Montana Legislature Environmental Quality Council holds hearing on the tapeworm and more

Dr. Norman Bishop reports on the testimony-

I think the recent controversy over one kind of tapeworm that infests wolves and other canids and which can cause a secondary infection in other animals, including people, is mostly hot air meant to scare. However, in response to the controversy the Montana Environmental Quality Council held a hearing a few days ago. Dr. Norman Bishop of Bozeman, a naturalist with long experience with wolves and other wild animals testfied.

I also asked him to write up an account of the testimony given by the other participants in the hearing. I’m glad he took the time to do it rather than simply rely on media reports. Here is his report. I want to thank him for his testimony and time-consuming note-taking and write-up.

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Notes by Dr. Norman Bishop

I attended the Montana Legislature Environmental Quality Council’s session at the Capitol in Helena Friday May 7, 2010. Their agenda was Agency Oversight: FWP – Wolf Management.

On the topic of Echinococcus granulosis, (E.g.), Dr. Valerius Geist, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science, University of Calgary, gave a ten-minute talk via conference phone to the Council. He had emailed a 4-page statement to them. He said there was a chance of transmission of E.g. from deer and elk wintering where family dogs may be. He proposed a number of draconian preventive measures against E.g. spreading into family dogs: promote deworming, reduce straying and scavenging by dogs, medicate dogs after hunting. He would reduce wolves and coyotes; wolves, to prevent infections of humans when fearful elk seek refuge near buildings. He recommended hunting big game on their summer ranges, and targeting wolves there as well. He would reduce hydatid disease in wolves by using airborne baits with worming agents. He said to trap coyotes, and to burn grasslands to eliminate E.g. eggs. He warned against touching freshly skinned canids, cleaning the skins, and soaking them in helminthic. He said not to poke around scats, don’t pick berries or mushrooms, and eat with clean hands; cook liver and lungs of game over a campfire to kill cysts.

Natural Gas May Be Worse for the Planet than Coal

If not worse then just as bad.

A lot of energy has been expended to try to make natural gas look “green”. In fact many “green” groups and others are touting it as the “bridge fuel to a 21st-century energy economy” and claim that it is “cleaner” than coal. Well, it turns out that it may not be so “green” after-all.

When you consider that natural gas is composed primarily of methane and that leaks are common it doesn’t look so good. Methane traps 21 times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2.  Is it worse than coal, maybe or maybe not, but it isn’t “green” and it is responsible for devastating much of southwest Wyoming and parts of Colorado.

Natural Gas May Be Worse for the Planet than Coal
A preliminary analysis suggests that natural gas could contribute far more to global warming than previously thought.
By Kevin Bullis

We need wolves to be wolves

George Wuerthner responds to recent hyperbole from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation concerning wolves ~

We need wolves to be wolves ~ George Wuerthner, NewWest.net

If the restoration of wolves to the Rockies is really “one of the worst wildlife management disasters since the destruction of bison herds in the 19th Century” as David Allen suggests, I believe we need a lot more of these disasters across the country.

Energy chief stuns environmentalists with renewable energy approach

Nevada’s energy chief wants to take Federal Lands and hand them over to energy companies.

Jim Groth, an appointee of Governor Jim Gibbons, published a declaration which calls for turning the State of Nevada into an energy colony and he doesn’t think it should be subject to National Environmental Policy Act requirements.

“The greatest thing holding Nevada back from achieving economic success right now is the need to satisfy onerous policies or laws and have the ‘right’ paperwork in order,” Groth writes in his “declaration.”

Nevada has become the latest target of energy producers and transmitters of all stripes. Gigantic solar and wind plants as well as geothermal plants have been proposed on public lands. El Paso Corp’s Ruby Pipeline has received preliminary permission to pass through northern Nevada’s most pristine sage grouse and pygmy rabbit habitat. There are also a number of proposed transmission lines to support these developments.

Public lands are not a renewable resource and the kind of development proposed in Nevada will have devastating impacts on wildlife there. It is time to make a major push towards rooftop solar and conservation rather than these centralized power plants on public lands which require transmission lines that lose power getting the electricity to where it is used.

Energy chief stuns environmentalists with renewable energy approach.
Las Vegas Sun

New law pits guns vs. grizzlies in national parks

Are we going to see a spike in grizzly deaths due to this new law?

Grizzly tracks north of Island Park Reservoir 5/4/2010 © Ken Cole

The new gun law which allows people to carry guns in National Parks will be put to the test this year as people take to the backcountry of Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier. Will there be an increase in grizzly bear deaths or maybe even wolf deaths in the nation’s National Parks? It’s as if some people confuse the 2nd Amendment with the 2nd Commandment and insist on people being able to carry guns anywhere and everywhere. I hope I am wrong and that gun owners will be responsible in our National Parks.

“Experience shows that putting firearms and grizzly bears in the same place ends up with dead grizzly bears,” said Steve Cain, senior biologist for Grand Teton National Park.

The Associated Press: New law pits guns vs. grizzlies in national parks.
By MEAD GRUVER (AP)

Have you seen any interesting wildife news? May 11

Note that this replaces the 8th edition. That edition can be found slowly moving down into the depths of the blog.

Burrowing Owls © Ken Cole

Please don’t post entire articles here, just the link, title and your comments about the article. Most of these violate copyright law. They also take up too much space.

Yellowstone bison drive planned through this week

To hell with private property rights, to hell with wildlife, we must protect cattle that aren’t even here.

Hazing bison inside Yellowstone National Park on Madison River ©Ken Cole

The ridiculous annual event of hazing bison during their calving season is underway even though this year the bison are likely to come back out of the Park because the green-up of grass hasn’t started there due to late season snowstorms.

Each year the residents of the West Yellowstone area have to endure this fiasco on behalf of a few ranchers who whine and cry that their cattle might get brucellosis from bison when they don’t even bring them to the area a until after the buffalo have all calved. This year, due to the late green-up, it will likely be even later.

On numerous occasions I have witnessed Montana’s helicopters chasing buffalo deep into the Park even beyond the border of Wyoming in front of bewildered tourists. Last year, while hazing herds of newborn calves and their mothers off of private property where there never will be cattle again, Buffalo Field Campaign filmed a calf that had broken its leg in the malay of the hazing operation. These kinds of incidents are a common occurrence and there is no justification for it.