Bird flu was discovered in a backyard flock in the Albuquerque area, making New Mexico the 42nd state where the viral disease has been confirmed this year, said theAgriculture Departmenton Thursday. More than47 millionbirds in domestic flocks, mostly chickens and turkeys, have died or were culled in efforts to stop the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza since early February.
By reducing the size of the U.S. laying flock, bird flu has driven up egg prices. The price of turkey breast meat has also been affected, according to analysts.
Losses topped 47 million birds this week, with outbreaks that included 159,500 game birds on a farm in central Nebraska. There were three large outbreaks in California: a turkey farm in Stanislaus County with…
CHICAGO, Oct 7 (Reuters) – A highly lethal form of avian flu infected a commercial flock of breeding chickens in Arkansas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday, widening an outbreak of the disease in the key southern producing region.
Nationwide, more than 47 million birds have been killed by avian flu or culled to control its spread this year in the nation’s worst outbreak since a record 50 million birds were wiped out in 2015.
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Top states for raising broiler chickens for meat, such as Georgia and Alabama, had largely escaped infections in commercial flocks before the case in Arkansas.
Arkansas produced more than 1 billion broiler chickens last year, making it the third biggest producing state, U.S. government data show.
The disease hit a commercial broiler breeder chicken flock in Madison County, Arkansas, in the northwest corner of…
The two are partnering to provide information and opportunities for families to better understand and appreciate hunting.
Taylor started the Facebook group because of what he noticed while hunting with his 11-year-old grandson, Sammy Skarupa.
“I hunt with him daily, that’s how I started as a kid,” he said, recalling shooting a woodchuck at age 12 while hunting with his grandfather. “That was everything to me,” he said about times in the woods with his grandfather.
Donald Trump Jr. speaks during a campaign event for Republican Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt in Las Vegas on June 10, 2022. Trump, an avid hunter, bagged a moose last week in Maine during the state’s first week of its annual moose hunting season.Credit:Steve Marcus / Las Vegas Sun via AP
Donald Trump Jr., the son of the former president, shot a bull moose during the first week of the state’s annual moose hunting season while visiting Maine last week.
A Wyoming bull elk that was shot on public land Monday, but made it on to private property before dying a slow death, was left to rot, the hunter who shot the bull claimed.
Josh Sunberg, an Iowa resident who frequently hunts in Wyoming, said he went back to the kill site later this week to see if the bull’s carcass was still there, and it was.
“By that time the meat would have been spoiled already,” Sunberg said in a text message to Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department declined to comment further on the matter, agency spokeswoman Sara DiRienzo said in an email to Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
MSPAC perform aerial hoist rescue for injured hunter in Ellicott City (Phot Credit: Maryland State Police Aviation Command)
Ellicott City, Md. (WBFF) —Troopers from the Maryland State Police Aviation Command performed an aerial hoist rescue early Friday morning in Howard County.
Police said the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services requested MSPAC at approximately 8 a.m. for a hunter who had fallen 20 to 30 feet from a tree in a remote and wooded area of Cascade Falls Trail.
The hunter was suffering multiple rib fractures and a possible pelvic fracture, police say, and an ATV was not able to reach them. Due to the severity of the injuries and limited ground accessibility, police sent an aviation crew.
SISSONVILLE, W.Va. — Investigators with the West Virginia Natural Resources Police say a fatal accident in Kanawha County Friday wasn’t considered a hunting incident, but it was hunting related.
A man, age 69, fell while in the process of building a homemade tree stand. The victim, whose name was not released, was found dead by a relative at an area along Broad Tree Run Road near Sissonville just before 6:30 p.m.
Investigators said it’s unclear if he was killed by the fall or perhaps suffered some other medical emergency which caused his death and then the fall. The man’s body has been sent to the state Medical Examiner’s office to determine the cause of death.
According to the NRP the tree stand was about 20 to…
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Deadly poultry virus found in Fayette Co. flock, officials say
ByWKYT News Staff
Published:Oct. 7, 2022 at 11:21 AM PDT
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – A case of avian influenza has been detected in a backyard flock of birds in Fayette County, according to federal and state authorities.
Kentucky State Veterinarian Dr. Katie Flynn said the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in samples taken from a bird submitted from the premise.
“The Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Office of the State Veterinarian is working alongside animal health officials at both the federal and state government to contain this incident of avian influenza,” Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles said. “Bird producers across the…
Gray whale population off western U.S. continues to decline
by GENE JOHNSON Associated PressFriday, October 7th 2022
FILE – In this May 24, 2019, photo, teachers and students from Northwest Montessori School in Seattle examine the carcass of a gray whale after it washed up on the coast of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, just north of Kalaloch Campground in Olympic National Park. U.S. researchers say the number of gray whales off western North America has continued to fall over the last two years, a decline that resembles previous population swings over the past several decades. According to an assessment by NOAA Fisheries released Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, the most recent count put the population at 16,650 whales — down 38% from its peak in 2015-16. (AP Photo/Gene Johnson, File)
SEATTLE (AP) — U.S. researchers say the number of gray whales off western North America has continued to fall over the last two years, a decline that resembles previous population swings over the past several decades.
According to an assessment by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries released Friday, the most recent count put the population at 16,650 whales — down 38% from its peak in 2015-16. The whales also produced the fewest calves since scientists began counting the births in 1994.
An increase in the number of whales washing up on West Coast beaches prompted the fisheries agency to declare an “unusual mortality event” in 2019. Researchers are still investigating the die-off, but they say climate change and its effects on sea ice and prey availability and location are likely factors. Many, but not all, of the whales that washed up appeared malnourished.
The population recovered from the days of commercial whaling before a similar population drop of 40% occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Gray whales were removed from the endangered species list in 1994.
The population rebounded before a spike in whales washing up on beaches prompted the declaration of another “unusual mortality event” in 1999 and 2000, when the number of whales fell by a quarter.
Scientists say that although the current population swing so far fits within historical patterns, it’s nevertheless concerning.
“We need to be closely monitoring the population to help understand what may be driving the trend,” said David Weller, director of the Marine Mammal and Turtle Division at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego.
Researchers count the whales as they return from their summer feeding grounds in the Arctic to the Baja Peninsula lagoons where they nurse their calves in the winter. Typically, the counts are conducted over a two-year period, but to better monitor the population, NOAA Fisheries is adding a third year to the current survey, counting the whales as they pass the central California coast from late December to mid-February 2023.
The calves are counted as the whales head north to the Artic. There were 217 calves in the count that finished in May, down from 383 the year before.
by GENE JOHNSON Associated PressFriday, October 7th 2022
FILE – In this May 24, 2019, photo, teachers and students from Northwest Montessori School in Seattle examine the carcass of a gray whale after it washed up on the coast of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, just north of Kalaloch Campground in Olympic National Park. U.S. researchers say the number of gray whales off western North America has continued to fall over the last two years, a decline that resembles previous population swings over the past several decades. According to an assessment by NOAA Fisheries released Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, the most recent count put the population at 16,650 whales — down 38% from its peak in 2015-16. (AP Photo/Gene Johnson, File)
SEATTLE (AP) — U.S. researchers say the number of gray whales off western North America has continued to fall over the last two years, a decline that resembles previous population swings over the past several decades.
According to an assessment by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries released Friday, the most recent count put the population at 16,650 whales — down 38% from its peak in 2015-16. The whales also produced the fewest calves since scientists began counting the births in 1994.
An increase in the number of whales washing up on West Coast beaches prompted the fisheries agency to declare an “unusual mortality event” in 2019. Researchers are still investigating the die-off, but they say climate change and its effects on sea ice and prey availability and location are likely factors. Many, but not all, of the whales that washed up appeared malnourished.
The population recovered from the days of commercial whaling before a similar population drop of 40% occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Gray whales were removed from the endangered species list in 1994.
The population rebounded before a spike in whales washing up on beaches prompted the declaration of another “unusual mortality event” in 1999 and 2000, when the number of whales fell by a quarter.
Scientists say that although the current population swing so far fits within historical patterns, it’s nevertheless concerning.
“We need to be closely monitoring the population to help understand what may be driving the trend,” said David Weller, director of the Marine Mammal and Turtle Division at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego.
Researchers count the whales as they return from their summer feeding grounds in the Arctic to the Baja Peninsula lagoons where they nurse their calves in the winter. Typically, the counts are conducted over a two-year period, but to better monitor the population, NOAA Fisheries is adding a third year to the current survey, counting the whales as they pass the central California coast from late December to mid-February 2023.
The calves are counted as the whales head north to the Artic. There were 217 calves in the count that finished in May, down from 383 the year before.
Gray whale population off western U.S. continues to decline
by GENE JOHNSON Associated PressFriday, October 7th 2022
FILE – In this May 24, 2019, photo, teachers and students from Northwest Montessori School in Seattle examine the carcass of a gray whale after it washed up on the coast of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, just north of Kalaloch Campground in Olympic National Park. U.S. researchers say the number of gray whales off western North America has continued to fall over the last two years, a decline that resembles previous population swings over the past several decades. According to an assessment by NOAA Fisheries released Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, the most recent count put the population at 16,650 whales — down 38% from its peak in 2015-16. (AP Photo/Gene Johnson, File)
SEATTLE (AP) — U.S. researchers say the number of gray whales off western North America has continued to fall over the last two years, a decline that resembles previous population swings over the past several decades.
According to an assessment by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries released Friday, the most recent count put the population at 16,650 whales — down 38% from its peak in 2015-16. The whales also produced the fewest calves since scientists began counting the births in 1994.
An increase in the number of whales washing up on West Coast beaches prompted the fisheries agency to declare an “unusual mortality event” in 2019. Researchers are still investigating the die-off, but they say climate change and its effects on sea ice and prey availability and location are likely factors. Many, but not all, of the whales that washed up appeared malnourished.
The population recovered from the days of commercial whaling before a similar population drop of 40% occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Gray whales were removed from the endangered species list in 1994.
The population rebounded before a spike in whales washing up on beaches prompted the declaration of another “unusual mortality event” in 1999 and 2000, when the number of whales fell by a quarter.
Scientists say that although the current population swing so far fits within historical patterns, it’s nevertheless concerning.
“We need to be closely monitoring the population to help understand what may be driving the trend,” said David Weller, director of the Marine Mammal and Turtle Division at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego.
Researchers count the whales as they return from their summer feeding grounds in the Arctic to the Baja Peninsula lagoons where they nurse their calves in the winter. Typically, the counts are conducted over a two-year period, but to better monitor the population, NOAA Fisheries is adding a third year to the current survey, counting the whales as they pass the central California coast from late December to mid-February 2023.
The calves are counted as the whales head north to the Artic. There were 217 calves in the count that finished in May, down from 383 the year before.
NOAA wants to restrict speeds to 10 knots for 100 miles offshore for boats as small as 35 feet.
There are about 350 right whales left, and only 100 females capable of reproducing.
Critics say the chance of a small boat fatally striking a right whale is one in a million.
A proposed stricter speed limit to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale is finding opposition from boaters who say it will cripple the recreational boating and fishing industry while providing little protection to right whales.
The new vessel strike reduction rule, which is in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s public comment period that ends Oct. 31, would include smaller 35- to 65-foot vessels and stretch from the coast out to 100 miles in some areas. The zones cover almost the entire length of the Atlantic seaboard, from Massachusetts to Florida.
After Oct. 31, NOAA will then consider drafting the measure, which could go into effect next year.
Previously these smaller boats were exempt from the speed rules, first established in 2008, and the zones were kept to 10 seasonal management areas on the coast, primarily near ports where boat traffic is heaviest.
Boats would be restricted to 10-knot speeds in the new zones from Nov. 1 to to May 30. That is when the whales are know to migrate from their summer foraging grounds in the Gulf of Maine to their winter calving grounds in the South Atlantic Bight, from North Carolina to Florida. That is the only known calving place for the whales, NOAA reports.
While party boats, the large 65- to 125-foot vessels that carry crowds of people, typically travel between 10 to 20 knots, charter and private sport boats can hit top speeds of 60 knots.
“This is probably the biggest maritime regulation ever proposed on the recreational boating industry. It impacts the most number of boats, the most number of states and the most number of fisheries. It’s a big issue for us,” said John Depersenaire, director of government affairs and sustainability for Viking Yachts, which builds boats between 33 and 90 feet.
Depersenaire said the industry did not have any input on the drafting of the rule. He said New Jersey has several active fisheries in the late fall, winter and spring that will be impacted by the speed rules if adopted.
Desperenaire said the boats operate more effectively and are more fuel-efficient when they’re planing, which happens when the boats hit about 15 knots. Planing makes use of hydrodynamic lift.
The for-hire fleet also operates on a time schedule and 10-knot speeds would limit where they could fish in a day, Desperenaire said.
Violators of the current speed laws are subject to substantial monetary fines, sometimes exceeding $50,000. NOAA uses electronic tracking, such as the Automatic Identification System, or AIS, to calculate and chart a vessel’s speed over its entire route.
NOAA said the North Atlantic right whale’s situation is dire. There is believed to be fewer than 350 North Atlantic right whales left, out of which just 100 are adult females capable of reproducing. The whales were depleted by the commercial whaling and, despite protection from commercial harvest since 1935, have not recovered.
Following two decades of growth between 1990 and 2010, the species has since been in decline due to a combination of increased human-caused mortality and decreased reproductive output. NOAA said right whale mortality is exceeding its birth rate.
Vessels less than 65 feet in length have accounted for five of the 12 documented lethal strikes to right whales in U.S. waters since 2008, when speed restrictions were first put in place. One of the incidents was off Long Branch in June 2020, when the carcass of a male calf was spotted floating with several propeller wounds.
“The rule is definitely going to cause some hardship for people because they’re going to have to slow down,” said Bob Schoelkopf, director, Marine Mammal Stranding Center, in Brigantine.
He said the center has responded to a couple of stranded right whales in its 40-plus years of operation. One was in 1983 at Island Beach State Park, where a calf washed ashore dead after its tail was severed by a ship strike.
The boating industry is calling for NOAA to pause on the rule and redesign it so it lessens the potential impact on the recreational industry.
A coalition of trade groups representing the industry complied an analysis of National Marine Fisheries Service data, the fisheries arm of NOAA, and that found approximately 5.1 million recreational fishing trips were taken in the proposed zones by vessels 35 to 65 feet in length since 2008. Assuming all five right whale strikes during that time were from recreational vessels, and that all these vessels were on fishing trips, the chance of a 35- to 65-foot recreational vessel striking a right whale during a fishing trip is less than one-in-a-million, the group argued.
“NOAA’s proposed rule unfortunately underestimates the very real economic impacts on the recreational boating and fishing industry, the largest contributor to the nation’s $689 billion outdoor recreation economy. The rule will bring the vast majority of boating and fishing trips along the Atlantic Coast to a screeching halt, impacting millions of Americans who go boating each year,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
Exposing the Big Game 