Science (Ecology, biology, Research)
A new wolf pack, irate ranchers, and the astonishing comeback of California’s most celebrated predator [San Francisco Chronicle - October 13, 2024]
A new wolf pack, irate ranchers, and the astonishing comeback of California’s most celebrated predator [San Francisco Chronicle - October 13, 2024]
Commentary by Tom Skeele, CCC
Posted on October 14, 2024
It's challenging to call the wolf's return to northeastern California a government conspiracy when the critters came back on their own.
More accurately and appropriately, you can call their return a great example of natural rewilding. Wolves belong in California us much as we humans do, both species are native to the area.
Photo Credit: Kent Laudon California Department of Fish and Wildlife. From the article, the image is of a wolf pup from the Lassen Pack’s first litter in 2017 photographed by a trail camera in Lassen County.
Endangered Ocelot Appears on Trail Camera in New Arizona Location [Center for Biological diversity press release - October 3, 2024]
A new wolf pack, irate ranchers, and the astonishing comeback of California’s most celebrated predator [San Francisco Chronicle - October 13, 2024]
Posted on October 3, 2024
"TUCSON, Ariz. — The Center for Biological Diversity released stunning new video footage today of a rare wild ocelot in a Sky Island mountain range in Arizona, within the ancestral homelands of the Tohono O’odham Nation.... The footage, captured on a trail camera on July 24, 2024, is from a location where ocelots have not recently been detected."
Photo Credit: From the press release.
GRIZZLY BEARS ARE MAKING A COMEBACK [Huffpost - February 9, 2024]
Commentary by Tom Skeele, CCC
Posted on April 16, 2024
Why didn't the grizzly bear cross the road? Because Interstate 90 served as a block.
Or, as Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MTFWP) emphasized in a 2022 article, the bear was "stymied" (see https://fwp.mt.gov/.../montana.../2022/grizzlycrossing.pdf).
From that publication:
"Costello mapped [the bear's] locations and was struck by what she saw. 'Over 29 days in fall of 2020 and 24 days in spring of 2021, he appeared to have attempted to cross Interstate 90 at least 46 times,' she says. The bear finally made it past the obstacle in early May 2021, 'probably by walking or even swimming under a set of highway and railroad bridges crossing the Clark Fork River,' Costello says."
The grizzly bear featured in this publication has been dubbed "Lingenpolter."
And while this MTFWP article is from two years ago, recently it has been making the rounds on social media because of a February 9th article in HuffPost, titled "Grizzly Bears Are Making A Comeback."
The HuffPost article discusses how grizzly bears are starting to reoccupy the Bitterroot region of the U.S. Northern Rockies. The article explains the implications this way:
"The breakthrough made Lingenpolter one of several grizzlies in recent years to bust his way past the formidable obstacles blocking bears from traveling toward the Bitterroot ecosystem, a region that stretches across northern Idaho and a small swath of western Montana."
"Grizzly conservationists have long viewed the region as a key area for recovering the keystone species, whose range in the contiguous United States has been reduced to a handful of recovery zones since being listed as “threatened” in the Lower 48 under the Endangered Species Act. But for two decades, the federal government took no action to urge restoration to the Bitterroot, even though the mission to return bears there is written into federal law."
"That hands-off policy is quickly changing now that grizzlies are wandering back into the area on their own."
Photo Credit: from Yellowstone Safe Passages.
GULO GULO ON THE OREGON COAST!?!?! [Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife - march 25, 2024]
Commentary by Tom Skeele, CCC
Posted on April 1, 2024
Gulo gulo on the Oregon Coast!?!?!
According to an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) social media post, "Everyone needs a trip to the coast every now and then, right? Wolverine sightings continued this year with confirmed reports in Nehalem, Netarts and Newport over the last week and a half! The most recent sighting was in Newport on Thursday, March 21. ODFW investigated and verified these sightings."
And, no, this is not an April 1st joke. Here's my take on this unusual sighting.
Maybe you know that the wolverine's scientific name is Gulo gulo, and that in latin "gulo" means glutton? Similar to ODFW, I guess this wolverine was very hungry for some coastal time. That is something I can relate to, because after 30+ years of living in the mountains (some where wolverines still remain), I now call the Pacific coast my home. But I doubt this critter will stay on the coast as long as I have (eight years now).
Photo Credit: image from ODFW post.