National Park Service biologists Jeff Sikich and Seth Riley discuss the future of mountain lions in southern California’s Santa Monica mountains in this candid interview with the L.A. Times. They offer up the good, the bag, and the ugly, and provide insight into what’s needed in order to ensure a future for pumas in southern California.
Click here to read the interview.
In our politically influenced lives, it is a brave agency that stands up for the truth. We must not let our most precious public resources be affected by political pressure from special interests.
Ancient Rome: men proved their strength by fighting large carnivores to the death with appropriately primitive weaponry. In the 21st century, recreational killing of animals for other than food is still a social affirmation of sorts among the protagonists who derive pleasure from killing. Today the killing is often aided by sophisticated technological enhancers such as GPS, webcam, mechanized transportation in the backcountry and of course, the best guns or high powered bows available today.
We are not the same people today as the people of ancient Rome, yet this one area of recreational fulfillment still persists in what should be a kinder, gentler world.
A recent increase in cougar sightings and reports across California has officials with California Department of Fish and Wildlife urging residents to remain calm but to take reasonable precautions. Officials note that there is a spike in reports each spring as residents begin to spend more time outside and deer transition from winter to summer range (and the mountain lions follow). CDFW also attributes many urban cougar sightings to the fact that people are illegally feeding wild animals such as deer and rodents (a misdemeanor offence in California), which draws the cats into places they normally wouldn’t spend much time. It’s always refreshing to hear officials urging calmness and responsibility in a situation like this. The fact that mountain lions pose little threat to people shouldn’t deter us from taking the necessary safety precautions, however.
To learn more on how to live and recreate safely in mountain lion country, visit our Living with Cougars page. Click here to read the full article in Plumas County News.
Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have written a memo to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting that they reconsider the Florida panther’s “endangered” status. The memo states that Florida panthers may have “exceeded their carrying capacity” and are placing an incredible burden on managers and landowners. Unfortunately, the panther population is nowhere near the stated goal in the USFWS recovery plan. At present, there are between 150-200 panthers roaming southern Florida; the recovery plan calls for two populations of at least 240 panthers that are maintained for a minimum of 12 years before reclassification/delisting would be considered. Additionally, few if any threats to the animal have been eliminated, and the lack of high quality habitat and connectivity remains a significant barrier to recovery. There is still a long way to go before we should be considering reclassifying or delisting Florida panthers…
Please read the full article from the Ocala State Banner for more details.
First it was the agrarian revolution, then the industrial revolution then the industrialization of agrarianism. Now we have a new, insidious, and very dangerous ‘revolution’ as we see the industrialization of the oldest formal method of survival- ‘hunting’. States’ rights to manage wildlife and their willingness to do so for a minority of their citizens, have led to the undesirable, even unethical, practice of ‘cultivating’ ungulate herds by putting pressure on carnivores. This has led to the misuse of the underlying foundation of ‘science.’ It is now used only to justify the ‘value’ of providing the political and financial opportunities that go hand-in-hand with the demands of ungulate hunters and the positive revenue they realize for the Agencies. The herds are yours and mine, yet they are being sold to the highest bidder and the predators whose job it is to contribute to the biodiversity of the natural world are being vilified and slaughtered.
The deer and elk ‘industry’ is not wildlife management. It is supply and demand to satisfy those with political clout. Our fellow predators are not the enemy of a free market niche of ungulate hunters. We need to say a resounding ‘NO’ to the slippery slope of policies that condone managing wild predatory species to provide for the demands of the human predator.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/were-letting-another-predator-go-down
Idaho continues to cling to the tradition of indiscriminate slaughter as a method to protect livestock. Pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into killing is short sighted at best, fiscally negligent at worst. Education and support for growers so that they can minimize loss over the long term is the most prudent, the most humane, and the most effective way, to manage co-existence with large carnivores.
https://takeaction.takepart.com/actions/tell-idaho-educate-kids-don-t-slaughter-wolves
There is nothing like seeing a grizzly bear. It doesn’t just ‘make your day’ it can change the way you view the natural world for your whole lifetime. Seeing bears ‘in the wild’ is a privilege few of us can pass up, yet privilege comes with responsibility. To truly ‘love’ the bears we must behave in ways that keep them-and us, safe. How sad it would be if we stole the wildness of the grizzly bear. We honor them best by never forgetting their wild and powerful natures. Please let the memory of seeing a grizzly last a lifetime for you and for the bear.
http://www.codyenterprise.com/news/local/article_bfb61f1e-08a8-11e5-bbf8-5b6f9f0a3bd6.html
Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks is committed to ‘thinking outside the box’ when looking at how to manage potential conflicts between grizzly bears and livestock growers. FWP has assembled a great team of ‘forward thinkers’ who acknowledge that their approach is best if it is dynamic and responsive rather than traditional and reactive. It is very sad to see growers experience losses such as this, but with the help of Montana’s experienced and innovative bear management specialists, and the financial assistance from groups such as Defenders of Wildlife for electric fencing, we hope this producer AND the bears will soon be protected!