Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Moravian zealot, Nicholas Ludwig, Count Zinzendorf' first hand accounts of wolves in the Iroquois lands of Pennslvania and New York in 1745.........145 years after Jamestown, New Amsterdam and Plymouth foundings

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MORAVIAN JOURNALS RELATING TO CENTRAL NEW YORK   Count Zinzendorf was thinking of the Five Nations, with many odd conceits. In an address ...

The coyote in Texas..............the one canid to persist in Texas despite European decimation of Gray and Eastern(Red) wolves

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 Any outdoorsman who has spent a generous portion in the field has probably heard at one time or the other the eerie call of an animal synon...

South Dakota fish and Wildlife protesting Legislatures attempt to institute a coyote bounty...........While their motive might be that this law would reduce the $$ level that the Feds put into South Dakota for predator control, they do cite the proven fact that bounties do not reduce coyote populations and that hunters have been responsible for downward deer counts over the last number of years

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North Dakota takes aim with bounty on coyotes   By BRAD DOKKEN   GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Not a day goes by, Gerald Berthold says, when he doesn...
Tuesday, February 22, 2011

U.S. Fish and Wildlife proposing an addition to Everglades Ntl Park---Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge would be the most Northern segment of the Everglades and would help restore and protect the headwaters of "The Sea of Grass"

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New Refuge Proposed in Everglades Credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service On 7 January 2011, the Obama administration announced plans fo...

A Texas primer on the Gray wolf(C. lupus) that graced the Western 2/3 of the State up until 1970................Gray Wolves, Eastern(Red) wolves and coyotes all once graced the land we call Texas.

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SAN ANGELO, Texas — The main purpose of this column is to educate readers about the marvelous world of nature that can be observed around th...

With all of the hostile anti environmental propositions coming out of the recently elected US House of Reps..................It is Nice to finally see a pro Arctic Wilderness bill come forward that would ban oil drilling in this most sensitive of regions....It would also finally designate a large section of the unprotected Arctic Coastal Plain as off-limits to oil extraction...............So critical for this to be passed so as to ensure the Porcupine Caribou herd a pristine home into the forever

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Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Reintroduced On 5 January 2011, House Natural Resources ranking member Ed Markey (D-MA) reintroduced the ...
Monday, February 21, 2011

Brent Patterson's 1998 study on the impact of Eastern Coyotes on Cape Breton deer............20% wolf genes in Eastern Coyotes puts group hunting into the equation.........something that Western Coyotes usually do not partake in..........While coyote impacts on deer populations can be additive when deer exist in low densities, in 1998 during this study, the coyotes were not significantly dampening the herd.............As rabbit populations increase, coyotes pressure on deer tends to lessen although in cold and snowy winters, coyotes will switch to deer predation even if hare populations are robust.............the larger body size of the eastern coyote likely drives them to pick up a bucket full of calories in a single deer kill rather than expending a lot of energy picking off random rabbits

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Deer-Coyote Study by: Brent Patterson, Biologist WINTER 1998 When coyotes made their first appearance in Nova Scotia in 1977, many people...

Like in other Northeastern States, Massachusetts is seeing a rise in it's Black Bear population....Our putting out bird feeders is a big source of easy fat for the bears....Food habituation in and around our communities is something we must work very hard at to prevent...........Remember that a human fed bear often ends up being a dead bear...........Something, that we do not want to see occur

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By Charlie Breitrose Hide your birdfeeders, lock down your trash cans and keep an eye on your yard - bears are on the roam. Black bear si...

Obama doing what he believes is politically pragmatic in not raising grazing fees on public land........Not a postive as it relates to the health of the land.........My recommendation to the President is to require certain grazing rotations and critical habitat designations on Ranching lands in exchange for the lower fees..............a win/win scenario for wildlife and ranching families

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Obama Admin Denies Petition to Raise Grazing Fees on Public Lands By PHIL TAYLOR Greenwire   The Obama administration yesterday rejected a ...
Sunday, February 20, 2011

The ABC Nightline report and National Geographic Special this past Wednesday and Friday(Feb 16 and 18 respectively) aroused strong feelings in both those who advocate for and against peaceful co-existance and tolerance with Coyotes(and all Carnivores).............Our good friends Dr. Stan Gehrt and Professor Brent Patterson were the experts that ABC and Ntl Geo turned to in seeking explanations for the fatal Coyote attack on Folk Singer Taylor Mitchell that occurred in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Oct 2009.......................An apparent predatory attack, the first Coyote induced fatality of an adult human does not seem to have been caused by food induced habituation(as many other non fatal attacks have been due to food habituation)..............Stan has actually been to the Park and done an investigation himself...............Brent was called on to run tests on the coyotes alleged to have been the attackers.........Corresspondence below with both men as well as noted animal Ethologist Marc Beckoff makes for informed and provocative reading.....................Brent has told me he will check back in with me upon seeing the full Ntl Geo Special(he was not able to watch the other night) and we will continue to report on all facts, theories and speculations on whether coyotes(like wolves) can decide to prey on people...................Note that there are 20,000 hikers each year in Cape Breton Park and the number of negative encounters with coyotes are minimal(although they do occur) whereas there were 34 recorded fatal domestic dog attacks on people last year in the USA, 50,000 auto caused fatalites and hundreds of gun induced deaths................Should we kill all domestic dogs? Should be scrap all automobiles? Should we ban all guns?...............Learning and obeying the rules of the road...........taking the proper precaution with domestic dogs............not letting guns get into the hands of mentally challenged and criminal elements......... and taking the proper precautions when in locales(suburban, urban and rural) where wildlife does exist...................That is the path this reporter advocates----Respect and co-existance with wildlife, dogs, automobiles and guns!

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Who's afraid of the coyote? Not many of us. But as last fall's fatal attack showed, we should be more concerned about these animals....

Destoying infected maple trees found to have invading long horned beetle infestations has been successful in halting the spread of this devasting exotic insect............Unfortunately. applying this same strategy in the fight to halt the spread of WHITE NOSE SYNDROME IN BATS ( by destroying Bats infected currently infected with this disease) will not stop the spread of this most virulent fungus.................and Scientists say it might actually spread the disease further and faster to new locales

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Culling Can't Control Deadly Bat Disease, Mathematical Model Shows White-nose syndrome, which is estimated to have killed over a million...

Is Hybridization about to take place amongst species whose ranges were historically separated by winter temperature severity?............Will certain species be knocked out of the chain of life by new aarriving sympatric species who outcompete them due to the warming climate?....Will these Southern species bring with them diseases that their Northern counterparts do not have immuninty to?.............Our man-made toxins swirling and accumulating in the atmosphere since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution are seemingly about to intiate a "Russian Roulette" game of pinball with the animal species of the Northern climes

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Arctic Roamers: The Move of Southern Species into Far North Grizzly bears mating with polar bears. Red foxes out-competing Arctic foxes. Ex...
Saturday, February 19, 2011

As many of you know, Doug Peacock is one of the strongest advocates in the USA for the preservation and range expansion of our Grizzly Bear..............Must reading for all of us is Doug's GRIZZLY YEARS AND THE ESSENTIAL GRIZZLY....................Doug's clearly worded prose below about the threats to the Griz from one of it's key foods disappearing from the Northern Rockies---- White-Bark Pine seeds, a critical source of fat for the bears prior to going into hibernation

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A Fierce Advocate for Grizzlies Sees Warning Signs for the Bear Doug Peacock has been tireless defender of the Yellowstone grizzly for deca...