Do you have some interesting wildlife news. March 24, 2015

It is time to create a new page of “Interesting Wildlife News.”

Early spring on the Aquarius Plateau. Southern Utah. Photo Ralph Maughan
Early spring on the Aquarius Plateau. Southern Utah. Photo Ralph Maughan

Please put your wildlife news in the comments below. Do not post copyrighted material, and here is the link to the “old” news of March 13, 2015.

457 thoughts on “Do you have some interesting wildlife news. March 24, 2015

    1. My mind doesn’t function in a way to grasp the obsession with annihilating wolves. Nothing adds up in a logical way. None of the excuses used to justify the centuries long witch hunt of wolves are real on the scale that they are presented.

      All of us know the long list of excuses and we know that the damage done by wolves is negligent in the big picture.

      Lose over 120 sheep in an auto accident, not big deal. It happens.

      Lose 120 sheep because they got spooked by wolves and ran over one another and you get a rider attached to pork bill that delists wolves from the ESA. Then the true wolves came out of their sheepskins and commenced with the slaughter of wolves.

      These Einsteins spend more on killing wolves than they lose on livestock losses. The older I get the less I understand humans.

      1. Yvette,

        ++Nothing adds up in a logical way.””

        You miss some key elements. NRM and WGL states were told by the federal government to meet ESA obligations they had to have approved “wolf management plans” (including state statutes to protect and manage wolves) which included a pre-determined minimum number of wolves. Importantly states would be allowed to manage wolves once those objectives were met (MN has been waiting for 10 years after its objectives were met), and regulations to delist would be honored. Well, guess what, the federal government lied. I expect with your ethnic background you would understand some of that.

        And, let’s be clear, there is no risk of wolves in the NRM or WGL of going extinct (or even the ecosystems on which wolves rely because they are highly adaptable) – the reasons for the ESA protections. And, of course, we know wolf populations do not remain static; and social tolerance can be a challenge the more there are. Numbers and range management were front and center from day one of wolf repopulation and reintroduction. Nobody knew, however, just how fast populations would grow. And, the more wolves, the greater cost to livestock producers (non-lethal measures are not free to most, and livestock losses are an expanding threat with more wolves over the long term, even if nominal). Wolves are also symbolic of something else that adds tension to state-federal relationships in some Western states, and states love to hold the feds feet to the fire, so to speak.

        Strikes me the logic is actually pretty darn clear. You just don’t like it.

        And, given some thought a rider for WGL and WY wolf delisting is probably a less invasive surgical approach than laying open the guts of ESA for possible major surgery most of us won’t like.

        1. WM, you’re referencing the policy and legal aspect. My post was referencing the human psychology that drives the negative reaction to wolves and the management of wolves.

          I know you are logical enough to understand that with this species there is a small range in the middle. It’s either love them or hate them. Too many people see them as either demi-Gods or devils. The problem is when the fringe is developing the policies and writing and enacting the laws.

          The psychology behind the worship and the hate of wolves, which is what drives the law pertaining to wolf management is illogical. It simply does not make sense.

          1. And of course WillyM doesn’t mention the courts found the management plans wanting so they had to use the back door to continue their killing,oops I mean management.

            1. Last time I checked, the courts making these decisions are part of the federal government – the more inconsistency among the 3 branches the better for the states to call foul about what the federal government promised and then failed to deliver.

              Even some here get indignant about those inconsistencies.

              1. I would say the courts have been very consistent, striking down weak plans at least 5 times.

                1. The inconsistencies go like this: Congress passes a law (signed by the President); agencies implement the law, sometimes interpreting provisions that are unclear/ambiguous and there is the occasional push from the then sitting President/Administration to interpret and implement with latitude under the law. Then somebody thinks the law is not being followed, in this case in the NRM and WGL decades down the road after expenditures of tens/hundreds of millions of dollars in implementation plans, including negotiations and AGREEMENTS with states.

                  A court steps in and says, to the agency. “Well, you didn’t follow the law. You didn’t give sufficient reasons for what you did or didn’t do. Your actions were arbitarary and capricious. You violated the APA and the substantive law.

                  So, now the agency goes back to the drawing board to take another run at seeing if it can follow the law, sometimes disingenuously. In the meantime the states then say, well we just can’t trust you bastard feds. You went back on your word. We have no respect for the federal government.

                  So, these states go back to their little caves, fuming all the way. They then start to work on their Congressional types. “Fix this shit.” Get the picture, now?

                  That is why the 17 Western Governors (thru their Conference meetings) have a long laundry list of things they want “fixed.’

              2. yes what is the inconsistency WM, just about every time the issue of state management plans or the USFWS service rules have gone up for judicial consideration they are struck down. Why is that inconsistent. This is a good list of the case law and summaries of the opinions. file:///Users/louisekane/Documents/Wolves%20&%20Wildlife/Law%20and%20legal%20/Wolves:%20Related%20Cases%20%7C%20Animal%20Legal%20&%20Historical%20Center.webarchive

              3. Too bad most of the things the Western Governors want fixed ain’t broken.

                “We have no respect for the federal government.”

                All the while with their hands out taking all that federal money.

                1. Notice how WilleM when called on trying to defend the states and their faulty management plans switches gears and tries to impress us with his 4th grade civics lesson. Sorry Willy the real problem is the hayseed in the West and those they elect to govern them.

                2. timz,

                  You conveniently forgot (or maybe just didn’t know) that the federal government, specifically FWS had to approve the plans the states prepared, before delisting could occur, along with the DPS technicalities (you know the part where federal Judge Molloy said FWS can’t delist in ID and MT, while in WY without an approved plan remains listed and fully protected).

                  Let me say that again, the federal government (Executive Branch>Department of Interior>Fish & Wildlife Service) has to approve each state’s wolf management plan. So the federal government says what each state plan must have in order to pass muster and meet the requirements of the law. They make the rules, right?

                  You will also note the primary defendant, in fact the ONLY defendant, in each of the lawsuits referenced is the Department of Interior – FWS, typically captioned as the Secretary of Interior by name. There is no need to defend the states (all but WY, and that would be ID and MT in the NRM; MN, WI and MI in the WGL), because they were doing what they were told to do under the law – turns out it might have been wrong. So, they got bad advice from FWS, Interior, and of course that is the federal government.

                  And, you would be surprised timmy, quite a few lawsuits in federal court challenge the separation of powers issue – whether it is discussed in grade school civics class or not, some folks still don’t understand it. Some here, in fact quite a few, did not and still do not understand the language of “no judicial review” in the wolf Congressional rider for ID and MT. And, let me refresh your memory, in case you are among those who don’t get that simple point. The FWS regulation for the NRM (except WY) delisting is now considered a statute passed by Congress (not a regulation adopted by an agency. A federal regulation is subject to review. A Congressional law is not subject to judicial review UNLESS it is in violation of the Constitution. I know you are never going to understand that, but thought the explanation would serve a heuristic purpose anyway, since you seem to be hung up on 4th graders.

                  Also guess you are going to have to expand your “hayseed” criticism to include MN, WI and MI because they are in the same grouping of states that don’t want more wolves, and they currently seek the Congressional rider relief along with the “hayseeds” in WY. Won’t be long before OR and WA (give it 5-7 years), could be doing EXACTLY the same thing. Hence, the wolf/ESA issue is on the Western Governors list of things that “need a ‘fixin.”

                3. The government lied, their inconsistent, blah blah. None of that means anything despite all of your pseudo-intellectual drivel trying to convince us otherwise. Wolf-haters in the recovery area are more likely to base their hatred of wolves on Little Red Riding than anything the government has ever done. They hate wolves, period. The fact that you can’t seem to grasp this simple fact says a lot about how smart you really are.

        2. “And, the more wolves, the greater cost to livestock producers (non-lethal measures are not free to most, and livestock losses are an expanding threat with more wolves over the long term, even if nominal)”

          BUT are the real facts about losses being taken in to account WM? Over a million head of cattle in Montana and losses to wolves last year amounted to what, 34 head give or take?

          3 months in to this year and 7 head lost/confirmed to date?

          http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/wolf/wolfWeekly2015.html

          20 years in the same place and I can count on half of one hand, the times I’ve actually caught a glimpse of wolves in my neck of the woods. Yet according to some, they are everywhere and devastating ranching communities.

          Chicken Little Syndrome

          “Every time someone believes the hype behind an apocalyptic theory that will end the world, and the hysteria that ensues. It is an old cumulative tale about a chicken (or a hare in an early version) who believes the world is coming to an end. The phrase “The sky is falling” has passed into the English language as a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent”

          And fact is, when a rancher takes an occasional hit by a predator, it makes good press whether its a wolf or not but little press is ever given about how lax that rancher is when it comes to protecting their product.

          1. The “real facts,” mean nothing, Nancy. It is the appearance that greases their arguments.

            But if lots of ranchers have to add the “non-lethal” measures just in case the new predators might show up, that does add up to real money, some might suggest – and it doesn’t always work, with some evidence it won’t work over the long term. That is their argument.

            1. I’m still struggling with the “appearances” aspect of it, WM. The excuse that’s being tossed around out there every time wildlife is accused of just being wildlife, in what’s left of their habitat.

            2. The economic impacts of wolves on ranchers are so trite compared to what many people go through in this world. If they want to bitch and moan about losing a calf here or a steer there out of their herd and/or the cost of ACTUALLY GUARDING their herds from predators… well they need a taste of reality. Canis Lupus isn’t going to put anyone out of business.

              The rancher’s “argument” against wolves is pure hyperbole. I know people on their knees with the weight of massive debt, or just scraping by on minimum wage and are barely able to make rent on a small apartment. They’re in situations where something as simple as a traffic ticket means they might have to choose between paying their utility bill or receiving court-mandated community service. They can’t even dream of owning or leasing massive tracts of land so that a herd of 2-3 dollar/lb behemoths can graze the land into oblivion.

              I also know intelligent individuals (some veterans) who are constantly harassed by the police or denied things like loans or jobs based on the color of their skin. My point is that so many people in this country alone have little to no control over their reality and have to make the best of it. If a handful of ranchers and cattle barons want to complain about avoidable conflicts with a native carnivore, because their personal fiefdom has been breached by one force that they don’t have complete control over, then they’d better listen up. I’m playing a sad song for them on my tiny violin.

              1. Prof. Sweat: Well said…+1
                I can hear your sad violin music from here.

              2. Whew! ++ Spot on, Professor Sweat.

                I stick to my initial post about not grasping the centuries long psychology behind what drives the extreme positions on wolves. Though I will say those on the ‘love them’ side is relatively new.

                Ranchers in the West may get their arguments greased by wolf policy and the power of the ag industry but in the end they will lose everything. Drought is the devil hanging out in the wings waiting to kill the cow that greases their grazing leases.

                Maybe their subconscious senses the end of their era.

      2. good materials for outreach purpose are:

        1) making room for wolf recovery : the case for maintaining endangered species act protections for america’s wolves
        http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/gray_wolves/pdfs/Making_Room_for_Recovery_print.pdf

        2) northern rocky mountain gray wolf is not yet recovered
        http://www.eeescience.utoledo.edu/Faculty/Gottgens/Conservation%20Biology/Jiquan%20papers%202010/BioScience%202009%20Northern%20Rocky%20Mountain%20Gray%20Wolf.pdf

        3)We need a new law to protect our wildlife from critical decline
        http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2014/nov/21/we-need-nature-wellbeing-act-protect-wildlife-decline

        “Edmund Stoiber…discovered that European environmental laws account for less than 1% of the costs of regulation to business: the lowest cost of any of the regulations he investigated. “However, businesses perceive the burden to be much higher in this area.”

        1. excerpt from “making room for wolf recovery : the case for maintaining endangered species act protections for america’s wolves” :

          To identify and map unoccupied, suitable wolf habitat in the United States, we used 27 studies that model wolf habitat in different regions to create a single map. Based on this analysis, there is up to 530,000 square miles of suitable wolf habitat in the United States, only roughly 171,000 square miles of which is occupied, demonstrating that wolves currently occupy only about 30 percent of existing suitable habitat. The southern Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Cascade Mountains in Washington, Oregon and California, the Sierra Nevada and the Adirondacks are all places that could support wolf populations. According to the studies, these areas are capable of supporting a minimum of 5,000 wolves, which would nearly double the existing wolf population.

          Not only is there extensive suitable habitat in other regions of the country, but wolves are dispersing into this habitat. We identified 56 dispersal events in total, with an average dispersal distance of 264 miles. This data shows that wolves have and will continue to move into suitable habitat on the West Coast, southern Rocky Mountains and Northeast, where they need protection if they are going to survive and establish populations (Figure 2). Indeed, with protections under the Endangered Species Act, wolves were able to move into Oregon and Washington from both the northern Rockies and British Columbia and form fledgling populations.

          Our data also shows dispersal events steadily increased from 2000 to 2011, when populations were steadily growing with endangered species protections in place, and appear to have since declined now that all states with substantial wolf populations have enacted aggressive hunting and trapping seasons, leading to population declines (Figure 3). This further highlights the need for continued protection both in areas that support source populations and in areas to which wolves are dispersing.

          1. an excerpt from “northern rocky mountain gray wolf is not yet recovered”:

            An ecosystem recovery cascade has begun but will not be sustained.

            These restoration effects were seen in YNP ecosystems when the wolf population reached its “ecologically effective” density (Soulé et al. 2005) of 16 per 1000 km2 throughout the park’s 8980 km2 (Ripple and Beschta 2004), although the density of wolves in prime habitats of YNP’s northern range had already reached 50 per 1000 km2 by 2002 (Smith et al. 2003). The current density of wolves throughout the NRM DPS is about 5.5 wolves per 1000 km2 (Carroll et al. 2006); if reduced to 150 in each of three states, it would be 1.6 per 1000 km2. In contrast, Minnesota’s postdelisting management plan precludes hunting and trapping for at least five years after delisting and calls for a minimum wolf population of 1600, which is 18wolves per 1000km2 (MDNR2001. A similar density of wolves, well-distributed across 277,377 km2 of suitable habitat in the NRM DPS (Carroll et al. 2006),would equal a metapopulation exceeding 17,000. This does not include some suitable habitat in areas of Oregon,Washington,Utah,and Colorado that are outside the arbitrarily drawn DPS boundaries. Utah and Colorado alone could support an
            estimated 1600 wolves (Carroll et al. 2006).

            1. What has recovery looked like for other species?

              Before the gray wolf delistings, only nine North American species of mammals and birds had been delisted as a result of recovery (table 1; USFWS 2009b). In these delisting
              cases, the recovered taxa (or DPSs) had achieved one or both of the following: (1) a minimum population of 1000 breeding pairs, or (2) an increasing or stable population well distributed across the majority of the original range of the species.At least six of these delisted species met both criteria.

              In contrast, the NRM gray wolf will have been recovered over only about 6 percent of its original range (or 26 percent of the DPS area).

              Aggressive wolf control in these areas will make it unlikely that suitable habitat beyond the DPS boundaries will be colonized.

              Extrapolating from data onYNP wolf packs showing that there were only six breeding pairs for 124 wolves (NPS 2008), the current NRM metapopulation could have as few as 77 breeding pairs. The USFWS claims there are “about 100 breeding pairs” in theNRM(USFWS 2009a [press release, 14 January 2009]), but extrapolation from the YNP example suggests that even if the states (and the USFWS, in its management of wolves in Wyoming) maintain the targets they promise, there may be as few as 58 breeding pairs following delisting. Of course, only if the NRM gray wolf metapopulation drops below 450 individuals — which could mean as
              few as 22 breeding pairs — will the requirement for relisting be triggered.

              None of the previously delisted species has been subjected to any significant level of purposeful population reduction; in fact, harvest will be allowed for only one of these delisted species (grizzly bear), and that harvest allowance is not expected to reduce the population size. In contrast, we fully expect that the NRM gray wolf population will be substantially reduced from its current level, especially in Idaho.Most of the species delisted before 2007 have increased considerably since delisting
              (e.g., a several-fold increase in the North American peregrine falcon population; USFWS 2009b).

              1. Meeting the two criteria stated above (aminimum of 1000 breeding pairs and a stable population overmost of the original range) was not a coincidence for most of the nine delisted species but was
                actually a legal requirement of the ESA, which defines as endangered “any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.”A threatened species is “any species which is likely to become an
                endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout
                all or a significant portion of its range.” Therefore, by law, a species must no longer be at risk of becoming endangered across a significant part—much less a majority—of its range before it can be considered recovered and delisted (Vucetich et al. 2006). In the case of the NRM gray wolf, the state and federal plans have the explicit goal of preventing colonization of areas outside the core gray wolf recovery zone,which certainly equates to a “significant portion of its range” (figures
                1, 2b). Given that American society has deemed such a loss unacceptable, as evidenced by the unanimous passage of the ESA by the US Senate in 1973, it has been argued that achieving restoration across a minority of a species’ range does not pass the normative test for delisting, regardless of the results of population viability analyses or other scientific data
                (Vucetich et al. 2006).

  1. Yvette
    The bigger mystery is (and I’ve said it before) how does such a small minority of people make decisions for the larger group. If this collection of fools were making these choices with only their own money, they could not do it.
    To make our pain even worse, they execute their plans with our taxpayer dollars.
    How in the hell could things be worse than that?

    1. “The bigger mystery is (and I’ve said it before) how does such a small minority of people make decisions for the larger group.”

      I have no answer. My best guess is they have great marketing skills and a large bank account with which to sell their game of three-card Monty. Con-artists and grifters.

  2. A new bison management plan for Yellowstone NP is open for comment although every proposed alternative except for one looks quite similar to standard operating procedure. I thought quarantining the animals without bruceollosis antibodies for a few years and then re-locating them to tribes and other former habitat would be feasible, but there is no mention in the alternatives. I will include constructing additional quarantine facilities in the park in my comments. Anything to prevent them from being slaughtered by the park service or by “hunters” immediately outside the park.

    file:///C:/Users/owner/Downloads/Yellowstone%20Bison%20Plan%20EIS%20Public%20Scoping%20Newsletter1%20(1).pdf

    1. I’m still giving them a f—ing zero for not recognizing the tenuous situation this tiny herd was in before the hunt even began.
      I’ve had some amazing (photo)opportunities with this herd in the past, as have others. Of course that was when I went to Montana and spent money. Ain’t doin’ that no mo….

    1. What’s great about this is that the Red Cliff Chippewa tribe has actually put together a thoughtful plan, not trying to make an unchallengeable end run around existing protections like WY and the Great Lakes, and with no real intention of protecting wolves after a so-called endangered species recovery. Reprehensible.

  3. the same experiment should be done in the Congress – Imhofe would get some spotlight again

    What happened when MPs took a maths exam
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-19801666

    A total of 97 MPs were asked this probability problem: if you spin a coin twice, what is the probability of getting two heads?

    Among Conservative members, 47% gave the wrong answer, which is disappointing enough. But of the 44 Labour MPs who took part, 77% answered incorrectly.

    The survey also asked MPs if they generally felt confident when dealing with numbers –

    76% of Tories said they did
    72% of Labour MPs surveyed expressed confidence

    However, when asked if they thought politicians use official statistics and figures accurately when talking about their policies, only 17% of Conservative respondents agreed, as did 30% of the Labour members who took part.

      1. “What should doctors do? The standard answer, that they should take an additional course on statistics, is an obvious nonstarter. It is a well-known phenomenon that medical students are required to master advanced calculus for admission to medical school, but once admitted you’ll be hard-pressed to find medical students with any facility in calculus. Similarly, the course in statistics will be taken, the students will do well, and they will not use it in practice.”

        rork – thanks for Tom Siegfried,

        Peter James Donnelly

        https://www.ted.com/talks/peter_donnelly_shows_how_stats_fool_juries

        and Arthur Benjamin

        https://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_s_formula_for_changing_math_education

        1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexner_Report

          At that time, the 155 medical schools in North America differed greatly in their curricula, methods of assessment, and requirements for admission and graduation. Flexner visited all 155 schools and generalized about them as follows: “Each day students were subjected to interminable lectures and recitations. After a long morning of dissection or a series of quiz sections, they might sit wearily in the afternoon through three or four or even five lectures delivered in methodical fashion by part-time teachers. Evenings were given over to reading and preparation for recitations. If fortunate enough to gain entrance to a hospital, they observed more than participated.”

          The Report became notorious for its harsh description of certain establishments, for example describing Chicago’s 14 medical schools as “a disgrace to the State whose laws permit its existence… indescribably foul… the plague spot of the nation.”

    1. The first sentence of the article is more reasonable than the headline:
      “Five police officers stayed overnight amid the debris at the Germanwings crash site to protect it from souvenir hunters, journalists and wolves.”
      Thus the crash site is on extremely difficult mountainous terrain (helicopters can´t alight at the site), you never know….Therefore this precautionary measure by the French authorities.

    2. Perhaps if a better job had been done to protect the plane from the co-pilot, nobody would have had to worry about anything! I’m tired of humans not taking responsibility for their own failings and shifting it to animals who cannot speak or protect themselves from us.

      1. Although I have to say I do not think Lufthansa is at fault here, this man is entirely to blame for (it appears) lying to his employer. But this is the first time I’ve ever heard of wolves connected to a plane crash aftermath. 🙁

        1. I not only feel really bad for the people involved and their families, but for the airline too! I’ve always liked Lufthansa. 🙁

    1. It’s odd that the pundits never ask that we have less infrastructure in need of maintenance. There’s not enough details about what needs work for me to judge well. I don’t really get their motivations. I won’t complain about spending dollars for land rather than maintenance. (I’m for more funding too ofcourse.)

  4. Damn!! Lets just make the speed limit 100 mph and triple the fines and the hell with any non human species, that might need to cross these highways 🙂

    http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/Senate-advances-80-mph-highway-speed-limit-proposal/32010522

    “SB 375 passed out of the Senate Highways and Transportation Committee along party lines last week after the committee struck a provision that would have raised truck speeds in certain areas”

    Oh yeah!! Lets give these big eighteen wheelers, hauling thousands of pounds of cargo (who will never be able to stop on a dime 🙂 even more speed!

    On my way home about a month ago and came across a cattle hauler, on its side, after crossing from one lane to the other, before crashing thru a pasture.

    The dust had barely settled from the crash when I stopped and someone who’d also stopped, said “help was on the way”

    Turns out this guy’s trucks/drivers have been involved in a few accidents (seems he runs his trucks on bald tires – and it also seems, inspections are lax to the point of criminal, around here) but he’s so far, only killed cattle when his rigs run off the roads.

    Although a neighbor last year, barely missed being taken out by another cattle hauler who blew a tire coming off a local pass. 25 + cows killed in that incident.

    I originally thought the trailer was empty (not a sound came from it) but heard later that it was full of cows. They got most of them out alive but had to shoot some because of injuries. But the injuries extended way beyond the accident – most of the cows, from the wreak, aborted their near term, fetuses.

    Got to dig a little to get at the facts but the “What’s For Dinner – BEEF!” crowd, probably hasn’t the time to be concerned about how the “beef” actually got to their local supermarket & table.

    1. “but he’s so far, only killed cattle when his rigs run off the roads.”

      Dress him up like a wolf and all hell with break lose with the ranchers who own the cattle.

      I repeat myself and it was only two days ago that I made this point. Lose livestock in auto/truck crashes and no big deal. Lose one cow to a wolf and entire packs of wolves get slaughtered by chicken poop men shooting them from aircraft at the bequest of ranchers.

      There is no logic to this mindset.

    1. Ida.

      They have been hunting mountain sheep in that area for the last 60 years. The killing of one ram in hunting district 305 is not going to hurt the population one bit. WTF

      Area 305 is on a draw where the other 5 hunting disticts in the Beartooth Absaroka are the only place in the US that a hunter can buy a sheep tag over the counter. When the quota for the district is filled the district closes in 48 hours. The sheep population has never been hurt.

      1. A bit too much Black Jack again this evening Elk. It’s not the loss of 1 Ram, it’s the loss of the other 45 % as a result of Hoppe and his crowd of morons…….

        1. What does he care? He got his trophy, the hell with the rest of the herd. This is the hunter mentality.

        2. Hoppe’s sheep are not doing wildlife any good. But there has always been domestic sheep in the Gardiner area since I can remember. In the 1970’s we were hunting elk in the area and I can remember a large band of domestic sheep with a Big Horn half curl intermixed in domestic band.

          Around 1990, I turned off of the highway at Corwin Springs and was going to take the old railroad bed down Yankee Jim Canyon. This was during the days of the CUT (Church Universal Triumph). After crossing the Yellowstone River and driving north a mile there was a band of 500 sheep with two CUT herders each with a staff and dressed biblically in white robes. A slight I will never forget.

          Why is Hoppe pissed? In the fall of 1991 Hoppe outfitting business killed over 100 bulls netting him over $200,000. When the wolves came the elk numbers dropped and his outfitting business was never the same. I never have liked outfitters so I do not care.

          ++What does he care? He got his trophy, the hell with the rest of the herd. This is the hunter mentality”. This is not the hunters mentality without healthy herds there is not hunting. Our local chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation raised over $50,000 with there yearly fund raiser 2 weeks ago. All funds raised will be used to promulgate Big Horn Sheep herds in Montana.

  5. Looks like the National Wildlife Federation is going to weigh in on a “narrow fix” for wolf delisting in the WGL (don’t know if it would include the WY delisting tag along, but it might).

    http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060015735

    Interesting rationale why they might endorse a “narrow fix.” Seems I said this months ago.

    “But NWF’s national staff has recommended that state delegates endorse the resolution, arguing that the court’s decision — which was the latest in a string of judicial decisions overturning wolf delistings — is creating “an unnecessary but fierce backlash” against the Endangered Species Act at a time when Republicans in Congress are looking to dismantle the law.”

    1. Yet the resolution has stirred opposition from some wildlife conservationists who feel congressional meddling in ESA issues is a slippery slope. Some wildlife groups are still seething over Congress’ decision in 2011 to legislatively overturn a judge’s decision to reinstate protections for wolves in Montana and Idaho.

      “We’re hoping that NWF does not support the resolution,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Congress again stepping in and legislatively removing protections for Great Lakes wolves is also a disaster for the Endangered Species Act, whereby every time a species becomes inconvenient to special interests, Congress meddles in what should be a scientific decision.”

      I hope any seething ‘bird lovers and gardeners’ leave this group in droves.

      1. I actually don’t believe this. It sounds like made-up scare tactics and maneuvering to me. There’s nothing on their site about it.

      2. Ida:
        The National Wildlife Federation is and has always been basically a pro-hunting organization camouflaged as a save the bunnies, birds and chipmunks non-lethal type of wildlife organization.

        “The resolution to ask Congress to remove the gray wolf from the ESA in the Great Lakes region follows NWF CEO Collin O’Mara’s push to return the 79-year-old organization to its hook-and-bullet base, even as it continues to advocate for members including bird lovers and gardeners.” Let’s hope this resolution does not pass the NWF delegation this weekend.

    2. “Seems I said this months ago.”

      So now your not just an expert on everything you’re another Nostradamus.

      1. Well, ya know timmy, if I thought you were worth it, I’d go back in the TWN archives following the DC trial court judge’s ruling and find the post, but you aren’t. You are just a trollin’ along, and by your comments your purpose is apparent.

        1. Willy just admit it your nothing but a gutless coward. A closet wolf hater who consistently makes excuses for the wolf haters while berating those who fight them in court. Your even to gutless to use your own name. I have more respect for the hillbilly wolf hater spouting his ignorance in my local tavern.

          1. Based on your grammar and spelling skills, as well as sentence composition, it looks like you would be in good company at the local tavern with the hillbillies you so respect. And then, there is the shallow content of your comments on a complicated topic, again great conversation for your hillbilly buds. You fit right in. Indeed, you excel at playing the fool with each of your posts. 😉

          2. By the way, timmy, I did find the Nostradamus post, and quote it in full here. The DC Court Judge’s ruling was December 19; this comment was December 20. Interesting, you didn’t miss a beat with your own comment back then (and apparently you can add faulty memory to the list of your charming traits):
            • WM says:
            December 20, 2014 at 8:56 am
            RE: WGL wolf relisting
            ++U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday that the removal was “arbitrary and capricious” and violated the federal Endangered Species Act.++
            Judge Howell has been a US District Court judge for less than 4 years, and is a former US Attorney whose expertise is law enforcement and narcotics. She is an Obama appointee, and East Coaster with under grad from hoity tiody Bryn Mawr college (very expensive small liberal arts school) and law degree from Columbia (very good school). The DC District circuit is well repected, as are most of its sitting judges.
            It will be interesting to see this lengthy opinion, and read/understand the reasoning which supports her decision. I don’t know about WI and MI’s handling of their wolves (which some have said is irresponsible in regard to their hunts), but MN has been very deliberate, even stoic in reaching its opportunity to managing its +/- 2,400-3,100 wolves. MN wolves could separately be delisted, and I believe there is still a petition to do so before FWS, if they want to go it alone. HSUS with its string of litigation has jammed up MN for over a decade AFTER their delisting goal was met, and that is why they implemented their hunting season (instead of waiting for the 5 years after delisting as their plan contemplates for hunting). So, we have a judge who has just maybe never stepped off pavement, making a decision for the Upper Midwest.
            Could be some of these Congressional types will join in with the pissed off Western states to do dumb things with the ESA. For example 5/8 House Reps. are R’s, including Paul Ryan, and 1/2 Senators is an R.
            It would not surprise me in the least to see a Congressional rider delisting WGL wolves via adoption of the federal FWS regulation which is the subject of the litigation. A rider, which some folks don’t want to understand would be, in effect, a de facto change to the ESA, just as it was in the ID/MT delisting rider, without really saying it is). Or even more Draconian, this would be another data point for the R’s to gut the ESA, which seems to be gathering momentum by the day in the West.
            Waiting for the next shoe to drop……will the DC Court of Appeals be the next stop?
            Reply
            • timz says:
            December 20, 2014 at 9:14 am
            One a the strongest proponents for de-listing is MN senator Al Franken, who btw is a Democrat

            Source: About 6 comments down on what was a new thread (Dec. 19) at the time.

            http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2014/12/19/do-you-have-some-interesting-wildlife-related-news-dec-19-2014-edition/

    3. Talk about wolf in sheep’s clothing
      “Their continued presence on the Endangered Species list, under any designation, makes a mockery of the Endangered Species Act and jeopardizes its integrity to be used for truly endangered species,” said a statement last month by Dan Eichinger, MUCC’s executive director.”
      Wolves inhabit less than 10% of their former ranges, they are shot repeatedly every time a migration is noted such as in Arizona, Utah, or Iowa. The National Wildlife Federation has always been a sham conservation organization operating under an equally deceptive name. Brings to mind the Wildlife Services and its euphemistic name.

      1. The trouble with ESA is that it’s general. It does not say how many wolves belong in Maine or Ohio, or how they will get there or when. It doesn’t say what parts of former range should be reoccupied. The difficulties with bison would be even worse, except that they haven’t been listed yet. Maybe actually having a plan might be good. States manage to make wolf plans, maybe not always to our liking, and not explicit enough, but better than fuzzy language specific to no particular species, that we can fight in the courts for the next half century and still not have made a plan. The composition of our national legislature is not what I’d wish, but in theory legislating a plan specific to wolves (or bison) seems the obvious thing to do – not having a plan seems irresponsible. Complaining about 10% of former range, but not saying exactly where we want wolves and where we don’t is not a plan.

        1. Rork and all, this is a letter I have been working on to urge Congress to vote no on the wolf delisting legislation and to support alternatives to the same Ribble and Ryan legislation.

          Wolfwatcher will sponsor as the official org and we are currently seeking signatures.

          I intended for this to go out a month ago but have been sidetracked.

          If you or others have comments I am happy to hear them.

          file://localhost/Users/louisekane/Desktop/Lummis%20riders%202015%20/Letter%20to%20Congress/Letter%20to%20Congress-%20Reject%20Wolf%20Delist%20bills%20HR%20843&%20884%20.htm
          specifically Rork, this letter asks Congress to consider and work toward resolving ambiguities in the ESA using Vucetich & Bruskotter’s Framework for Recovery

          1. hmm lets see that link is not working let me try again

            file:///Users/louisekane/Desktop/Lummis%20riders%202015%20/Letter%20to%20Congress/Letter%20to%20Congress-%20Reject%20Wolf%20Delist%20bills%20HR%20843&%20884%20.htm

    1. It reports on the Ivory-Bill: “With only five known woodpeckers left…”

      That’s like saying there are only 5 Tasmanian Tigers left.

      If only! 🙁

  6. Outside of America the slaughter of elephants continues. Another massacre has been discovered. This one is in DRC. This makes me sick to my core being. I place most of the blame on the Chinese since their insatiable appetite for ivory influences all of Asia. They are also the force that drives the gang activity now slaughtering these highly intelligent and magnificent animals.

    We’re not going to have any damned wildlife left in this world between the trophy hunters and ivory worshipers. Really frustrating.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/26/elephant-massacre-congo_n_6945266.html

    And a great expose from a few years back. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/10/ivory/christy-text

    1. Ugh. I’m sickened too. They’re going to have to send in the drones. There really isn’t any other alternative if we want to keep elephants from extinction.

    2. Yvette your post reflects the feelings I have almost daily… It is a very difficult thing to be witnessing the killing off of the largest, most charismatic and intelligent beings. But the world’s politicians and greedy entrepreneurs and resource extractors are also depleting all inhabitants. This is a world where developers are allowed carte blanche to poison and destroy whole cities of prairie dogs to add more malls malls, where politicians willfully ignore climate change data in 2015, and countries do not work together to ban killing, trading and harassment of wildlife and impose penalties that equal the seriousness of the crimes. It is sickening.

  7. Feds Reopen Comment Period For Mountain Caribou Protections

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/feds-reopen-comment-period-mountain-caribou-protections-29880370

    “Canadian officials determined those herds are faltering and protection levels should be increased from what that government calls “special concern” to endangered, the same term as used by U.S. officials. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that it came across as part of its review that new information, which triggers a new comment period. We’ll certainly consider how they (Canadian officials) have it listed,” said Bryon Holt, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist based in Spokane, Washington. “But their laws are not exactly the same as ours.”

    1. Canadian officials in a report cited a number of reasons for concluding the Southern Mountain Caribou population needed additional protections. “A recent population viability analysis predicted that 13 of 15 subpopulations would be lost within 50 years,” Canadian authorities wrote.

      Threats, the report said, include snowmobiling, heli-skiing, climate change and habitat change resulting from forest harvesting in valley bottoms.

      As long as it doesn’t mean more wolf killing. 14 caribou left? Sheesh.

      Heli-skiing? WTF is that? Do we not have any kind of restrictions on our behavior, that anything that comes to mind we have a ‘right’ (go*d*mn it!) to do?

  8. Good article Louise, and potentially, an excellent argument to support that hunters are not as important of conservationists as has been proclaimed. Since my time at TWN, I’ve stated to question how conserving for a few select species that are popular game species is conservation. As the article points out, it could be we’re starting to see a crack in what they are passing off as conservation.

    Illinois is foaming at the mouth to reinstate bobcat hunting after a forty year ban.

    Then, of course, there is this: “The most popular method of regulating hunting—restricting legal game to males with a minimum antler size—results in populations overrun with females and inferior males, which is ultimately no service to hunters.” Rork has mentioned more than once about being overrun with does.

  9. I also meant to add that SD’s mountain lion season ends in 4 days and they are only at 55% of the allowed limit. Again, they are falling short of that limit. I know the limit doesn’t have to be reached, but it strikes me as odd to have that high a limit and barely go over 50% of the limit. Maybe one of the wildlife managers can help me understand the methods behind setting those limits.

    I got a ‘404 error’ several times when I tried to post. Then one of my cats stepped on the keyboard and erased half my post. I had to rewrite and forgot about the mountain lions.

    1. The maximum kill of 75 total or 50 females is not a quota. It is a harvest limit. As John Kanta and Andy Lindbloom explained in their presentation to the SD Commission on August 14, 2014 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D70byi2Qsdo&list=UUkzB_v5_PRTAr0wr3GhiCAA – the goal of the Dept of Game, Fish & Parks is to reduce the lion population in the SD portion of the Black Hills to 150-200, including kittens. If more than 25% of adult females are harvested, the population will likely decrease. In the 2013-2014 season, the estimated adult female mortality was about 32%, so they are on track.

      Here are the SD Dept of Game Fish & Park’s management goals for the 2014-2015 season, as presented in a slide to the commissioners on August 14th. (The emphasis was in the slide.):

      Population Objective of 150-200 lions

      a. Maintain a genetically and nutritionally healthy population of lions

      b. Reduce the number of prey species taken by lions (e.g. deer, elk, bighorn sheep)

      c. In a 2008 survey, 46% of Black Hills residents stated they would like to see the lion population at the current level, and 30% thought it should decrease slightly

      d. Reduce the number of dispersing lions

      e. Maintain a harvest on mountain lions

      I have prepared a transcript of the August 14th session and have sent it to various people for review. Many things were said that are not mentioned by the media or cougar advocates.

      The current lion management plan is for 2010-2015. The SD Dept of Game, Fish & Parks presumably will be preparing a new one this year.

  10. Sally Jewell and Dan Ashe at it again…permitting the killing and importation of a endangered black rhino. Killing an elderly black rhino by the highest bidder being spun as conservation. This is a letter from rangers in the field who argue that the elderly males do not kill the other males and beg for the life of the rhino. Its heartbreaking. What is going on in the head of someone who will pay 350K to kill an old animal that has survived all odds and should be left alone. Big man gets to gun down a rhino. one commenter wrote, “Mr Knowlton perhaps you did not realize that killing the rhino will not make your penis larger, quick you might be able to get your money back.” anyhow, the link is to the open letter by the anti poaching rangers protecting the rhinos and other wildlife.
    http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1078184

    1. How sad. What is wrong with these people, Jewell and Ashe and others? I believe this man is rich and has a roomful of trophies – it’s sick. How much more does he need? I’m totally against trophy hunting and outfitters trying to help the odds to their favor.

      However, if it means hunting or a shopping mall/golf course/whatever development we have too much of already, ‘ordinary’ hunting where you go out and take your chances, for food – it’s the lesser of the two. It’s just that some space has to be left alone from humans.

      1. Or I should say ‘traditional’ hunting. I guess what I’m asking is what will be the rationale for protecting and preserving wild lands and wildlife without, unfortunately, a perceived benefit to humans? Environmentalists are discredited with propaganda and not respected – for example, I have no idea what constitutes a ‘wolf worshipper’ but apparently it is now an accepted term, whether it is real creature or not. It seems even we have begun to believe the propaganda. How else can we preserve our wild places, recreation? Even that’s been corrupted.

        Sure, I’m aware that there’s the ‘chicken little sky-is-falling’ mindset’; but the ‘ostrich head-in-the-sand’ mindset is far worse, and we see much too much of it.

    2. Shameful. This is really the lowest of the low. There are only around 4,000 black rhinos left in the wild, and what do the feds do? Let a trophy hunter kill and import one back into the U.S. When will this catering to hunters stop?

    3. I have no idea who Corey Knowlton is. But this in-depth interview over this black rhino hunt (if one can call it that) and importation into the US is telling, and not in a complimentary way. This is just wrong:

      1. WM:
        Thanks for the interview video with the future rhino killer. I don’t know if I am more disappointed and frustrated with the rhino hunter or the interviewer, as the interviewer was so ill-informed and totally devoid of any knowledge about wildlife conservation that he frankly was pathetic. The hunter said that the targeted rhino was now mating with his daughters and so it must be killed, and the interviewer just quietly agreed – rather than asking; Why not tranquilize this dominant male rhino and ship him to Kenya or South Africa to help in creating new and better gene stock in those rare black rhino populations??

        1. Why not tranquilize this dominant male rhino and ship him to Kenya or South Africa to help in creating new and better gene stock in those rare black rhino populations??

          Exactly. So much more sensible for the future of already terribly endangered rhinos, than catering to this man’s ego.

      2. Apparently he is a big game hunter that earned his wealth in the oil industry.

        Here is a CNN article on him and his fear of the threats he had received.http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/16/us/black-rhino-hunting-permit/

        More importantly, read this open letter to Cory Knowlton from Kenyan game ranger, Raabia Hawa, the founder of , “Walk with Rangers’. This letter is important and from one who is native to the African continent and with in the field experience of their wildlife. It also touches on similar concerns as the article that Louise posted on how hunting is not good for conservation and may be harming species in the evolutionary aspect.

        An excerpt:

        Hunting never has been, and probably never will be, in the true interest of the African people or nations. I appeal to you to spend some time with us to see this for yourself. It is not conservation, and the government officials that continue to allow such ‘fun hunts’ on endangered and critical species, must be ashamed. Indeed they know our great herds are gone, and the more this continues, the more we will fall into the abyss of misery and I’m sure, kind sir, that you do not wish such a ferociously merciless fate for us.

        Mr. Knowlton, as I write this I am reading the news from neighboring Tanzania. Poachers have killed one black rhino, and now there are just 35 remaining. Do you think perhaps that DSC would be willing to use the us$350 000 you gave them in good conservation faith, to do a translocation? I know the ‘old bull past breeding’ excuse was thrown around, but I share with you the sensible words of Dr. Ian Redmond, a world-renowned and respected conservationist and biologist, “An old male self-evidently has a good immune system and may carry the genes giving immunity to the next epidemic which might kill some apparently stronger young males. In such circumstances an older male might resume breeding and pass on those important genes.”

        http://africageographic.com/blog/kenyan-rangers-moving-letter-to-american-rhino-hunter/

        Exceptional letter. Apparently Corey Knowlton was not moved by the experienced ranger.

        1. Yes it is exceptional. It means so much coming from a Kenyan ranger, and I hope it carries a lot of weight!

        2. Yvette, what is both interesting but pathetic, is Mr. Knowlton’s alarm re: death threats he’s received over this situation.

          Believe in the end of the video WM posted, he stated he’d received thousands of death threats “someone wanted to come to his home and shoot him” Yet he seems to have NO problem coming to this rhino’s home and shooting him. Ah, the arrogance of trophy hunters.

          How did “Old Male Rhinos” exist in the past without the likes of Mr. Knowlton (and his ilk) tinkering with their lives?

          1. Yes Nancy how did they exist. I think I posted a letter here by rangers that protect Rhinos and old males are useful in Rhino society for many reasons just as elder animals have a function in all animal communities, including human. The arrogance indeed.

            1. oops reading backward I posted on my own site. Yvette thanks for posting here.

        3. Nor was our green lighting, permit inclined, wolf delisting USFWS. Dan Ashe and Sally Jewell, are no Babbit. Where are the Babitts of this era?

    1. I am so sick of reading that yet another animal is useful in “Traditional Chinese Medicine folk remedies.” . . . sacrificing the natural world for their stupid superstitions.

    1. Ida: It is unthinkable that So. Africa would even consider to legalize rhino horn trade… The recent crisis and slaughter of elephants is a direct result of the ivory trade being relaxed by the United Nation’s CITES, based on a request from So. Africa for a “one-off” trade of back-logged ivory to China and other Asian nations. This move suddenly mixed “legal” ivory with “illegal poached” ivory that continues to this day, resulting in the deaths of thousands of elephants.

      1. Though big-ticket items stole the show, many obscure parcels attracted local interest as well. In western Nevada, for instance, Don Moorehouse, owner of Don’s Discount Generators and Air Compressors in Carson City, purchased rights to 10 acres of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. “I can’t even tell you how many shotgun shells, cans of Bud Light, and rusty pieces of scrap metal I’ve left in those woods over the years,” Moorehouse said. “This is my way of giving back.”

        Ha! 🙂

    1. Nancy,
      A while ago, you provided me with a web site that showed all cattle/livestock deaths, including wolves. Shows wolves are responsible for .1% of “accidental” deaths. I did not put it in a safe place, any help, again?
      Believe it was a USDA NASS site.
      Thanks

        1. Nancy,
          It was 2011 data, and here is the part I used:
          Wolves typically kill less than 1% of livestock, whereas respiratory problems (26%), unidentified disease (18%), digestive problems (13%) calving problems (12%), and weather (12%) add up to 81% or approximately 3.2 million unintended cattle deaths. Wolves, using the figure in The Real Wolf of 7,800 cattle killed by wolves correspond to .2% of unintended cattle deaths (USDA-NASS 2011

    1. Selling the public lands is clearly a Republican idea. All but 3 of the Senate Republicans voted for this. No Democrats.

        1. Holy crap!! I thought it was just the lunatic fringe that was trying to get rid of our Federal lands, but it appears that the lunatic fringe has now taken over the asylum and is running things in Washington D.C.

    1. Since you have had no other takers to your query, Louise, a couple thoughts come to mind,and not all of them consistent:

      – nice tats

      -why would you do that to your body?

      -wish I could afford that kind of gear; did she buy it herself?

      -glad she’s on our side

      -sure hope she is sure of her target

      -what did she do in the US Army (I think that is the branch she served), since it currently has a no women in combat policy (which is about to change by the way)?

      -does what is going on on her skin match what is going on upstairs in her head match (I ask that question of highly tattooed males as well)?

      -is this all for show and marketing, or does her skill base truly match the packaging?

      —————–

      She looks more like a macho predator hunter than any male I personally know. Wonder how she feels about coyotes?

        1. Interesting. Am getting ready to have my 4-1/2″ x 3″ wild bison tattoo doubled in size–and I don’t give a flying fig what anyone thinks about it!

            1. I’m not big on them – but I can appreciate them on others as being attractive. But I have always thought the Maori ones are beautiful.

          1. Kathleen,

            When you say “double in size” does that mean 2x width and 2x height? If so, that increases the area of the tattoo four times (4 1/2 x 3 becomes 9×6 = 54 sq. inches). Just curious, but couldn’t you show your support of bison better by giving the couple hundred bucks for the ink job to BFC, while saving yourself the pain, and avoid the risk of hepatitis or other blood-borne diseases?

            Here is what the Mayo clinic thinks of tattoos:

            http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/adult-health/in-depth/tattoos-and-piercings/art-20045067

            By the way, what’s going on in your head that compels you to do this?

            1. It’s pretty simple, WM–I like tattoos. (Yes, planning to go another 4-1/2 inches down my arm). Also, I’ve raised multiple thousands of dollars for BFC through my writing and my own fundraisers over the past 10 years, in addition to our own personal donations, so I’m definitely covered on that point. If one goes to a reputable studio, there’s probably more risk in a hospital visit these days.

      1. -sure hope she is sure of her target”

        Would you ask the same of a male army vet?

        -what did she do in the US Army (I think that is the branch she served), since it currently has a no women in combat policy (which is about to change by the way)?”

        Per her Instagram, she was a diesel mechanic and a weapons instructor.

        -is this all for show and marketing, or does her skill base truly match the packaging?”

        I think the VETPAW looks to be serious about their endeavors. Time will tell. Looks like there will be a Discovery show following them. More info on the VETPAW team and what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how they will help the African rangers on the ground. http://tacticalshit.com/video-kinessa-johnson-part-team-heading-africa-combat-illegal-rhino-poachers/

        “She looks more like a macho predator hunter than any male I personally know. Wonder how she feels about coyotes?”

        Some men are quite intimidated by women that aren’t the Kim Kardashions and Brittany Spears of the world. IMO, speaking as a straight female, I think Kinessa J. is attractive. It’s easy enough to find photos of her online. Have a look. She is pretty, as if that matters. She just happens to be a female veteran that is buff. A woman has to work with the body she has, and for the emotionally balanced female, it isn’t about pleasing men. Some can hang; some can’t handle it. Buff is better than the bones on the catwalks, IMO.

        While I’m not a fan of tattoos for me, a person should do what they want to do and the opinions of others does not matter.

        I have much more respect for her and what she is doing with VETPAW than that big fore-headed, animal killing, narcissist, Kendall Jones.

        1. ++Looks like there will be a Discovery show following them.++

          There is your answer, Yvette. The publicity and the packaging has a commercial purpose.

    2. http://vetpaw.org/mission/

      Wouldn’t be a bad idea to have some of these veterans on the ground out here in the west Louise, where poaching is a pastime for some, because punishment (and fines) seldom fit the crime.

        1. ++…veterans on the ground out west…++

          Isn’t that what many of Bundy’s supporters were, Nancy? Kind of scary, and akin to vigilantes taking law into their initiative..another Old West attribute, as were paid range riders to enforce cattle theft laws. Ever hear of Tom Horn in WY?

          1. WM – from the site, VETPAW seems to be organized and employing veterans. Unlike the yahoos, w/guns, who showed up at Bundy’s.

            If you noticed on the site, there somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 thousand vets, unemployed as of August last year. Put their expertise to work in areas where there is a call for it, safeguarding wildlife here!!

            1. Nancy,

              You comment makes more sense if, as you clarify in this post, the “veterans” are affiliated with an organization with stated goals. I did not detect that subtlety in your earlier post.

              So, you see these guys/gals running around the woods in the West with guns enforcing “the law?” Or, do you see them “training” rangers, as they reportedly do in parts of Africa, and go around toting assault type weapons in that role?

              Just trying to understand what you envision – as long, of course, as it is legal and nobody gets hurt in carrying out the mission – wonder who does the psych evaluations?

              1. “the “veterans” are affiliated with an organization with stated goals”

                I would of thought that was a “no brainer” WM, given the fact that they are part of an organization (there) with stated goals.

                And, re: “psych evaluations” didn’t seem to do much good for those 150 passengers on that plane that crashed in the Alps recently.

              2. Good idea tho – maybe before we issue out hunting and gun licenses so freely and let them wander around the woods with dangerous weapons, hunters have to pass a psychological evaluation also – not just the anti-poachers.

          2. Speaking of Bundy, anyone seen any updates on his status? This has dragged on for an embarrassingly long time for this administration. He’s already lost in Court, I wonder if the government could put a lien on his personally accounts?

            Seems in today’s age there are ways of getting to him without going in with guns blazing.

            1. “And every day that passes without a federal government move to prosecute Bundy is a day that he and his followers are emboldened. “We have not been bothered by nor have we even seen a US government licensed vehicle of any kind on the Bundy Ranch or the northeast portion of Clark County,” Bundy said in his email, referring to the last 11 months. “Cattle prices are good and green grass is growing!”

              https://www.hcn.org/articles/cliven-bundy-rancher-nevada-scofflaw

  11. Bison To Graze Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie

    http://news.yahoo.com/bison-graze-midewin-national-tallgrass-prairie-162914902.html

    “Officials announced Friday they plan to introduce a mix of young and mature animals at the prairie 45 miles southwest of Chicago, where the U.S. Forest Service and other groups have been trying to restore grassland at a site that was for decades a U.S. Army ammunition plant. The 1,200-acre project area could eventually support a little over 100 bison.”

    1. And just think, the State of Montana in cooperation with the National Park Service just allowed the slaughter of 700 pure bison, that should have been transported all over historic bison ranges.

  12. Sea lion numbers at Astoria (Columbia River) at historic highs – 1,900 hanging out in the mooring basin alone, chomping on smelt and salmon (including endangered ones). Populations increasing at 5% compound rate per year? What to do with this complex issue (think the same thing with the cormorants also congregating and eating the same fish), and balancing tribal treaty obligations, commercial and recreation fishers?

    http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/boom-times-on-the-columbia-for-california-sea-lions/

    1. Addendum: Video in the story says 1,900 sea lions; print and bar chart say 2,340. Either number is a huge concentration for this location, while further south in their CA territory numbers and vigor are less robust.

    2. Glad you bring this up, WM. This frustrates me to no end. So we degrade the habitat and overfish the resource, and then, almost invariably, come the calls for predator control. I could be on board with predator control in the short term, but ONLY if actions were taken to deal with the REAL problem–us. Else we’re just causing further ecological damage.

      1. Well, just looking at things close to home, it looks like not only are the CA sea lions on the move north to WA and OR, so are quite a few humans (Seattle is growing very fast much to the dismay of locals, except realtors and downtown businesses), because some of us see the environmental degradation which follows. Time to resurrect us of the term “Californication of WA.” Wonder why some of the skilled folks are leaving?

        1. WM:
          As expensive as the Seattle area is, and it is truly expensive, some of California still makes the Seattle area look like a bargain. So, the bumper stickers that say “Don’t Californicate Washington” are timely. In Oregon, they say, “Don’t Californicate Oregon”.

      2. The feds have spent billions of dollars improving fish passage both up and down rivers and streams, and raising hatchery salmon, and overall the fishing industry on the west coast is probably one of the most heavily regulated industries in the US.

        The Northwest Forest Plan is the most pro-restoration and protection federal plan that I’m aware, providing up to 210 feet of no-cut buffers on each side of every fish bearing stream in the northwest.

        Treaty rights must be adhered to and when water rights get litigated, ESA fish typically win out. It takes a comprehensive approach to improve wild salmon runs and so far we have addressed some of the dam issues (other than removing them), habitat protection and restoration on federal land, and dramatically reduced the amount of salmon taken by fishers, yet have done NOTHING about the sea lions and various bird species that eat hundreds of thousands to millions of salmon.

        Sea lions are protected by the MMPA but if its found sea lions are decimating salmon runs, I believe “takes” are allowed. By putting all issues on the table will provide the optimum opportunity for improved salmon runs.

        1. Gary:
          It seems to me that since humans in the U.S. are perfectly capable of changing their diets and occupations, if sea-lions and other wildlife are taking more salmon, then humans must be the ones to change behaviors and catch less of them, especially if they are on the Endangered Species list. Why are humans allowed by the “highly regulated” salmon authorities to take even one Endangered Salmon instead of tens of thousands??

  13. Warming winters not main cause of pine beetle outbreaks, study says
    http://e360.yale.edu/digest/warming_winters_not_main_cause_of_pine_beetle_outbreaks_study_says/4399/

    Other factors — including changes in the pine beetles’ seasonal development patterns and forestry practices that have influenced pine density and age — likely played more important roles, the authors say. Beetle outbreaks in the western U.S. have killed swaths of pine forests equal to the size of Montana over the past 15 years, which exceeds the area killed by forest fires during the same years.

  14. Colombian tribe scores ‘historic’ victory versus Big Gas
    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2015/mar/26/colombian-tribe-scores-historic-victory-versus-big-gas

    The pipeline, owned by Cenit, an Ecopetrol subsidiary, mainly transports oil from the Cano Limon oil fields in which, says Ecopetrol, it has a 55% stake and US oil firm Occidental has 45%. According to Adam Isacson, from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), some of the US’s multi-billion dollar “Plan Colombia” “aid” package – ostensibly about combating the drugs trade – has been spent on Colombian army brigades in this region in order to protect the pipeline, with the “bulk of it” going to “Black Hawk helicopters, pilot training, maintenance training, communications equipment and fuel sustenance.” According to a 2011 WOLA report co-authored by Isacson, “Plan Colombia” aid was delivered during a period of “severe human rights abuses” by security forces and paramilitary and army violence spiralling “tragically upwards”, while US officials, he says, “downplayed human rights groups’ constant warnings about military-paramilitary collaboration” and the “false positives” scandal in which Colombian soldiers dressed victims like guerrillas and claimed them killed during fighting.

    The U’was have repeatedly denounced the militarisation of their territories, and are now requesting that the pipeline is either buried or re-routed.

    In the 1990s the U’was issued a series of threats to commit mass suicide if operations went ahead at another drilling site in their territories

  15. timz,

    I thought this analyst was amazingly stupid because a great explosion at Yellowstone would negatively affect the whole planet — quickly.

  16. This is a pretty neat stretch of the Hoh River as it makes its way to the Pacific Ocean (see map in article). On the north side of the mouth is the Olympic NP coastal strip. On the south is the Hoh Reservation, with another coastal strip of the Park beginning further south along the ocean. The Nature Conservancy and others have been working on this land acquisition for several years. It is nice to see it finally come together, though there are still a couple parcels that should also be acquired over time. Now if we could just keep the guided steelhead boats out of there, it would be a great place to just hang out, or for recreational fishing from the bank. This river, as can many on the west and wet side of Mt. Olympus and the Olympic Range can increase in stream flow dramatically over night from intense rains, and/or combined with glacial runoff. Rain here is measured in feet, not inches.

    http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/conservancy-buys-7m-in-timberland-on-olympic-peninsula/

  17. An interesting outcome to a legal fight by the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, and a tribal member that had been charged with being in violation of the Migratory Bird Act.

    I learned of this from this article, but don’t care for the way it is written. You can tell the author lacks knowledge of ESA and Migratory Bird Acts. http://thefederalist.com/2015/03/18/feds-invade-native-american-gathering-grab-property-threaten-jail/

    Here is how Lipan Apache explain what happened. http://www.lipanapache.org/EagleFeatherCase/PressRelease.html

    On Native American religion and raptor feathers/body parts, I like what the Zuni Tribe and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma have done. They worked with USFWS to establish being caretakers of raptors, primarily eagles, that cannot be released post recovering after injury. The ‘fly or die’ rule has the alternative to allow those birds to live their lives in one of these two aviaries, and the tribes get to use their feathers that have molted in religious ceremony. Best outcome for both the tribes and the birds. The Iowas are not far from me and I visited their aviary when it was in its infancy. It’s awesome what they’ve done. http://www.fws.gov/southwest/NAL/aviaries.html

    1. For good coverage of news (and discussion by some pretty heavy scientists) on a host of problems and possible solutions related to scientific integrity the rather good go-to spot is: http://retractionwatch.com/.

    1. Peter Kiermeir:
      Unfortunately, California Gov. Jerry Brown’s new mandated water use restrictions only cover city and town folks and NOT farmers. Big Ag in California uses 80% of available fresh water and Governor Brown continues to let farmers pump unlimited ground water, which in some place has actually caused the ground to drop 10 feet or more.

      1. Yes, my husband was telling me that, and that the soil has been permanently altered so that it can no longer retain water?

      2. It’s getting scary to see this multi-year drought in CA. California is the place to watch since they grow the majority of our produce. Probably, your Gov is trying to restrict domestic use for a wait and see option since if the irrigation is restricted too much it may devastate the state economy. Just guessing.

        We developed the technology to grow crops in the desert via building many dams and by pumping out groundwater at an unsustainable rate. At some point, we should expect to pay a price for pushing a system beyond what nature can handle. It may work for a long time, but eventually nature will force us to pay up. I fear it’s time to pay up. There appears no end in site of this drought.

        We’ve grown to expect to have lettuce and any other type of vegetable or fruit all year round. We might have to adapt to eating the foods that are in season. What a thought. And that will crash the economy in CA, I would guess.

        There are good graphs on page 16 of the 2010 USGS Water Use Report. It breaks water use down by category and state. http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1405/pdf/circ1405.pdf

        1. “We might have to adapt to eating the foods that are in season”

          And, support locally grown produce, by small independently owned farms (the trend seems to be heading in that direction lately with farmers markets)

          And “we” might actually have to learn all over again, how to “can” foods for the off seasons 🙂

          because you are spot on with this comment, Yvette:

          “We developed the technology to grow crops in the desert via building many dams and by pumping out groundwater at an unsustainable rate. At some point, we should expect to pay a price for pushing a system beyond what nature can handle”

          A little background/history on the technology:

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Water_Project

  18. Wildlife report:

    Birds are attracting mates and preparing for nesting, I saw a couple feeding each other. How romantic!

    Yesterday while taking a walk I saw around 75 waterfowl, mostly common goldeneyes with a few buffleheads all congregating in the open water. (Shhhh, better not tell the Army Corp. of Engineers!)

    Have a good afternoon, all –

    Good news about the land grab bill fail too.

  19. Trending all over the internet right now if you google the name of this “rare bug” bug”http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2015/04/01/rare-bug-found-at-nogales-abrk/70765830/

    Curious about the scare and why, you can’t find any information about it’s history re: the ag world.

    But, I personally wouldn’t be buying any celery, given the fact that:

    “The statement said the shipment of celery where the bugs were found “was fumigated” and is scheduled for eventual release into US commerce”

    1. Several factors might be responsible for reduced livestock killing by wolves, but the only ones we can think of are having killed more wolves in various ways. That ranchers and shepherds could be getting better at dealing with wolves seems implausible to us. We hereby congratulate ourselves on our outstanding management. We are heroes.

  20. the National Wildlife Federation (backed by industry hostile to wolves) as expected supported anti wolf bills. If you care to call or write to object to their politically motivated approval for removing wolves from the ESA by supporting legislation that conveniently ignores the unprecedented 1.6 million voices urging the USFWS to keep wolves listed, a strong coalition of scientists against the removal of federal protections and and a long history of court cases that have found state management plans inadequate and also found the USFWS rules arbitrary and capricious while undermining the intent of the ESA, you can call them out on this. Whew that was a mouthful

    Customer Service
    National Wildlife Federation
    11100 Wildlife Center Drive
    Reston, VA 20190
    http://www.nwf.org
    800-822-9919
    info@nwf.org

  21. Baron:
    Troubling for sure! I have heard that the latest theory from marine scientists is that the usual Spring “up-welling” that usually occurs along the California coast bringing rich nutrients closer to the surface has not happened yet this year.

  22. Baron,

    I saw a Minke whale that was very much alive last weekend near Newport Coast. There have been Gray whale sightings there for the last 62 days as well. A few months ago I found myself within a mega pod of over 350 dolphins near Oxnard. I wouldn’t say the Pacific is dead. She’s falling on harder times for sure, but life is resilient and her heart still beats.

    1. Interesting read Elk.

      “The wolves are detained, brought to a wildlife park, equipped with radio collars, and put through an ordeal meant to make them deeply afraid of human beings”

      Fact is, wolves are already wary of the human species, otherwise there would be a hell of a lot of hunters, hikers and ranchers (in states like Idaho, Montana and Wyoming) missing or reported ravaged by wolves 🙂

      The key is figuring out how to discourage wolves from attacking livestock, which, most wolves, in their everyday lives… don’t do.

      Is anyone studying the reasons why, just 40 or so head of cattle (out of a million or so head of cattle in the state) were killed by wolves in Montana last year?

      And out of those 40 or so depredations (cattle) many took place on public lands where its a “turn em loose for a few months with little supervision” mentality AND get compensated for the losses?

      Someone mentioned to me,just this morning, that when a calf hits the ground (at birth) its worth $800 bucks…. and the price only goes up from there.

    1. WM,
      The word “Harvest” is routinely misused. I harvest peas from my garden, wolves are slaughtered just like pigs and cows.

  23. Karma for Castle Rock:

    “Now some businesses are bailing from plans to be included in the mall and others may be having second thoughts.

    The optics of dead prairie dogs, rabbits, crows, red-winged black birds and other scavengers that fed on poisoned carcasses has spoken volumes and it will not be an easy thing for Alberta Development to square that circle with what’s being called one-sided and misleading “Fact Sheets”.”

    Greed really blinds people. You’d think even for their own self-interests that they would have agreed with the ground-breaking delay and relocation of the prairie dogs, if only to further their own interests and for good will with their new public. Sigh.

    “There’s no way in hell I’m going to delay,” was reportedly how Peter Cudlip, who runs Alberta Development, responded directly to an advocate from Wildlands Defense shortly before he got the green light from the town council to begin exterminating the troublesome prairie dogs with barbaric gas and lethal poison.

    http://www.examiner.com/article/castle-rock-mall-developer-good-neighbor-or-inhumane-prairie-dog-killer

    1. Well, here’s hoping they hemorrhage dollar bills in the same way they treated the prairie dogs with anti-coagulants! 🙂

  24. Want to start your day in a downer? Put up the Bing photo for today, (Red Foxes at Play) and contemplate what is in a mind of those that advocate for senseless killing of predators. Animals that undeniably have the same range of life’s emotions as we do. Animals that hunger for learning to fill each day of their life. We can ponder how these animals actually have experiences/abilities that exceed some of our limitations. Our universal limitation is that we do not have a level of empathy to match our level of intellect. That in its self makes us a very dangerous animal.

    1. “Our universal limitation is that we do not have a level of empathy to match our level of intellect”

      + 1 Larry

      Ran into a young gal the other day in my post office (rents a place on a ranch) who was “all hyped up” over the joy she was getting out of shooting ground squirrels but GOSH DANG, her .22 was jammed. When I said I didn’t feel the need to shoot ground squirrels she looked past me as though I wasn’t standing there.

      A day later I spoke to a guy who manages a ranch nearby and he let me know that he’d been keeping the local coyote population in check by “blasting” them every time they came within rifle range.

      I asked why and he said “nothing worse that seeing what they (coyotes) do to baby antelope” I asked if he had ever watched any nature channels ( like National Geographic) when growing up and did he, by saving those baby antelope, shooting coyotes, not realize one of OUR species was going to shoot/kill them a year or two, down the road anyway?

      The immediate response was “well, that’s how we keep prey species populations (elk, deer, antelope) in check” and I countered with “well isn’t that what natural predators do?”

      Then the real reason came out – killing coyotes has been a sport for him, he enjoys it and he’d been doing it for years and I was not about to change his mind, regardless of what information might of come to light over the past few years re: the ecosystem and the balance between prey and predator.

      A few more “like minded” people:

      http://www.salon.com/2015/03/11/this_is_not_hunting_this_is_blood_sport_plain_and_simple_partner/

  25. California water restrictions should cover oil companies, activists say

    California’s oil and gas industry is estimated (with official data due to be released in coming days) to use more than 2 million gallons of fresh water per day; so it is hardly surprising that, as Reuters reports, Californians are outraged after discovering that these firms are excluded from Governor Jerry Brown’s mandatory water restrictions, “forcing ordinary Californians to shoulder the burden of the drought.”

    http://rt.com/usa/246429-california-water-mandate-oil-companies/

    1. …And the wheels and gears of commerce continue to turn while individuals make sacrifices. Wait until Governor Brown institutes a “use 3 times and only then flush your toilet policy,” while golf courses, vinyards and floral agriculture continue to consume water mostly unabated.

      1. I saw this over the weekend and think the photos capture some of where we have erred, as a society. This is only a fraction of the problem, though. Agriculture accounts for 80% of the CA water use with most of that for irrigation. You’re right WM, the wheels of commerce continue to turn, and will until there is no water left. Entire civilizations have collapsed because of drought. If this drought becomes a multi-decades drought it won’t be the first time that has happened. Drought felled the Hohukum and it felled the Maya; both advanced societies that used irrigation and a surprisingly well advanced system of civil engineering. They couldn’t win against drought.

        http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/us/california-drought-tests-history-of-endless-growth.html?smid=re-share&_r=1

        The interesting thing about the NYT article is it focuses on growth. I’ve never understood how anyone can expect endless growth without repercussions. Seems to go against the natural laws of science, whether they are talking about people, crops, or finances. James Gustav Speth warned of this in his excellent book, “The Bridge at the Edge of the World”.

        And a link to a WA Post article on the agriculture water use. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/04/03/agriculture-is-80-percent-of-water-use-in-california-why-arent-farmers-being-forced-to-cut-back/

        Remember the battle in the early oughts with the huge salmon kill due to low DO and increased water temps because the farmers had pulled so much water for irrigation? That was during a drought.

        1. From your link, Bret: “As it is often said, you can’t manage what you don’t measure,” U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California)

          “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”. That can be applied for water and it can be applied for coyotes. Several of us on here have complained about the lack of oversight, management, and total lack of measurement of any kind with coyote killing contests and coyote killing of any kind.

        2. bret,

          Ha! Years ago, I remember being in a bar after a long day skiing at Vail(Colorado’s western slope where water flows to the Colorado River) and hearing a guy call out from the restroom, “Flush twice California needs the water.” More truth to that than fiction, since the Coors beer we were drinking came from the Missouri River basin.

          Footnote: However, it originally could been Colorado Basin water that made it east of the Continental Divide from one of several trans-mountain diversions, and then was made into beer which was again transported west of the Divide for redistribution to our CA friends.

  26. http://www.carnivoreconservationact.com/wp-content/uploads/ReportCongressAgainstHR843and884_2.pdf

    Hi everybody
    Above is the link to a document that is on the carnivore conservation act website. The document contains a summary of the legislation that is currently circulating in Congress that would undo HSUS v Jewell and reverse wolf recovery forever. A great deal of thought and effort went into this. I’m hoping you will help to circulate it and may offer your signatures. The main thrust of the materials is to ask Congress to vote no on the legislation and to promote two alternatives, 1) the HSUS petition to downgrade wolves from endangered to threatened and 2) to ask Congress to do some real work and use the Bruskotter/Vucetich Framework for Recovery as a start to address ambiguities in the ESA. Congress is back in session soon and we expect will be moving on these bills in some way. We have a distribution plan once the signatures are collected. We have hired an e mail service to contact all members of Congress and their aides as well as USFWS and others. Please e mail me if you would like to sign with your name, a one line bio and city and state. For example Louise Kane, JD wildlife advocate, Eastham, MA. louise@kaneproductions.net
    anyone can find this on my website so its out there anyhow.
    I’d like to thank some here who were very helpful with information and support.

  27. Please forgive the repetitive post, I’m posting the letter and request for signatures again because if any of you plan to forward to colleagues please use the text below. Thank you!

    Hello friends and colleagues,

    As you know, federal protection for Wyoming wolves was restored September 2014. Then in December 2014, federal protections for wolves in the Great Lakes States were restored, by judicial action. In response to the decisions, two separate bills have been introduced: The Western Great Lakes Wolf Management Act (HR 843), introduced by Representative John Kline (R MN) now has 11 co-sponsors, and Reissuing Final Rules Regarding Gray Wolves in the Western Great Lakes (HR (884) introduced by Representative Reid Ribble (R WI) now also has 11 co-sponsors.

    We have every reason to fear these bills. A bad precedent was set in 2011 when federal protections for wolves was removed through Congressional intervention in the Western states through a rider to a “must pass” budget bill. In this Congress, it could happen again.

    Although several sign-on letters have been circulated, this one is different as it asks for a NO vote for each of the two bills but also offers two alternatives: 1) the HSUS petition to downgrade wolves from endangered to threatened and 2) to ask Congress to do some real work and use the Bruskotter/Vucetich Framework for Recovery as a start to address ambiguities in the ESA.

    We are asking that you sign on to the attached document by submitting:

    YOUR NAME

    YOUR ORGANIZATION + ONE LINE SUMMARY OF EITHER YOU IF SIGNING AS AN INDIVIDUAL OR BUSINESS OR ORGANIZATION

    CITY & STATE

    YOUR EMAIL (Your email will not be included in the document, it will only be used in case we need to contact you)

    DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME IN THE DOCUMENT, WE WILL DO THAT. DO NOT ALTER THE DOCUMENT, IF YOU SEE AN ERROR, NOTIFY US.

    SEND TO louise@kaneproductions.net BY SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2015

    We plan to send the letter with all the signatories to members of Congress, their aids and USFWS along with Secretary Jewell when Congress returns from spring break.

    Below is the link to the document (if you need a link to share) that is on the Carnivore Conservation Act website.

    http://www.carnivoreconservationact.com/wp-content/uploads/ReportCongressAgainstHR843and884_2.pdf

    Please distribute this message to colleagues and/or organizations or businesses that would be willing to sign. Our goal is to get a minimum of 150 signatories. Please be one!

    Thank you,

    Louise Kane, JD; Jonathan Way Phd; and Nancy Warren (Wolfwatcher)

    1. Louise,

      If you are looking for cause and effect, as is suggested by your first couple sentences, you may want to reconsider. Both of the House Bills you cite deal only with removal of wolves from the ESA (HR 843), or reinstating the FWS wolf delisting rule (HR 884) in MN, WI and MI. They do not, at present, include WY.

      A reason I won’t join your cause is that, distasteful as it may seem a rider as in the likely course of HR843, leaves wolves ESA listed ultimately, but still subject to FWS oversight within the rule, AND it does not open the door as wide for the bad guys to gut the ESA using wolves as their motivating focus – “see how ridiculous wolf management is under the ESA, so let’s work over the whole law.”

      I remain concerned what an R House and an R Senate are capable of doing in the current and near future sessions of Congress. I think my own D Senators might even support a WGL rider (maybe even with WY included in an amendment), as a preference to wider “potential solutions to problematic ESA wildlife management issues” which might be on the horizon.

      1. WM I see this course of action as providing a way of saving face at the least and at best hopefully Congress might get off their collective ass and listen to scientists who do not seem to be in support of a rider to amend the ESA to exclude wolves, and thats what these bills do. Thats BS

    2. I am concerned that the bills currently before Congress are providing an excuse for HSUS and others to capitulate on wolf listing. It is bad enough that reintroduction programs like the Mexican Wolf program are set up as “experimental, nonessential.” It was worse when Tester established the precedent of Congress removing protection for wolves in Montana, effectively removing species-wide legal protection for the grey wolf (C. lupus) as a species. The legislation now before Congress, bad as it may be, is hardly worse than what has already been done.

      And what is the response of HSUS and their fellow influence peddlers? They are now trying to get USFWS to reduce protection for the remaining grey wolf population, in the hope of appeasing the ranchers. I will not support this appeasement.

      1. well Marc many feel as you do that its a compromise position, and it is. But one of the most common objections to the ESA is that recovery is not defined well enough under the ESA, WM has a point that some legislators might not like the idea of working on the law to strengthen it. I like this idea using the framework better than a rider. I find nothing valuable in a non germane rider attached to any bill must pass or not. There is no time for debate, no transparency and they are used to achieve narrow special interest favors. No thank you as for the downgrade from endangered to threatened the reasons you object are the reasons it makes sense. The experimental non essential designation already pretty much creates a threatened status defacto. Not much is lost here. But with that designation the argument can be made wolves can be controlled because of their threatened status. It gives legislators on the fence a way to avoid the rider situation which I want to see avoided at all costs.

    3. “Rather than using political clout through legislation designed to silence the courts..”
      Changing law is not silencing courts. It would take thousands of words to point out all of the things I found bad or true-but-irrelevant in that writing. I’m not saying the laws that might be enacted by our US legislators are exactly the ones I would want, but it’s not like legislating is an inappropriate way to accomplish a plan, or to alter a situation if current law is deemed ineffective, or so vague that it leads to endless litigation (which I claim is the case). I’d welcome law to instantiate “the framework” for example.

      1. So Rork you think its good policy to use riders and special interest focused legislation to override this latest decision. The courts have been carefully considering and debating wolf recovery and state laws for some time now? You don’t see anything like a pattern here?

        i do, The states implement harsh and super aggressive public hunting of wolves, the plans and policies are challenged and the courts consistent;y rule the state management plans and USFWS rules are either arbitrary and capricious or do not adequetly protect wolves.

        To draft a law that prevents judicial review is using political clout and preventing the use of the courts to adjudicate issues of legal concern. This is what the courts are meant to do.

        You should be concerned living in a state where the citizens voted against all odds to not hunt wolves yet your legislators are making laws to cicumvent their wishes. This is what some small number of Congressmen are doing to circumvent us citizens and the courts from protecting wolves.

        1. Louise,

          ++To draft a law that prevents judicial review..++

          I guess you should be counted among those who simply do not understand the difference between a statute and a regulation. (sigh) One more time. A regulation is subject to judicial review under the law which creates it. Congress can pass statutes which stand on their own and are not subject to judicial review (as in a rider, which could only be overturned if it was unconstitutional or Congress decided to rescind it).

          So, let’s take it a step further. The ESA itself is not subject to judicial review (except as to whether it violates the Constitution). Do you have a problem with that?

          1. I understand that WM sigh the problem here is that Congress is essentially through a rider preventing judicial review of a regulation that amounts to amending the ESA. and you know that

            and a non german rider is a piss poor way to change a law as important as the ESA and you know that too

            1. …but I bet there are a lot of D Congressional types that are or will be thankful for the cover provided by voting for a “must-pass” bill containing a distasteful rider, rather than having to deal with over-protection of wolves, or on the other end of the spectrum, opening the ESA to full blown gut job where a lot of protections might get wiped out for many species other than wolves.

              For them, it just might be the best of both worlds, because they risk losing fewer votes and having to explain uncomfortable positions to either side of the issue.

              1. Wow over protection of wolves we are in really different worlds wm

              2. Using non germane riders is dirty business attached to must pass legislation reeks of foul play

              3. Some interesting signatures coming in on the letter to vote no on wolf bills. This from Roy Heberger I quote with his permission

                “– to the letter .
                Why I Sign —
                First, I am a biologist — the one who ran the wolf recovery program in
                Idaho from 1995 to 2000, when I retired from the US Fish and Wildlife
                Service. Congressional action would have little or nothing to do with
                science. We should all read about and take lesson’s from “The Lysenko
                Affair” (Russia).
                Second, there is good reason for the separation of powers. This
                oversteps that, in my view. The Executive branch is the management arm
                in this area. Let the FWS come to its determination using “…the best
                commercial and scientific information…”, and keep the politics out of
                such decision making.”
                Roy Heberger
                USFWS-Retired
                Boise, Idaho

                1. Well, I’m confused – Lysenko? I gather he meant Alexander Litvininko, who was killed by radiation poisioning by unknown persons, but suggested linkages to the Russian FSB(successor to the Soviet KGB) for expressing dissident views about Putin after his KGB career went to crap, and he exiled himself to England (after not being able to get into the US).

                  And for separation of powers, it appears the wolf thing has involved all branches at one point or another. And, now is an opening/opportunity/misfortune for the Legislative branch to confirm or go beyond the Executive Branch, after input from the Judiciary.

                  And, lest Mr. Beberger has been asleep for the last forty plus years the ESA itself is a product of politics, and its interpretation by the Executive Branch (multiple Administrations) and even some variety from the Judiciary (depending on who appointe the judges), and states who don’t like what the federal government is requiring them to do…ITS ALL POLITICS!

                  Another deep thinking federal employee weighs in.

                2. WM,

                  It was Lysenko and his program of vernalization of Winter wheat. Lysenko was a bit of a Lamarkian who curried favor with Soviet brass. So, with political momentum, Lysenko was given the keys to the door of Soviet agriculture and it culminated in disaster.

                3. Thanks Immer.

                  Lysenko – a Soviet (not Russian, but rather Ukranian). Makes more sense, if there was a genetics link, and bad conclusions drawn from limited field work. Am currently reading a book about Litvinenko (Crowell, “The Terminal Spy.” Slow read because of all the players, so have put it aside in favor of “Boys in The Boat,” the true story of the unlikely U of Washington crew rowers sticking it to Hitler by winning gold in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin).

                4. Wm I think you owe a retraction on the deep thinking fed employee dig
                  Lysenko created an era of stifled scientific inquiry and advancement by currying favor with politicians and promoting irresponsible faux scientific solitons to engage the proletariat in questionable agricultural practices. That analogy is eerily reminiscent of predator cleansing policies and the politicians and institutions that create a chilling effect for scientists who speak against the policies or dare to question the status quo

                5. Louise,

                  We are far from an alleged era of Lysenkoism concerning wolves, so I will just have to disagree with Mr. Herberger. But, will retract to the extent of MY identity confusion – I have had Litvinenko on my mind of late, while submersed in the politics of his dastardly demise.

        2. “circumvent us citizens and the courts from protecting wolves”
          The citizens of MI are currently disenfranchised – we have essentially no say in wolf management. How’s that for circumvention?
          If a new law is passed that supersedes previous law, the legal concerns of old can disappear – word salad to make it sound like the courts are being cheated by passing legislation doesn’t fly.

      2. Center for Biological Diversity, Predator Defense, and a good many scientists in the first few days don’t seem to find this position irrelevant and “bad”. What is your solution Rork?

        1. Alter state plans, or pass national legislation directing the details of wolf recovery. The second seems the right thing to do but I doubt good plans will be made, so let’s try for the first. If so many people are on board we should be able to do that. We get there by changing people’s minds – we need to do that anyway, even if wolves aren’t the issue. Even if wolves get delisted back to the extent it was before, it’s not so horrible – wolves are expanding, and states might be getting more rational.
          (Try your arguments from popularity elsewhere.)

          1. Rork, Isn’t MI a great example of what changing state regs is likely to be a bad solution. The states don’t listen to their scientists or to their constituents. Unless you see what happened in MI as a good indicator of likelihood of fair treatment? The alternatives proposed in the letter/doc that Wolfwatcher, Jon and I argue for include revising wolf recovery using the Bruskotter and Vucetich Framework for Recovery, so what’s the bitch other than I have something to do with the ideas? seems like you are asking as your first option for what the document is asking for.

            1. We might share some goals, you know, just not all of them. It’s your arguments and comments here I don’t like. Your suggestions that I’m not concerned, or am persecuting you, are not appreciated.

              1. I said nothing about you persecuting me, at all Rork. I pointed out that when asked what would you do, you said you’d be asking for Congress to work on the recovery issue. Can’t figure out how thats any different from what the letter to Congress is doing, thats exactly what the document I posted here does. It asks Congress not to vote no on knee jerk legislation in response to the Howell ruling and asks them to work on that issue by using a framework written by two reputable scientists. I don’t feel persecuted by you Rork not at all. I just pointed out the incongruencies in your complaint and stated position.

  28. Destructive colonials at it again:

    http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/koalas-culled-in-australia-due-to-overpopulation-issues/

    But whose ‘overpopulation’ issues? How bad is this. Why won’t they relocated the koalas?

    “Last month, a video surfaced showing footage of a terrified mother koala and joey koala clinging to a tree, as loggers ripped it down in an Australian Bluegum Plantation in Bessiebelle in south west Victoria. The video shows the mother and baby koala plummet to the ground while the logger makes no effort to help them. According to reports, the mother survived the fall but nobody knows what happened to her baby.”

    1. Don’t have to have written permission, just permission, is my guess. This is not Alaska.

    2. The crux of the article, and a couple more recent articles of similar bent, is amending trapping regulations to avoid incidental take in general, dogs in specific. Moose have been caught in snares in MN!

      The trapping lobby is reluctant to accept change voluntarily, and are likely to have it forced upon them. Trappers in respect to change are like Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby. It’s ironic that the number of dogs killed by traps rivals those killed by wolves,yet legislative bodies aren’t sponsoring bills to remedy this.

      Always found it mind addling that it is unlawful for anglers to have untended lines, set lines, and trot lines, yet trappers can litter the woods and trails with untended traps and have impunity in regard to incidental take.

      1. Nancy,

        Western WA (primarily Seattle) is experiencing the same dichotomy. Housing prices in Seattle just announce as 18.7 higher in a year, and no inventory. Middle class is getting squeezed out, while the city tries to keep service employees in town by boosting minimum wage, as techies come in to buy up homes for incredible prices(same phenomenon as San Francisco in the article you posted), and agriculture and interior parts of both states are in drought related, and likely long-term continuing decline, with the “new normal.”

    1. The four things were bottled water, milk, cow meat and fracking. It would have been nice if they would have given the fraction of water used for ANY of those 4 activities. Instead they gave numbers for how much water a person would save by buying one less gallon of milk or pound of meat, but it was is really just saying how much water it costs, cause the actual amount of water saved would be approximately zero – someone else will buy that cow meat. The amazing thing for me is how raising cows for meat or milk is even profitable there compared to other areas with more rain.
      The article gives perhaps 20 numbers, almost none in units you could use to compare with the other numbers even if you wanted.

    1. Nancy:
      Thank you for sharing these heart-breaking photos of how we are destroying our earth… When will we ever learn?

    1. Louise Kane,
      In the West that is right of passage. It is more of this disconnect with reverence for life and ‘just because they can’. I am over 70 now and have “matured” but when I was 14 I would drive south of Boise a couple of miles after school and shoot AT ground squirrels. My only saving grace is that I used archery which honestly never resulted in a kill. But I did enjoy the sport of stealth. Looking back I think it was my maturity about senseless killing that was trying to blossom but was a few years away yet. I had guns but chose archery I think because of the lack of successful kills but very successful stalking which gave me the satisfaction I was seeking. It wasn’t too long after though that I could really formulate in my mind how insidious and distasteful killing for fun is. Thank goodness for that because I use a mirror every morning when combing my hair (what I have left).

      1. Addendum:
        I think people have to go through that transition that Aldo Leopold described concerning the green light passing away and the mountain not agreeing. Some people have a wire just waiting to be activated and others didn’t even come with the wire installed.

        1. “Some people have a wire just waiting to be activated and others didn’t come with the wire installed.”

          +++++Larry K

    1. Louise Kane,
      Re: SCI
      Something that has always irked me is that just a few years ago the USFWS Assistant Chief for Law Enforcement, upon retirement became the Executive Director for SCI. He also for years before retirement set up USFWS booths at the SCI Convention in Las Vegas every year. I was retired when this happened but information from good sources say that this former Assistant Chief while Executive Director for SCI kicked a hornet nest when he shot a moose from a helicopter during a SCI trophy hunt in Russia. As far as I know charges were never filed but a writer for the Dallas newspaper followed the story quite intently and my jaw really dropped when I read the articles. I believe he was dismissed from SCI immediately when that circulated. There is more amazing info about this but I don’t know how good my sources are for the rest of it so your imagination has to carry from here.

        1. Louise Kane,
          I write this knowing sometimes a simple statement is read wrongly, emails are famous for that. With absolutely no criticism intended I just make this observation with regard to our clichés we all use; fox in the hen house, etc. (very appropriate for SCI) I use them too and they are funny at the same time making the point. Am I the only one that reels back when I hear the cliché, “Lone wolf” with regard to home grown terrorists? The lone wolf is so far from a correct analogy to a terrorist. A “Lone rat” would be much more appropriate since he lives in our own filth and slithers around at night.

          Just more of my sidebar, never mind comments.

          1. Years ago (mid-90’s I think), when graphite shaft golf clubs with the big heads and heavy swing weights were first coming out, I bought a golf club – long distance driver for shots off the tee – called a “Lone Wolf.” On the shaft was the label “Wolf Attack.” It came with a black and gold head cover and profile of a benevolent faced wolf swinging a golf club.

            Advertisers and the media love labels. The club didn’t help my game much. I could hit the ball farther, but if it is long in the wrong direction it makes the next shot even harder, and sometimes a penalty stroke is added. So much for that Lone Wolf, but I might call it a “disperser,” ranging far and wide. 😉

            1. WM,
              Little Red Riding Hood was a Tea Partyer. Now head of Rand Paul’s campaign.

              1. …and I think Rand Paul is a shape shifter going from his current Grandma act, into his alter-ego (Yes, and excuse me for saying this The Big Bad Wolf) when he gets testy with the press, and his true personality comes out). The question is which would he be if the R’s nominate him, and he ultimately beats HilBillery or whoever the D’s come up with to oppose him? We live in scary times.

          2. Larry K

            Do you really know what happen with Dan Duncan and that hunting party? It is illegal to shoot an animal from a helicopter in Russia. But is it illegal……………? I have followed this story for a long time. Do some more research.

            1. Elk, if you’ve followed this story for a “long time” please do share because I can’t fathom hunting or even spotting from helicopters (or planes) when it comes to fair chase.

              Course as most of us know, with great wealth, comes privilege and, a lot of ass kissing people and officials, in between.

              1. Nancy,
                Sorry I answered Elk375 before I read your post; sounds like we think alike though.

            2. Elk375,
              Sounds like you think you have the answers and may have put in more hours on the story than I have, let’s hear it from you. I tried to be careful not to draw conclusions that were not drawn by others I have talked with.

              1. It will be awhile before I can answer as I have to get some paper work out the door.

                1. This is Bob Kern’s statement to the Press:

                  The verdict is in on that trial against booking agent Bob Kern, founder of The Hunting Consortium.
                  The verdict: Not Guilty. Kern, you will recall, was charged with a Lacey Act violation in connection
                  with a hunt he booked in Russia that wound up involving the use of a helicopter. Here is the full
                  text of a statement Kern sent us about the ordeal he has been through:
                  After two harrowing years of disinformation and misinformation, justice prevailed in Houston on
                  Wednesday. We at the Hunting Consortium placed our faith in the American judicial system and
                  the common sense and reason of 12 citizens of Houston. Speaking truth to power is never easy, but
                  in the United States of America it sometimes works.
                  For the record, neither I nor any of my employees has ever violated any law, Russian or American,
                  intentionally, and we never intend to. We operate in a highly regulated industry with a myriad of
                  rules and regulations as carefully and with as much diligence as possible. We arrange trips in more
                  than 54 countries around the globe, so this is no easy task.
                  The trip we arranged for Mr. Dan Duncan and his friends in 2002 was set up as a normal trophy
                  moose, caribou and sheep hunt, just as were the rest of the 50 or so trips we arranged that year in
                  the Russian Federation and the several independent republics of the former Soviet Union. After the
                  hunters arrived in the remote Koryak Autonomous Region of the Russian Far East, they were
                  enlisted to participate in a meat-gathering shoot (not hunt) on behalf of the poverty-stricken native
                  village of Tilichiki, which had been without supplies for some time. [The late 1990s and early
                  2000s were very difficult times in Russia, after the collapse of Communism, which caused a
                  breakdown in the supply system to remote villages.]
                  Meat-procurement shoots were a regular practice in those years as a way of overcoming shortages.
                  These shoots were conducted with the use of helicopters and snowmobiles, by officials of the state.
                  This use of prohibited means is allowed under special permit. This is not sport hunting.
                  Our clients agreed to participate in this shoot, under the supervision of officials from the Wildlife
                  Department. The meat was flown to the village at their expense because the village could not afford
                  to pay for the flying hours involved. The Wildlife Department and the village council expressed
                  their thanks to these traveling hunters, and the Deputy Chief Inspector of the region flew to Houston
                  1
                  Copyright 2015 – The Hunting Report, 12182 SW 128 ST, Miami, FL 33186. Tel. 305-253-5301. Fax. 305-253-5532. http://www.HuntingReport.com
                  to testify for the defense as to the legality of the shoot and the benefit it brought to the native
                  community.
                  The Hunting Consortium Ltd. does not guide hunters and we do not control the day-to-day
                  activities of our clients in the field in foreign countries. We do not export or import trophies. We are
                  a hunting, fishing and adventure travel consulting firm and a travel agency. We provide the most
                  complete adventure travel service available in the United States today, but we do not conduct any
                  field operations in any country and we do not ship or import hunting trophies.
                  Curiously, neither the Department of Justice nor the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bothered to
                  consult the Russian wildlife authorities prior to prosecuting me and my employees. This leads us to
                  surmise that the prosecution was agenda-driven. Trophy hunting is not universally popular. It is not illegal.

                  More Later

                2. Elk,
                  I realize I opened the door on this issue, I only regret I cannot share with you what I know and how I know it. I do have close sources that know and have shared information and opinions. This was not a smooth investigation within the USFWS by any means. Wounds occurred. I will have to leave it at that so I am still appreciated by my friends. As far as the meat hunt that is described in your piece goes, the wealthy hunters and their fat wallets and big bore rifles (.375 probably) must have been like manna from heaven to the Russians.

                3. http://www.huntingconsortium.com/

                  “Whether you thrill to the excitement of driven grouse on a Scottish moor, or seek the personal challenge of an expedition for the coveted Marco Polo sheep in the Pamir Mountains, we can construct an adventure that will maximize your opportunity for success and provide for your specific requirements in services and amenities. Programs can be tailored to virtually any individual taste and budget”

                  Guessing without looking too deep into their “site/den” Elk, its a gathering of wealthy boys with a lot of time/money on their hands, who like to shot wildlife, the rarer the better, for the walls, in their “I’m stressed counting my millions” every day existence.

                  I’ve met a few of them out here and I’d guess, so have you, Elk.

  29. Why Grizzlies Should Stay Listed As Endangered by Franz Camenzind

    http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/opinion/guest_shot/why-grizzlies-should-stay-endangered/article_a100711b-1895-581e-a8e5-f38547d447f3.html

    “Today, as we debate delisting and transferring grizzly bear management to the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming I have grave concerns. First, I am concerned about the future of the grizzly’s major foods…I am also concerned about how the three states, particularly Wyoming, are going to manage grizzly bears once they are delisted. Wyoming is home to the bulk of the ecosystem’s bears, and the Game and Fish Commission has given no assurance that it intends to maintain grizzly numbers at current levels, let alone allow the population to expand into suitable but as yet unoccupied habitat.”

  30. Animal poisonings are occurring in the immediate vicinity of the Timber Creek Ranger Station 18 miles southwest of Meeteetse on the bundary of the Shoshone National Forest. Three domestic dogs were found late Easter week. One of those dogs was field autopsied to revel some ” processed food” in its stomach and symptoms of poison, the implication being the owners had not fed the dogs that meat. ( Source: Wyoming Game and Fish rep on a local radio report). A raccoon , a skunk, and a coyote also turned up dead in the same place at the same time.

    http://www.powelltribune.com/news/item/13525-authorities-investigate-apparent-animal-poisonings-near-meeteetse

    The ranger station is located just inside the forest line from a small tract of private land owned by the Pitchfork Ranch where a dude ranch operation was once situated. Timber Creek Ranger Station is also the trailhead for several widely used trails, both for motorized and nonmotorized users.

    No motive suggested for the poisonings yet as the investigation is ongoing.

    1. Baiters are cheaters, not hunters.

      “Mercier said hunters would not use chocolate at all if they believed it was as harmful as wildlife officials contended.”

      This is in response to 4 dead bears from a chocolate overdose. This genius is making my eyelid twitch.

      1. Baiters are lazy, mindless slobs, Professor Sweat. They know it and anyone who cares about wildlife knows it.

        They are the true perverts of the hunting world (right up there with trappers, IMHO)

        “Hey little girl, little boy…. WANT SOME TREATS?”

        Maybe some time down the road, the hunting industry will actually get their sh*t together and offer meetings for these “folks” Kind of like AA meetings:

        “Hi, my name is…and I took a life today, because I don’t really give much thought or any thought at all, about their lives”

          1. Louise, Larry K got it right when he said:

            “Some people have a wire just waiting to be activated and others didn’t come with the wire installed.”

            We find perverts, abusers & killers abhorrent in our own species but the same acts committed against other species, is condoned and often celebrated.

            Thankfully there are lot of good people on this site (and in general) that either had their wires activated at birth or are waiting 🙂

        1. The name calling is not necessary, and doesn’t really make any point, except perhaps that you think it’s too easy. Perverts is over the top. I’m not advocating baiting, but if you speak out against it, give reasons, so it sounds like more than just generalized I-don’t-like-hunting. We could criticize folks for hunting in oaks with lots of acorns, or near corn fields, saying it’s too easy, or that bleating like a doe is no fair cause of the poor buck’s desires. Maybe guns make it too easy too. How about decoys, or modern bows and tree-stands. I’ll be fishing today, maybe not with “bait”, but there will be some sort of lure. I’m a pervert.

          1. 4 bears have died from exposure to this type of baiting, Rork (and how many others go unreported? Or wander off and die? ) Not a good enough reason to be outraged? And forgive me but this is NOT an example of hunting, IMHO.

            “It’s true that when baiting is outlawed, the kill rate per hunter declines. But all this means is that more hunters can participate without harming a population. “Why should the kill rate [quantity], rather than the quality of the hunt, be the measure of success?” Beck asks. “How fulfilling is it to shoot a bear with its head in a barrel of jelly-filled doughnuts?”

            Dated but still excellent article on the subject:

            http://archive.audubonmagazine.org/incite/incite0509.html

            1. +1

              The only positive if baiting bears was voiced by SaveBears long ago. An ethical hunter has the ability to be selective in regard to the bear he/she takes. A sow comes in with a cub, no shoot.

              That said, if chocolate is toxic for bears, as it is for dogs, no, it should not be allowed in bait piles. Not only bears, but other critters, wolves, coyotes, dogs may visit these piles, and then we have the “incidental” take that is one of the pox of trapping.

              1. +1 Immer

                Chocolate(and lead bullets too) need to go. There’s not one redeeming feature about baiting with garbage. What I hate is the ‘absolutely no compromise under any circumstances’ mindset of some.

                How difficult would it to stop baiting with chocolate? They don’t know anything about the dangers of it.

              2. The only positive if baiting bears was voiced by SaveBears long ago. An ethical hunter has the ability to be selective in regard to the bear he/she takes.

                In addition, allowing Wisconsin hunters to bait for bear helps us to reach our season harvest objectives in a short season, with minimal disruption to autumn foraging.

                1. Some refuse to acknowledge that there is a trade-off between certain aspects of fair-chase ethics and the desire for quick, clean kills.

            2. You were not restricting yourself to bears or chocolate in the comment I’m criticizing. Nice try.
              Outrage is fine if you can focus it a bit, which you failed to do. That’s my point.

              1. pervert: 1 to lead astray; corrupt 2 to misuse 3 to distort.
                Bear baiters fit the definition.
                I- don’t-like-perverts.

                1. Another thing that is distasteful about baiting and that is perverted is that typically wildlife agencies and scientists condemn feeding and habituating any wildlife, yet baiting is feeding and habituating. Perverted or corrupted as you argued Nancy. And I do believe there is something really corrupted about putting potentially dangerous food out to lure animals in to kill them.

        2. Nancy,

          You are on point with baiting being a perversion of hunting and considering it akin to trapping.

          My girlfriend has relatives up near Sandpoint, Idaho who live next door to a baiter. He sets out doughnuts and greasy french fries during bear season, which he monitors from a closed-circuit camera placed nearby. Then, he’ll just hang around home (usually with a case of beer) while the bait is out until a bear shows up and starts chowing down. All he has to do then is walk out his back door abound 60 yards and he has a clear shot.

          The process was described to me with naive enthusiasm while my stomach turned.

  31. Birth rates lowest in Europe, prompting discussions of need for MORE pregnancies there…while Africa is the hot bed of increased population growth?

    ++It is all part of a not-so-subtle push in Europe to encourage people to have more babies. Denmark, like a number of European countries, is growing increasingly anxious about low birthrates. Those concerns have only been intensified by the region’s financial and economic crisis,…++

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/business/international/sex-education-in-europe-turns-to-urging-more-births.html?emc=edit_th_20150409&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=36942192&_r=0

  32. Montana Dept. of Livestock trespasses and harasses West Yellowstone bison and private land owners… YouTube Video

    1. Ed,

      I know you mean well, but pushing private property rights in the West is VERY unlikely to result in improved conditions for wildlife–especially predators. Better to push for agency reform, IMO.

      1. JB:
        In the case of wild Montana bison, “private property rights” are turning out to be a winning issue, especially when the sitting Governor issues an Executive Order saying that; the Montana Dept. of Livestock MUST get permission from private property owners before they are allowed to haze bison off their land. Are you actually disagreeing with the stand taken by these Montana private property owners??

        1. You bet I am, Ed. It’s just another manifestation of the the ‘I-can-do-whatever-I-want-with-my-land’ mentality that, to be frank, doesn’t work in a modern society.

          The principle you are articulating here is that the government should have no power over a resource that resides on private land. Now before you shoot off a reply, think long and hard about the potential ramifications of the broader application of that principle (that means beyond the bison issue).

          Heck, I’ll spell it out for you. Right now the state of Ohio is fighting with the owner of a high-fence, canned-hunt facility. Much like the bison scenario, the state is seeking to have the deer in this facility killed because two have tested postive for CWD–the first to confirmed cases in Ohio. The owner of the facility says Ohio can go to Hell–its his land and his deer. Are you starting to see the problem, Ed…?

  33. April 9, 2015
    Big loss for the NRA – Big win for California’s wildlife:

    By a unanimous vote, the California Fish and Game Commission passed a regulation to phase-out lead ammunition. The decision implements Assembly Bill 711, which the Audubon Society of California co-sponsored in 2013 with Defenders of Wildlife and the Humane Society of the United States. The vote was a great victory for vulnerable birds like the California Condor and Eagles and other wildlife that ingest the lead fragments while eating carrion. California is the first state to commit to protecting wildlife by phasing out lead ammunition.

  34. California may be the first again in wildlife protection. I hope they do pass this bill to ban trapping of bobcats.

    http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Wildlife-advocates-back-state-ban-on-trapping-6190521.php#photo-7792214

    Amazing how people will toss out that ‘let’s depend on science’ only when they think it’s convenient to their stance.

    At least the commissioner and one wildlife biologist wasn’t buying the argument.

    “Science should be what they use to make a decision,” Lynch said. “I can talk about ethics all day, too, but this body is supposed to make decisions based on science.”
    Terry Mullen, a Department of Fish and Wildlife game warden, said during the hearing that a ban on bobcat trapping could actually lead to more illegal poaching of bobcats.
    He said that legal trappers often serve as the “eyes and ears” for wardens and help them bust poachers. Without the legal trappers, more rangers would be needed to track down the illegal hunters.
    Bill Gaines, president of the California Outdoor Heritage Alliance, agreed. “Banning bobcat trapping does cater to poachers,” he said.
    Commissioner Michael Sutton wasn’t buying it.
    “I’m skeptical, frankly, that a legal trade helps to control an illegal trade,” said Sutton, adding that this argument was also used to justify hunting elephants and rhinos in Africa, where the illegal trade of ivory and rhino horns is threatening to render both species extinct. In most cases, he said, poaching is not kept at bay by legalizing hunting.
    Rick Hopkins, a wildlife biologist, argued that there is no scientific evidence that bobcat trapping is an effective wildlife management tool.

    1. before anyone points out to me that the anti trapping poster is a bit objectionable him/herself I agree. But she makes a good point even the trappers are ashamed of what they do and know if there were more public exposure they would be in deep …..one of the comments says I don’t trap for money I just like it. What’s to like about causing suffering?

    1. Nancy:
      Anything that works to help save these special animals is great. There is a community co-operative in South Africa that is making paper out of elephant dung.

    1. Wonderful news, Yvette! A country that actually appreciates their wildlife, its a start 🙂

    2. Among the vast ocean of bad news there appears this glimmer of great news. I need to visit Costa Rica and leave a big sack of money behind when I come home.

      1. skyrim:
        Besides congratulating Costa Rica which is well deserved, please don’t forget Kenya which banned all hunting way back in 1977, and also Botswana which just banned trophy hunting in 2014. Photo safari companies are now bidding to buy up the former hunting concessions in Botswana so they can bring tourists to “shoot” wildlife over and over again.

        1. ED

          Kenya did not ban all hunting in 1977, bird hunting is still allowed and private landowners are allowed to hunt their lands. Trophy hunting is still allowed on private lands in Botswana and within a few years the county will be again open to hunting. Those photo safari companies are owned by the president of the country.

          I was looking at booking a hunt in Botswana and the ranch stopped all hunting, why? For years the ranch did not allow any hunting only photo safaris but photo safaris did not make any money. So they went to hunting safaris which did not make any money. Now the ranch is going to cull off the wildlife and return the land to cattle grazing, sad.

    3. Several years back Costa Rica was a major exporter of unprocessed wood lumber. Now exports of wood products must be turned into finished products. The country supports its natural heritage as an asset. Impressive.

      1. Scarface is alive and well as he was seen April 11th near Lamar Bridge. Yeah!

        1. Gary
          From what I was reading earlier, he should be 26 years old this year. That has to be some kind of record for a wild grizzly.

    1. This is what I hate most of all – that hunters won’t even allow animals treasured by photographers and wildlife watchers to be spared from their bullets. Their right to kill anything that moves is all-important. Blech.

      The wildlife agencies should step up to put them in their place, and they don’t.

      1. sure, that former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina sounds reassuring
        http://www.monbiot.com/2015/03/31/3709/

        One of the most painful lessons a young adult learns is that the wrong traits are rewarded. We celebrate originality and courage, but those who rise to the top are often conformists and sycophants. We are taught that cheats never prosper, yet the country is run by spivs. A study testing British senior managers and chief executives found that, on certain indicators of psychopathy, their scores exceeded those of patients diagnosed with psychopathic personality disorders in the Broadmoor special hospital.

        If you possess the one indispensable skill – battering and blustering your way to the top – incompetence in other areas is no impediment. The former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina, features prominently on lists of the USA’s worst bosses: quite an achievement when you consider the competition. She fired 30,000 workers in the name of efficiency, yet oversaw a halving of the company’s stock price. Morale and communication became so bad that she was booed at company meetings. She was forced out, with a $42m severance package. Where is she now? About to launch her campaign as presidential candidate for the Republican party, where, apparently, she’s considered a serious contender. It’s the Mitt Romney story all over again.

        1. One of the most painful lessons a young adult learns is that the wrong traits are rewarded. We celebrate originality and courage, but those who rise to the top are often conformists and sycophants. We are taught that cheats never prosper, yet the country is run by spivs.

          Sad but true!

          Thanks Mareks, I shudder at the thought of our country being run as HP. I’ll avoid voting for her like the plague.

    1. Spain at 70% non-Carbon Electricity: Will it be 1st Net Carbon Zero G-20 State?
      http://www.juancole.com/2015/04/spain-carbon-electricity.html

      If Spain doubles its wind generation from 22% of its energy mix to 40% in the next five years, as it plans, then that would take it to 87% of its electricity from renewables and nuclear. The other 13% may well be supplied by solar

      Spain, a country of 47 million people, has a gross domestic product of $1.4 trillion, making it the world’s 14th largest economy and ranging it with Australia and South Korea in that regard.

      In contrast, Australia gets 92% of its electricity from burning coal, petroleum and natural gas, even though the continent has abundant solar and wind.

      Other green energy experiments are being conducted, in Denmark, Portugal and Scotland, but these states have relatively small populations, ranging from 4 to 10.5 million, and they have a fraction of Spain’s gross domestic product. Germany is also adopting green energy on a very large scale, but as the world’s fourth largest economy with a population nearly twice that of Spain, it will take longer to get to net carbon zero. France actually gets more of its electricity from non-carbon sources than Spain, since it relies heavily on nuclear (70% of electricity generation). It could also theoretically get to net carbon zero soon, but questions are raised by its decision to reduce the share of nuclear to 50%. In contrast, Spain is already nearly 50% renewables in electricity generation

    1. Who’s buying? I thought Europe and Russia no longer do:

      “MONTREAL, QUEBEC, Apr 08, 2015 (Marketwired via COMTEX) — The government of Newfoundland and Labrador has announced that it will provide a further $2 million bailout to Carino Company Ltd. and PhocaLux International Inc. to prop up the dying sealing industry.”

      Ugh. You just have to wonder what kind of people can do this just to make a buck.

      Canada’s Massive Seal Hunt Subsidy is the Shame of the Nation

  35. More in the continuing saga of the Castle Rock prairie dogs. Surprise! The developers aren’t keeping their word (see lowlights below):

    “The drama that has played out in Castle Rock, Colorado in recent months, which heated up after the extermination of a thousand prairie dogs was based on decisions by an aggressive developer and imposed by apathetic town officials—has captured the attention and scorn of conscionable people across the nation.”

    and:

    But after a court order forced Alberta Development to stop killing the prairie dogs; public outrage and retailers pulling out of plans to be included in the mall pushed the developer into public relations damage control—then a wild kind of shell game began.

    In an about-face, Alberta claimed to have funded the means for one hundred or so surviving prairie dogs to be safely removed to a new home. But Colorado Parks and Wildlife said there were no proper permits for any relocation plans.

  36. http://www.mountainlion.org/newsstory.asp?news_id=1611

    Twenty-six mountain lions trapped within 2 years in Montana. I’ll keep my mouth shut at this point because my anger wont’ help. These trappers’ so called ‘lifestyle’ is due to be shut down. So far, all Montana has done is pass legislation to solidify a trappers “right” to trap.

    1. the uses of rescued wolves in the rehabilitation of former street-gang members in L.A.

      Stillday is not the only speaker in the film who sees the wolf as a vessel of medicine in the spiritual sense. So does Galeo Saintz, the South African founder of the Wild Peace conservation imitative. So does Paula Ficara of Wolf Connection in Acton, California, where injured wolves and wolf-dog crosses are rehabilitated along alongside people who have been traumatized, too, in a variety of ways:

      The kids are coming from all different backgrounds. Most of them are at-risk youth, coming from inner city situations, from gang violence … and they come in with their walls up. Always needing to protect themselves.

      They’ve got their attitude, they’ve got their swagger going on, they’re coming in going, whatever, what have you got to teach me?

      … [We tell them to] take your earphones out, hand ‘em over, you’re going to stand here, sit here, we’re gonna make a circle, and we’re just going to get really present. And the minute they all truly drop in, and let go of that stuff, and center themselves, the pack will actually begin to howl. …

      And for the rest of the program, the kids are putty in our hands.

      1. Jim Brandenburg:

        “I was very familiar with 19 wolves here around Ravenwood one year, when they were really doing well, lots of deer around. I photographed each one, gave each one a name, had a little portrait of each one with a name underneath.

        The alpha male was killed by a hunter, less than a mile from here. I know who did it. I asked them to be careful, I talked to them before the hunt. They were setting up their hunting camp, I said please be careful, there are lot of wolves here, I know it’s tempting. …

        It’s hard to talk about this.

        This is about three years ago. The alpha male, Blackie, was killed, with his pack – the wolf I’d been photographing, watching, for three, four years. Biggest footprint I’ve ever seen of a wolf – an interesting-looking wolf, he was pure black. And I watched him turn grey.

        He’d been radio-collared. The hunter didn’t want anyone to find out where he’d killed a wolf, so he snipped off the radio collar and dropped it off near Ely, to throw off the signal.

        The wolf pack was totally different after that. They seemed to disperse. They disappeared. Everything changed. I changed.

        I have not really photographed wolves since then. It broke my heart. It really destroyed me in some sense. I have not been the same.”

        1. He’d been radio-collared. The hunter didn’t want anyone to find out where he’d killed a wolf, so he snipped off the radio collar and dropped it off near Ely, to throw off the signal.

          I’m not surprised. Pure evil.

  37. Wolf opponents focus on human impact of predators
    http://www.capitalpress.com/Washington/20150413/wolf-opponents-focus-on-human-impact-of-predators

    “It’s not about money, it’s not about having the right politician in your pocket, it’s about being smarter about how you play the game,” spokeswoman Jamie Henneman said

    “That’s really how this battle is being fought — it would be nice if it was completely logical, but it isn’t,” she said

    Steve Alder, executive director of Idaho for Wildlife, said it would require killing 70 to 80 percent of that state’s wolf population each year to rebuild declining elk populations.

    “Maintaining pre-wolf ungulate harvests in a post-wolf landscape is a fantasy and is incompatible with so-called ecosystem management,” Alder said.

    Speakers from Oregon Wolf Education in Joseph, Ore., talked about their frustrations in getting state wildlife officials to confirm wolf depredations on livestock.

    “They have certain criteria they need — they need tracks, bite marks, evidence of the herd being attacked, telemetry,” rancher Lori Schaafsma said. “If one of those components isn’t there, they can’t (confirm). That’s political, where we have other agency personnel on the ground saying, ‘We know what happened here, but we can’t confirm it because A,B,C, isn’t here.’ That’s all politics.”

    “When you watch (Oregon or Eastern Washington ranchers’) life’s work being destroyed by this animal, if that doesn’t make you feel strongly, then you are not plugged in.”

    Amen.

  38. Hunting on Land Can’t Help A Hungry Polar Bear

    “Even though some polar bears are hunting on land more often in areas hit by climate change, a diet of bird eggs and berries can’t sustain these huge animals, a new study finds.”

    I’ve wondered if the same holds true for grizzlies – with certain parts of their diet declining, they can’t, even tho conveniently for us and our relentless activities, switch over to grubs and berries. It’s not enough to sustain them.

    1. More pure evil. Nauseating. Like the mass wolf and bison killings of the late 19th century, I’ll never get over the mass grizzly killings and fighting matches (defanged and declawed, of course!) in California. Humans are vile and perverse creatures.

    2. the same happens with wolves that are chained or staked. How people do these things is hard to fathom. How its still legal harder even.

    1. Its easy to say that Bundy continues to make fools of the BLM, but do you remember Waco, Texas when a lot of people died when law enforcement took action. I also believe the Oklahoma City bombing was an aftermath of Waco as Timothy McVeigh stated his anti government beliefs.

      The BLM considered the RISK of clashing with a lot of armed citizens vs the BENEFIT of removing some cows off public land. If the US government truly decides to remove Bundys cows, they need to bring in the Army or Marines as they are trained to deal with this type of problem. But in the end who would look like fools if the US Government killed or injured American citizens for the enforcement of a grazing permit by one individual. The less publicity Bundy gets, the better.

      1. About Bundy, I do not know why the federal government hasn’t seized Bundy’s bank accounts and title deeds to his private ranch as payment for the over $1,000,000 he owes. This all could take place between the feds and the banks and local governments and would not have to involve getting into Bundy’s face personally.

        1. Heartily agree Ed. A resolution to this matter, at least the money part, can happen with a stroke of the pen. No bullets, no militia, no ego, no misinterpretation of constitutional rights. Seize bank accounts, lien property, tie up assets. Done!

        2. Ed,

          If I recall correctly the Federal Court Judgment(s) against Bundy give injunctive relief – he is supposed to get his cows off federal land, because they are trespassing. There may also be something about penalties and fees for the holdover period on the cows which graze there, and the costs of government removal. I don’t know if that sum has ever been reduced to a finite monetary sum for recovery in the form of a Judgment that could be enforced.

          My recollection of creditors’ rights is a bit rusty, but unless there is a Court ordered monetary Judgment, quantifying damages, and a writ of execution (more court action), a lien could not attach to Bundy assets. He may have also done some crafty things to change title or hide assets, too. Also, a lien really doesn’t do much unless he wants to sell or refinance an asset that has a lien. A levy against a bank account may not be allowed if there are Social Security funds direct deposited to it.

          So, it could well be more legal process is required. The Court could order Bundy to appear, but he doesn’t seem to recognize the Court’s jurisdiction over him, anyway. And, he likely doesn’t go anywhere without an armed escort, so probably a couple US Marshals won’t scoop him up (I was actually hoping for that these past months).

          And, in the end, that is all part of the political aspect of this thing – and probably won’t happen any short time-frame. The D’s can’t afford to lose another Senate seat now that Harry Reid decided to retire. The D’s probably don’t want to make forceful federal intervention on Bundy grazing a poster child for R’s to use as talking points on the Presidential campaign trail. The BLM already stepped in this gooey cow pie back in 1998 when they didn’t round up Bundy’s cows and collect back grazing fees, and if they go any further in this political environment there is a risk it will turn into a sh_t storm of immense proportions.

      2. If these armed citizen’s are willing to take on the US government so be it, let them die for their cause. Nothing positive can come from ignoring this type of lawlessness.

      3. I wonder how they judge what is worth the risk or not? I agree with you that lessons have been learned from both Waco and Ruby Ridge. I disagree that bringing in the marines will help the political side of this issue. Military isn’t suppose to be used on citizens, anyway. Of course, our cops and LE are militarized, so not a lot of difference.

        What was BLM’s excuse with Mary and Carrie Dann? That was post Ruby Ridge and Waco. Oh yeah, that was just millions of acres of Shoshone land, by treaty, that the Supreme Court says was lost to White encroachment……the same type of thieves like Bundy and his armed militia.

        Where were those armed militia when the Dunn sisters had their horses and cattle seized? Had there of been a Shoshone militia do you think the BLM would have stood down? If you’re honest with yourself you know the answer. It would have been another Sand Creek massacre, or pick your favorite massacre from American history.

        1. “http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/17/us-usa-ranchers-nevada-militia-insight-idUSBREA3G26620140417”

          “Do laws no longer apply when the radical right no longer agrees?” said Ryan Lenz, a writer for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors militia group activity.”

  39. 2.7 Million Wild Animals Killed Last Year In U.S.’s Secretive War On Animals by Wildlife Services

    https://www.thedodo.com/millions-animals-killed-by-us-government-1090872400.html?utm_source=HuffPo

    “The large-scale killing amounts to a war on wildlife, critics say, carried out not with environmentally-friendly intentions, but rather to appease special interests for whom animals are an inconvenience.
    61,702 coyotes killed by Wildlife Services in 2014.
    305 mountain lions killed by Wildlife Services in 2014.
    15,911 prairie dogs killed by Wildlife Services in 2014.
    22,416 beavers killed by Wildlife Services in 2014.
    8,971 ravens killed by Wildlife Services in 2014.”

    1. Going strictly from memory it looks like the coyote kills are down by about 10K. Wasn’t it around 73K coyote kills reported in the previous years report?

      305 lions killed! Does anyone seriously believe there was a need to kill 305 lions?

      > 22k beavers.

      I despise the ideology of this division of USDA. Need to removed a threatening or sick animal then okay. Need to clear some birds at airports? Okay. But there is no need for the massive killing fields. 19th century backward thinking in a 21st century world.

      1. Yvette,
        You are so so right. Advocates for the earth are up against two main foes, apathy and ignorance. Apathy from those that do not want to be bothered with something they do not know about and just want to go along. Ignorance from those that refuse to absorb obvious facts that surround them. Both groups are not “earth thinkers”. They need to lay on the grass and stare up at the clouds on a summer day and let their mind absorb what they are seeing. Everything on this rock has a relationship to everything else as it hurls through the universe. All creatures except us are immune from apathy and ignorance by virtue of evolution. Evolution has taken into account all negative impacts from all sources except the “intelligent” creatures called people. By virtue of our greed driving our intelligence we refuse to live in accordance with the balance of evolution. Evolution has beautified this planet and we are determined to ignore or be apathetic to all the facts around us which in small, easily ignored increments, permanently disrupt the evolution process for the worse. Those that grasp the thoughts that are available by deeply pondering the clouds on a summer day find they are a small group trying to push a stalled locomotive uphill.

  40. VIDEO – Wild Horses Released Back To Nevada Wild Horse Range

    http://wildhorseeducation.org/2015/04/14/thank-you-gallop-to-freedom/

    Last week, the BLM overcame rancher protests and legal challenges to release 163 wild horses back to the range in the Fish Creek Herd Management Area (HMA) in Nevada after capturing them for birth control treatment. The horses had been held captive for more than six weeks and survived threats from ranchers and the legal actions they filed in an attempt to block the BLM from releasing the horses back to the range.

    1. A step forward Ed and then this, taking place, in another part of the west:

      http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/summer-roundup-planned-for-pryor-mountain-wild-horse-range/32356470

      There is a PBS documentary out there on this small population of wild horses (Cloud, Wild Horse of the Rockies) who’s only sin appears to be just wanting to exist (by law) and eat grass, in an area that is more and more desirable to the subsidized, Buck Thirty Five (a cow/calf) crowd, who manage/control the land, here in the west.

        1. “The public outcry on this one will be deafening.”

          No it won’t, it happens every year or every other year.

          1. I hadn’t heard that, or that kind of schedule, and it sounds much too frequent.

              1. Well you might say that we’re in the pickle we are now because the public outcry has been deafening. In any case, it would be better for all involved if the public quit ‘crying’ and started reading. 😉

                1. Ida: For clarity, we’re in the pickle we are now because of the legislation protecting horses and BLM’s reticence to use any lethal measures. Both came about

                1. There are over 2 MILLION domestic cattle in Montana, and this Pryor Mt. herd of less than 200 Wild Horses are the only wild horses left in Montana. The public range of private cows should be reduced. I hope the BLM pays attention to the Comments to this removal, because they are overwhelming in favor of the wild horses. For Comment information click here:

                  http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/take-action/action-alerts/471-blm-pryor-wild-horse-removal

                2. It really seems deceitful, because they’re taking out the young horses who would replace the older ones – so gradually the herd will die out. It’s despicable. They haven’t given the birth control plan enough time.

                  The West is going to be ruined by ranching, energy development and mining. Who would want to visit the pit it is going to become.

                3. “…hey’re taking out the young horses who would replace the older ones – so gradually the herd will die out.”

                  No. They’re taking the young because (a) young horses are easier to adopt, and (b) removing them will allow the BLM to CONTROL horse population growth. The National Act that “protect[‘s your] interest”, also was designed to balance the size of the herd.

  41. “Yesterday Carino Processing Ltd – Canada’s oldest and largest seal fur buyer – stated that the company has turned down $1 million in government funding for seal pelt purchases, noting that it already has pelts in storage that it cannot sell.

    This is a very significant and forbidding development for the sealers, in the wake of $2 million of government financing pledged to Carino and one other processor to purchase seal products. We had anticipated sealers would rush to the ice floes to cash in on the government’s effort to keep the hunt alive, but the effect of the Carino decision is to put the brakes on much of the sealing. Even Eldridge Woodford, the president of the Canadian Sealers Association, stated yesterday that, for the first time in 20 years, he won’t participate in the seal slaughter because of the lack of buyers for seal products.”

    http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2015/04/carino-says-no-to-more-seal-pelts.html

    I’ve posted a lot, so off I go. Have a good night, all!

    1. Ida: Another important win for the Humane Society of the United States in the long battle against the cruel and inhumane seal clubbing industry. HSUS and their collegues have been fighting the good fight for decades and maybe the end is in sight despite the irresponsible efforts of the Canadian and Provincial governments.

  42. Behold the prolific “keta,” or more commonly known “dog salmon.” Ron Judd, a Seattle Times columnist, has a little fun with this special salmon.

    http://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/lets-hear-it-for-chum-the-underdog-salmon-has-a-serious-drive-to-thrive/

    And, the more stately and highly valued king (aka Chinook) is a no summer fishing for recreational fishers in Puget Sound, while tribal treaty rights are still observed during this tough drought year:

    http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/other-sports/no-summer-king-fishery-in-central-puget-sound-for-first-time-in-years/

    1. “Tribal and state co-managers come to agreement on upcoming fishing seasons”

      Those fishing rights were a hard fought battle. Don’t know your age, WM or if you were an adult in the 70’s and 80’s, but I suspect you are well versed in the legal side of the fight that led to the Boldt decision.

      This looks to me like a great example of how government-to-government consultation and cooperation should work. You’re up there so I think you have a better handle on the situation though I’m confident your opinion is opposite, or at least quite different, than mine.

      http://nwifc.org/2015/04/tribal-and-state-salmon-co-managers-come-to-agreement-on-upcoming-fishing-seaons/#more-10201

      One other recent news article that is related and it’s from the Swinomish Tribe. I have nothing but respect and awe for the work the Swinomish have done with their environmental and natural resource management. Given their geographical location I think they are great example in how to cooperate and collaborate with the state, feds and local municipalities to find and accomplish common goals. They were the first tribe (that I know of) to develop a thorough climate change plan. Again, likely because of their geographical location.

      http://nwifc.org/2015/03/swinomish-tribes-restoration-improves-fish-passage-beside-farmland/

      1. Yvette,

        I get the NWIFC newsletter, and was sad to learn of the recent passing of Billy Frank (Nisqually tribe), its Chairman, some months back. Billy was the inspiration for the treaty litigation before Judge Boldt. You might enjoy a book written by law professor Charles Wilkinson, “Messages From Frank’s Landing.”

        Was also up near the Swinomish Reservation last week, and for the first time (and probably the last). I was driven by the tulip fields that comprise much of the farmland there. It is all lowland delta with very rich soil. The field drainage systems that parallel the county gravel roads there are interesting, as the borrow trenches are well below grade for the purpose of dewatering the fields of the Skagit lowlands. That whole area ought to be returned to wetlands, in my view. It won’t be, however, because of the economic value it provides to the Swinomish Tribe and to the non-Indians that farm it. You might also find this Swinomish Casino video on the tulip fields (and recent festival) interesting:

        http://www.swinomishcasinoandlodge.com/blog/blog/post/tulip-festival-weswintv-swinomish-casino-and-lodge

        By the way, I am happiest when tribes observe their treaty obligations, follow the joint management take rules, and properly tend their nets (not leaving them untended with rotting fish, or abandoning their gear altogether, then getting new stuff with federal tax dollars just by saying without proof somebody stole their gear – yeah, right).

    2. In the Chum article author forgot a most important Pacific Ocean cousin in Oncorhynchus in his listing: O. mykiss, (steelhead).
      About the salmon names:
      http://zeromorph.blogspot.com/2010/07/salmon-names.html
      “The species name is never used in English, except perhaps among biologists who are strange people anyway” (referring to O. nerka – sockeye or red samlon). This article also ignores O. mykiss. A trouble is that in older work it’s in genus Salmo (Salmo gairdneri) as many know. Long story.

      I still worry that the heavy take by gillnets in main branch columbia, targeting big and early chinook, might be genetically risky. I can’t be trusted though, since I’ve been negatively impacted – no big ones at Hanford Reach, unless you wait til Oct, when they are in bad condition. I didn’t report that here from my last visit. Sent my WA card back last week, and can’t complain too much – I failed to kill 3 adults just one day of the trip, but nothing over 25lb. Still, the freezers were filled.

  43. Ah, the always (overly) optimistic JB. Sigh.

    We sure clamp down on populations of wild horses and wolves under a microscope, it’s nuts.

    Adoption is not a given, and will, if it hasn’t already, reach a saturation point. Plus, who knows what kind of ‘home’ these poor animals will end up in? Sometimes ‘adoption’ means a kill buyer who takes them on a long, difficult journey to slaughter in an overcrowded, double-decker livestock truck with no water. What happens when a person can no longer afford to keep a horse and sells it again? The BLM doesn’t care. From what I have heard, there really isn’t much in the way of keeping track or follow-up on what happens to them. The BLM only addresses the immediate concern which is getting rid of them. There are many studies that show genetic diversity is compromised by indiscriminate horse removal, and the herd hierarchies are disrupted and permanently damaged.

    The Act was not designed to domesticate wild horses, but to protect them on the American landscape. Especially since the Pryor herd is the only one in Montana! I thought that area was too rugged for cattle grazing?

    I’m glad I do not eat beef (haven’t for 20 years or more) and do not contribute to this industry that is bad from beginning to end of the chain.

    1. You make a lot of assertions that are not fact based. I was the BLM wild horse adoption coordinator for the district I worked at and I can tell you that every wild horse that was adopted was checked by me to make sure it was well cared for until the horse died of natural causes. The vast majority of wild horses are taken care of extremely well and your mis-perceptions of the care they receive are flat wrong.

      Instead of making accusations, show me PROOF that wild horses have been taken to slaughter. The BLM would sure want to know. Its one thing to have a general pessimistic attitude, it’s another to make false accusations and try to create mis-perceptions.

        1. I remember this article WM. Sticks in the back of my mind each time there’s a resurgence of bills to re-open slaughter houses to accommodate all those loose, wild horses.

          Thanks for re-posting it. Might be a “can’t see the forest for the trees” situation with Gary? Because I do think he probably did care about how these wild horses would be treated once they were “swept” up and off public lands, to benefit the livestock industry.

        2. WM, I do not like the “sound” of this story in that there was a large amount of wild horses adopted by Tom Davis and now they can not be accounted for. The link is BLM’s response and although the case occurred in 2012, there should have been a finding by the IG by now. I don’t drink the agency “Kool Aid” and I realize there may be a few “bad apples” in the huge adoption program, but one bad apple does not spoil the huge wild horse program.

          JB summed up the situation quite well. IMO, contrary to the Ida’s of the world who would rather see the animals die a miserable death out on the range, wild horse roundups allowing them to become eligible for adoption or to live in “sanctuaries” are the most humane way to respond to these magnificent animals.

          http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram/history_and_facts/from_the_public.html#davis

      1. Ida: Trust me, the feeling is mutual. Now pay attention, the WFHBA directs that…

        “The Secretary shall maintain a current inventory of wild free-roaming horses and burros on given areas of the public lands. The purpose of such inventory shall be to: make determinations as to whether and where an overpopulation exists and whether action should be taken to remove excess animals; determine appropriate management levels of wild free-roaming horses and burros on these areas of the public lands; and determine whether appropriate management levels should be achieved by the removal or destruction of excess animals, or other options (such as sterilization, or natural controls on population levels).”

        The population of WFHB is overpopulated and has been for some time. But because of pressure from people like yourself, the BLM has been reluctant to use humane lethal means to kill and remove WFHBs. The result is that the either (a) are left alone, (b) are adopted, or (c) are housed in captive facilities that you and I and everyone else pay for (to the tune of 43 million per year just to house horses).

        You say: “Adoption is not a given, and will, if it hasn’t already, reach a saturation point.”

        It has Ida, and now we’re paying for it. So any plan to reduce the population that doesn’t require us to past tax payer dollars housing 30,000-50,000 wild horses and burros is a good plan by me. Frankly, humane lethal removal is perfectly acceptable to me.

        BTW– Frankly, I don’t really care for livestock on public lands either. But that’s a separate issue.

        1. At the risk of getting in the middle of a place I don’t want to be….this is from four years ago. This ranch is not far from where I live, but an entirely different ecosystem.

          This local news station is tops at the soppy feel good stories, but all of you might enjoy. You especially, Ida, and it’s an example to back what Gary said. I think the one with the curly mane is spectacular.

          http://www.newson6.com/story/13474121/osage-county-ranch-home-to-oklahomas-wild-horses

          1. I think it is inhumane to round up wild animals and subject them to the stress of relocation and holding areas, and force them into what we think is a good ‘home’. That was not the intent of the original Act.

            There are lots of people with good intent who adopt for sanctuaries, but they are far from the norm. Of course, it does make good PR to wrap the BLM’s activities up in a nice little bow – but there are many more who end up God knows where. You can’t honestly expect that people are naïve enough to think every horse ends up in a perfect home. The roundups themselves are terrible – and what passes for veterinary care is cruel and inhumane. Lots of animals have died.

            1. I honestly now am convinced that the BLM and even possibly some other government agencies are ‘owned’ by ranching interests. This is why they do absolutely nothing (other than a little huffing and puffing for the media)about Mr. Bundy (he even had the chutzpah to throw a party on the anniversary of the standoff, I read!), and he is not the only rancher who pretty much can go wherever they like with their cattle on public lands.

            2. “The roundups themselves are terrible – and what passes for veterinary care is cruel and inhumane. Lots of animals have died.”

              Ida, how much do you know about rounding up horses? And how did you surmise that the the veterinary care is cruel and inhumane?

              I’m not following what you are basing those comments on. Why in the world would you say the vet care is inhumane? How would you know this?

    1. From some of the flailing and thrashing about, it was difficult to tell. Improve your stroke and you won’t attract as many predators or critics. 🙂

    1. How is it justified to fence in any creature with no access to water?

      1. Prof. Sweat:
        It is NOT justified to fence in elk without water, but the Nat. Park Service at Pt. Reyes Nat. Seashore is saying, “We are just letting nature take its course”. All of this is because the private ranchers who are illegally being allowed to stay inside a National Park do not want native elk on “their” land. As seen in Yellowstone N.P. with bison and now in Pt. Reyes, N.S., the Nat. Park Service has been taken over by the private ranching industry. Bundy’s dream is coming true even in Marin County, California – one of the most pro-wildlife districts in America.

        1. ++All of this is because the private ranchers who are illegally being allowed to stay inside a National Park …++

          Outside you knowledge base, once again, Ed?

          If you look at the history of the creation of Point Reyes National Seashore in 1962 (not a NP by the way), you will see that raising cows and grazing all PRE-DATED creation of PRNS. The legislative history in Congress also supported continuation of cattle/dairy operations within the preserve on private land inholdings, and other historic agricultural lands that would be immune from condemnation proceedings, or allowed to continue agriculture under special use permits even after the land was sold to the government. See this U of CA Extension report:

          http://ucanr.org/sites/uccemarin/files/31000.pdf

          And, related to another topic on which you and I disagreed, it appears roughly half of livestock revenues for tiny Marin County are generated from operations within PRMS. This again suggests Marin County is not really the norm out there for agriculture. Yet the Marin County (includes San Francisco Bay) Board of Supervisors want to encourage and maintain local agriculture (locivores?) on what little acreage is suited for agriculture in its 528 square miles of land area.

          ______

          If, as CBD (often a questionable source of accurate facts), says, that these Tule elk died from inability to access fresh water during the drought, the damn National Park Service employees responsible for this ought to be brought up on animal cruelty charges. They didn’t figure this out the first year, and maybe give them some watering toughs? Wait, this is a federal preserve and maybe that can’t be done under state law. One more example of shitty federal government management of wildlife. And some of you want them more involved in wildlife management? Whoa!

          1. This elk dying of thirst thing just gets better. Apparently NPS has known this since about 1998 and included the issue in their Tule Elk Management Plan, as cited by this source:

            https://jimcoda.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/254-elk-die-of-thirst-in-elk-range-point-reyes-national-seashore/

            Ought to just fire the employees responsible for “managing” the elk at Point Reyes. But that is yet a whole other story – getting rid of incompetent federal employees.

            1. WM:
              You are out of your element regarding the illegal use of federal property (Pt.Reyes Nat. Seashore) to private cattle at the expense of native wildlife. The Nat. Park Service paid mulit-millions of dollars to acquire this coastal praire land in the 1960s and 1970s. Former ranch owners were given 25 year leases to continue livestock grazing on their former lands. These 25 years are long over, and the Nat. Park Service is just letting the ranchers continue to graze their cows there anyway. What is clear is that the ranchers have no right to exclude native wildlife including elk from National Park Service land. You are right that the Nat Park Service is guilty of “animal cruelty”. The fence blocking them in should be taken down so the elk can roam free.

          2. WM: The State of California in the form of the Calif. Fish & Wildlife Dept. approved fencing the elk within the Tomalis Point area of Pt. Reyes National Seashore (without water). Just like the feds, this was approved by the State at the behest of local private ranchers who formerly owned the land before it was purchased by the National Park Service.

            1. I wonder how those approvals will hold up in the court of public opinion. Either way, I just sent the Pt. Reyes park management a thoroughly barbed letter with my opinions on the subject.

            2. It appears this is quite a bit more complex politically and legally than CBD would like us to believe. There is apparently quite a bit of discretion allowed for NPS to manage the agricultural component. And, it would appear there is an effort to seek compromise which reflects historic use, local sentiment for agricultural business. These ranches produce “organic meats, milk and cheeses,” afterall.

              As for the CDFW, it is one thing to “approve a fence” and quite another for an agency with management responsibility, on a day to day basis, to allow elk to die for lack of water. This is a small area, no cover and with a lot of people around. What, some federal NPS employee can’t figure out these animals need water? Geez, these Tule elk are, in effect, wild animals keep captive for display.

              http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Reintroduced-tule-elk-compete-with-cattle-on-5816969.php

              1. It’s actually more complicated than you think, WM. Consider the NPS’s interpretation of its mission includes maintaining natural processes (starvation due to drought is, of course, quite natural). The problem is the elk can’t migrate out of the area they’re in due to the fact that it is a peninsula that is fenced on one side (with a livestock operation on the other side of the fence).

                The story actually gets better. The NPS has allowed non-native species of deer fallow and axis deer to persist within the national seashore, largely because they fear public backlash from well-meaning animal lovers (does this sound familiar, Ida?).


                I know this area quite well; we lived in the Bay area for ~5 years and I was a very frequent visitor to PRNS. Shot my first photos of elk and coyotes there.

                1. JB forgive my harsh post of earlier – you know I think the world of your posts and knowledge.

                2. Now wait a minute – it is unforgivably careless for so many elk to have been fenced in without access to water regardless if they allowed non-native species to persist.

                  Just to placate a temperamental rancher who claims to have first dibs on al of the water? Is this the kind of thing we can expect to see on a regular basis due to the water crisis in CA? I fear it is.

                3. JB: Your recollections of Pt. Reyes is a little out of date. Actually, when native elk were returned to Pt. Reyes, the exotic fallow and axis deer were eliminated (ie killed) by the Nat. Park Service staff.

                4. My husband Tom shot some of the most dramatic 35mm motion pictures of a running herd of elk while he was strapped to the edge of a helicopter over Point Reyes. We were shooting footage for a dam removal story and traveling up and down the coast shooting B roll. They were magnificent. A tragedy to think of them dying of thirst.

                5. JB,

                  The problem I have with the “mission of NPS” in this instance is that the area has been settled for a couple hundred years. It has components for which they are responsible that are human created and have a human management aspect with rich history. The Point Reyes Light (National Historic Register), and the agricultural land there are integral to the history of the San Francisco area all the way back to the Gold Rush days.

                  And, as the U of California Davis Extension paper I referenced above there is substantial interest in maintaining agriculture within PRNS boundaries. There is also concern by Extension agriculture folks that without the cows, an already extensive portfolio of invasive weeds and plants will take over the vegetation there. I also understand there is an oyster farm which had been operating under a long term permit, and which Congress wanted to extend, giving discretion to the Secretary of Interior to renew the permit. Secretary Ken Salazar, with all of his agriculture connections, chose not to renew the permit, and the newer owners of the oyster farm got shut out losing money on their investment to supply tasty kumomoto oysters to the folks in SF, even after a round of litigation.

                  This is a managed environment, and it seems there is little way around that in the nearer term. Maybe some high techie from the nearby Silcon valley ought to buy out the ranches there and the area reverted to a sanctuary of sorts. Heck even remove the lighthouse and all the service structures.

                  The word is the non-native deer are all gone now, after a lethal removal campaign in about 2009.

                  http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Seashore-deer-culling-resumes-3296112.php

                  I know we didn’t see any there maybe 2009 or 2010, I forget exactly, when we were last there. Also have friends in Stinson Beach to the south.

                6. WM:

                  According to what I can find from the NPS, there are still non-native deer in PRNS. The plan is for them to be eradicated (through both lethal and non-lethal methods) over the next 10-15 years (the plan was established in 2008, and called for their removal within 20 years). The lethal control in 2009 was an early step toward that goal.

                  The irony here is that livestock are protected for cultural/historic reasons, but the NPS passed on protecting non-native deer for the same reasons. Personally, I like the NPS’s mission, as it is a bit more robust to the political winds than the FS or BLM’s multiple-use missions. However, Point Reyes (and our own Cuyahoga Valley NP) are good examples of where the application of that mission seems lost, and we fall back on protecting agriculture rather than protecting nature.

              2. WM,

                No issue taken with CDFW. I volunteer with them whenever I can snag an opportunity (who knew counting bighorns in the Angeles N.F. was so popular?). In a perfect world there would be no ranching in Pt. Reyes, but I don’t know enough about the history to make a judgement on the current uses and I tend to believe cattle and elk can graze the same areas if the cattle are managed properly.

                My letter was purely to do with the elk that have died from dehydration due to their enclosure. These animals are adapted to withstand heat and water scarcity, but they shouldn’t be cut off from year-round water sources. Unacceptable errors have clearly been made and yes, the incompetent employee(s) responsible for this need to go.

                1. WM: you wrote: “Maybe some high techie from the nearby Silicon valley ought to buy out the ranches there and the area reverted to a sanctuary of sorts.” I think you didn’t read what I wrote very well or you would know that the Nat. Park Service bought all these ranches in the 1960s and 1970s during the creation of Pt. Reyes Nat. Seashore. And, to make it more upsetting to wildlife advocates, who want the 28,000 acres “Pastoral Zone” restored to its former coastal prairie ecosystem, the Park Service refuses to allow the grazing permits to be bought out or revert to the wildlife habitat, even when a rancher dies or doesn’t want to be in the livestock business anymore. It’s the worst of the “good ol’ boys” network that want nothing, including native elk, to interfere with their private businesses located on this publicly owned National Park Service land.

                2. Ed,

                  I am usually pretty careful about checking what you write for factual accuracy. In this instance, I am in error. When I speed read the UC Davis Extension report, I incorrectly concluded that SOME of the ranches were still privately owned, notwithstanding the forced or voluntary sale of other ranch properties. Yes, my error. There is, however, a critical mass to the ranching/livestock activity which makes it work or not, and that is what Marin County says it wants to save, and apparently has some support within NPS/Interior.

    1. had not seen that thanks Immer
      those few dispersers are not faring so well

    2. Its going to be a tough ride for any dispersers to Illinois. I’m surprised that individual made it so far. I did a few roofing projects down in Grundy Co. about a decade ago. There is a minimal amount of habitat there and it’s only about an hour from Chicago one a good day. There are a mind-boggling amount of highways/county roads and cornfields between there and the state’s northern border. I’m interested in the route she took to get there.

    1. Louise you can find out all about it here:
      http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1411043/m/9341002012

      How did the elephant fare, they were hunting elephants so either the game scout or the hunter probably finished him off. That is elephant hunting.

      One of my best friends in Bozeman knew Ian when both of them worked for National Parks in Southern Rhodesia in the late 70’s. It is not called dangerous game hunting because it is safe.

    2. I read about this yesterday.

      This HP UK article says it is unknown if the elephant was killed or even injured.

      “Ian and Robert began shouting in order to stop the charge. At very close range, Ian was able to get off one shot before the bull killed him. The scene was very graphic.”

      It is not known if the animal was injured or killed in the incident.”

      The big question is why are elephants being hunted by trophy hunters when there is one elephant killed every 15 minutes?

      There is an insignificant difference in killing and elephant or killing a human. Elephants are more family oriented than many humans, and while it is impossible to measure elephant intelligence to human intelligence, we know elephants are highly intelligent. They are probably even more intelligent than humans in quite a few ways.

      http://www.beliefnet.com/Inspiration/Home-Page-News-and-Views/Wild-Elephants-Mourn-Death-of-famed-Elephant-Whisperer.aspx#

      ———————————————–

      “I was mystified at the bull’s poor attempt to hide – until it dawned on me that he wasn’t trying to hide his body, he was hiding his tusks. At once, I was incredibly impressed, and incredibly sad – impressed that he should have the understanding that his tusks could put him in danger, but so sad at what that meant.”
      “What that meant;” that this elephant understood not only to hide, but what part of his body needed hiding.

      That kind of insight shook me deeply. Mark saw Satao several times before he was poached, and each time the elephant tried to conceal his magnificent tusks. emphasis mine

      Alas, his hiding did not help. Satao was killed.

      http://static1.squarespace.com/static/50756b75e4b01e64d2142372/t/53b8f382e4b01c43f7da6416/1404629890218/140705+The+Times+Magazine+-+Jerome+Starkey.pdf

      ———————————————–

      Just a couple weeks before Satao was killed Mountain Bull was killed.

      http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mountain-bull-legendary-kenyan-elephant-found-dead/

      I just can’t find it in me to feel one iota of sympathy for Ian Gibson or any of the big game trophy hunters. It’s simple. They are killers. They have no remorse for the intelligent lives they snuff. Killers without remorse are either sociopaths or psychopaths.

      1. oh boy Yvette that story killed me
        the elephant hiding its tusks
        trophy hunting has to stop, poaching and killing off all of the big mammals. some humans are just awful

      2. “What that meant;” that this elephant understood not only to hide, but what part of his body needed hiding.

        I found this to be heart-breaking also, Yvette, that kind of awareness.

        Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt – but lost in all the so-called allure of big-game hunting and high-tech gear and weapons is the fact that it is still a very dangerous activity.

    1. If they had been kids at a bus stop in Idaho or Wyoming the wolves would have ate them for sure.

      1. I can’t watch the video at work but I see no mention where they had been feeding these wolves.

        1. http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=3ee1a748-55e1-4c77-9a47-4e5974121dbf

          “The big mining companies have the money and resources to build good landfills,” said Kelly, adding there is no legislation requiring fences or other security measures.

          Many dumps in the north, operated by mines or no one at all, are not subject to the same rules as municipal landfills.

          Kelly said Saskatchewan, behind other provinces, is just started to address the issue”

          1. Same BS here when it comes to the livestock industry, out here in the west, Timz.

            Some ranchers drag a dead animal off away from the “rest of the herd”, some dump it in a dead pile, some never address the problem of a dead animal at all, just leave it to rot and then they get excited and anxious and angry, about predators hanging around….

            1. well its very sad because a fed wolf is a dead wolf somebody will do some unthinkable act of cruelty, think Romeo

    1. If there is dispersion in to the Island, measures need to be taken to keep people from shooting them and interfering. I probably lean more towards Peterson and Vucetich also – but Dr. Mech’s thought is intriguing.

    2. Attended a live streaming from Peterson at the IWC last night. He said it is probably much too late in regard to genetic rescue. Awaiting DNA results from scat analysis, but he believes there are a male, female, and pup from last year.
      Any process for intervention is three years away,and the protocol for intervention has not yet begun. Looks like it’s over.

      1. I think “dither” was a term Peterson used in reference to NPS’s procrastination on genetic rescue. Probably some other descriptors would have been more accurate.

        Immer, would “Oddball” be your new avatar? Always sorting the “good waves” from the negativity? Can’t think of a better one for you..”arf, arf, arf.” Most these folks here are too young or sheltered in their views to appreciate the origin. 🙂

        1. WM,
          That would be the case, though adding a new pup to the mix has periodically thrown a monkey wrench into the positive waves.
          “Woof woof woof, That’s my second dog imitation”.

        2. What Rolf refers too as the “nonintervention” policy of the NPS, social scientists call the status quo bias. When considering an action that involves risk, we tend to favor the status quo–doing nothing at all.

          It’ll be ironic if wolves go extinct in the park in the same year NPS celebrates its centennial. At this point, that seems likely.

          1. Well, if the wolves go extinct they can always study the moose until the island goes wonky and they crash, too. I was mostly in favor of genetic rescue, as soon as it became evident the spinal issues were huge. Seems to me it would have been a great place to study translocation issues including wolf on wolf social tolerance if they got creative on which ones they brought in to fill the genetic gap.

            Immer, I wonder if even JB knows of whom we write? And, do tell about the “new pup.”

            1. WM,
              A German Shepherd puppy, my fifth. Figured I was good for one more big dog, pup til… One does forget the manifestations of puppy behaviors after 13 years, but this one has an energy level unlike any I have had in past. My older shepherd, 13 this coming week, has literally become a walking chew toy.
              Trying to use Oddball’s positive waves and strength through being gentle, laugh when I can, weep when I must, take deep breaths, and try to do no harm.
              He is now ~ 4.5 months old, and showing some signs of cognizance of catching on to what is allowable. As with most pups, everything goes in the mouth. Deer poop equates to fudge and brownies, whereas grouse poop is like caramels. At least it seems he has stopped swallowing and then puking up rocks during the early morning hours.

              First shepherd puppy where the adage GS puppies Are not for the faint of heart.

    1. I just started reading about her incident this morning. It may be this cat is actually not a feral and is someone’s cat. This HP article shows a video of ‘Tiger’ a cat that went missing about the time this veterinarian killed and posed for a picture (imagine that!) with the poor cat with an arrow through its head.

      Look closely at the markings on Tiger and they are the same as the cat in the picture that Kristen Lindsey killed though Tiger looks to be heavier through the mid-section.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/17/vet-kristen-lindsey-kills-cat-with-arrow_n_7090630.html

      If this turns out to be the case then Dr. Lindsey may be in more trouble than just being fired from the vet clinic where she worked. I think she can be charged under TX animal cruelty laws and hope that she is. I also hope whatever board is over the conduct of veterinarians reviews this case and acts accordingly.

      And kudos to the veterinarian clinic that acted swiftly to fire her. Now she needs to be investigated for animal cruelty.

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