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Montana continues to kill wolverines despite Endangered Species listing
- KC YORK
- 9 hrs ago
- https://billingsgazette.com/opinion/column/kc-york-montana-continues-to-kill-wolverines-despite-endangered-species-listing/article_6da727e8-cc2d-11ee-a1f5-b7117582f1f6.html
KC YORK
There are only about 300 wolverine remaining in the entire contiguous U.S. But finally, after many years of effort by conservationists the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed wolverines as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act which now requires government agencies to implement policies to recover the species before they go extinct.
Given that most of the remaining wolverine are in Montana, it’s clear the state’s policies on trapping should be changed to protect and restore wolverine, which are caught, maimed, and killed in traps legally set for other species.
Instead, not only has Montana’s Governor Gianforte announced he intends to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service over the Endangered Species Act listing, his Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is using a loophole in the federal agency’s interim rule that allows wolverines to be trapped, injured, and killed in traps set for other species, including wolves, bobcat, marten, fox, and coyote.
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The Fish and Wildlife Service says the loophole, known as the 4(d) rule, only provides the wolverine trapping exemption if the trapping is being legally done using best trapping practices and all wolverine incidental trapped must be reported.
The problem is Montana’s trapping regulations are lax and riddled with loopholes and allow unregulated year-round legal trapping for predatory animals. Being scavengers, wolverine are very attracted to bait, gut piles, and carcasses. The old-time trappers despised them for robbing their trap lines.
Under Montana’s current trapping regulations, unlimited snares, massive leghold traps, and body crushing conibears can be set, baited, secreted, and left unattended. There is no required trap check time. Trapped animals can be left for days or weeks, injured, exposed to the elements, dehydrated, and at risk of predation and death.
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Only traps set for bobcat in lynx protection zones and for wolves require a 48-hour visual check. But there is virtually no monitoring for compliance and, according to experts, this is double the recommended time to reduce injury and increase potential survival of animals that have been trapped, such as lynx or wolverines, that must be released.
Wolves are now the primary target for incidental trappings in Montana. While regulations require 10-pound tension, the pressure for trap to close on larger leghold traps, it has proven ineffective at avoiding incidental trapping of wolverine. Three of four wolverine reported trapped early 2023 in Montana were caught in legal traps set for wolves.
Yet, Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks defended the regulations at a recent legislative oversight committee hearing and the agency’s Director, Dustin Temple, testified that no wolverine had been inadvertently trapped since 2012, the year legal trapping of wolverine was halted.
According to FWP’s records, however, 10 wolverine were reported trapped in Montana from 2013-2023. Half were dead and since there’s no monitoring of those released it’s impossible to determine their fate.
The Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2023 wolverine summary cited Montana’s report of only three wolverine deaths — not five as listed in the state agency’s own records. That means neither the federal agency nor the public can accurately assess the impacts on wolverine trapping based on state information.
Furthermore, the loss of any individual in a low population is significant since it compromises the health, genetic variation, and the wolverine’s ability to survive and withstand environmental changes over time. Studies on trapper-killed female wolverine report pregnancy rates ranging 70-90%.
Considering a mere 0.3% of Montanans bought a trapping license in 2023, the real question is why trappers should take precedence over protecting and conserving the rare wolverine for present and future generations as legally required under the Endangered Species Act.
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Ministry of Health announces H5N1 bird flu in a 16-year-old boy in Kratie City
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The Ministry of Health on February 12, 2024, issued a press release on the case of bird flu (H5N1) in a 16-year-old boy living in Orussey commune, Kratie city, Kratie province.
The ministry confirmed that the boy had no respiratory symptoms and was the brother of another child who died on February 8, 2024.
The emergency response teams of the Ministry of Health at the national and sub-national levels have been cooperating with the working groups of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries and the Ministry of Environment to investigate the outbreak of bird flu, respond to methods and technical protocols to find sources of transmission in both animals and humans, and continue to search for suspected and affected cases to prevent transmission to others in the community, distribute Tamiflu medicine to those affected, and conduct a health education campaign in the affected villages.
The Ministry of Health also advised residents to take precautionary measures to prevent the spread of bird flu, such as washing their hands frequently with soap and water before eating and after contact with birds, keeping children away from animals, and keeping birds away from living. Do not eat the meat of sick or dead birds; all birds made for eating must be cooked well.
Cambodia reports 4th human case of H5N1 bird flu in 2024
Cambodia reports a new bird flu case, the brother of a 9-year-old who died of the virus
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Local boys drive a motorcycle passing a grilled chickens are on sale in a shop outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. Cambodia reports a new bird flu case, the brother of a 9-year-old who died of the virus last week. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
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Grilled chickens display for selling in a shop outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. Cambodia reports a new bird flu case, the brother of a 9-year-old who died of the virus last week. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
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Farm geese walk across a road outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. Cambodia reports a new bird flu case, the brother of a 9-year-old who died of the virus last week. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
BY SOPHENG CHEANGUpdated 5:07 AM PST, February 12, 2024Share
https://apnews.com/article/cambodia-bird-flu-avian-influenza-virus-4795dcb690b4bb449e4c26a3b49e77dc
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The brother of a boy who died last week from bird flu has tested positive for the virus, Cambodia’s Health Ministry said Monday.
The 9-year-old’s death in the northeastern province of Kratie was the first from bird flu in Cambodia this year, after four were reported last year by the World Health Organization.
Bird flu, also known as avian influenza, normally spreads in poultry and wasn’t deemed a threat to people until a 1997 outbreak among visitors to poultry markets in Hong Kong. Most human cases have involved direct contact with infected poultry, but there have been concerns that the virus could evolve to spread more easily between people.
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The WHO and the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization this month warned that Lunar New Year festivities celebrated in much of Asia posed an increased risk of spreading the virus.
In a statement, Cambodia’s Health Ministry said the 16-year old brother tested positive for the virus on Sunday but exhibited no symptoms. The boy was undergoing medical treatment, and officials are investigating who had contact with the brothers and how and where they contracted the virus.
The Health Ministry said the boy who died last week fell ill with fever, shortness of breath, coughing and fainting after eating a meal his parents had cooked from chicken and ducks they raised.
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