A better approach would be to act as a watchdog against legitimate testable problems which science would then be accountable for.
Follow Denise Chow on Twitter@denisechow. Follow Live Science@livescience Facebook & Google+.+Original article on Live Science c
which also happens to be the molecule that makes chocolate poisonous to dogs. Then there is serotonin a natural neurotransmitter
and dogs and they forage in large groups of two or more different species. Each species has unique chirps sneezes
what we are learning is that it often has effects on other species. For instance there is a pig pheromone that stops dogs from barking Mcglone said.
These three categories are broken further down into many squirrel types such as Albino Mountain Tree Antelope Spotted Grey American Red Douglas Fox Pygmy Northern Flying Southern
#Catching Hyenas on Camera (Op-Ed) This article was published originally at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices:
I spent a few years in South africa searching for the elusive brown hyaena. The aim of the study was to assess the differences in the distribution and abundance of brown hyaena between protected and unprotected farmland areas in South africa.
The driving force behind the project designed by researchers at Nottingham Trent University was unprecedented the rate of declining global biodiversity caused by an increasing human population.
One species that is implicated in human wildlife conflict is the brown hyaena (Parahyaena brunnea. Brown hyaenas are classified as Near Threatened#with an estimated 2500 free ranging animals remaining in South africa.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature suggests that brown hyaenas are under threat from human persecution
and habitat loss and that a greater understanding of its distribution and abundance is needed throughout its geographic range.
The brown hyaena is a solitary and nocturnal carnivore that lives in clans and forages alone often over large distances.
However farmers perceived the brown hyaena to be a livestock killer. This misconception has lead to the indiscriminate and unjustified persecution of the species. The scavenging brown hyaenas provide an ecosystem service by cleaning up the carcasses as they eat everything including the skin and bones.
These factors mean that of all South africa s large carnivores it has the ecological attributes to allow co-existence with humans within the unprotected farmlands.
and White or Black rhinoceros and are viewed as a safe haven for brown hyaena. Surrounding these two protected areas is unprotected farmland where a mixture of game livestock
and where brown hyaena are persecuted. To gather information on the abundance of brown hyaena I turned to camera traps.
Wildlife surveys have been enhanced greatly by the development of camera traps. A key factor is the capture confirmation
In order to maximise the capture rate I needed to understand my target species. For example the brown hyaena use roads as territorial boundaries
of which 10000 were made up of carnivores ranging from the large ones such as lion leopard spotted hyaena brown hyaena wild dog to the medium-sized such as honey badger jackal civet serval caracal
and the small ones such as African wild cat bat eared fox aardwolf common genet slender and banded mongoose.
Using remote camera traps the study found that the relative abundance of brown hyaena was four times lower in farmland areas than in the protected areas.
Low levels of brown hyaena abundance means that conservation efforts should be focused in the unprotected farmland areas
so that not only brown hyaenas but all carnivores survive and thrive in the long-term Next read this:
They will also eat small animals such as porcupines coyotes rabbits armadillos capybaras squirrels and raccoons.
two bottom front teeth two top front teeth lateral incisors first/front molars canines and second/back molars.
Imagine a pet simulator in which a virtual dog or cat reacts to the player's expressions:
Of these more than 330 were killed unintentionally including wolves foxes skunks opossums raccoons bobcats and black bears.
Even though I was experienced an professional trapper my trap victims included non-target species such as bald eagles and golden eagles a variety of hawks and other birds rabbits sage grouse pet dogs deer
While studying the impacts of wolf snares on moose Alaska biologist Craig Gardner reported in the journal Alces:
Wolf snares can be even less selective than snares set for smaller furbearers because cable diameter and loop circumference are larger set height is higher
and the size and strength of a wolf require that minimum breaking forces must be high...
I concluded that most moose restrained in wolf snares die either at the capture site or from frozen limbs or nose subsequent to release.
In 2012 more than 3000 coyotes were killed this way in my home state of Montana alone.
And scientists such as Robert Crabtree with the Yellowstone Ecological Research center have found evidence that predators like coyotes respond to lethal persecution by producing more pups
(because most depredating coyotes are adults trying to feed pups). Perhaps most egregiously Wildlife Services is funded largely by taxpayer dollars
and snaring of wolves in the northern Rockies. It's why we've pushed for federal legislation prohibiting the use of poisons to kill wildlife.
The author's most recent op-ed was Montana Landowners May Soon Shoot Trap More Wolves.
Edison had electrocuted previously numerous cats and dogs at his laboratories. The practice of electrocuting prisoners soon caught on it was seen as a more humane way of dispensing with criminals.
and fudge are among the meals singled out this year for their shockingly unhealthy nutrition content in a new report from a nonprofit watchdog group.
with the help of dogs or by a large group hunting together in a line, combing the island.
and much more diverse than dogs, says Kim Worley, a genome researcher at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas,
Hyenas have large bite forces that allow them access to a wider array of foods
covering a total of nearly 13 hectares, in the northern states of Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas.
including the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and the Northern Rocky mountain grey wolf (Canis lupus). Research Lunar splashdown: A NASA probe sent crashing into the Cabeus crater near the Moon's north pole on 9 october ploughed up a plume containing water, hydrocarbons and, unexpectedly, mercury,
The dog cloner: Nature Newsfor someone who had emerged just from a 40-month trial, Byeong-Chun Lee seemed remarkably energetic.
I'm dogs, said the Seoul National University cloning specialist with a smile, distinguishing his presentation from his junior researcher's,
Lee created an impressive list of cloned and transgenic canines. Among them were three female afghan hounds (Bona, Hope and Peace, who Lee calls Snuppy's girlfriends,
though the 10 puppies that Bona and Hope produced with Snuppy, which prove that clone couples can have healthy offspring,
three male wolves using postmortem cells (to show that it will be possible to save endangered species, like the wolf;
beagles (because the dog is the best choice for human disease modelling; and the first transgenic dog (a beagle, known as Ruby Puppy,
or Ruppy, that has red fluorescent protein that makes its nose, paw pads and claws red, even to the visible eye).
Lee's team also produced seven golden retrievers clones of Korea's best drug-sniffing dog.
Dogs can communicate and obey, says Lee. That's why I focus on them. The team's cloning efficiency has jumped from 1 live clone from 1,
Lee hopes that dogs which are used already as a model for cardiovascular and other disorders,
But Wakayama wonders whether dogs will ever catch on as model animals because they are still relatively difficult to clone
For some diseases dogs provide the best animal model for the human disease. But the use of cloned dogs
or transgenic dogs could be somewhat problematic due to the prime place of the dog in human affections,
says Colman, now at the A*STAR Institute of Medical Biology in Singapore. Still, Lee's cloned
and transgenic dogs are piquing interest. He is collaborating with both the US National Institute of Allergy
With the differences between species in disposition and cognition, dogs are tremendously valuable to basic genetic studies of higher brain order.
cloned dogs will significantly raise the value of this data and make a revolutionary contribution to neuroscience.
The two laboratories are still the only two to clone dogs. Lee has cloned dogs with RNL Bio,
a Seoul-based company spun out from Seoul National University and based on the technology developed by Lee and Hwang.
Hwang has cloned dogs for Mill Valley, California-based Bioarts. The two companies have been tied up in legal wrangles with each other.
gives it exclusive rights to clone dogs as well as cats and endangered species. At Bioarts'urging, Start Licensing sued RNL for infringement.
Bioarts withdrew its dog-cloning services. RNL also claims exclusive dog-cloning rights, based on a license it purchased in June 2008 from Seoul National University.
In a separate trial in South korea, RNL tried to prevent Hwang from cloning dogs by enforcing its patents from Seoul National University.
Hwang persuaded the court that tweaks he had made to the cloning procedure constituted a different method,
Awards Wolf winners: Physicists Anton Zeilinger, John Clauser and Alain Aspect share the prestigious 2010 Wolf Prize in Physics for their work on quantum entanglement.
Biologist Axel Ullrich took the medicine prize for his research in cancer (he co-developed trastuzumab,
People go out into the woods at night with dogs and pigs to locate them there's folklore behind it.
In the 1000s, for example, the'Book of Settlements'a medieval manuscript containing details of Iceland's settlements reports a famine so severe men ate foxes
a conservation biologist at James Cook University in Cairns, Queensland, Australia, and one of the authors of the analysis, to be published in the journal Conservation Letters1,
A nonprofit watchdog filed a lawsuit on 16 august to stop the construction of a US$4-billion weapons facility at Los alamos National Laboratory in New mexico.
Nandula Raghuram of the Society for Scientific Values, an ethics watchdog based in Delhi says that what should have been a rigorous assessment by India's top scientific institutions has ended up as the mouthpiece of Ananda Kumar,
Some researchers proposed that the return of wolves to the park would cause elk to begin avoiding certain'risky'areas containing the predators.
wolves could have a huge effect on the landscape. Alas not according to a recent study by Matthew Kauffman of the US Geological Survey in Laramie, Wyoming,
Tree rings and fenced-off experimental areas revealed that aspen growth didn't track well with wolf presence or absence.
The elk do change their behaviour in response to wolves and do avoid risky areas in general just not often enough to change the picture for aspen.
to say'to hell with wolves 'and feed there for a few days, says Kauffman. It remains to be seen
Nature Newspolicy Events People Research Funding Trend watch Coming up Policy Wolf delisted The grey wolf will be removed from the US government's endangered species list in some northwestern states
Grey wolf populations have recovered significantly in northwestern states, but environmental campaigners such as the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Arizona, bemoaned the fact that politicians had lifted protection rather than waiting for due process under the Endangered Species Act.
and considered bringing in trained dogs to help the hunt, at an estimated cost of US$400,
and carbon-storage potential than others, says William Laurance, a forest-conservation scientist at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia.
One of the most fascinating populations lives around Wolf volcano at the northern tip of the island of Isabela.
of sea to reach Wolf, probably carried by pirates and whalers. Using DNA from museum specimens
6 that Wolf is also harbouring descendants of the long-lost Floreana lineage and the recently lost Pinta one.
The researchers hope to mount a return expedition to Wolf volcano next year, in an effort to locate the Floreana-and Pinta-like tortoises.
In theory, these animals could be taken off Wolf volcano for captive breeding. Floreana has been affected heavily by habitat destruction
But the Floreana-like tortoises on Wolf could help with a long-term project to restore the island s ecology.
says William Laurance, a forest-conservation scientist at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. Indonesia, the world s largest grower of oil palms (see Palm sprouts),
A. DI MEO/EPA/CORBISITALIAN dog-breeding facility at risk One of the largest suppliers of beagles (pictured) for mandatory drug testing in Europe could struggle to survive after an Italian court ordered its temporary closure
and granted guardianship of the dogs to the animal-rights groups that filed charges of maltreatment.
By 6 Â August, some 1, 400 beagles had been placed in private homes; they will not be allowed to return to Green Hill
says William Laurance, a conservation biologist at James Cook University in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.""Much of this forest disruption is illegal,
In the United states, environmentalists and ranchers spar over wolves, which have been reintroduced to many states. In Western australia
Geneticist and veterinarian Eckhard Wolf at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, has exploited the similarity between the human
says Wolf. Pig models are now being developed for other common conditions, including Alzheimer s disease, cancer and muscular dystrophy.
Kevin Wolf/APENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCYDEPARTING: Lisa Jackson On entering office in 2009, Jackson (pictured) laid the groundwork for climate regulations by formally declaring carbon dioxide a dangerous pollutant.
Seafood diet killing Arctic foxes on Russian islandan isolated population of Arctic foxes that dines only on marine animals seems to be slowly succumbing to mercury poisoning.
The foxes on Mednyi Island one of Russia s Commander Islands in the Bering sea are a subspecies of Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) that may have remained isolated for thousands of years.
the fox population began to crash, falling from more than 1, 000 animals to fewer than 100 individuals today.
and their dogs so they teamed up with Alex Greenwood, head of the wildlife diseases department at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin,
They screened for four common canine pathogens in foxes captured on Mednyi Island and in the pelts of museum specimens of Commander Island foxes.
So the researchers looked at the foxes diet. Mednyi Island foxes subsist by hunting sea birds and scavenging seal carcasses.
Because pollutants such as mercury are known to accumulate in marine animals particularly in the Arctic, they tested the foxes for the heavy metal
and found high levels of it. The foxes'hair had 10 milligrams of mercury per kilogram on average, with peaks of 30 mg kg-1. By comparison,
inland foxes in Iceland had lower levels, of about 3. 5 mg kg-1. Greenwood s team also compared mercury levels in the Mednyi foxes to those in the population on the neighbouring Bering Island,
and in coastal fox populations in Iceland. Levels of mercury were high there, too. But the Bering Island population
and the coastal Icelandic foxes had experienced not the same population crash as their relatives on Mednyi.
The results were published on 7 may in the journal PLOS ONE1. The difference, the researchers think,
is that the Mednyi foxes have no other options for food. Bering Island is bigger than Mednyi, with small mammals such lemmings and voles,
as well as a human population that creates rubbish that the foxes can eat. The Icelandic coastal foxes, likewise, have the option of moving inland to vary their diet."
"It s not so much what they are eating, as where they are eating, says Greenwood."
"The Mednyi foxes may be more susceptible to increasing global mercury levels. But Dominique Berteaux, an Arctic ecologist at the University of Quebec in Rimouski, Canada, cautions that the team has not definitively proved a link between mercury contamination
who is director of the Arctic fox Center in S Â Ë av  k, Iceland,
barbed wire and guard dogs, swim the world s most expensive and scrutinized fish. These swift-growing salmon have been at the centre of a 18-year,
or transplants of living cells from other species. It would also stop the breeding of dogs, cats and primates in Italy for research,
or Fox, constellation. At Hubble s optical resolution, light from the planet and its star typically blend together.
Early dinosaurs such as the dog-sized Coelophysis also roamed there, and radiometric dating has shown how these dinosaurs were related to those in other parts of the Americas3.
occupy level 2. Foxes, which eat herbivores, sit at trophic level 3. Cod, a fish that eats other fish, claims level 4. Polar bears and orcas,
For young bears, it may increase the frequency of potentially deadly interactions with aggressive adult male bears and wolves.
Wolf plan flawed The US government s proposal to weaken protection for grey wolves (Canis lupus) is not based on good science,
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) says that wolves in the lower 48 Â states no longer face extinction (see Nature 501,143-144;
ecologists have watched wolf and moose populations on Isle Royale in Lake superior wax and wane in response to each other, disease and the weather.
the wolf is now at the door. Devastated by inbreeding, the wolf population has dropped from 30 individuals a decade ago to just 10 Â spotted in field counts so far this year,
leading the US National park service to consider importing new animals for a genetic rescue. Now, nature is intervening
and could either save the landmark project without the need for tranquillizer darts and wolf crates,
The 24-kilometre ice bridge could let wolves from the Canadian mainland cross to the US island,
bringing an influx of genes (see Wolf island). But project scientists say that the opposite is more likely:
the last wolves could leave the island in search of mates. Â That would put an end to a study that has provided textbook ecology lessons for generations.
when wolf numbers plummet, moose populations tend to soar (see Ecosystem in flux. And it has offered insights into wolf behaviour, moose physiology,
the life cycle of moose ticks and how wolves might be driven to form packs to ward off scavengers such as ravens, rather than for any hunting advantage.
 Through the decades, the search for cause and effect in the ecosystem has been rendered much easier by isolation from the mainland s human and animal populations.
The very first wolves came to Isle Royale over an ice bridge in the early 1940s, some 30 years after the first moose.
when a wolf that biologists called the old grey guy came to the island. He sired 34 Â pups
 Whether any wolves have crossed this year s ice bridge will not be clear immediately. The scientists are conducting their annual population survey,
but snow fills wolf tracks very quickly. If new wolves do arrive their presence will probably be confirmed in the coming months,
when DNA is extracted from faeces samples. Source: John Vucetich/Rolf Petersonjohn Vucetich, co-leader of the project and an ecologist at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, says that the need for an influx of genes is becoming urgent.
In the past two decades, wolf skeletons have displayed spinal deformities that can painfully pinch nerves and affect gait and generally reduce fitness.
this might explain why the number of moose needed to support a given number of wolves has increased:
when the wolves came. Most of Isle Royale s balsam firs are thus either older than 100 years and near the end of their lives
caused the wolf population to fall from around 50 to 14 in the early 1980s.
And in 2012, three wolves were found dead in an abandoned mining pit. Given this history of human influence,
the argument that leaving the wolves alone would be allowing nature to take its course does not sway most ecologists.
a US Geological Survey wolf biologist based in St paul, Minnesota, argues in favour of"watchful waiting.
inbred populations of endangered species. He is convinced not that the wolves will die out; they have hit low numbers before
new wolves can be brought in quickly. But Vucetich says that it could be five years before the last wolf dies
and scientists confirm its demise, and another five before federal bureaucracies approve a genetic rescue
#'A normal healthy wolf would not have done what happened here.''I'm predicting quite a blowback in the comments for this article...
I wonder if you had a child who was bitten allegedly by a wolf would you okay the rabies test you cite that could be reliable
and perhaps infected with the always fatal rabies disease would you opine about the population of wolves DNR practices of wolf management and the ethical treatment of animals?
We know that wolf attacks are extremely rare yet you comment that It's really more surprising that nobody has ever been attacked before now.
Where is your research that suggests it's surprising wolves don't attack more often? Black bears are much more prevalent in Minnesota yet bear attacks are also extremely rare.
The dearth of evidence (low incidence of attack) seems to suggest that wolves foxes coyotes
@streakygopher...wolves don't pass on rabies. The killed wolf was sent to the University of Minnesota for testing both DNA testing to see
if it was the same wolf that attacked the teen camper and rabies testing. Wolves are not reservoirs of rabies meaning they can't pass it on
but they do sometimes catch it from other animals like foxes.)Mt guess is the testing for rabies is to try to gain an understanding of why the wolf behaved in such a way
if it is even the same animal. There was no reason to kill the first wolf they ran across.
Wolves are endangered. Pure politics took it off the list. Negative cheers. As a veterinarian and advocate for increased protection for wolves in Minnesota I was glad to see an article that decries the state of wolf conservation and management here.
However the author states that wolves cannot pass on rabies. I'm not sure what exactly he's referring to but
I have not seen any evidence that a wolf cannot get infected with rabies via a bite
and subsequently infect another animal by biting it. While they are not reservoirs in the same way that bats skunks
or raccoons are in areas around the country they can certainly present a hazard to human (and other mammalian) health if infected.
If I knew a person had been bitten by a wolf I would absolutely recommend that they take steps to get treatment for potential rabies infection.
Streakygopher: Well you even said allegedly when talking about the wolf that was shot. As there was no DNA evidence to ascertain
if it was even a wolf or some other animal that bit this boy. What if the wolf they shot was not the one that allegedly bit the kid shall they kill all of the wolves in say a 20 mile radius
and them proceed to DNA test every one of them to see if they were the villain?
It makes more sense to start rabies shots rather than wait for something that may never happen.
It may not have even been a wolf at all that bit the kid. Besides rabies shots are not
what they used to be decades ago with a series of very painful shots. So it makes more sense to start the shots as a precaution. 5 shots in a 14 day time span.
and believed the lies about wolves attacking people since time began they are just lies or falsehoods.
There has NEVER been a legitimate report of a HEALTHY wolf ever attacking a human.
and not killed by a wolf however wolves as many other animals are scavengers and will eat the kill that any other species left
when they were done with it. Not meaning to sound harsh but that is just facts. wolves are usually very shy
and avoid human. So before these DNR officers go and kill every wolf they see lets hope they wait for the DNA tests so they will have a better idea just
what they are looking for and to see if they killed an innocent wolf. Yep we're pretty bloodthirsty in minnie.
Don't pay any attention to the reports that coyote attacks are steadily increasing (pets and even small children.
And ignore the fact that minnie's efforts have contributed mightily to the reestablishment of the wolf population.
The attack was unusual--wolves pretty much leave humans alone--especially single wolves. So there's a pretty good chance that there was a problem with the animal.
Authorities killed the one that was hanging around to see if there was a danger from rabies.
Can a wolf pass on rabies or not? A definitive answer please. Thanks cheers. To Dan No-wits The wolf was trapped
and killed for human safety precautions. Unprovoked attacks on humans by large predators like this is a major safety concern.
Really who would wait around for the wolf to attack again? The next victim could've been a 5 year old girl who obviously wouldn't have fared as well.
Perhaps those who value wolves over human life would take that chance but most logical sane people wouldn't. Your first sentence below the title of this biased article reads A wolf--maybe--has bitten a teenaged camper in Minnesota in
what could be the first wolf attack ever recorded in the lower 48 states. MAYBE?
The attack IS CONFIRMED by the Minnesota DNR. Historically there are records of fatal and non fatal attacks on humans by wolves in North america.
However due to present day standards for verifying attacks those that happened one hundred plus years ago don't count by today's standards.
In 2007 Kenton Carnegie was killed by wolves in Saskatchewan and sadly was documented the first case in North america of a healthy wolf killing a human.
www. cbc. ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2007/11/01/wolf-verdict. html) Tragically Candice Berner was killed by wolves in Alaska in 2010.
ADF&G performed necropsies and collected samples for disease testing and DNA analyses...Investigators found no evidence in any of the wolves of contributing factors to the attack such as rabies disease defense of food or habituation to human food.
www. adfg. alaska. gov/index. cfm? adfg=pressreleases. pr12062011) Your closing paragraph states: Yes this wolf attacked a person but...
BUT WHAT? are allowed we no longer to go camping or sleep under the stars on the ground in the middle of a popular National Forest campground in a place known to be trafficked highly by humans as well as wildlife?
Its time to stop making excuses for wolves. Wolves are not reservoirs of rabies...YES THEY ARE!
Where do you get your information? Perhaps No-Wits you could tone down the keyboard thumping
When It Rainslol its obvious to all this Dan Not-A-Clue has never been in Minnesota Never been around the wolf problem
and generally is a raving NAZI wolf cultist! The location Dan Know Nothing was several hundred miles west of the prime habitat and major location of the Minnesota Timber wolf.
Secondly Dan of No-Facts falsely represents this federal camp ground as a primitive wilderness experience.
And finally Dan of LITTLE THINKING the wolf was taken out quickly by federal trappers as evidently this area has been experiencing trouble with this wolf in the past.
The Wolf population in northern Minnesota is out of control and this violent vile vermin have started killing the Moose to extinction
because wolves have killed its prey base! I realize DAN of NO SENSE loves L. David Mech;
and anyone who has a different view on how wolves are managed is a wildlife hating maniac.
Dan please stop writing articles about wolves on Popsci this really isn't the forum for your personal unreasonable and unscientific rants.
This is not the first time a wolf has attacked a person. The fact is not many people would report it.
The secondnight the wolves came back. I did the same thing as the night before tried to scare them off.
I look up and in the candle light I see the little scrawny wolf standing at the entrance.
I dragged his body out of the cave and in a rage deboweled him in front of the other six wolves before cutting off his tail.
just as the wolves bolted out of the trees. I don't know how but my car started after sitting four days in minus 20 degees or colder weather and
and walk with a limp today so don't even try to tell me that wolves are so cute and cuddly.
All the wolves you've ever seen were either in a zoo or a sanctuary or domesticated PETS.
So unless you've seen a wolf out in the wild in its habitat you don't know a thing about them.
I hate wolves more than anything. I respect them immensely but I hate them nonetheless. There seems to be a lot of emotional reasoning in these comments.
Wolves are no where near endangered hence the USFWS's scientifically backed and logical reasoning for delisting them!
People need to quit with the whole oh the poor wolves are endangered and the sky is falling bovine feces.
Opal Wolf-For those who have spread and believed the lies about wolves attacking people
since time began they are just lies or falsehoods. There has NEVER been a legitimate report of a HEALTHY wolf ever attacking a human.
Well here's your report Opal Wolf when I was young (I was in grade 6)
I was attacked almost and killed by a pack of timber wolves. They were running at
me and came within 15 feet of me before I managed to escape therefore please don't say that wolves would never attack a human.
While it's a rare thing if a winter has been very tough and food scarce they are preditors
Instead you only manage to perpetuate the tiresome stereotype that out-of-touch urbanites with no real contact with wolves are the only ones who care deeply about wolf conservation.
As a wildlife biologist working to ensure wolves remain on the landscape I find it disheartening
While I believe that we may ultimately want the same things for wolves I feel like you havenã¢Â#Â#t really thought about how to achieve those things.
and irrational sides of the wolf debate would consider actual science and use some reason when debating
Both sides need to recognize that wolves are just animals like deer fish rats dogs cats
I have seen wolves begging for food in campgrounds and chasing people on bicycles. I have sat also with a rancher
and watched as a pack of wolves calmly traveled through the middle of his heard without the slightest bit of trouble.
Wolves are just wolves. They live and they die and make their mark on the world like everything else.
By attempting to fit wolves into the false and arbitrary constructs of our own personal philosophies we strip them of their most enduring quality;
Consider that if a dog had attacked a kid in a similar manner it would face a similar fate.
This kid was doing nothing âÂ# wrongã¢Â#Â#in wolf country and seems to have been involved in a completely unprovoked attack.
Trapping and killing this wolf was an obvious necessity. If you knew anything at all about wolf biology
or trapping the fact that they caught this wolf in the same campground within 3 days of the attack would provide ample evidence to proceed
and kill this individual wolf for rabies and DNA testing. If it is the wrong wolf then that honestly is too bad
but an abundance of caution is needed when human lives are at risk. What would you propose they do?
Chain it up for a week while the lab tried to extract the wolfã¢Â#Â#s DNA from his wounds?
If you meant to imply that they might be able pull the kids DNA from a drugged wolf then you might be on a âÂ# more correctã¢Â#Â#line of thought
Your description and general interpretation of wolf trapping was actually quite funny. Itã¢Â#Â#s almost like you didn't know that âÂ#Âoecatch
and releaseã¢Â# wolf trapping using leg hold traps has likely been the single most important tool for wolf researchers and conservationists for over 50 years.
and GPS collars responsible for all of the research extolling the benefits of wolves got on those animals?
How do you think the Mexican wolves that were reintroduced into Arizona and New mexico got into the trucks they were brought in on?
so I will let you know that they used traps the only kind that work for wolves leg hold traps.
There are an estimated 2200 wolves in Minnesota right now that is more than all of the wolves in Montana Idaho Wyoming Oregon and Washington combined.
Squeeze those into the northern 2/3s of the state and you have one of the most robust populations of wolves in North america.
The loss of this 1 wolf to that population is so biologically insignificant that I have a hard time understanding what you mean
when you write âÂ#Âoewhen the animal in question is as at risk as the gray wolfã¢Â# âÂ#Â
You might not remember that wolves have been listed federally de in the Great lakes and Rocky mountain Regions for a few years now.
Wolf recovery in the lower 48 is probably the greatest success story in the history of the endangered species act yet many people refuse to recognize success for what it is.
and push to keep wolves on the endangered species list then they must admit that the act is simply a place where threatened species go to die out
but the last thing that wolf conservation needs is misinformed one more extremist publicly spouting off on something they obviously know very little about.
If you honestly care about wolf conservation and want to talk about wolves in a meaningful way then step out of your bubble
and go out in the field with a biologist. Talk to them about what they do
@Firedup Yes I can acknowledge that the grey wolf population as a whole is in decent standing
but there are certain subspecies in the lower 48 (for example the Mexican Grey Wolf) that are threatened more than ever.
I would recommend contacting some agencies such as wolf centers that are dedicated to the subspecies'reintroduction into their natural habitat.
I believe the International Wolf Center is a great resource for things like this as well as the California Wolf Center.
In addition to the above post-bigtexcaly-you might want to know that there were no wolves in Colorado
These comments are just another example of anti-wolf hatred that goes back for generations.
We nearly made the wolf extinct in the lower 48 because of misinformation and hatred. Wolves have made barely a comeback (in the lower 48)
and the killing them off out of a misguided fear has begun already. The dropping them off the endangered list (in the lower 48)
Some people will not be happy until every wolf is killed because there is such a danger as
I see the human carnage by wolves everyday in the news . But of course the liberal press covers up that too.
Why couldn't the trapped wolf have been trapped humanely and euthanized? Honestly when our natural resources have to be protected from agencies that purport to protect our natural resources we are in deep trouble.@
when it comes to wolves in general but more specifically to their recovery ecology history population status and more.
and against wolves but I'd like to add there are many (like me) who are demanding wolves be managed responsibly (like all other species) to be able to defend ourselves
and livelihoods legally if need be and to not be chastised by out-of-state urbanites who wouldn't know a wolf from a coyote!
Pro-wolf'management'that which adheres to science consistent with today's circumstances not one hundred plus years ago should be promoted versus the pro-wolf/anti-wolf stances.
Social perspective on wildlife management policies must be taken into consideration but my question is how can we responsibly manage wildlife
if wolf biologists and wildlife officials construct a documentary aired on PBS Animal Planet Discovery
and the like telling the TRUTH about wolves conservation and current issues pertaining to wolves. The majority of wolf advocates do not live even remotely close to wild wolves
or know the struggles many rural folks are facing today with everything from livestock/pet depredations loss of hunter opportunity to human safety.
They only see the hype on TV and read articles like this or receive Defenders of Wildlife
or Sierra Club mailings asking for money to protect the beautiful endangered wolves. Wolf admirers believe the blatant lies from activist groups who scream that hunting wolves will drive them into extinction.
Has an animal rights/environmentalist group ever disclosed factual wolf management policies and hunting regulations to those they seek monetary support from?
Probably not. But they zero in on trapping and completely misconstrue information making it out to be a horrid tool of wildlife management
and usage of'magic'when explaining the use of trapping in wolf management.)On the other hand offensive photos of trapping and/or trappers go viral
and then killing the closest wolf seems like a knee-jerk reaction especially seeing that a wolf having bit the boy is in question.
The trapping of wolves in known wolf territory is apt to trap a wolf and doesn't seem too unusual.
This may be the wolf in question seeing how it was not healthy and was in the area
so killing the wolf serves no purpose except for some misguided vengeance or revenge. We humans are not a part of the natural state of the wilderness any longer.
You say so killing the wolf serves no purpose except for some misguided vengeance or revenge.
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