Ct. Lion Came from Midwest

Posted on July 28, 2011 by MadelineBodin

As reported in the New York Times yesterday, DNA from the mountain lion struck by an SUV in Connecticut last month matched the general profile of mountain lions from South Dakota and more specifically, DNA collected from fur, blood and scat collected in Minnesota and Wisconsin. A necropsy did not find the usual signs of a captive animal, such as an implanted microchip or clipped claws.

Read the whole story in the New York Times, here.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection press release also notes that the animal spotted in Greenwich appears to be the same animal that was killed in Milford. Read the release here.

And yes, you read that correctly: Connecticut combined its departments of energy regulation and environmental protection on July 1. Read that press release here.

Photo: Ironically, this is the same photo that illustrated the news that the US Fish and Wildlife Service had declared the Eastern mountain lion extinct. Clearly, it is not the Connecticut mountain lion.

Ct. Lion Came from Midwest

Posted on July 28, 2011 by MadelineBodin

Read the whole story in the New York Times, here.

And yes, you read that correctly: Connecticut combined its departments of energy regulation and environmental protection on July 1. Read that press release here.

Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit’s Last Stand

Posted on June 17, 2011 by MadelineBodin

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is making what may be a final attempt to restore the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit to its native habitat. A 2007 attempt to reintroduce zoo-bred rabbits into the wild ended in most of the naive rabbits being eaten by predators.

This time the rabbits will be released into a fenced enclosure, with gradual exposure to predators through smaller enclosures with tunnels to the outside. The rabbits are not pure-bred Columbia Basin pygmies, but have been bred with pygmy rabbits from Idaho and Oregon, which are not endangered. In fact, most other pygmy rabbits in the West thrive.

Read more in this article in the Idaho Statesman. An InsideScience report on the restoration is available via US News and World Report. Or read the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife press release. Read the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s species profile (well technically, a “distinct population segment” profile) here.

Photo: A pygmy rabbit of unknown distinct population segment, likely from Idaho, courtesy of the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Photo Credit: R. Dixon (IDFG) and H. Ulmschneider (BLM)

Nevada Law Lets Gov Appoint Wildlife Director

Posted on June 15, 2011 by MadelineBodin

A bill signed into law this week in Nevada means that the state’s governor will have more of a say in who the state’s wildlife director will be. Previously, the Nevada governor needed to select a wildlife director from among the candidates submitted by the state’s Wildlife Commission. The new law eliminates that restriction on the governor’s appointment.

Read more about the new law in this article in The Danbury (Ct.) News-Times (Why a Connecticut outlet ran this Associated Press story on Nevada when few other outlets did is beyond me.) It also had the news when the bill passed the Nevada legislature.

The Daily Sparks Tribune has some of the background of the dust-up between governor and director that lead to the bill.

Howl to Survey Coyotes

Posted on April 20, 2011 by MadelineBodin

Getting permission from hundreds of private landowners for scat studies or trapping can make surveying coyote populations in the East tough. Sara Hansen, a grad student at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, tested a method using coyote vocalizations, and found it was effective.

Her method was to play a recording of a coyote vocalization while observers listened from three points along a road. When a coyote responded, the observers took a compass bearing for the spot. The project had 541 survey points and got 117 responses.

To play the vocalization, two megaphones, two mini-amps and an mp3 player with a 20 second recording of coyote vocalization from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology collection were used. Hansen says the set up cost about $60.

Hansen was able to test the method’s effectiveness because another project at the school had radio-collared coyotes. Estimating total population from the responses requires an algorithm, but Hansen found that triangulating the compass bearings from the observers who heard the howl worked very well.

She found that wind speeds were important, and that the method was not effective when wind speeds were over 5 km/hour. Running water was also a problem, and hemlocks, she said, “were kryptonite.”

Hansen gave her presentation at the Northeast Fish and Wildlife Conference yesterday. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a published paper for more details, but this five-page grant report does have some details. Also, this progress report has some info. (It is a PDF and the information on this project starts at the bottom of page 9.)

By the way, she estimates New York’s coyote population to be 30,000 to 35,000.

Eastern cougar declared extinct

Posted on March 4, 2011 by MadelineBodin

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has declared the Eastern cougar subspecies extinct. The declaration was part of an Endangered Species Act (ESA) review. Next, the Service will propose that the Eastern cougar be removed from the federal endangered species list because extinct species are not covered under the ESA. The designation does not include the Florida panther, which is considered another subspecies.

The designation Eastern cougar refers to the subspecies that once ranged from Maine to South Carolina, and west to Michigan down through Tennessee.

The straight-up news coverage, including all the details on the various subspecies and extirpation-versus-extinction, can be found in The New York Times, National Public Radio, CNN, and Reuters. It’s served up with a twist of Thoreau in the Boston Globe. And the Canadians say it just ain’t so in this article from the Montreal Gazette.

The US Fish and Wildlife press release came from Region 5.

Photo: Not an Eastern cougar, but another, unknown, P. concolor subspecies.

Grassland predators

Posted on February 25, 2011 by MadelineBodin

Photo courtesy US Fish & Wildlife

The population of dickcissels, a grassland bird, is declining nationwide. Habitat fragmentation is thought to be a key factor. Researchers monitored 33 dickcissel nests in a highly fragmented agricultural landscape in Nebraska and Iowa. They found that 20 nests were completely depredated and that three were partially depredated. The nest predators were:

-nine snakes

-six small mammals

-six raccoons

-two brown-headed cowbirds

-one American mink

One nest was abandoned because of ants. Nine of the 33 nests fledged young. The researchers found the number of snake predators notable.

The study appeared in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology.

“Bad dog!”

Posted on February 23, 2011 by MadelineBodin

Feral dogs and dogs running loose threaten wildlife by killing them, stressing them, and passing along diseases. You knew that. This paper in the journal BioScience has the data, and some solutions. Mostly it’s a good resource if you need a quick review of the dog issue.

The BioScience paper also received coverage in the popular press. Read a sampling here:

Reuters/Mother Nature Network
Yahoo! News
Red Orbit

This article in High Country News from three years ago really brings the issue to life.

State Wildlife Research News

Tools for wildlife management in the public interest

Category Archives: predators

Ct. Lion Came from Midwest

Ct. Lion Came from Midwest

Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit’s Last Stand

Nevada Law Lets Gov Appoint Wildlife Director

Howl to Survey Coyotes

Eastern cougar declared extinct

Grassland predators

“Bad dog!”