Wildlife
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It’s usually the other way arong, with Wyoming game management worrying Idaho. Wyoming elk even passed on brucellosis to Idaho cattle, causing Idaho to lose its “brucellosis free” status. The escape of these farm elk into the greater Yellowstone elk population now worries Wyoming, a state with sloopy elk management, but also a state that…
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People have been fearing this for a long time. Hopefully the domestic elk have no disease. The politics of the whole is really disgusting, but perhaps the outcome will be to put strong controls on these private elk “hunting” reserves, and maybe like the good folks in Montana did, shut them down. They are an…
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A high proportion of Wyoming elk that reside on state run elk feedlots in the winter (or the National Elk Refuge near Jackson) are infected with or exposed to brucellosis. Elk that “winter out” have far lower infection rates, but WY Game and Fish, under pressure from ag interests, wants to keep those feedlots. So…
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Montana Department of Livestock and Yellowstone Park, who has been dragged into bison killing by the Bush Administration, sent more than a thousand to slaughter last winter. The controversial Montana bison hunt killed 45. There was winter mortality and minor predation by Yellowstone wolves. This year the hunt will have 140 tags. A lot of…
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Tom Turiano and his daughter and friend had a very interesting wolf experience at lower Green River Lake in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming this past weekend. Tom emailed me the story.
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One of the major factors every year whether there will be grizzly conflicts in the fall is the status of fat-rich whitebark pine crop. If there is a good crop, the bears will stay at high elevations where the whitebark pine grows — just below timberline. In recent years, there has been some pessimism about…
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Last year there was a story of how a grizzly bear drove polar bears off a whale carcass on the Arctic Ocean. Grizzlies are showing up way north of the past range. Here is similar news from the Anchorage Daily News. Read
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Maybe posts on Aug. 25 made it sound like everything was going to burn up. So? Well, calm and cooler weather made the fires “lay down.” They are still there spreading slowly where their edges have not been contained. However, higher temperatures and strong winds are predicted 8/30 in advance of a cold front. It…