Wisconsin DNR to Consider Trail Camera Policy

Posted on December 15, 2011 by
Categories: Hunting

The state Natural Resources Board is set to consider whether to allow people to leave trail cameras on public lands.

The Department of Natural Resources currently prohibits storing personal property on public lands. The agency says that policy blocks people from leaving trail cameras overnight.

But agency officials say they’ve gotten requests for permission to leave the cameras in the woods as their popularity grows. They’ve presented the board with a draft order that would allow cameras overnight between Sept. 1 and the end of the archery deer season if the cameras are secured to prevent theft and owners allow the DNR to move them if necessary.

The board is scheduled to consider the order at a meeting on Wednesday in Madison.

Source: Green Bay Press Gazette

Confirmed: Wolves Killed Southwest Alaska Teacher

Posted on December 15, 2011 by
Categories: Conservation, Wildlife

At least two wolves chased down and killed a teacher who was jogging on a road last year outside a rural Alaska village, according to a report released Tuesday by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game…

…Biologists ruled out reasons for the attack other than aggression. Investigators found no evidence that the wolves had acted defensively or that Berner was carrying food. They found no kill site that wolves may have been defending, no indication that the wolves had become habituated to people and no evidence of rabies.

“This appears to have been an aggressive, predatory attack that was relatively short in duration,” the report concluded…

…

One or two wolves gave chase along the edge of the road, while another ran above the road and intercepted her. A depression in the snow with traces of blood on the road showed where Berner was first knocked down or fell. Investigators found a second depression 10 feet away, indicating she was knocked down or fell a second time.

Tracks suggested Berner struggled and crawled away, then was pulled downhill. The amount of blood suggested that by then, she was severely wounded. Investigators concluded she died in a clearing 30 feet from the road at a spot where snow melted in a 3-foot circle and a large bloodstain was found…

Her body was subsequently dragged out of the clearing 83 feet downhill into brush.

…Four Chignik Lake residents returning home on snowmobiles saw blood on the road and a man who walked off the road spotted Berner’s body. Later that night, a man who went to guard the body spotted a wolf nearby and saw that the body had been dragged 70 more feet downhill and that more of it had been eaten…

…After the tragedy, when residents were unable to kill wolves, the Fish and Game Department decided to cull wolves within 30 miles of the village and killed eight. One adult female was killed March 26 within a mile of the village and DNA from that animal, as well as from at least one other wolf, was found on Berner’s body and clothing…

Read the full story via: Anchorage Daily News

Thousands of Grebes Crash Land in Utah

Posted on December 14, 2011 by
Categories: Environment, Wildlife

Thousands of migrating birds crashed throughout Southern Utah late Monday night, resulting in a marathon rescue and collection effort that is still underway…

…Wildlife officials said thousands of grebes – a duck-like aquatic bird – were likely migrating toward Mexico and probably mistook the parking lot of the Cedar City Walmart and other areas as far south as Anderson’s Junction for bodies of water. Thinking they were landing to rest atop a pond or lake, the grebes plummeted to the ground.

“The storm clouds over the top of the city lights made it look like a nice, flat body of water. All the conditions were right,” Griffin said. “So the birds landed to rest, but ended up slamming into the pavement.”

…Though thousands of the birds were killed, officials said they began collecting survivors around 12 a.m. Tuesday and had rescued more than 2,000 as of Tuesday evening.

Full Story via: The Spectrum

Oregon Wolves Continue to Kill

Posted on December 14, 2011 by
Categories: Conservation, Environment, Wildlife

Wolves from a pack involved in “chronic depredation” killed a yearling heifer last weekend on private land in Wallowa County, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The heifer is the fifth livestock loss caused by the Imnaha pack since an Oct. 5 court-ordered stay ended ODFW plans to kill two wolves from the pack.

ODFW wolf coordinator Russ Morgan said the recent depredation marks a significant change in the pack’s behavior.

Previously, the pack killed mostly smaller calves, Morgan said. It now has shifted to larger yearling and adult cows.

“The latest incident reaffirms that the pack is in a pattern of chronic depredation, which we expect to continue,” he said.

In all, 19 cows have been killed by the Imnaha pack since spring of 2010, ODFW said…

…

The rancher whose livestock was involved in the most recent attack used several non-lethal measures to deter wolf depredation, including fences with flags and a radio-activated guard device that makes noise when a radio-collared wolf approaches, according to ODFW.

“This is a good example of a situation where the landowner had done everything right,” Morgan said. “I don’t think there are other measures that could have been reasonably taken in this case. It is a very frustrating situation for livestock producers and wildlife managers.”

Via: Capital Press

The agency would like to kill two wolves in the pack of at least five animals but a court-ordered stay halted that plan Oct. 5. Wildlife advocates, who took the agency to court, want the state to focus more preserving gray wolves which are protected in Oregon as an endangered species.

Via: Oregon Live