Sunday, October 21, 2012

Marc Bekoff accurately depicts the general tendencies heard and seen in the reporting of wild anima; stories on network and local tv newscasts------Oftentimes, Reporters flagrantly misrepresent what's actually happening to the animals(when surrounded by humans or in situations that could involve their death) ,,,,,,,,,,,,mocking making jokes about the obvious fear and stress that the animal is clearly feeling--------Case in point is the St. Louis Zoo story that surfaced this past week regarding the Raccoon that found itself trapped in a monkey pit, being thrashed and tossed about -----Thankfully, the Raccoon escaped but the Reporters showed no empathy for the creature and in fact suggested that they would like to see the raccoons in their backyards treated similarly-------------Marc accurately states that: "High profile people should set clear examples of generating respect, compassion, and empathy, rather than disrespect, for other animals"-----(click on the video link to have a look for yourself at the Reporters flippant commentary)

›
Do animals think and feel ? by Marc Bekoff Animals In the Media: Flagrant Misrepresentation-- Norah O'Donnell and Anthony Maso...

Christine Wilcox writing her NRDC blog laments the fact that the Avalanche Peak Trail in Yellowstone Park which once harbored Grizzlies, seems to be devoid of this species currently due to the demise of one of their key foodstuffs--Whitebark Pine seeds----Global warming has enabled the native Pine Bark Beetle to up the ante on the trees---As Christine writes: "This is not a new species of beetle; it has been around for thousands of years and has coevolved with lodgepole pine at lower elevations"............ "During this coevolution, successive generations of lodgepole pine trees developed physiological and chemical defense mechanisms to prevent fatal beetle infestation"......... "Whitebark pine trees grow at higher elevations and have not changed significantly in an evolutionarily sense, because until recently there was no such threat to their survival"............ "What's new is that the warmer temperatures have allowed the beetles to survive the winters affording the beetles the opportunity to invade trees in higher elevation areas as a result"............ "Combined with the fact that whitebark pine trees have fewer defense mechanisms against pine beetle attacks than other trees, we are left with a forest of firs, spruces, lodgepole, and a bunch of dead whitebark pine trees"..............."As we approach the petition by the government to again de-list the grizzly bear as a threatened species protected under the Endangered Species Act as early as 2014, we know that the current status and predicted future of whitebark pine trees is an important factor".............. "Unfortunately, not everyone is listening to that information"........ "Some are carelessly assuming that the grizzly bear as a flexible omnivore will adapt to this widespread loss of a key food source"........... "It is estimated that at least 70% of all whitebark pines in Yellowstone have been lost in the last decade or so to beetle infestation".......... "With no end in sight to global warming trends, it is possible that we will functionally lose this species in the Yellowstone ecosystem entirely, perhaps even within the next century"-----Will the "Griz" be able to adapt????????????

›
The Ghost Forests of Whitebark Pine Christine Wilcox--NRDC blog | Avalanche Peak, Yellowstone National Park:   A couple of weeks ...

We Posted this past week regarding the fact that New York State has decided to expand their Bobcat trapping season by two months--what had been a Nov-Dec season now will become a 4 month November to Feb Trap season----Carter Niehmeyer helps to explain why this has occurred despite the objections of biologists and conservation organizations throughout the Empire State-------"Bobcat pelts are selling for hundreds of dollars apiece in recent years -----" larger ones in the range of $300-500, so there is a real interest by trappers to kill them"............ "Trapping is very effective because bobcats are curious and EXTREMELY vulnerable to traps and snares"...... "Traps don't even require concealment to catch bobcats since they will approach a bird wing or pie tin hanging from a string or any number of choices of scents including catnip and special blends of attractants"......... "No other North American fur species brings the financial reward that a bobcat pelt will"

›
From top to bottom: -hunter killed bobcat -chased by hounds -bobcat caught in leg trap     bobcat observing surrou...
Friday, October 19, 2012

“If you kill a big adult male(PUMA), three male ‘teenagers’ will come to the funeral”.................. "The behavior of the youngsters is different from their older counterparts"........... “They’re teenagers,",,,,,,,,,,“They’re sexually mature, but mentally they are not all there.”............ "The adolescent cougars are more likely to get into trouble with humans and our livestock than are the more mature toms that want to stay away from danger"............ "As it happens, adolescent males have bigger territories than the adult males"........ "This means that livestock and elk might have to cope with either one mature tom or several adolescent males that replace him".......... "With multiple male cougars in an area, trouble is multiplied"............ "Cougar complaints, livestock kills and pet kills all actually increase with increasing hunting mortality of cougars".-------Robert Wielgus; Washington State University Large Carnivore Lab-------This Blog has discussed the insights of Wielgus's research before............ it is now a pleasure to know that as a result of his work, Washington State is going to limit cougar hunting to 14 percent of the cougar population(a % that will not tamp down the Puma's ability to survive, multiply and persist into the future)............ Once hunters have harvested that figure, hunting will be suspended in an area for the rest of the year............. “The results of this work are a win-win for cougars, livestock operators, and threatened prey species

›
 Managing cougar populations requires reproductive math E. Kirsten Peters;spokesman.com Science often takes a lot of time and work. T...
Thursday, October 18, 2012

For the Fish & Wildlife Jaguar critical habitat plan to be optimum, The Center for Biological Diversity is urging that the Gila and Apache National Forests in New Mexico and Arizona be added to the already proposed 830,000 acres in these two states.............Perhaps additional cooperation with Mexico linking their northern Sonora and Jalisco states to our southwest border states for optimum flow of Jaguar genes north and south

›
More on the Proposal to designate Jaguar Critical Habitat in Arizona and New Mexico greenansers.com Last month, the United States Fish an...

"Since bobcats cause few conflicts with human interests or activities, we expect our actions to maintain populations at or above their current levels in eastern New York, while allowing for continued population growth in central and western New York"-------If this is in fact all true, then why is the NY State Dept. of Conservation allowing additional "Bobs" to be trapped over an elongated(from 2 month to 4 month) season spanning late October to mid Feb?

›
DEC goes ahead with bobcat plan By MIKE LYNCH -adirondackdailyenterprise.com of Environmental Conservation has adopted a controversial ...
Wednesday, October 17, 2012

A few facts about the Minnesota Wolf population and the upcoming Nov 3 hunt ------ "The wolf population has been stable since 1998 without hunting or trapping"......... "The last Minnesota population survey was completed in 2007, and it established a population range from 2,100 to 3,500 wolves"........ "This year, 400 wolves are expected to be killed during the scheduled season"............ "Another 300 will be killed legally under livestock depredation controls, plus an estimated 300 more will be killed illegally"..........."Sound science tells us that this total of 1,000 wolves may very well put the whole population in jeopardy".......... "Just as happened in the past". ........"The best contemporary biology tells us that killing more than 30 percent of the population is the tipping point"..........." Have we learned nothing in the last half-century"?-----"These are not game animals"!!!!!!!---Howard Goldman is Minnesota state director of the Humane Society

›
It's a fragile restoration for wolves by: HOWARD GOLDMAN The hunting season betrays a compromise and is ill-advised. Wolves are a...
Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Our question of Jaguar or Ocelot snapped by a hunter near Tucson------JAGUAR!!!!-----thanks to all those who accurately stated Jaguar weeks ago

›
Photo snapped near Tucson depicts jaguar not ocelot . Jennifer Thomas azfamily.com TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona Game and Fish Depa...

South Dakota typifies the very problem that wildlife restoration and perpetuation of species faces across our 50 States.............Instead of following the perscriptions put forward by trained wildlife biologists...........Politically biased appointments of State Game Commissioners by Governors who are beholden to Ranchers, Hunters and Business Interests combined with Wildlife Agencies being 100% funded by hunters, leads to wildlife decisions that are anything but good for our land!

›
Governor's office takes on a direct role in hunt management By Bob Mercer      Black Hills Pioneer; bhpioneer.com It is a matte...
Monday, October 15, 2012

The San Francisco Bay Area was once the home of the River Otter.....Decimated by hunting, trapping, pollution and alteration of habitat, these slinky swimmers were all but absent from the region by 1995............Restoration of Bay Area waterways now has the River Otter claing its way back into the river systems in this part of the world............Note that.River otters primarily eat fish............. They are also known to eat whatever is easiest to find, like crustaceans, mollusks, insects, birds, oysters, shellfish, crabs, crayfish, frogs, rodents, turtles and aquatic invertebrates...............The North American River Otter is the only river otter found north of Mexico........... Its luscious pelt, which is waterproof and allows the river otter to regulate its temperature, was also a staple of the French fur trade in the 1700-1800s, has drawn hunters for hundreds of years............. The color of its fur ranges from grey and white to brown and black

›
River otters making comeback in Bay Area   kgo.com   MARIN COUNTY, Calif.  -- River otters had almost completely vanished from the ...
Sunday, October 14, 2012

The September issue of the publication, ROYAL SOCIETY B. has a peer reviewd study of how Mange, Distemper and Parovirus have impacted the Wolves of Yellowstone............As many of us know, the Wolves introduced to the Park in 1995 initially expanded their numbers rapidly up until 2009 when the largest Pack in the Park(The Druid's) contracted Mange and thereafter died out---------Penn State Ecologist Peter Hudson who co-authored the study points out that “Healthy ecosystems are full of parasites".............. "The reintroduced wolves had no natural immunity to these diseases"............. Hudson thinks the disease organisms and the wolves will eventually strike a balance.............

›
Nature's way of providing checks and balances on Wolves, Coyotes and Foxes by: Faye Flam;philynews.com This is my penultimate colum...

Whether in the Rockies or the Great Lakes, when it comes to the mandates put in place regarding hunting Wolves,,,,,, as biologist Peter David puts it: “I’m concerned about the impact it is going to have and the lack of science built into the hunt” ...........Wisconsin which is starting its first Wolf hunt tomorrow, seeks to reduce its population from the current 850 animals down to 350--a potentially staggering reduction of nearly 60%!---some scientists say, this hunt could push the number of wolves to a tipping point, beyond which their numbers might again quickly drop to the level that would put them back on the endangered list — 250 wolves........And like seemingly every decision about wildlife made lately, what is not put into the equation is the Wolf mortality that occurs above and beyond what occurs during hunting season:............ Adrian Wydeven, a DNR wolf researcher who has helped manage the species’ recovery in the state, said it is important to remember the number of wolves killed during the hunting season has to be added to all the wolves killed in other ways throughout the year to get an accurate picture of how total human-caused wolf deaths are going to affect the statewide population..............Wisconsin population studies have shown 9 to 19 percent of the state’s wolves are illegally killed each year, 10 percent are killed in depredation control programs, and 3 percent to 4 percent are killed by vehicles............. Add those numbers to the 24 percent harvest quotas and total, human-caused mortality is likely to be between 46 percent and 57 percent................. Research has shown that wolves can tolerate up to about 29 percent to 35 percent human-caused mortality rates before populations decline............... .....Wydeven cited studies that have shown eliminating certain individuals — those wolves that breed, for example — and reducing the size of packs can dramatically reduce pup survival.................. And the effect of removing breeders from packs was much more detrimental in smaller, recovering wolf populations similar to Wisconsin’s......Studies have shown as well that disrupting packs and removing alpha wolves can actually increase the likelihood the rest of that pack will be forced to prey on easier-to-capture livestock for food................. There is certainly reason to believe that this hunt is going to be highly disruptive socially...............Studies in Canada’s Algonquin Park that showed excessive hunting mortality might disrupt the kin-based social structure of packs and encourage hybridization of wolves with other canids, such as coyotes................. Great Lakes wolves are known to hybridize with dogs, something biologists want to avoid, partly because such wolf-dog hybrids can exhibit unwanted behavior such as lurking too close to humans and preying on livestock...............Bottom line is that most Biologists believe that people are going to look back at this, and it will have become a textbook example of how not to hold a hunt!

›
Crying wolf? Experts: State wolf hunt could have unintended consequences By RON SEELY Wisconsin State Journal lacrossetribune.com ...
Friday, October 12, 2012

In an attempt to revitalize the southern Purcell Mountain(Canada) Caribou herd, 19 Caribou were transplanted from northern British Columbia during the month of March 2012...............Unfortunately, the released Caribou failed to join up with the 14 remaining Purcell Caribou----This marks the third consecutive failed attempt at rewilding------Seems that the transplanted Caribou do not engage in pack type behaviour,,,,,,,,,,,instead, each doing their own thing and fail to join the "mother herd"

›
Transplanted Purcell Mountain caribou fail to survive 15 of 19 transplanted animals died before winter CBC News A caribou exits a...

The Washington State WEDGE WOLF PACK that was killed las week did not have to go between the crosshairs!-------something is wrong when a rancher, who is well-known for favoring the elimination of troublesome wolves, and who has refused to cooperate with nonlethal provisions of the plan, can pressure the department into abandoning it so quickly...............Sen. Kevin Ranker, D–Orcas Island, who chairs the Senate committee that oversees the DFW, said, “I find it inexcusable that we allowed ourselves to get to a place where killing the entire pack was the necessary decision when other nonlethal options – within the department and with ranchers – were not totally exhausted first.”

›
Killing entire wolf pack is in nobody’s best interests   bellinghamherald.com The state Department of Fish and Wildl...
Thursday, October 11, 2012

With an estimated 300 or so Wolverines still calling the USA home in the Northern Rockies and Cascades, The ALLIANCE FOR THE WILD ROCKIES joined 7 other conservation groups in suing the State of Montana for still allowing trappers to kill up to 5 Wolverines each----This type trapping is insane and runs counter to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife action to determine what degree of protection to afford the Wolverine(threatened or endangered) prior to 2014......... Climate change has researchers predicting that reduced suitable wolverine habitat in the lower 48 states will be as much as 23 percent as of 2045 and by 63 percent as of 2099, according to the University of Washington and the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station............So how in good conscious can Montana Fish & Wildlife permit a scant few Wolverines to be ttrapped out of existance?

›
Conservation groups sue to end trapping of wolverines in Montana reuters.com By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho   - Conservationists...
Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Dan MacNulty of Utah State along with Dan Stahler and Doug Smith of Yellowstone's Wolf Project have concluded after 14 years of studying Wolves , that pup survival from birth into young adulthood is directly correlated to the Alpha female's body weight and the # of adult Wolves in her Pack .........."Bigger females produce bigger litters; bigger packs are better equipped to hunt and defend pups and resources from competitors",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Motherhood is a challenge for any species, but the evolution of cooperation in wolf societies is a notable benefit to mother wolves",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Our results should reassure wolf conservationists",,,,,,,, "If female body weights are high and pack sizes are sufficiently large, wolves can successfully reproduce despite the impact of environmental factors, such as disease and competition"-Dan Stahler-----------------The one factor not inculuded in the study is the impact of the draconian virtual year long persecution that the Montana, Wyoming and Idaho put on wolves through their hunting and trapping management plans-----Virtually by definition, these plans will not allow for large pack size and create social chaos among survivors,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,leading to chaos and population sinks throughout the northern Rockies

›
Healthy Mom With Lots of Help Key to Thriving Brood, Wolf Study Shows   ScienceDaily  — What does it take to raise successful, self-s...
Tuesday, October 9, 2012

A fascinating peer reviewed article entitled IDENTIFICATION OF SOURCE-SINK DYNAMICS IN MOUNTAIN LIONS OF THE GREAT BASIN reveals the counterintuitve finding that hunted Pumas in Nevada actually seek territories in the neighboring California Sierra Nevada Mtn Range........... Even though territories are reasonably filled up due to the no kill(Puma) laws that exist in Calif, better habitat than what exists in Nevada lures the Cats to seek residence there...........It has always been assumed that California would act as a source population to fill up vacancies created in Nevada and other surrounding states where Puma hunting is allowed.............Not so saids researchers from the U. of Nevada and the Wildlife Conservation Society(WCS) who did their investigation of this phenomena over the past 7 years............Are the Nevada Pumas knowingly looking to escape the perscution caused by us?........Are the California Pumas purposely avoiding the Nevada kill zone(indicating conscious decision making)?...........Is the sudden change in habitat from the more verdant Sierra Nevada into the stark Great Basin of Nevada causing the lIons to say, "I don't like what this neighborhood looks like"?????????

›
Go west, young lion sciencecodex.com Using data collected over the course of seven years, the study looked at DNA in tissue samples coll...