The next bloody bag of “mystery meat” from overseas could contain a virus that will ravage our native wildlife population or indeed ravage us-
“Bush meat” is the name euphemistically given for things killed in the (generally African) “bush,” and consumed by hard pressed natives who either don’t care or can’t be choosy about what [...]
Continue Reading →The Associated Press is reporting that a bighorn sheep lamb in Yellowstone National Park has pneumonia. Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks has been tracking sheep in the Gardiner area just north of Yellowstone National Park since reports of coughing bighorn were given to them in early December. In response FWP has killed 5 sheep but [...]
Continue Reading →After 22 years as the chief biologist at the National Elk Refuge, Bruce Smith pens an easy-to-read, but stark warning about continuing elk feeding-
Prions are bit like tiny pieces of radioactive material in that they are very dangerous promoters of illness and for practical purposes never really go away, resting in the dust and [...]
Continue Reading →Did Canada cover up the emergence of Atlantic salmon virus on the Pacific Coast for nine years?
In late October we ran the story that infectious salmon anemia (ISA), which has devastated Atlantic salmon and salmon farms in Chile was found in three [...]
Continue Reading →Wintering elk on Refuge to be reduced to 5000 to 7000-
Angus M. Thuermer Jr. of the Jackson Hole News and Guide has written another article on the problem of too many wintering elk in the vicinity of Jackson Hole — too many elk at the feedgrounds and national elk refuge to avoid a [...]
Continue Reading →Once thought extinct, reintroduction to Utah just one of a growing number-
The black-footed ferret, closely related to the weasel, but a predatory specialist that eats prairie dogs almost exclusively (about 92% of their diet), was thought to be extinct back in the 1970s. Amazingly a pet dog discovered a colony near Meeteetse, Wyoming in [...]
Continue Reading →This morning the Idaho Statesman published the view of Margaret Soulen-Hinson, the President of the American Sheep Industry Association. The letter was a response to a letter submitted to the Idaho Statesman co-signed by John Gale, National Wildlife Federation; Rob Fraser, Idaho Wildlife Federation; Craig Gehrke, The Wilderness Society; John Robison, Idaho Conservation [...]
Continue Reading →Common human brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii doesn’t just make rats like cats-
It works like this. The protozoan Toxoplasma comes to maturity inside a cat and the cysts are expelled in cat feces. Any cat that lives part of the time outside may be infected. The parasite doesn’t hurt the cat, however.
A rat or [...]
Continue Reading →Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been found in elk, deer, and moose in several areas of Wyoming and has been moving ever closer to the already brucellosis infected elk herds that use feeding grounds in northwest Wyoming. The feeding grounds long ago caused the elk to stop migrating to a unique area along the Continental [...]
Continue Reading →A potentially devastating virus has been discovered for the first time in Pacific salmon stocks of British Columbia. The disease, infectious salmon anemia (ISA), has devastated Atlantic salmon and salmon farms in Chile, but how the virus will effect Pacific salmon is unknown. The fear is that it could be devastating all along the west [...]
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