More than 460 Yellowstone bison killed so far this season

All the more reason Our National Parks need our proposed "Sacred Resource Protection Zone"

The Image is what happens to Red Dogs when a Hunter is allowed to kill Buffalo. Their Offspring also dies a slow death by starvation! Totally DISGUSTING YES!!

We do not have enough Buffalo left to even allow Tribes to shoot them like shooting a Cow in a stall.....

With the season nearing its end, tribal hunters have killed more than 200 Yellowstone National Park bison this winter with another 267 shipped to slaughter,

according to information gathered by the National Park Service as of March 20.

The goal for this season was to remove 600 to 900 bison. Lawsuits filed last year to halt the bison hunts were unsuccessful.

The hunters from seven tribal nations killed twice as many bison as they did during 2019’s hunt. State hunters, who acquire licenses through a lottery conducted by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, killed four bison this season, all adult males.

The meat from bison sent to slaughter is shared between tribes that have agreements with the Interagency Bison Management Plan cooperators — a consortium of tribes, federal and state officials.

In addition to the hunting, the Park Service had so far removed 87 bison for its quarantine program, shy of a planned capture of about 110 bison. Bison that pass the initial phases of quarantine — showing no signs of exposure to the disease brucellosis — can be shipped to the Fort Peck Reservation’s corrals for final confinement and testing. Once that protocol is successfully completed the animals would be available for transfer to other tribal bison herds.

Lawsuit

In an attempt to stop the continued slaughter of Yellowstone bison, three conservation groups filed a complaint on Monday asking a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., to reconsider the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2019 denial of a petition to protect the bison under the Endangered Species Act. The groups filing the complaint are Buffalo Field Campaign, Friends of Animals, and Western Watersheds Project.

The conservation alliance argues that the culling and killing of bison has endangered the herd by removing family groups and threatening distinct genetic subpopulations. Continuing to lower the park’s bison population could cause inbreeding or the loss of specific genetic adaptations, they argue.

Bison

As of last fall Yellowstone was home to more than 4,800 bison divided into two herds: the larger (3,600) Northern Range herd and the smaller (1,100) Central herd. The bison are one of the last remaining genetically pure bison populations in the United States.

Yet under a compact between the state of Montana and the National Park Service it was agreed Yellowstone’s bison herds should be reduced to lessen migrations outside the park boundary — hence the capture, slaughter and quarantine programs.

In the past six years park officials have removed more than 4,700 bison from the park, according to Yellowstone's fall bison status report.

That includes 1,233 calves and nearly 800 adolescents (12 to 16 months). The idea behind removing removing large numbers of calves and adolescents is to reduce the number of animals reaching reproductive maturity, the agency stated.

In that same time frame, Yellowstone has also removed more than 1,733 adult females and 1,005 adult males.

Disease

The park’s bison are carriers of brucellosis, which can cause pregnant cattle to abort. Elk also carry brucellosis and roam freely in the Greater Yellowstone Area.

Ranchers surrounding the park vaccinate their livestock against the disease.

Instead of slaughtering elk to reduce their populations, ranchers and the state of Montana attempt to keep elk and cattle separated when the threat of disease transmission is greatest — when elk calve in the spring. The birthing materials are believed to be the main source of brucellosis transmission.

Source: More than 460 Yellowstone bison killed so far this season | Outdoors | billingsgazette.com Endangered Species List, Oppose Welfare Ranching not Wolves, Protect The Wolves #EndangeredSpeciesList #OpposeWelfareRanchingNotWolves #ProtectTheWolves https://protectthewolves.com/more-than-460-yellowstone-bison-killed-so-far-this-season/

N.W.T. government hoping to shoot wolves by air next week

This is simply APPALLING!!

'Under no circumstances' is successful bidder to release photos or videos to public, government says

The Northwest Territories government is rushing to hire a helicopter and shooter to start killing up to 300 of the wolves preying on declining caribou herds.

The Northwest Territories government is rushing to hire a helicopter and shooter to start killing up to 300 wolves preying on declining caribou herds.

The aerial cull is part of a wolf reduction plan proposed by the N.W.T. and Tłı̨chǫ governments. They want the wolf populations that prey on the Bathurst and Bluenose East caribou herds reduced by up to 80 per cent. An estimated 420 wolves hunt the herds.

Details of the cull are laid out in a request for tenders for a helicopter, pilot and shooter, that the government published Tuesday.

It says a fixed wing aircraft with spotter will fly over the winter ranges of the herds in the territory's North Slave region and relay global positioning system coordinates of wolves it spots to the shooter and pilot in the helicopter.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources wants the contract to start on Monday and continue for 10 to 20 days. It is currently working on placing 30 satellite collars on wolves that will give their locations in real time.

The tender also reveals the government's sensitivity to public perception of the cull. It says the successful bidder is not allowed to take any photographs or video with their own equipment and "under no circumstances" can release them to non-government personnel, media or social media sites.

The wolf reduction plan proposed by the N.W.T. and Tłı̨chǫ governments aims to reduce the wolf populations that prey on the Bathurst and Bluenose East caribou herds reduced by up to 80 per cent. (WWF-Canada)

The request for bids on the project closes Friday.

Shooting wolves from helicopters has proven to be an effective way of reducing wolf numbers but there are questions around how humane it is.  A 2015 study of an aerial cull in Alberta concluded that wolves shot from helicopters were not consistently killed humanely.

"Painful injuries and inhumane kills will inevitably occur, even with the hiring of skilled helicopter pilots and proficient shooters," researchers wrote.

Reluctant acceptance

The cull comes after years of increasing restrictions on the hunting of caribou in the N.W.T., including by Indigenous people who have relied on caribou as their main food source for millennia.

"The elders have always said we have to respect the animals, including the wolves," Yellowknives Dene First Nation Chief Edward Sangris said. "Hunting them from helicopters is not the best method to carry out. But they also said we have to look into the issue of the reducing caribou herd. If it helps, they're okay with it, but up to a point."

Yellowknives Dene First Nation Chief Edward Sangris says elders have told him they're okay with wolves being killed by helicopter 'but up to a point.' (Gabriela Panza Beltrandi/CBC)

Sangris said hunting restrictions and the scarcity of caribou are having a profound impact on his people, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said having to turn to store-bought meat is probably hurting their immune systems.

A similar aerial wolf cull that's been used for five years in northern British Columbia has seen caribou populations shift from declining by 15 per cent each year to increasing by that amount. A biologist from that program said because wolf populations bounce back very quickly, the aerial culling has to continue until the real cause of the caribou decline — habitat disturbance — is addressed.

• N.W.T. wolf cull plan that includes shooting from aircraft approved

• N.W.T. releases plan to protect Bathurst caribou, but some fear it's too late

Sangris is sceptical about the government taking action on that front

"All they do is talk," he said. "They don't follow up with any action. Certainly industry is putting pressure on wildlife. We have to consider how much is too much."

Sangris said climate change and the warmer winters it brings may also be disrupting caribou migration patterns, with more animals wintering above the treeline.

Roads or caribou

The decline of the caribou herds coincides with the rise of diamond mining in the N.W.T. The two biggest mines, Diavik and Ekati, have been operating for more than 20 years. They are located between the Bathurst herd's calving ground at Bathurst Inlet, Nunavut, and its winter range north of Great Slave Lake.

Source: N.W.T. government hoping to shoot wolves by air next week | CBC News Endangered Species List, Gray Wolves, Oppose Welfare Ranching not Wolves, Protect The Wolves, Restore Wolves to ESL #EndangeredSpeciesList #GrayWolves #OpposeWelfareRanchingNotWolves #ProtectTheWolves #RestoreWolvesToESL https://protectthewolves.com/n-w-t-government-hoping-to-shoot-wolves-by-air-next-week/

$400,000 in Idaho State Funding to Kill Wolves Approved by Lawmakers

BOISE, ID - An Idaho board responsible for the killing of wolves that attack livestock and other wildlife is a step closer to getting an additional $400,000 in state funding.

The funds were approved in a 26-4 Senate vote on Wednesday. The funding now only needs the approval of Governor Brad Little.

The Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board is funded by a mix of contributions from livestock producers, Idaho Department of Fish and Game fees and the state's general fund.

Earlier this week, the Department of Fish and Game reported the conclusion of wolf control actions done during February that removed 17 wolves in the Lolo elk zone north of Highway 12.

Source: $400,000 in Idaho State Funding to Kill Wolves Approved by Lawmakers | Idaho | bigcountrynewsconnection.com Cut Off USDA Wildlife Services Funding, Endangered Species List, Gray Wolves, Oppose Welfare Ranching not Wolves, Protect The Wolves, Restore Wolves to ESL, Wolves in Idaho #CutOffUSDAWildlifeServicesFunding #EndangeredSpeciesList #GrayWolves #OpposeWelfareRanchingNotWolves #ProtectTheWolves #RestoreWolvesToESL #WolvesInIdaho https://protectthewolves.com/400000-in-idaho-state-funding-to-kill-wolves-approved-by-lawmakers/

Australia lab may have found Covid-19 cure

Some Good News We certainly Hope After the State of California has been put in Lockdown.

SYDNEY – Australian researchers have been given the green light to start human trials of a promising drug treatment for the novel coronavirus after raising funds from donors in a remarkable global appeal.

Covid-19 patients will be given two drugs previously used to treat AIDS and malaria at about 50 hospitals in Australia, with tests expected to start by the end of this month. The drugs reportedly eradicated the virus in lab tests.

“There have already been patients treated with these in Australia and there’s been successful outcomes, but it hasn’t been done in a controlled or comparative way,” said David Paterson, director of the Center for Clinical Research at Queensland University, which is leading the trials.

“What we want to do at the moment is a large clinical trial across Australia, looking at 50 hospitals, and what we’re going to compare is one drug versus another drug, versus the combination of the two drugs,” he said.

Stanford University School of Medicine reported on Friday that a former  malaria treatment known as chloroquine may have been effective in treating the disease in China and Singapore.

There is also anecdotal evidence that the redundant AIDS drug remdesivir may have worked in treating patients in China, the initial epicenter of the now global pandemic.

Trial data of the drug’s use, however, has not been made available by China. Scientists have dismissed a widely quoted online report that about 12,000 patients have been completely cured of Covid-19 in China after taking chloroquine.

Paterson said laboratory tests using a combination of the two drugs had indicated that they might provide a “cure” from the virus.

“It’s a potentially effective treatment. Patients would end up with no viable coronavirus in their system at all after the end of therapy,” he said.

The March 18 decision to go ahead with the human tests was only made after the researchers made an extraordinary global appeal for donations to cover the funding cost, estimated at A$750,000 (US$451,415).

There is an urgent push to develop effective Covid-19 treatments because a vaccine for widespread use is not expected to be developed for at least 18 months.

More than 30 academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies are collaborating in the search for a vaccine under a program coordinated by the Oslo-based non-profit group the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness.

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Image of a coronavirus under a microscope. Photo: Handout

Labs in Australia, the US and the United Kingdom are already testing the first batches of vaccine “candidates” on animals, using some “prototype” pathogen platforms that were developed for severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) outbreaks in 2002-04 and 2012.

However, they were ultimately not needed to treat those diseases.

The Seattle-based Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute began human trials of a possible vaccine on March 16, and two other research programs, at the University of Queensland and Imperial College London, expect to start trials on patients within weeks.

Three or four potential vaccines will be developed, with the most promising version to be chosen for distribution.

Research efforts received a boost on March 17 when Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity announced it had succeeded in mapping how the body’s immune system fights back against the virus.

Published in the monthly peer-reviewed Nature Medicine journal, the research revealed that victims are recovering from the illness in the same way they would from the flu.

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Medical staff mix traditional Chinese medicine to treat patients infected by Covid-19 at a hospital in Wuhan. Photo: AFP/Stringer

“This [discovery] is important because it is the first time where we are really understanding how our immune system fights novel coronavirus,”  said Katherine Kedzierska, who co-authored the journal article.

The team tracked the recovery of a 47-year-old woman from Wuhan, the original hotspot of the virus in China, who had mild-to-moderate symptoms from the virus and had no pre-existing health issues. She was admitted to a hospital in Australia and fully recovered within two weeks.

Kedzierska said that specific cells identified with influenza patients were spotted in her bloodstream three days before her health began to improve.

“We found in this patient at three days we could see emergence of immune cells in the blood. The immune cell populations we have seen emerging before patients recover are the same cells we see in influenza.

“Based on our experience with patients with influenza, we could predict recovery and that’s exactly what happened in Covid-19,” she said.

“This information will allow us to evaluate any vaccine candidate, as in an ideal world the vaccine should mimic our body’s immune response.”

Researchers are keen to isolate immune responses because these were a key factor in fighting SARS. Having blood markers will enable hospitals to screen out the 20% of patients who present with more severe symptoms.

“Then you could say upfront, this would be a severe case, or this will probably be a milder case,” said Doherty researcher Carolien van de Sandt. “Then you could alter their care to what the patient might need.”

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A doctor checks a patient’s CT scan at a temporary hospital set up for Covid-19-infected patients in Wuhan, China. Photo: AFP

The center has been given additional funding, some contributed by the Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, to expand the immune mapping to a bigger pool of patients, in part to monitor later phases of the recovery process.

“We know we can generate immune responses to the virus,” Kedzierska said. “The next question is whether that immune response gives people immunity for weeks or months or years so we are protected.”

The study’s findings are being shared with other research laboratories, she said.



Source: Australia lab may have found Covid-19 cure - Asia Times https://protectthewolves.com/australia-lab-may-have-found-covid-19-cure/

Idaho Fish and Game kills 17 wolves in north-central Idaho

You know that IDFG used the collars and Data that the courts told them not to!

LEWISTON, Idaho — More than a dozen wolves were killed last month to help curb struggling elk populations in north-central Idaho, wildlife officials said.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game announced Monday it killed 17 wolves in the remote Lolo Zone, the Lewiston Tribune reported. The zone includes part of the Clearwater National Forests and stretches to the Montana state line.

The agency has carried out wolf culling operations in the region for eight of the last nine years, officials said.

"Restoring the Lolo elk population will require continued harvest of black bears, mountain lions and wolves along with wolf control actions," the agency said in a statement. "The overall objective is not to eliminate wolves but to maintain a smaller, but self-sustaining wolf population in the Lolo Zone to allow the elk population to recover."

Federally approved plans allow the agency to kill wolves and other predators when they are "causing conflicts with people, or domestic animals, or are a significant, measured factor in deer and elk population declines," the statement said.

The elk population in the Lolo Zone peaked with about 16,000 in 1989, but it was estimated at 2,000 in 2017 when the herd was last surveyed, agency officials said. Elk populations started to decline before wolves were reintroduced. The decline was blamed on habitat degradation and harsh winters, officials said.

The state began culling wolves in 2011 as a result of declining elk numbers, and it has killed about 14 wolves each year in the Lolo Zone. The agency had previously partnered with the U.S. Wildlife Services for wolf-control measures, but this year, it hired a private contractor that shot the wolves from helicopters.

Environmental groups have argued culling is unethical, unjustified and ineffective.

 

Source: Fish and Game kills 17 wolves in north-central Idaho | ktvb.com Endangered Species List, Gray Wolves, Protect The Wolves, Protect Wolves in Idaho #EndangeredSpeciesList #GrayWolves #ProtectTheWolves #ProtectWolvesInIdaho https://protectthewolves.com/idaho-fish-and-game-kills-17-wolves-in-north-central-idaho/

USDA Wildlife Services agrees to temporarily halt lethal wolf control, 'cyanide bomb' use

Protect The Wolves™ Certainly Hopes that the $154,000 settlement terms for this Lawsuit are payed where it Belongs!!! With Canyon Mansfields Family!!

USDA Wildlife Services has reached a settlement with five conservation organizations agreeing to temporarily stop using lethal methods to target gray wolves on certain public lands and to suspend its use of M-44s, also known as “cyanide bombs.”

The new restrictions will remain in place until the federal agency completes an environmental review of the impacts of killing wolves.

The settlement between Wildlife Services and Western Watersheds Project, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Clearwater, WildEarth Guardians and Predator Defense was filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday.

In June 2016, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit alleging the agency and its Idaho director, Todd Grimm, violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to complete an environmental impact statement for its gray wolf control activities in the state. The case was dismissed in District Court in January 2018, on the basis that the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to file it.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held in April of 2019 that the plaintiffs did have standing and remanded the case back to District Court.

Under terms of the settlement, the agency will pay $154,000 in attorney fees to the plaintiffs.

Wildlife Services will temporarily halt lethal control methods of gray wolves within federally designated wilderness areas, the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and specified areas of Sawtooth Valley and Wood River Valley.

The agency will be restricted from using surveillance technology to target gray wolves in Idaho wilderness areas, and it will not be allowed to use lethal methods to target wolves on private land unless it’s in response to a documented livestock depredation or attack by a gray wolf. The agency will provide plaintiffs with depredation investigation reports from the prior ear by July 31, as well as copies of other reports prepared for the Wolf Depredation Control Board.

“Wildlife Services won’t be able to keep ignoring the science that shows that killing predators does not reduce livestock losses,” Talasi Brooks, a staff attorney with Western Watersheds Project, said in a press release.

In addition to avoiding M-44 cyanide bombs, Wildlife Services will not kill Idaho wolves for ungulate protection and will not use snares to target gray wolves on Idaho public lands.

Canyon Mansfield of Pocatello was 14 when he was harmed and his dog was killed by a cyanide bomb about three years ago. The device was set illegally and without proper signage on public land near his home.

“This news is very uplifting because it shows progress in our fight for justice for (my deceased dog) Kasey and everyone else who has suffered from these cyanide bombs,” Canyon Mansfield said in a press release. “I believe this shows that we are fighting a battle with a victory in sight.”

Laurie Rule, an attorney for Advocates for the West, said the forthcoming analysis will be detailed and will look at the science surrounding the agency’s lethal controls of predators to inform its new program.

“We’ll be watching carefully to make sure the analysis complies with all laws and fully examines the impacts and effectiveness of predator damage management in Idaho,” Rule said in the press release.

Source: USDA Wildlife Services agrees to temporarily halt lethal wolf control, 'cyanide bomb' use | Local | idahostatejournal.com Cut Off USDA Wildlife Services Funding, Endangered Species List, Oppose Welfare Ranching not Wolves, Protect The Wolves #CutOffUSDAWildlifeServicesFunding #EndangeredSpeciesList #OpposeWelfareRanchingNotWolves #ProtectTheWolves https://protectthewolves.com/usda-wildlife-services-agrees-to-temporarily-halt-lethal-wolf-control-cyanide-bomb-use/

Lawsuit limits where and how federal agency may kill wolves in Idaho

Where and how the federal government may kill Idaho wolves has been curtailed, at least temporarily.

According to a settlement filed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services may not kill wolves in Idaho’s wilderness areas, in the Sawtooth or Hells Canyon National Recreation Areas, and in portions of the Sawtooth Valley and Wood River Valley.

Wildlife Services also may not kill wolves in an effort to boost or protect deer and elk numbers, nor use cyanide traps or snare traps to kill wolves.

The settlement stems from a 2016 lawsuit arguing that the federal agency’s wolf-killing protocol violated the National Environmental Policy Act, in part by not taking into account new research questioning whether killing wolves actually reduces attacks on livestock.

Wildlife Services is tasked with resolving conflicts between humans and wildlife. The agency killed 1.5 million animals in 2018, according to the agency’s data, including 357 wolves.

Per the settlement, the agency still may kill wolves that have attacked livestock on private land if there is documentation. Wildlife Services must also check all wolf traps within 72 hours.

A federal judge in Boise initially dismissed the suit, but in April 2019 the 9th Circuit upheld the case, prompting the sides to come to a settlement.

Per the settlement’s agreement, the limitations on wolf killing will last until Wildlife Services completes a new Environmental Impact Statement, a process that could take years.

In February, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission approved nine proposals to extend wolf hunting and trapping seasons following a two-week public comment period in which the commission received more than 27,000 responses from across the world. In January, IDFG estimated there are more than 1,500 wolves in Idaho. Federal criteria for wolf recovery requires only 150 wolves in the state.

A spokeswoman for Wildlife Services did not respond to emailed questions.

Source: Lawsuit limits where and how federal agency may kill wolves in Idaho | The Spokesman-Review Ban Animal Trapping, Oppose Welfare Ranching not Wolves, Protect The Wolves #BanAnimalTrapping #OpposeWelfareRanchingNotWolves #ProtectTheWolves https://protectthewolves.com/lawsuit-limits-where-and-how-federal-agency-may-kill-wolves-in-idaho/