Thursday, December 25, 2014

The Chicago Tribune's Editorial Staff has a spot-on Christmas morning message for all of us today: "Black bear, wolf, cougar; Majestic apex predators shouldn't be up for dibs to the first hunter who sees them"............."These rare creatures belong to every resident of Illinois, not just to trophy hunters"......................Perfectly said, and what better time than Christmas(good will toward all creatures) for this call to action asking Illinois Govenor Pat Quinn to veto the bill reinstating the hunting and trapping of the just recovering Bobcat population in his state............Mr. Quinn recently protected Wolves, Black Bears and Pumas, putting them on the state endangered list(for when they return naturally or are rewilded)..............Same sentiment and reasoning should have him reject the Bobcat killing bill in front of him,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,No reason to "cull/harvest"(hate these domestic livestock terms to describe killing wildlife) the "Bobs" which are just in a comeback phase in the LAND OF LINCOLN...........Gov. Quinn, use the D.C. Federal Judge who just protected Wolves in the Great Lakes as your holiday inspiration to do right by a wild creature that actually does exist in your domain,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Let them keep on existing and grow in numbers that allow it to spread out across your great state and fulfill it's "healthy land" function of controlling rats, rabbits, squirrels and other small rodents and mammals...................MERRY CHRISTMAS BLOG READERS!

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CLICK ON THIS LINK BELOW TO READ FULL STORY Don't backtrack on bobcats, Governor
Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, California purchased 280 acres to build a wildlife crossing on Highway 17 for mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, and the full suite of wildlife existing just south of San Francisco..........This type endeavor also has to become a reality in Los Angeles along the 101 Freeway(Chesebro Exit abutting the communities of Agoura and Calabasas),, the last remaining open space from downtown Los Angeles up to Santa Barbara where if a wildlife culvert is created, animals will be able to traverse this busy highway and move back and forth from the Pacific Ocean across through and beyond the San Angles National Forest, providing for a healthy movement of genes to keep wildlife healthy throughout the greater Los Angeles basin

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https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-california/santa-cruz/280-acres-bought-for-highway-17-mou...
Monday, December 22, 2014

NEW HAMPSHIRE FISH AND GAME OFFICIALS estimate that there are roughly 5,000 bears statewide................If this is a true count, then New Hampshire averages about 0.5 bears/square mile.........Compare this to almost 3 bears per square mile in northern NJ prior to the hunting of them 5 years ago and The Smokey Mountain National Park Virginia density of 2 bruins per square mile............So, at 0.5 per square mile, we question the need for N.H. hunters to bait and use hounds during the Bear hunting season..........If the population estimate is correct, N.H. hunters killed roughly 15 % of the population with 45% of those killed being female bruins,,,,,,,,,,,,,This current hunt is up 20% overr the the past 5 year average enabling State biologists to claim that even with this high female to male killing paradigm, the baiting and the hounding, that New Hampshire's Bears numbers are increasing..................All these statistics can make your head go on tilt,,,,,,,,,,,Once again, killing statistics versus ecosystem services statistics ruling the day in almost every state in America when it comes to any discussions on how best to manage carnivores...............This must change if we are to manage our woodlands for optimum biotic health

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https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.wmur.com/escape-outside/numbers-down-for-deer-hunters-this-season/...
Sunday, December 21, 2014

THE WISCONSIN DEER RESEARCH STUDIES ANNUAL REPORT 2013-14 was just published on December 10............It stated that during this past year, 133 adult and juvenile deer in the northern and eastern part of the state were radio collared along with 50 "holdover" deer from the past three years of the project ...........As we heard last year from this same team of Researchers(Wiconsin DNR and, U. of Wisconsin), human hunting accounts for 67% of adult deer and 33% of juvenile deer mortality in the northern sections of the state.................In the east, 70% of adult bucks and 50% of juvenile deaths were human hunter caused.............The health of deer habitat is a crucial factor in fawn survival percentages as one would expect.............More food on the ground, the stronger the fawns, the better equipped they are to avoid predation.....................The 2013 fawn data showed 45% survival through six months in the north and 58% survival in the east........... The leading cause of fawn mortality in the north was bobcat predation (25%), hunter harvest (19%), bear predation (12%), coyote predation (12%), unknown predator (12%) and wolf predation, poaching and road kill (6% each).............In the east, starvation (47%) was the leading cause of fawn mortality, followed by disease (21%), coyote predation (10%) and domestic dog, hunter harvest, unrecovered harvest and bobcat (5% each)................And of course, when winters are severe, as they were in 2013-14 in northern Wisconsin, Deer die often.............From Jan-May 2014, , 52% of juvenile deer died in the northern study area(the most severe winter winter since records kept in this state).............. That contrasts with the eastern study area(less severe winter weather), where 14% of juvenile deer died over the same time period.

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http://www.jsonline.com/sports/outdoors/team-produces-detailed-look-at-deer-mortality-in-state-b99411829z1-2...

New Jersey, North Carolina and Florida State Game Commissions---Take heed of what is happening in Montana where theh town of BIG SKY is providing residents with bear proof garbage cans so as to cut down on bear/human conflicts.................As all who read this blog know, human food habituation for bears, wolves, coyotes and in fact nearly all carnivores leads to the death of those animals and problems for us humans........We could reduce the killing quotas and have more wildlife on the land doing their good part to keep it healthy if we would do our part in the food/garbage disposal aspect of our daily lives

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http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/wildlife/big-sky-homeowners-buy-bear-aware-garbage-containers/article_5d1239ca-88d2-11e4-96a4-774c...
Saturday, December 20, 2014

With Wolves, Bears, Wolverines and Lynx on the rebound in Europe, Researchers are making the case that even in people dominated small landscapes, Carnivores can adapt to human presence and fulfill their historical ecosystem services benefits to the land............114 years ago at the turn of the 20th century, large carnivores had been exterminated from most of Europe, with just relict populations persisting............Contrast that today in 2014 when we have increasing or stable populations of brown bears, wolves, Eurasian lynx and wolverines sharing the land with humans........And they do not live in a remote wilderness but rather are showing an ability to adapt to human-dominated landscapes..............As a point of fact, Europe has twice as many wolves as the USA (excluding Alaska) in spite of being half the size and more than twice as densely populated

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Europe shows that humans and large  predators can share the same landscape Date: December 19, 2014 Source: ExpertAnswer, Swed...

Rachel Tilseth's blog, WOLVES OF DOUGLAS COUNTY WISCONSIN.COM put forth an excellent follow up on the Federal Court's decision to put Wolves back on the Endangered Species List in the Great Lakes States..........Rachel cites the fine work of THE HUMANE SOCIETY, THE CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, HELP OUR WOLVES LIVE, FRIENDS OF ANIMALS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT and BORN FREE USA in making the case to the D.C. Federal Judge that Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan were severely off course in their KILLING PARADIGMS for Wolves as they took control of their management upon Federal Delisting two years ago...........Every once in a while, sane thinking, best science and just plain common sense is the basis for our Courts decision making................I cheer and applaud their commentary: “In its 111-page ruling, the court chided the USFWS for failing to explain why it ignored the potential for further recovery of wolves into areas of its historic range that remain viable habitat for the species".............. "The court also noted that the USFWS has failed to explain how the “virtually unregulated” killing of wolves by states in the Great Lakes region does not constitute a continued threat to the species"

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http://wolvesofdouglascountywisconsin.com/2014/12/20/recreational-hunting-of-great-lakes-wolves-is-stopped-wolves-are-back-on-the-feder...
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