This is a guest editorial by Wendy Keefover, Director of the Carnivore Protection Program at WildEarth Guardians- The New York Times editors largely got it right when they recently editorialized critically about the cruel work of a little known program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that annually spends over $100 million to kill some…
I recently had encounters with three state wildlife agency biologists. All of them were quite open with their criticisms of their agencies predator policies. I can’t reveal their names and I will change a few details to hide their identities. The first biologist told me there was no reason to kill predators. He said…
With no predators, high reproduction rate, millions of hungry hogs tear up American landscape- Like most omnivores, pigs are smart. In addition, they are big, requiring a lot of food, and are physiologically similar enough to humans to share and transmit many of our diseases. Pigs have been escaping from farms for a very long…
Latest Posted Idaho Wolf Hunt Kill total: 114 Latest Posted Idaho Wolf Trapping Kill total: 6 Latest Posted Montana Wolf Hunt Kill Total: 87 Wyoming Wolf Kill Total: 58 Regional Total Reported Killed This Year: 265 Regional Total Reported Killed Since Delisting: 810 A famous trout stream that was damaged by livestock grazing gets a chance at recovery in…
Graphic photos published to a self-proclaimed USDA Wildlife Services employee’s Facebook page and Twitter account were recently brought to light by wildlife activists. Some of the photos, placed in a Facebook album called “work” and some from a public Twitter account, depict the employee’s dogs attacking defenseless coyotes, raccoons, and bobcats caught in a leg-hold…
A rally honoring the dead from the Idaho 2011-12 hunting season set as the unlimited 2012-13 seasons nears- Surveys show that there are many people, maybe a plurality, in Idaho who favor wolves. Some favor a reasonable wolf hunt, which the planned hunt arguably is not. Others are completely opposed to wolf hunting. The Idaho political establishment…
With severe drought gripping much of the Mid-West and West, the federal government is promising relief from this “natural disaster” for agricultural producers. Soon federal funds will be flowing for “disaster relief” in the farm belt. Already farmers are permitted to graze and hay Conservation Reserve Program lands which are supposed to be, among other…
Recently we were informed of a new effort by two conservation groups, a Native American tribe and livestock interests “to secure $25 million from the upcoming 2012 Farm Bill to help livestock producers reduce the risk of livestock losses to grizzly bears, wolves, black bears and mountain lions.” This taxpayer money is meant to “reduce…
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.