Grizzly bear shot and killed near Choteau
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Grizzlies Walk Right Up To Cody Man’s Jeep, Show They Don’t Fear Humans
A man headed to look for black bears near Cody said three grizzlies walked right up to his bright lime-green Jeep. He said it’s more evidence that grizzlies don’t fear humans in that area.
May 23, 20255 min read
A hunter who was headed out to scout for black bears near Cody last weekend said he had made it hardly a half-mile into the Shoshone National Forest when a female grizzly and two cubs walked right up to his bright lime-green Jeep without a care.
Olin Machen of Cody got video of the encounter. He said it serves as proof of what outdoor recreationalists have been saying for years — grizzlies have gotten thick in the country around Cody, and they seem to have no fear of humans.
“It’s sketchy. It really is,” he told Cowboy State Daily.
Black Bear Hunters Dodging Grizzlies
Most people associate hunting with the autumn season, but Wyoming also has spring hunting seasons for turkeys and black bears.
In areas where black bear and grizzly habitat overlap, such the Absaroka mountain range front near Cody, spring-season black bear hunters say they increasingly must be on high alert for grizzlies.
It’s not uncommon for hunters to see more grizzlies than black bears, Machen said.
“Between me and the other guys I hunt with out there, we average about 8 to 12 grizzlies for every black bear we see,” he said.
Spot-And-Stalk Bear Hunting
Two common methods of black bear hunting in Wyoming are baiting and spot-and-stalk.
Baiting involves setting out barrels full of tempting treats to draw bears in, while hunters wait in nearby blinds or tree stands, sometimes for hours on end.
Spot-and-stalk involves spotting bears from a distance though binoculars or spotting scopes. If a desirable bear is spotted, the hunters then must figure out how to stalk within range for a clear rife or bow shot.
Manchen also sometimes hunts black bears in the Bighorn Mountains and uses the baiting technique there.
But closer to home on the Absaroka front, it’s all spot-and-stalk hunting, he said.
“There’s no baiting in that area because of all the grizzlies,” he said.
‘She’d Had Flipped Out’
He was headed out Saturday to scout for black bears, but said he had only just started his drive in along a Forest Service road when the three grizzlies came ambling up the road.
He stopped his Jeep to watch and started taking a video with his cellphone. It shows the bears walking right up to the vehicle, and then past it, almost as if it wasn’t even there.
Though one of the cubs initially started to go around the driver’s side, all three bears went around the passenger side.
The windows on his Jeep aren’t tented, so Machen thinks the bears had a clear view of him.
He expected at least one of them to perhaps make a swipe at the Jeep. He sat quietly, and the grizzlies passed by without incident.
“If I had rolled my window down and said something she’d have flipped out,” he said of the mother grizzly.
Not So Much A Matter Of ‘Bears Pushing Out’
Inside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, there has been plenty of highly visible bear activity this spring. Social media sites have been plastered with grizzly photos and videos, posted by bear-watchers.
There’s a longstanding perception that grizzly population growth inside the parks has been pushing more and more bears into the adjacent habitat, such as the Absaroka front/Shoshone National Forest.
That could be a misconception, Wyoming Game and Fish large carnivore specialist Dan Thompson told Cowboy State Daily.
“It’s not so much ‘pushing bears out’ (of the national parks) as it is range expansion due to population increase, which results in increasing density and distribution,” he said.
“Bears had filled and expanded beyond the recovery zone in the late 1990s and then continued to re-occupy historic suitable habitats through the early 2000s, which included expanding beyond suitable habitats, resulting in those conflicts we see in more agricultural residential areas where we aren’t promoting bear occupancy,” Thompson said.
“There’s still a ton of bears in the core and now we’re seeing high densities of bears throughout suitable habitat, and beyond in the GYE (Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem),” he added.
‘I Won’t Hunt That Country By Myself’
Machen said he hasn’t been charged by grizzlies yet, but there are so many of them in the areas where he hunts black bears, the possibility of a mauling has become a real concern.
There’s an ongoing debate over whether grizzlies should be delisted, and perhaps even hunted in Wyoming.
Some argue that despite their growing numbers, grizzlies still lack the vast expanses of interconnected habitat that they need for healthy genetic exchange between various subpopulations in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
But like many in Wyoming, Machen said he favors delisting.
The number and boldness of grizzlies on public land in northwest Wyoming has become a genuine safety concern for hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts, he said.
“Inside the national parks and outside the parks, the bears are not the same,” he said, because grizzlies outside the parks seem to be more aggressive.
“I won’t hunt that country by myself. And I actually like to hunt solo, and I do in the Bighorn Mountains all the time. But I won’t hunt in that country near Cody by myself,” he said.
“I’ve got family that requires my income. I can’t afford to get jacked up” by a grizzly mauling, Machen added.
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Brazil asks China to limit chicken embargo to city with bird flu outbreak, local media says
Story by Reuters
• 4d •
2 min read
FILE PHOTO: People in hazmat suits place packages with egg cartons and other things in a hole in the ground after Brazil confirmed its first outbreak of bird flu on Friday, triggering protocols for a country-wide trade ban from top buyer China and state-wide restrictions for other major consumers, in Montenegro, Brazil May 16, 2025. REUTERS/Diego Vara/File Photo© Thomson Reuters
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s government has asked China to restrict its embargo on chicken imports to products just from the city of Montenegro, where the South American country last week registered an outbreak of bird flu on a commercial farm, newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported on Tuesday.
On Friday, Brazil reported its first ever outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, on a commercial breeding farm in Montenegro, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, prompting a scramble to trace the virus in the country, as well as a slew of international trade bans.
China, a major consumer of Brazilian poultry, immediately suspended imports following the news. The Asian country bought more than 10% of Brazil’s 5.3 million metric tons of chicken exports in 2024, according to national pork and poultry group ABPA.
Other countries that banned imports of Brazilian chicken following the detection of bird flu include the European Union and South Korea.
Deals with other buyers like Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia provide for local trade restrictions.
Chinese customs authorities said imports of poultry products imported from Brazil, shipped on or after May 17, have been suspended.
Enter Any Name & Wait 12 Seconds (This Is Addicting)
However, according to Folha, Brazil’s embassy in Beijing has approached Chinese authorities to see if the restricted exports could be limited to those products hailing solely from Montenegro, citing the country’s efforts to prevent the disease from spreading.
“Brazil would like to respectfully explore the possibility of a regionalized approach to this incident, in alignment with the principles of the WOAH (World Organization for Animal Health) and the procedures provided for in the bilateral protocol regarding chicken meat,” Folha quoted the embassy as saying.
The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture did not have an immediate comment.
(Reporting by Isabel Teles, Ella Cao, Ana Mano and Oliver Griffin; Editing by Mark Porter and David Gregorio)
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New virus is wiping out Minnesota turkey flocks, costing farmers $112M so far
More than 2.2 million turkeys were lost to avian metapneumovirus last year, adding to bird flu fatalities.
https://www.startribune.com/ampv-minnesota-turkey-industry-loss-swollen-head-syndrome-bird-flu-indemnity-usda/601360196
The Minnesota Star Tribune
May 23, 2025 at 9:53AM
Three-week-old turkeys, known as poults, gather at the water bowls in a barn in Kensington, Minn., in 2023. (Glen Stubbe/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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There’s a new virus wiping out Minnesota turkey flocks, and unlike with bird flu the federal government doesn’t cover producers for losses.
Last year, Minnesota growers lost an estimated 2.2 million turkeys to avian metapneumovirus (aMPV), according to a study prepared for the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association.
That amounted to $112 million in lost sales for turkey farms.
“The emergence of aMPV in turkey flocks poses significant challenges to producers, exacerbating the existing pressures on the industry,” the study said.
Minnesota is the nation’s leading turkey producer with 33.5 million birds raised last year, a steep decline from previous years due to compounding virus fatalities and decreasing demand.
The highly pathogenic bird flu, or avian influenza, outbreak that began in 2022 has claimed 6.4 million turkeys in Minnesota.
For bird flu, the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides indemnity payments that help cover the cost of repopulating poultry barns, since federal policy requires flocks be euthanized when bird flu is detected.
In Minnesota, more than $178 million in federal assistance has been paid to poultry producers to date, according to a spending database.
With aMPV, also called swollen head syndrome, growers have been “challenged by its non-reportable status with the USDA and lack of funding available for losses incurred,” the study said.
“This report re-emphasizes the urgent need for indemnity program support from federal partners,” said Minnesota Turkey Growers Association president Jake Vlaminck. “The emergence of aMPV has created a new layer of economic uncertainty for our growers.”
The highly contagious respiratory disease, first detected in Minnesota flocks in April 2024, leads to decreased egg production and high mortality rates.
Exposing the Big Game 