"The Wolf refused to be our friend and we've never forgiven him for it"--Carter Niemeyer...................Never a better "word picture" dedscription have I ever heard,,,,,,,,,,Carter nails it on the head in stating that the wild canids that refused to become domesticated by us have forever been excommunicated by the bulk of humanity...............

'Wolf Wars' big question: How many wolves will society tolerate?

April 5th, 2012 Posted in News "Do I think they belong here? Absolutely," biologist says

By Jimena Herrero

LOGAN — Wolf specialist Carter Niemeyer had a powerful message for his audience this week: "The wolf refused to be our friend and we've never forgiven him for it."

Niemeyer is a wildlife biologist and author of Wolfer: A Memoir. He's also one of the biologists involved in the current "wolf wars" controversy. He spoke at Utah State University on Tuesday evening.

Carter's insightful and page-turning memoir

While the reintroduction of gray wolves into Utah, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and California has been successful, he said, misinformation and anti-wolf groups have created fear among many citizens. "People aren't thrilled to have wolves back," Niemeyer said. "A lot of people are mad about it and there's been a lot of controversy."

Carter with sedated Gray Wolf

He believes that the main reason for the public's resistance is a general misunderstanding of wolves and their true nature. "Wolves are like people, they take the path of lest resistance," Niemeyer said, "I've never had a wolf stand its ground or attack me."

Despite the countless stories of wolf attacks, Niemeyer believes they are often blown out of proportion. "I just don't believe it. That's why I'm here sharing my experiences. People need to get used to the fact that wolves are back"

Recounting his experiences with wolves, Niemeyer hopes to educate and create tolerance for the wolf. He also hopes people will understand that they can enjoy the outdoors as long as they are smart about it. "We can't kill wolves based on stories we hear, we need documented evidence," he said. Niemeyer believes that education and advocacy can help change the negative perceptions surrounding the wolf.

Wolves have been demonized, and it's important for people to understand that wolves are an important part of the ecosystem, he told the audience. "Do I think they belong here? Absolutely," Niemeyer said. "The question is how many wolves can society tolerate?"

Students in the audience had positive responses to his talk. "It was very informative and he's a very down-to-earth speaker," USU student Jenna Moore said. "It was nice to see an advocate's perspective."
"My family is from Idaho so it was nice to hear a fact-based perspective, rather than a rural one," USU student Jessica McFarland said.

Habitat loss is the number 1 reason that California's Blacktail and Mule Deer populations have dropped in half over the last decade.........The State has been converting 75,000 acres annually into low density housing for a good 30 or more years............As Mark Twain once said: "BUY LAND, THEY ARE NOT MAKING IT ANYMORE"........Deer wintering ground corridors have been severed and with shrinkiing habitat, comes deer shrinkage.............Fire suppression and lack of indigenous re-growth post fires has compromised the favored smorgasboard of tender young shoots that Deer favor as foodstuffs................Unfortunately, we humans always want a quick fix rather than preventive medicine and the "crys" for resuming Puma hunting can be heard in Statehouse hallways,,,,,with Hunters shifting the blame of deer decline onto the States largest protected Carnivore....... "A tip of the hat" to California Mule Deer Foundation Director who discards the "Puma decimating deer" theory..............He states: "I believe it's habitat, habitat, habitat," he said. "So far, I don't believe we're turning the tide at all. I'm concerned. Very concerned."

California deer population declines as habitat disappears

By Matt Weiser;  sacbee.com

An estimated 445,000 deer live in California, or about equal to the city of Sacramento's human population. Which sounds like a lot, until you realize the deer are spread over the entire state: 99 million acres.

If there were only 445,000 people in California, how long would it take you to find somebody you really wanted to hang out with?Such is the plight of the state's deer population, our most iconic emblem of the forest. Without much notice, the species has declined slowly but relentlessly in virtually every corner of the state.

The estimated  4000-6000 California Pumas overlap Mule and Black tail Deer habitat

The decline has been almost too small to see on an annual basis. But since 1990, California has lost nearly half its deer population, according to the state Department of Fish and Game. "Our deer are surviving, they're not thriving," said Craig Stowers, deer program manager at Fish and Game. "Quite frankly, until people start taking this seriously, we're going to continue to experience these types of declines."

This forest icon is on the wane mainly for one simple reason: habitat loss. Between 1990 and 2000, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 75,000 acres per year were converted to low-density housing across California. A recent Bee analysis of housing data showed a similar trend over the past decade, at least until the recession began. The rate was even greater before 1990.

Female Puma and her cub eating a Deer

This land conversion eliminated food and migratory corridors vital to deer."You can't have a good migratory deer population when their wintering ground is covered in residential development for humans," Stowers said. "They're competing for the same resources we need, and they're losing."
The species in question are mule deer and blacktail deer. Both species are lumped together in Fish and Game's 2011 population estimate of about 445,000 deer statewide, a drop from 850,000 in 1990.
The state manages its deer herds according to zones defined by habitat and deer behavior. Of the 45 zones, only about six have deer populations that held steady or increased slightly since 1990. These are generally found in some of the least-populated areas of the state. All the other zones declined significantly.

Rural residents might tell a different story. They see deer frequently around their yards, in their gardens, and as roadkill. Indeed, deer in these areas are often considered a pest.Deer require a particular type of forest habitat called "early seral." This means they prefer to eat the tender, nutritious, young vegetation that surges for several years after a forest fire or other land disturbance.The problem for rural residents, these days, is that deer primarily find this kind of food in the vigorous growth of gardens and landscaping that tend to go with rural housing development.

No forest fires, no food

The natural sources of this deer food have been largely eliminated by a century of fire suppression in forests – the same problem that has caused forests to become overstocked with small, young trees that now pose an enormous fire risk.

Mule Deer

Land management agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service now understand this error of excessive fire suppression. The problem is that allowing more fire is difficult because the overly dense forests pose a massive wildfire risk, and because so many people and homes have cropped up in and near forests.
It's a "double whammy" for deer, Stowers said. Much of their habitat has been eliminated by rural development. And the habitat that remains is poor quality.

"If deer numbers are poor, they are a real canary in the coal mine, so to speak," said Randy Morrison, California regional director at the Mule Deer Foundation, a conservation and hunting organization. "They are a real bellwether species for a given habitat. And our habitat is not healthy, no question about it."
Complicating the problem is that, when a wildland fire does occur, there is often a rush to remove the burned trees and replant with seedlings. Often this comes with herbicide spraying to prevent other plants from competing with the seedlings. This impulse eliminates the natural forest regeneration that would support deer populations.

Black Tail Deer

And it's not just deer. A study last year by PRBO Conservation Science, which examined conditions after fires on the Plumas and Lassen national forests, found that dozens of songbird species benefit from the same kind of post-fire habitat that emerges when a burned area is left alone."It's a hard sell," said Craig Thomas, executive director of the environmental group Sierra Forest Legacy. "People look at burned trees and they say, 'Oh God, let's get the green ones back.' The early seral habitat could be really diverse and beautiful if we thought about it as a valuable thing. Deer suffer when we don't think that way."

Deer are also an iconic species for hunters, and the population decline has not gone unnoticed in their circles. Mule and blacktail deer are California's primary big-game hunting species. Yet it has become increasingly difficult to harvest one.The statewide hunter success ratio for deer hunters in 2010 was 15 percent, according to Fish and Game data. That means about four out of five hunters who purchased a license and deer tag from the state and attempted to harvest venison for their family failed to bring any home.

In Colorado, by comparison, the hunter success rate for deer in 2011 was 43 percent, according to that state's Department of Wildlife."Our deer numbers are down to a point where success is definitely limited, which has been very discouraging to many hunters," Morrison said.

Hunters gather data

Because deer are a popular hunting species, they are intensively managed by Fish and Game and vast quantities of data are gathered when a hunter reports a kill. As a result, Fish and Game knows there are problems with the demographics of the remaining deer population.The leading concern is that the species is now dominated by older females, Stowers said, which do not have the same breeding success as younger females. This makes it more difficult to rebuild the population.

Going back to the habitat problem, many of the fawns that do get born don't make it to adulthood – apparently because there just isn't enough to eat. Fish and Game grades deer on a health scale from zero to 100, and most get a rating of 50 or below."We have yet to find a doe in this state that we would rate above a medium to poor condition," Stowers said.

Pumas will default to eating Porcupines if Deer are scarce

In contrast, bucks are generally healthy. Being larger, they are able to outcompete other deer for whatever food there is.Complicating matters is the fact that hunting regulations – and many hunters – are focused on harvesting bucks. Only male deer have the showy antlers that make a good take-home trophy.
In 2010, the most recent data available, California hunters harvested 25,956 bucks and just 469 does.
This means the older does, instead of getting culled from the population, are just growing older.
Stowers said regulations need to be adjusted to encourage a larger doe harvest.
Morrison agreed. He said it would be appropriate in some areas – and hunters would support it – if the doe harvest was carefully monitored to avoid harming breeding success.

Many hunters blame the deer decline on mountain lions, which primarily feed on deer. The claim is that a state law that banned mountain lion hunting, passed by voters in 1990, allowed the deer-hungry mountain lion population to grow unchecked.

There has not been a thorough study of the state's mountain lion population in many years, and there are no formal monitoring programs in place. Fish and Game estimates the population at between 4,000 and 6,000 lions, but even this estimate is dated.

There are hints, however, that even mountain lions are running out of deer to eat and turning to other food instead.Recent evidence of a decline in porcupines across the state could be attributed to mountain lions, one of the few predators known to eat the prickly rodent. There also have been reports of mountain lions eating feral pigs in the state's coastal regions.

Morrison, however, doesn't buy the mountain lion argument.   "I believe it's habitat, habitat, habitat," he said. "So far, I don't believe we're turning the tide at all. I'm concerned. Very concerned."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/08/4398312/california-deer-population-declines.html#storylink=cpy

While I feel that The Los Angeles Times can be out-of-step on many of the issues it editorializes about, I applaud their "bold and fresh" perspective on offering protections for Gray Wolf restoration in the State..........The Times has said: "What we can realistically hope for is that the wolf will reach healthy, self-sustaining numbers, and resume a place in the life of this state."......... Hoo-rah!!!!!!!!!

Do We Want More Gray Wolves in California?

Submitted by Animal Legal Defense Fund

Around New Year's Day, OR7, a lone gray wolf from a pack in Oregon, crossed into Northern California, making him the first such wolf in California in nearly 90 years. Just recently he wandered back over the state line into Oregon.But officials tracking the wolf consider it a possibility that OR7 will continue to roam both states. Fish and Game officials get daily downloads about the 2-year-old male wolf's location via his radio collar, and OR7's movement has become especially important now because California has been thrust into the debate about how to manage gray wolves.

OR7 in California woods

According to a report from QUEST, environmentalists want to see an increased wolf population in the Golden State, while others do not consider OR7 a welcome visitor. OR7 spent most of his recent visit in Lassen County, and there wolf opposition is growing. This is in the face of several public hearings and meetings sponsored by Fish and Game officials to educate and alert the population about gray wolves. For example, when someone says they will shoot a wolf on site due to a perceived threat against livestock, a Fish and Game official warns them that the wolves are endangered and that if one is killed, it is a $100,000 fine or a year in jail, or both. But this is the classic exchange that has occurred since wolves were reintroduced in the West almost two decades ago. The QUEST report notes that "In states like Idaho and Montana, where wolf populations have rebounded, there's been an all-out war. Ranchers and hunters say wolves kill too many livestock and elk. Environmentalists see the wolf as a key part of a healthy ecosystem." Can a proper management plan be reached?

OR 7 dispersing out of Oregon

From the QUEST report:

Wolves are currently protected in California under the federal Endangered Species Act, but several environmental groups are petitioning the state to protect them under California law as well. That would require the Department of Fish and Game to figure out how many wolves belong in California and how they'll recover. The federal government is also considering whether to specially protect California wolves. Populations in Idaho, Montana and parts of Oregon and Washington have already been taken off the endangered species list but the agency has recommended removing protection for wolves in some of the remaining parts of the lower 48 states. California wolves may still be protected, however. Fish and Wildlife is considering whether to specially protect wolves in parts of Oregon, Washington and California. If so, the agency would consider writing a recovery plan for what would be known as the Pacific Northwest population. That decision is due by September 30th.

In January, the Los Angeles Times published an editorial that discussed the plight of the gray wolf and his arrival in California after a long absence. The editorial opined that "It's time for California — one of the most environmentally progressive states in the nation — to think about how it will handle the return of a predator it hasn't seen in the wild for close to 80 years."

It went on to discuss that antipathy to the wolves in other Western states led to a "disturbing" act of Congress in 2011 to override the Endangered Species Act and undermine the wolves' recovery by delisting them in Idaho and Montana, states that are more sparsely populated than California when more wolf run-ins are more likely to occur. "The two states promptly approved hunting of the wolves, which has already thinned the numbers of the Northern Rockies group by at least 150 (after it had reached 1,651 in 2010)." The Times proposed a possible solution to any livestock losses suffered by ranchers and farmers: a compensation fund. This could even be modeled after a similar fund in place in Oregon, while also "encouraging nonlethal ways of discouraging wolves from preying on livestock."

Is it really too much to ask to allow the wolves to recover and replenish their population? To restore the ecosystem? The Times summed it up best by writing that "What we can realistically hope for is that the wolf will reach healthy, self-sustaining numbers, and resume a place in the life of this state." That should be the hope of all.

During 2009-2010, 25 Pumas were killed in Florida annually, most due to car collisions..............The "Cats" need more room to roam; More protected land in the middle and northern portions of Florida is required.............To have 25% (likely 100 Pumas exist in Florida) of your population killed each year is inviting disaster regarding long term prospects for survival........If disease kicks in to the equation, our remaining Pumas found east of the Mississippi River could easily blink out............ Georgia and other sections of the Appalachians also hold promise for Puma restoration............We need political muscle and resolve from some strong leaders to make this happen...............Do such people still exist in our current American climate of inaction?

8th Florida panther death of 2012 reported

nbcnews2.com

HENDRY COUNTY, FL -

An approximately 9-week-old Florida panther kitten died in the care of an emergency veterinary clinic in Naples after being taken from the wild after being found with severe injuries on Thursday evening.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the kitten was found conscious in an orange grove 380 meters north of Church Road in Hendry County.

Pumas once ranged across the Southeast.............and clear up and down, east and west through North America

map of Florida Puma deaths since 2002

He was taken to the emergency veterinary clinic and died at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday. The cause of death is currently unknown, but FWC says the injuries are consistent with trauma associated with a vehicle strike.

The carcass will be transported to the FWC Wildlife Research Lab in Gainesville for a complete necropsy.

This is the eighth panther mortality for 2012.

"The loss of major predators in forest ecosystems has allowed game animal populations to greatly increase, crippling the growth of young trees and reducing biodiversity"..... "This also contributes to deforestation and results in less carbon sequestration, a potential concern with climate change"--Bill Ripple; Oregon State University---Not only does Bill's personal research conclude that a suite of predators such as wolves, pumas and bears create synergy in moderating the size of large herbivore populations,,,,, Similar research that has been done in Canada, Northern Europe and Asia all continually reveal the same conclusions,,,,,It is a known fact that that human hunting with its limited duration and impact, is not effective in preventing hyper-abundant densities of large herbivores...... This is partly "because hunting by humans is often not functionally equivalent to predation by large, wide-ranging carnivores such as wolves...........Keep the evidence coming Bill and eventually even the naysayers will have to change their tune about how essential it is to have all the "cogs"(wolves, pumas, bears) present in ecosystem performing numbers to restore our land to its ultimate health

Loss of Predators in Northern Hemisphere Affecting Ecosystem Health

ScienceDaily — A survey on the loss in the Northern Hemisphere of large predators, particularly wolves, concludes that current populations of moose, deer, and other large herbivores far exceed their historic levels and are contributing to disrupted ecosystems.

The research, published recently by scientists from Oregon State University, examined 42 studies done over the past 50 years.

(Wolves compete with Grizzlies over kills; Bears also scavenge wolf kills)

It found that the loss of major predators in forest ecosystems has allowed game animal populations to greatly increase, crippling the growth of young trees and reducing biodiversity. This also contributes to deforestation and results in less carbon sequestration, a potential concern with climate change.

"These issues do not just affect the United States and a few national parks," said William Ripple, an OSU professor of forestry and lead author of the study. "The data from Canada, Alaska, the Yukon, Northern Europe and Asia are all showing similar results. There's consistent evidence that large predators help keep populations of large herbivores in check, with positive effects on ecosystem health."

a young Puma

Densities of large mammalian herbivores were six times greater in areas without wolves, compared to those in which wolves were present, the researchers concluded. They also found that combinations of predators, such as wolves and bears, can create an important synergy for moderating the size of large herbivore populations.

"Wolves can provide food that bears scavenge, helping to maintain a healthy bear population," said Robert Beschta, a professor emeritus at OSU and co-author of the study. "The bears then often prey on young moose, deer or elk -- in Yellowstone more young elk calves are killed by bears than by wolves, coyotes and cougars combined." In Europe, the coexistence of wolves with lynx also resulted in lower deer densities than when wolves existed alone.

Wolves and Grizzly competing over a kill

In recent years, OSU researchers have helped lead efforts to understand how major predators help to reduce herbivore population levels, improve ecosystem function and even change how herbivores behave when they feel threatened by predation -- an important aspect they call the "ecology of fear."

"In systems where large predators remain, they appear to have a major role in sustaining the diversity and productivity of native plant communities, thus maintaining healthy ecosystems," said Beschta. "When the role of major predators is more fully appreciated, it may allow managers to reconsider some of their assumptions about the management of wildlife."
In Idaho and Montana, hundreds of wolves are now being killed in an attempt to reduce ranching conflicts and increase game herd levels.

The new analysis makes clear that the potential beneficial ecosystem effects of large predators is far more pervasive, over much larger areas, than has often been appreciated.
It points out how large predators can help maintain native plant communities by keeping large herbivore densities in check, allow small trees to survive and grow, reduce stream bank erosion, and contribute to the health of forests, streams, fisheries and other wildlife.

It also concludes that human hunting, due to its limited duration and impact, is not effective in preventing hyper-abundant densities of large herbivores. This is partly "because hunting by humans is often not functionally equivalent to predation by large, wide-ranging carnivores such as wolves," the researchers wrote in their report.

"More studies are necessary to understand how many wolves are needed in managed ecosystems," Ripple said. "It is likely that wolves need to be maintained at sufficient densities before we see their resulting effects on ecosystems."

"The preservation or recovery of large predators may represent an important conservation need for helping to maintain the resiliency of northern forest ecosystems," the researchers concluded, "especially in the face of a rapidly changing climate

Cloning endangered trees and animals is a great medical/technological breakthrough,,,,,,,,,,,,,Once again, we repeat loud and clear that first and foremost, we must save large enough swaths of open space and connective green corridors so that these cloned organisms can have a chance of long term persistence once returned to the wild........We as a people are great in the labratory with the test tube,,,,,,,,Can we be as great in our forests, meadows, and fields giving our fellow creatures room to "live long and prosper?"

Scientists Clone 'Survivor' Elm Trees

ScienceDaily  — Scientists at the University of Guelph have found a way to successfully clone American elm trees that have survived repeated epidemics of their biggest killer -- Dutch elm disease.

The breakthrough, published March 29 in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, is the first known use of in vitro culture technology to clone buds of mature American elm trees.

"This research has the potential to bring back the beloved American elm population to North America," said Prof. Praveen Saxena, a plant scientist who worked on the project with Professor Alan Sullivan. Both are from Guelph's Department of Plant Agriculture.
"It may also serve as a model to help propagate and preserve thousands of other endangered plant species at risk of extinction across the globe."

Majestic American elms were among the most popular and recognizable trees in Ontario, lining boulevards and adorning city centres. But more than 95 per cent of the population in Eastern Canada and the United States has now been wiped out by Dutch elm disease.
The imported fungal infection interferes with water transport and stops nutrients from circulating in the tree. Only about one in 100,000 elms may be naturally resistant to the pathogen.

Looking for new techniques to clone and produce resistant trees through micropropagation, the Guelph researchers selected tissue samples from survivors in Ontario, including a century-old elm tree growing on the U of G campus."The trees that have survived initial and subsequent epidemics potentially represent an invaluable source of potential disease resistance for future plantings and breeding programs," Saxena said.

After growing genetic copies from the shoot tips and dormant buds, the researchers hope to select germplasm with the desired traits including disease-resistance which will further aid elm breeding and biotechnology programs around the world.

They also perfected a way to conserve germplasm over the long term. A germplasm repository now contains 17 accessions collected from mature elm trees that survived across Ontario."Our results demonstrate the usefulness of in vitro technologies for conserving and reintroducing endangered germplasm of economic, social and environment significance," Saxena said.

In vitro conservation technology is highly efficient and better than seed banks for conservation of many plant species, he added. Hundreds of genotypes with known phenotypes can be conserved in a safe small space and can easily be propagated.

The professors worked with Guelph postdoctoral researchers Mukund Shukla and Maxwell Jones; Chunzhao Liu, Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing; and Susan Gosling of the Gosling Foundation."We want to conserve and propagate the American elm and many other rare and endangered Canadian native species so that we can start to replace what has been decimated along the way," said Gosling. Saxena said the team hopes to reintroduce disease-resistant trees. "The need to conserve endangered plant species in provinces such as Ontario where urban sprawl continues is crucial and urgent."

The research was funded by the Gosling Foundation. The Canadian Journal of Forest Research is published by NRC Research Press.

An Urban Michigan Coyote Study is under way in the tradition of the one Stan Gehrt has headed up in Chicago,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and the one that Jon Way has navigated in Cape Cod...........Bill Dodge is a PhD candidate at Wayne State Unitiversity and he is in charge of this investigation which thus far reveals that the "Songdogs" are not killing too many dogs and cats,,,,,,,That they do cross suburban neighborhoods to get to wetlands and wooded pathches,,,,,,,,,,,,And that mice, voles and rabbits are their main diet items with some deer either being scavenged or consumed outright..........In this Michigan Study, Coyotes are keeping clear of people and are very much "GHOSTS IN THE MICHIGAN URBAN WILDS"

Tracking city-dwelling coyotes at night

by Rebecca Williams

npr.org

Coyotes have been making themselves at home in cities all over the country. They've been showing up in big cities like Chicago and Detroit, and in a lot of suburban areas.
But we don't know a whole lot about Michigan's urban coyotes.

A small research team from Wayne State University is trying to find out as much as they can.
But to do this... they have to act like urban coyotes... and become nocturnal. Bill Dodge is a PhD candidate at Wayne State. He heads up the research team. "They've found in other studies that coyotes especially around humans become much more nocturnal than say, out West."

Dodge invited me to tag along on their 6pm to midnight shift one Friday night a few weeks ago.
I met up with the group in a parking lot in northeast Oakland County.
Bill Dodge puts on a headset and pulls an antenna and a mess of cables out of his trunk.
"I'm getting a signal on him but it's really weak..."
They're tracking a radio collared coyote that they trapped last summer.
"We'll go down the road a ways and take a listen to see if he's closer."
The team takes precautions to keep from being spotted by other people... as they cruise around these neighborhoods.

Holly Hadac volunteers with the coyote study. She's also a retired sheriff's deputy. She points out the red cellophane covering her car's interior lights.
"My interior lights don't go on when I start the car up. I've got all the lights in my car blocked out, and that way keeps me incognito with what I'm doing. So we keep our coyote safe so nobody knows where he is."

"If someone doesn't like coyotes, they might look for him."
She says they're worried someone might kill their research subject.
We drive around for a few hours... stopping to listen.
Usually... you'll hear scientists refer to their study subjects by number. But they've given this coyote a nickname. They call him Lance.

When they get a clear signal from Lance's collar they take compass bearings. When they have three good points they can triangulate his location.
The team rarely sees Lance... and they don't hear him very often either. But halfway through the shift... we're out in a big open field... when we hear him. And he's not alone... he has a mate.
"Yeah those are coyotes. That's definitely them."
We listen for a long time, out in the dark.
The night turns quiet again and we pile back into the cars.

We stop at a fast food restaurant and Bill Dodge pulls out his tracking equipment. They're mapping Lance's movements to get an idea of what kind of habitat he likes. So far, he moves around a lot at night... crossing a backyard here or there to get to a wooded patch or a wetland.
"We have found that he does cross major highways. He has also used quite a few power line corridors. So there's a lot of connectivity in this area between these different habitat patches that he's been using."

And Dodge says urban coyotes spend a lot of the night hunting for food. But he says they're finding coyotes are not eating pets (but he does recommend keeping an eye on cats and small dogs when you let them outside, especially at night).
"Most of their diet consists of small rodents such as mice and voles they also eat rabbits a lot and we have found deer hair."

And he says in Michigan, coyotes tend to be afraid of people.
"The ones we catch are just so afraid of us that they fall over when we approach them. They'll stay away from people. Nobody has to worry about their small children."
After my visit, the team caught and radio collared three more coyotes. They're hoping to get a better handle on how coyotes are surviving in the city... because like it or not, they're part of urban life.

You can learn more about urban coyotes in this report on the "Ghosts in the Cities," a large long-term study of coyotes in the Chicago area by Ohio State University.

Pat Valkenburg of the Wallowa Chieftain newspaper provides his perspective on Wolves impact on prey animals in our 21st Century Western USA........He zeros in on human population expansion and hunter expectations as two of the most critical factors as to ultimate wolf populations in the West.............While his article angles in from the lens of the hunter, Valenburg does conclude that the best chances for Wolf expansion lie in human willingness to buy and protect large tracts of wild land........In essence, "save it(land),,,,,,and the Wolves, Pumas and Griz will do the rest..............

Wolf Predation on Big Game

 What to expect in the Rocky Mountain West

wallowa chieftain

By Pat Valkenburg

In a previous column I briefly described what we know about wolf predation in the part of the world where it has been most studied – Alaska and Canada, where biologists have spent 30 years and millions of dollars in research on natural populations of moose, caribou, wolves, and bears, and where many management experiments have been conducted.

Because ecosystems in the western states are even more complex than in Alaska and northern Canada, it will likely take more decades and millions more dollars to understand the effects of wolves on elk, deer, and other species. It will never be possible to study all situations to everyone's satisfaction, especially when potentially controversial management programs are proposed. Every mountain range and valley will be different. More than ever, the knowledge and experience gained by professional biologists who have lived and worked in an area for many years will be the most useful asset that wildlife management agencies and the public possess

In trying to predict the effects of wolves on big game populations in the West, and how hunting will be affected, it is important to keep in mind that the return of the wolf is not the only factor that is changing. In several states, grizzly bears and cougars are also increasing in numbers and expanding their ranges, and coyotes, cougars, and black bears are already known to be significant predators of elk and deer fawns, and big horn sheep are often hit very hard by cougar predation.

There are changing land use patterns in the West as well. Many large ranches are being broken up, taken out of production, and converted to housing areas. Wolves will be another predator added to a complex, changing ecosystem, and the general increase in predation, along with other changes, will mean less opportunity for hunters in many areas. Compared with other more solitary predators, wolves present special considerations, and in some areas where they will likely become the dominant predator, effects on opportunity for hunters will be significant.

Most people have probably heard that wolves kill mostly the weak and sick from game populations. Our experience in Alaska with moose and caribou, and the experience of most biologists worldwide is that this is generally true. Wolves are very good at picking out old, slow, arthritic, or injured animals and they kill relatively few prime-aged animals, except in some circumstances. However, year in and year out, much of the mortality from wolf predation can be expected to be additive. In other words, it will be in addition to the mortality that already exists, so wildlife managers will have to compensate by reducing the hunters' share when wolf predation becomes a factor. Partly, this is because wolves are also very good at killing large numbers of calves, especially where calving is concentrated, as it is in some elk populations.

In addition, unlike cougars and bears, wolves commonly kill more than they can consume when hunting is easy because of deep snow or other factors that cause prey to be especially vulnerable. Most adult ungulates will survive bad winters and recover their health if they are not killed by predators. If wolves are present, many more will die during bad winters. Wolves will also quickly learn to use things like fences to make their hunting easier.

Because of their social system, wolf numbers can increase rapidly when there is an abundance of vulnerable prey, and then wolf predation can be high for several years. Detailed studies using radio-collared animals and ultrasound scans of all females in a pack have demonstrated that about 75 percent of all adult female wolves (18 months and older) are pregnant every year in the wild. In many cases, only the litter of the dominant female is supported by the pack and the pups produced by subordinates die. However, if the dominant female dies between the breeding season (February) and the denning season (May), or if food is abundant, the pack will raise the litter (or litters) of the subordinate female(s).

Sometimes subordinate females disperse, find mates, and form a new pack. This is referred to by biologists as "budding." New packs can also form by "splitting," when very large packs (usually of at least 10 animals) divide. For all these reasons, wolves can increase much more rapidly than solitary predators like cougars and bears. In many areas wolf numbers will likely increase rapidly after bad winters and wolves will then tend to prevent deer and elk from recovering when weather returns to normal.

Physiologically, wolves need a large quantity of meat to sustain them, especially in winter. In Alaska, biologists have estimated that if wolves are feeding on nothing but caribou, approximately 20-25 caribou will be killed per wolf per year (not counting young calves). If they are feeding on moose exclusively, each wolf needs about 7-9 moose per year. For elk, that number is likely to be about 10-15.

In forested areas, where there are high numbers of cougars and/or bears, and where it is already difficult for biologists to monitor elk numbers, wolves will likely drive elk numbers down very soon after they arrive in an area. Reports from Idaho and Montana already appear to confirm this. It will likely be difficult for biologists to say for sure that declines in elk are mostly due to wolf predation because the evidence is usually circumstantial. Most predation on wildlife goes unnoticed by people, including biologists, especially when young calves are killed. Declining calf:cow ratios and bull:cow ratios will be the first indication of the increased predation by wolves.

In the most heavily forested areas, where road density is low, even if wildlife agencies receive approval to try to bring low elk populations back and improve hunting, it will be a difficult and expensive job even with aerial shooting and trapping, and may not be possible without the use of poison. Public trapping may help in some areas once trappers learn how to catch wolves. Once wolves reach the Cascades, we can probably expect significant declines in species like Roosevelt elk and black-tailed deer.

Highly urbanized states like Colorado and California, where trapping has been banned, will also likely be hard hit because it is less likely that those states will reduce wolf numbers to help hunters, unless wolves are also causing problems for livestock.

Hunters in most of Oregon might have better expectations because of the mix of agriculture and forest lands and the fact that many forested wilderness areas do not support big game in winter and thus won't support wolves either. Also, Oregon has a strong hunting tradition and has used foresight in implementing a reasonable compromise in its management plan for wolves. So far, [[total]] elk harvests in the West have not been greatly affected by wolves, but in some specific areas, elk hunting opportunity is already significantly reduced.

Judging from what Alaska has been through, the controversy around wolves in the western states will rage for many years, biologists will be caught in the middle, and any eventual compromise between the allocation of game between hunters and wolves will have to come from the legislature. Ultimately, the influence of wolves on the hunter's ability to successfully take big game will depend as much on politics as it will on biology.

Fortunately for hunters, because many important deer and elk winter ranges are on ranchlands, people will not tolerate high wolf numbers there and elk and deer will likely get some relief from winter wolf predation. It will be important for hunters to work with ranchers. Maintaining the integrity and economic viability of large ranches that are adjacent to national forests and other public lands will likely become increasingly important to the interests of hunters. For many hunters, having a place to hunt will continue to be at least as important as the influence of wolves and many of the best hunting opportunities will be on private land. This will be increasingly true as wolf predation displaces some hunters from national forest lands.

One unfortunate consequence of the controversy around wolves is that it will likely detract from the larger and more important issues of land conservation. It will be tempting, and perhaps necessary, for the hunting/conservation groups to become embroiled in litigation and lobbying to protect their interests. However, whether it is spent by animal rights groups, conservation groups, or wolf advocates, over the long run, money spent on litigation does not benefit the interests of wildlife conservation, hunters, or wolves. Think of how much better it would be to have spent the same money on acquiring land and conservation easements to protect the large, undeveloped tracts of land that wolves, elk, and hunters require

While endangered, 4000 Jaguars still call Mexico home............In fact, the Government of Mexico has conservation centers for the feline in 18 states around the country, where the species is bred in captivity and later released into the wild.........Our Homeland Security Border Fence is a major impediment to American Jaguar rewilding,,,,,,,,As previously discussed on this blog, Europeans found Jaguars living as far north as San Francisco at the dawn of the 16th century.......Their American habitat stretched eastward through Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana and across into our southeastern states perhaps as far north as Virginia

4,000 of the Endangered Mexican Jaguar Species Remain in Mexico

Mexico's Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat said it has registered in Mexico the existence of more than 4,000 jaguars in five regions of the country, according to a national census taken to protect this endangered species.

The secretariat's director general for wildlife, Martin Vargas Prieto, said that Mexico has conservation centers for the feline in 18 states around the country, where the species is bred in captivity and later released into the wild.

"The jaguar is a predator that performs a basic ecological role because culling its prey's population densities is one way to limit them," the agency's note said. Jaguars are a "key" species thanks to its position at the "top of the food chain." Furthermore, this feline species "can be the cornerstone for both regional and national conservation plans due to its wide territorial distribution," it said.-

 

Polar Bears in the Beaufort Sea are contracting the same disease that have plagued Seals and Walruses in the Arctic since last Summer.........Rashes and skin lesions are a symptom of the disease.....Thus far, the Bears have not been dying from this illness but Seals and Walruses have died from what seems to be the same affliction................ Scientists are greatly concerned that yet another survival challenge could be upon the great Bears............Continued testing of the Bears, Seals and Walruses is underway to discouver the cause and seek ways to combat the disease

Polar Bears Show Signs of Mysterious Illness

By Annie Feidt, alaskapublic.org 

Polar bears with Alopecia and skin lesions in the Beaufort Sea. March 21, 2012. Photo courtesy USGS.

Biologists have found Polar Bears in the Beaufort Sea with hair loss and skin lesions. Those are the same symptoms that have sickened ice seals and walruses in the arctic since last summer and led the federal government to declare the incident an unusual mortality event. Scientists are just beginning an investigation into whether polar bears are suffering from the same thing.

"The first day we observed it was on March 21st and we had three captures and two of them had Alopecia, which is the skin loss and so it was like, 'oh that's interesting.' Then we started picking it up on other animals in later march so it was like, this is more than normal."

Seal with skin lesion disease 

So far, the field scientists have found hair loss on nine of the 33 bears they've captured. The bears have skin lesions on their head, neck and ears. Degange says they have found polar bears with similar symptoms since 1999, but the number of effected bears makes this year unusual:

"The bears appear to be healthy otherwise. We haven't seen any dead bears, so its not a mortality event as far as we know. But the fact that its occurring at the same time as this unexplained mortality event with seals certainly raises the interest level."

The biologists collected blood and tissues from the affected bears to try to figure out if the symptoms are related to the mysterious illness that has been found in ice seals and walruses. Dozens of seals have died from the disease, but no walrus deaths are attributed to it. Scientists don't know yet if the walrus and seals are suffering from the same thing. Although the veterinary pathologist who has done most of the necropsies on the animals say the lesions look very similar under the microscope. Julie Speegle is a spokesperson for the National Marine Fisheries Service. She says its been a difficult case:

Walruses with mysterioius skin lesion disease

"We still don't know what is causing the disease. But our scientists have ruled out a number of bacteria and viruses that are known to affect marine mammals."

Speegle says the latest tests to turn up negative were for two toxins that can cause harmful algae blooms.

"So just a couple more possible causes of illness that we have ruled out and we continue to go forward with studying samples and trying to find out what is causing this disease."

Polar Bears will not be included as part of the Unusual Mortality Event until there is a lot more evidence linking the illnesses. Polar Bears were listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 2008. But Tony Degange, with USGS, says the agency would put a high priority on understanding what's causing the symptoms with or without the listing:

"Polar bears are an iconic species in the arctic. They're a subsistence resource to the natives on the north slope. And I don't think we're giving them more special attention because they're listed than otherwise."

Degange says out of four polar bears biologists captured yesterday, three had skin lesions and hair loss. The crew is now moving farther west along the Beaufort Sea coast- near Prudhoe Bay so they'll have a chance to see if the illness is as widespread in that area.

A Russian Biology Student who has studied Arctic Foxes with Univerist of Alaska Professor Falk Huettmann is seeking funding donors to continue his research...........He is also open to hearing from Biologists on additional studies that he might further pursue in this region of the world..............

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rick Meril <rick.meril@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 10:04 AM
Subject: Re: Arctic foxes - Russia and Alaska, US
To: OT.Antipod@rambler.ru

Dmitriy

Thank you for contacting me

I will post your note to me on the blog..................I am not a scientist or Professor or someone who works in the financial field...........Perhaps you will get a response from the blog post..............Continued good success and thanks for reading my blog.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rick

On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 11:14 AM, Dmitry Korobitsyn <ot.antipod@rambler.ru> wrote:

Dear Mr. Rick Meril,

My name is Dmitriy Korobitsyn , I am 2^nd year M.Sc student at the Northern Arctic Federal University, Archangelsk, Russia. Last 2 years I studied Arctic foxes in Arctic oil fields in Russian and Alaskan tundra with Prof. Falk Huettmann (University of Alaska Fairbanks) using non-invasive methods (observations, GPS etc.).

Arctic Fox in Summer plumage

By now, we have assembled a strong field data set about anthropogenic impact on Arctic foxes in two circumpolar sites. This dataset and its metadata are already used in university classes and it is published online with NBII and USGS; open access. First publications have been made and more are currently coming forward.

I would like to continue my study in collaboration with Prof.  Huettmann and as potential UAF student in Fairbanks-Alaska. As you know, industrial pressure on tundra ecosystem is very strong, and the oil industry is the main contributor  here. That is why my study subject is quite relevant, and we have good findings to share.

 Arctic Fox in Winter plumage

While I am also closely related with the oil industry as well as with the circumpolar university system, I am  searching  for sponsors for this fascinating  research. In case  you are interested in Arctic tundra wildlife conservation,  urban and industrial ecology and climate change questions for predators perhaps you would be able to provide me with suggestions and ideas ?

Thanks in advance,
Best regards,

Dmitry Korobitsyn
M.Sc. student, NARFU
Archangelsk, Russian Federation
e-mail: OT.Antipod@rambler.ru

Following up on yesterdays Post regarding Brent Patterson's discussion of Wolves and Coyotes in Ontario, a good friend sent me an abstract from the AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST entitled: COYOTES IN WOLVES CLOTHING, a peer reviewed paper by Tyler Wheeldon, Brent Patterson(Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources) and Dean Beyer(Michigan Dept of Natural Resources)............ This paper focuses on 3 alleged Wolf pups discovered in Michigan's Lower Peninsual............If indeed confirmed as Wolves, it would have been the first documentation of Wolves breeding in the LPMI...........After extensive genetic labwork on the 3 pups, Wheeldon et al. has concluded that the canids are an admix of a female Wolf and a male Coyoye......... The likelihood is that a female Wolf from the Upper Peninsula was staking out territory in the LPMI but had not come across any Male Wolves...........With Coyotes very much present in the LPMI, a pairing occurred and resulting Wolf/Coyote hybridization took place........Wheeldon et al. are of the scientific camp that professes that Gray Wolves and Coyotes do not hybridize but that Eastern Wolves and Coyotes do...........While not recently hybridizing, the Wolves found in the Great Lakes region do have a historical hybrid heritage resulting from Gray and Eastern Wolf pairings...............Eastern Wolves are known to hybridize with Coyotes(result is our Eastern Coyote or as Biologist Jon Way calls them, Coyowolves)........Wheeldon et al. hypothesizes that as Great Lakes Wolves colonize the Wolf friendly Michigan Lower Peninsula(there are somewhere between 850 and 1622 sq. miles of suitable LPMI habitat based on avaialbility of deer as prey, road and human density), that there could be additional Wolf/Coyote hybridization events until enough Great Lakes Wolves occupy the region............As I said yesterday and many times previously on this blog, our Eastern and Midwestern Wolf and Coyote populations are like a rich "broth",,,,laden with all types of "veggies and noodles"......At the end of the day, this blogger(layman, I am) comes out on the side of having the best functioning canids in our forests and fields,,,,,,,ones that can make a meal of Moose, Caribou, Elk, Deer and Beaver and persist into the forever despite the best efforts of most men to eliminate them from the landscape............GO WOLVES.........GO COYOTES,,,,,,,,,,,Go WOLF/COYOTE Hybrids..........Fulfill all ecolgical functions that nature has intended for members of your kind!

click here to read both the abstract as well AS THE FULL WHEELDON ET AL. PAPER ENTITLED: COYOTES IN WOLVES CLOTHING

Western Great Lakes Wolf(the gray wolf c.lupus)

Eastern Great Lakes Wolf(the Eastern Wolf C.lupus lycaon)

 

Western Coyote(C. latrans)

 

Eastern Coyote or Coywolf(C.lupus lycaon x latrans

Our friend Brent Patterson of the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario, Canada recently gave a talk entitled: COYOTES AND WOLVES IN EASTERN ONTARIO: FRIEND OR FOE?..........Brent outlined the fact that Coyotes initially inhabited just the southern prairies of Canada up until 1850...........Land clearing and the gradual eradication of Wolves allowed for Coyote expansion throughout nearly the whole of the Country........Wolves had originally occupied all of North America until European colonization shrunk their habitiat to small pockets throughout the North Country..............Brent and his Trent University colleagues subscribe to the theory that coyotes will mate or hybridize with eastern wolves, and eastern wolves will hybridize with gray wolves,,,,,,, but gray wolves and coyotes don't hybridize....... Eastern wolves, it turns out, allow gene flow from the smallest coyote to the largest gray wolf in Ontario(there is another group of Biologists including our friend Roland Kays who in turn have alternatively concluded that the Eastern Wolf is indeed the product of Gray Wolf/Coyote hygridization)..........Brent also points out that the most common wolf in Ontario, known as the Great Lakes wolf, is a gray/eastern hybrid........ A population of about 200 eastern wolves are concentrated in Algonquin Park..... They can be found as well in some small areas around the Park...........As always, tongue twisters and a myriad of "canid soup" revelations when listening to Brent layout the Wolf/Coyote canvas in Ontario

Wolves and Coyotes in Mississippi Mills

by Neil Carleton
millstonenews.com

There is more to coyote sightings in eastern Ontario than a Sens game with the visiting Phoenix team at Scotiabank Place. Although not many people may have seen them the other night, coyotes were on the prowl again close to suburban neighbourhoods in Almonte. Their distinctive yelping, a not uncommon local sound, was easy to hear from yards or homes in the water tower area as they hunted in nearby fields.

Coyote sightings in towns and cities are often reported as news of some concern or alarm. In fact, their greatest concentrations in Ontario are in urban and suburban areas. This information was part of a recent presentation by Dr. Brent Patterson, called Coyotes and Wolves in Eastern Ontario: Friend or Foe?, at the March 10^th AGM of the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust Conservancy in Lanark.

A long time scientific researcher with the MNR, he was invited to speak on the topic in an effort to dispel common myths with scientific information about wolves and coyotes in Ontario. Dr. Patterson is an adjunct professor in environmental and life sciences at Trent University, in Peterborough, and has extensive research experience studying the populations of wolves and coyotes.









Maps, charts, graphs, and photos were included in Dr. Patterson's March 10 presentation about wolves and coyotes in Ontario.

Coyotes, he explained in his introduction, had a limited range in Canada when European settlers first arrived. They were restricted mostly to the southern prairies, until about 1850 when extensive changes were made to the eastern landscape of the continent for farming. Their range now covers almost all of North America.

Eastern and gray wolves, on the other hand, which were once found all over the continent, are now relatively restricted in range due to intense persecution. We haven't been able to do the same to coyotes, Dr. Patterson noted. One of the main reasons for the current distribution of populations is the hybridization of wolves and coyotes in Ontario.

Gray Wolf in Hudson Bay, Canada

  
Dr. Patterson's research, based on genetic sampling, has shown that coyotes will mate or hybridize with eastern wolves, and eastern wolves with gray wolves, but gray wolves and coyotes don't hybridize. Eastern wolves, it turns out, allow gene flow from the smallest coyote to the largest gray wolf in Ontario

The attentive audience learned too that the most common wolf in Ontario, known as the Great Lakes wolf, is a gray/eastern hybrid. A population of about 200 eastern wolves are concentrated in Algonquin Park. They can be found as well in some small areas around the Park.

Eastern Wolf in Algonquin Park

Identifying wolves and coyotes at a glance in the field can be a challenge at times due to their range of hybrid sizes. To find a pure gray wolf in Ontario, you'd need to look in the lowlands of Hudson Bay. At the top end of the size scale, Dr. Patterson has trapped and attached a GPS radio collar to a male in that region weighing 140 lb. Eastern wolves are smaller than Great Lakes wolves, with females weighing 45-55 lb. and males in the 55-75 lb. range.

The basic social unit for coyotes is a mated pair with the pups of the most recent litter. For wolves it's a breeding pair plus pups from various litters, like the pack of 14 members Dr. Patterson studied in the Lake Nipigon area. The largest wolf pack he knew of in northern Ontario had 19 members.

To be successful in raising pups, both coyotes and wolves need to establish a distinctive territory. The size of the territory is related to the amount of available food, as well as the body size of the animals. In the southern part of the province, for example, there are 30 to 40 coyotes per 100 square km. Population density can be higher in cities. Coyotes thrive in suburban and even industrial environments where food is plentiful.

Eastern Coyote in Ontario
  




Although it's possible that eastern wolves could be sighted here, the distribution map presented by Dr. Patterson clearly showed that our area is well away from typical territories where wolves have been studied by wildlife researchers. He outlined that we have mostly eastern coyotes and eastern coyote/wolf hybrids here, with adult females weighing on average 35 lb. and males about 40 lb.

Breeding is finished now, and it wouldn't be uncommon to see a coyote or two hunting in a field, or along a fence row, especially if you're traveling along rural byways in our area. Keep your ears open for the symphony of howling, yipping, yelping, and barking that announces the nearby presence of one of nature's most adaptive creatures on the continent.