A tourist in a bathing suit wearing a mask is seen sitting on the sand of Caleta Beach, which has no restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, on March 19, 2021, in Acapulco, Mexico.
Len Lisenbee0:010:35https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.447.1_en.html#goog_103533461
It doesn’t happen often, but I do have some problems with the Department of Environmental Conservation from time to time. And based on what that organization is proposing for deer hunters, this is one of those times.
Real potentially dangerous times, if the truth be known.
It seems that big game hunter numbers are in a long-term decline. At the same time, the DEC points up that existing hunters should be given more opportunities to keep the deer population as close to “sustainable” as possible. Their reasoning is that keeping the animals in that range reduces damage to forest ecosystems and agricultural areas, and minimizes deer-vehicle collisions.
That is the overall “takeaway” from the DEC’s draft (proposed) 10-year deer management plan. (Note: you can read the entire 79 page document on the DEC’s website at dec.ny.gov/animals/7211.html).
Their “suggestions” for increasing the overall deer take include:
►Extending shooting hours from (to) 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sundown.
►Permit crossbow use during the entire archery season (currently they are allowed only during the final two weeks before the opening of firearms hunting plus one week after).
►Lower the minimum age for youth hunters from 14 years to 12 years.
►Create tax incentives for landowners to allow public hunting on their property.
Wildlife killing contests are currently legal in more than 40 U.S. states on both public and private lands.
These contests specifically target predator species, with coyotes being the most targeted.
Wildlife management experts and scientists say that these contests are an inhumane and inefficient way to control predator populations.
“Do you think you have what it takes to win the highest paying hunting contest in the country? Then put your money where your mouth is, and enter the West Texas Big Bobcat Contest.”
The tagline of theWest Texas Big Bobcat Contest, this call to action refers to only one ofmore than 600 wildlife killing contests in the state of Texas.
These privately organized events involve a growing number of participants competing for prizes, whether in…
Gianforte should consider the fact that wolves are worth far more alive than dead to his state: wildlife tourists eager to sight wolves flock to Montana, adding millions of dollars to the state’s coffers each year and providing tens of thousands of jobs for the state’s residents.Photo by georgesanker.com/Alamy Stock Photo
Gov. Greg Gianforte should have known better. According tonews reportstoday, the man Montanans elected just last November to lead their state and protect its vast natural resources trapped and shot an iconic black wolf 10 miles north of the boundary of the Yellowstone Park in February. And he allegedly did it without completing a state-mandated wolf trapping certification course– a fact for which he apparently received a mere written warning from the Montana Fish, Wildlife…
Massive lumps of carbonate litter the seafloor where large quantities of methane are leaking from the sediments and rocks below, marking the spot Dessandier and colleagues targeted to drill deep sediment cores. (Scale bar added by GSA.) Credit:G. Panieri.
Beneath the cold, dark depths of the Arctic ocean sit vast reserves of methane. These stores rest in a delicate balance, stable as a solid called methane hydrates, at very specific pressures and temperatures. If that balance gets tipped, the methane can get released into the water above and eventually make its way to the atmosphere. In its gaseous form, methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases, warming the Earth about 30 times more efficiently than carbon dioxide. Understanding possible sources of atmospheric methane is critical for accurately predicting future climate change.
Mid-March 2021, Moderna started testing its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine on children between the ages of 6 months and 11 years
As of March 5, 2021, the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) had received 31,079 adverse reaction reports for COVID-19 vaccines, including 1,551 deaths
Using March 5 VAERS statistics, assuming all deaths have been reported as required, the lethality rate of COVID-19 vaccines is 0.0028%
CDC statistics puts the death rate following COVID mRNA vaccination at 0.0024% — significantly higher than that following influenza vaccination at 0.0000265%
There are compelling reasons to suspect these vaccines may contribute to death further down the line, perhaps months or a few years into the future. Those ending up with permanent disability as a result of these vaccines…
Conservationists fear for endangered Nubian ibex in Sudan as westerners sold permits to hunt
Two male Nubian ibexes fight in a national park in the Negev desert, Israel. The sub-species is extremely rare in Sudan and numbers are declining.Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA
Sudanese conservationists have accused trophy hunters of exploiting the country’s political transition to hunt the country’s unprotected rare animals.
Photographs posted online of westerners posing with the body of a rare Nubian ibex angered Sudanese wildlife campaigners this week. They called for Facebook to remove the pages of tour groups promoting such hunts.
While wildlife hunters have long come from the Gulf, Abubakr Mohammad, a biodiversity researcher, has seen a recent trend for western trophy hunters to come too, which he said could be a result of the country being more…
Kent Taylor, CEO of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain, died by suicide while battling the aftereffects of covid-19, his family said. (Texas Roadhouse)
After surviving a bout with covid-19, Texas Roadhouse CEO Kent Taylor’s post-infection symptoms grew increasingly painful. Taylor was beset in particular with a severe case of tinnitus — a loud buzzing or ringing in the ears that canbe debilitating.
Last week, amid an escalating fight with the conditions, Taylor, 65, died by suicide, his family said. His body was found on Thursday in a field on property he owned outside Louisville,the Courier-Journal reported.
“After a battle with post-Covid related symptoms, including severe tinnitus, Kent Taylor took his own life this week,” his family said in a statement shared with The Washington Post. “Kent battled and fought hard like the former track champion…
It’s believed to have come from a Pluto-like planet.
playPlayvolumeMutedUnmuteAutoplay setting:OnByWesley LeBlancUpdated:23 Mar 2021 9:13 amPosted:22 Mar 2021 9:59 amAn interstellar object previously believed by some to be from aliens might actually be a piece of a planet from another solar system, according to a new study.A massive cigar-shaped object known as Oumuamua passed by Earth in 2017 at 196,000 mph and Harvard professor, Avi Loeb, said earlier this year thatit likely originated from aliens. A newstudyfrom two Arizona State University scientists suggests the object to actually be the piece of a Pluto-like planet in a different solar system knocked off the surface about half a billion years ago.
“This research is exciting in that we’ve probably resolved the mystery of what Oumuamua is and we can reasonably identify it as a chunk of an ‘exo-Pluto,’ a Pluto-like planet in another…
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department captured 26 grizzly bears and euthanized 18 of them throughout 2020.
The department detailed the capture of the bears in its annual report on bear captures, relocations and removals in northwest Wyoming.
Over 2020, the department captured 26 bears in 27 different events (one bear was captured twice) in an attempt to prevent or resolve conflicts. Of the 26 bears capture, 18 were male and eight were female.
Of the captures, 15 took place in Park County, more than half. Five were in Sublette County, three were in Fremont County and two each were in Hot Springs and Teton counties.
The nine bears that were relocated were released on U.S. Forest Service lands in Park, Teton and Fremont counties, according to the report.
One bear was captured twice. The grizzly was captured first in July in Teton County and moved to Park County. After being captured a second time in Park county in August, the bear was euthanized, in part because of its aggressive behavior.
Bears are euthanized if they have a history of conflicts with humans, a known association with humans or they are deemed unsuitable to live in the wild.
The report detailed all 27 of the captures, which began in April and wrapped up in November.
According to a previous report July 27 to Aug. 21, six different grizzlies were captured southeast of the Moran Junction, with five of them being collared.
Information from the collared grizzlies provides data on survival, reproduction, distribution, habitat use and movements of the population.
Each summer, Game and Fish Department biologists and other researchers conduct grizzly bear observation flights to document grizzly numbers, distribution and reproduction. These observation flights have been conducted in the greater Yellowstone area since the 1990s.
This article was first published by The Cowboy State Daily on 16 February 2021.
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