Author Archives: MadelineBodin

Tennessee’s War on Wild Hogs Not for Civilians

Posted on by
Reply

What’s the best way to get rid of an invasive species that is clever, dangerous and tastes pretty good? In the case of wild hogs in Tennessee, one strategy was not to put any limits on hunting the animals. Hunters were allowed, even encouraged, to hunt wild hogs at any time of year and kill as many as they would like.

Earlier this year, however, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency rethought that strategy. It seems that instead of eliminating hogs in the state, the range of the animals was growing as enthusiastic hunters transported and released hogs in new locations.

Now the hogs are considered a nuisance species, and while landowners can kill wild hogs causing property damage on their land, the hogs can’t legally be hunted by the average citizen. Read the press release from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency announcing the change, here.

This week The Tennessean reports that not everyone likes the change. While the state’s largest hunting organization supports the new designation, the article reports, another group, the Tennessee Hunters Alliance, has been formed to protest the new change.

Read the article in The Tennessean, with the history of the move, here.

 Photo: A feral swine piglet. By Steve Hillebrand, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Possibility of Renewed Horse Slaughter Creates Controversy

Posted on by
Reply

Tucked into a Department of Agriculture funding bill signed into law in the middle of November was a provision for funding inspections of U.S. slaughterhouses that slaughter horses. This reversed a 2006 law eliminating funding for those inspections, therefore closing all of the horse slaughter operations in the U.S.

This didn’t mean that U.S. horses haven’t been slaughtered for meat in the past five years, notes an article in the Christian Science Monitor, which was among the first to have the story. It means that U.S. horses to be slaughtered for meat were shipped to Mexico and Canada first, the article says.

That journey is long and unpleasant, notes the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) — cruel, really. And while emphasizing that they support eliminating the slaughter of horses for meat everywhere, PETA has tenuously supported the refunding of inspections in the U.S., saying that it will reduce the cruelty of the horses being shipped for slaughter. (Read PETA’s blog statement here.)

The Los Angeles Times, while running the story a few days later, addressed the subtleties of PETA’s position. (Read the story here.)

The big issue, for wildlife managers, is that while privately-owned animals could be sent out of the country, the lack of inspection funding meant that there were fewer options for controlling populations of feral horses, which are a non-native species and can damage the habitats of native species. (See the feral horse position statement from The Wildlife Society, which is a four-page PDF.)

Only time will tell what this change of federal policy will mean for feral horses and native wildlife.

Photo: Healthy feral horses on a healthy range. Photo courtesy Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

In for a “Snowy” Winter?

Posted on by
1

They’re big, they’re beautiful and if you live in the northern part of the United States, they may be in your neighborhood now. Reports from eBird suggest that this is an irruption year for snowy owls. Not often seen in the Lower 48, snowies are being reported in the northeastern U.S., particularly along the Great Lakes at the Atlantic coast.

While bird watchers are sure to be thrilled, but the addition of this unusual species to your state’s usual winter birds does add a bit of a management problem. Well meaning (and not so well meaning) people can easily cause harm to these birds, which are stressed out by being away from their home range.

The birds also attract media coverage when they are spotted. Here’s just a sampling:
The Gothamist (blog) reports a snowy near the Verazzano Narrows bridge in NYC.
More than 100 snowies in Wisconsin
Spokane Spokesman-Review (birding blog)
Minneapolis Star-Tribune (birding blog)

Read the eBird blog for more details, including the latest thinking on why these tundra birds sometimes pay us a visit, and for a fabulous map populated by eBird data.

Photo: Captive/rehabilitated snowy owl in Alaska. Photo by Ronald Laubenstein, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

SeaBC: Counting Sea Birds

Posted on by
Reply

The Audubon Christmas Bird Count has been going on for over 100 years. During the CBC, participants drive, hike, climb and even wade to get to the best birding sites to add to their totals. But they never leave land.

This year, the “SeaBC” Sea Bird Count (not affiliated with Audubon) plans to fix that. Avid birders and boaters will take to their watercraft during the month of December, tally the species they see, and enter their data on eBird, the citizen science bird database run by Audubon and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. If it catches on, it could add a valuable new source of citizen science data on sea-faring birds.

The program is organized by Diana Doyle, author of Managing the Waterway, a cruising guide and electronic charting series. She already rallies the troops at Birding Aboard, a Facebook page dedicated to bird watching during long-distance voyages.


Learn more about the SeaBC at Birding Aboard, or jump straight to the SeaBC resources page where you can download a tally sheet.

Read more about the project on the Vermont Center for Ecostudies blog. (Keep scrolling down. It’s in the middle of a bunch of birding news.)

Photos: Wilson’s Storm-petrel. Photo by Diana Doyle. 
Some cruisers taking the dinghy for some birding in Venezuela. Photo by Devi Sharp
Both photos courtesy of SeaBC and Birding Aboard.

ESA Listings Stick

Posted on by
Reply

Last week a federal judge upheld the federal Endangered Species Act listing of Alaska’s Cook Inlet beluga whale population. The state of Alaska had protested the listing, saying that it will hurt economic development in the region. (The Cook Inlet provides ocean access to Anchorage.)

This Associated Press article has the whole story, including the history of the lawsuit and of the beluga whale listing.

It just doesn’t seem to be a good time for states to argue with Endangered Species Act listings. Earlier this month, the Goat Blog from High Country News noted that the U.S. Supreme Court had refused to hear another challenge to an Endangered Species Act listing, the sixth time it has refused to hear cases challenging the law. This time the case was an appeal of the listing of the threatened California Delta smelt.

Read the High Country News blog here.

Photo: Beluga whale, courtesy Marine Mammal Commission (NOAA)

“Profound Setback” in Whooping Crane Recovery

Posted on by
Reply

A pair of teenagers shot two of the 10 whooping cranes released in Louisiana, hampering an attempt to establish a third population of the endangered bird, says an article in the Montreal Gazette.

The article gives the details of the whooping crane recovery program, which spans the United States and Canada, with an emphasis on Canadian contributions. It includes the fact that there were just 22 whooping cranes in 1941. The population has now rebounded to about 400 of the cranes in the wild.

The article says that state wildlife officials had created an education campaign before this fall’s goose and duck hunting season in an attempt to prevent hunters accidentally shooting the whooping cranes. The article doesn’t mention what the teenagers’ motives were.

Read the article in the Gazette here. 

Whopping cranes had a happier visit to Missouri last week. A hunter, believing he heard someone in distress, investigated and found instead a pair of migrating whooping cranes. The cranes stayed in the agricultural field long enough for a Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) staffer to arrive on the scene and confirm the sighting. Local bird-watchers were able to get a glimpse of the radio-tagged adult-and-juvenile pair too.

Read the MDC press release here.

Photo: Whooping cranes. Courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation

“Profound Setback” in Whooping Crane Recovery

Posted on by
Reply

A pair of teenagers shot two of the 10 whooping cranes released in Louisiana, hampering an attempt to establish a third population of the endangered bird, says an article in the Montreal Gazette.

The article gives the details of the whooping crane recovery program, which spans the United States and Canada, with an emphasis on Canadian contributions. It includes the fact that there were just 22 whooping cranes in 1941. The population has now rebounded to about 400 of the cranes in the wild.

The article says that state wildlife officials had created an education campaign before this fall’s goose and duck hunting season in an attempt to prevent hunters accidentally shooting the whooping cranes. The article doesn’t mention what the teenagers’ motives were.

Read the article in the Gazette here. 

Whopping cranes had a happier visit to Missouri last week. A hunter, believing he heard someone in distress, investigated and found instead a pair of migrating whooping cranes. The cranes stayed in the agricultural field long enough for a Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) staffer to arrive on the scene and confirm the sighting. Local bird-watchers were able to get a glimpse of the radio-tagged adult-and-juvenile pair too.

Read the MDC press release here.

Photo: Whooping cranes. Courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation

EHD in NC

Posted on by
Reply

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease popped up late in North Carolina this year, says an article in the Wilmington Star-News. So far the outbreak has been mild. (And considering how late in the season it is, the chances seem good for it to remain mild.)

The article says a dry summer probably contributed to the lateness and mildness of the disease this year. Drought plagued the region for most of the summer. Hurricane Irene brought the rain that allowed the midges to thrive. Officials from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission say there have been about 30 cases of EHD confirmed in the eastern part of the state.

Read the whole article in the Wilmington Star-News.