Miss. Dept. Wildlife: Alligators Not Property, Not Nuisance

alligatorThe Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks says that alligators are under its authority, and a Wilkinson County couple should not be able to sue ExxonMobil over the alligators on the oil company’s property because wildlife is not private property, and managing wildlife is the department’s domain, an Associated Press article says. Furthermore, the article says, the department said that, “wild alligators living in their natural habitat do not constitute a nuisance that should be abated.”

The Mississippi couple had filed suit when they found out that the alligators that were coming on to their property were traveling there from the ExxonMobil refinery waste disposal site next door. (Seriously, they bought property next to a refinery waste disposal site and they are worried about… alligators?)

Read the entire AP story in the Columbus Indiana Republic, here.

Photo: courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Who Should Oversee Deer Breeding and Captive Hunts?

white_tailed_deer_buckThe deer breeding and captive hunt industry would like state departments of agriculture to regulate their industry, rather than state fish and wildlife departments. The industry has made a legislative push throughout the country for more favorable regulations.

A blog in Outdoor Life points out that state wildlife agencies should regulate all of a state’s deer because of the threat of disease — particularly chronic wasting disease (CWD), which is often associated with captive deer hunting facilities, and odd genes escaping into the wild deer herd, not to mention the problem of turning a public resources (wild deer) into private property.

Read the Outdoor Life blog here.

The Associated Press recently ran a story about the controversy over regulating private deer enclosures in Mississippi. The state wildlife department has regulated the facilities since 2008. A legislative committee says it shouldn’t.

Read the story in SF Gate.

Wildlife Professional magazine had an excellent article on this subject back in December. It reviews all the threats to the wild deer herd from captive hunt and deer breeding facilities.

Read the article here.

Photo: A wild buck, by Joe Kosack/Pennsylvania Game Commission

More Wildlife in Floods

by Ken Lund

According to the Los Angeles Times, when flooding hit the Atchafalaya River Basin, wildlife headed for high ground — the levees. It says that even a turtle has been spotted escaping the flood waters on drier ground. The problem, says the article, is that when people head down the levee to get a look at the flooding, they scare the animals back into the water.

Read the article here.

The Jackson (Miss.) Clarion Ledger says that while wildlife in the region continues to be stressed by the floods, a recent check-in by biologists showed that the black bears are doing just fine. Read the rest here. 

Finally, not a single state wildlife biologist is mentioned in this article in The New York Times, about wildlife rehabilitators in Louisiana rescuing baby ospreys from alligators in the flood. The article suggests that denying the gators their raptor snacks is all good. Read the article here.

Photo: Atchafalaya River, in drier times.

Wildlife Flees Floods

Today’s NOAA flood warnings

Wildlife is fleeing the major flooding along the Mississippi River. (There is also major flooding today on the James River in South Dakota and Lake Champlain in Vermont.)

ABC News focuses on the danger of snake bites to residents in the flood zone.

-Articles in the The Desoto Times Tribune (Miss.) and the Natchez Democrat focus on deer fleeing the floodwaters, and quote state wildlife officials saying that all hunting regs still apply.

-One Louisiana parish is asking the state Department of Fisheries and Wildlife to double hunting fines during the flood emergency.

-A Vermont story focuses on flooding’s impacts on plant habitat, the threat to a rare tern, and the bumper crop of mosquitoes to come.

Map: NOAA. Purple means major flooding.

Wildlife Flees Floods

Today’s NOAA flood warnings

Wildlife is fleeing the major flooding along the Mississippi River. (There is also major flooding today on the James River in South Dakota and Lake Champlain in Vermont.)

ABC News focuses on the danger of snake bites to residents in the flood zone.

-Articles in the The Desoto Times Tribune (Miss.) and the Natchez Democrat focus on deer fleeing the floodwaters, and quote state wildlife officials saying that all hunting regs still apply.

-One Louisiana parish is asking the state Department of Fisheries and Wildlife to double hunting fines during the flood emergency.

-A Vermont story focuses on flooding’s impacts on plant habitat, the threat to a rare tern, and the bumper crop of mosquitoes to come.

Map: NOAA. Purple means major flooding.