations.com/maine/hunting/trapping-rules/
It’s fairly well studied and the problem is real. Reducing raccoon variant rabies is good.
http://epi.publichealth.nc.gov/cd/rabies/orv.html
Another sad example of ignorance Nancy. This program has value – it protects human, domestic, and wild animal health. And it’s a response to humans introducing raccoon strain rabies to the mid-Atlantic states decades ago and starting the epizootic. You could not be more wrong on this one.
http://www.ct.gov/dph/cwp/view.asp?a=3136&q=396744
How are those rabies vaccine drops supposed to work? I don’t see how they can be distributed evenly – some animals may get none, and others may ‘OD’ (gorge) on many of them especially if they are sweet and fatty. Is that harmful? What about non-target animals, like someone’s pet? I was always under the impression that small mammals like squirrels and chipmunks don’t carry rabies.
I used to think they had value, but now I wonder. Dropping live and also genetically modified (brand new!) viruses out into the landscape makes me leery. There have been cases (see CDC) although rare, where someone has gotten infected from skin contact by picking up a damaged bait. Killed viruses are used for pets. It’s like the needle in a haystack approach. I’d feel better if, like in Canada, trap, vaccinate directly, and release would seem more effective, but with obviously difficulties. These are questions that deserve answers and explanations, not put-downs.
Here’s one instance, and they are distributed by ‘Wildlife Services’:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmWR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5843a2.htm
I should add for the record that I am not an anti-vaxer, Trump supporter, or conspiracy theorist. Vaccines have a very long and successful history. This method of combatting rabies seems like the quick, dirty and ineffective way?
“Hunters in sick new low as black bear is stabbed with 7ft spear then left to die”
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/hunters-in-sick-new-low-as-black-bear-is-stabbed-with-7ft-spear-then-left-to-die/ar-BBvD5x6?li=AAadgLE&ocid=spartandhp
“Alberta government orders investigation into spear killing of bear; Calling the video ‘unacceptable,’ province promises new legislation to ban spear hunting”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/bear-hunting-with-a-spear-1.3722070
We have people wanting to make spears legal on deer in MI. They aren’t doing that well. Our laws in MI explicitly say what kinds of weapons are legal. All the people I’ve ever seen use spears use atlatl, which were invented before humans came to North America. We see them at archery ranges.
Montana tried to legalize spear hunting in the 2011 legislature but the bill didn’t get out of committee. This piece tells why a senator introduced the bill, gives MT FWP’s response to a query about it (“it’s a social issue”), and links to a museum dedicated to the self-proclaimed “greatest spear hunter in recorded history.” Just FYI for anyone who’s interested or wants to relive that mind-blowingly awful 2011 legislative session. http://www.othernationsjustice.org/?p=509
Wow. Canada is or has taken steps to make it illegal, but America won’t, and even wants to promote it? This man wouldn’t have stood a prayer if he hadn’t baited the bear, despite how great he thinks he is. If they want to hunt in this way, it should be without the loaded 4 x 4 pickup, cellphone, and other modern conveniences. Just a man, his spear, and a couple of sticks to rub together to make a fire.
You wonder if these senators and politicians have any other issues that they spend as much time on.
Ida, I’m wondering if the Native American tribes would want to hunt with spears would you have as much contempt?
http://www.indians.org/articles/native-american-spears.html
No, I wouid not. It was a necessity and they had no alternatives hundreds and even thousands of years ago. There’s just no comparison. Today, it’s rather overly indulgent and greedy, not to mention terribly cruel and inhumane, when there are so many weapons and high tech advances that continually increase the degree of unfairness and lack of fair chase for wildlife. Hunting over bait is not fair chase by any means.
If he wants to be a purist and use bow and arrow or spear, then he should give up the camera and other high tech equipment – there’s no purpose to that but to relive the thrill of taking a life, as a serial killer would do.
Ida, Don’t you think it would be quite naïve to think that American Indians didn’t hunt over bait or trap animals or run them off of cliffs? One of the disconcerting things in life is that our creator has put us here with the knowledge that we can not survive as a species without “taking a life”. In my humble opinion, those that think different are naïve or have an agenda.
Mat-ters, we Native Americans, Ameri-Indians, or Indians are still here.
I’m Indian, Muskogee Creek is my tribe, and I’m 1/2. My nieces and nephews are mixed tribes; Northern Cheyenne, Creek and Umatilla. The men hunt but never for fun or sport. At least not in my family. They use modern day equipment. No spears. That is stupid, don’t you think? Why would they?
I’d appreciate it if you didn’t speak about us Natives like we don’t exist anymore. We are still here. Maybe to the chagrin of the US government, we survived the attempted annihilation and ethnic cleansing. We are still here. What’s more, there are any different tribes with a wide variety of culture and cultural practices, which are largely based on geography of a tribe’s aboriginal lands. One mistake I see with non-Indians is lumping all Indigenous people from this continent as if they are one peoples. We are not. My tribe’s aboriginal lands were in the Southeastern region of this continent. What we did and how we hunted is likely quite different than the way tribes in the Pacific Northwest did. The geographic region being different means different traditional foods, both animal and plants; different cultures; etc. Did any use spears? quite likely, I’m sure my tribe gigged for fish. I know for a fact that some PNW tribes fished for salmon and used traps but they also managed their salmon fishing. There were limits and what those limits the number of harvest left salmon for tribes that were further downstream and ensured enough salmon made it to the spawning beds to carry on the cycle of life. This was before the gold rush of 1849 when Whites came in and destroyed the salmon fishery in the Klamath basin with over fishing. Capitalism. Got to love it.
The Muskogee Creek’s had permanent towns built along rivers and streams. We fished, hunted and farmed. We had individual garden plots and communal farms for the town. I know we did not hunt or trap for fun or sport.
Your question was directed to Ida, who is not Indian, but I am, so I’m going to answer it. I definitely would mind if any of the tribes in the US or Canada hunted with spears. I know of not one single tribe that has their own fish and wildlife laws (many do have that) that would allow spears to be used.Especially the way the Bowmar man used it to torture and kill this bear. What a man of low character.
We tribes are far from perfect but I don’t think any would allow spear hunting in 2016.
We’re modern Indians. Some tribes are far more traditional than others or have tribal members who are so.
For perspective ask yourself this: Do you still shoot with a muzzle? Drive a wagon? Live in a clapboard house or one built into a hill in the plains? If not, then why do you speak about us Indians as though it is 500 years ago?
Most excellent response Yvette 🙂
Yvette thank you again for another great post/response and for your consistent urging of/ for compassion towards other beings.
Yvette, No “mistake” here! I’m quite sure my Native American History, bloodline, and knowledge of native American history are as polished as yours, if not more! I was only seeing if Ida had a bias, she does if she truly meant to say “No” Are you speaking to her through me when you said “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t speak about us Natives like we don’t exist anymore” as it relates to my question and her answer.
Speaking of bias, “Capitalism” again, in my humble opinion has allowed whiteman, wildlife, and the natives to thrive. Are you one of those that only want natives and certain types of wildlife to thrive?
“Are you one of those that only want natives and certain types of wildlife to thrive?”
No.
“America” won’t make it illegal most places cause we don’t need too – it’s already illegal.
Once you’ve invented the bow and arrow, you can use the atlatl and spear for firewood. Our special guy, throwing a giant hand held spear where the shaft won’t even penetrate, is a knucklehead.
“Mystery of bizarre bird deformities may be solved”
Definitely click on this if just to look at the picture of the black-capped chickadee with a deadly beak deformity. A virus is suspected, and “may endanger the health of bird populations around the world…”
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/twisted-beaks/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_twch20160816NEWSmysteryofbirddeformities&utm_campaign=NEWS&sf33528915=1
Absolutely right, I am not qualified to answer those types of questions. Except that I think in modern times we have too many methods to choose from in killing an ever-dwindling population of predators and other wildlife. A little humility and self-restraint are in order.
But for some better news, I did not realize that it was the 100th anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act on August 16th:
https://abcbirds.org/at-100-migratory-bird-treaty-more-essential-than-ever/
“Absolutely right, I am not qualified to answer those types of questions.”
I’m not sure if that was directed toward me or not. To clarify my post, I did not mean you were ‘unqualified’ to answer. Anyone can answer. I was simply trying to provide a perspective from one individual (me) who happens to be Native American.
“Appreciate transformative power of fire” on today’s opinion page (Missoulian) by a biologist from UM.
http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/columnists/appreciate-transformative-power-of-fire/article_c51ac4c4-1d24-538f-8eca-b6393bff40cd.html
aaand…cue the ignorant responses: “This whole “pro fire” business is nothing but a knee jerk response of illiterate people to what they perceive as the threat of “thinning in the wildland Urban Interface”…”
One of our favorite trails in the Bitterroot burned in 2006–much of it a stand-replacing burn. At first it about killed me; plus, it was arson, so it was extra hard to take. We’ve gone back nearly every year since and have taken pics from specific locations; it’s been a beautiful transformation. In 10 years we’re at the small trees, shrubs, and dense wildflower stage.
“Large section of Yellowstone River closed to all recreation due to parasite”
Excerpt: “…the catalyst for the fish kill to be Proliferative Kidney Disease — one of the most serious diseases to impact whitefish and trout…. The effect of the disease on Yellowstone’s fish populations is exacerbated by other stressors like near record low flows, consistent high temperatures and the disturbance caused by recreational activities.”
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/large-section-of-yellowstone-river-closed-to-all-recreation-due/article_e8c97ecc-ec96-5b51-bffa-25d60fb7d9b5.html
Humans cannot account for all of the threats to wildlife and wildlands when they make arrogant claims to ‘manage’. There are so many unforeseen problems they’ll be spinning like a juggler.
“Ecosystems are not only more complex than we think, they are more complex than we CAN think.”
“It could be argued that living organisms have long been subject to a myriad of evolutionary pressures arising from the environment (Reusch & Wood 2007) and are consequently well adapted to respond to such pressures.
**However, the current pace of environmental change is unprecedented (Thomas et al. 2004) and it is unknown whether the capacity of species to adapt to such changes and counteract their harmful and often combined effects may be exceeded. Regrettably, published data on this subject are still extremely limited, making it difficult to understand the full extent of the effects of environmental change on wildlife health”
In a nutshell:
http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1534/3429
A good read:
“It could be argued that living organisms have long been subject to a myriad of evolutionary pressures arising from the environment (Reusch & Wood 2007) and are consequently well adapted to respond to such pressures.
However, the current pace of environmental change is unprecedented (Thomas et al. 2004) and it is unknown whether the capacity of species to adapt to such changes and counteract their harmful and often combined effects may be exceeded.
***Regrettably, published data on this subject are still extremely limited, making it difficult to understand the full extent of the effects of environmental change on wildlife health”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2781848/
Sorry, didn’t mean to repeat my comment/link but the one I posted earlier (a little before 4 pm) didn’t appear until I posted basically the same comment/link, 3 hours later. ??
“Joode Weinhold said, “So noisy and so busy and so overcrowded, they were closing areas because of overcapacity of the cars.”
Although Weinhold and her husband flew over the Atlantic to see Yellowstone, they left because it was too crowded for them”
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/ktvm/yellowstone-national-park-conducts-visitor-surveys/51505481?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
It’s been tossed around before – buses.
http://www.proterra.com/
June, July and August account for ~70% of all yearly visitations so maybe a little planning will provide a quality visit. I went there in early October two years ago and found my experience quite enjoyable and the weather was nice. Fall colors, cool mornings and evenings brought out the wildlife and the visitors were not in a hurry. I’ve noticed after the kids get into school, a lot of places get much less crowded so September and October are my favorite months (not that I don’t like people).
I went after Labor Day – quite beautiful and even a little snow! I loved it. I prefer less crowds, people in smaller groups and individual basis are nicer. So I like to go off peak and off season when I travel. All the pollution from cars can’t be good, it’s really a shame.
So Gary & Ida,
Millions, these days, want to access national parks:
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/national-parks-issues/
Take the time and send your thoughts about how to address the hordes 🙂
https://www.nps.gov/yell/contacts.htm
Remind me never to hire these Alaskan guides–they guided their group right between a mom grizzly and her cub–near a salmon spawning stream. Hello???
http://www.fresnobee.com/news/nation-world/national/article96830762.html
For those with “open minds”, these numbers are quite impressive and I’m thankful that some hunting organizations put their boots on the ground and money in the coffers to restore habitat and protect wildlands from development.
http://www.rmef.org/NewsandMedia/PressRoom/NewsReleases/RMEFSurpasses10000ConservationProjects.aspx
Oh, how I wish I had not allowed myself to be hunted over bait. Sometimes it’s hard to resist. I won’t make that mistake again. I was referring to the hunting practice, not any group of people. To my knowledge, it is not commonly used in modern times.
For everyone waiting for a change at US Fish & Wildlife Service, that time has come.
“I look forward to the opportunity to help lead a community of organizations and professionals also known for scientific excellence and dedicated care for wildlife and the wild places where they live: AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums.” – Daniel M. Ashe
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/08/prweb13628008.htm
Captivity–it’s just easier.
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/outdoors/4099202-dnr-survey-finds-minnesota-wolf-population-stable
No substantial rise in wolf numbers, despite lack of hunting season. Also summarizes MI and WI numbers. Article failed to mention one cause of wolf death – they kill each other.
http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/article-index/study-shows-deer-genetically-resistant-chronic-wasting-disease
Painful read for folks with some knowledge of evolution, but does point out some facts. Author is grateful scorched earth policy stopped, but maybe the problem was that it didn’t go far enough early enough.
I propose we use gene editing (CRISPR-Cas9) to modify deer PRNP gene, and see if we can make deer immune, and still be healthy, if that is possible, which it may not be.
http://www.king5.com/tech/science/environment/state-to-kill-entire-wolf-pack/305703146
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/seal-escapes-hungry-orcas-1.3732147?cmp=rss
on the new 87,500 acre Kathadin National Park in Maine
sorry to see hunting allowed
I wonder if the donators tried to restrict hunting? anyone know?
“The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall manage these lands through the National Park Service, pursuant to applicable authorities and consistent with the valid existing rights and the purposes and provisions of this proclamation. As provided in the deeds, the Secretary shall allow hunting by the public on the parcels east of the East Branch of the Penobscot River in accordance with applicable law. The Secretary may restrict hunting in designated zones and during designated periods for reasons of public safety, administration, or resource protection. This proclamation will not otherwise affect the authority of the State of Maine with respect to hunting.”
“I wonder if the donators tried to restrict hunting? anyone know?”
“As provided in the deeds, the Secretary shall allow hunting by the public on the parcels east of the East Branch of the Penobscot River in accordance with applicable law.”
Louise, you are a lawyer, read the above statement. This land was private and deeded to the government with the granting deeds allowing hunting. The government owns the land with those deed restrictions which they are bounded by.
This would be a national MONUMENT, not a national park, which is why hunting is an easier sell there. Portions abut Baxter State Park which has allowed hunting since the Park was created (in fact mandated when property was donated I think).
A good portion of the new Monument is not pristine wilderness. It has been logged over several times. Parts were, at one time, what is called “working forest.”
The Q & A website below answers a bunch of questions on its creation, administration and use.
https://www.nps.gov/kaww/index.htm
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/08/24/qa-what-you-need-to-know-about-maines-new-katahdin-woods-waters-national-monument/
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/08/24/qa-what-you-need-to-know-about-maines-new-katahdin-woods-waters-national-monument/
I just heard! Thank you, thank you, thank you President Obama!!!!! Can’t wait to visit. Thank you!
What a great centennial celebration gift – and of course big thanks to Roxanne Quimby and Sally Jewell too. Holy Katahdin!
Awesome news! Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/travel/katahdin-woods-newest-national-monument/
“…to the dismay of some”: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/us/obama-maine-katahdin-woods-and-waters.html?_r=0
Map: https://www.nps.gov/kaww/planyourvisit/maps.htm
Katahdin Woods and Water
It is a very positive thing. I feel we are gaining much more than we are losing – clean water protected, and hunting is not completely unfettered like in some states. It makes me feel like our concerns are being heard in Washington. I thank the President and others.
I’m not a fan of hunting in the modern era, but it did remind me that my grandfather and father used to go to Maine to hunt deer.
I’m going to visit as soon as I can, it’s about 350 miles away.
What I just read is that hunting bears with bait and dogs is not allowed:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/maine-land-from-burts-bees-founder-is-new-national-monument/ar-BBvZOml
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/profanity-peak-wolf-pack-in-states-gun-sights-after-rancher-turns-out-cattle-on-den/
For the second time in four years, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife is exterminating a wolf pack to protect Len McIrvin’s cattle — this time, a WSU researcher says, after the rancher turned his animals out right on top of the Profanity Peak pack’s den.
“This livestock operator elected to put his livestock directly on top of their den site; we have pictures of cows swamping it, I just want people to know,” Wielgus said in an interview Thursday.
The allotment Wielgus monitors, and McIrvin grazes, is on public land in the Colville National Forest.
The cattle pushed out the wolves’ native prey of deer, and with a den full of young to feed, what came next was predictable, Wielgus said.
McIrvin has refused to radio-collar his cattle to help predict and avoid interactions with radio-collared wolves, Wielgus said.
By contrast, Wielgus has documented no cattle kills among producers who are participating in his research studies and very few among producers using Fish & Wildlife’s protocol.
“In Washington, more cattle are killed by logging trucks, fire and lightning than wolves,” Wielgus said.
If this man is deliberately encouraging wolves in protest, the pack should not be killed. He seems to be the only one who repeatedly has (or causes?) problems. And especially if this is occurring on public lands, repeatedly. The Department should not always cave to this rancher’s deliberate disregard for the program. Public sentiment is against this. Taxpayers should not have to fund it.
This should a game changer, I hope. The man is already getting a deal by being allowed to graze on public land, in the Colville National Forest as well. He is taking advantage.
http://www.conservationnw.org/news/updates/lethal-removal-of-profanity-peak-wolves-unfortunate-but-part-of-state2019s-wolf-management-policy
It amazes me that someone tries to tie cattle getting killed by other means such as logging trucks, fire and lightning to wolves. The issue is the loss of cattle due to wolves to particular ranchers.
It’s also time for ranchers to do everything within their limits to co-exist with predators and quit the “lets send the wolves to urban areas” statements. As you can see from the above link and Mareks link, there are two different thoughts on the removal of the entire pack, but unfortunately humans have the trump card over wolves. I don’t think the federal agencies who issue grazing permits can include stipulations that require protection of wolf den sites unless they are listed as T&E species and in this case, they are not federally listed.
Why, though? A loss is a loss, whether due to wolves or other reasons. From what I have read, wolf depredation is minor compared to other losses. Why should loss due to wolf depredation be seen differently, simply because it is based on an emotional, age-old antipathy and a fight for who is dominant on the landscape? We are in modern times now, and we harp about basing our decision on rationality and science.
This man appears to be flouting the rules because he doesn’t want wolves at all. This is public land, and deliberately taking cattle into known wolf areas, and expecting to be compensated and have the wolves killed at taxpayer expense is abuse of the system. If despite all of the man’s best efforts, he still had cattle lost to wolves, then it might be different, but he has not given his best efforts, and from what I have read, refuses to put his best efforts into preventing loss. If it were private land, he might well have a case, but it is public land.
This man has gone to the well once too often. It is disappointing that the WDFW allows it without resistance, especially since other ranchers do cooperate. Wolves are not threatened and endangered because they were intentionally taken off those lists prematurely, as we well know, and like always, the delisting is deliberately being abused.
It amazes me that someone tries to tie cattle getting killed by other means such as logging trucks, fire and lightning to wolves. The issue is the loss of cattle due to wolves to particular ranchers.
+++
The common denominator is unattended cattle.
If the cattle would be attended there would be no loss due to trucks, fire, lightning and wolves.
Well, no. Not much you can do about lightning on range, except get yourself protected as much as possible; horses and cattle get hit by lightning in corrals for goodness sake. And even the best efforts will not ameliorate a fast-moving fire, especially in grasslands, shrublands, or sagebrush steppe. Trucks on open range always are a hazard, both for livestock and wildlife, and I know a rancher that was hit while crossing a forest service road on his horse (both survived). Wolves – probably buy that one. We’ll need a paradigm shift there that does not seem to be happening, except with a few select producers.
In general,agreed. But when one zooms-in then the picture becomes more complicated.
There are about 20 000 ranchers who hold grazing permits on federal land (out of 600K), and they represent about 3 percent of the beef raised in the U.S.
Bottom line: they need to make their case to the urban populations (US urbanization rate is 80%).
Being allowed to graze their livestock on public land is a big deal for them.
It’s in the collective interests of ranchers for them to be able to call out the bad actors like McIrvin or Koski.
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/11/john_koski_part_1_tour_the_far.html#incart_river_default
http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/03/what-happens-when-livestock-are-in-the-path-of-a-wildfire/
What toll does wildfire take on the livestock industry?
Nationally, statistics are hard to decipher. The U.S. Department of Agriculture lumps wildfire deaths into a catchall category titled “adverse weather,” which also includes lightning strikes, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards. The Department also issues a Cattle Death Loss report every five years. For the period 2005-2010, nearly 490,000 cattle died from adverse weather. Given the spike in dramatic weather events of late, the next report will make for an interesting compare and contrast.
Locally, the figures are more precise.
In Washington state, last year’s Carlton Complex fire killed 1,000 cattle. This year’s Okanagan Complex fire is located in a more developed agricultural community. The ranch community has banded together to help each other out, but the death toll will likely be even greater.
Fires threaten the already delicate economic balance ranchers face. Many would rather lose their homes than their cattle. Animal husbandry—the science of developing certain traits in a domestic animal—takes generations to refine. A house or barn can be rebuilt in a summer.
Livestock deaths from wildfire have not reached the point of impacting consumers. The 2014 Farm Bill provides funding for the Livestock Indemnity Disaster Program, reimbursing ranchers and farmers for up to 75 percent the value of animals killed by natural disaster. In 2014, the program cost taxpayers $21.7 million.
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/10025/when-lightning-strikes
When Lightning Strikes
“If you think lightning never strikes twice in the same place, think again. The USDA’s recently retired Chief Meteorologist Albert Peterlin says, “Lightning is not just a random event natural killer, but more an opportunist taking advantage of a preferred pathway. Where lightning has struck a tree in the past, it will likely hit again. An area of pasture that has been deadly once could be again. With lightning, the past is a prologue to the future.”
For horse owners, the message is clear–to help safeguard livestock from lightning strikes, learn what lightning likes, then either remove the attractant or remove the livestock.”
good educational article, imo
http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/losing-cattle-to-wildfires-in-washington-proving-costly/article_b62ad296-e9ad-11e5-baf1-83bb930cd88b.html
“As animal husbandry people, we are responsible for those animals,” Dent said. “They’re not the smartest things on earth, and we have to take care of them.”
… Although the cattlemen agree to accept responsibility for whatever happens to them when they go in, Vogel said it will still be up to firefighters to rescue them if they are overtaken by fire. And he said that puts firefighters at risk.
http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2014/07/22/lightning-kills-45-cows-in-bitterroot-valley/
it just happens that two years ago Gary Humbard wrote:
“Here is a perspective, one lightning storm killed almost as many cattle than wolves and grizzlies (52 confirmed) combined in Montana in 2013. Lets get that printed in a Montana newspaper (oh wait that’s not sensational enough).”
https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2016/08/28/dying-to-save-you-dying-to-save-you-arrogance-wolves-and-the-destruction-of-the-profanity-peak-pack/
Stephen Capra’s excellent writing on this terrible event.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-create-the-largest-protected-place-on-the-planet-off-hawaii/2016/08/25/54ecb632-6aec-11e6-99bf-f0cf3a6449a6_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_obamahawaii-1215am%3Ahomepage%2Fstoryhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-create-the-largest-protected-place-on-the-planet-off-hawaii/2016/08/25/54ecb632-6aec-11e6-99bf-f0cf3a6449a6_story.html
How AWESOME is THIS?!? Excerpt:
“All commercial extraction activities, including commercial fishing and any future deep-sea mining, will be prohibited in the expanded monument. …It features the largest seabird gathering site in the world, with more than 14 million birds from 22 species, nearly all of the remaining endangered Hawaiian monk seals, Hawaiian green sea turtles and Laysan albatrosses.”
It is awesome – but closer to home, I wish lands would be protected from human overuse and presumptive ownership. Although, I’m happy Maine’s woods are being protected.
I can’t turn a blind eye to what is going on in Washington state for a self-important rancher. Instead of taking a pack out at his unending demands, he ought to be fined for non-compliance each time! Then we’ll see how he flouts the rules.
Grizzly Bears expanding west:
http://mtstandard.com/news/local/grizzly-bear-spotted-in-upper-big-hole-for-first-time/article_2705b73a-1c8b-5c15-a8ed-95f1095a7606.html
Interesting Elk, although there has been the occasional sighting,for years. Probably just passing thru 🙂
http://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12917-016-0804-7
“Systematic review of management strategies to control chronic wasting disease in wild deer populations in North America”
Open access, not that hard to read, a great review of interesting studies. Much still to learn, but preponderance of evidence does not seem to be that “leave CWD management to Mother Nature” is the best option, even if some people in WI want you to believe that. Perhaps my more important take-away was: WI is a great place to do further controlled experiments. Study duration may have to be fairly long unfortunately, so great willpower is needed.
But:
“The evidence in support of predator species for the control of CWD is worth consideration, and is not only limited to the study by Wild et al. [22] evaluated here. Deer killed by mountain lions in Colorado had significantly higher CWD prevalence compared to hunter-killed deer, suggesting that mountain lions selectively preyed on infected deer [43]. Similarly, mountain lion attacks against CWD-infected deer were increased fourfold compared to non-infected deer [44]. Decreased attentiveness of CWD-infected mule deer was considered the reason for their greater propensity to vehicle collisions [43]. If predators are able to detect a subtle difference in CWD-infected deer early in the course of the disease, removal of these deer by predators may be more effective at decreasing the spread of CWD compared to non-selective culling. Furthermore, it was suggested that the absence of large predators could pose a risk factor for the establishment of CWD in new areas”
Perhaps, at least in the northeast, if coyotes were not “harvested” in huge numbers (30,000 annually in WI alone) they could potentially have an effect on infected deer, the same way mountain lions do in CO?
Killing coyotes will/does have the same effect as Trump’s supposed wall: nothing
Probably not the place to be at 3:15 AM
http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/regional/woman-falls-to-death-at-yellowstone/309698924
A single bolt of lightning killed 323 reindeer in Norway. Article includes video: http://time.com/4470432/lightning-strike-norway-reindeer/
Mass Animal Deaths for 2016
http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/animal-deaths-birds-fish-end-times.html
website has the list of such events 2011 – 2016 ( with links provided to articles)
Today from the Salt Lake Tribune a positive article on rancher BLM cooperation:
‘We are not all Cliven Bundys’: Rich County ranchers partner with BLM to revolutionize grazing
http://www.sltrib.com/news/4088140-155/we-are-not-all-clivenbundys-rich
More information on the Big Hole Grizzlies
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/did-big-hole-grizzly-travel-north-or-south-biologists-aren/article_eeaf91f2-06d2-56d7-9cd3-6f4e3092026d.html?utm_content=buffer7639a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=LEEDCC
“FWP commission OKs elimination of Tendoy sheep”
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/fwp-commission-oks-elimination-hunt-of-tendoy-sheep/article_64d3aae9-10f3-5fe4-a7df-f6b5b1dd169b.html
Disgusting. These are sentient individuals condemned to die simply because they aren’t producing a “huntable” herd. When they’re dead, a new herd will be introduced–as if sentient nonhumans are nothing more than widgets to eliminate and replace for the sole purpose of killing. And the problem originates with the exploitation of domestic sheep, who transmitted pneumonia to the wild ones.
“Police shoot, kill mountain lion in Whitefish neighborhood”
The lion was nonaggressive but apparently didn’t show “enough fear” of humans.
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/police-shoot-kill-mountain-lion-in-whitefish-neighborhood/article_670a52e8-a8eb-5adf-a3d8-ae1dd18cd9b6.html
“The Anthropocene: We’ve begun a new era and it’s not looking good”
Excerpt: “From fossil fuels to domesticated chickens, the future fossil record is less about bones than manic habitual patterns that moved those bones around the world:
“If we accept a mere tenth of what animal-rights activists are claiming, then modern industrial agriculture might well be the greatest crime in history.
“From Cambrian to Tertiary, planetary epochs are defined by life’s rise and fall. The Anthropocene is the first era consciously influenced by one of Earth’s creations. Like any rambunctious, ignorant child, we’re aimlessly rebelling for the sake of it, stuck in our ways before the species’ prefrontal cortex has had a chance to develop.”
http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/the-anthropocene-weve-begun-a-new-era-and-its-not-looking-good
While Revisiting Highway 61 today, got out of vehicle to stretch legs and allow the dog to sample Superior, I happened into a retired couple from Australia who were on an extended world tour photographing wildlife. Needless to say they were apalled at the “kill” mentality that exists here. We spoke for a while about Denali wolves and African lions, and from their perspective the money lost in photograph is opportunities from tourists dwarfs any possible financial gain from the killing of said animals.
The Australians are correct but if there is a country that has as terrible predator killing policies it’s Australia
Dingoes and crowd are killed incessantly and often with 1080
I can’t imagine a worse death
And the shark nets…
I hope the visitors take their concerns back home also
Dingo killing us a tragedy of epic proportions
While driving over extended distances, ones mind can most certainly wander. While the naysayers are still awaiting the first human fatality due to wolves in the lower 48, perhaps we should look at the puzzle from the actuary’s perspective…
How many people have not died due to auto collisions with deer, elk, moose that were removed due to wolf predation?
I think you are absolutely correct…they probably have prevented some, but most people are not going to delve into ‘veridical problems’. There’s no money in that
You’d need to estimate the reduction of deer. I’m used to thinking it’s a pretty small effect. I know you know all this – it’s intended for other readers.
But if we let the simple-minded predator-enemies estimate the effect size, then it might look very dramatic. Maybe that’s what you were thinking, now that I consider it.
I’m sure insurance actuaries have modeled the effect. If MN wolves,,depending on their population size, prey upon 40,000 to 60,000 deer per year, year after year, that missing annual population would surely have caused a number of accidents with autos/trucks, and over the years a fatality or two.
Hunting by humans, and severe winters have larger effects on deer population, but wolf and other predator pressure is applied year round.
Sure looks like Dr. Rob Wielgus at Washington State University stepped into some wolf poopie when making incorrect statements to the press and others about the facts leading up to the Profanity Pack removal. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a defamation lawsuit from the livestock operator, if he thought it was worth the effort. The University is not happy about this and is scrambling to distance itself from him, as are wolf conservation groups, including Conservation Northwest, HSUS and several others. No doubt he has been to the Dean’s Office over this:
https://news.wsu.edu/2016/08/31/wsu-issues-statement-clarifying-comments-profanity-peak-wolf-pack/
http://www.conservationnw.org/news/scat/profanity-gets-the-best-and-worst-of-me
the livestock were released at low elevation on the east side of the Kettle Crest more than 4 miles from the den site, and dispersed throughout the allotments based on instructions found in the Annual Operating Instructions (AOI). The CC mountain allotment is more than 30,000 acres and livestock are generally moved from pasture to pasture following an established rotation.
+++
30K acres make 47 mi2 area (with radius 3.85 mi)
it’s not a safe distance from a den
Thanks Mareks it’s not safe distance or prudent either and why should they take steps to protect their cattle when the state kills entire packs of wolves when the inevitable conflict arises sbd the inevitable urging and whining starts
It’s sickening
Martorello did not return phone calls, and neither did the rancher, who grazes cattle on public land in the Colville National Forest.
That rancher and another producer with cattle near the Profanity Peak pack had been taking steps recommended by the department to avoid conflict with wolves, Martorello has said, from deploying range riders to picking up carcasses to avoid attracting wolves, and turning out calves when they were bigger and more mature. He praised the ranchers’ cooperation.
Using the same open-source data, University of Washington researchers could not replicate the results reached by researchers at Washington State University who in 2014 found removing livestock-killing wolves leads to increased chances of depredations the next year.
“We did not find any statistical support for the Wielgus and Peebles’s findings in this replication,” writes Nabin Baral of the UW’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences in the College of the Environment, et al, in
Thanks Bret.
Glad someone took a closer look at it. I wonder if Wielgus made any kind of rebuttal after their paper was published?
Here is the paper from the University of Washington researchers, and they don’t hold much back. The first two paragraphs under the Discussion Heading give it to Wielgus with both barrels, so to speak:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0148743
And the third paragraph is the final blow.
“The failure of our attempt to reproduce the results using the same data and following more rigorous statistical procedures casts doubt on the reliability and validity of the conclusions drawn from the Wielgus and Peebles’s [1] models.”
from sierraclub.org website:
“WSU, UW research clashes”
However, Wielgus is confident in his methodology.
“As time went on and the years progressed, all these wolves in all these states increased,” Wielgus said. “The number of livestock at risk increased, the number of depredations increased, the numbers of wolves killed increased. They put in year, which is auto-correlated with all those other variables so their analysis found that year had the biggest effect on livestock depredations.”
He said that by doing this and using time as the control variable they were ignoring a larger issue.
“Year doesn’t really mean anything,” Wielgus said. “And they found that oh, in addition, the more wolves you kill the fewer livestock depredations you get. Their same analysis showed that the number of wolves has no effect whatsoever on number of livestock depredations, so their analysis was biologically impossible.”
So because they used year as a control variable, it was auto-correlated with everything, which means that none of the other parameters such as number of wolves and breeding pairs that Wielgus mentioned can be interpreted.
“None of the UW researchers in this study were biologists, so they have never analyzed this kind of data,” Wielgus said. “Well they re-analyzed my data set and instead of controlling for the number of wolves they put in year as the control variable.”
Wielgus said the UW researcher knew this was a problem, and he along with other reviewers pointed it out and the UW researchers chose to ignore it.
“These folks are incompetent amateurs that don’t know what they’re doing,” Wielgus said.
http://www.seeker.com/washington-wolf-cull-wont-save-livestock-1993960060.html
“Washington Wolf Cull Won’t Save Livestock: Study”
But here’s the thing: lethal interventions don’t have a record of working, said Adrian Treves, director of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Today, Treves and his colleagues present analysis (PDF here) in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment of an exhaustive investigation of numerous studies centered on methods to prevent wolves, coyotes, bears and big cats from killing livestock.
An overwhelming number of experiments looking at ways to reduce predators from taking livestock do not measure up to a “gold” or even “silver” standard of scientific scrutiny, the researchers found. Of the ones that did, nonlethal methods had a better track record and none of them led to more livestock losses. But lethal methods sometimes did.
For that reason, the team recommends that wildlife agencies suspend campaigns like the one going on in Washington and apply more stringent criteria to future control efforts. If followed, these recommendations could keep more livestock and wildlife living and save taxpayer money.
… Although they limited the findings to those published in English and conducted in North America and Europe, they amassed a paper mountain of more than 500 articles.
Of those, only 12 met a high level of scrutiny.
Interestingly, none of the studies that met a silver or gold standard came from the USDA’s Wildlife Services
“They have a big research arm funded for 40 or 50 years and they can’t seem to do any quality work,” said Robert Crabtree, chief scientist and founder of Yellowstone Ecological Research Center. “Shouldn’t someone take a look at what’s going on here and evaluate the millions of dollars spent for decades trying to justify lethal control?”
Of the 12 studies that did hold up to scrutiny, five were non-lethal experiments and seven were lethal.
When Treves and his colleagues looked at which methods were the best at keeping predators away from livestock, nonlethal came out on top: 80% were shown to be effective compared to 29% of lethal strategies.
“Nonlethal methods seem to repel the predators without disrupting the social organization of the predators,” said Treves. “Disrupting the social organization by killing long-term resident predators seems to invite newcomers that prey on livestock more than did the older residents that were there before.”
But not every rancher wants to invest the time, money or personnel into nonlethal methods. In 2012, Washington used $76,500 of state funds to eliminate the eight members of the Wedge Pack. It’s unknown how much it will cost to kill all 11 members of the Profanity Peak pack. (Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife did not respond to requests for an interview.)
“If lethal control was unsubsidized on public lands, meaning the rancher had to pay [for it], the phone would be ringing off the hook in terms of people wanting to understand nonlethal methods and how to reduce depredation,” said Bean.
In large parts of America, getting ranchers to adopt nonlethal strategies is a struggle. Ranching is part of their livelihood, a tradition passed down through the generations. And in an industry where profit margins are tight, trying something different might pose too large of a risk.
Mareks
Thanks for posting I had not seen this
Not so fast WM
There are many possibilities that the university issued thst statement including grant and funding repurcussions and pressure exerted by the livestock community
In looking at where the cattle were placed and the size of the territory the claim is not far off
Take a look at the Washington eolf plan special considerations are supposed to be given to wolf denning sites
It doesn’t raise any red flags to you that this livestock producer is responsible for deaths of both the packs killed and the degradation of the intent of the policy to prevent wolf deaths due to conflicts
You are smarter than that and choose to use your words to support wolf killings more often than not
some additional information:
http://mynorthwest.com/383755/washington-wolf-killing-sparks-rebukes-controversy/
“Washington wolf killing sparks rebukes, controversy”
by Associated Press
September 2, 2016
Perhaps if ranchers were willing to cooperate, even just a little, with those who want to restore wolves after their near complete extirpation, the conflicts would lessen? The country has already given them everything by allowing them to handle predations through either WS or themselves. We don’t need hunting seasons or taking them off the endangered/threatened list. Demanding complete extirpation of a species again just for their interests is too much of a price to pay. I do not want to pay it. The cattle are now off the allotment so there is no reason to continue with the expensive aerial killing and hunting of these poor animals. When wolves are first spotted, they should be relocated.
I’m tired of handholding and coddling. Even the report of Sally Jewell’s appearance at Katahdin Woods, as well as even the NYT (that bastion of the Democratic Party) and Boston Globe are walking on eggshells for fear of disturbing disgruntled people who want a environment-destroying paper industry again! Sorry, but since our predecessors took more than they should have, there’s less and less for others now and in the future. Wilderness is never ‘common’, and is becoming more and more rare as time goes on. Cattle-ranching is hardly a way of life that is threatened. These people need to grow up.
^^and cheap grazing rights honored for centuries. What more do they want? We realize that at times there will be conflict that need to be addressed, but not what is going on in WA and the West. It’s too much.
WM,
Thanks for posting your comment because the idea that they put cattle right next to the wolf den seemed to be the main motivation for anger against the rancher.
Bad news in lots of places. https://www.facebook.com/camanpour/videos/10157431439255370/
Thirty percent of the African elephant population has declined in just 7 years. This is species genocide.
And closer to home: It doesn’t look good for the Santa Monica mountain lions.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/08/30/64132/will-the-mountain-lions-of-the-santa-monica-mounta/
http://www.boothbayregister.com/article/monumental-news-bird-conservation/75235
I just love the tone of this article, and needless to say I am thrilled by this. I will be voting Democrat.
My love affair with pikas started in Colorado–particularly the San Juans.
“Adorable American pika is disappearing due to climate change”
Excerpt: “According to the survey, American pikas have completely disappeared from Zion National Park in Utah, where there had been sightings of the animals as recently as 2011. In Cedar Breaks National Monument, also in Utah, pikas were found within only one-quarter of their historical range. And in northeastern California, the animals were found in just 11 of their 29 confirmed habitats.”
http://www.livescience.com/55934-american-pika-endangered-climate-change.html
I’m not much of a petition-signer–believing that they probably aren’t effective (for the most part) and perhaps even give people the false sense that they’ve “done something” toward solving a problem. Citizens *can* petition the president thru a conduit set up by the White House–providing that 100,000 signatures are recorded in 30 days. For anyone interested: a petition on delisting the Yellowstone grizzly…9/22 deadline.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/save-yellowstone-grizzly
Not directly wildlife news, but given the ecological link of fresh water systems to the welfare of wildlife, I think this counts.
The Sanding Rock Sioux have been protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline for months. They also filed legal action against the ACOE for failure to comply with the legally mandated government-to-government consultation on actions that effect tribes and their treaty land.
I’ve been gone all weekend and came back to find this happened. A couple of things happened; the first is they desecrated burial and/or archeological sites and the second this is someone gave the order to attack the unarmed and peaceful protesters with pepper spray and vicious attack dogs. This happened after the oil company moved forward with dirt work.
I, like most who read and post on this blog watched two different month(s) long armed protests instigated by the Bundy family. Everyone here knows the background. The Bundy’s and all of the right-wing militia people who helped in both the stand-off and the Ammon Bundy illegal occupation at Malheuer WL Refuge know that all law enforcement handled them with kid gloves. At Malheur the Bundy’s and others destroyed federal property, desecrated artifacts, and used federal property to dig and move dirt on the wetland wildlife refuge. They were allowed to come and go from the refuge. They were armed.
I stated back when this was happening that no other demographic would be allowed such illegal actions. The Standing Rock Water Protectors are unarmed. They have been peaceful. They are legally protesting and doing so on their treaty land. So what happens? Somebody sent in vicious attack dogs. Can you imagine the outrage had this been done to the Bundy’s?
Watch the video.
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/4/dakota_access_pipeline_company_attacks_native
and and article on the destruction of burial sites.
http://www.smobserved.com/story/2016/09/04/news/oil-company-destroys-burial-sites-in-holiday-sneak-attack/1895.html
Now what would they do to a bunch of us Indians if we were armed like the Bundy gang?
There are a series of videos in the Democracy Now link Yvette provided above for those interested in why these protests are taking place, I would strongly suggest listening to the Winona LaDuke interview.
She is spot on with the fact that if our government really wants to create more jobs, addressing the decaying infrastructures in this country, should be at the top of the list.
It is shameful but not surprising, that there is no national media coverage of these protests.
Stop Killing Coyotes Editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/opinion/stop-killing-coyotes.html?_r=0
Complaints about that author. He ignores that hunters and trappers kill many more coyotes than WS, and that contest impacts are actually negligible. He “forgets” about furs. Also, he forgets to even mention possible impacts on other game populations, which would be a major counterpoint of some, but is complicated.
Sheep keepers near me do their own coyote killing, or make deals with hunters or trappers, without WS help, but the best don’t bother, relying on fences, barns, dogs, and being smart about many details (they aren’t just running around on vast landscapes here in MI).
Fish and Wildlife Service opens 30 day comment period on Grizzly Bear delisting in the Yellowstone Ecosystem
https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/pressrel/2016/09062016_us_fish_and_wildlife_service_reopens_comment_period_on_yellowstone_grizzly_bear_population_delisting_proposal.php#.V88-rhBq5vc.facebook
A new PLoS one paper about CWD in Wyoming has been covered twice (paper is public).
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-09/uow-rdf090216.php is pretty good.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/outdoors/2016/09/03/study-cwd-causes-10-percent-decline-deer/89597338/ has a few more details but contains a bizarre quote about reducing hunting to sustain deer densities, whereas I think this data further bolsters the case for keeping densities low. Hunters (and predators) tend to kill CWD infected animals more often, and at lower density we might hope for less transmission (my evidence is weak), and greater selection for resistant PRNP alleles (exactly opposite of what some WI writers say). Interesting tidbit: Of the deer they tracked that died, 46 died of hunting, 17 of CWD, 6 by car, 5 by predators. Sadly, they are holding back the data about PRNP genetics (for a separate paper).
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/cwd-cuts-whitetails-in-converse-study/article_4ef7b92c-5ad7-5973-927b-a01dc6daa99c.html is yet another article, but in this one we get this quote (about not killing does, so deer densities don’t go down). “He” is Edmunds.
“However,” he said, “we don’t know what the end game would be, because then you’re leaving more CWD-positive deer on the landscape, which could then facilitate increasing prevalence faster.”
“Another group that loses if Trump wins? Animals”
It’s more than ‘just’ the trophy-hunting sons.
Washington Post opinion: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/another-group-that-loses-if-trump-wins-animals/2016/09/06/270eb888-7478-11e6-be4f-3f42f2e5a49e_story.html?utm_term=.149aa3354ab1&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1
Nothing in my lifetime has been more damaging and more rigged against wildlife in this country than what I have seen over the last 20 years. For example the wind industry slaughtering endangered and highly protected species, exploded because of Clinton administration rigging that created no accountability for this industry. The truth is that the wind turbine cannot and will not solve any environmental problems. The public people would know things like this if the industry would stop paying experts to lie and Americans were not forced to live with Clinton style politics. Years ago I asked the American Wind Energy Association to produce just one honest study related to wind turbine mortality. As of today I have not received a response and this offers still stands. I made this statement because I know and can prove that this industry is hiding behind a giant wall of scientific fraud, where on their side, the truth does not exist. With voluntary regulations and a premeditated pattern of absurd, contrived, and bogus nonscientific studies, the truth about wind turbine mortality to highly protected species has been hidden. The wind industry has been able to hide most of their wind energy slaughter from the public thanks in great part to Bill Clinton. He amended the Freedom of Information Act in 1997 to protect wind energy interests and help them conceal their industrial carnage. The Clinton Administration also silenced all Interior Department USFWS employees with penalties of 3-year prison terms for those releasing information not approved by superiors. Bill Clinton established the new much larger Denver eagle repository in 1997 to not only distribute eagle parts to native Americans but to handle the flood of new carcasses coming in from wind energy. Since then more than 33,000 eagle carcasses have been secretly shipped to this facility. Thanks to Bill Clinton, the origin and cause of death for all these eagles will remain a top secret until his laws are changed. About a year ago I had a meeting with a wind tech working in CA. I was showed images was told about 5 golden eagles killed in 1 month by his company’s wind turbines. These eagles were not reported. I told FWS and waited weeks but there was no investigation. This wind tech had unknowingly signed a nondisclosure agreement and did not even know it until I pointed it out in his contract. He wanted to tell this story but the USFWS would not give him immunity. How convenient and how corrupt can you get. Now we have another President covering for this fraudulent industry. After years of a fraudulent wind industry NOT reporting their massive slaughter to thousands upon thousands of eagles, the Obama administration has put together a recent proposal that will allow the wind industry to slaughter 6200 eagles annually with their “bird safe” turbines. A clearer example of a corrupt politician rigging the system for industry profits does not exist. In the big picture wind turbines produce very little energy and because of rigging, all energy reported by the wind industry in America is embellished. The reason is that wind farms do not have to account for the energy flowing into wind projects so the real energy numbers are not known and from fake industry numbers, they are receiving billions in tax credits. Think I am making any of this up?…………….. Then call for an open hearing where I can ask any questions I wwish of the wind industry’s fake experts.
Maybe this was posted 5 months ago–from Audubon, last March: “Will wind turbines ever be safe for birds?”
http://www.audubon.org/news/will-wind-turbines-ever-be-safe-birds
What a beautiful site (and sight)! I think wind farms on a massive scale will never be safe for birds and bats. We humans can’t seem to do anything except on a large scale. Massive solar farms either.
In some instances due to low populations, a few turbines don’t seem to present too much danger. But anything on a massive scale cannot work. Rooftop and parking lot solar would seem an ideal answer and efficient use of space – but for some reason, humans have to tear up habitat (that’s just sitting there unused, I guess) and install something massive.
I also heard that most humpback whales were taken off the endangered list today? Pandas last week. I think that nowadays, no animal can be considered not endangered. 🙁
Another thing I don’t like is that a bird or animal shouldn’t have to be ‘scared away’ from its own habitat to make room for more of us and our endless requirements? Is no area free from human interference?
Human overpopulation is going to negate anything we do to mitigate our impact. Any alternative energy benefit is going to be offset by volume and number.
Ida, driving back from my weekend trip I drove through the small town where I use to work not long ago. Since I left that job at the end of June the electric co-op in that region have put up a small solar ‘farm’. It’s on the grounds of the co-op’s offices. It was awesome and I was proud.
On the other end of town there are apartments that my tribe built for our elders. We (not me personally as I wasn’t on that project) built the newest section with insulated panels for insulation and other high energy efficient building methods. At first the duplexes were ‘too tight’ and they had to adjust them for more ventilation. But they got it right. I think they used geothermal techniques for the heating and air, but can’t remember if that did or did not. One funny story is one of my co-workers who worked on the administrative side of the project got a call from one of the tenets—–in mid-July. His complaint was the AC wasn’t working because it was hot. We’re in OK and it gets hot in May, sometimes even April. My co-worker personally checked on this man’s duplex. From the time he had moved in the duplex the man had never had to turn on the heater or the AC. Point is, there are things we can do. Small things, and they aren’t going to be the answer for all our needs but things are happening.
My former adviser designed a fairly large bioswale (rain garden) and we installed it in an area near a creek that runs through the tribal complex.We were considering trying to convince the tribe to let me do a project to reduce non-point source runoff by utilizing rain gardens in specific sections of the duplexes but….I took a different job elsewhere.
There are things that can be done to reduce our destruction and our energy usage without killing off wildlife. In fact, I hope to work on projects that will improve pollinator habitat at this new job. Fingers crossed we get the funding for the project.
That sounds wonderful. I thought about you the other day when I heard there was an earthquake in Oklahoma? Hope everyone was ok!
I wouldn’t call President Obama one of animals’ staunchest supporters. Wolf delisting happened on his watch, as well as proposed bird 30-year take permits with no accountablility for the wind industry – as Jim has pointed out. And the remark made by Hillary was a cop-out – because with Grizzly delisting, it won’t be just the Trump boys killing animals. It also made her sound uninformed on the issue. And Ken Salazar as her transition team leader? ’nuff said about that!
So animals will be the losers whoever wins. Bad or really bad.
So the Democrats are better than nuthin’ is how I’d describe it. The President has been good about setting aside national monuments toward the end of his term, which may or may not make for safe havens for wildlife.
Obama is nothing but a figurehead for corporate fraud on America. His title is President but he is not even close to being a leader.
Take your vague politic banter somewhere where it’s more appropriate, and where people might not consider contradicting you a disservice to the readers.
I think you should take your small minded ignorance elsewhere. Here is some inside info for you to mull over………. Despite noble claims from President Obama and others, industrial wind turbines are not about reducing carbon dioxide emissions, preventing climate change or even saving humanity. They are about rigging the law, carving out exemptions, conducting fraudulent research, killing thousands of eagles, acquiring massive profits, and gouging Americans. None of which is good or admirable.
If President Obama’s message were at all true, America would not be exporting enough coal and fossil fuels each year to generate more than twice the kilowatt-hours of electricity now produced from all of America’s 75,000 MW of installed wind energy. This total would be three times higher if rising US natural gas exports were included.
Yet since 2008, under the Obama Administration, these exports have skyrocketed. Coal exports have nearly doubled and crude oil exports are up about 1500 percent. Even worse, this same relatively inexpensive energy, which other countries are consuming in ever more prodigious quantities, could have been used in the USA to produce cheap electricity for the grid at a fraction of the cost of wind energy.
Even the billions of dollars wasted on Production Tax Credits for wind energy could have purchased this cheap energy.
As stupid as all this seems, it also underscores how broken our system of democracy, ethics and justice have become.
Do you get that this last comment of yours talks about specific issues, where the previous one did not, and that it is that difference that I’m complaining about.
Small minded ignorance was not the problem.
Guess you missed this earlier comment and do keep in mind there is little difference between Obama and Clinton politics. …. Nothing in my lifetime has been more damaging and more rigged against wildlife in this country than what I have seen over the last 20 years. For example the wind industry slaughtering endangered and highly protected species, exploded because of Clinton administration rigging that created no accountability for this industry. The truth is that the wind turbine cannot and will not solve any environmental problems. The public people would know things like this if the industry would stop paying experts to lie and Americans were not forced to live with Clinton style politics. Years ago I asked the American Wind Energy Association to produce just one honest study related to wind turbine mortality. As of today I have not received a response and this offers still stands. I made this statement because I know and can prove that this industry is hiding behind a giant wall of scientific fraud, where on their side, the truth does not exist. With voluntary regulations and a premeditated pattern of absurd, contrived, and bogus nonscientific studies, the truth about wind turbine mortality to highly protected species has been hidden. The wind industry has been able to hide most of their wind energy slaughter from the public thanks in great part to Bill Clinton. He amended the Freedom of Information Act in 1997 to protect wind energy interests and help them conceal their industrial carnage. The Clinton Administration also silenced all Interior Department USFWS employees with penalties of 3-year prison terms for those releasing information not approved by superiors. Bill Clinton established the new much larger Denver eagle repository in 1997 to not only distribute eagle parts to native Americans but to handle the flood of new carcasses coming in from wind energy. Since then more than 33,000 eagle carcasses have been secretly shipped to this facility. Thanks to Bill Clinton, the origin and cause of death for all these eagles will remain a top secret until his laws are changed. About a year ago I had a meeting with a wind tech working in CA. I was showed images was told about 5 golden eagles killed in 1 month by his company’s wind turbines. These eagles were not reported. I told FWS and waited weeks but there was no investigation. This wind tech had unknowingly signed a nondisclosure agreement and did not even know it until I pointed it out in his contract. He wanted to tell this story but the USFWS would not give him immunity. How convenient and how corrupt can you get. Now we have another President covering for this fraudulent industry. After years of a fraudulent wind industry NOT reporting their massive slaughter to thousands upon thousands of eagles, the Obama administration has put together a recent proposal that will allow the wind industry to slaughter 6200 eagles annually with their “bird safe” turbines. A clearer example of a corrupt politician rigging the system for industry profits does not exist. In the big picture wind turbines produce very little energy and because of rigging, all energy reported by the wind industry in America is embellished. The reason is that wind farms do not have to account for the energy flowing into wind projects so the real energy numbers are not known and from fake industry numbers, they are receiving billions in tax credits. Think I am making any of this up?…………….. Then call for an open hearing where I can ask any questions I wish of the wind industry or Interior Department. f
“Outfitter sentenced in illegal hunting of bobcats and mountain lions”
The business owner is already in federal prison; his employee gets three months in jail plus two years probation.
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/09/06/illegal-hunting-bobcats-mountain-lions-sentencing/
Scum. These things are what come to mind when F&W Depts. speak with (over)confidence about managing wildlife. Is this type of thing taken into account?
For example, with the Grizzly bear population just hovering over a questionable recovery line, how can anyone feel justified in their delisting with poacher activities like this? Who knows what’s going on with other wildlife such as wolves too.
http://www.ktvb.com/news/judge-says-us-should-reconsider-habitat-for-canada-lynx/315259462
http://mtstandard.com/news/local/grizzly-backs-off-bow-hunters-in-big-hole-valley/article_d77939fe-c9fd-5813-8357-76c6af5585fd.html
First wolves and now grizzlies. The area is slowly starting to lose that “game farm” atmosphere. Go Griz!
Nancy
“Go Griz”
If the Griz (No. 15) play like they did last Saturday in the first half then Iowa State University (No. 3) is going to shut down this
Saturday. Keep up the cheer, get your poms, poms out and cheer. It is going to be a very tuff game.
http://www.westernjournalism.com/the-deception-of-wildlife-management/
is a piece of work decrying the high number of cougars in CA. There are fewer deer there you see, and more cougars, so it’s obvious that one caused the other. No other explanation is possible. And holy cheeses, dogs and cats are getting eaten on occasion – clearly unacceptable, and there’s evidently nothing owners can do. Even worse, the author’s pet horses are at risk, so it’s clear action is needed. It’s got learned-sounding links that point to articles that aren’t what author says they are about too.
For those interested, the 2015 Mexican Gray Wolf annual report, 60 pages.
https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/pdf/2015_MW_Progress_Report.pdf
A father and son are out elk bowhunting. After they shoot an elk, they see a grizzly. Guess what they don’t have? Bear spray. Guess what they do when the grizzly comes toward them? Run. The father says he didn’t have his pistol, either. If he had, it’s possible that we’d be reading about yet another grizzly mortality in a “defensive” shooting by a hunter.
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/young-stevi-hunter-faces-grizzly-and-tells-the-tale/article_062ca78d-9ca4-588f-bf10-891cf78d533e.html
I had read that story too, but held my breath. I figured an angry mob would be formed to kill the bear because he took the elk that ‘belonged’ to a human! Or the aerial gatling guns for any wolves that might be around. I don’t know that the bear is out of the woods yet, so I didn’t want to post it.
BTW, did they ever find out more about who killed those poor wolf pups in Idaho?
Latest on WA Profanity pack.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/state-rejects-proposed-nonlethal-plan-to-transport-targeted-wolves/
Insisting upon killing is truly vile. I hope the next time wolves are found in this area, that they are relocated immediately, instead of the misuse of the taxpayers money that aerial killing displays are. The reason the rancher and the Dept. of F&W can get away with this is that the public isn’t aware of what goes on. And suppression of information (gag order) by the University is appalling.
People should watch closely what happens when the next wolf or small pack is sighted, not wait for two years. This happens on public lands!
I just read a story about a price fixing scheme by the dairy industry where the purposely killed their cattle:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dairy-industry-cows-settlement_us_57d1a4ade4b03d2d459926e4?ir=Green&utm_hp_ref=green
http://www.yourdailyglobe.com/story/2016/09/09/news/mnrc-members-urged-to-ban-feeding-of-deer/7186.html
This is just a summary of MI NRC meeting, and who said what. Very short and amusing. This one guy I’ve heard before spoke:
“Joe Allen, who traps in the Marenisco area, said he caught 11 wolves last winter before catching a single coyote. He said he has caught and released more than 100 wolves in his traps.”
I like it when he complains, since it might make people realize it’s complicated out there – wolves have allot of side effects besides eating deer.
Did he take selfies with those 100+ wolves?
“Sound Sanctuary”: I just received this in a newsletter I subscribe to. If you love the sounds of nature–birds, rain, streams, frogs, crickets–you’ll love these. The last one–thrushes in the rain–totally transports me back to the Appalachian Trail in spring. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard–lost count of different species after the 10 or so I could identify by song. Enjoy!
http://gratefulness.org/resource/sound-sanctuary/
Thanks, that’s a site worth keeping. I actually had ovenbirds, what I thought were wood thrushes or hermit thrushes. I may have both or all three, because I think I can recognize the song of the wood thrush, so beautiful.
I knew you would like it, Ida. We have the Swainson’s thrush out here in the West, but it’s not the same as the eastern wood thrush singing in a deep, deciduous forest…that can just about move a person to tears. You might enjoy this–a few notable quotes about the wood thrush and why their song is so beautiful–it’s a “one-bird duet”! http://glenprovidencepark.org/2012/05/08/the-song-of-the-wood-thrush/
Yes. 🙂 Thank you!
Very cool site Kathleen!
If you want a real acoustic rush, run all the soundtracks at the same.
A lush rainforest comes to mind 🙂
Introduced into the House of Representatives, the LIFT Act (Limiting Inhumane Federal Trapping), HR 5954…it “would restrict the use of body-gripping traps on public lands administered by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Interior (DOI), as well as prohibit personnel in both departments from setting these brutal traps.” It has been referred to the House Natural Resources Committee.
https://awionline.org/content/bill-protect-animals-cruel-traps-reform-usdas-wildlife-services-program
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/wild-red-wolves-territory-curtailed-federal-plan-42038025
Posted before (by me!) whenever a little background info is needed:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/150318-red-wolves-north-carolina-conservation-reintroduction-science/
http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/12/12891714/bureau-land-management-euthanasia-wild-horses-cattle
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/09/14/493925781/epic-climate-cartoon-goes-viral-but-it-has-one-key-problem
This is great stuff, Nancy. I’m sharing it everywhere, but that period between 9,00 – 9,500 BCE sad. I want the smilodon back from extinction.
http://www.petoskeynews.com/gaylord/sports/outdoors/dnr-good-deer-season-likely-ahead/article_790ab644-d528-5cba-afdd-793c9ef62c94.html
Mentions that our MI deer are in outstanding condition this year, thanks to back-to-back great growing seasons and wimpy winter (for a change). Talks about our antler point restrictions leading to more 2.5 year old bucks, but fails to note that this year it will result in heavy “high-grading”. Near me (SE lower), lots of yearling bucks are 8-points this year, like they used to be before the overpopulation set in, so they meet the requirements of restricted tags. As Saint Aldo mentions, one should compare the ancient racks hanging on the walls of the castles to the animals occupying the land now, and ask why they are different (in Europe anyway, doesn’t work perfectly in Michigan, yet).
Look for me on the waters of the Hanford Reach, Columbia River, next week. Hoping for at least one 5-salt Chinook, the kind in the 40-50 lb range.
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2016/sep/16/hanford-reach-chinook-fishing-picking-columbia-anglers/
When average boat catches 1 or 2, we catch 8 or 9. In fact, we regularly outfish the guide boats. It’s not me though. My partners are like having 2 guides with you.
Be careful. We don’t want you to come back glowing.
The witches coven has had their summit.
http://www.wpr.org/wolf-summit-calls-renewed-hunting-and-trapping
A depressing read. Thanks.
Wisconsin CWD spreading
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/results.html
Not saying wolves would end CWD, but an important tool in the tool box. The current practices of managing deer herds for highest possible yield, as well as feeding of deer is obviously not working. MN measures, perhaps too little too late.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/deerimports/index.html
Just another example of the indiscriminate nature of trapping and snaring.
http://www.wideopenspaces.com/moose-gets-caught-in-coyote-trappers-snare/
Some of you may remember Jon Way who used to post here. Another example of government interference.
http://www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/ResearchObstructionTestimonial/
Just read Jon’s testimonial and have to wonder how many other wildlife researchers out there, are subjected to this same type of government interference?
Kudos Jon for “coming out”
Thanks for posting this immer
Please share widely and consider writing the governor of Ma, as requested in the testimonial
Not quite Wildlife News but thoughts worth pondering as election day gets closer:
http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160912-a-soviet-scientist-created-the-only-tame-foxes-in-the-world
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-vote-for-trump-is-a-vote-for-climate-catastrophe/2016/09/19/1e3e17fe-7e9f-11e6-8d0c-fb6c00c90481_story.html?utm_term=.785da81bdf6e
RIP John Craighead.
I’ll second the RIP for John Craighead.
RIP. The brothers playing “tag” with a grizzly:
Thanks for posting that, Nancy.
RIP John Craighead. I mention their contributions to the recovery of Grizzly Bears and think of them whenever I look at a wild and scenic river (every day). As I finish up a summer of outreach and education regarding bear safety, I am sad to hear this but glad he made it to 100! Met him twice and have always cherished those moments.
My condolences to Lance, April and the rest of the family and all his friends and fans.
“They’re young enough that they should adapt well to zoo life.”
More grizzly cubs headed for lifetime incarceration in a zoo. http://www.kpax.com/story/33138091/orphaned-grizzly-bear-cubs-settle-in-at-montana-wild
“Americans love animals more than they used to — even ‘scary’ ones”
Excerpt: “Researchers recently conducted the survey again, and they found that while dogs and cats maintained their rock-solid top spots in U.S. hearts, creatures that were long hated have risen in the ranks. According to the results, published this month in the journal Biological Conservation, Americans today feel “significantly more positive about “bats, sharks, vultures, wolves and coyotes” than they did in 1978.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/09/20/americans-love-animals-more-than-they-used-to-even-scary-ones/?postshare=3641474399006846&tid=ss_tw
You’d never know it by the comments! (No offense to you, Kathleen) Also, it’s sort of a left-handed compliment to have a headline about ‘scary’ animals and the first pic is a wolf! Gotta love the media.
I clicked on one of the links for the WI Wolf Summit (eyerolling all the way), and lo and behold, I came across:
I thought he only caused trouble in Utah? What is he doing stirring up trouble in WI? The wolf-hating agenda is very far-reaching.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/09/16/wisconsin-wolf-summit-leans-toward-delisting-killing-animals
The tone of the article is not appealing, it seems to support rural ‘handling’ of wildlife as reasonable, without question. It doesn’t sound very knowledgeable overall, or have much depth. I wonder if these types of semi-fluff (IMO) articles do more harm than good?
Points tho for JB’s comment about a way for ‘non-consumptive users’ to support conservation. They just won’t let us in and take part in that club, that’s the problem! Whatever happened to the wolf stamp?
I’d probably be happier reading the actual paper. The WP piece seemed too ‘light’ or something. Dogs and cats are not wildlife, nor are they endangered wildlife.
Apologies if I appear too harsh; with all that’s been happening lately with wildlife, I’m just a little leery. Profanity Peak wolves, wild horses, grizzlies delisted for hunters, etc. The average American who may be changing their opinion of wildlife aren’t the ones making the decisions.
A side note for Kathleen: I noticed wasps are still in the ‘hated’ group. I had put an extra hummingbird feeder out this year, and while I got more hummers, I got yellow jackets too. (My last bird, a little male from this year’s brood who was just getting his adult plumage in, left for warmer climes early this week).
I was a little timid of the yellow jackets, but they were not interested in me in the slightest, just the nectar I was bringing. Quite an interesting little bug! I had one land on my hand, but very non-aggressive. It’s not every day you get mistaken for a flower! 🙂
Hi Ida…yes, I’ve got some wasps at my hummer feeder right now–but the hummers seem to have left. Three summers ago we had yellow jackets so bad that I literally hid in the house at the end of summer. We determined that we had large, underground nests all around, and the water we put out for wildlife was attracting them. It was a horror show, if you ask me! Kudos to you for hosting one on your hand!
I looked for a nest nearby, but didn’t see one. Thankfully, I haven’t had a lot of them, just a few. But I try to take a live and let live approach when I can. I have been stung by yellow jackets before, but nothing compares to a honeybee sting! Ouch!
I didn’t have a negative reaction to this article–in fact, I found some encouragement in it. However, I did find it interesting that domestic companion animals were lumped in with wild animals, but domestic farmed animals were not…hence the usual compartmentalization between “food animals” and others was apparent: “If we keep using today’s food production methods, that will require more land for crops and cows, chickens and other meat sources, which will mean less habitat for wild animals…” As if you can legitimately survey people on their feelings about animals while ignoring that “meat sources” are sentient individuals who experience emotions and have lives they value.
Yes, you’re right – there is hope from the study, but we’re still considered top dogs, when the author mentions more habitat to be taken (as a given) for our 11 billion or so in the future! There seems to be that undercurrent of superiority, or something, IDK.
From Louisa Wilcox re grizzy bear delisting:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/21/feds-threaten-yellowstone-grizzly-bears-future-in-rush-to-delist/
Here’s some good news from the USF&W:
https://www.fws.gov/midwest/news/849.html
Thank you, USF&W! Is there anything cuter than bumblebee?
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/rusty-patched-bumble-bee-proposed-for-us-endangered-species-status/ar-BBwsHkl
Yes, this *is* good news, following the bad news that their decline is so precipitous. It’s also good to see native bees get some attention–as opposed to honey bees (brought to the US by European settlers). I love bumblebees, too…and have noticed *many* fewer visiting my native plants. Very concerning.
A 91% decline is something to be ashamed of. If this poor bee isn’t protected, we’re a sorry lot. Anyway, the bee has a few people in its corner, a documentary film has been made:
http://www.rustypatched.com/
I guess I finally realized what bothered me about that WP article. Referring to wildlife as ‘icky’ and ‘scary’. Who is the readership being appealed to, 3rd graders? It’s hard to believe that in the 21st century. The study itself of course is good news.
Why is killing the “biggest and best” of a species something to brag about? Something to get recognition for?
“Montana archer may have shot new world record elk”
Article: http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/montana-archer-may-have-shot-new-world-record-elk/article_aa026b8e-68e6-5654-a969-e352763a44aa.html
B&C Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooneAndCrockettClub/posts/10155287014099778
So far there is no recognition of the hunter, and no bragging, so I think you are doing prediction without representing it as such. It’s the animal that’s interesting. Some record ungulates are commonly known by the hunter’s name, rather than the year and location – I do find that goofy. I care little about who the hunter was, or what they have to say.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/22/feds-mull-whether-to-remove-red-wolf-from-endangered-species-list.html
It’s very unethical, but if so hope they have sort of a protection plan for these poor animals and just don’t abandon them to the killers down there. If you recall, this man refused to let Federal agents on his land to remove a nursing female, and pushed for a take permit to kill her. I have to shake my head in that outfitters and landowners are not scientists, but yet they are given a virtual megaphone and a platform to spout their agenda with all seriousness!
And if they want to use current science as their reason, that means there’s a lot more to do with the Gray.
Huh….
http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/09/22/494925885/where-did-national-forests-go-green-spaces-disappear-from-google-maps
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/kcfw/montana-farmers-optimistic-as-china-drops-ban-on-us-beef/93494179
Terrible news. American are eating less and less red meat for health reasons, and we’re well aware of the natural resource/environmental cost of animal agriculture. But there are animals to exploit & money to be made; now they’ll add the greenhouse emissions of shipping massive amounts of meat to China.
“Backed by Lasers, Robotic Rovers Defend the Desert Tortoise”
Gamers as conservationists…
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/backed-by-lasers-robotic-rovers-defend-the-desert-tortoise
http://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/predator-hunting/coyotes-stalk-12-year-old-home-from-school/?utm_source=newsletter_091916&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
I’m not quite sure what to make of this baloney. It sounds way too familiar to the mythologies of wolves stalking people. I’m not buying this as truth. Every time I see a coyote they are on the move and they are fast. The few occasions I do see them they avoid humans. Same with foxes and I see the foxes more often since they come into my neighborhood on occasion. As the crow flies, I’m close to the river and the fox den in places along the river.
But seriously, ‘three coyotes stalked this girl’? She may have seen coyotes but I bet they did not stalk her.
“The little girl who cried coyote”.
http://articles.courant.com/2012-03-09/news/hc-ct-coyotes-killing-dogs-0312-20120309_1_large-coyote-coyote-population-small-dogs
My question would be, what was this little girl doing, walking home alone from the bus stop?
I’d be far more concerned about the human predator:
http://www.city-data.com/so/so-East-Hartford-Connecticut.html
or even the uptick in clown “incidents” than coyotes:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/24/495298587/sinister-clowns-are-scaring-people-in-multiple-states
Yes Yvette
http://programme.exordo.com/wda2016/delegates/presentation/157/
I’ve seen several lay press CWD articles quoting this without noting that it’s just a conference abstract (hell, the writers don’t even link to it), and I can’t tell for sure what they are saying (no methods, no results, not always precise language), and it’s not been reviewed or published or confirmed by anyone yet.
Re: CWD
Wisconsin State wildlife officials plan to launch a five-year study this fall they say should provide unprecedented data on how predators and chronic wasting disease affect deer survival in southwestern Wisconsin.
Note that study is in 3-4 counties in SW Wisc….predators monitored are coyote and bobcat.
http://www.capitalpress.com/Research/20160919/wisconsin-to-launch-deer-predator-study
Maybe the money would be better spent on studying grasses/forage in areas affected with CWD?
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/06/researchers-make-surprising-discovery-about-spread-of-chronic-wasting-disease/#.V-ud92cVAdk
not a long time ago Nancy posted a link about tree community
interview with ecologist Suzanne Simard
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/exploring_how_and_why_trees_talk_to_each_other/3029/
Exploring How and Why Trees ‘Talk’ to Each Other
Good read Mareks, thanks for posting it.
“So I opened my mind up and said we need to bring in human aspects to this so that we understand deeper, more viscerally, what’s going on in these living creatures, species that are not just these inanimate objects. We also started to understand that it’s not just resources moving between plants. It’s way more than that. A forest is a cooperative system, and if it were all about competition, then it would be a much simpler place. Why would a forest be so diverse? Why would it be so dynamic?”
Going to be a hard pill to swallow for those that continue to believe wildlife & wild lands, are just “resources” to be used and or abused, by humans.
they will dismiss it as some kind of esoteric stuff
I read that the other day. Marks, I don’t think this will easily dismissed. I remember reading she has been working on this for a long time and it was something that she first discovered in her doctoral research.
Nancy, ironic that the excerpt you posted is what stands out in my memory from reading the Yale 360 interview. LOL, great minds….!
Regardless, this is cool chit.
heard on a radio program: “Hillary an through Trump off by walking out on stage and directly up to Trump and shake his hand… and then look down at his hands and say, Oh, they are soooooo cute.”
Two hunters mauled by grizzlies last weekend in the greater Yellowstone area:
TWO RECENT INCIDENTS INVOLVING GRIZZLIES;
ARCHERY HUNTERS REMINDED TO STAY ALERT IN BEAR COUNTRY
(BOZEMAN, Mont.)—Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is urging archery hunters to stay alert for bears, to know what to do in the case of an encounter, and remember that all of southwest Montana is bear country. Two weekend incidents involving grizzly bears drive this message home.
On Saturday afternoon, a hunter received minor injuries after encountering a presumed grizzly while calling for elk in the Cabin Creek area north of Hebgen Lake.
Then Sunday morning, another man hunting elk with his bow on the north side of the Tom Miner basin north of Gardiner was mauled by what his hunting party believes was a female grizzly with two cubs. He suffered bite injuries.
Both hunters were treated at local hospitals and released.
While it is impossible to prevent all events like these, archery hunters should understand the inherent risk of hunting in bear country and do what they can to avoid encountering grizzlies.
Before venturing into an area, hunters should take notice of warning signs at trailheads, observe the brush at a distance for movement and look at the ground and trees for bear sign (i.e. tracks, scat, and trees scratches). Bear spray should be carried in an accessible place and hunting with at least one other person is highly recommended (in all cases).
Note that areas with high deer and elk hunting success may attract bears (ravens circling may indicate a kill). Elk bugling and cow calling also may bring in bears. It is important to stay alert.
Hunters should have with them what they need to immediately field dress their game. If hunters have success in the field and can’t haul their meat out right away they should remove the meat from the kill site and hang it at least ten feet off the ground and at least 150 yards from the gut pile.
Returning to the meat later, a hunter should check with his or her binoculars to see if the meat has been disturbed. Hunters should never attempt to haze a bear off a kill.
More information about safety in the outdoors and bear awareness can be at FWP’s website here: http://fwp.mt.gov/…/saf…/wildlife/bears/bearsAndHunters.html.
Maybe the bears know they are next and giving the hunters fair warning
Have there been studies of if/how these prion-type diseases affect predators? I thought I read that they don’t (so far as we know). But if they do, how could it affect the safety of predator populations, while we continue to hunt them and think we can ‘manage’ all variables with the simplest method possible, killing them? The uptake to plants is interesting.
It will be interesting to see how WI
slantspresents the results of their study.I expect one outcome will be to see what others have: infected deer have higher odds of being killed by human and canine than uninfected ones.
I can’t find if experiments have been done on canines (Pubmed failed to get me any), but “Experimentally, CWD can be transmitted by intracerebral inoculation to cattle, sheep, goats, domestic ferrets, mink, mice, hamsters, and squirrel monkeys” says Merck web page, and I’ve seen the cow studies. No indications that wolves or coyotes are getting it, but absence of evidence is not the best evidence of absence.
Stopping the cormorant slaughter – this comes from Last Chance for Animals, an advocacy group. LCA and SHARK are following Wildlife Services personnel and filming their slaughter of cormorants. Includes video:
http://www.lcanimal.org/index.php/campaigns/the-cormorant-slaughter
Brain worm in moose
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-_MxDcY_osw
Court Stops U.S. Fish & Wildlife from Killing Wild Red Wolves
http://www.ecowatch.com/red-wolf-court-ruling-2023369456.html
Thank.Goodness.!!!!!
Really couldn’t have said it better:
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/u-s-government-you-can-kill-red-wolves-if-they-bother-you-u-s-court-no-you-cant
Eastern massasauga rattlesnake listed as threatened by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MIDNR/bulletins/168295d
Reading Tocqueville lately (letters and short pieces) he claims there were tons of the little rattlers between Pontiac and Saginaw during his 1831 trip – considerable prairie there at the time (the super-tall type we get here). Also heard the bites were invariable fatal without some unnamed treatment of the natives, and we know that’s false. I highly recommend the little “two weeks in the wilderness” piece if you know this area. Saginaw had a white population of 25 people, no roads, guard bears, and a river of very clear water. He describes mosquitoes. Duck hunting is rather good at that time, and he wages war against the birds of N America generally. Great Lakes were the most beautiful place he’d ever seen (perhaps cause they were nearly wilderness, and he could tell that wouldn’t last).
Wow! Great news.
“Great Lakes were the most beautiful place he’d ever seen (perhaps cause they were nearly wilderness, and he could tell that wouldn’t last).”
How poignant is *that*.
I caught a glimpse of that wildness as a child and young person–before the lakefront that I grew up roaming became the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in 1966 (thanks to decades of hard work by conservationists). Entrance gates, boardwalks, and official trails replaced much of that wildness, but the land was saved from encroaching development. The nat’l lakeshore has recently been proposed for an upgrade to national park designation. Personally, I don’t see it–too small, too fragmented, and too much development too close.
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/national-park-designation-proposed-for-indiana-dunes-national-lakeshore/article_45a0c655-bb94-548a-8d6f-3ce205c41642.html
Does anyone know what redtails eat? I’ve had one that visits one of the trees outside my window (near my birdfeeder), so my heart was in my mouth – but the birds seem to have no fear of him (or her). Do they only eat rodents? What a gorgeous bird.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/lifehistory#at_food
🙂 He seemed to have his (or her) eyes peeled on the ground under the shrubs, and it looked like he caught a mouse, or maybe not. I hope my little chipmunks didn’t get caught! Usually when a hawk is nearby, the birds disappear, but not this time! I wonder if it is a young bird.
Now I’m not so sure – this bird had a speckled chest, like a Coopers hawk, but was much bigger. I have seen a redtail last week definitely, but I have Coopers/Sharpies, and a little merlin/kestrel who was very quick!
Anyway, it’s nice to have the hawks. Good to hear about the National Parks designation too!
That mentioned ground squirrels, but near me, grey and fox squirrels are common targets. The red-tails are not very elegant looking while catching them in dense forest – might be mostly males doing this. They crash to the ground with wings held back, not really flying, just falling. I’ve had a family near me the last 4 years – constant screaming by young (2 this year) has finally decreased.
Thank you – I know I can read about it, but it’s great to hear other people’s experiences too. I had a little, I think sharpie, there yesterday – but the red-tail just sits on the branch looking regal, the birds have no fear, and a grey squirrel tried to scare him off! 🙂
Yesterday a Bozeman man was attached by a sow Grizzly with two cub’s, after the attach he walked 3 miles to the trail head, did a selfie. Then drove to the Ennis hospital. He is a copy of selfie: https://www.facebook.com/todd.orr/videos/10210413734089030/
Bear spray can works but I would want my 41 mag, too.
The bear story
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/ap_news/montana/man-survives-attacks-by-bear/article_56a99694-08ff-53c4-8c18-a9b02e41534a.html
Here is some more information from the injured man.
http://www.ktvq.com/story/33299198/montana-man-documents-moments-after-grizzly-bear-attack?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_Q2_News
Glad Mr. Orr survived this encounter.
Wonder if this kind of attire would of made a difference re: the extent of the injuries?
http://www.history-revisited.com/detail/id/481/name/light-weight-chain-mail-coif
Hiking in rough country with a chain mail suit is laughable! 🙂 Heavy and COLD!
I live in Idaho Falls now, and next year I will be hunting elk/deer. Running into a grizz is not on my list of priorities! So leaning towards units that dont have grizz. 🙂
“Hiking in rough country with a chain mail suit is laughable! Heavy and COLD!”
This coif weighs no more than a snowmobile or motorcycle helmet Josh and it would certainly protect the head.
I have to wonder what happened with the bear spray, maybe an old can? I believe one article stated she charged right thru the spray.
Good read (watch video)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150918-grizzly-bear-attack-survivor-stories/
compare this all-star compilation of hunter/outfitter complaints about wolves in one article
http://www.tsln.com/news/hunting-the-hunters-wolf-hunting-in-the-west/
with this one:
http://www.issaquahreporter.com/news/395650421.html
The population of wolves in the wild in Washington state is less than the number of cents in a dollar.
Not surprisingly, the public comments time period drew passionate appeals from animal rights activists, especially tribal members. More than a few tears were shed by the time the meeting finished.
“It’s the dollar that people are finding sacred, not the cows,” said Jennifer Fuentes, a member of the Apache tribe. “When will it stop? The wolves are great medicine holders … they hold us in their prayers … without them, we cannot survive.”
“For indigenous people, the desecration of wolves is the desecration of our religious way of life,” said former Alaskan Inter-Tribal Council Officer Nikos Pastos, who traveled from Anchorage to attend the meeting.
Still, meeting attendees pleaded with WDFW members to keep the wolves in mind when making policy.
“I’m just asking this commission … to help us save these last poor babies,” Blackfoot member James St. Goddard of Montana said. “Are we so heartless that we can’t do this?”
Rocky Flats: A Wildlife Refuge Confronts Its Radioactive Past
The Rocky Flats Plant outside Denver was a key U.S. nuclear facility during the Cold War. Now, following a $7 billion cleanup, the government is preparing to open a wildlife refuge on the site to the public, amid warnings from some scientists that residual plutonium may still pose serious health risks.
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/rocky_flats_wildlife_refuge_confronts_radioactive_past/3025/
We are left with a conundrum: Is Rocky Flats a brilliant urban wildlife resource, or a dangerous radioactive legacy? The weird but inescapable truth is that it is both.
Why on earth would anyone open up a wildlife refuge in a place that poses health and safety danger for animals and people who visit? Noone will visit!!! Maybe turn it into a solar array or something.
A solar array? On some of the last relatively pristine prairie habitat on the Front Range, with incredible extant biodiversity (both plant and animal) – not “visitors”, but residents. Residents that appear to be thriving despite piecemeal radioactivity (much less radioactivity than found in another recovering wildlife haven – Chernobyl). A place already declared a wildlife refuge? You might want to rethink that. Or think it, in the first place.
I knew the ‘miracle’ of Chernobyl would come up. The key word is appears. I know people want to think these places are restored wildlife havens, but it’s still like limping around with a permanent broken leg for wildlife. Not the best. Science says it isn’t safe yet, and apparently a cut-rate cleanup isn’t enough. Did you read the article? It says the city is encroaching fast, and they’ll need energeeeeee! Won’t they?
For the parts of it that are like spent landfills, a solar array or wind farm would fit the bill, instead of our penchant for tearing up pristine habitat for them, and with the government’s love of bare minimum staff who can wear protective clothing, it sounds like a win/win.
Maybe they just ought to leave this ‘relatively'(that’s a good one!) pristine prairie habitat and its wildlife alone? Like Chernobyl, it isn’t safe for people – I know I wouldn’t want to visit it, much less expose children to the unknown dangers. It’s too early to send out the message that no matter how badly we destroy the environment, it is always going to be resilient, no matter how much we want to believe that.
The wildlife residents, as usual, have no choice. Why can’t we just leave them be?
Well, sure, it’d be great to leave them alone (and, ironically, that’s what happened at Rocky Flats and Rocky Mountain Arsenal, both when they were in operation and since – that’s why they’re not full of invasive plant species and damaged riparian corridors and why some animal species of concern persist there). But that’s only going to happen in the future if the land is protected in some way. Making it a wildlife refuge is about the best anyone could hope for…
Ida, the wolves in the exclusion zone are doing better now than they have in over one hundred years. Once humans were out the wolves thrived.
I’m pretty sure I’ve posted these photos in the past. Sergei Gaschak is a Russian biologist who captures these beautiful photos. He was one of the original liquidators after the meltdown.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/nuclear_power/2013/01/chernobyl_wildlife_the_radioactive_fallout_zone_is_a_wildlife_refuge_photos.html
Now these are new for me.
http://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/science/2015/02/150202_chornobyl_report_animals_vc?ocid=socialflow_facebook
There are scientists who go into the exclusion zone and collect data. It’s been several years ago when I read it, so my memory fails me, but there was a collaborative research project with a university in Texas and some European researchers (I think Russian and Ukrainian but maybe others, too).
…..in my next life.
I’m thrilled that life is returning, don’t get me wrong. But I worry that people will begin to have an ‘anything goes’ attitude because nature is so ‘resilient’. There’s an anthropocene boosters tone to it all. We have to accept that in the future, we are going to have to accept lifestyle change as well.
Rocky Flats seems to be painting a rosy brochure for sales of a housing development (can’t wait till the residents start complaining about deer and elk eating their flowers, and coyotes snatching pets). I’m not familiar with the area so I don’t know. It does give me pause to realize that all the testing was before regulation, it was shut down by the FBI for poor handling practices, and there’s a lot of unknowns.
But by all means, if it can recover it is wonderful.
“I knew the ‘miracle’ of Chernobyl would come up.”
I have to admit to finding this rosy picture suspect, also. I’ve been fascinated with Chernobyl from the get-go–for anyone else with that same fascination, “Voices from Chernobyl” by Svetlana Alexievich is a must-read (first person accounts). Here’s a sample: http://www.lannan.org/images/cf/svetlana-alexievich-040528-translation.pdf Maybe the whole thing is online somewhere.
After reading “Voices,” I do have to wonder how Sergei Gaschak is still alive and healthy if he was one of the original workers. And I have to wonder at the ‘normalcy’ being presented after seeing these photos (be forewarned, they are *very* disturbing): https://chernobylguide.com/chernobyl_mutations/
Here’s a 5 min. video from the NY Times, “Animals of Chernobyl” outlining the work of a biologist “studying the lasting effects of radiation on the flora and fauna of Chernobyl, Ukraine”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG-nwQBBfmc
Wow. This is why I say “NO” to nuclear power for our future. It isn’t feasible, and where to accumulate all the waste?
There was a similar story in the HP about a rare deer surviving decades of war in Afghanistan, and their resilience. No word about whether or not the war will stop, though. So I guess the deer is only safe for now.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bactrian-deer-afghanistan_us_57ea396de4b0c2407cd953fb
And there’s an entire site devoted to Rocky Flats:
https://rockyflatsglows.com/clean-up/
More nukes!:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/20/us/tennessee-nuclear-power-plant/index.html
Watts Bar 2 goes active. 43 years and 6.8 billion dollars later. First new nuclear power plant to enter commercial operation in 20 years
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/keci/initiative-177-aims-to-end-trapping-on-montana-public-lands/106246659
Romania has outlawed trophy hunting, or they are planning on enforcing the ban.
“Hunting for money was already illegal, but it was given a green light anyway,” environment minster, Cristina Palmer, told the Guardian. ‘The damages [clause in the habitats directive] acted as a cover for trophy hunting.”
………….
“But the rural population believe that hunting is the answer, and unless they can be convinced otherwise, people may well start to take the problem into their own hands. The ban is a great step, but we don’t want hunting to be replaced by poaching.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/05/romania-bans-trophy-hunting-of-brown-bears-wolves-lynx-and-wild-cats
Apparently , the joint Energy bills being considered by both houses of Congress presently contain a slew of anti-wildlife riders , just as in years past but moreso in this election year and sunset of Obama term. Perhaps the special interests and lobbyists are frenzying to get sausage made now in case Hillary prevails , or something.
I have not had time to cross check these claims , but here’s what the Animal Welfare Institute is being ridden into the sausage making:
The cynically titled “Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act H.R. 2406 in an energy bill that is currently being reconciled with the Senate’s Energy Policy Modernization Act (S. 2012) has these:
•expand the use of dangerous and indiscriminate traps on millions of acres of public lands by taking the unprecedented step of defining trapping as a form of hunting;
•revoke protections for imperiled gray wolf populations and preclude future judicial review;
•force the National Park Service to allow private hunters to kill otherwise protected bison as part of certain “management”plans;
•permanently prevent numerous government agencies from even assessing the risks posed by lead ammunition;
•gut the historic rule of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service restricting the sale of ivory to combat wildlife trafficking and save elephants from extinction;
•promote the controversial practice of using dogs to hunt deer in certain national forests; and
•block the NPS and USFWS from implementing policies to protect native carnivores and limit particularly cruel killing methods on millions of acres within National Wildlife Refuges and National Preserves.
Some fact checking and watchdogging might be in order in this lame goose Congress , pre – and post- election
https://awionline.org/content/twenty-senators-sign-letter-keep-energy-bill-clear-anti-wildlife-riders
For anyone on the site right now, Click on north entrance traffic & arch webcam (Yellowstone) Nice bull elk wandering in and out of the webcam last 15 minutes or so, standing on the road watching traffic.
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm
Hopefully the east is catching up with this issue:
http://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/go-outside/the-war-on-public-lands/
“N.J.s first extended bear hunt starts Monday”
“…as of Friday afternoon 7,664 permits have been sold for the first week of the bear hunt compared to the 8,799 permits sold for the 2015 season.”
http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2016/10/extended_bear_hunting_season_starts_on_monday.html
“States grapple with wildlife funding, ideas for tapping dollars beyond sportsmen fees” (Grand Junction, CO)
Excerpt: “How much support there is likely to be for the latter (seeking funding from nonconsumptive wildlife enthusiasts) is very much in question, however. It requires convincing not only non-sportsmen, but some hunters and anglers who worry that if others are also paying for wildlife management, they’ll also demand a greater say in how wildlife is managed. That’s “absolutely” a concern for Denny Behrens, a Grand Junction hunter and state director of Big Game Forever.
“Right now we’re constantly looking at the animal rights people, the environmentalists always wanting to shut down bear hunting more, shut down mountain lion hunting; they don’t want to increase deer in the state,” he said. “All of those things are counterproductive to wildlife management.”
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/states-grapple-with-wildlife-funding-ideas-for-tap
Montana put it out there and the “sportsmen” appeared overwhelmingly against it, that is for the general public to contribute $ and to possibly have a say in WL management.
True, though that was strictly wolf management–a wolf stamp for $20.
“While the tenor of this debate was exacerbated by the powerful emotions surrounding wolves, two underlying issues are relevant to other efforts by state fish and wildlife agencies to broaden their funding. The lack of relationships with citizens who do not hunt or fish can lead to indifference or mistrust that undermines public support for new revenue sources. At the same time, the longstanding relationship between agencies and hunters that has fueled conservation for the past century can also create resistance to allowing other interests to help fund state agencies.”
“Lessons from the Montana Wolf Management Stamp”
https://wildlifemanagement.institute/outdoor-news-bulletin/october-2014/lessons-montana-wolf-management-stamp
“is not the only example of some hunters’ fear over the loss of influence in decisions if other interests contribute to agency funding. In Idaho, the Department of Fish and Game organized a “Wildlife Summit” in 2012 that embraced all Idahoans with the theme, “Idaho’s Wildlife Belongs to You” as a starting point to discuss broader funding.”
I had read this also, and this is what stood out to me. Fears of loss of influence, that’s the key, isn’t it. They should not be dominating decisions to the extent they do, when more money could be brought in by including ‘non-consumptive users’.
“Chimps’ emotional response to death caught on film” – includes 2 videos
Excerpt: “When Pansy lay down in a nest that one of the other apes had made, the rest gathered around her and began grooming and caressing her. Shortly before she died, all three crouched down and inspected her face very closely. They then began to shake her gently. “It is difficult to avoid thinking that they were checking for signs of life,” said Anderson.
“After a time, it seemed that the chimpanzees arrived at a collective decision that she had gone. Two left immediately, but one, the other adult female, stayed and held her hand….That evening, her daughter came back and stayed with her mother all night long. She was trying to sleep, but was clearly very disturbed. All three of them were.”
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/apr/26/chimps-emotional-response-death-film?CMP=share_btn_fb
http://enewspf.com/2016/10/07/poll-oregonians-oppose-hunting-wolves-favor-nonlethal-conflict-prevention/ Result: most polled people were against wolf hunts. Comments from allot of pro-wolf group spokespeople, none from anti’s. It’s a press release. Poll commissioned by pro-wolf folks.
I’d warn them that polls may not be listened to by politicians – in Michigan, we defeated a wolf-hunt with 64% of the actual voters in a referendum (proposal 2, 2014), and our politicians passed a law to make wolves game animals anyway.
Be careful driving out there. Deer are getting twitterpated.
“Washington hunter recounts grizzly bear attack near Livingston” (MT):
Yet another hunter/bear conflict. Here you’ve got a guy creeping around in griz country looking for a “prize bull elk” and he runs into a mom with cubs. She attacks.
“Eventually, the bear decided to let Rico go after her cubs got about 40 yards away, he said. ‘Didn’t even give, like I said, the courtesy look back. Just rolled off, walked off, and walked away as if nothin’ happened.’”
A ‘courtesy look back’? He intruded on her space and posed a serious threat (as she perceived it) to her cubs. When the kids moved off and she was done with him, he retrieved a gun from his pack and worried that if he only wounded her, she’d come back to finish him off… so “decided to let her go.” How magnanimous.
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/washington-hunter-recounts-grizzly-bear-attack-near-livingston/article_6e929ca7-e982-5b6d-882b-ab5aa355e5be.html
http://video.foxnews.com/v/5170101882001/great-white-shark-breaks-into-shark-cage-with-diver-inside-/?#sp=show-clips
this guy had to buy new shorts I bet
I wonder what happened to the shark? The shark had blood around the gills and from his or her mouth. Simply because someone wanted to be a thrill-seeker, with no redeeming value to that kind of activity. Was it necessary for ‘science’?
Man Pleads Guilty to Wolf Poisoning
http://www.mtexpress.com/news/environment/man-pleads-guilty-to-wolf-poisoning/article_6a23a02a-9197-11e6-9c69-33ba6422ac80.html?mode=jqm
Pursuant to a plea agreement, the court granted a withheld judgment. A withheld judgment means that after completing his sentence and probation, Clemens may ask the court to dismiss the charges against him, removing them from his criminal record.
Ten days in jail, 200 hours of community service(? doing what), and hunting privileges suspended for four years. Not much of a deterrent from this kind of thing is there. But, at least he was caught.
40 bear hounds fall to wolves in Wi this year.
http://wbay.com/2016/10/14/hunters-worry-over-safety-after-record-number-of-hunting-dogs-killed-by-wolves/
And, another article with different views…
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/far-more-dogs-killed-in-bear-hunt-than-previous-years/article_56b7914d-cef9-5c24-a49c-118a2bd550bd.html
Wow, I don’t know anything about the commenters at the end of the story (except for good ole Reality22), most of them called for the end of welfare hunters getting compensated for losing dogs. Refreshing!
Said individual has turned into a copy and paste all star. I agree, it appears that many ( most) Wisconsinites are against reimbursing owners of bear hounds lost to wolves.
Could the Funeral of the Future Help Heal the Environment?
A traditional ten-acre cemetery holds enough embalming fluid to fill a small swimming pool. But there may be a greener way
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/could-funeral-future-help-heal-environment-180957953/?no-ist
“If people think they’re in a cemetery, we’ve screwed up,” says Campbell. Ramsey Creek is known as the nation’s first “green cemetery,” but Campbell says it’s more than that. “The whole process of modern death seems to deny decomposition and prevent people from returning to the earth,” she says.
To help the dead get as close to the land as possible, her team facilitates burials that look more like those of 1816 than 2016. Graves are dug by hand—not a bulldozer in sight. Bodies are preserved with dry ice and lowered directly into the ground in simple boxes or plain shrouds. This cemetery doesn’t have traditional headstones or lawnmowers, and it’s hard to tell where the graves are—rough-hewn stones serve as the only markers. Proceeds from the funerals go towards restoring the land and funding local nonprofits.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF DEATH AND DECAY (PART 2)
http://www.theswitchreport.com.au/industry/the-environmental-impact-of-death-and-decay-part-2/
Part 1 outlined the environmental impacts of each stage in the process from death until final disposal of the remains. So which stage of the after-death experience do you think has the most significant environmental impact?
Based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) conducted in the Netherlands, you might be surprised to know that the answer is: the ceremonies*.
A friend of mine is doing this in north Alabama:
http://altoday.com/archives/9729-eco-friendly-cemetery-haunted-by-alabama-funeral-directors-law
Despite the politics, she eventually won the right to sell caskets and accessories in Alabama. Good for the environment and consumers
the cost for a standard funeral is staggering, both financially and environmentally.
+++
Indeed, it is.
All of the land we need for the entire human life cycle is staggering. Cremation for me, and scatter my ashes at my favorite sanctuary or beach (or one in the same!)
No need to make false idols of ourselves, just ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Maybe those who are so inclined can take a selfie before their trip to the Great Beyond.
http://www.ktvb.com/news/crime/man-sentenced-for-poisoning-idaho-wolf-dog/336980370
Never been back east, (never had a desire to) but bears are not even safe in the most densely populated state in the US.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/nyregion/pedals-the-walking-bear-is-dead-new-jersey-officials-believe.html?_r=0
Call it karma or fate but people who do this kind of thing will suffer consequences sooner or later. BTY, this wolf was killed ~50 miles from my residence and was the alpha female of a new pack.
CBD stepping up big time too!
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2016/10/endangered_gray_wolf_shot_kill.html
Lethal action against Profanity Pack Suuspended.
http://www.ammoland.com/2016/10/washington-state-suspends-lethal-action-profanity-peak-wolf-pack/#axzz4NZoW2sJu
Thank goodness, ya big bullies! There really is no reason to continue this. Thanks for the update, Immer.
Mexican gray wolf news. New recovery plan for Lobos.
http://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/court-mandates-recovery-plan-mexican-gray-wolves-federal-wildlife-american-southwest/4295068/?cat=500
Band poison compound 1080 used to poison wolf last year
http://www.mtexpress.com/news/environment/banned-poison-was-used-to-kill-wolf/article_8b2f1770-96fd-11e6-946d-bbfe614dd6a6.html?mode=jqm
Anti-elk fences going up soon in Blaine county Idaho.
http://www.mtexpress.com/news/blaine_county/anti-elk-fences-to-go-up-soon/article_8342e47a-96fc-11e6-b0ac-7b438b9c98a2.html?mode=jqm
Tragedy as three snow leopards die in trap set by poachers in Altai Mountains
http://siberiantimes.com/ecology/others/news/n0672-tragedy-as-three-snow-leopards-die-in-trap-set-by-poachers-in-altai-mountains/
A major threat to them is the surging global demand for cashmere, which is derived from the under hair of domestic goats and the livestock population of these animals has soared in recent years.
They consume the forage of mountain pastures that sustained a number of species of wild herbivores such as the ibex, the blue sheep, and the argali – the natural prey of snow leopards.
http://www.wildearthguardians.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=12723&news_iv_ctrl=-1#.WATr5pMrKGQhttp://www.wildearthguardians.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=12723&news_iv_ctrl=-1
big news wildlife services can no longer rely on an outdated EIS they must conduct a new one for the public lands in Nevada.
This is one HUGE, positive step for wildlife Louise! Thanks for posting it.
Mixed feelings about this encounter. I think it’s natural human tendency to have the desire to pet a wild animal but not a good idea to do it even when you can.
Still, it saved this deer’s life for that particular day. I wonder if the buck is sick? It’s still sort of a cool encounter.
http://mashable.com/2016/10/21/deer-hunter-head-scratch/#x7j17XqrrOqc
I’ve had my share of close encounters with wildlife (coyotes, elk, Rocky Mountain goat and a grizzly) and although I’ve never touched one, those encounters inspire me to learn about them and visit wild areas to hopefully have future encounters (except the grizzly!).
I think when people do have close safe encounters they are more likely to appreciate and respect them for their importance on the landscape. Touching them though is not a good idea nor is it necessary to truly appreciate them.
I and others always suspect the deer acting like this were initially raised by humans.
I don’t necessarily agree with the premise of cougar reintroduction to some of these areas, but what the article does address is the problem we face with too many deer. Don’t worry about wolves at bus stops when annually we have 1.2 million vehicle collisions caused by deer, 200 deaths, 29,000 injuries and $1.6 billion in vehicle damage. What is NOT addressed is agricultural and forest damage caused by deer.
http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/07/14/cougars-could-save-lives-by-lowering-vehicle-collisions-with-deer/
A 2005 assessment puts deer crop damage at over $100 million annually. This may also be the source for the UW stats on deer vehicle collisions.
https://joe.org/joe/2005february/rb5.php
I’m trying to get a handle on just where this forest damage is that you talk about. I think one can be pretty sure to say that areas with saturated wolves are more often than not well below the different states deer population goals. In these particular areas are those goals NOT realistic? Where the goals flawed from the get go? Are these damaged forests outside of good wolf habitat? What are cost associated with wolves moving into those area? Where is this damage?
One general
http://blog.nature.org/science/2013/08/22/too-many-deer/
With many sources for your perusal.
One more specific
https://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/special_interests/white_tailed_deer.pdf
I read over your links. Most of which points to areas in the east. Considering the issues caused by the red wolf in NC.
http://redwolves.com/wp/?p=384
Do you think that there is a ton of areas in the east where wolves fit? With Minnesota as an example, do you think areas where the state is having issues with deer are a good fit for wolves? What parts of Minnesota are we having issues with deer and issues with forests?
My interjection about wolves was minor, and its intention was a contrast between perceived dangers and real dangers. One will never have wolf or mt lion densities as high as deer, yet deer are responsible for an enormous amount of financial and personal injury.
Anyone trying to husband new growth of a more diverse forestry considers deer a nightmare. ma’iingan, who used to post here with regularity referred to deer as a foresters worse nightmare. I begin flagging trees again tomorrow.
“What is NOT addressed is agricultural and forest damage caused by deer.”
I’m not arguing that deer aren’t an issue to some forest, MOST of which are private and managed as private lands are managed. It’s almost absurd to say that large blocks of state and federal forest lands are having issues with too many deer. I know enough about deer management in enough states to say that it’s hard to come up with a game management unit that has large blocks of public lands that are over the goals set for that unit. I may be wrong, but in general I don’t think you’re going to find public lands above stated goals. Goals set to maintain healthy forests.
Farmers (including tree farmers) too have the tools necessary to keep deer under control. Some states allow them (farmers & tree farmers) to shoot deer year round and have as many crop damage tags as they want. If memory serves me right, some states even allow night hunting where the problem is serious. It’s not only deer some farmers have more issues with bears and racoons, both of which can be addressed.
Isn’t your beef with some of the private land owners Immer? You do know that some of them manage their property to the benefit of game/wildlife with year round food plots and sound wildlife forestry (favoring oak / acorns) practices that benefit all wildlife and which allow them to have healthy populations above said goals. I find it interesting that your social tolerance fades with some wildlife and is demanded with others all of which are hazards to the drivers on our roads.
http://www.news8000.com/news/UPDATE-Man-hits-wolf-dies-in-Jackson-Co-motorcycle-accident/112964
http://wivb.com/2016/10/02/man-dies-after-sports-bike-hits-turkey-vulture-in-town-of-evans/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/2-killed-in-freak-crash-with-bear-1.1061614.
I don’t have a “beef”, but I do have a concern. There is a deer problem. In Wisconsin alone, ~280 farmers/landowners were issued Damage Permit Hunting for deer, in almost every county of Wisconsin, which included 25 counties that have wolves.
6. Wisconsin
Odds of hitting a deer: 1 in 77
Last year’s rank: No. 6
Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation says the number of people injured or killed in crashes with deer has been rising since the late 1970s. The Badger State logged nearly 20,000 collisions with deer during 2015, accounting for more than 16% of all vehicle accidents.
MN was at 7. With a 1 in 80 driver probability.
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/auto/top-states-most-likely-to-hit-deer-5.aspx
The whole concept of deer management, especially with the increase of CWD, and the association of deer and then spread of Lymes disease, needs to change. I understand the money generated from hunting deer, in particular with all the fancy gear associated with the pastime. I also understand fewer deer would mean fewer predators…
I’m just raising the question, is the current mindset with the way deer are managed healthy for the deer, the land, and people?
Your trying to dance around and obfuscate my questions on “where”?
My comments above do address your current question. Yes, our current mindset does address our public forest health very well. The current mindset also allows our land owners to address deer issues.
We also need to be more supportive of measures that address Urban deer, state parks and preserves that harbor deer. In our area sandhill cranes are just as big an issue for farmers as deer are, spring planting damage is huge.
http://wildlifedamage.uwex.edu/pdf/SandhillCrane.pdf Page 4 Agricultural Crop Damage
Those who have enrolled, by county, in Wisconsin.
The link
https://dnrx.wisconsin.gov/wdacp/public/enrollment/2016/deer
Immer, you do know that even at population goals almost every farmer in a county like Marathon could qualify for the program if they have nearby woodlots and low lands. Some farmers have less tolerance for any deer eating their crops. Your Enrollment list could be 1000 times more if every farm enrolled even at goal levels (which some of these counties are at). I don’t begrudge any of the farmers on the list for they have to allow hunting. I do begrudge the farmer that complains about the deer demands compensation but doesn’t allow hunting or the shooting of does. This is a tool farmers have that works.
http://michigansaf.org/Tours/05Deer/USFS-2008.pdf
Trying coming to Michigan and find young white cedar. Perhaps after three harsh winters (13,14,15) some finally exist.
http://michigansaf.org/Tours/05Deer/SurveyReport.pdf
Search Pennsylvania deer exclosures. Managers report seeing plants (like red trillium) not observed in years.
We keep too many deer for a reason – the hunter’s money. Degradation of the land is long-term, and so slow that most people don’t notice the change. The price of land often is more about deer densities than forest quality near me.
Well said. An interesting aside, 3-4 times per year I travel the Rte 53 corridor between Eau Claire and Superior Wisconsin, about 135 miles. Prior to the wolf population surge, during the mid 90’s there was carnage on the road, usually one could observe 25-30 vehicle killed deer on the shoulders (north bound). Last 3-4 years, not so many. Cause or corellation?
Rork, I’ve been told that the way some land owners manage their property (leaving row of standing corn, creating year round food plots) the biological carrying capacity of deer would be TWICE goals or even more. I think its funny how the discussion here centers on the Social Carrying Capacity of deer and biological carrying capacity is tossed to the wind. Then, I’m sure, if we were talking about wolves biological carry capacity rules the day and Social Carrying Capacity be damned.
Man, you just don’t get it. This has very little if anything to do with wolves, and everything about deer numbers. I like venison as much as the next person, but with deer depredation hunts already attempting to knock back deer numbers, we have the increased threat of vehicle collisions with deer, resulting in financial loss, injury and on average 200 deaths per year. Why would you want to increase deer numbers, in particular with the absence of predators in many regions, where we would have an increased likely hood of CWD and Lymes. On a habitat/ecological level, deer reduce forest variation, thus impacting other animals that live in forests. There’s already enough, if not too many deer.
Interesting tone there Immer. “Why would you want to increase deer numbers” I said absolutely nothing of increasing deer numbers. Mat-ter of fact we are headed out tomorrow morning to address deer numbers! BUT, I did say that PUBLIC forest lands are not overrun with deer and Farmers do have the tools needed to address deer wildlife issues. Something “you just don’t get” your words: (What is NOT addressed is agricultural and forest damage caused by deer.)
“You’ve been told”… Nice cover.
You’re too gutless to even take a stand.
http://www.deerfriendly.com/deer-density
Immer, I would like you to read the section on “Common Deer Density Targets” How many of the deer management unit in WI & MN are under the 10 deer per sq M this report says is unhealthy for forest. Oh, I’m sure you will find other things at this site that will take precedence – in your view.
Your words “You’ve been told”… Nice cover. You’re too gutless to even take a stand.” I’m not into escalating the discourse Immer.
BUT, my stance is what is found in the link I posted on Deer Friendly. “The number of deer that a community wants is a community decision. There is no biologically correct number. The biological carrying capacity of many of our urban areas can be over 100 deer per square mile. What the community needs to determine is the social carrying capacity, how many deer the citizens are willing to tolerate.”
I’m sure the 100 deer per square mile listed here is THREE TIMES ANY zones goal in MN or WI.
Why are you opposed to cougar reintroduction?
Helen, that’s not what I wrote.
Busted MN deer poacher excused on technicality.
http://www.startribune.com/judge-tosses-out-dnr-poaching-bust-over-tracking-device/375486921/
I wish I knew why people think they just have to shoot and kill animals. What is the deal?
http://kfor.com/2016/10/21/local-celebrity-owl-found-shot-to-death-game-wardens-investigating/
“Kicks”
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/loureed/kicks.html
When you cut that dude with just a little mania
You did it so, … ah
When the blood comma’ down his neck …
Don’t you know it was better than sex, now, now, now
It was way better than getting mean
’cause it was, the final thing to do, now
Get somebody to come on to you
and then you just get somebody to
to now, now, come on to you
And then you kill ’em, yeah
You kill ’em, now, now, cause I need kicks …
I’m getting bored, I need, need, need, need now, now some kicks
Wow. Now that’s putting it into perspective Mareks. Around here, its coyote killing contests, shooting signs or spending the day, wasting ammo, smacking a few gophers.
Could be angry chicken keepers, but that would damage your narrative.
Rork, that is possible since we are allowed to keep 3 hens per/house in Tulsa. Not sure about OKC, where this happened but probably similar city codes. I think it’s unlikely there were hen keepers in this situation. This is a high falutin, gated community where they require a certain number of inches to edge your golf course like lawn or how many kid’s toys are allowed in the front yard.
…..narrative not damaged. Some twit killed just to enjoy the kill…….or revenge for not having that golf course lawn edged to the precise requirements, which is essentially the same driving factor of killing for the enjoyment of killing. They enjoy seeing people suffer the loss.
“a high falutin, gated community” Chances are greater that someone’s petite pouch or perhaps their cat, may have been picked off by this owl?
Knew a gal a few years ago that lost 2 of her Yorkies before she realized a Great Horned owl had staked out her yard.
It’s shocking, isn’t it, just how far removed from nature people really are. I guess people can’t take steps to protect their own pets, because they feel they don’t have to in modern times. I think that the lifestyle most people want and/or are conditioned to would be so incredibly boring as to drive one slowly insane. I think I’ve seen a Great Horned Owl in my yard, and I’ve heard two very distinct hoots from two different types, one being the Barred Owl. I look forward to hearing them. God save us from gated communities!
Your certainty is astonishing.
Immer, You said “I don’t necessarily agree with the premise of cougar reintroduction to some of these areas.” Can you elaborate?
One will have the same problem as with wolf reintroduction. Bus stops, pets, personal safety ad-nauseum. I would submit that it’s probably better to foster the growth of populations of predators that are/might already be present, such as coyotes and coy wolves. They just have to be left alone. Jon Way was doing some good work in regard to coy-wolves but was getting nothing but antagonism from state DNR’s…
If we ever switch are mind sets, and foster natural corridors, my lion and wolf regeneration may occur on its own. The mindset of shooting coyotes because you can must vanish.
As has been said before on this site (and others), there’s never been a documented case of a Florida panther attacking a human. They just don’t do it (without provocation).
The main reason mountain lions from source populations, mainly the Black Hills, are not recolonizing the Midwest is not lack of habitat or corridors but because people kill them. For Florida, it’s because females won’t cross the Caloosahatchee River, and panthers are too controversial to move some across the river. Coyotes are not effective deer predators in comparison to mountain lions.
“The main reason mountain lions from source populations, mainly the Black Hills, are not recolonizing the Midwest is not lack of habitat or corridors but because people kill them.”
Not so fast – puma don’t establish satellite populations because young females don’t disperse like young males do. Their range mostly only grows by budding, as females establish territories adjacent or close to their natal territories.
“Coyotes are not effective deer predators in comparison to mountain lions.”
Again, not so fast – in the long-term predator/prey study in Michigan’s UP, coyotes were a close second wolves as the most influential predator on adult deer, and were by far the most influential on fawns.
And in a similar study in northern Wisconsin, coyotes were the most influential source of winter mortality on adult deer (22%).
It’s unlikely that puma could establish sufficient densities on the predator-rich WGL landscape to influence deer mortality to the level that coyotes do.
I think if Helen included both vehicles and human depredation, it would be around 85% human caused, right? (DJ Thompson 2009). I’d say she’s mostly right.
“I think if Helen included both vehicles and human depredation, it would be around 85% human caused, right? (DJ Thompson 2009). I’d say she’s mostly right.
I wouldn’t – the 85% human-caused mortality is not unique to puma. High rates of human-caused mortality
have been recorded with most large carnivores occupying human-dominated landscapes.
Every bit of puma DNA, and every recovered carcass in Wisconsin, Michigan UP, and Illinois over the last decade has been that of a young male.
It’s the Allee effect, amplified with puma because of the male/female dispersal dichotomy.
http://cougarrewilding.org/CougarNews/?p=4016
Yes, ma’iingan, I get what you are saying. I’m just saying that budding isn’t always the case, and in the above case, once again…human intervention prevented breeding in a new locale.
I wish the people in MI would get caught up on the facts – many can’t believe that with so many cougars seen that there is no breeding population, and claim our managers are lying about it.
Thankyou.
What a day. I went birdwatching early this a.m. to my favorite island? I didn’t know two duck hunters (and their dogs) were going to be there also! But the non-consumptive and consumptive users shared the day. But I was very careful! And they seemed to be tool.
Wildlife report: Northern harrier out hunting in the marshes as well, birds of all kinds, butterflies of all kinds (monarchs!!!!), and a grey seal!
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/montana/washington-wolf-shot-killed-in-montana-after-700-mile-journey/131320380
What a shame. So short- and narrow-sighted. But, if it proves anything, it is that wildlife does not belong to any state, migratory animals belong to the continent, and should always come under Federal protection, and if we were to be really forward thinking, perhaps Canada should be included in this kind of decision making, because this wolf was “Canada’s” too at points in his journey. Talk about open borders! : This wolf passed through BC, Montana, and Idaho. When I think of the state politicians saying, for example, “Montana’s” wildlife should be managed by Montanans, we know it is just political. Someone from New York has just as much right to be concerned for the continent’s wildlife and wild places as any Montanan.
What it proves is individual wolves disperse (not migrate) and when they attack or kill private property, they are subject to lethal removal. If this wolf had done the same in Washington the result may have been the same (Profanity Pack).
You are correct in saying anyone living in the US and in fact the world has the right to be concerned for wildlife anywhere, but I’m sure you know currently states are responsible for “managing” wildlife within their respective boundaries. Out of state residents are eligible to hunt in other states and the public in general can provide state wildlife agencies input on issues.
Trust me, you do not want the Feds to “manage” non-ESA listed wildlife; talk about politics! Look at the uproar when the decision to protect predators on wildlife refugees was made.
Personally, I know I’m not in the majority, but I think states in general do a good job of managing a contentious and controversial resource. The big issue is how non-consumptive users have more of a say than they currently do.
Sorry, “disperse”. I thought of all of this yesterday while I was out birdwatching. I don’t like the idea of killing, but I understand that others have different ideas of what enjoying the outdoors means. These two guys seemed well-experienced and were quite deliberate and careful in their manner. I took a different route so as not to be in their way. I do wish that the non-consumptive users could have more of a say.
It was my bad, because I had forgotten it was hunting season, and I didn’t realize hunting was allowed on the island.
But what clinched it for me was when I saw the harrier hunting too. So I guess that we humans are a part of nature as well. The trouble is, we don’t always exercise a thoughtful understanding and restraint in modern times. I worry with hunting that our wildlife populations can no longer take it without serious damage to their populations.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/south-carolina/article110514487.html
Wow! I hope he stays safe.
How long before someone kills him and claims “I thought it was a deer”? More info & pics here:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/10/26/first-elk-sighting-south-carolina-since-1700s-north-carolina-herd/92761942/
Bozeman couple successfully deploy spray on charging grizzly.
http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/bozeman-couple-escapes-charging-grizzly-by-using-pepper-spray/article_b32c9af7-befe-596d-81bb-4a63aced1181.html
We’ve parked in that same pull-out and hiked cross country to climb Junction Butte and to explore along the banks of the Lamar. It didn’t particularly seem like griz territory and bears weren’t on our minds (tho of course we did have bear spray with us). A good reminder: Anywhere in YNP is bear country!
Animal Legal Defense Fund shuts down Kansas coyote killing contest by invoking gambling laws:
http://www.kansas.com/sports/outdoors/article109921747.html
Good! With all the coyotes killed over the years, it has not put a dent in the coyote population. How’s that plan working? Would be nice if a few of these states sucked it up and said, that’s it, no coyote hunting for five years and see if the populations change.
“Why killing doesn’t work”
http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/images/photos/coyote-killing-infographic.jpg
Well, so much for spending one’s youth, hiding out in the shallows & reeds, avoiding big, hungry fish.
It seems mankind has come up with yet another pathetic way to terrorize wildlife. No mention of catch & release.
http://www.npr.org/2016/10/27/498406364/little-fish-tales-micro-fishers-focus-on-the-species-not-size
Well isn’t that grand, Nancy? Crap. The Ozark Mountain streams have a lot of cool small fish. Beautifully colored darters, sculpins and other species. I noticed you link referenced fish from Missouri and the Ozarks span MO and AR, and really, that ecoregion starts in the far NE section of OK. One of the books on my bookshelf is “The Fishes of Missouri”.
Really? Micro-fishing? This has the potential to screw up the fish metrics for stream monitoring.
The 2015 WWF’s Living Planet Index has been released and the findings show we’re on track to killing 2/3 of the planet’s wildlife by 2020.
Whether you agree with the way the data was collected or not, I think we all can agree we are in deep doo. There are too many different factors adversely impacting our natural world and the impact is intense.
“The report analysed the changing abundance of more than 14,000 monitored populations of the 3,700 vertebrate species for which good data is available. This produced a measure akin to a stock market index that indicates the state of the world’s 64,000 animal species and is used by scientists to measure the progress of conservation efforts.
The biggest cause of tumbling animal numbers is the destruction of wild areas for farming and logging: the majority of the Earth’s land area has now been impacted by humans, with just 15% protected for nature. Poaching and exploitation for food is another major factor, due to unsustainable fishing and hunting: more than 300 mammal species are being eaten into extinction, according to recent research.”
I forgot to add the link.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/27/world-on-track-to-lose-two-thirds-of-wild-animals-by-2020-major-report-warns
http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2016/10/ThomansGiveUpUpperGr.htm
Check the headlines – Refuge takeover terrorists found NOT GUILTY. Maybe Trump is right the system may be rigged. Mumford, Bundy’s attorney got a real close look at the courtroom floor when U.S. Marshals took him down for unruly conduct in the courtroom after the verdict.
Oh you can bet the system is rigged.
Nobody on earth knows better than I do about our rigged system. Read this and learn. https://medium.com/@jimwiegand/comments-on-icebreaker-6bb3bad6ff66#…; In these comments is the hideous truth about wind energy, this industry’s research fraud and the environmental destruction being caused by wind energy. These comments were filed with Ohio.gov on 10/21 in response to the hundreds of 700 ft. turbines planned for Lake Erie.
“Hunter receives jail time after poaching deer, displaying at expo” Man, this takes some kind of chutzpah…or stupidity.
http://trib.com/lifestyles/recreation/hunter-receives-jail-time-after-poaching-deer-displaying-at-expo/article_6a4c97d0-e026-5f15-873b-eca4ab041f78.html
Good news!
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/28/499717685/nations-reach-deal-to-establish-worlds-largest-marine-reserve
An attempt at Halloween humor from the House Committee on Natural Resources.
http://us11.campaign-archive1.com/?u=27a292edb3dc0c5b58adad795&id=684b1c3de5&e=b5c8b0235a
Those flares have always reminded me of what the Furnaces of Hell must look like, tho.
Still trying to make sense of the Bundy verdict. 🙁
“Still trying to make sense of the Bunny verdict.”
The only logic to this is the system is rigged for America’s corporate lords.
The Bundy yahoos did not have public support. They were a joke, a caricature of right wing militia, however; we did not see a strong hand from law enforcement.
For anyone who has closely followed what is happening on treaty land up in ND you can see the stark difference. The Standing Rock Sioux have garnered support even on an international scale. In all of my life I’ve never seen tribes unite on this scale. Tecumseh must be smiling from the heavens. However, you can also see the stark difference in the way the power structure has responded with the level of law enforcement against the water protectors. The LE includes national guard, local, state and private sectors. With the Bundy’s LE would not even cut the utilities to Malheur!
The system is rigged for America’s corporate interests.
Where is Obama’s voice? He is silent.
Where is Clinton’s voice? She is silent.
I dare ask what the orange fascist would do.
For anyone trying to make sense of the Bundy verdict try to step into the lives of people of color, and also, those caucasians on the lowest income scales. (think of those involved in The Battle of Blair Mountain).
The system is rigged for America’s corporate lords and all of us will lose because of it.
Yes. Spot on video. It’s difficult to believe this is still going on in the 21st century, and that there are places on reservations where people still do not have clean water and modern plumbing. But yet we are first to help those in need outside of our own country.
I’m so happy that the Standing Rock Sioux are receiving so much support!
Interesting article regarding those that live on the Standing Rock Rez
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/29/us/dakota-pipeline-standing-rock-sioux/index.html
http://www.hcn.org/articles/Reckoning-at-Standing-Rock
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/dnr-says-funding-social-political-factors-affected-cwd-response/article_3f6fcd57-8007-5b1c-9425-8e9e455e49ca.html
This is a good summary of how they managed to let things get even worse. The comments are often pretty good and express some of my feelings. I appreciate the insults to Kroll, the deer czar, who I’ve disliked for many, many years, as well as Walker and his appointees.
Way back on July 20, posted by Terry Singletary
avatar Terry S. Singeltary Sr. says:
July 20, 2016 at 11:24 am
Sunday, July 17, 2016
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION GLOBAL REPORT UPDATE JULY 17 2016
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2016/07/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-tse-prion.html
kind regards, terry
REPLY
Important vote on Nov. 8th for Montanans who care about the health & future of our wildlife:
http://yeson177.org/faq/
A lovely tribute to a Wyoming mountain lion who actually managed to die of old age & natural causes! “The Passing of a Titan” include video: http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/25/the-passing-of-a-titan/
Press release statement from Animal Protection of NM on the new trapping “rules” for cougars.
http://apnm.org/news/2016/cougar-trap-season-2016.php
“The new policy permits trapping and snaring on approximately nine million acres that spread across nearly every county in New Mexico and that include habitat of endangered Mexican wolves and jaguars and relaxes permit requirements that previously provided a check on setting traps and snares on privately owned land.”
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/montana/13-grizzly-bears-gather-on-the-rocky-mountain-front/139205310
Rancher weighs in on large group of grizzlies:
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/montana/montana-rancher-groups-of-grizzly-bears-not-troublesome/140533865
Biologists might be baffled by this unusually large gathering, but animals have their own interests and their own reasons for what they do. If I were going to speculate, I’d say they were gathering with their *cubs* to celebrate the Chicago Cubs World Series win!!! I still haven’t stopped smiling!
Ha! 🙂 Me neither.
My Tears of Joy reservoir has run completely dry! Fly the W!!! https://twitter.com/hashtag/flythew?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Ehashtag
Figured you for a Red Sox fan?!?
Oh yes, we’ve been through what you’re going through now. After a long drought, a World Series win. My life was nearly complete.
I was happy to see Red Sox alums on the Chicago and Cleveland teams too, and always love an underdog. Congrats, Cubs! 🙂
I hear you. I was cheering for the Red Sox in both ’07 and ’13 at Fenway. Am also a Big Papi fan. Now to see the Cubbies win the big one at Wrigley.
As I am a Cardinal fan, now I don’t like you. :-
Can I interest you in detente at least for a few months? We’ve got until April 3rd–the opener between the Cubs & the Cards!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bushmeat-hunting-mammals-extinction_us_58185d9de4b0390e69d24d94
“While many ethnic groups have hunted wildlife for subsistence over millennia, the unsustainability of this practice has accelerated in many areas due to growing human populations, an increasing tendency for wild meat to be traded commercially, and the widespread adoption of firearms and motorized transport that increase the efficiency and spatial extent of hunting,” the researchers said.”
While I believe the above statement, we also should address how the laws regarding hunting in many (if not all) of the African nations after European colonization.
“Though bushmeat hunting is primarily a problem in developing countries, the researchers stressed that real change will only be possible with international action.
“Wealthier nations exacerbate or even drive the problem by inflating demand and prices for meat, trophy, medicinal and ornamental products,” the report said. The global community must come together to end illegal wildlife trafficking as a whole, and to prioritize biodiversity conservation.”
Exactly
🙂
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/montana/court-upholds-decision-blocking-montana-logging-projects/140234914
http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/idaho/collared-wolf-dead-3-others-survive-in-idaho-wilderness/346358683
another
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/11/02/collared-wolf-dead-3-others-survive-in-idaho-wilderness.html
Without Federal approval? This is why we cannot allows states to manage wildlife. I remember this was the mistaken ‘supposed to collar elk and collared wolves instead’ caper. We know some can’t tell a wolf from a coyote, but this is ridiculous. /sarc
http://www.wolf.org/headlines/commish-supports-wolf-delisting-language-in-energy-bill/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/ping-beep-hum-sound-arctic-ocean-igloolik-1.3831861
Before The Flood. Powerful documentary on climate change.
A question – does anyone know the species or subspecies of wolf that once inhabited Great Britain before they were driven extinct? Canis lupus lupus? Corrections to my taxonomic usage encouraged too. Thank you!
According to Wikipedia, the Eurasian wolf is Canis lupus lupus. If Edward Goldman, who identified as many as 23 subspecies in North America, had been the principal reviewer, he would have said there are many more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subspecies_of_Canis_lupus
Thank you, Helen.
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/11/06/forget-fear-and-loathing-us-election-inspires-projectile-vomiting
Some *great* lines in that piece! I’ve loved Barbara Ehrenreich since she wrote for Ms. Magazine back in the day.
I definitely have a case of election fatigue. But, ’tis done. I got a little teary-eyed today, it’s such an historic election. 🙂
LOL! 🙂 It has definitely been the most painful election cycle I have been through in a long time.
“Hunt endangers cougars’ young: study”
New peer-reviewed research on mountain lion hunting. Excerpt: “Darimont said that if the province is interested in reducing cougar-human conflict, it would re-evaluate cougar-hunting policy.
“My prediction is that if hunting was reduced or banned, there would be fewer human lives at risk, and if that is not compelling for a re-evaluation of policy, I’m not sure what is.
“Why jeopardize human safety to appease a minority of hunters who kill carnivores for trophy?” he asked. “California banned cougar-hunting after a referendum won easily. Romania just announced last week the end of hunting for wolves, lynx and grizzly bears — all similarly inedible carnivores killed for sport and trophy. B.C. policy still operates according to a 1950s mentality.”
http://www.timescolonist.com/hunt-endangers-cougars-young-study-1.2474973
God help us
Clinton conceded
Well, America played the Trump card and got what it wanted. I pray that this world survives eight years of Trump.
4, not 8 (at least not yet)
I’ll second that, Louise, Peter.
What America can look forward to:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/09/what-happens-if-donald-trump-wins-the-first-100-days-of-a-trump/
Why were the polls not just wrong, but not even in the ballpark wrong? Judging by the lawn signs my town, which is in a solidly blue state, signs were overwhelmingly for Trump, big banners, “Home of a Deplorable”, etc. Hardly any for HRC. Calling people uneducated, deplorable, etc. – today’s numbers are showing differently.
Good read Ida. Might explain a few things.
http://www.vox.com/2016/9/6/12803636/arlie-hochschild-strangers-land-louisiana-trump
Thanks, it looks fascinating. Reading it right now.
Ma passed question 3 and prevents sale of animal products
When animals are caged
Thank goodness! And I live in a rural, farming town which I love dearly.
Montana’s citizen initiative I-177 to prohibit trapping on public lands has failed…63%-36% with not all precincts fully counted. Follow the count here: http://mtelectionresults.gov/resultsSW.aspx?type=BQ&map=CTY
Regarding MA question 3 and farmed animal confinement, it reminds me of that line from Neil Young’s “Keep on rockin’ in the free world”: “We’ve got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand.” Now we can feel better about exploiting animals because they have more room in which to be exploited.
I know, but it’s a step in the right direction. It also shows that many people do care about animal welfare. Even that could have failed.
Our hunting allies I hope will join with us to save our public lands, it may be our only hope. I read years ago in an Audubon magazine how we should do this, and while we don’t agree on everything, we do agree about saving our public lands from development and plunder.
This might have been posted already, but now it comes home to roost: “Another group that loses if Trump wins? Animals.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/another-group-that-loses-if-trump-wins-animals/2016/09/06/270eb888-7478-11e6-be4f-3f42f2e5a49e_story.html
I don’t agree with this. One of animals’ staunchest allies? Total exaggeration. The Obama administration accomplished delisting wolves after two tries, something that even George Bush couldn’t accomplish, in order to secure a Democratic senate seat, and it can never be undone.
They’ve allowed industry to virtually police themselves when it comes to birds and specifically eagles and sage grouse for so-called green jobs. I shudder to think what would have happened if the TPP had gone through.
Anything DT may or may not do is in addition to what was compromised under the Obama administration. Sally Jewell and Ken Salazar were two of the worst Interior Secretaries ever. I hope she’s given her notice. Don’t let the doorknob…
I appreciate that lands were protected towards the end of the President’s administration, but even George Bush threw the environmentalists a bone or two at the end of his term. Usually that position is always left wanting, no matter who is in power.
And it all comes down to that, not issues, it seems.
“The Obama administration accomplished delisting wolves after two tries”
Sorry, but once again, you’re full of shit.
Oh, was I wrong? Perhaps it was three times.
Minnesota, Pro-Hillary, Democratic, Al Franken, pro-hunting and pro-delisting. Need we say more? Sigh.
Aside from the infamous 2011 backroom deal and quashing of any judicial challenge to it, there was the upholding of the Bush decision by President Obama. So I’d hardly call the Democrats animals’ staunchest allies, with all of them that supported this.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/07/nation/na-wolves7
Not to mention the proposed 30-year exemption for wind and solar farms from laws to protect migratory birds (waiting in the wings, so to speak), allowing industry to protect sage grouse habitat (that worked out really well) and the hubris to suggest ‘improvements’ to the ESA! Stand by for the grizzly delisting too.
Agreed Kathleen
I’m heartbroken today
Montana failing in the anti trapping initiative just adds to it
I fear for our public lands for my family and friends and for our wildlife
What a tragedy
There will be more shock and awe to come. Fasten the seatbelts for the cabinet heads to be named. The highest priority and that which we must not lose is our public lands. Oil pumps will eventually rust away albeit not in this century but if we lose our public lands we can never go back. We will be just another Europe. Stories of once being free to roam the forests and sagebrush steppes will sound like fairytales.
Well said Larry, I agree 100%. I guess Trump’s push for congressional term limits is one of the few bright spots in a coming dark winter (for wildlife supporters)
The results of this election point out some stark facts: the U.S. needs more viable candidates/parties; term limits must be enacted; and a majority of the voting public are idiots.
“and a majority of the voting public are idiots.”
As demonstrated by Hillary winning the popular vote.
When you throw in the Libertarian and green votes, it becomes clear that the majority of the voters in this country did not want either Trump or Clinton.
The electoral college should be done away with. The funny thing is Trump said back in 2012 in a tweet that the electoral college was a disaster to our democracy and that’s exactly how Trump won. Hillary got more total votes than him, but he won because of a rigged system.
Obviously you don’t understand the electoral college system
“Huge Puffin Die-Off May Be Linked to Hotter Seas:
Hundreds of birds are washing up dead in the Bering Sea, causing alarm among scientists. It may be linked to climate change.”
Warmer water = less food = dead puffins …and a new president who considers climate change a hoax invented by the Chinese.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/11/tufted-puffins-die-off-bering-sea-alaska-starvation-warm-water-climate-change/
President Donald Trump wins: Noam Chomsky called this political moment 6 years ago
‘If somebody comes along who is charismatic and honest this country is in real trouble’
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/donald-trump-president-wins-election-noam-chomsky-prediction-a7406831.html
“The United States is extremely lucky that no honest, charismatic figure has arisen. Every charismatic figure is such an obvious crook that he destroys himself, like McCarthy or Nixon or the evangelist preachers. If somebody comes along who is charismatic and honest this country is in real trouble because of the frustration, disillusionment, the justified anger and the absence of any coherent response.
“The mood of the country is frightening. The level of anger, frustration and hatred of institutions is not organized in a constructive way. It is going off into self-destructive fantasies.”
He is wrong insofar, as Trump is not charismatic!
If you want an example for a charismatic person, look at Obama. Even Putin is more charismatic than Trump. Trump is just rude, crude and vulgar. The whole campain was disgusting and dishonorable. But again, that is what the people of America desired. We have to accept that.
“charismatic and honest” hardly fits trump or nixon at any point in their lives.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
— H.L. Mencken (1880 – 1956)
if DT could get elected, one can imagine what would happen if the candidate appears who is both charismatic and honest.
“The mood of the country is frightening.” Indeed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/obama-trump-counties/
Donald Trump delivered on his promise to flip the Democrats’ electoral hold on the industrial Midwest.
Across swing states — and others previously thought to be safe for Democrats — Trump colored dozens of counties red that hadn’t gone Republican in decades.
Of the nearly 700 counties that twice sent Obama to the White House, a stunning one-third flipped to support Trump.
Trump also won 194 of the 207 counties that voted for Obama either in 2008 or 2012.
By contrast, of those 2,200 counties that never supported Obama, Clinton was only able to win six
Trump is headed for a win, says professor who has predicted 30 years of presidential outcomes correctly
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/23/trump-is-headed-for-a-win-says-professor-whos-predicted-30-years-of-presidential-outcomes-correctly/
Here’s something to get everyone worked up, from MSN:
“Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin also makes a surprise appearance on the shortlist, mentioned as one of seven potential candidates to become the Secretary of the Interior.”
If this line-up doesn’t make you sick to your stomach, you might not have a stomach…
“Idaho Republican Gov. Butch Otter is one possibility for the job. The former Idaho congressman told E&E News in September that he would “be proud to serve in a Trump administration.”
Other Western Republican governors floated as possible picks include Wyoming’s Matt Mead, South Dakota’s Dennis Daugaard and New Mexico’s Susana Martinez.
Current and former Republican members of Congress who might be picked include Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee; Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska; Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe; Rep. Don Young of Alaska; retiring Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis; and Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch.”
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060045514
I don’t believe a word. For the media, this power shift has been a bitter pill, and they are behaving abysmally. I’ll believe any of it when I see it. I’m worried, but on the other hand, to see some get a kick in their sanctimonious butts has been chuckle-worthy.
Talk about shock and awe – I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears as I was watching the election results. Something was amiss, or we were flat-out mislead.
But, I knew something was wrong when I looked around my town and some of the neighboring towns, one quite well-to-do, and Trump banners and lawn signs predominated.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/polling-misfires-to-be-explored-after-unexpected-trump-win/ar-AAkaluu?OCID=ansmsnnews11
Listing every rogue in the environmental Rogue’s Gallery like that is just too preposterous and cannot be taken seriously. (maybe I’m still in shock tho) The only one missing is Sarah Palin, and I’ve heard her name bandied about too.
I have a creepy feeling when I enter a national forest now. Like visiting a good friend who just learned he has cancer. No one knows if he will win or lose the battle and will this be the last time to visit. Morbid but can’t stop feeling this way. Public lands have always been to me like the sun coming up everyday, no worry. But to lose something as precious as those lands would be akin to prison. And common sense and history say that states would not keep them nor guarantee access. The ESA? Yes that is extremely important also but like soil, without a good base endangered species won’t come back without a place to thrive. Soil is so important that it should be guarded as a public commodity like water and air. And best not be lost from public ownership. This is terrible to have to think in terms of just saving the basic foundation of our home. Like the house is on fire, what do I save as I am forced to run out?
If we achieve empathy we have vision never thought to be achieved.
http://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/wolf-therapy-veteran-ptsd-lockwood-animal/?xrs=CNNHP
Gorgeous!
Animals as activists: “Gorillas Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps In The Wild – A First”
Excerpt: “A few short days after a gorilla infant was killed, a pair of wild gorillas were caught on camera dismantling poachers’ snares.”
http://www.trueactivist.com/gorillas-seen-dismantling-poachers-traps-in-the-wild-a-first/
Our cousins are very intelligent. 🙂
There is going to be a women’s march on Washington the day after the inauguration and I salute their moxie (you can find stories on CNN and elsewhere – as a man I’d be more than tempted to go if I could pull off the time). If environmentalists and public lands advocates had half a brain, they’d do the same thing – coordinated, and perhaps the following day. But, there seems to be a complete lack of leadership and understanding of effective community organization, and a lot of small ineffective fiefdoms in the environmental world. Hey, Eric Molvar, now that you’ve lost your bid for city council and have a bit more free time, how about putting down your pen and picking up the sword and helping to get something like this organized? Send the message early in the administration, and send it big?
Tweets from Trump in 2012 when Romney lost the election:
“The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy,”
“We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!”
“Lets fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The world is laughing at us.”
“This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy!”
“Our nation is a once great nation divided!”
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trumps-2012-election-tweetstorm-resurfaces-popular-electoral/story?id=43431536
Careful what you wish for Mr. Trump 🙂
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/12/the-case-against-cats/505838/?utm_source=digg&utm_medium=email
Coalition Urges Federal Agency to Regulate Unpermitted Coyote Killing Contests in Wyoming
http://wyominguntrapped.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Press-Release-BLM-COYOTE-killing-contest.pdf