Newly Declassified Documents Reveal What Nuclear War Would Look Like
Reply
Monthly Archives: April 2024
Breaking: We’re going to court to fight for wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains
BY
KITTY BLOCK AND SARA AMUNDSON
SHARE https://www.humanesociety.org/blog/lawsuit-filed-protect-northern-rocky-mountains-wolves
Alamy Stock Photo
Today, with our allies, we sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its decision to not reinstate federal protections for wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains. In 2022, most wolves in the U.S. regained their federal protections under the Endangered Species Act when a federal judge ruled in their favor in response to a lawsuit we filed with other groups—most wolves, but not all. Wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains, including in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, lost federal protections years ago, and the 2022 court decision did not impact their status.
Since losing federal protections, wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains have suffered relentless persecution from trophy hunters, trappers and predator control agents. Conditions for wolves in Idaho and Montana became even worse in 2021 when those states enacted policies aimed at decimating their populations through wolf killings. As public policy, this is nothing less than disastrous. Recent scientific research concludes that the level of genetic variability in U.S. wolves, including in the Northern Rocky Mountains, is already insufficient to prevent long-term extinction risk. Drastic population declines associated with their persecution will exacerbate that harm. Plus, small and fragile wolf populations in other parts of the Western United States—such as California and Colorado—depend on the migration of wolves from the Northern Rocky Mountains. When wolves migrate, they can establish packs in new habitats and also connect different wolf populations, which enhances genetic health. In contrast, killing wolves can limit this range of movement and fragment wolf populations.
In the face of such reckless conduct by these states, we and our allies submitted a legal petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in May 2021 requesting that federal protections be restored to wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains. The agency determined our request may be warranted in September 2021, when it launched a review of their status. Yet, in February 2024, the agency ultimately denied our petition—despite finding that wolf killing under state laws could reduce the region’s wolf population from an estimated 2,534 wolves down to as few as 667 wolves.
Consider the facts. New Montana laws allow wolves to be killed using bait and strangulation snares, permit a single person to kill 20 wolves each year, and lengthen the state’s wolf-trapping season.
In about 85% of Wyoming, including along the entire Colorado border, wolves can be killed without a license in nearly any manner and at any time. Wyoming hunters have killed several wolves just miles from the border with Colorado, a state to which wolves are finally returning through dispersal and release.
In Idaho, recent changes allow the state to hire private contractors to kill wolves, allow hunters to purchase an unlimited number of wolf-killing tags, and permit hunters to kill wolves by chasing them down with hounds and all-terrain vehicles.
And right now, with respect to that state, we’re doing something about the carnage. Last month, we and our allies succeeded in obtaining an injunction halting wolf trapping in parts of Idaho. The court agreed that indiscriminate traps and snares set for wolves under Idaho’s liberal new laws will unavoidably injure or kill federally protected grizzly bears. But protecting wolves needs to be an end in itself, not a contingent consequence of protecting other animals. While this is an important victory, wolves in Idaho and across the northern Rockies are still imperiled by reckless state management practices. Federal protections are necessary to ensure their survival.
Nearly 30 years after the first wolves were brought back to Yellowstone National Park and the Northern Rockies, and after millions of tax dollars spent on this important restoration, they are once again on the precipice of disaster.
The evidence for relisting Northern Rocky Mountain wolves under the Endangered Species Act is overwhelming, and we will not stand by while the federal government allows Northern Rockies states to continue their hostile assault on wolves. We’re taking our fight to court on behalf of wolves in that region and the millions of Americans who care about them and want to see them protected.
Sara Amundson is president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund.
54-Year-Old Dies in Accidental Shooting During Traditional ‘Bhovandi’
Shortened coyote hunting season challenged
It’s 2024, Not 1924. Why Are We Still Trading in Elephant Trophies? | Opinion
Dinosaurs Found To Break 150-Year-Old Scientific Rule
Top 15 Most Expensive Cars in the World
WATCH NOW: Join NASA for the total solar eclipse live
NewsweekFollow
935.9K Followers
Story by Pandora Dewan
• 4h • 2 min read
Nanuqsaurus, standing in the background, and pachyrhinosaurus, skull in the foreground, were among the dinosaur species included in a new study led by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Reading that calls into question Bergmann’s rule.© James Havens/University of Alaska Fairbanks
Dinosaurs have thrown into question everything we thought we knew about the evolution of body size.
In biology, Bergmann’s Rule is a 150-year-old principle that correlates an animal’s body size to their external environment. It was first described by German biologist Carl Bergmann in 1847 who noticed that animals in cold climates are expected to have a larger body size compared to their close relatives in warmer climates. For example, polar bears typically weigh more than three times your average American black bear.
Loaded: 100.00%Play
Current Time 0:50
/
Duration 0:56Quality SettingsCaptionsFullscreen
New US Dinosaur That Lived Just Before Mass Extinction RevealedUnmute
0
However, new research from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Reading in the U.K. has called this rule into question.
“Our study shows that the evolution of diverse body sizes in dinosaurs and mammals cannot be reduced to simply being a function of latitude or temperature,” Lauren Wilson, a UAF graduate student and a lead author of the study, said in a statement.
Savings AccountThree banks in Omak Are Offering Crazy High Returns on Savings Accounts.
In the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, Wilson and colleagues trawled through the fossil records to determine whether the correlation between body size and climate was still applicable for prehistoric animals.
“We found that Bergmann’s rule is only applicable to a subset of homeothermic animals (those that maintain stable body temperatures), and only when you consider temperature, ignoring all other climatic variables,” Wilson said. “This suggests that Bergmann’s ‘rule’ is really the exception rather than the rule.”
The dataset included the northernmost dinosaurs known to science, those found in Alaska’s Prince Creek Formation. And yet, despite the freezing temperatures and snowfall these beasts had to endure, the researchers found no notable increase in body size compared to their more temperate relatives.
These findings are a good example of why the fossil record should be used to test current-day scientific rules and hypothesis, the researchers said. “The fossil record provides a window into completely different ecosystems and climate conditions, allowing us to assess the applicability of these ecological rules in a whole new way,” Jacob Gardner, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Reading and the other lead author of the paper, said in a statement.
www.expedia.com/Wine_Country_CA/HotelsTop Hotels in Wine Country – You Can Save Time and Money
Patrick Druckenmiller, director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North and another of the study’s co-authors, added: “You can’t understand modern ecosystems if you ignore their evolutionary roots. You have to look to the past to understand how things became what they are today.”
A person in Texas caught bird flu after mixing with dairy cattle. Should we be worried?
Published: April 8, 2024 5:07am EDT
Authors
- C Raina MacIntyreProfessor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC L3 Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney
- Ashley QuigleySenior Research Associate, Global Biosecurity, UNSW Sydney
- Haley StonePhD Candidate, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney
- Matthew ScotchAssociate Dean of Research and Professor of Biomedical Informatics, College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University
- Rebecca DawsonResearch Associate, The Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney
Disclosure statement
C Raina MacIntyre receives funding from NHMRC (L3 Investigator grant and Centre for Research Excellence) and MRFF (Aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 experimentally and in an intensive care setting) currently. She currently receives funding from Sanofi for research on influenza and pertussis. She is the director of EPIWATCH®️, which is a UNSW, Kirby Institute initiative.
Ashley Quigley receives funding from the Balvi Filantropic Fund.
Haley Stone receives funding from The Balvi Filantropic Fund. Haley Stone would like to acknowledge the support through a University International Postgraduate Award from the University of New South Wales.
Rebecca Dawson receives funding from the Balvi Filantropic Fund.
Matthew Scotch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Partners
UNSW Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.
Arizona State University provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.
We believe in the free flow of information
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Republish this article
The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health alert after the first case of H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu, seemingly spread from a cow to a human.
A farm worker in Texas contracted the virus amid an outbreak in dairy cattle. This is the second human case in the US; a poultry worker tested positive in Colorado in 2022.
The virus strain identified in the Texan farm worker is not readily transmissible between humans and therefore not a pandemic threat. But it’s a significant development nonetheless.
Some background on bird flu
There are two types of avian influenza: highly pathogenic or low pathogenic, based on the level of disease the strain causes in birds. H5N1 is a highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Analysis of the world, from experts
Get our newsletter
H5N1 first emerged in 1997 in Hong Kong and then China in 2003, spreading through wild bird migration and poultry trading. It has caused periodic epidemics in poultry farms, with occasional human cases.
Influenza A viruses such as H5N1 are further divided into variants, called clades. The unique variant causing the current epidemic is H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, which emerged in late 2020 and is now widespread globally, especially in the Americas.
In the past, outbreaks could be controlled by culling of infected birds, and H5N1 would die down for a while. But this has become increasingly difficult due to escalating outbreaks since 2021.
Wild animals are now in the mix
Waterfowl (ducks, swans and geese) are the main global spreaders of avian flu, as they migrate across the world via specific routes that bypass Australia. The main hub for waterfowl to migrate around the world is Quinghai lake in China.
But there’s been an increasing number of infected non-waterfowl birds, such as true thrushes and raptors, which use different flyways. Worryingly, the infection has spread to Antarctica too, which means Australia is now at risk from different bird species which fly here.
H5N1 has escalated in an unprecedented fashion since 2021, and an increasing number of mammals including sea lions, goats, red foxes, coyotes, even domestic dogs and cats have become infected around the world.
Wild animals like red foxes which live in peri-urban areas are a possible new route of spread to farms, domestic pets and humans.
Dairy cows and goats have now become infected with H5N1 in at least 17 farms across seven US states.
What are the symptoms?
Globally, there have been 14 cases of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b virus in humans, and 889 H5N1 human cases overall since 2003.
Previous human cases have presented with a severe respiratory illness, but H5N1 2.3.4.4b is causing illness affecting other organs too, like the brain, eyes and liver.
For example, more recent cases have developed neurological complications including seizures, organ failure and stroke. It’s been estimated that around half of people infected with H5N1 will die.
The case in the Texan farm worker appears to be mild. This person presented with conjunctivitis, which is unusual.
Food safety
Contact with sick poultry is a key risk factor for human infection. Likewise, the farm worker in Texas was likely in close contact with the infected cattle.
The CDC advises pasteurised milk and well cooked eggs are safe. However, handling of infected meat or eggs in the process of cooking, or drinking unpasteurised milk, may pose a risk.
Although there’s no H5N1 in Australian poultry or cattle, hygienic food practices are always a good idea, as raw milk or poorly cooked meat, eggs or poultry can be contaminated with microbes such as salmonella and E Coli.
If it’s not a pandemic, why are we worried?
Scientists have feared avian influenza may cause a pandemic since about 2005. Avian flu viruses don’t easily spread in humans. But if an avian virus mutates to spread in humans, it can cause a pandemic.
One concern is if birds were to infect an animal like a pig, this acts as a genetic mixing vessel. In areas where humans and livestock exist in close proximity, for example farms, markets or even in homes with backyard poultry, the probability of bird and human flu strains mixing and mutating to cause a new pandemic strain is higher.
The cows infected in Texas were tested because farmers noticed they were producing less milk. If beef cattle are similarly affected, it may not be as easily identified, and the economic loss to farmers may be a disincentive to test or report infections.
How can we prevent a pandemic?
For now there is no spread of H5N1 between humans, so there’s no immediate risk of a pandemic.
However, we now have unprecedented and persistent infection with H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b in farms, wild animals and a wider range of wild birds than ever before, creating more chances for H5N1 to mutate and cause a pandemic.
Unlike the previous epidemiology of avian flu, where hot spots were in Asia, the new hot spots (and likely sites of emergence of a pandemic) are in the Americas, Europe or in Africa.
Pandemics grow exponentially, so early warnings for animal and human outbreaks are crucial. We can monitor infections using surveillance tools such as our EPIWATCH platform.
The earlier epidemics can be detected, the better the chance of stamping them out and rapidly developing vaccines.
Although there is a vaccine for birds, it has been largely avoided until recently because it’s only partially effective and can mask outbreaks. But it’s no longer feasible to control an outbreak by culling infected birds, so some countries like France began vaccinating poultry in 2023.
Read more: Migrating birds could bring lethal avian flu to Australia’s vulnerable birds
For humans, seasonal flu vaccines may provide a small amount of cross-protection, but for the best protection, vaccines need to be matched exactly to the pandemic strain, and this takes time. The 2009 flu pandemic started in May in Australia, but the vaccines were available in September, after the pandemic peak.
To reduce the risk of a pandemic, we must identify how H5N1 is spreading to so many mammalian species, what new wild bird pathways pose a risk, and monitor for early signs of outbreaks and illness in animals, birds and humans. Economic compensation for farmers is also crucial to ensure we detect all outbreaks and avoid compromising the food supply.
CDC Issues Broad Warning After Latest Human Bird Flu Case
Poachers on the prowl: Forest officials intensify vigil
Man Dies Touching Electric Wire Spread For Boar Hunting In Ganjam Village
by Pabitra Mohan Senapaty Berhampur | Mon,
Exposing the Big Game 