The following clips reflect recent wildlife-related news coverage in the media. The Wildlife Society does not independently verify any statements or assertions in these articles. The statements expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect official TWS policy unless so stated. Likewise, products mentioned herein are not endorsed by The Wildlife Society unless so stated.
A dying whitebark pine tree in Crater Lake, Oregon. Ravaged by mountain pine beetles and fungus, this endangered tree species is also threatened by a warming climate. In an attempt to save it, researchers are experimenting with transplanting the trees north of its historic range. (Credit: Howard Ignatius)
For Trees Under Threat, Flight May Be Best Response
(The New York Times)
The whitebark pine grows in the high, cold reaches of the Rocky and Sierra Mountains, and some individuals, wind-bent and tenacious, manage to thrive for more than a thousand years. Despite its hardiness, the species may not survive much longer. A lethal fungus is decimating the pines, as are voracious mountain pine beetles. Making matters worse, forest managers have suppressed the fires that are required to stimulate whitebark pine seedlings. More
U.S. NEWS
Study: Colorado Bear Population Much Bigger Than Expected
(Summit Daily)
Putrid, slowly liquifying fish mung. Burlap strips soaked in butterscotch and strawberry extracts. Colorado Parks and Wildlife researchers used the horribly pungent and the sickly sweet to bait bears in the backcountry north of Summit County this summer. The two-month study was the latest addition to an ongoing project that wildlife managers hoped would give them a more accurate measure of the state’s bear population and a better gauge of the bears’ behavior. More
Want a Burmese Python? Florida FWC Needs You
(Florida Today)
Ever consider taking on a Burmese python, maybe a monitor lizard? How about a cockatoo, or something else a bit more warm and cuddly? Now’s the time to touch base with the state. Florida wildlife officials are seeking qualified people willing to adopt exotic pets through the state’s Exotic Pet Amnesty Program, to keep invasive species from proliferating at the expense of native wildlife. More
NEWS FROM CANADA
Chicks Starving in Newfoundland as Warmer Sea Water Imperils Food Supply for Birds
(Postmedia News via Canada.com)
Northern gannets are good parents. The seabirds mate for life, lay just one egg a year and dutifully feed and protect their chick until it leaves the nest in September. But this year, thousands of gannets on Newfoundland’s south coast — on North America’s most southern gannet colony — abandoned their nests during the last few weeks of August. Many of the hungry chicks soon began tumbling off rocky cliffs and into the sea. More
Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline Could Cross BC Parks
(CBC News)
Kinder Morgan, which ran into conflict with the City of Burnaby in British Columbia over pipeline surveying work it began on municipal parkland, has submitted plans showing its new pipeline routed through a protected grassland and three provincial parks in B.C. In what’s called a Provincial Protected Area Boundary Adjustment application, the company is asking the province to allow it to route the Trans Mountain expansion pipeline line through four protected areas. More
Wolf Hunt Starts in East-Central Saskatchewan
(CBC News)
Beginning this week, licensed hunters are allowed to hunt wolves in a forest-fringe area in the east central part of the province of Saskatchewan. The area extends along the forest from Carrot River, Sask. to Greenwater Lake Provincial Park, then east to Hudson Bay. One hundred licenses will be available in environment ministry offices in Nipawin, Sask., Hudson Bay, and Greenwater Lake Provincial Park. More
Coyote Problem Declining in Parts of Nova Scotia
(CBC News)
Some farmers in Nova Scotia are crediting a coyote cull for the declining number of attacks during the past few years. Maggie Perry has a happy herd of sheep at her farm in Hilden, but that wasn’t the story in 2009. “When the coyotes started moving in, we didn’t believe it until it happened to us. And then we went out one day and within a couple of days there was 46 of our sheep dead,” she said. More
WILDLIFE HEALTH AND DISEASE NEWS
Minnesota DNR: Bird Disease Closes Pigeon Lake Islands
(WCCO-TV)
Minnesota DNR officials say the islands in Meeker County’s Pigeon Lake have been closed to the public due to discovery of a disease in double-crested cormorants. The disease is Newcastle Disease Virus, and the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., confirmed it. The closure comes after 30 cormorants were recently found dead. Newcastle Disease Virus rarely affects humans, the DNR said. More
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Japan to Resume Whaling Next Year, Defying International Whaling Commission
(National Geographic)
Japan announced that it will restart its scientific whaling program next year in response to a new resolution adopted by the International Whaling Commission placing stricter regulations on scientific whaling. This new nonbinding resolution — proposed by New Zealand — adopts the criteria used by the UN’s International Court of Justice earlier this year when it ruled that Japan’s current whaling program was not scientific. More
Mozambique Logs a Rare Victory Against Poachers
(The Associated Press via Yahoo)
The recent arrests of six suspected poachers on a vast wildlife reserve in Mozambique are seen by conservationists as rare good news in a country where elephants and other species are under extreme threat. The poaching ring had been operating in the Niassa National Reserve, which is twice the size of South Africa’s flagship Kruger National Park, where the rhino population has been hit hard by poachers, many of whom cross over from Mozambique. More
A Tiny Lizard Adapts to Become Faster, Stronger to Survive in a Warmer Climate
(The Washington Post)
For years, scientists have said global warming will doom most lizards. Rising temperatures in some of their habitats are already wearing them down, limiting their search for food and putting a damper on their mating, earlier studies have shown. But a new study of the sleek little brown anolis lizard in the Bahamas is challenging the notion that tropical lizards can’t stand the heat. More
Study: Lethal Violence in Chimps Occurs Naturally
(The New York Times)
Are chimpanzees naturally violent to one another, or has the intrusion of humans into their environment made them aggressive? A study published in Nature is setting off a new round of debate on the issue. The study’s authors argue that a review of all known cases of when chimpanzees or bonobos in Africa killed members of their own species shows that violence is a natural part of chimpanzee behavior and not a result of actions by humans that push chimpanzee aggression to lethal attacks. More
Study: Wildlife Thriving in Protected Area
(Epoch Times)
Protected areas are working. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis of over 80 different studies on the efficacy of parks and nature reserves in safeguarding wildlife. Published in the open access journal, PLOS ONE, the new study finds that in general protected areas house higher abundances of wildlife as well as greater biodiversity than adjacent areas. More