Our family is tired of our tax dollars paying to capture and kill wild horses!
We DEMAND that this bait and trap of the McCullough Peaks wild horse herd in Cody, Wyoming, stop, IMMEDIATELY, before other horses are killed!
We are writing to demand that you use the powers of your office to IMMEDIATELY STOP the current bait and trap happening on the McCullough Peaks HMA!
A yearling filly was killed during the bait and trap last week! The public has NOT been given any details, and the BLM is well-known for its lack of transparency! No matter what they say, NO excuse makes this death okay! NO excuse makes this use of OUR tax dollars acceptable!
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials release 1 of 5 gray wolves onto public land in Grand County, Dec. 18, 2023. This wolf is known as 2302-OR. (Courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife)
The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department says that hunting and trapping wolves is fine. But, it doesn’t have the resources to translocate — or move — them to another state.
In May 2023, Jeff Davis, Colorado’s Director of Parks and Wildlife, sent a request to Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, seeking 30 to 50 wolves during the course of “several years,” because voters there had passed Proposition 114, which created a wolf re-introduction plan for the state.
Colorado media outlets reported that the state had reached out to other states, including Montana, but had to go to Oregon to get its first wolves, after Idaho and Montana declined.
Greg Lemon, spokesperson for the Montana FWP, said that Montana does not have adequate staff to handle the request, which would include locating the wolves, trapping them and then transporting them. For example, he said that contributing the animals to Colorado would have likely required an environmental impact statement and other documentation that could have monopolized staff time.
He told the Daily Montanan that Davis had reached out to former FWP Director Hank Worsech, who was contacted by letter by Colorado. He said that Worsech had a phone conversation with Davis, declining to help Colorado reintroduce wolves with Montana animals.
Lemon said the decision was made by Worsech and that the governor’s office was not involved with the decision.
In regards to public information requests and inquiries by media, the Montana FWP released this statement:
“Wolf management in Montana is controversial and demands a balance of sometimes competing values from landowners, hunters, trappers and the general public. This will remain our focus. Moving wolves to Colorado would involve a lengthy environmental review, public process and ultimately a commission decision. It would also involve staff time in the field to find, trap and move wolves. This effort would take our focus off managing wolves for the people of Montana. We are simply not willing to divert our attention from this important task.”
Even though Montana declined to “translocate” wolves, the state is currently involved with moving another species. Montana has agreed to move some of its grizzly bears to Wyoming in an effort to connect isolated bear populations and diverse their genetics.
“That’s part of our commitment to the conservation of the species,” Lemon said. “We have to ensure genetic exchange and that’s important.”
The Daily Montanan asked what made the two decisions different, and Lemon said wolves have proliferated in the state, whereas the bears’ recovery has been a slower process that could benefit from the new genetics.
“The reality is that we have finite capacity and resources for our wildlife,” Lemon said. “And, (the Colorado) request is just not where we’re at.”
Jan 30 (Reuters) – A deadly type of bird flu has been found in gentoo penguins for the first time, according to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), stoking concern that the virus could spread among Antarctica’s huge penguin colonies.
Researchers found, opens new tab about 35 penguins dead in the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic on Jan. 19. Samples taken from two of the dead penguins came back positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus, said Ralph Vanstreels, a veterinarian who works with SCAR.
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The Falkland Islands government told Reuters that many more gentoos were dying under similar circumstances. As of Jan. 30, “there are over 200 chicks dead alongside a handful of adults”, said government spokesperson Sally Heathman.
The deaths confirm that gentoo penguins are susceptible to the lethal disease that has decimated bird populations across the world in recent months. However, gentoos rarely travel between the Falklands off Argentina’s coast and the Antarctic Peninsula, which lies some 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) to the south.
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That means traveling penguins are unlikely to drive the spread to the southern continent, said Vanstreels, a researcher affiliated with University of California-Davis.
[1/2]A group of gentoo penguins walk along Quentin Point, Anvers Island, Antarctica, February 4, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights, opens new tab
“The role that gentoo penguins could have, instead, is to serve as local reservoirs of infection,” he said. “That is, maintain a pool of susceptible hosts that never leaves the islands.”
Heathman said the Falkland Islands government was also awaiting test results from rockhopper penguins and “preparing for a large-scale outbreak.”
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In nearby South Georgia, authorities ruled out a report of bird flu suspected in king penguins after a detailed survey of the site, said Meagan Dewar, who leads SCAR’s Antarctic Wildlife Health Network.
Hundreds of thousands of penguins gather in tightly packed colonies on the Antarctic continent and nearby islands, which could enable the deadly virus to easily jump between individuals.
Conservationists are more concerned about other species, Vanstreels said. Elephant seals and fur seals have died in larger numbers from bird flu in South Georgia, following mass casualties in those species in South America.
“This is especially concerning because South Georgia is home to 95 percent of the world’s population of Antarctic fur seals. If that population collapses, the species will be in a critical situation,” he said.
Reporting by Jake Spring and Gloria Dickie; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Ros Russell
BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) – A law working through the Idaho Legislature is hoping to stop some people from getting an edge over others when it comes to hunting.
Idaho Fish and Game sets the rules for hunting and fishing in the state.
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The agency describes fair chase as pursuing an animal in their natural environment and overcoming its senses.
But a small number of Idaho hunters is looking to exploit animal tracking data.
The group is filing a public records request to get the GPS information.
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State lawmakers are now looking to limit that from happening with House Bill 404.
“Lot of people after the same big l people do whatever they think they can get away with,” Jim Runsvold said.
The tracking collars are used to map migration routes, behavior and monitor the health of a herd, but without safeguards around that data, there is fear it is ripe for misuse and abuse.
Exposing the Big Game 