Learn about Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, Polar Bears, gray wolves/eastern wolves/red wolves,timber wolves, cougars/mountain lions/panthers/painters/pumas, bobcats, lynx, red and gray foxes, wolverines, martens, fishers, coyotes/eastern coyotes/coywolves with pictures, videos, photos, facts, info and news.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
A book that should be on all of our shelves and be required reading in High School and College science classrooms is George Wuerthner's forthcoming KEEPING IT WILD.................Focusing on the ANTHROPOCENE-----the age of human dominion which if unchecked will lead us to a "fully domesticated, engineered global garden managed by technocrats", Geroge, Eileen Crist and Tom Butler edit a series of essays from some of the foremost "forever wild" voices on the planet--Dave Foreman, Michael Soule, and many others offering a vision for wild nature to win out against the the Anthropocene......................Click on the link below to order your copy from Island Press
North Carolina has instituted a 4 year Black Bear Study(the longest ever in the eastern part of the USA) to study their food, reproduction and mortality patterns----40 Bears will be collared and monitored in and around the Asheville to determine what the Bear/human interactions so as to make future recommendations on best practices for co-existence..........From a low of about 1500 bruins in 1970, "no kill" sanctuaries around the North Carolina encouraged a robust rebound that has at least 17,000 Bears roaming the Tar Heel State
CLICK LINK TO READ FULL ARTICLE
citizen-times.com: http://avlne.ws/1m4dh4b
citizen-times.com: http://avlne.ws/1m4dh4b
WNC human-bear encounters
The number of reports from area residents to
the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission involving
complaints or concerns about bears.
the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission involving
complaints or concerns about bears.
1993
22
2009
511
2010
312
2011
552
2012
467
467
2013
569
569
Source: N.C. Wildlife
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
I offer a "tip of the hat" to New Hampshire Outdoor Writer John Harrigan who appeals to my "simple man mentality" of respecting the resourceful Eastern Coyote, the ultimate survivor in the Eastern Forests of the Northeast................John gets the fact that he has to keep an eye on his dog, especially at dawn and dusk when Eastern Coyotes are active, rejects the common and ignorant clarion cry for Coyote Control,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,recognizes that the generations of people before us allowed the Coyote to march East due to the fact that they killed off all the Wolves and Pumas in the name of Sheep farms..............John(and many of us reading this Post) finds it confounding that we succumb to the whims of deer hunters in saturating our forests with "Bambi" when there are so many of them now that our woods are not regenerating in all their biological magnificence.......... He expects a little rationale thought from his fellow citizens as it relates to the obvious---- Coyotes are not "the devil in disguise"............Despite how many Deer the Coyotes take, the deer keep on reproducing with no significant hit to their numbers....................And finally, Harrigan's "clarion trumpet salute" to the fact that at some point, The Eastern Wolf and Puma just might sneak back in and complement the Black Bears and Coyotes in their job of keeping the forest green and vibrant.............As John states-----"Why do we worship the wolf, with its soulful howl, as a symbol of conservation and everything we supposedly love about the wild, but on the other hand regard the coyote, "The Trickster," the wolf's close cousin, as nothing more than a rat at the dump?"
http://www.newhampshire.com/article/20140427/NEWHAMPSHIRE0301/140429218&ct=ga&cd=CAEYAioTOTcyNTE1MTgwNTk3NzI2Mzg3ODIaZjUwOWE2YjQ0ZTNkYzY4OTpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNF9KLYjgDDIK74Ac42yoaUGdRT5gw
John Harrigan: Why hate the coyote but worship the wolf?
JOHN HARRIGAN
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On a morning enveloped by fog, or maybe a low-flying cloud, I could see no farther than the pasture across the road. The dog, Millie, perhaps the most spoiled dog north of the notches, had to go out, and I followed for her protection.
These days, with two coyote families all around, hungry from winter, I stay with her, particularly at the edges of dawn and dusk. She would be nothing more than a snack. Think "Millie on a toothpick," with olives.
Periodically, there are clarion calls to "do something" about coyotes. This connotes that (a) there is a mission of sorts, and (b) any "do something" initiative would work.
I don't get the (a) part. The collective "we" created a vacant niche when we finally, around 1900, managed to persecute the Northeastern wolf to near oblivion. We did this during a time when the landscape was more than half cleared for subsistence farming and for the hard money that sheep could bring.
I don't get the (a) part. The collective "we" created a vacant niche when we finally, around 1900, managed to persecute the Northeastern wolf to near oblivion. We did this during a time when the landscape was more than half cleared for subsistence farming and for the hard money that sheep could bring.
The cleared landscape was not about cows, as many people continue to think, it was about sheep. Their legacy was the stone walls we stumble over deep in the woods today.
We are now at around 83 percent forested and have set the table for high-end predators (mountain lions, wolves) to attend the banquet. Why should we be surprised if the guests appear?
We are now at around 83 percent forested and have set the table for high-end predators (mountain lions, wolves) to attend the banquet. Why should we be surprised if the guests appear?
I don't understand this fixation on persecuting the coyote while wrapping ourselves in the righteous mission of having more deer. To me, the habitat in most of the state is about as full of deer as it can be.
Coyote kills occur in public when the coyotes are ravenous near the end of winter and the deer, confined to the yards, are most susceptible. Every year about this time, I get mail from people distraught about seeing this little drama carry itself out on the ice, the deer splayed, the coyotes circling and then tearing way. But both species seem to emerge in the spring, just about now, to go about raising their young.
Evidence suggests that the red wolf, whose genes today's coyotes in the Northeast carry, will eventually occupy its ancestral range.
This fosters the question: Why do we worship the wolf, with its soulful howl, as a symbol of conservation and everything we supposedly love about the wild, but on the other hand regard the coyote, "The Trickster," the wolf's close cousin, as nothing more than a rat at the dump?
This fosters the question: Why do we worship the wolf, with its soulful howl, as a symbol of conservation and everything we supposedly love about the wild, but on the other hand regard the coyote, "The Trickster," the wolf's close cousin, as nothing more than a rat at the dump?
John Harrigan's address: Box 39, Colebrook, NH 03576, or campguyhooligan@gmail.com.
Monday, April 28, 2014
A "hurrah" for the news coming out of the Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks in Canada with the last 5 years of Wolverine research identifying 64 Wolverines, the "toughest pound for pound" carnivore in North America............ 25 females and 39 males discovered roaming this region with 3 of them having DNA markings of Wolverines found in the Western Rockies in the USA.............Part of the research conducted was to determine if Wolverines utilize wildlife crossings and so far that determination is sketchy, with a minimum of 4 Wolverines killed by autos on the Trans Canada Highway over the past 40 years............The hope is that additional research on the Wolverine population will commence in Waterton Lakes National Park region to complete the baseline picture of what needs to be done protection wise to ensure Wolverine perpetuation into the forever .
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Mountain+parks+survey+finds+healthy+population+wolverines/9782439/story.html
Mountain parks survey finds
healthy population of wolverines
In the mid 1980's, Vermont Wildlife Officials felt that the 75% of Vermont that had returned to 2nd growth woodlands was mature enough to harbor the Pine Marten, last seen in the Green Mountain State in sizeable numbers 100 years ago..........A re-introduction of 115 of the animals from Maine and NY State in the mid 80's seemed to fail as no Martens were seen in the camera traps set up to monitor their progress...........Lo and behold some of these reintroduced carnivores did survive and reproduce, showing up in 2000............... nNow researchers say they are slowly spreading out in the southern green mountains,,,,,,along with colonizing Martens from Maine making their way into the northeast kingdom...........Vermont Fish and Game will continue to study this small weasel which is preyed on by it's larger cousin, the Fisher(doing quite nicely in Vermont) to determine it's long term chances of survival.............Martens hide from predators under deep snow cover so with the warming temperatures impacting New England, the hope that somehow this fine denizen of mature forest "lives long and prospers in the great state of Vermont
http://www.stowetoday.com/stowe_reporter/community/article_54db3d6a-cbd1-11e3-b9bf-0019bb2963f4.html#.U1megIjN17g.email
Hot on the tail of Vermont’s martens
Posted: Thursday, April 24, 2014 8:00 am | Updated: 1:26 pm, Thu Apr 24, 2014.
Red Sox slugger “Big Papi” (a.k.a. David Ortiz) may have his selfie with President Obama, but Chris Bernier has got photos he thinks are even better — and he’s not even in them.
They’re pictures of martens, weasel-like animals long considered extirpated from the deep forests of Vermont. A member of the mustelid family, which includes weasels, fishers, ermine and mink, the last confirmed sightings of a wild American marten (formerly pine marten) had been in the 1940s.
Despite an effort to reintroduce them between 1989 and 1991, they’ve long been considered a “phantom emblem” of the boreal forest, in the poetic words of former state naturalist Charles Johnson, in his book “The Nature of Vermont.”
But the phantom, it appears, is back, and no one is happier than Bernier, who oversees the state’s population of fur-bearing mammals for the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife.
“It’s an exciting one to work on,” says Bernier, adding that he’d had two calls about potential sightings that very day.
While his scientific background (a degree in wildlife management from the University of Maine) doesn’t lend itself to flat declarations, he says he is “cautiously optimistic” that the house-cat sized omnivores have returned to their rightful place in Vermont’s deep forests, with reproducing populations now in both the Northeast Kingdom and southern Green Mountains.
Bernier works in the Springfield office of the Fish & Wildlife Department and has the title of Fur Bearer Project Leader, a post he’s spent 20 years working up to. His job is varied, to say the least, in keeping with the varied nature of his furry wards, which range “from the weasel up to the mountain lion,” he explains — 17 animals in all.
He’s seen them all except the mountain lion, wolf and lynx, which is slightly larger than the bobcat and is rare but does exist in a small population in the Northeast Kingdom.
“Winter is my busy time of the year, field-wise,” he explains. On any given week, Bernier can be out tracking lynx or marten, assessing habitat, checking bear dens, or writing reports in his cluttered office.
You could add that he’s never met a pelt he didn’t like — pelts and knowledgeable trappers being a source of valuable information. Another part of his job makes him a wildlife version of CSI, which recently put him in the basement of a lab at the Roxbury Fish Hatchery, where he was performing necropsies on the frozen carcasses of around 130 (no-longer-fur-bearing) animals legally harvested by trappers, primarily fisher, bobcat and otter. (Martens remain a state endangered species and are not trapped.)
While it sounds like a gruesome assembly line, Bernier said the occasion drew experts from adjoining states for the “incredible information” they can get about wildlife in the region, from general health, sex, age and vitality of the animals to any diseases, parasites and whether there is evidence of heavy-metal concentration in the animals.
Bernier is one of those rare individuals who even as a child knew his likely career destination. “It was really the only choice; this is what I was going to do,” he says.
He credits his natural surroundings as a key influence. He grew up in West Gardiner, Maine, living close to the Cobbosseecontee Stream, which flows into the mighty Kennebec River. He spent endless hours in woods and on water, stashing a canoe by a beaver impoundment to paddle through twilight, observing beaver, mink, otter and other mammals.
“I spent all my free time in the woods,” he says. “I’ve been dabbling at this stuff literally since high school.”
After receiving his college degree, he worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and then later as a private consultant, as an environmental educator and finally as a wildlife biologist for the state of Vermont.
The tale of the marten, Bernier explains, is one intertwined with history, habitat, predators and population.
Martens are creatures of the deep forest, smaller than their cousin, the fisher. The fisher is a ferocious predator from the same family and fishers were successfully reintroduced in the late 1950s and 1960s to control porcupines.
Martens measure some 18-26 inches long (males are larger and a third of their size is tail) and the habitat of the curious but solitary predator largely vanished in the deforestation of the mid-1800s.
The regrowth of Vermont to roughly 75 percent forest opened a window for martens to find suitable upland mountain habitat, which is what they prefer, Bernier explains. More than two decades ago, the state, along with the national forest and partners in Maine and New York, released 115 ear-tagged martens in southern Vermont in places such as Mount Holly and Wallingford to try and re-establish the population in the southern Green Mountains.
For five years afterward, a Fish & Wildlife worker set up 50 baited cameras to try and ascertain if the population was viable. “There were no pictures of martens,” said Bernier — but they got 85 pictures of fishers, which are “direct competitors for resources and a direct predator.” That led experts to consider the reintroduction a failure.
But, starting in early 2000, Bernier explains, the department started receiving reports of sightings of martens in southern Vermont. “They’re very distinctive if you know what you’re looking for,” he says, and sightings were also reported in the Northeast Kingdom, where a re-introduction was not attempted because biologists figured the area would re-colonize on its own.
“That is in fact what happened,” he says. Meanwhile down south, he guesses, a few of the reintroduced martens did survive to provide a new population.
“(Last winter) within weeks of putting out four cameras, we had pictures of two different martens.” And sightings and tracks discovered by trappers out for fishers further confirmed the state had two distinct expanding marten populations.
Unlike much larger fishers, martens thrive and live underneath deep snow cover — the term is subnivean — preying on whatever they can find there, such as moles or mice. Martens are supremely well adjusted to deep snow such as Vermont has had this year, but may be at a disadvantage in low-snow years, he says.
“The southern Green Mountains are perfect marten habitat in the high elevations,” notes Bernier.
Martens, even more than fishers, are remarkable and nimble climbers, a trait they share with a favorite prey, red squirrels, which they will chase across treetops.
Bernier is now turning his attention to mapping the extent of their spread.
“We’re essentially trying to get a handle on their distribution. That’s our primary goal for now,” he says, along with studying their habitat conditions as well.
For Bernier, the marten success story is sort of an antidote to his most prominent media role, which is as catchall for catamount sightings and pictures. He spends a lot of time following up and mostly debunking them, finding everything from mountain lion pictures from other states to mistaken identity.
“We don’t have a reproducing population but we potentially have some passing through,” he says. “You would not believe the degree to which people are hoaxing the system.”
Andrew Nemethy is longtime journalist, writer and editor from Calais, Vermont. He can be reached at andrewnemethy@gmail.com.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
12 Ocelots(how sad we have to report on this type #) roam the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Reguge......Prior to European colonization, the ocelot in the United States occurred in southern Arizona, throughout much of Texas, and as far north as Arkansas and Louisiana......... As with so many of our native carnivores, habitat loss and fragmentation, road mortality and population isolation and hunting persecution by humans has seen the ocelot population in the U.S. decline dramatically to this last breeding population in Laguna Atascosa,.......With the recent birth of another female kitten, 7 males and 5 females exist in this South Texas reserve, hanging on in a patchy habitat with little room to expand out of(similar to the Pumas in Florida)............The ratio of females to males suggests the potential for population expansion if additional critical habitat is set aside for this endangered "cat" .........Thankfully the major highway that abuts the Park boundary is about to undergo construction of 8 wildlife crossings to facilitate the movement of the Ocelots and all wildlife in this region..............Room to roam, the need of all creatures on this planet of ours!
http://www.valleymorningstar.com/coastal_current/news/article_f129ed86-cbc4-11e3-85d9-0017a43b2370.html#.U1nqTzt-qWs.email
Laguna Atascosa home to female ocelot kitten
Courtesy Photo
A recently trapped female ocelot kitten was fitted with a radio collar so her movements can be tracked.
Posted: Thursday, April 24, 2014 10:27 am
A recently trapped ocelot kitten at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge is a female, raising biologists’ hopes to preserve and protect the species.
The kitten was first discovered in early March from trail camera photos. At the time, biologists could not be certain of the kitten’s gender, but trapping it allowed them to check the gender and re-evaluate its age.
Ocelot biologist Hilary Swarts confirmed that the healthy female kitten is about 10-12 months old.
She was fitted with a radio collar, so her movements can be tracked as part of the ongoing program of ocelot monitoring in and around the refuge.
So far, monitoring indicates that she has remained in the general area where she was photographed and trapped.
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in green shaded area
“It means she survived much longer and is more likely to become a breeding adult, adding to the population,” Swarts said.
Although Swarts said there are no signs of pregnancy in the females right now there is still a chance.
Of the 12 identified ocelots at the refuge, the discovery of this kitten brings the female population to five, with seven males.
“Their numbers are limited and this cat adds to the population,” Ranger Marion Mason said.
Wildlife biologists are continuing to increase habitat for ocelots by planting native thorn scrub seedlings on land formerly cleared for agriculture.
In the event that ocelots leave the refuge in search of habitat or mates, FM106 will soon undergo major construction that will include eight wildlife crossings to allow ocelots and other wildlife to safely cross under roads and prevent deaths from vehicles, as well as protect the safety of drivers.
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Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge
| Link to the Official Refuge Website - Laguna Atascosa National
Wildlife Refuge Known as the last great habitat in south Texas, the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) supports a diversity of wildlife unlike anywhere else in the United States. A dense entanglement of thorns, home to the endangered ocelot, eases its way into an open prairie landscape where white-tailed deer can be found browsing. A look above often produces a silhouette of an aplomado falcon on the hunt. In the fall, a million redhead ducks can be seen replenishing themselves on the fresh waters of the Laguna Atascosa, for which the Refuge was named. Across the mainland, over the Laguna Madre and onto South Padre Island, the Laguna Atascosa NWR provides important habitat for nesting sea turtles, clapper rails, blue crab, and many other species. Established in 1946, the 97,007 acre Refuge is home to more documented species of birds than any other National Wildlife Refuge in the United States -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ocelot
Leopardus pardalis
Biome: Great SouthwestClassification: Mammals
Biography: Twice the size of an average house cat, the ocelot is a sleek
animal with a gorgeous dappled coat. Shy and elusive, their spotted coats make them very well camouflaged for blending into their surroundings, and they seem to mysteriously disappear into the shadows of their dense habitat. 
These largely nocturnal cats use keen eyesight and hearing to
hunt rabbits, rodents, snakes, fish and frogs, young deer and peccaries, iguanas and other lizards. Although Ocelots pursue prey primarily on the ground, they will occasionally take to the trees and stalk monkeys or birds. Like other cats, ocelots are carnivores and are adapted for eating meat. They have pointed fangs used to deliver a killing bite, and sharp back teeth that can tear food like scissors. Ocelots do not have teeth appropriate for chewing, so they tear their food to pieces and swallow it whole. Their raspy tongues can clean a bone of every last tasty morsel. The ocelot in the United States once occurred in southern Arizona, throughout much of Texas, and as far north as Arkansas and Louisiana. As a result of habitat loss and fragmentation, road mortality and population isolation, the ocelot population in the U.S. has declined dramatically. In the U.S., they are found only in southern Texas (primarily the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge); and it is estimated that there are less than 40 individuals left in that state. The ocelot is at high risk of extinction in the U.S. They were listed as endangered species in 1982. Ocelots are protected in the United States and most other countries where they live. Ocelots are known to inhabit a variety of different types of habitats. These range from the dense thorn scrub of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to the tropical forests of South America. Ocelots are also known to live in the mountainous regions of Central America and the Andes. Their main requirement seems to be the presence of dense cover. |