The footage shows a group of 33 swimmers “aggressively pursuing, corralling, and harassing the pod” in Hōnaunau Bay on Sunday, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources said.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/animal-news/drone-video-captures-swimmers-harassing-wild-dolphins-hawaii-authoriti-rcna77367

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March 30, 2023, 6:54 AM PDT / Updated March 30, 2023, 8:08 AM PDT

By Julianne McShane

Federal authorities are investigating a group of swimmers who were caught on camera allegedly harassing a pod of dolphins on Sunday in violation of federal law, officials announced this week.

A drone video deployed by officers with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources caught the 33 swimmers allegedly “aggressively pursuing, corralling, and harassing the pod” in Hōnaunau Bay on Sunday morning, officials announced Tuesday.

The 39-second clip the agency posted online appears to show over a dozen of the swimmers pursuing 11 dolphins. The dolphins eventually split off into two directions in the waters, and some of the swimmers turn around and appear to stop pursuing some of the dolphins.

The allegations could put the swimmers in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a law enacted in 1972 that makes it illegal to harass wild marine mammals, including dolphins, whales, seals and sea lions.

The act stipulates two levels of harassment, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: one referring to “any act of pursuit, torment, or annoyance” that could injure a marine mammal, and another referring to “acts that have the potential to disturb (but not injure) a marine mammal” by disrupting their breeding, feeding and other routines.

The spinner dolphins involved in the Sunday incident are also protected by a specific rule published in 2021. It prohibits swimmers and vessels from coming within 150 feet of the dolphins within two miles of the Hawaii shoreline, according to Katie Wagner, a NOAA spokesperson.

Spinner dolphins — smaller members of the species known for leaping and spinning out of the water — may be sleeping even when they appear to be awake and moving through the water, the Associated Press reported. That’s because half of their brains remain “awake” while they swim, helping them to breathe and remain on the surface of the water.

NOAA warns that disturbing spinner dolphins could disrupt their daytime rest, negatively impacting their health and reproduction and leading them to become aggressive or avoidant.

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Officers with the Hawaii agency’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, who were conducting what officials described as a “routine patrol” in the area, deployed the drone after spotting the swimmers from land on Sunday, Hawaii DLNR Senior Communications Manager Dan Dennison said.

The officers alerted the swimmers to the alleged violation while they were still in the water and then met them on land, where they initiated a joint investigation alongside the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement, according to the news release.

The swimmers have not been publicly identified.

It was not immediately clear what kind of penalties the swimmers could face — though NOAA guidelines say people prosecuted in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act could face civil penalties of up to $11,000 and up to a year in prison.

Officials urge people to observe wild dolphins from a distance of at least 150 feet by land or sea and to avoid circling, entrapping or swimming with them, NOAA guidelines state.

Olivia Munson

USA TODAY

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The elephant is the largest existing land mammal on Earth, weighing anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 pounds. There are three species of elephants: the African bush elephant (also known as the African savanna elephant), the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant.

In 1930, approximately 10 million wild elephants were in Africa, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Since then, elephant populations have dwindled due to various threats, including habitat loss and illegal poaching. 

Today, these declines continue. Here’s what to know about elephants to protect their populations. 

How many elephants are left in the world?

According to the WWF, there are approximately 415,000 African elephants left in the world. There are around 40,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants left. 

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As previously stated, the ivory trade, habitat loss, poaching and elephant-human conflict pose threats to elephant populations.

Since 1979, the habitat of African elephants has been reduced by over 50%, while Asian elephants only have about 15% of their original range. Habitat loss is due to human expansion, infrastructure and agriculture development on elephants’ regions. 

https://fca0f5c18a574ea344fbe500b4facf6d.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html

Additionally, illegal poaching for the ivory trade has dramatically impacted elephant populations. In 1989, the international commercial trade of elephant ivory was banned. Even though poaching did decrease following this, it started back up around 2010.  

Where do tigers live?Tigers have a diverse range of habitats. Here’s what to know.

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Where do pandas live? The giant panda and red panda habitat, plus other facts about the animals

Are elephants endangered?

The Asian elephant and African bush elephant are endangered, while the African forest elephant is “critically endangered.”

Where do polar bears live? Get to know more on the Arctic habitat of the ‘sea bear.’

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Where do penguins live? Learn more about the habitats for several penguin species.

Where do elephants live?

African bush elephants can be found in all of sub-Saharan Africa except for central Africa’s dense tropical forests, according to the WWF. The dense tropical forests are home to the African forest elephant. 

African bush elephants live in 23 countries with the majority located in southern and eastern African countries, such as Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa.

Just curious?:We’re here to help answer life’s everyday questions

As for the African forest elephant, its largest populations are in Gabon and the Republic of Congo, while smaller populations remain in other countries, such as Cameroon, Liberia and Ghana.

The Asian elephant’s primary habitats are dry to wet forests and grasslands. They can be found in 13 countries in south and southeast Asia. 

https://fca0f5c18a574ea344fbe500b4facf6d.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html

Where do lions live?What you need to know about the big cats’ habitat.

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Hawaii-Dolphin Harassment

In this photo provided by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, department enforcement officers speak to swimmers in Honaunau, Hawaii, March 26, 2023, after the swimmers allegedly harassed a pod of wild spinner dolphins. (Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources via AP)

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https://news.yahoo.com/hawaii-authorities-33-swimmers-were-042155926.html

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AUDREY McAVOY

Tue, March 28, 2023 at 9:21 PM PDT·2 min read

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii authorities on Tuesday say they have referred 33 people to U.S. law enforcement after the group allegedly harassed a pod of wild dolphins in waters off the Big Island.

It’s against federal law to swim within 50 yards (45 meters) of spinner dolphins in Hawaii’s nearshore waters. The prohibition went into effect in 2021 amid concerns that so many tourists were swimming with dolphins that the nocturnal animals weren’t getting the rest they need during the day to be able to forage for food at night.

The rule applies to areas within 2 nautical miles (3.7 kilometers) of the Hawaiian Islands and in designated waters surrounded by the islands of Lanai, Maui and Kahoolawe.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources said in a news release that its enforcement officers came upon the 33 swimmers in Honaunau Bay on Sunday during a routine patrol.

Aerial footage shot by drone shows snorkelers following dolphins as they swim away. The department said its video and photos showed swimmers “who appear to be aggressively pursuing, corralling and harassing the pod.”

Enforcement officers contacted the group while they were in the water, and told them about the violation. Uniformed officers met the swimmers on land where state and federal officials launched a joint investigation.

Hawaii’s spinner dolphins feast on fish and small crustaceans that surface from the ocean’s depths at night. When the sun rises, they head for shallow bays to hide from tiger sharks and other predators.

To the untrained eye, the dolphins appear to be awake during the day because they’re swimming.

But because they sleep by resting half of their brains and keeping the other half awake to surface and breathe, they may be sleeping even when they’re maneuvering through the water.

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Published on March 29, 2023March 29, 2023  in News/Grizzly Bears/wildlife/Hunting

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

By Mark Heinz, Outdoors Reporter
Mark@CowboyStateDaily.com

Wyoming’s efforts to delist grizzly bears – possibly within the next year – could be derailed by poor predator management plans in Montana and Idaho, a bear expert tells Cowboy State Daily. 

For instance, Montana has been offering a bounty on wolves, said Missoula, Montana, wildlife biologist Chris Servheen.

“You don’t even have to actually kill a wolf to collect. You just have to say you went out and tried to kill a wolf,” he said. “That’s like going back to the 1800s. That’s the dark ages of wildlife management.” 

And it’s why Servheen said he recently testified for members of Congress that grizzlies shouldn’t be delisted – at least not now. 

Wyoming Game and Fish Director Brian Nesvik, who Servheen said he knows well and admires, testified at the same congressional subcommittee hearing in favor of delisting.

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https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/03/24/wyoming-game-and-fish-tells-congress-its-way-past-time-to-delist-the-grizzly/embed/#?secret=o8ssfZuRrF#?secret=91YrWGMOMU

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Not Against The Idea Of Delisting

When it comes to grizzlies, Servheen speaks with considerable authority. He was the grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for 35 years prior to his retirement in 2016. He’s now the board chair and president of the Montana Wildlife Federation.

In principle, he’s not against delisting grizzlies. 

“I was the main proponent of delisting for years,” he said. “I wrote the first delisting rule and defended it in court.”

So, what changed his mind?

Overall terrible state-level predator management, particularly in Montana and Idaho, he said. 

Those states handle their wildlife largely based on “anti-predator paranoia” rather than sound wildlife management, Servheen said. 

Bad Wolf Policy Could Affect Grizzlies

Though the bulk of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and its estimated 1,000 grizzlies are in Wyoming, parts of it are in Montana and Idaho. There’s also a large population of grizzlies in northwest Montana, centered around Glacier National Park, and federal delisting would affect them as well. 

Montana allows setting neck snare strangulation traps for wolves, hunting wolves at night with artificial light and night vision scopes, as well as hunting black bears with packs of hounds, Servheen said. 

At least within the “trophy game zone” immediately adjacent to Yellowstone Park, where the core population of wolves is, Wyoming doesn’t allow those wolf hunting practices. Wolf hunting is allowed there only by licensed hunters during designated hunting season and within bag limits. 

In the rest of Wyoming, or 85% of the state, wolves are in the “predator zone” and can be killed at any time without bag limits. 

Wyoming also allows using hounds to hunt mountain lions, but not black bears. 

Heavy-handed and “unnecessary” wolf killing policies such as Montana’s can affect grizzlies, Servheen said. 

For instance, snares set for wolves sometimes kill grizzlies, and it isn’t known how many. 

“There’s little to no incentive for the people who are doing these things to report them (grizzly snare trap deaths),” he said. “Or the bear might get caught in the snare and go off and die somewhere else, so nobody might realize it even happened.”

And when hounds are set loose after black bears, they will sometimes go after grizzlies insted, he said, because the dogs don’t know the difference. That has led to some grizzlies getting killed.

“The hound hunter might encounter a grizzly fighting the hounds, or a grizzly that has become agitated trying to flee the hounds, and that’s a situation in which grizzlies can be killed,” he said. 

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Isn’t Just About Numbers

During his testimony for the congressional subcommittee, Nesvik said that the population of grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone is roughly double the target number supposedly needed for delisting. 

However, delisting is about more than just numbers, Servheen said. 

“You have to have proper (state) regulations in place” and at least in Idaho and Montana, that’s not the case right now. 

There also has to be adequate habitat protection, he said.

Without all three of those things – an adequate number of bears, habitat preservation and proper state regulations that will prevent overkill once Endangered Species protection is removed – delisting won’t work in the long run, he said.

And even if Wyoming has sound policies, delisting won’t work for one state alone, Servheen added, because the ecosystem and bear population are singular units that don’t recognize state lines.

“We’ve come a long way and the bears are doing well,” Servheen said. “But they aren’t going to be if this anti-predator paranoia continues. State legislation is focuses on how many wolves and bears they can kill.”

Unfounded Fears Could Hurt Hunting

The greatest fears associated with wolves and grizzlies – that they’ll attack livestock and ruin big game herds – are largely unfounded, Servheen said. 

“When we look at the overall numbers of deer and elk, and the rates of hunter success, there’s not a problem related to predators,” he said. 

And while certain cases of wolves or bears killing livestock garner attention, in the larger picture that’s not a problem either, he said. 

“We don’t want wolves to kill livestock, and there are mechanisms in place to deal with that,” he said. 

Overall, the numbers of livestock killed by wolves and bears don’t add up to much, Servheen argued in a 2022 story he wrote for Wildlife Professional magazine. 

For instance, between 2018 and 2020, roughly 113 cattle and sheep were lost to wolves each year, or 0.00428% of the cattle and sheep in one Western state, he wrote in the article. 

However, during 2015 alone, 40,000 cattle and sheep were killed by the weather in Idaho, Servheen stated. 

Overly aggressive killing of predators also is bad for the public image of hunting, he added. That’s important, because if anti-hunting sentiment takes hold with most Americans, hunters could be overwhelmed. 

“If you’re shooting wolves at night over bait with night vision scopes, it erodes the image of hunting in the eyes of the public,” he said. “Less than 3% of the American public hunts, and even fewer than that hunts big game.”