From the Washington correspondent for the UK’s The Indepenent:
Yesterday marked the first time the US Endangered Species Act was used to protect a species threatened by climate change. . . . [However, t]he bears will only be protected from the direct effects of hunting, and some other activities, because of limits imposed by the Interior Department. It invoked a seldom used loophole to make it easier for the energy industry to actually expand activities that already threaten the bears and their habitat.
The Interior Secretary, Dirk Kempthorne, who spent much of his political life opposing the Endangered Species Act, said it would be "inappropriate" to use the polar bear listing "to regulate global climate change . . . ."
Do you agree?
If Garden State sportsmen ever get their bear season back, there will be some truly giant bruins to be had.
From the Star-Ledger:
"Bearzilla" is real and living somewhere in West Milford.
A 726-pound male black bear, the heaviest ever handled by New Jersey wildlife officials, was captured over the weekend in the northern Passaic County township. It was treated for a nose injury, marked with identifying tags and set free. . . .
“Wait until it feeds all summer . . . . It could get over 900 pounds," said Len Wolgast, a member of the state Fish and Game Council and former wildlife biology professor.
From AFP:
Giant pythons capable of swallowing a dog and even an alligator are rapidly making south Florida their home, potentially threatening other southeastern states, a study said.
From 2002-2005, 201 of the beasts were caught by state authorities, but in the last two years the number has more than doubled to 418. . . .
From a U.S. Department of the Interior press release:
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced on May 14, 2008 that he is accepting the recommendation of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The listing is based on the best available science, which shows that loss of sea ice threatens and will likely continue to threaten polar bear habitat. This loss of habitat puts polar bears at risk of becoming endangered in the foreseeable future, the standard established by the ESA for designating a threatened species.
Wrapped up in this decision are such contentious issues as U.S. policy on global warming and oil production in polar bear habitat. To wit, from the Associated Press:
[T]he oil industry is bracing for some courtroom battles to maintain its stake in Alaska's oil-rich fields now that the Interior Department has listed polar bears as a threatened species.
About 15 percent of the nation's oil is being produced in Alaska, and soaring prices for the commodity are pushing companies to look farther and farther offshore to the floors of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, which are frozen much of the year.
For more background on the debate leading up to this decision see the following links, and then tell us what you think about the decision.
Polar Bear Deadline Looms
Pros Vs. Cons 1
Pros Vs. Cons 2
Editorial: Not About Oil
From the Michigan’s Jackson Citizen Patriot:
With food prices rising sharply, the Department of Natural Resources is offering some relief for families that enjoy venison.
Hunters this fall can legally kill up to seven deer each, which would provide 350-500 pounds of lean, high-protein meat.
The Natural Resources Commission voted to increase the quota for antlerless deer from three to five per hunter in the 2008 seasons that start with archery season Oct. 1 in southern Michigan.
What do you think? Should food prices factor into deer-tag quotas? Do you think you save money on food by hunting?
From Florida’s TC Palm:
Police stopped the 1994 Toyota at Southeast Lennard and Blossom roads, and spied a roughly 7-foot alligator in the vehicle's bed. The gator had rope and tape around its head and mouth . . .
The pickup driver [was] a 17-year-old boy. The passenger, 20-year-old Grayson Kyte, smelled of alcohol. Kyte, who is on probation, admitted drinking, though his probation conditions stipulate no alcohol or drugs.
Check out this crazy video. It may look fake at first, but that’s only because . . . well . . . .
From a Huntersurvey.com press release:
In [a] survey of about 2,000 hunters . . . just over one-third (34%) of hunters reported that restricted access to hunting lands reduced their hunting time over the past three seasons. . . .
Of the hunters who said their access to hunting lands had been restricted, more than half (about 58%) said that previously available land had been sold to a new owner who restricted hunting access, or that the landowner had given, leased, or sold hunting rights to others . . .
Have you lost access recently? Have you lost it to fellow hunters? Do you feel this is a growing problem?
Go to Huntersurvey.com to participate in the next survey.
Most people don’t need to be reminded on this. That is, most.
From South Carolina’s The Island Packet:
Sixteen people who fed, kissed and held a baby raccoon on Hilton Head Island now are being treated by a physician after the animal tested positive for rabies. . . .
"Someone adopted a baby raccoon and passed it around to everyone they knew and kissed it on the lips," Boatwright said. "There was a lot of affectionate handling, kissing it and feeding it. Part of that is it was three weeks old, and they inserted fingers into the raccoon's mouth. Saliva is one way that rabies spreads."
Visit our friends at MidCurrent and hear John Gierach in a rare video appearance describe the illusiveness of meaning in flyfishing and what Jim Harrison was getting at when he said that few of us shoot ourselves during an evening hatch.
From a European Fishing Tackle Trade Association press release:
Catch and Release fishing will be banned in Switzerland from next year, it was revealed this week.
And anglers in the country will have to demonstrate their expertise by taking a course on humane methods of catching fish, under new legislation outlined by the Bundesrat - the Swiss Federal Parliament.
The new legislation states that fish caught should be killed immediately following their capture, with a sharp blow to the head from a blunt instrument. Under the new regulations, the use of livebait and barbed hooks is also prohibited except in certain situations.
Your reaction?
From San Diego’s The Union-Tribune:
Dixon Lake's legendary big bass is dead.
The fish with a worldwide reputation as one of the heaviest ever hooked was found floating Friday morning on the Lake by an angler who turned it over to a city ranger.
Jed Dickerson of Oceanside and Mac Weakley of Carlsbad, who caught the bass two years ago [when it weighed in at a would-be record-breaking 25 pounds 1 ounce], were called to the ranger's office to identify the renowned fish. . . .
“That's it, that's THE fish,” Weakley said Friday afternoon.
Here’s a video sent to me by Shooting Editor Phil Bourjaily, in which a bowhunter almost gets a shot at a big cow moose, but couldn’t quite get her into comfortable shooting range.
Anyone see any irony in this, from The New York Sun:
Senator Clinton's campaign is attacking Senator Obama over his position on guns . . . .The campaign has sent a mail piece to voters in Indiana that asks in large font, "Where does Barack Obama really stand on guns?" On the other side, it says: "Depends on who Barack Obama is talking to." The flier refers to . . . Mr. Obama saying he supported the Second Amendment in Idaho while also mentioning his oft-repeated statement from a San Francisco fund-raiser in which he said small-town Americans "bitter" over the economy "cling" to religion and guns. Both Democratic candidates favor gun control measures such as a ban on assault weapons and strengthening the federal background check system.
From California’s Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:
An 18-month-old girl was hospitalized after a coyote bit her as she played in a park Friday morning. The toddler was in the sandbox when her nanny heard her cry.
The nanny looked up and saw that a coyote had bitten the child on the buttocks and was attempting to carry her off, according to San Bernardino County sheriff's officials.
In an interview with Henry Winkler, who with Lin Oliver just published Book No. 14 in the children’s series, The Life of Me: Enter At Your Own Risk, The Florida Times Unions asks: “What is the one thing you would like to make sure people know?” And the Fonz wisely answers: “If I have one message on this Earth . . . it is that fly fishing is fabulous . . . .”
I couldn’t agree more.
So Rover has a great day in the field, and you let him sit in the front seat of the pickup as a reward. He lays he legs across your lap, you scratch him behind the ear . . . and a cop pulls you over and slaps you with a $150 fine.
It could happen.
From the Sacramento Bee:
No more dogs behind the steering wheel.
Canines don't have to be back-seat drivers, but they'd better stay away from the gas pedal under legislation passed Monday by the Assembly.
The measure to ban drivers from holding a live animal has been lambasted by radio's Rush Limbaugh and ridiculed as the "Paris Hilton Bill" in honor of the celebrity dog lover.
But Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia, said his bill can be a matter of life or death.
Check out the full story and tell us what you think.
That Vermont Gov. James Douglas showed up at a stream bank on the state’s opening day of trout season and had an assistant bait his hook seems to have touched a nerve with Rutland Herald writer Dennis Jensen:
I think this speaks volumes about what is wrong with the people we elect to lead us. We get had, again and again, by people in elected office who pretend to be something they are not. . . .
And it's not just Douglas. . . We elected a president who struts around like a cowboy who just jumped off the meanest bull in the rodeo. . . .
Washington is full of phony sunshine patriots, Chickenhawks like Dick Cheney who seem to love making war plans, but who did everything in their power to avoid serving in Vietnam. . . .
Our elected officials go on the record opposing homosexual rights, then get caught in gay encounters. We have governors and senators who talk tough on prostitution, then get their faces plastered on Page One for shacking up with hookers. Phonies, hypocrites, liars. . . .
What the hell has happened to us?
Be sure to check out the full article, then tell us what you think.
From an NRA press release:
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act proved the basis for today’s dismissal of a lawsuit by the City of New York against the American firearms industry. This lawsuit by the City of New York and Mayor Michael Bloomberg sought to hold manufacturers responsible for the criminal misuse of firearms.
“Today’s dismissal of this bogus lawsuit against America’s firearm industry is an important victory,” declared Chris W. Cox, chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association (NRA). “New York City’s lawsuit was a politically motivated attack by an anti-gun mayor to bankrupt a lawful industry.”
In April, the federal government gave the states of Washington and Oregon permission to kill up to 85 sea lions a year for five years to mitigate the predators’ toll on endangered Chinook salmon that congregate below the Columbia River’s Bonneville Dam. But when the Humane Society of the United States stepped in, a federal appeals court agreed to disallow the killing until it hears arguments this Thursday.
Over the weekend, however, someone took matters into their own hands.
From an AP story in The Mercury News:
Investigators think the killers navigated tricky waters in a restricted area, dropped the doors of two metal cages and then began firing a high-powered rifle at six trapped sea lions.
The sea lions' carcasses were found Sunday in floating cages moored at the base of Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. . . .
Only one of the six was among the California sea lions that frequent the dam, said Bob Lohn, regional administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Two were Steller sea lions, which prefer sturgeon over salmon.
Your reaction?
In March, we asked, “Is Prairie Dog Hunting ‘Hunting’?” (see our previous blog coverage) Well, whatever you call it, the Colorado Wildlife Commission has unanimously denied a petition to ban the practice.
From The Daily Sentinel:
A citizen’s petition to ban the recreational shooting of prairie dogs came to a quick death Thursday at the hands of the Colorado Wildlife Commission.
Testimony on the controversial issue raised concerns on one side about cruelty to animals and hunting ethics and equally fervent concerns on the other side about protecting private property rights, game-damage control and introducing youths to hunting. It took more than an hour and was dominated by opponents to the petition. . . .
Commissioner Robert Bray, a rancher near Redvale, said the issue “goes beyond (recreational shooting), it’s a gun rights and hunting rights issue.”
His motion to deny the petition passed 9-0.
Did they make the right decision?
From an AP story in The Star Tribune:
Hunters searching Idaho's backcountry for wolves would be barred from using bait, snares, traps or electronic calls to help track the predators, but not required to discern between male and female targets.
A set of hunting recommendations proposed Thursday by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game would also bring an immediate end to the season once a mortality quota was reached . . .
The total mortality quota suggested for a 2008 season is 328 . . .
From an AP story in The Los Angeles Times:
An Incline Village woman who hired a company to chop down trees on national forest land to enhance her view of Lake Tahoe agreed Thursday to pay $100,000 restitution and do 80 hours of community service in a plea deal with federal prosecutors that likely will keep her out of prison.
That may seem like a lot, but in the end she’s got her view and the felony charges [with penalties of up to 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines) were dropped. Her lawyer told the Times he was pleased with the deal.
From the Houston Chronicle:
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne proposed new regulations Wednesday that would allow people to carry a [loaded] concealed weapon in some national parks and wildlife refuges. . . if the person has a permit . . . and the state where the park or refuge is located allows guns in parks, Kempthorne said.
The proposal would overturn a 25-year-old regulation . . . requir[ing that] guns [in parks and refuges] be unloaded and placed somewhere that is not easily accessible, such as in a car trunk.
Be sure to check out the full article and tell us what you think.
From the Arkansas Democrat Gazette:
The northern snakehead, an aggressive fish native to Asia, has been found in Lee County and could colonize the lower White River basin. . . .
Of particular concern is the snakehead’s eventual impact on the valuable black bass, crappie, bream and catfish resources in southeast Arkansas.
“This is some of the worst news we could get as fisheries biologists,” said Mark Oliver, assistant chief of fisheries for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
From the Republican American:
The state House voted Wednesday to authorize the hunting of moose and bear. The legislation now heads to the Senate. . . .
The DEP estimates 100 or so moose and near 300 black bear wander the state. Both populations are on the rise.
Biologists say moose may multiply into the thousands within another decade. Bear numbers may be growing by 10 to 20 percent a year.
Here’s a little irony for you. While Alberta’s Deputy Premier Ron Stevens was in Washington trying to persuade U.S. lawmakers to ignore cries from environmental groups that the province’s oil-sands projects have been developed at a huge cost to the environment, 500 migrated ducks landed on and now lay dead or dying in a pond of toxic waste owned by oil-sands company Syncrude Canada Ltd..
But wait, there’s more, as Associate Editor Brian McClintock put it when he sent me this CNN link: Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is upset that there were no noise-makers deployed to deter ducks from landing on the lake that's so toxic it kills ducks--not that there is a lake that is so toxic it kills ducks....
Your reaction?
In yesterday’s Pioneer Press, Minnesota reporter Kevin Harter asks, “If a car hits it, is it still a trophy?” Well, it is according Richard Sanders, co-creator of The Roadkill Record Book Club, with whom you can now register for posterity any trophy deer, bear, cougar, elk or other critter you may happen to flatten with your vehicle.
"It is not their fault they were hit by a car or truck. They shouldn't go unnoticed. They shouldn't disappear into thin air because there is no place to register them," Sanders told Harter.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources big-game program coordinator Lou Cornicelli doesn’t totally agree. "I don't see it serving a purpose, but if he wants to have a Web site for animals smacked by Buicks, more power to him."
What do you think? You may never shoot a record-book deer, but you might run one over with your truck. Would you register it with the new club?
From KREX TV News:
Home videos of prairie dogs being sprayed with bullets are infuriating a wildlife protection group who say bottles and cans are for target practice not prairie dogs.
Groups like the NRA say it's an attack on the second amendment, and the DOW is caught in the middle of it all.
The Colorado Wildlife Commission will discuss the future of prairie dog hunting at their meeting that happens this Thursday.
Be sure to check out the video and tell us what you think.
How does something like this go down? I mean, do bored teenagers hang around having conversations like this:
“So what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know, what you want do?”
“I don’t know. . . .”
“Hmm. . . .”
“I guess we could throw a dead squirrel off the top of a parking garage”
“Yeah, all right.”
Anyway, check out this crazy story. Maybe you can think of a fitting punishment.
