Monthly Archives: November 2012

Wolverine Wanders from Wyoming to Colorado

Posted on by
1

According to the Denver Post, a transmitter-equipped wolverine departed Wyoming, survived the Red Desert and has been located in Rocky Mountain National Park. Colorado was once part of the ever-rarer creature’s range, but there hasn’t been a breeding population in the state since 1919, the article says.

In addition to its toughness, this wolverine has an incredible sense of drama and public relations skill: the US Fish and Wildlife Service is considering adding the wolverine to the endangered species list. A court has ruled that the decision must be made by January 2013. It could be the second animal (after the polar bear) to get a federal endangered species listing because of climate change, the article says.

Read the Denver Post article here.
Read an article in the Missoulian on the proposed wolverine Endangered Species Act listing here.
And here’s a link to a press release about the Wildlife Conservation Society paper about the wolverine’s denning habitat needs that is mentioned in the Denver Post article.

Photo: Wolverine, courtesy Mountain National Heritage Program and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks

New Black-footed Ferret Colony Found in S.D.

Posted on by
1

The Caspar Star-Tribune reports that a new wild colony of black-footed ferrets has been found on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota. North America’s only native ferret was thought to be extinct in the wild when illness struck a population in Meeteetse, Wyoming and the survivors were brought into captivity between 1985 and 1987.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered species description for the black-footed ferret said that, “It is unlikely that any undiscovered wild populations remain.”

According to the Star-Tribune, Mike Gutzmer, with Columbus, Nebraska-based New Century Environmental LLC was hired by reservation leaders to investigate reports of black-footed ferrets in the area. Gutzmer searched the reservation’s prairie dog towns for a month before finding the new population.

Re-introduced ferrets now breed in 19 locations, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Read the Star-Tribune article here.
Read the USFWS black-footed ferret page here.

Photo: Black-Footed Ferret Photo by Charlene Bessken, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife

Spills Are Sandy’s Latest Wildlife Impact

Posted on by
Reply

The New York State Department of Wildlife Conservation (DEC) is reporting some oiled birds as a result of an oil spill on a Hudson River tributary in Kingston, NY.

More details about the spill are available from the Watershed Post and a report from the Hudson River’s Riverkeeper.
Read the Watershed Post piece, here.
And see the Riverkeeper site for more information about non-point source pollution in the area affected by Sandy.

There is also an oil spill in the Arthur Kill, a narrow waterway between Staten Island and New Jersey. The Hudson Valley Press Online is reporting a spill and clean-up at a local oil company on the Arthur Kill and nearby waterways. Read the story, here.

It appears a nearby marina is stumped by by the appearance of oil. New Jersey News 12 offers a brief write-up and a clip. See it here.

The New York State DEC also announced that shellfishing is closed off Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk Counties until next week because of sewage in the water. Read the details in the NYS DEC press release, here.

Photo: DEC staff rescuing a great blue heron harmed by an oil spill in the Hudson Valley after Hurricane Sandy. Photo used courtesy of NYS DEC.

New Leaders for Minn. Wildlife

Posted on by
Reply

According to a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources press release:

Paul Telander of Bemidji, a 28-year wildlife management veteran of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), has been named the Fish and Wildlife Division’s new Wildlife Section chief. His new duties begin Wednesday, Dec. 5…. He replaces Dennis Simon, who retired in September…. Telander will oversee a $47.2 million annual Wildlife Section budget and a staff of 220 full-time and 81 part-time employees.

 

You can read the entire release, here.

The Minnesota DNR has also hired an elk expert to lead its big game program. Leslie McInenly will have the lead responsibility for managing deer, elk and moose seasons and populations in the state. She will also work with stakeholders to modify and improve seasons and regulations to address the expectations of a diverse public, the MDNR press release states.

Read the entire release, here.

Wyoming Won’t Cull Deer After CWD Found

Posted on by
Reply

deer with chronic wasting diseaseChronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease affecting deer, has been found in a new region of Wyoming, about 40 miles away from an area in Utah where CWD had recently been found.

A Wyoming Game & Fish Department press release says that the state will not try to reduce the number of deer in the area where the diseased deer was found. This technique was successfully used in New York State, which may be the only place CWD has been eradicated after it had been found in wild deer populations.

The Wyoming release cites research from Wisconsin and Colorado showing that the technique doesn’t work as its reason for not using it.

Read the press release here.

Photo: deer with chronic wasting disease. It’s teeny tiny because nobody wants to get a good look at a sick deer. Courtesy of the US Department of Agriculture

CWD Taxidermy Confusion in Penn.

Posted on by
Reply

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) was found in a captive deer in Pennsylvania three weeks ago. A quarantine was put in place so that the bones and brains of deer killed near where the disease was found cannot be taken out of the area in the hope of preventing the spread of the prion-based disease.

This is causing confusion among local hunters, taxidermists and butchers who handle deer meat, an article in the Hanover Evening Sun reports.

One butcher outside of the quarantine area said that he hoped that he would at least have access to venison scraps to make bologna and jerky. He should have access to much more than that. Another expressed willingness to travel inside the quarantine to butcher animals at people’s homes.

Of course, these questions and confusions raise questions of their own, especially since there is no easy way to neutralize a prion.

Read the whole story in The Evening Sun, here.

Hurricane Sandy and Wildlife

Posted on by
Reply

Normally it takes a few weeks after a major natural disaster for the media to turn its attention to the impacts on wildlife. With Hurricane Sandy, some stories have popped up already.

This one is on the impact of hurricanes on shorebirds from National Geographic. (The impact is generally not significant, the article says.) Read the article here.

The survival and movement of one particular non-native species is getting a lot of attention: rats in New York City. The take-away? Many rats likely survived, migrating to the surface from their underground burrows, although young pups probably didn’t. Trash and debris on the streets will likely mean plenty of food, but an unprecedented event like Sandy in NYC means no one really knows what will happen.

Read the AFP story on Space Daily, of all places.

In other non-native species news, the Seattle PI reports that all 135 of the Chincoteague ponies, which live on barrier islands in Virginia, made it through the storm. Read the story here.

Nothing, yet, from the hardest hit areas in New Jersey and New York, but that is not a surprise.

Photo: NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a visible image Sandy’s massive circulation on Oct. 29 at 18:20 UTC (2:20 p.m. EDT). Sandy covers 1.8 million square miles, from the Mid-Atlantic to the Ohio Valley, into Canada and New England. Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team