[popcorn number=”80,000″ desc=”Estimated wild population of golden jackal in India” class=”Default”]
Mistaken identity
Initially mistaken for a stray dog, the carcass was identified by naturalist Mahesh Yadav after a friend sent him a photograph. Yadav rushed to the scene and alerted the Mangrove Cell of the forest department. Range Forest Officer Prashant Bahadure promptly dispatched a team.
The carcass was found on the Mumbai-bound lane of Mulund-Airoli Road near Airoli Bridge
Conservation need
Golden jackals play a vital role in forest ecology as omnivores feeding on small mammals, birds, fish, rabbits, and fruit. Experts emphasise that their secretive urban lives, diets, and prey bases require detailed study to improve conservation efforts against hunting, trafficking, and highway accidents.
Ecological role
>> Golden jackals are native to the Indian subcontinent >> They play a vital role in forest ecology >> As omnivores, they feed on small mammals, birds, fish, rabbits, and fruit. >> They frequently fall victim to hunting, wildlife trafficking, human-animal conflict, and highway accidents >> The species is protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 >> They have an estimated wild population of 80,000
Yadav shares
“The incident came to light this morning when my friend called to inform me about a jackal lying near Airoli Bridge on the Mumbai-bound lane. I asked him to send a picture, which confirmed that the animal was an Indian golden jackal. I immediately went to the spot.”
Swift response
As per Yadav, forest department officials arrived within five minutes, completed the roadkill panchnama, and secured the animal’s remains. Yadav expressed distress over urban wildlife road accidents and urged motorists to drive cautiously near natural habitats.
Urban threats
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region hosts a healthy population of jackals surviving in mangrove patches across Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Bhandup, Charkop, Versova, Vasai, Mira-Bhayander, and Ghodbunder Road. However, habitat destruction, feral dogs, and roadkill pose major threats.
Bird flu has been detected in a Sac County, Iowa, commercial turkey flock. (Photo by Stephen Ausmus/USDA)
A case of highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in a commercial turkey flock of approximately 44,400 birds in Sac County, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
While the HPAI H5N1 outbreak has been ongoing since February 2022, Iowa has not reported an outbreak of the bird flu in a commercial flock since December 2025. The state has reported seven outbreaks of the virus in backyard, mixed species or game bird flocks in 2026.
Iowa has had more total birds affected by the bird flu than any other state since the start of the outbreak, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.SUBSCRIBE
Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for Sac County Wednesday after IDALS’s announcement. The disaster proclamation allows state and department resources to be more easily deployed to help contain and monitor the outbreak, which typically requires dispatching the affected flock and disposing of the dead birds.
IDALS is encouraging producers and backyard flock owners to “continue bolstering” biosecurity measures to protect their flocks. HPAI is a viral disease that can travel in wild birds and infect wild and domestic birds. Instances of the virus typically rise during bird migration seasons.
Poultry producers must report possible cases of the bird flu to IDALS and should contact their veterinarians if they suspect birds with the virus. Some clinical signs include a sudden increase in bird deaths, lethargy, decreased egg production, swelling of head, difficulty breathing, thin-shelled or misshapen eggs and diarrhea.
Poultry and egg products remain safe to eat and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, continue to rate the public health risk of bird flu as low as there is no known person-to-person spread.
Two thousand, two hundred hunters. Six check stations. Two days. That’s what FWP had to work with after opening weekend in southwestern Montana, and the numbers they pulled from Alder, Cameron, Divide, Gallatin Canyon, Silver City, and Toston tell a story worth paying attention to before you load up for your next trip.
Over October 24 and 25, those 2,200 hunters checked in 146 elk, 41 mule deer, and 18 whitetails. Success rates swung from 6 percent in the Gallatin to 14 percent at Alder. That’s not a small gap — it reflects genuinely different conditions, pressure levels, and animal distribution across a region that covers a lot of very different country.
Where the Hunters Showed Up—And Where They Didn’t
Divide pulled 414 hunters through its station, the second-highest opening weekend count ever recorded there. Cameron ran above average too. Meanwhile, Alder and Gallatin Canyon were quieter than usual, Silver City held near typical numbers, and Toston brought up the rear at 161 hunters checked.
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Why the spread? Probably some mix of snow timing, road conditions, and the kind of last-minute intel that circulates in every hunting camp the night before opener. Friday’s fresh snow helped hunters read sign and pattern animals — but it also shut down certain roads and funneled people toward wherever they could still get a truck in.
Those Divide numbers stand out to anyone who’s hunted that country over the last several years. It’s been drawing more attention, and this opening weekend confirms it’s become a legitimate go-to for hunters who want elk opportunity without burning a full day on approach. Whether that pressure holds or scatters as November grinds on is something to watch closely.
Alder, Cameron, Gallatin, and Silver City all came in at or above their average opening weekend success. Divide didn’t. Despite pulling the second-highest hunter count on record, success there came in below average — which tells you something. Either the pressure pushed elk out of that drainage fast, or the country got hunted hard enough in the first few hours that animals simply went quiet and went deep.
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Honestly, 6 to 14 percent is about what you’d expect across opening weekend in this part of the state. Elk don’t cooperate just because you’ve been scouting since August. But that range is consistent with prior years, and it’s a good reminder that the hunters who fill tags in Montana are usually the ones still grinding in mid-November — not the ones who needed it to happen by noon on Saturday.
Bear Activity Remains High—Stay Sharp
Multiple hunters reported fresh bear sign over the weekend. Both black bears and grizzlies. With temperatures staying mild and food still available up high, bears aren’t denning yet — not even close.
Carry bear spray. Every time, no excuses. Hang your meat away from your camp, stay loud in thick timber and tight drainages, and don’t let the focus of a successful kill make you sloppy. The window between pulling the trigger and getting that elk on the truck is exactly when people get into trouble. Stay bear-aware through the whole process, not just the walk in.
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What This Means for the Weeks Ahead
Check station data is useful beyond the headline numbers. Below-average turnout at places like Alder, Toston, and Gallatin Canyon suggests there’s opportunity left for hunters who didn’t punch their tag opening weekend. Lower pressure often means less pressured animals — elk that haven’t been bumped three times in two days and gone nocturnal as a result.
Weather is going to drive everything from here. Another snow event in early November — the kind that hits the Gravellys or the Pioneers overnight and stacks a foot by morning — and you’ll see a second surge of activity as animals move and hunters chase tracking conditions. If it stays dry and mild, success rates may flatten out as elk lock into patterns and learn to avoid the obvious pressure zones.
Areas like Divide may keep seeing heavy boots on the ground, which historically pushes elk onto private land or into terrain that demands a lot more from a hunter. If you’ve got the legs and the time, that’s actually where opportunity opens up. In my experience, the mid-season hunters who go where it’s inconvenient — the extra canyon, the longer pack, the access that requires a call to a landowner — are the ones who come out with meat.
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Read the Signs, Not the Crowd
Opening weekend is never the whole picture. It’s the first two days of a six-week conversation between hunters, animals, weather, and country that doesn’t care about your schedule or your expectations. This season looks competitive in some drainages and genuinely wide open in others. The data from those six check stations won’t tell you exactly where to go — but it’ll tell you where everyone else already went.
Stay flexible. Stay bear-aware. Hunt where the pressure isn’t.
