Friday, May 27, 2011

Rhonda Laner's call to President Obama to "grow a pair" as it relates to following sound science rather than succombing to political overeach as it relates to Endangered Species Act, rewilding and wildland restoration.........Rhonda, you have my support!

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By Rhonda Lanier · WednesdayMay 25, 2011  Dear President Obama,  This is a very hard letter to write. I hope it is as equally hard for you...
Thursday, May 26, 2011

Endangered animal populations usually "show rapid declines as a result of human activities such as hunting and habitat conversion."..............New Studies demonstrate that if we humans eliminate hunting and habitat altering activities, even small remnant populations can stabilize and potentially bounce back..............Here is a case where SIZE DOES NOT MATTER..............What matters is the will to modify our habits to allow fellow creatures a viable place on this Planet to "bear fruit and mulitply"

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There's No Magic Number for Saving Endangered Species A new study offers hope for species such as the Siberian Tiger that might be consi...

Black Bears in Louisiana and Mississippi seem to be dealing effectively with the recent surge in floodwaters .........As we know, they are strong swimmers and tree climbers, both of these skills being employed as they have for millenia to escape Natures wrath along the banks of the Mississippi River............Some cubs might have been lost to the waters rising so quickly...........time will tell their fate

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Flooding stressing wildlife, but bears appear to be OK State wildlife officials say the flooding along the Mississippi River will continue t...

Per Helen Mcginnis, Chris Spatz and Jay Tischendorf of COUGAR REWILDING, Ohio has some of the most lax laws pertaining to residents keeping Carnivores as pets...............While we root for the day when wild Cougars will once again call Ohio home, the animal that was spotted the other day in Salt fork, Ohio was most likely either an escaped pet Cougar or a large house cat

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ALLEGED Cougar caught on camera near Salt Fork , OHIO(east central Ohio close to Pennsylvania State border is a State Park ) To: ctspatz@ea...
Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The alternative theory on the origen of the Eastern/Red Wolf which states that the Eastern Wolf-C.lycaon/Red Wolf-C.rufus(likely one and the same creature) is a distinct species from the Gray Wolf(C.lupus) and is not the end-proudct of Gray Wolf(lupus) and Western Coyote(C.latrans) hybridization is adhered to by Brent Patterson(Ontario Ministry of Resources and Trent University Professor), his Geneticist and Biologist colleagues at Trent University--Linda Rutledge, Tyler Wheeldon--(and other noted Wolf/Coyote Biologists(Bradley White, Paul Wilson, Ron Nowak, Jon Way, etc, etc.)............This past Sunday(May 23), I posted Roland Kays and Wayne et al.position on this subject and their conclusions that all Wolf subspecies like the Eastern/Red wolf are the result of Gray Wolf/Western Coyote admixing.........Two smart, thoughtful and experienced teams of Wolf/Coyote experts(some of the top Professionals in their fields of endeavor) have a real and respectful divergence of opinion on this important topic and for what it means for rewilding and restoration of canid species throughout Eastern North America...............As I once told Linda Rutledge in an email exchange on this subject two years ago..............."I like my chicken soup with lots of veggies and noodles mixed in"...............That is what we have going in Eastern North America with Gray Wolves in far Northern Eastern Canada, Eastern Wolves in and around Algonquin Park, Great Lakes Wolves that have some Eastern Wolf genes but are predominately Western Wolves in makeup, Eastern Coyotes(Eastern Wolf/Western Coyote admix) South of Algonquin and down the Appalachian spine into New England and the Mid Atlantic States,,,,,,,,,,,,a remnant Red Wolf population on the North Carolina Barrier Islands,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Western Coyotes still pushing Southeastward.........Indeed, a very rich and aromatic "Canis Soup" broth ever changing............ As Brent states below, all of us are open to reaching definitive and defensible designations for our sundry canid species...............Seems like more work in the field and the lab before we are making the correct calls on how to correctly rewild the East with our most charismatic Wild Dog species-----STAY TUNED FOR MORE ON THIS MOST FASCINATING OF TOPICS!!!!

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From: Patterson, Brent (MNR) < brent.patterson@ontario.ca > To: Meril, Rick Sent: Wed May 25 12:13:46 2011 Subject: RE: Fwd: FW: ne...

Maine now joins every other New England State in harboring Bat killing WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME,,,,,,,,,,,,,As reported on continually, no cure yet in sight for this "punishing and unforgiving" killer of Bats

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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Meril, Rick < Rick.Meril@warnerbros.com > Date: Wed, May 25, 2011 at 8:03 AM Subject...

Brooks Fahy at Predator Defense confirmed today that the Oregon Senate let the HUNTING COUGARS WITH HOUNDS BILL die yesterday...............It would not target so-called problem animals...........and hardly "fair chase" .................

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Cougar-hunting effort ends without Senate vote By Mark Freeman A bill seeking to reintroduce some sport-hunting of cougars with hounds ha...
Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Transient Mountain Lions continue to trek into Missouri without a breeding population accounted for

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Photos of tracks convince the Mountain Lion Response Team Mountain lion The Missouri Department of Conservation has confirmed the presen...

Instead of some minimum number of individuals thought to prevent a species from blinking out, it is time to factor ecological services into the equation, not just subjectively derived tolerance levels based on human economic considerations..............

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Scientists debate 'magic number' of wolves needed for species' survival Conservation groups and the federal government conti...

Brighter news from Oregon on not allowing Hounds to chase and tree Cougars............On the opposite end of the spectrum is that the 24 Wolves occupying Oregon are in the crosshair of every Rancher and State Game Mgr

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Dear Friends of Predator Defense, It appears HB2337, the bill to reinstate cougar hounding in requesting Oregon counties, is dead.  Simi...
Monday, May 23, 2011

What if the Bears ruled the Planet and said that 7 billion humans were just "too many to tolerate"..........And that "THE HUNTING OF HUMANS WOULD HELP EASE CONFLICTS WITH BEARS".............We are so quick to kill and destroy Natures Creation.........Will we ever come to realize that we were not meant to be the only species on the Planet and that in fact without all the "cogs and wheels" in place(wild creatures and landscapes), we are in a sprint to lessen our ability to fight off disease, propagate new and better food and deaden our senses to beauty, wonder and amazement????????

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NY seeks changes to bear hunting season, regions ALBANY, N.Y. — The state Department of Environmental Conservation wants to open new areas e...

Are we as North and South American citizens able to find it within ourselves to create a "CULTURE OF TOLERANCE FOR OTHER LIFE FORMS AND THEIR WAYS-OF-LIFE"?...............I found this blog entry while surfing the web and thought it quite reinforcing for those of us who want to see restoration of our wild lands and carnivores

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From Wolves A Cosmopolitan World View: " Wolves (have) persisted quite well alongside humanity for over a hundred thousand years, all w...

Eastern Fishers do not seem to be preying on Cats in and around Albany NY..............Gray squirrels are their entree of choice........Even Coyotes who do kill cats for food typically reveal only 1 to 2% of their stomach contents containing cat remains...........Roland Kays blogging for the NY Times on his on-going Fisher Study in NY

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Do Fishers Really Eat Cats? By ROLAND KAYS Scott LaPoint A missing cat poster near a forest preserve in Albany. Roland Kays , curator of ma...

National Wolfwatcher Coalition focusing in on how to perpetuate and expand our wolf populations across North America............Please click on the links in the note below for more information on how you can get involved

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From : Dave Hornoff < wolf101@ymail.com > To : Meril, Rick Sent : Sun May 22 11:29:16 2011 Subject : National Wolfwatcher Coalit...
Sunday, May 22, 2011

Yesterday I read and re-read Roland Kays and Robert Wayne's(et,al) --GENOME-WIDE PERSPECTIVE ON EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF ENIGMATIC WOLF-LIKE CANIDS--------I summarize below their findings and beliefs on the genetic makeup and origens of Wolves and Coyotes in North America.......................As I pointed out in yesterdays Posting, there is a 2nd competing and opposing viewpoint to Kays/Wayne's hypothesis that all the Groupings of Wolves in North America emanated from the Gray Wolf C.lupus through various hybridization events with Western Coyotes.........This other Group of Geneticists, Biologists and Taxonomists believe strongly that our Eastern/Red Wolf(C. lycaon/C.rufus) are its own species and while closely related to Coyotes, are distinctive unto themselves as a wolf species.............I find it fascinating and stimulating to evaluate both sides of this debate(It is what jump started this blog over a year ago)...........Analagous to the point/counterpoint debate on wolves is the debate about what caused the demise of our enigmatic mega-fauna(sabertooth cats, dire wolves, short face bears, etc, etc) where one faction of researcher feels that prehistoric hunters went on a genocide mission killing all of the giant mammoths and mastadons..........thus eventually sending all of the giant carnivores into extinction.............Other researchers feel that a changing climate did in the mega fauna..............and a third group of Scientists feel that introduced human pathogens and domestic dog diseases spread to wildlife and sent them "going, going, gone!!!!!!!!!!............We will continue to follow and publish both sides of the wolf/coyote origen and species debate as the data reveals itself to us

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-The Old World and the New World Gray Wolf (C.lupus) are genetically distinctive from each other -The New World Gray Wolf(C.lupus) is the fo...

White Nose Syndrome has reached the attention of USFW Service..........They have now outlined a National Plan to fund research to find a cure.........develop methods of containment and control as well as decontamination protocols to reduce the transmission of the disease.............WE need the "Cavalry" "to come over the hill" and win this battle pronto!!!!!!

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Fish and Wildlife Service Unveils National Plan to Combat Deadly White-Nose Syndrome in Bats Contacts: Hugh Vickery, DOI (202) 208-6416 ...

Livestock "bone yards"(disposal burial pits for dead cattle, sheep and other livestock) are the equivalent of Suburban dumps and Urban Garbage bins.........They are all of the ways we humans dispose of "organic food waste"...........All of these disposal habits gets our Carnivores in trouble with us and leads to their demise.............The Ophactory glands of Coyotes, Bears, Wolves, Cougars, etc, etc are so well developed that they can detect our "garbage" miles away................the expression "a fed bear is a dead bear" applies to all of our Carnivores............George Wuerthner provides us with "detail" below of studies revealing that we must change the way that we dispose of "eatable waste" if we are to minimize Carnivore habituation to human occupied dwellings and landscapes

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From: George Wuerthner < gwuerthner@gmail.com > To: Scott and Adelina Kronberg  Sent: Sat May 21 11:19:19 2011 Subject: Carcasses a...
Saturday, May 21, 2011

Our friend Roland Kays who heads up the Museum of New York has co-authored(with UCLA's Robert Wayne; et, all) the "most thorough Genetic Survey ever conducted on the "canis soup" of Wolves and Coyotes that currently inhabit Eastern North America...............Their origens, the fact that the Gray Wolf(C.lupus) that emanated from the Old World to the New World is the historical "Grandfather" of all the North American Wolves............That there was not an evolutionary distinct species of Eastern Wolf(e.g. C.rufus and/or C.lycaon)........That Gray Wolves being highly mobile carnivores did hybridize at various times over the past 1000 years with native North American Coyotes in the Southwest, Midwest, Southeast and North East(both pre and post European contact)...............That the Gray Wolf/Coyote hybridizations occurred with higher frequencies in the Southeast and Northeast and were accelerated by human persecution of Gray Wolves, human extirpation of wolf prey(deer, Moose, Elk, Caribou, Beaver) and by human manipulation of the landscape through forest clearing and agricultural and domestic husbandry pursuits....................Roland, thank you for this truly in-depth and fascinating revelation................Will all of the Wolf/Coyote Geneticists and Biologists who have published papers of their own on the origens of Eastern and Red Wolves/Eastern Coyotes concur with your findings or will their be further "point/counterpoint" stemming from your research and findings that will impact the eventual conservation status of Great Lakes Wolves/Eastern Wolves/Red Wolves and Eastern Coyotes(Coywolves)??????

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From: Roland Kays [ RKAYS@MAIL.NYSED.GOV ] Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 10:37 AM To: Meril, Rick Subject: new canid genetics paper Hi Rick,...