Some wildlife news shorts

Some recent stories about wildlife certainly deserve to be mentioned, and with a link if possible.

Trap set for wolf gets a cougar instead, then a Park employee- It was set  on the Glacier National Park boundary, and a cougar stepped on it and was found caught by a Park Service employee.  The cougar was released unharmed by a MT FWP specialist. The trapper was fined for an illegal trap (too much exposed bait). Visiting the site the next day with a Park Ranger, the employee stepped into another wolf trap adjacent. He was briefly caught but released himself uninjured.  http://tinyurl.com/aubnzmp. From the Missoulian.
Rural Nevada legislators get governor to push out Director of Nevada Dept. of Wildlife- Director Ken Mayer was asked to resign by Nevada’s Governor Brian Sandoval (R) after a long campaign by rural legislators who figured he was responsible for a decline in deer herds and paying too much attention to sage grouse. The true cause of the deer decline and sage grouse in Nevada are well known. It’s the huge range fires that are sweeping the state. They are caused by the cheat grass spread mostly by cattle grazing  and hotter, longer summer conditions (changed climate). It is a near religious belief that these things haven’t happened or don’t matter in today’s rise of militant political stupidity. http://tinyurl.com/9wfuul2. Reno Gazette-Journal.
Probable lone wolf shot in Kansas- An 80-pound probable wolf was shot in Kansas. It was almost certainly a lone dispersing wolf and of origin in the Great Lakes., but DNA testing is underway with results in a couple months.
Three mountain lions killed by Utah Division of Wildlife Resources after killing pet dog- Cougars killed a dog and injured a second one in the mountain town of Woodland, Utah, population 330. So three mountain lions were killed by the state’s wildlife agency.   Snow had pushed deer near town and cougar followed them there, of course. Meanwhile a coyote killed a Jack Russell terrier as a woman was walking it along a trail near Salt Lake City.
USDA, Wildlife Services’ trapper arrested for trapping neighbor’s dog he didn’t like- The Wildlife Service’s agent was on duty when he trapped his neighbor’s dog. The neighbor called the police. The trapper helped free the dog, which lost a dozen teeth. The incident took place in a suburb of Phoenix. AZ. Wildlife Services has been under attack by conservation and anti-trapping groups. We have run many stories about them. http://tinyurl.com/ahw8kd7. Sacramento Bee.
The Little Worm and the Big Lies. Bob Ferris of Cascadia Wildlands has a great article about the attempt by anti-wolf folks to scare us by saying wolves will give vast numbers of people tapeworm larva cysts in the form of Echinococcus granulosus. We have gone over this many times, but Ferris follows the development and spread of this very inaccurate information meant to scare people.  http://www.cascwild.org/the-little-worm-and-the-big-lies/


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

  1. Barb Rupers Avatar
    Barb Rupers

    The large canine killed in Kansas by coyote hunters has been DNA tested and is a wolf from the WGL.

    http://siouxcityjournal.com/sports/recreation/outdoors/test-confirms-wolf-killed-in-kansas-last-month/article_859c2ce6-c0e3-5f30-8ccb-30edf81112ac.html

    1. WM Avatar
      WM

      Where there was one there could be more (now or eventually).

    2. Immer Treue Avatar
      Immer Treue

      “The hunters have not been identified.” Perhaps what should have been written, is that the unidentified hunters did not properly “identify” their target prior to trigger itch taking over their cognitive processes.

    3. Mike Avatar
      Mike

      Wow. I’m shocked that hunters led to the downfall of a wolf that may have made it to Colorado.

      Idiots.

  2. Barb Rupers Avatar
    Barb Rupers

    Large meaning large compared to a coyote, not to other wolves.

  3. Harley Avatar
    Harley

    Gah, I hope I’m not being totally ignorant here but… if they can determine that a wolf is from the Great Lakes region by it’s DNA, why can’t DNA prove that the wolves that were introduced to Idaho are or are not these ‘huge Canadian wolves’ that I keep hearing about? Unless the wolves are howling with a Canadian accent maybe and that’s what has identified them? 🙂

    Just wondering!

    1. ma'iingan Avatar
      ma’iingan

      “…why can’t DNA prove that the wolves that were introduced to Idaho are or are not these ‘huge Canadian wolves’ that I keep hearing about?”

      The latest thorough taxonomic analyses (Nowak 1995, 2002) show that the “knit line” between subspecies Canis lupus nubilis and Canis lupus occidentalis occurs roughly around the Canada/Montana border.

      Morphologically, C. l. occidentalis of western Canada and Alaska is the larger of the two subspecies – so there is some amount of truth to the claim of the Canadian wolves being larger. However, the minor size differentiation has been blown way out of proportion by wolf opponents who have substituted “giant” for “larger”.

      Regardless, on either side of the “knit line” is an admixture zone where the subspecies interbreed, so the morphological differences occur as a gradient that is nearly indistinguishable without in-depth taxonomic analysis.

  4. john Avatar
    john

    did you read the bozeman paper today, had a front page on bison,,,, some yahoo,either the rep proposing his third rendition of a bill stated or wildlife official noted that if we would let the best cattle rancher take over bison in YELLOWSTONE, he would take care of this problem as the would know how to manage them,,,,,,couple of known pricks in gardiner area threw in there nickel,,, hoppe et al, going with there usual burscellocis line, and I know for a fact, seen it daily that those brucellosis elk graze regularly with his cows.. he “ranches” on the north side of the river, just across from the little circle of cabins about 4-5 miles north of gardiner,,,it was really irritating,, also, has anyone seen or heard more or anything regarding allowing trail riding on the parks trails? if so, that sure has been a quiet push,,

    1. john Avatar
      john

      follow up on that last comment, i was referring to bicycles/mountain bikes on trails,,

  5. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    “I think you go in with that attitude, that the wild horses are part of an equation in the West, of life, of wildlife in this instance, I think it changes the whole attitude. Because if you approach the question not as “an expendable commodity, the wild horse,” or “a nuisance, the wild horse,” but you approach and say, okay, now we are talking about conservation, preservation, maintenance, multi-use on the public lands”

    Clicked on the “the man who could save America’s wild horses” poster on the right of the site and that statement kinda of stood out when I think about the area I live in and the fact that “many” who ranch, raise horses – usually have some broodmares & a stud” and foals each year – are disgrunted about not having a canner market to dispose of those not so perfect “ranch raised” horses, that don’t sell fast enough, for a profit…. and are now taking up pasture space on the ole homestead.

    Can imagine how angry they might be about the subject of wild horses on the dole.

Author

Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.

Subscribe to get new posts right in your Inbox

Ralph Maughan
×