Category Archives: California

Fox Distemper Study Details

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Desert kit fox

Collared desert kit fox, courtesy California Department of Fish and Game

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) is investigating the death of seven desert kit foxes from canine distemper in eastern Riverside County (which is in the southeastern part of the state, inland of Los Angeles, abutting Arizona) according to its own press release. (Read it here.)

Sometimes canine distemper cycles through wild canine populations, and sometimes dogs pass the infection along, the press release reminds us.

Generally, the death of such a small number of animals is not notable, but what I really like about the press release is the detail given about the methodology of the follow-up study — in which researchers tagged 39 foxes and collared 12.

A few more details, about the susceptibility of various canine species to distemper is found in a ProMED announcement.

Media Buzz: Lions and Wolves and Bears (and Owls)

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The past 30 days have been rich in wildlife stories that may geA male wolf from Oregonnerate questions in your state and influence public opinion:

This past weekend the birth of two (or possibly three) cubs to a black bear named Jewel in Ely, Minnesota was captured on a solar-powered video camera.

A report from WCCO, a CBS television station says that 500 schools were following the video feed. (Which makes it unfortunate that the cubs were born on a Sunday.) It also says that:

 “Jewel is the younger sister of Lily, who gave birth before the Internet in 2010. One of the bears that Lily gave birthto was Hope, who is believed to have been killed by a hunter last year.”

See the whole story, including video, on the station’s website, here.

In Florida, 2012 has been a bad year for the endangered Florida panther. Four of the animals have been killed so far this year, says an article in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. In 2011, the article says, the 24 Florida panther deaths were off-set by the 32 panther cubs that were born.

Read the whole article, here.
When Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issued a press release on Jan. 12, only 3 panthers had died. Read that press release, here.

On Dec. 28 an Oregon wolf crossed the state border into California, making it the first wild wolf known in the state in nearly 90 years. The young, male wolf’s location is known because it has a GPS collar. It is officially known as OR7, but has been nicknamed “Journey.”

Read more in the Los Angeles Times, here.

Finally, the news reports on the irruption of snowy owls, continue. We reported on this nearly two months ago (read that post, here), but new outlets continue to report on it, including, last week, The New York Times. You can read the NY Times story here.

Photo: Not necessarily OR-7, but another light-colored, collared male wolf in Oregon. Courtesy Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Fisher Comeback Planned for California

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Last week four more fishers were released in northern California, raising the number of fishers released to 39 in the Stirling City area in the past two years, says an article in the Contra Costa Times. With the release of the last four fishers, the program is now in a four-year monitoring phase, the article says.

Pacific fishers, unlike their eastern cousins, are thought to be dependent on old growth forests. The project area is anything but pristine, however. The land is owned by Sierra Pacific, a timber company. The article quotes a Sierra Pacific vice president saying that if the project is successful, it will show that fishers can survive on managed landscapes, which will mean Sierra Pacific can continue to log in fisher habitat, even if the animal is listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The article says the company will be allowed to do that anyway:

By hosting the fishers, the company, which owns about 1.6 percent of California’s land, also gets a 20-year guarantee it will be able to cut trees even if fishers are listed as endangered.

 Read the entire article here. There is also a slideshow of the recent release.

Here’s the California Department of Fish and Game’s description of the project. It includes a link to more detailed information in a .ZIP file and to the 2010 annual report.

Photo: Fisher release, courtesy of California Department of Fish and Game.

Fisher Comeback Planned for California

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Last week four more fishers were released in northern California, raising the number of fishers released to 39 in the Stirling City area in the past two years, says an article in the Contra Costa Times. With the release of the last four fishers, the program is now in a four-year monitoring phase, the article says.

Pacific fishers, unlike their eastern cousins, are thought to be dependent on old growth forests. The project area is anything but pristine, however. The land is owned by Sierra Pacific, a timber company. The article quotes a Sierra Pacific vice president saying that if the project is successful, it will show that fishers can survive on managed landscapes, which will mean Sierra Pacific can continue to log in fisher habitat, even if the animal is listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The article says the company will be allowed to do that anyway:

By hosting the fishers, the company, which owns about 1.6 percent of California’s land, also gets a 20-year guarantee it will be able to cut trees even if fishers are listed as endangered.

 Read the entire article here. There is also a slideshow of the recent release.

Here’s the California Department of Fish and Game’s description of the project. It includes a link to more detailed information in a .ZIP file and to the 2010 annual report.

Photo: Fisher release, courtesy of California Department of Fish and Game.

Possible Adenovirus in Deer in California

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A homeowner in Colfax, Cal. has found five dead deer in her yard since September. A local veterinarian suspects that it might be adenovirus. However, the homeowner apparently called her local newspaper before reporting the deer to the California Department of Fish and Game, so while we know the deer are dead, no tests have been done.

Read the article in the Auburn (Cal.) Journal.

California Wins Big with USFWS Grants

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Santa Cruz long-toed salamander

California scooped up nearly half of the $53 million in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund (CESCF) grants that were announced by the service last week. The grants are in three programs: the Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition Grants Program, the Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grants Program, and the Recovery Land Acquisition Grants Program.The grants fund land purchases and facilitate partnerships with private landowners, conservation groups and other government agencies.


Forty-eight projects in 17 states were funded. Fifteen of those projects were in California, and they received grants totally $24.9 million.


Last year the service began accepting applications for the grants on November 16. No word on this year’s date.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service’s press release.


The complete list of grants awarded.


General information about the endangered species program’s grants.

Photo: One of the beneficiaries of California’s Endangered Species grant bonanza. Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Bad News for Endangered Frog

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The Los Angeles Times reports that 104 of the 106 mountain yellow-legged frogs that were rescued from a wildfire in 2009 have died mysteriously in captivity. There are believed to be about 200 of the frogs still in their native habitat in the California mountains. The species is listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The US Geological Survey ecologist leading the recovery effort says he still has hope for the species. And judging by the reader comments on the article, hikers in the region are having no problem finding the frogs, although I have to wonder if they are confusing them with a similar-looking species.

Read the Los Angeles Times story here.

Read the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s species profile here.

Photo: Courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Why Did the Turtle Cross the Road?

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bog turtle

Actually, “Where are the turtles crossing the road and getting hit by cars?” is the focus of a Massaschusetts citizen science research project, and it is one of several turtle research projects going on in this year of the turtle. For more info, read this article on the Massachusetts turtle road-crossing project in the Springfield Republican.

Here are seven other sources of information on turtles and turtle research:

Maryland Amphibian and Reptile Atlas (MARA), a five year project that began in 2010 and will end in December 2014.

The USA Turtle Mapping Project is being run by the US Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station. It is focusing on seven species of freshwater turtles and tortoises to find out their current ranges.

Not surprisingly, PARC, the creator of Year of the Turtle has a list on its Web site of turtle citizen science projects. It’s a PDF. Here are some of the US-based land- or freshwater turtle projects on the list that aren’t already mentioned:
Blanding’s Turtle Research – Great Meadows, Massachusetts
Gopher Tortoise Tracker – Volusia County, Florida
Lake George Turtle Monitoring Program – Lake George, New York
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Neighborhood Box Turtle Watch
Western Pond Turtle Presence, Absence Monitoring Project -Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, California
Texas Turtle Watch 

Another resource on the PARC Year of the Turtle site is an Excel spreadsheet of 87 relocation, reintroduction, translocation, and headstarting projects. Turtles make up more than half of these projects, the rest are for other reptiles and amphibians. The idea, the site says, is to allow scientists running similar projects to get inside information on what worked and what didn’t so future projects can build on the past.

When it comes to turtles, the news is pretty bad, but it’s not all bad news. In June so many diamondback terrapins headed upland from Jamaica Bay in New York City that a runway at Kennedy Airport was closed. Here’s a news story, and background information from the journal Science.

We don’t normally cover research outside the US, but since we gave wildfires in the West so much coverage earlier this year, and because it is the year of the turtle here’s an exception. A paper in the journal Biological Conservation says that a species of tortoise in Spain can withstand wildfires every 30 years or so and still maintain its population levels. Read an article about the study in Science Daily, or the whole paper in Biological Conservation (or rather, read a free abstract and pay for the whole paper).

Finally, don’t forget our mini round-up of box turtle data earlier this year. You can find that post here.

Photo: Box turtle Credit: Laura Perlick, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife

Mites Hammer Western Gray Squirrels

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Western gray squirrel populations have been declining throughout their range. Recently the California Department of Fish and Game confirmed that the gray squirrel decline in the San Bernardino mountains is being caused by a mange mite, thought to be Notoedres centrifera.

The good news for local residents is that the mite effects only rodents, so dogs and other pets should be safe. The bad news is that the free lunch for squirrels at backyard bird feeders is contributing to the problem, allowing the mite to spread when squirrels gather for a backyard buffet.

The Riverside Press-Enterprise has the news story.

The press release from California Fish and Game has more detail, plus a discussion of other possible causes of the squirrel’s decline.

In other squirrel news, and yes, there is other squirrel news, the squirrel pox that has been killing off native red squirrels in Britain has arrived in Northern Ireland. Squirrel pox was introduced to the region along with North American gray squirrels. The gray squirrels are carriers, and don’t show symptoms. Find the BBC story here.

Photo: Western gray squirrel with no apparent mange symptoms. Click on either of the mange story links for a photo of a symptomatic squirrel. Photo courtesy of California Fish & Game.

How Did the Animal Cross the Road? The Shocking Answer

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One problem with fencing off highways so that large animals don’t wander on is that exits, entering roadways, and driveways can’t be fenced off. Animals on highways cause accidents, injury, and sometimes death for both the animal and passengers in the car that hits them. Often, fencing is crossed off the list of possibilities for directing wildlife crossings because there is simply too much other pavement entering the highway that can’t be fenced.

The California Department of Transportation is installing mats that deliver an electric shock to animals entering a highway in southern California. The stretch of Highway 101 has a problem with large animals causing accidents. The mats will be most helpful for keeping bears off the highway. The mats won’t shock cars or people wearing shoes.

Read the whole story in the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

This isn’t the first time shock mats have been used to keep wildlife off a highway. Four years ago New Mexico installed the mats as part of a whole suite of devices installed to reduce wildlife-caused accidents east of Albuquerque.
New Mexico Game & Fish press release
The most recent news on the project appears to be from The Christian Science Monitor, three years ago.
The Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Coalition Web site looks like it hasn’t been updated since then.

Photo: Just a generic highway. No relation to the two mentioned.