February 2012
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Since the beginning of the Idaho wolf hunting and trapping season I have been keeping a spreadsheet with a running tally of wolf kills. Presently the total stands at 332 dead wolves with 237 taken in the hunt and 95 taken by trapping and snaring. There are three zones that have been closed so far…
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Here is the latest open thread on wildlife news topics. You can access the previous open thread here.
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Senator Jeff Siddoway’s Wolf Kill Bill S1305 has been sent back to committee which effectively kills it. The bill would have allowed ranchers to kill wolves by various methods including use of live bait and even aerial gunning. Yesterday the USFWS told the Idaho Statesman that the bill could threaten the wolf delisting plan and…
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Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum is not content to criticize President Obama’s policy objectives from a political perspective, he’s taken to the pulpit criticizing the President’s, and an entire population of religious people, whose faith compels them to consider the environment. Santorum is at odds with his own church on environmental issues – Los Angeles Times Santorum was…
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Controversial bill, S1283, dies on a rare tie vote- but S1282, a similar bill, is still alive. There aren’t many Democrats in the Idaho state senate, but all of them joined with about 40 per cent of that body’s Republicans to kill the effort to turn the Land Owner Appreciation law (LAP) into a possible…
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Tiny herd spends most of its time in British Columbia- The woodland caribou have been on the endangered species list for a long time, several million dollars have been spent on their conservation. That might sound like a lot, but it is a total over many years. They depend on old growth rain forest, living…
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I think it’s safe to say that this couldn’t be called a trend, but last year a funding shortfall for USDA Wildlife Services shortened their coyote killing season by two months in Montana while at the same time the number of domestic sheep that coyotes killed ended up being lower by 1,900. The effectiveness…
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The Idaho Department of Fish and Game issued a press release this afternoon stating that in early February, USDA Wildlife Services killed 14 wolves from helicopters in the Lolo Zone. They say that it was done in an attempt to reduce predation on the elk herd. The press release goes on to say that “[i]n…