Bison, wolves, & the wild west

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
WASHINGTON D.C., YELLOWSTONE–More than 1,400 bison were
killed after wandering out of Yellowstone National Park into Montana
in early 2008, the largest bison massacre since the 19th century
heyday of William “Buffalo Bill” Cody.
Cody and other hunters hired to kill bison to feed railway
builders shot North American bison to the verge of extinction. Cody
later helped lead the long effort to rebuild a few token herds. The
recovery of bison became the inspiration and template for attempted
restoration and recovery of hundreds of other species, worldwide.
The science of restoration ecology began with protecting the
last handful of wild bison, found hiding deep within Yellowstone,
the first U.S. National Park. The reintroduction of wolves to
Yellowstone in 1995 was touted as affirming the success of the bison
recovery by bringing back the major wild bison predator,
exterminated in the Yellowstone region about 60 years earlier.
Wolf population management in the Yellowstone region was
returned to the state level on March 28, 2008.

Another bloody winter for the hungry Yellowstone National Park bison herd

March 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2008:
WEST YELLOWSTONE–Bison defenders fear that the winter of
2007/2008 will become one of the bloodiest in decades of trying to
protect Yellowstone National Park bison who stray into Montana,
seeking forage.
“With heavy snow falling, and the end of winter weather possibly
months away, the death toll this year is fast approaching the 1,016
bison killed during the winter of 2004/2005,” Associated Press
writer Matthew Brown observed on February 26, 2008.

Pew Charitable Trust symposium favors coastal whaling

March 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2008:
TOKYO–Chairing a “Whale Symposium” sponsored by the
environmentally oriented Pew Charitable Trusts, former Samoan
ambassador to the United Nations and International Criminal Court
judge Tuiloma Neroni Slade on February 20, 2008 said, according to
the Pew web site, that “the most promising compromise” to resolve
conflict with Japan over the 22-year-old International Whaling
Commission moratorium on commercial whaling “would be a combination
of actions which would recognize potentially legitimate claims by
coastal whaling communities; suspend scientific whaling in its
current form and respect sanctuaries; and define a finite number of
whales that can be taken by all of the world’s nations.”

Atlantic Canada sealing starts off Nova Scotia

March 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2008:
The 2008 Atlantic Canadian sealing season started with a
mid-February cull on Hay Island, off Nova Scotia, demanded by
fishers who blame seals for the failure of cod to recover despite 16
years of fishing limits.
“Nova Scotia already has a yearly quota of 12,000 grey seals,
but in recent years hunters have rarely taken more than a few hundred
annually,” reported John Lewandowski of Canadian Press.
Acknowledging that the primary purpose of the Hay Island cull
was to try to stimulate commercial sealing, Nova Scotia fisheries
minister Ron Chisholm authorized participants to kill up to 2,500
seals. They actually killed about half that many.

Whalers spend winter hiding

March 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2008:
HOBART, TOKYO–Sea Shepherd Conservation Society captain
Paul Watson on March 2, 2008 reported that the crew of the Sea
Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin had pitched two dozen bottles of rancid
butter onto deck of the Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshiin Maru
in Porpoise Bay, off Antarctica.
The stink bomb attack came toward the end of a winter-long
campaign that saw Sea Shepherds, joined at times by Greenpeace and
the Australian coast guard, stalking the Nisshin Maru since the
Steve Irwin sailed from Melbourne on December 5, 2007. The Nisshin
Maru, four whale-catching vessels, and the supply ship Oriental
Bluebird spent most of the winter trying to elude observation,
rather than killing whales. The Japanese coast guard vessel
Fukuyoshi Maru #68 had shadowed the Steve Irwin since January 15,
but was ultimately not able to keep the Sea Shepherds away from the
Nisshin Maru.

Gamekeepers fined for killing protected raptors in both U.K. and U.S.

January 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2008:
EDINBURGH, LANCASTER (Pa.),
NICOSIA–Prince Harry may have dodged the bullet
for allegedly shooting two hen harriers to
protect captive-reared “game” species, as ANIMAL
PEOPLE reported in November/December 2007, but
gamekeepers have been fined in comparable cases
on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Scottish Borders region cattle and sheep
farmer James McDougal became “the first landowner
in the United Kingdom to have his agricultural
subsidies cut as a punishment,” Guardian Scotland
correspondent Severin Carroll wrote. “The
Scottish executive said it had docked £7,919 from
last year’s single farm payment and beef calf
scheme payments to McDougal–more than the £5,000
maximum [fine] for a wildlife crime,” Carroll
reported on January 7, 2008.

Prince Harry dodges the bullet as suspect in harrier shootings

November 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2007:
LONDON–Prince Harry of Britain and two
companions on November 6, 2007 escaped
prosecution for allegedly killing two hen
harriers, but the shotgun blasts suspected to
have been fired by the royal hunting party helped
to blow the cover off the pretense by shooting
estate operators that they practice wildlife
conservation.
“Norfolk Crown Prosecution Service has
advised Norfolk Police there is insufficient
evidence to prosecute anyone over the shooting of
two hen harrier birds, a protected species, at
Sandringham on October 24, 2007,” a Crown
Prosecution Service spokesperson said in a
prepared statement.
“The bodies of the hen harriers have not
been found and there is no forensic or ballistic
evidence. Witnesses also heard unexplained
shooting in the area before the three suspects
said they were present at the scene, so other
people cannot be ruled out,” the CPS
spokesperson added. “The three suspects, who
were interviewed by police, all denied that the
birds were killed by them.”

Birds migrating over the Mediterranean face fire from all directions

November 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2007:
ATHENS–Moving to protect migratory birds
from some of the most prolifigate hunters in
Europe, the highest Greek administrative court
on November 9, 2007 banned hunting until
November 21 in several of the regions where
wildlife habitat was most severely damaged by
August 2007 wildfires.
The Council of State, as the court is
called, was expected to rule by November 21 on
whether the hunting ban should remain in place
longer. The Greek hunting season normally runs
from August through February, but even if the
ban is not extended, it was widely acclaimed for
supposedly protecting many of the most fragile
European migratory birds during the peak weeks of
their passage over the Mediterranean, Adriatic,
and Agean seas.
Aliki Panagopoulou, projects coordinator
for ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society
of Greece, was skeptical.

RSPCA & the League Against Cruel Sports show U.K. pack hunting ban can be enforced

November 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2007:

LONDON–Nearly three years after the
Hunting Act 2004 nominally banned fox hunting and
other forms of pursuing wildlife with packs of
dogs, more people are reportedly participating
than before the act took effect. Only one hunt
club has disbanded; two new clubs have formed.
“Half of the 10 prosecutions brought
under the Hunting Act have not even been against
formal fox or stag hunts,” scoffed Daniel Foggo
and Nic North in the November 4, 2007 edition of
The Times of London. “The most recent
conviction, in October, was against a gang
hunting rats. The police have made clear that
they do not see enforcing the hunting ban as a
priority. Most of the cases that have come to
court have been private prosecutions.”
Similar reports appeared a year earlier,
18 months after the passage of the Hunting Act
2004. “The Hunting Act is failing,” alleged Guy
Adams of The Independent. “Last week, The
Independent was invited to follow a typical hunt
in a remote corner of Wales. It killed nine
foxes, almost all by illegal methods; the
previous week’s bag had been 13. Supporters of
field sports believe the Hunting Act 2004 to be
unenforceable, poorly drafted, and riddled with
loopholes. Opponents say it is being ignored by
many of Britain’s 300-odd hunts.”

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