Yes, it is large, aggressive and dangerous but it wasn’t quite deserving of the feverish coverage it received. A larger than normal Australian funnel web spider was discovered and has made it way into a forever terrarium. But the media over reacted with head lines about fangs that can pierce fingernails, etc. For a more balanced view of the danger of spiders click here. For a list of the most dangerous click here.
Mother Chases Leopard to Rescue Child
The cliche that a mother’s love knows no limits saved the life of an Indian child named Rahul when a leopard snatched the young boy and carried him off. News reports say the mother chased the cat for up to a kilometer armed with a stick which she hit the cat with. Mother and child suffered injuries but survived the encounter.
Man Punches Cougar to Save Dog
Taking a risk for man’s best friend proves that some people feel the same way about their dogs. This Canadian man defended his dachshund with his fists a few years ago.
Bees Make Distinctive Sounds When Attacked by Murder Hornets
The now famous giant hornets from Asia, which the state of Washington is trying to eradicate, attack honey bees. The bees emit sounds that are described as “screams” or warning cries according to researchers. The hornets have recently been spotted in the Pacific Northwest and efforts are underway to try and prevent them from thriving.
Oregon state police are searching for whoever poisoned eight of the state’s wild wolves and a coalition of citizens and wildlife groups has announced $26,000 in reward money to help capture the killers of the wolves slain earlier this year. Police have asked for the public’s aid in the search.
Oregon State Police fish and wildlife division troopers were called to a scene in Union County in early February, according to a release from the law agency, and found three dead males and two dead females. The wolves were believed to be the entirety of the Catherine Pack, one of about 20 known packs in the state, which is believed to be home for less than 200 wolves.
Union County was home of the slain Catherine Pack
The location was near Union City in the vicinity of Mount Harris. The wolves were necropsied and evidence of poisoning was found. State police said crime scene investigations were hampered by snow and inclement weather. In April a male from the Five Points Pack was found dead west of Elgin. That pack had numbered seven individuals and had been active since 2018. In July a female from the Clark Creek Pack was found dead as well..
Photo by patrice schoefolt on Pexels.com Gray wolves come in a variety of colors and are highly social animals
In addition to the $26,000 reward offered recently the Oregon Hunter’s Association has a standing TIP program aimed at reporting illegal wildlife activity. The program rewards tipsters with points towards game hunting or cash rewards as an effort to encourage conservation and responsible hunting. The organization offers $300 for information about illegal hunting of wolves. The death of the wolves is a reminder that reintroduction of wolves remains controversial, Wolves were not intentionally brought back to Oregon but migrated into the state following reintroduction into Yellowstone National Park in the 1990’s. Oregon wolves allegedly killed 242 livestock and domestic animals between the late 1990’s and December 31 ,2020. The state has killed or permitted the killing of 16 wolves for livestock depredation after what could be called conflict resolution efforts failed. Supporters of wolves insist the numbers of animals killed by wolves are small in comparison to the number of domestic animals which die annually, an argument that may not sit well with someone who loses livestock. The state has a number of protocols livestock owners can follow if wolves are considered a problem. The actual number of animals killed by predators is debated. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that 3.9 million calves and cattle were lost to all causes in 2015. Their estimate also says that losses due to all predators has risen from 3.5 percent of the total in 1995 to about 11 percent in 2015. Coyotes were responsible for a large number of the killings as were domestic dogs. Some agencies, including the Humane Society of the United States, take issue with the USDA numbers and the methodology used to derive them and suggest the actual loss to predators is much lower. The totals listed by the state of Oregon seem to suggest a lower figure. The USDA itself cautions its numbers are estimates.
“The numbers provided in this report are based on a sample of operations and are thus estimates of the true numbers. There is variability associated with each estimate, although the measures of variability (such as the standard error) are not always shown.” The report said.
Photo by Chris LeBoutillier on Pexels.com Smaller and less social than gray wolves coyotes are active predators and are responsible for livestock losses too
In addition to the 20-22 known packs there are an estimated 10 lone wolves, pairs or groups just short of a pack in Oregon. Packs are counted annually based on evidence such as visual sightings and trail cameras. A pack essentially is a family of wolves, a mated pair and their offspring traveling together.
The poisoners face penalties under Oregon law. According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
“Except in defense of human life, or in certain circumstances when a wolf is attacking livestock, it is unlawful to shoot a wolf. Doing so is a violation of Oregon state game law, with fines and penalties assessed by a court. The violation would be a Class A misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of a $6,250 fine and confinement to the county jail for one year. The Fish and Wildlife Commission requested that this penalty be increased when it delisted wolves from the state ESA on Nov. 9, 2015. In addition to the criminal fine, Oregon Court may now impose a fine of $7,500 in civil restitution following the passage of House Bill 4046 by the 2016 Oregon State Legislature.”
Penalties for poisoning may differ and one news report said poisoning was a felony and could result in up to 5 years in prison and a $125,000 fine. In addition to the crime of poisoning the wolves the poisoners can face other charges involving leaving poison where animals can find it that can lead to further penalties, according to comments by state police quoted in the media.
The November 4th live event featuring some of the 141 animals so far rescued from “The Tiger King” was a rousing success , Wild Animal Sanctuary Executive Director Pat Craig told Wild Life News and Information in an email.
“The Wild Animal Sanctuary’s Live Fundraising Event was a giant success, as it not only raised over $600,000 for the animals, it also educated thousands of people about many aspects of the Captive Wildlife Crisis and the Sanctuary’s work involving shutting down numerous Tiger King characters.” Craig said.
The 55 minute video feed is still available at the link above.
A promotional card for the November 4 event, which still can be viewed at TigerKingRescue.com
As noted in other posts The Wild Animal Sanctuary has been rescuing animals caught up in the tawdry drama surrounding “Joe Exotic, ” “The Tiger King.” His real name is Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage and he ran a private zoo for about a decade until he ran afoul of animal rescue groups and the federal government. He was convicted of animal abuse and an attempted murder-for-hire scheme and is now in custody in a medical prison facility due to poor health.
Craig is very outspoken about what the terms “The Captive Animal Crisis,” which is the trade in live wild animals kept and sold for profit and entertainment. As noted in other posts, the trade is a multi billion dollar affair said to rank third after drugs and guns in the herarchy of illegal for-profit schemes,
The trade in captive wild animals is also closely related to the trade in hides, parts and souvenirs from animals for medicinal or other purposes.
The Wild Animal Sanctuary, headquartered in Keenesburg, Colorado, has stepped forward and rescued 141 of the animals Maldonado-Passage held and has housed them on the more than 10,000 acres they own in three states.
The Joe Exotic saga attracted the attention of Netflix which produced two series about the dramatic events, the second one featuring The Wild Animal Sanctuary,
“The Wild Animal Sanctuary was featured at the very end of the last episode of the new Tiger King II docuseries,” Craig’s email said. ” At the end of episode #5 there was an uplifting moment that showed many of the Tiger King cats running free within large acreage habitats at the Sanctuary in Keenesburg, CO. Additional footage of the Sanctuary’s work to provide amazing natural habitats is due to air on Netflix in the coming weeks as part of a related story involving the Tigers that were rescued from joe Exotic. Netflix hasn’t released the air date yet, but we are sure the mini story will be announced in some manner that connects it with the Tiger King saga, ” Craig continued.
A lion relaxes at the sanctuary
Craig said the sanctuary remains “extremely busy” as the year winds down. The sanctuary does not discuss upcoming rescues, according to spokesman Derek McCormick, but the email did disclose that the sanctuary expects to announce two major rescues in the next few weeks involving animals from Asia finding new homes at the sanctuary.
The sanctuary currently has three locations. The flagship is in Keenesburg, Colorado and is 700 acres. A second site in Texas has 45 acres and the site that is the home for most rescues sprawls over 9,000 acres at a second Springfield, Colorado site, called The Wild Animal Refuge. Visitors are allowed at the Keenesburg site but not at the other two sites.
One of the joys of running a blog is learning new things. This week’s lesson comes from blogging about OR93, the late wandering wolf who came to California from Oregon.
A cliche in the study of wolves is the “Alpha Male” the idea that one wolf in the pack controls all the other males and forbids them to breed.
Not So says L David Mech, whose book The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species helped popularize the term. A fact he regrets.
The fact is, Mech says, that “alpha” implies a winner or a loser while the leaders of a pack are mostly parents and their offspring. Most packs are simply a breeding pair and their descendants.
As He puts it:
“The concept of the alpha wolf is well ingrained in the popular wolf literature, at least partly because of my book “The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species,” written in 1968, published in 1970, republished in paperback in 1981, and currently still in print, despite my numerous pleas to the publisher to stop publishing it. Although most of the book’s info is still accurate, much is outdated. We have learned more about wolves in the last 40 years then in all of previous history.”
One of the outdated pieces of information is the concept of the alpha wolf. “Alpha” implies competing with others and becoming top dog by winning a contest or battle. However, most wolves who lead packs achieved their position simply by mating and producing pups, which then became their pack. In other words they are merely breeders, or parents, and that’s all we call them today, the “breeding male,” “breeding female,” or “male parent,” “female parent,” or the “adult male” or “adult female.” In the rare packs that include more than one breeding animal, the “dominant breeder” can be called that, and any breeding daughter can be called a “subordinate breeder.”” For details, see www.wolf.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/267alphastatus_english.pdf and www.wolf.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/247Leadership.pdf
A young wolf from Oregon who was a player in the slow reintroduction of wolves into California has been killed by a vehicle, a fate common to many endangered animals seeking to survive in the Golden State.
The young wolf, OR93 is certainly not the only victim of roadside carnage that kills more than 500 black bears, 300 cougars and members of 400 species a year. The slaughter costs California more than $1Billion every 5 years.
The wolf, identified as OR93 because he was the 93rd wolf in an Oregon study, was hit by a vehicle in Kern County. A necropsy (animal autopsy) showed damage to his left hind leg, a dislocated knee and soft tissue damage to the abdomen. He was found on a dirt road frontage parallel to I-5 near the town of Lebec. He was identified by the collar he was wearing. Lebec is an unincorporated mountain community of 1,500 people located about 40 miles south of Bakersfield and 75 miles north of Los Angeles.
OR93 was a gray wolf (canis lupus) born in 2019 into the White River pack in northern Oregon. His pack began a few years before his birth and now numbers 11. He was collared sometime after birth in an Oregon wolf study and left his family and entered California’s Modoc County in January, 2021. He returned to Oregon briefly but came back to California to stay in February. His collar went dead in April and by that time he had wandered more than 900 miles, perhaps 1000, into the state. His travels took him near Yosemite and into northern Ventura County. In both areas he was the first wolf that far south since one was captured in San Bernardino in 1922.
His appearance that far south and his evident success excited biologists who are watching the gradual reintroduction of wolves into the western United States. Wolves were once common throughout the United States but were declared varmints and gradually exterminated. By the 1950’s they had been exterminated except for remnants in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. Red wolves existed in the Southeast, but were declared extinct in the wild by 1970. Most of those remaining were captured for captive breeding and reintroduction programs. Red wolves are a distinct species from gray wolves, of whom there may be four or five subspecies in North America.
Scientists such as L. David Mech began to study wolves closely during the `1950’s. Mech worked in Michigan, particularly at Isle Royale National Park. The work of such scientists, began to change public opinion about the animal. Reintroduction efforts began at Yellowstone National Park in the 1990’s. Descendants of those wolves and wolves from Canada began to cross back into other states. Today, Washington state has numerous active packs and an estimated 108 wolves. Oregon is home to several packs. and an estimated 158 individuals. Idaho is home to an estimated 1,000 wolves.
California today has one active pack, the Lassen Pack, which appears to be established, A second pack, the Shasta Pack, has disappeared. There is a Whaleback Pair, which will become a pack if they breed successfully and the pups survive. Individual wolves are also believed to be in the state.
The domestic house cat (felis catus) has gone almost full circle in its development, from wild cat (felis sylvestris) to that that cuddly lap mop and back to a feral wild thing wreaking havoc all over the world.
Tabby House Cat Photo by Sean Valentine on Pexels.com
Australia is particularly hard hit as an estimated six million feral cats roam the island continent killing native species and contributing to Australia’s shocking extinction rate in which four mammal species are lost a decade. Along with introduced European rabbits and other invasive species cats are now squarely in the sights of a beleaguered nation. Housecats, rabbits, dromedary camels, deer, horses, wild pigs, foxes and water buffalo all have been released in Australia causing various levels of destruction, with house cats among the most destructive.
African wildcats strongly resemble domestic and feral ctas Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Despite normal control efforts – catching, killing and poisoning, they seem to be getting ahead of control efforts. After all, a “Queen” can breed at six months, deliver two to three litters a year and breed for about ten years. Each litter contains three to five kittens on average. Although they are only mid-level predators with enemies including snakes, dogs, other canines, hawks owls and other creatures, the survival rate is good. Australia, with a long list of vulnerable endangered animals, is very worried. House cats are excellent hunters and prey on anything from insects up to prey slightly larger than rabbits. An estimated 1,000 species of prey, all told.
The worries have been worsened by the recent fires which authorities fear will benefit the cats because the burned over land will make it easier to find, kill and eat some of the more helpless animals on the island continent.
Australian scientists at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, are therefore sounding the alarm and looking into genetic control as a means of stopping the feline invasion and working to reduce the other invasive animals as well. A recent report by the organization highlights genetic control as a means of saving native species. Genetic control involves methods such as introducing genes to make the species more susceptible to disease, or sterilizing large numbers of individuals or causing all births to be of one gender. The CSIRO report thinks cats are a potential target of genetic control. The report stresses the long-term nature of the battle and the need for national commitment. Not an immediate fix
The technique of genetic control is probably most familiar due to work with insects. Starting in the 1930’s scientists Edward F Knipling and Raymond C. Bushland investigated ways to control the screw worm fly, which lays eggs in the flesh of living animals. The eggs are usually laid near an open wound or cut and the eggs hatch quickly and the larvae exploit the wound. The animals suffer enormously and can die if not treated. Treatment involved cleaning the wound, removing larvae with tweezers and continuing to treat the wound. The two men realized controlling the insects was the best strategy. After World War Two the scientists found ways to use radiation to sterilize the flies without killing them or otherwise changing their behavior. Millions of sterile flies were captive raised and then released. They mated with regular females who did not lay fertile eggs. Since the females only mated once, the number of fertile eggs laid eventually reached near zero. The method was tested in Florida and brought to Texas. Screwworms were eradicated in Texas by 1966 and have been eradicated in Mexico and several Central and South American countries since then. Their work has been hailed as one of the greatest success stories in insect control and the peaceful use of atomic power. Screw worms remain a problem in other parts of the world and veterinary scientists remain alert for outbreaks.
Whether Australians, or other people around the world will be as comfortable with genetic altering of cats, horses, foxes and rabbits remains to be seen. Other forms of genetic alteration technology, such as genetically altered food, have faced serious public criticism and many humans remain sceptical and wary of genetic alteration technology.
A retirement home for baboons and macaque monkeys in Indiana has recently planted 60 fruit trees to help feed the animals, thanks to The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation and generous donors. The foundation plants fruit, nut and medicinal trees worldwide to help alleviate hunger, poverty and disease. The recipient, The Peaceable Primate Sanctuary in Winamac, Indiana is a 78-acre sanctuary, the first of its kind, which houses baboons and macaques that have been retired from research institutions, the pharmaceutical industry or rescued from poor situations.
Video and audio of Chinese covid prevention workers beating a corgi to death in the name of Covid control has sparked outrage all over China and much of the rest of the internet. The dog’s owner was in compulsory quarantine when the two workers entered his home. The corgi was hit over the head with a crowbar. The incident was captured on security camera and shared by the dog’s owner.
De Winton’s golden mole, a South African mole last seen in 1936, may be not be extinct after all. if the work of a team of conservationists bears fruit. The small moles live in an area that has been exploited for gold mining. They have oil on their fur which gives them a golden hue and also allows to slide through sand without leaving a tunnel. The team of researchers and a dog are pioneering a method to find eDNA – environmental DNA from shed skin and other leave behinds such as excrement. The technique has been used in aquatic situations but not on land. The dog locates a likely place for a mole to live and the researchers hunt for the eDNA. So far the results show that the eDNA collected could belong to the De Winton’s mole or to the related Van Zyl’s mole, which is also endangered. The research was sponsored by Re:Wild through it lost species program.
Another lost species, Australia’s assassin spider, (also known as a pelican spider) has also been recently rediscovered. It was feared extinct after the massive fires that burned much of the island continent but two indiviual spiders have been found. Assassin spiders are a super family of related spiders. The spider in question is a pelican spider, named for its resemblance to the bird. The spiders are named assassin spiders because they eat other spiders and have developed specialized characteristics to that end.
Although biologists are pleased at the discovery of a 99th cougar in the Santa Monica Mountains study – a cougar that appears to be healthy – another recent study suggests inbreeding is worse than thought and the long-awaited Liberty Canyon overcrossing for wildlife can’t come a moment too soon.
The Liberty Canyon area, home to a housing development after which it is named, was selected by biologists who studied animal movements and picked the area as the site for the overcrossing. Public support kicked in, spearheaded by Savela cougars which connected some 4,000 interested personal, corporate and other donors who have contributed to the drive.
Biologists worldwide have realized that setting aside parks and other areas for wildlife is ineffective if isolated populations form with no way to intermingle and interbreed. This will eventually result in genetic problems and could lead to extinction. One of the key conservation goals is finding ways to allow animal traffic through and around human habitation. The Liberty Canyon pathway – to be known formally as the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing may be the biggest of its kind in the world. It will be named after Ms, Annenberg, who is a major philanthropist and donor. The Annenberg Foundation and the California Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) topped the donor list for the overcrossing by giving $25 million each. About $12 million is needed to reach the $85 million goal set. The WCB is a California board whose purpose is to fund wildlife habitat protection efforts. The WCB currently has 15 different programs supporting various types of habitat protection.
Meanwhile, the one dozen collared cougars in the National Wildlife Service (NWS) study are both blissfully unaware of the coming overpass and showing more signs of inbreeding.
Kinked Tail. Daily Mail photo
NWS researchers have noted kinked tails and undescended testicles for several years and felt the problem was serious, but a recent study suggests the problem is worse than was believed. The study was published in October in the journal Theriogenology, a specialized veterinary journal publishing in the field of animal reproductive biology. The American College of Theriogenologists is the membership organization in the field.
Essentially the study found more incidences of abnormal sperm than the NWS had found. Examination of five dead cougars found they all had abnormal sperm. The study as much as doubled the number of known abnormalities.
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar has been dead since 1993 when he was killed in a shootout but one of his lesser known legacies – hippotamus victims of the Vanity Animal Trade – are at the center of serious debate in Colombia. In the US these invasive hippos have won a legal victory in a ruling that the hippos have human rights.
Massive hippo shows size of problem confronting would be sterilizers of the Colombian beasts. Guardian phoito
As the stories covered in this blog regarding captive tigers, dogs mistreated by breeders, and fox pups sold as domestic puppies show, the captive wild animal trade has lots of negative consequences. It is estimated to be a multi-billion dollar business leaving misery and chaos behind.
The convoluted story begins with Escobar’s decision to build his ranch at Hacienda Napoles in the town and municipality of Puerto Triunfo located about halfway between Medellin, the home of his cartel, and the Nation’s capital, Bogota. Like many rich people he built a private zoo with little regard for consequences. After his death all the other animals were dispersed to actual zoos except for the hippos. Large, aggressive and difficult to handle they were left in place, perhaps with the expectation that they would die.
Instead, they found the River Magdalena a true home away from home, with enough to eat and free from predators. Their numbers began to expand, and some evidence suggests they like the area enough to have begun to breed earlier than they do in Africa. No one knows how many of the “cocaine hippos” as they are called, are in the region but the number may have grown from 30 or so to well over 100 with some estimates indicating the number could swell to over 1,000 in less than 20 years. The river basin they inhabit is a waterway they could use to colonize the whole country with unknown consequences. Some fear they could displace endangered native species such as manatees. Others think their biological presence and droppings could alter the river’s chemical balance, ruining fisheries. A potentially bigger problem is human-hippo conflict. About 500 people a year are killed in Africa by hippos and the animals routinely rest near the top of the most “dangerous animals” lists. So far no one has been killed by hippos in Colombia, but serious injuries have occurred.
What to do? Colombian scientists do not seek to exterminate the animals but rather to limit their numbers either by killing a select number – thus “culling” the herd – or by trying to sterilize enough hippos that their reproduction is slowed. Neither option is easy, but sterilizing a hippo is dangerous and expensive as pilot efforts to do so have found.
Meanwhile US animal rights activists have found a sympathetic judge who has declared the hippos to be “people” in the eyes of US law. This ruling has no impact on Colombia and its decisions of what to do about the hippos. It is however, the first time a federal judge has stated animals have human rights and the decision is controversial. Activists hail the decision but others fear unintended consequences if the ruling stands and expands.
A young Adelie Penguin has made the 1,800 mile journey from Antarctica to New Zealand, only the third of its species known to have done so. The bird as been nicknamed Pingu by locals. apparently after a penguin themed television show. The Adelie was spotted on the beach looking fatigued and reluctant to return to sea. Pingu the Adelie was taken to a penguin rehab and later released.
Baleen Whales Eat Far More Than Was Believed – And That is Important
Baleen whales eat up to three times as much as previously thought – and the implications are important for the oceans and conservation. Baleen whales are 14 species of whales including humpback, right whales and blue whales. The study indicates a single blue whale eats up to 16 tons of small creatures such as krill and plankton a day – three times what was believed. Whale feces are a major driver in the oceans ecosystem and the new study is further evidence protection of whales is critical.
Huge Joro Spiders Invade Georgia
A genuine spider invasion is underway in north Georgia and so far reactions are mixed. Joro spiders, natives of Japan and east Asia, are believed to have arrived in the state in a shipping container in about 2015. This year the population has grown into the millions in north Georgia, which has a similar climate to Japan. The large orb weavers are building big webs all over the area and reactions are mixed. Many residents are killing as many as they can and the scientific community is uncertain. They appear to be harmless to humans and pets, but it is unclear what impact they may have on native species of spiders and insects. One scientist says since they kill stinkbugs they should be welcomed, others fear they may eat beneficial creatures.
Peruvian Family Discovers New Pet is Not What They Thought
A Peruvian family fell victim to illegal animal trafficking when they bought what they thought was a puppy. They named their pet RunRun and all was well for a short period until the animal, actually an Andean fox, began killing local farm animals. The puppyish look that fooled them disappeared and RunRun was obviously a fox in the time before he ran away. Now he is being sought for relocation to a shelter as his proximity to humans makes him a bad candidate for release into the wild.
