Wildlife Management
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Understanding Montana’s Wolf Policy Decision George Wuerthner On July 12, 2012, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MDFWP) Commissioners voted 4-0 to increase wolf hunting in the state, expanding the hunting season and permitting the trapping of wolves for the first time as well. The goal is to reduce wolf numbers across the…
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Wildlife Services has high average non-lethal record for all animals, but not for large carnivores- Lately there has been a lot of media critical of USDA-Wildlife Services; often called by its critics something like “the federal government’s wildlife killers.” In an effort to mount a defense the Service has pointed out that 80% of its…
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In the final installment of the 3-part series, Tom Knudson investigates how the role of USDA Wildlife Services may change in the future. Should the agency be disbanded? Should it be reformed and given different responsibilities like controlling only invasive, non-native species? Should its predator control program be defunded? There is obviously a problem with…
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This installment of Tom Knudson’s series in the Sacremento Bee investigates the efficacy of USDA Wildlife Services’ predator killing program to benefit wildlife. In short, it doesn’t, it generally causing more harm than good and could be having impacts on disease such as the plague due to the increase of rodents after control actions. In…
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Tom Knudson of the Sacremento Bee has been working on this very important and eye opening series about USDA Wildlife Services for several months. I was contacted by him in December last year and we talked about several issues related to WS and their killing. This first installment of three introduces people to the agency…
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George Ochenski tells how ranchers move the goal posts on Yellowstone bison issue- Perhaps a hundred stories since we first wrote about the issues of the Yellowstone’s bison’s genetic purity, the seemingly pointless slaughter of Park bison that leave the Park, and many other issues, very slow progress has been made. Bison perhaps can now…
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The Idaho Department of Fish and Game Commission will be taking public comment on all kinds of things on March 21, 2012 at their headquarters in Boise, Idaho. The public comment section starts their three day meeting where they will set rules for hunting and fishing in the upcoming year. One of the items on…
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Controversial bill, S1283, dies on a rare tie vote- but S1282, a similar bill, is still alive. There aren’t many Democrats in the Idaho state senate, but all of them joined with about 40 per cent of that body’s Republicans to kill the effort to turn the Land Owner Appreciation law (LAP) into a possible…