64K women and girls became pregnant due to rape in states with abortion bans, study estimates
1
Monthly Archives: January 2024
Putting Grizzlies In Remote Bitterroot Area Could Be Key To Eventual Delisting
Subscribe NowMenuSearch
The federal government is considering reintroducing grizzly bears into the remote Bitterroot-Selway region of Montana and Idaho, which could be key to linking grizzly populations and lead to eventual delisting.
January 22, 20244 min read
With grizzlies already expanding their territory around Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, the federal government is considering reintroducing them into the remote Bitterroot Ecosystem.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public comment about a proposal to reintroduce grizzlies to the Bitterroot Ecosystem, which covers parts of southwestern Montana and the wildlands of central Idaho.
A few grizzlies have already ventured there on their own, as well as Montana’s adjacent Big Hole region.
“We’ve had bears in the northern Bitterroot Valley fairly regularly for the last three or four years,” Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Greg Lemon told Cowboy State Daily.
Feds Change Stance
Expediting the process by transplanting some grizzlies into the Bitterroot region hadn’t been seriously considered USFWS before now even as grizzly conservationists have long argued that establishing a robust population there is key to full grizzly recovery in the Northern Rockies.
But now the federal agency might be changing its stance.
“However, conditions have changed, so we intend to reevaluate a range of options to restore the grizzly bear to the BE during the development of a new EIS (environmental impact statement),” according to the agency.
Central Idaho Population Vital
Grizzlies in the Lower 48 were placed under federal protection in 1975, after their population had dwindled to just a handful in the Yellowstone National Park region. Since then, their numbers and territory have continued to grow.
Conservative estimates place the population of grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho at roughly 1,000 bears now. And another 1,000 or so grizzlies are part of the Northern Contenential Divide population, radiating out from core habitat in Glacier National Park in Montana.
There’s been a yearslong push to delist grizzlies and hand management of them over to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and its sister agencies in Montana and Idaho. State management could include grizzly bear hunting seasons.
But grizzly conservationists have argued that delisting isn’t a viable option at least until the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide grizzly populations link up, comingle and interbreed.
The two populations are getting close to one another, perhaps just a few dozen miles apart in parts of Montana.
However, conservationists argue that they’re still a long way off from significant intermingling.
But a robust grizzly population in the Bitterroot region could be a key part of finally establishing a widely dispersed and genetically diverse bear population, which in turn could pave the way to delisting.
Retired federal ecologist and grizzly conservation advocate Chuck Neal of Cody told Cowboy State Daily that full grizzly recovery does, in fact, hinge upon the bears reclaiming the Bitterroot region in Montana and the adjoining Bitterroot-Selway wildlands in Idaho.
“Until we have an established viable self-sustaining grizzly population in the vast central Idaho wildlands with secure habitat linkage zones connecting GYE we will never have a recovered grizzly population in the GYE,” he said.
Breaching The I-90 Barrier
Grizzlies have pushed out of the Glacier National Park region and started to reclaim prairie habitat in Montana, making it as far as the Missouri Breaks.
They’ve also been expanding their territory elsewhere in the Big Sky State, including near the Montana-Idaho state line.
“We had a bear causing problems on the golf course in Stevensville, Montana, which had to be relocated,” Lemon said.
And just across the Contenential Divide on the southern end of the Bitterroot Valley in Montana’s Big Hole region, there have been more reports of grizzly bears, he added.
The grizzlies showing up in the Big Hole likely came from the Yellowstone area.
Interstate 90 in Montana is frequently cited as a major barrier between the Greater Yellowstone and Montana’s Northern Continental Divide grizzly populations.
And yet at least one Montana grizzly wearing a radio tracking collar was bold enough to cross I-90 recently, and then cross back over, Lemon said, and other bears might be doing the same.
It’s thought that grizzlies might be using underpasses in rural areas to get across I-90.
Bedford County felon charged for illegal deer hunting with prohibited gun: Officials
Bird flu kills 17,000 elephant seal pups in Argentina
Conservationists say the ‘catastrophic’ mass seal deaths have never been seen before in Patagonia
Lilia Sebouai and Maeve Cullinan, GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY REPORTER23 January 2024 • 4:03pm
Related Topics
- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/bird-flu-kills-17000-elephant-seal-pups-in-argentina/
Bird flu has wiped out more than 17,000 southern elephant seal pups in Argentina, scientists say.
An estimated 95 per cent of the population at the Valdes Peninsula in the south of the country were found dead in November, according to a report analysing the “catastrophic mortality” inflicted by the virus throughout the Patagonia region.
The animals tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has now spread to every continent, other than Oceania, since 2021, killing millions of birds. During this time, it has also jumped into and spread within several mammal species.
“I started to work with these animals in the ‘70s, and I have never seen something like this. Nobody has seen something like this,” said Claudio Campagna, a conservation researcher at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Argentina.
Scientists are concerned that this event could have a long-term impact on the elephant seal population in Patagonia.
Given that it takes three to six years for the animal to reach sexual maturity, there is growing fear that colonies in the region might experience a significant decline in numbers by 2026, as fewer juvenile seals will be able to join the breeding population.
H5N1 is responsible for other mass mortality events in South America, including thousands of sea lion deaths in Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, and Peru.
Although most animals become infected from feeding off the bodies of dead birds, there is growing evidence that suggests the H5N1 strain can infect and kill certain mammal species.
This can be seen with the mass death of the elephant seal pups in Argentina. Scientists noted that the pups nurse off their mothers and are therefore unlikely to consume the carcasses of infected birds.
Meanwhile, the first recorded death of a polar bear from bird flu was reported in Alaska earlier this month. It is thought that the bear contracted the disease by feasting on a dead bird.
Scientists have warned that the presence of bird flu in the Arctic poses a new threat for the continent’s diverse range of mammals, many of which are listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, mainly due to the melting of sea ice.
There is also rising concern that the H5N1 virus might one day mutate and adapt to spread in humans.
Scientists discovered last year that the virus spreads efficiently between ferrets – the main ‘animal model’ used by researchers in experiments to analyse how respiratory infections could impact humans.
Man shot, killed by juvenile in Yolo County hunting accident, sheriff’s office say
Minnesota Man Killed In Hunting Accident Near Torrington, Wyoming
A 19-year-old Minnesota man hunting near Torrington, Wyoming, was shot and killed while hunting Saturday afternoon. His death has been ruled an accident.
January 23, 20242 min read
A 19-year-old Minnesota man died from a gunshot wound Saturday afternoon after an apparent hunting accident along the North Platte River northwest of Torrington, Wyoming.
Maurizio Dadin Justiniano was pronounced dead at the scene after first responders’ efforts to resuscitate him failed, according to a joint statement from the Goshen County Sheriff’s and Coroner’s offices. The death was ruled an accident.
Several Agencies Responded
Coroner Darin Yates told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that no details beyond what was in the statement were being released.
An emergency call for help went out at about 2:30 p.m., and personnel from the sheriff’s office, Torrington EMS, Lingle EMS and Regional West Medical Center responded.
No details were provided regarding what type of firearm was involved, where Justiniano had been hit, how many other people were involved or what type of hunting he was engaged in at the time of the accident.
Justiniano’s hometown wasn’t listed.
Happened At Wildlife Management Area
The accidental shooting happened on the Rawhide Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The WMA is managed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Game and Fish Laramie region spokeswoman Caroline Rosinski told Cowboy State Daily.
Game and Fish was alerted to the incident, but wasn’t involved in the investigation, she said.
Hunting seasons for waterfowl, squirrels and rabbits are currently open on the Rawhide WMA.
WMAs provide public access for hunting, fishing and other activities. The Rawhide WMA encompasses about 812 acres, roughly two miles south of Lingle and eight miles northwest of Torrington.
Exposing the Big Game 