Commentary (editorials, Perspectives, etc.)
'That's a bloodbath': How a federal program kills wildlife for private interests [National public radio - October 10, 2024]
Commentary by Tom Skeele, CCC
Posted on October 12, 2024
Thanks, NPR, for covering this federal program. As many of you know, I started my wildlife conservation career focused on this issue (circa 1991-1999) and it is sad, but not surprising, that “Wildlife Services” – a moniker that epitomizes the concept of greenwashing – carries on as such. It speaks to how the livestock industry still runs roughshod over the open range and politics of the western states.
Back in the day when my group published its own annual report on what was then called Animal Damage Control (we affectionately referred to is as “All the Dead Critters”), we summarized the federal program this way: public money is being spent to kill publicly owned wildlife, often on public lands, for the benefit of a small percentage of private livestock producers who are neither required to change their management practices to reduce livestock/predator conflicts nor directly pay for this government “service.”
Based on the information NPR provided in this story, some things haven’t changed.
One of the things that hasn’t changed about this agency is its use of non-native animal kill figures – mostly birds – to water down the relative percentage of native wildlife it kills. I can understand efforts to control these birds for two reasons: [1] they are mostly non-native and [2] most of these birds are killed at airports to keep we humans safe in the air (a “service” that benefits most Americans).
However, let’s label Wildlife Services referencing its invasive animal kill figures for what it is: a red herring meant to distract us from the agency’s historic and still primary raison d’etre: to kill predators – primarily coyotes, foxes, bobcats, badgers, bears and cougars – in the western seventeen states for the benefit of a relatively few ranchers.
The recalcitrant nature of Wildlife Services ultimately led me to pursue other strategies for protecting native predators. I was a co-founder of Predator Friendly Inc., a coalition of sheep producers, conservationists, wildlife ecologists, and clothing entrepreneurs attempting to open markets for wool products produced without killing predators. This project was one of the initial efforts that led to what is now a worldwide "wildlife friendly" movement.
Wildlife Services, and the federal government more broadly, would do well to use our tax dollars promoting this type of non-lethal strategy and solution, rather than killing literally tens of thousands of our public wildlife in the west each year.
Finally, thanks to those of you who continue to work on reforming (or ending) the federal predator control program. You are making progress and I (along with many others) appreciate and value your efforts.
Photo Credit: from the National Public Radio article; shows a gray wolf in a trap laid by a Wildlife Services employee; image obtained from the USDA via the Freedom of Information Act.
For ranchers in Costa Rica, jaguars and pumas become unexpected allies [mongabay - October 3, 2024]
Commentary by Tom Skeele, CCC
Posted on October 15, 2024
This story is yet another example of how promoting coexistence with predators, or all wildlife for that matter, remains a critical, cutting-edge strategy in the global wildlife conservation community. And here is the backstory on why I enjoy reading about such efforts.
In 1991, when I co-founded Predator Conservation Alliance (PCA), the question was “if” some of the larger carnivores would be able to fulfill their critical role in the natural world of the U.S. Northern Rockies. For wolves, it was a question of if we were going to allow for their return to all corners of the five-state region. For grizzly bears, the question was not only if they would survive where they existed, but would they be allowed to thrive throughout the region.
During the next decade or so, PCA joined with many advocacy organizations to secure the reestablishment of wolves and expansion of grizzly bears in the region. This success led to a shift in how we viewed the long-term viability of these species in the region. No longer was it a question of “if” they would be on the land. Increasingly, the question was “how” were we going to live, or
coexistence, with these animals now that they were on the land.
This shift inspired PCA to launch a “Coexisting with Predators” program, where we addressed four existing or emerging types of human-carnivore conflict: [1] Livestock: grazing and other agricultural pursuits; [2] Residential: reducing residential attractants at the “urban-wildlands interface”; [3] Human Safety: living and recreating in predator country; and [4] Hunting: competition and conflicts between hunters and predators.
While leading the design and implementation of this new program, I was also a co-founder of Predator Friendly, Inc. – a coalition of sheep producers, conservationists, wildlife ecologists, and clothing manufacturers developing a “green market” certification program for woolgrowers using non-lethal predator control practices. As I mentioned in another recent post, this project was one of the initial efforts that led to what is now a worldwide "wildlife friendly" movement.
Fast forward to today and it is very encouraging to see how coexisting with wildlife has become a leading focus of the global conservation community. Enough so that within the rewilding movement, many advocates – including The Rewilding Institute, with whom I work part time – have expanded the original “three C’s” of rewilding (cores, connectivity, carnivores) to include a fourth “C” – coexistence.
All this leads me to want to share this article about the work being done by Panthera, Costa Rican conservation authorities, and ranchers in Costa Rica.
Photo Credit: from the Mongabay article.
A MOUNTAIN LION KILLED 1, INJURED 1 IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. HOW COMMON ARE THESE ATTACKS? [Sacramento bee - March 31, 2024]
A MOUNTAIN LION KILLED 1, INJURED 1 IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. HOW COMMON ARE THESE ATTACKS? [Sacramento bee - March 31, 2024]
Commentary by Tom Skeele, CCC
Posted:March 25, 2024
When “walking where the wild things are,” never say "never" about the possibility of being attacked by a large predator. Sure, the odds of this happening are greater in a place like Yellowstone than Yosemite. But it doesn’t mean we humans can’t get attacked, and even killed, by one of the resident carnivores even when the place feels less “wild.”
Such is the case for a twenty-one-year-old fella who this weekend got killed by a mountain lion in the El Dorado National Forest, in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California about fifty miles northeast of Sacramento. His brother was also attacked, but is expected to survive. Both were looking for antlers that had recently been shed on these public lands. Meanwhile, the cougar has been tracked down and killed.
Two thoughts came to my mind when I read the news about this highly unfortunate incident.
First, such an event can give cause to lots of human hysteria, even as the facts speak to how very unusual this event is (the last fatal cougar attack in California was 2004). As the Sequoia National Forest, also located in the Sierra Nevada mountains, explains: “Mountain lions are typically solitary and elusive. Studies of collared mountain lions show that they often co-exist around people, unseen and unheard.”
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has a web page titled “Verified Mountain Lion-Human Attacks,” which highlights how there have been twenty-two lion attacks in the state since 1986, of which three have been fatal. You can find that web page here: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Con.../Mammals/Mountain-Lion/Attacks
My second thought was about a conversation I had with Rick Ridgeway back in 2000 regarding an article he was working on for National Geographic Adventure, titled “Walking Where the Wild Things Are.” For those unfamiliar with Rick, he is an outdoor adventurer, writer and advocate for sustainability and conservation initiatives who for fifteen years was Patagonia’s VP for Environmental Initiatives.
I had explained to Rick that during my four years in Yosemite (circa ‘84-88), I could walk for hours in those Sierra wildlands without ever thinking about the fact I was in the home range of a large carnivore that could attack, and potentially kill, me. I juxtaposed that to my fifteen years living close to Yellowstone, where the presence of carnivores capable of killing me seldom escaped my mind – especially while hiking in those wildlands. Rick used my experiences as a way to highlight his point that there is a difference between "wilderness" and "wildness." As he wrote in his piece, “In an area of true wildness, all the animals are in place - all the predators and all the prey.”
However, even though the Sierra Nevada mountains (and California more broadly) no longer has grizzly bears, it still has large predators that can cause physical harm, even death, to humans. So, while I believe it’s fair for Rick Ridgeway (or anyone else) to say the wildlands of California are not as truly wild as those of the Northern Rockies, never say “never” about the possibility of being attacked, and potentially killed, by a cougar – even if the place has less of a sense of “wildness” to it.
Photo Credit: from the Sacramento Bee article.
GUEST LETTER: FWP MISSES THE MARK ON GRIZZLY DELISTING [Mountain Journal - February 28, 2024]
A MOUNTAIN LION KILLED 1, INJURED 1 IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. HOW COMMON ARE THESE ATTACKS? [Sacramento bee - March 31, 2024]
Commentary by Tom Skeele, CCC
Posted: March 23, 2024
The subtitle to this article is "Six wildlife experts say Montana isn't ready to remove grizzly bears from the Endangered Species List."
When the former grizzly bear recovery coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, two former members of the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission, a former National Forest supervisor with the U.S. Forest Service, a former regional supervisor with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and a former tribal wildlife program manager with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes collectively speak up about grizzly bear management in Montana, we all should listen.
Photo Credit: from Mountain Journal article