Do Elk Feedgrounds Violate Public Trust?

Do Elk Feedgrounds Violate Public Trust? By Deb Donahue.* Wyomingfile.com

This is a fine legal analysis of Wyoming’s elk feedlots.

” Litigation is generally an ineffective way to manage wildlife. But litigation over the feedgrounds seems inevitable, and it may be the only way to ensure that western Wyoming’s wildlife get a fair shake.”

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*Deb Donahue is a lawyer and a wildlife biologist. A member of the University of Wyoming College of Law faculty since 1992, she teaches Environmental Law, Public Lands, Indian Law, and Native American Natural Resources Law. She spent 2002 on sabbatical in New Zealand, studying biodiversity conservation policy. Donahue served as executive director of the Wyoming Outdoor Council in 1983-85. She has worked for federal land management agencies, the mining industry, law firms, a federal judge, and conservation organizations, including the National Wildlife Federation in Alaska. She is author of The Western Range Revisited: Removing Livestock from Public Lands to Conserve Native Biodiversity (1999). In 2000 she was honored as the Wyoming Wildlife Federation’s Natural Resources Conservationist of the Year. In 2000 she was honored as the Wyoming Wildlife Federation’s Natural Resources Conservationist of the Year.

Haydens leave Yellowstone . . . more Park wolf news.

Because people know their story and have seen them so often, the fate of the Hayden wolf pack is of general interest to those who follow the Yellowstone Park wolves. It looks like their future, however, will not be in the Park, perhaps due to too much competition from other wolves. They were last located near Virginia City, Montana — miles to the northwest of the Park.

All of the Park packs are believed to have denned, although the two most remote packs, the Delta Pack and the Bechler Pack have not been located. At the end of 2007, to the surprise of everyone, the Delta Pack turned out to be the largest in the Park. It could be that they are to the south of the Park in the Teton Wilderness where low elevation air flights are not legal.

So far visual sightings of pups have been made of two packs — Oxbow and Slough Creek.

Two Druid wolves that had lost most of the fear of people where shot with rubber bullets this week. They had passed within a couple feet of people and were lingering around the road at the base of Druid Peak. They were not hurt, but now cross the road with dispatch.

It’s my view that cracker shells and rubber bullets are the best way to educate wolves, although the later are a good deal more difficult to use (the ranger was a good shot).

This is the second time over the years that Druid wolves have needed this kind of education. The cracker-shelling back about four? years ago permanently stopped those wolves from lingering along the road.

Imperiled California Desert Tortoise ‘Under Siege’

Posted on the Western Watersheds blog. Imperiled California Desert Tortoise ‘Under Siege’

The “Y-pole” for handling difficult dogs and wild canids

Many people don’t like to see the use of snare poles on dogs, coyotes or wolves who are cornered but difficult to handle. Dr. Mark. R. Johnson, DVM has developed a more effective and humane device, the “Y-pole.”

This pole mimics the kind of force (mostly psychological) that influences a canid by others of its pack.

Dr. Johnson explained its use at the Chico Wolf Conference, and I thought it useful to bring to folks’ attention. He kindly gave us a pdf file on the new device.

The Y-pole

Wyoming Elk Feedlots kept open a month longer than average

Wyoming’s Elk feedlots were kept open a month longer than usual. Managers of the National Elk Refuge are looking to expand the hunt and irrigate the feedlot saying that doing so will disperse the animals, reducing the disease potential. No mention of natural predators or preservation/restoration of the herds’ natural winter range.

Alfalfa pellets.

Winter feeding on elk refuge exceeds historical average
AP

Researchers Using GPS to Track the Elusive Wolverine at Glacier National Park

Researchers Using GPS to Track the Elusive Wolverine at Glacier National Park.  KFBB.com (Great Falls, Montana)

Ten per cent of Wyoming wolf population outside YNP now killed

Wolf-kill total reaches 16. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole News and Guide.  Another wolf has been shot in Wyoming’s “wolves-are vermin-zone.”