Last year the Western Arctic Caribou Herd, one of the world’s largest, had shrunk by 24,000 animals to 164,000, making it only a third of its peak size, reached in the early 2000s. Alaska’s Dept. of Fish and Game has found no cause for the decline.https://t.co/Am2TFIj7Rd
More than $90 million for wildlife—such as this “flying” bobcat. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation joined federal agencies and private partners in announcing nearly $91 million in grants through the new America the Beautiful Challenge. https://t.co/zw3y5xR5Ia
A recent Wildlife Society study found that in summer mule deer prefer recently burned landscapes over those that weren’t burned, but in winter they tend to avoid burned areas. https://t.co/zw3y5xR5Ia
Do we share wildlife sightings—or keep them quiet? Posting animal photos on social media and on sites like iNaturalist can be an important part of “citizen science.” But sometimes sharing our sightings can put wildlife at risk. https://t.co/jDjzflkJvN
CWD—Chronic Wasting Disease—is killing wildlife
By Conservation Frontlines
It’s a terrible neurological disease that has no known cure and kills deer, elk, moose and caribou, but can’t be transmitted to humans by touching or eating infected animals.
https://t.co/H4DIeK8w8F
That’s no Yeti, it’s a Tibetan bear spotted by a trail camera. A new report offers the first clear photographic evidence of the presence of these brown bears in Nepal. https://t.co/zw3y5xyWu2
In Spain During the 14th Century Spanish bears flourished, but by the 1990s only some 50 remained, mostly in the wilds of Cantabria, northern Spain. Now the brown bear population stands at more than 400 and grows by 30 to 40 animals yearly https://t.co/zw3y5xyWu2
According to the Wildlife Justice Commission, more harvested rhino horn from legal stockpiles is entering the black market; and the main driver of this is demand for ornamental carvings in China, not so-called “traditional medicine” https://t.co/WSrBdrkCat
To reduce the Jackson Hole Elk Herd, the US National Park Service issued 475 hunting permits for Teton National Park this year. Only antlerless elk could be harvested, & hunters had to submit a lymph node from their elk to test for chronic wasting disease. https://t.co/2JVAZZHoly
A speaker at last month’s meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology argued that the growing trade in ancient ivory—now turning up more often as Arctic permafrost thaws—is helping drive the global ivory market that impacts living elephants. https://t.co/WSrBdrCLoB
Shooting Dutch wolves with paintballs may make them less tame. Or so believes one provincial government after social media showed a wolf strolling past a family in Hoge Veluwe National Park. The paintballs should sting and drive wolves away. https://www.conservationfrontlines
In Zimbabwe, the debates over trophy hunting and ivory sales rage on. Elephant-range countries wish to sell ivory legally, to raise money for conservation, and expand hunting. Other countries oppose the move. https://t.co/zw3y5xR5Ia
The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative was established to guard lands for wildlife migration and survival. Now, protection has increased by 80%, mainly due to the support of Canadian provincial governments and at least 75 Indigenous territories https://t.co/zw3y5xR5Ia
Lugard, Tsavo’s famous ‘super tusker,’ died of natural causes last month. At about 53 years of age, Lugard was nearing the end of his life anyway, but investigators found that drought in Tsavo National Park hastened his death. https://t.co/zw3y5xyWu2
The National Park Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service are again considering reintroducing the bears to the North Cascades. The last confirmed sighting of a grizzly in the US portion of the North Cascades was in 1996. https://t.co/2JVAZZGQw0
Disease hits one of Wyoming’s prized bighorn sheep herds. According to the Laramie Boomerang, landowners near the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area found 37 dead sheep, mostly ewes and lambs, and biologists determined a type of pneumonia was the culprit.
All American bison have some domestic cattle DNA. Some bison herds were thought still to be genetically pure, but in an effort to save the “American buffalo” from going extinct, ranchers long ago cross-bred survivors with cattle. https://t.co/zw3y5xyWu2
California’s tule elk could use a drink. Drought in Point Reyes National Seashore, California, has forced the National Park Service to deploy emergency water supplies for Tule elk for the second year in a row. https://t.co/H4zgXbKamF
Be smart, the rut is here! Male big-game animals are on the move and competing for breeding opportunities. The Jackson Hole News and Guide shared this video of an offsides bull moose as it sent young football players scrambling. https://t.co/zw3y5xyWu2
Click thru the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards. The arresting images range from a gorilla dying in the arms of her human keeper in the Congo to Bolivian flamingos to, above, the “House of Bears” in a ghost town in northern Russia. https://t.co/tG5Ja4Qklu