Groups, US reach settlement on predator-killing poisons

U.S. officials have agreed to complete a study on how two predator-killing poisons could be affecting federally protected species as part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by environmental and animal-welfare groups. The 10-page agreement filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Montana requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to complete consultations with the Environmental Protection Agency by the end of 2021 on the two poisons used by federal workers on rural Western lands to protect livestock. The Center for Biological Diversity and the other groups in the lawsuit filed last year in Montana say Fish and Wildlife is violating the Endangered Species Act by not analyzing with the EPA how sodium cyanide and Compound 1080 could harm federally protected species including grizzly bears and Canada lynx. The groups say the federal agencies in 2011 started but never finished the analysis. One kind of device is called an M-44, referred to by those who would like it banned as a “cyanide bomb.” It’s embedded into in the ground and looks like a lawn sprinkler but sprays cyanide when triggered by animals attracted by bait smeared on the devices. A 14-year-old Idaho boy was injured in 2017 when he encountered one with his dog on federally-owned land near his house on the outskirts of the small city of Pocatello. His Labrador retriever dog died. The Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians, The Humane Society of the United States and The Fund for Animals in the lawsuit seek to have the poisons banned...more

Predator hunters and their competitive events

...Now for predators! Competitive predator hunting is big — perhaps too big. So far, the field for the World Championship Predator Calling Contest has been limited to 130 teams and there is a waiting list. Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah have hosted the annual event, and the purse is attractive enough to require the use of lie detector tests on all teams that submit dead critters. This event could come to South Dakota, but I don't know that we would want it. I'd be interested in thoughts from readers on this topic. I have some mixed emotions about the World Championship. Because I abhor political correctness, there is no way that I'd bow to animal rights activists. The World Championship people do so by not allowing the photography of dead predators, and encouraging participants to keep their kills off of the Internet. They are very low-key about advertising, promotion, and location of the contest. While I understand their reasons, I say "bring it on!" I asked a rancher friend if competitive predator hunting — primarily coyotes — is taking place in South Dakota. I was surprised to learn that in his area alone, Bison, Dupree, Isabel, and Watauga host competitions that begin with a Friday night Calcutta auction of participating teams. This enables the entire community to participate in the activity. Prizes are given for the most and largest coyotes. Like the world competition, cheating has become an issue. What a sad commentary on an otherwise wholesome event among friends and neighbors. According to my rancher friend, most ranchers support the predator hunts. I assume that this relates in part to the coyote threat to livestock. He has no problem with local hunters, but I did detect some apprehension on his part about prizes becoming more lucrative and attracting hunters from greater distances. I would guess that his neighbors share similar concerns. California has addressed this issue by banning the awarding of prizes for predator hunts. Though I'm not a predator hunter per se, I've killed a dozen or so foxes and coyotes while hunting deer, antelope, or pheasants. Serious prairie dog/predator hunters use a quality bolt-action rifle with a high-power scope. Popular calibers are .204 Ruger, .22-250 Remington, and .243 Winchester. I'd pick the .243, as it bucks the wind better than the others. Predator hunters also rely on calls — mouth or sophisticated electronic calls. In spite of the technology, calling in a "once-fooled" coyote works about as well as make-up on a 70 year-old woman, not to mention men dyeing their hair. Judging by what I see mounted on a cowboy ATV, AR-15's are popular varmint rifles and operate contrary to the image presented by our media today. AR does not stand for assault rifle. It is a trademark for a gun made by ArmaLite, similar to how Kleenex is the trademark term for paper tissue. ArmaLite developed the AR-15 for civilians, not the military. As they are surprisingly accurate, they make a great coyote rifle, especially when equipped with a suppressor or silencer...more

Mongolian dog tradition revived to protect sheep

Through three decades of marriage, they have wandered together across the rolling hills of Mongolia's northern Tuv Province, accompanied by their herd of sheep and stalked by the wolves and snow leopards that threaten their livelihood. Five months ago, Chulunjav Bayarsaikhan and Tumurbaatar Davaasuren were joined by a new partner, Hasar, a shaggy, 11-month-old bankhar dog that a hundred years ago would have been a far more common sight outside the country's tent homes known as gers. "Now, nothing comes near our herd at night," Tumurbaatar said. "If anything does, she barks in an alarming way, so we come out before it can attack. She learned to patrol all night and is protecting them well." As years of overgrazing increasingly push Mongolian nomads into the territory of their oldest foes — snow leopards and wolves — a group of researchers and herders are trying to reinstate the bankhar, a close relative of the Tibetan mastiff, to its historic place beside their masters. The dog is native to Mongolia but nearly disappeared over the course of mass urbanization drives during the Soviet era. DNA analysis conducted by Cornell researchers and released this year points to Mongolia as the location where domesticated dogs first appeared some 15,000 years ago. That makes the bankhar even more of a Mongolian icon. For thousands of years, the giant dogs roamed the Mongolian steppes with their nomadic masters, so much a part of the landscape that they featured in Chinese Qing Dynasty paintings of Mongolia and the 13th century travelogues of Marco Polo. Now experts are hoping to revive that legacy.

Guarding sheep and goat herds is going to the dogs

SAN ANGELO -- "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."This oft used nod to the U.S. Postal Service just as easily could describe the work ethic of good livestock guardian dogs, according to Texas A&M AgriLife officials in San Angelo. Personnel from Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in San Angelo have completed the publication "Livestock Guardian Dogs." The eight-page reference guide is available at sanangelo.tamu.edu under publications and as a publication on the AgriLife Bookstore at agrilifebookstore.org, publication EWF-028 9/15. The publication complements ongoing field work with the dogs at ranches in Menard and Ozona, managed by AgriLife Research in San Angelo.  "This publication is a guide for sheep and goat farmers and ranchers who are looking at using livestock guardian dogs to protect their sheep and goats from predation," said Reid Redden, AgriLife Extension state sheep and goat specialist at the center. Redden was joined in authoring the work by John Walker, AgriLife Research center director, and John Tomecek, AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist. Walker said the large rugged dogs, often topping 100 pounds, have been used for thousands of years for guarding flocks throughout the world. But aside from some interest by U.S. producers in other states, the dogs are a largely untapped resource across much of West Texas, arguably the largest sheep and goat range production region in the nation. The AgriLife staff in San Angelo is working to change that paradigm...more

After a midnight close encounter with nine grizzly bears on his family’s ranch, one Beaver Mines area business owner is thanking the family dog for alerting him to the alarming situation at hand. In the early hours of Sunday, Oct. 14, rancher Ryan McClelland made the call to the local Fish and Wildlife division. Not surprisingly, the sheer number of bears has made this case unprecedented for officers as well. Though used to living in bear country, the owner of McClelland’s Meat Processors—a small-scale meat packaging plant—said he has never seen so many bears at once. “There was a sow and three cubs who broke in one granary and a sow with two cubs that broke into another granary,” he said. “There was a boar in my meat department and there was a boar by our garage.” McClelland said he chased the two boars out of the yard and then while patrolling his property, he found the other bears as well. The family dog alerted him to the boar closest to the house. In the end, the bears destroyed part of the door to the meat department, chewed a customer’s quarter of beef and wrecked two granaries. Just as the property damage is worrisome, McClelland voiced concern for his family members. “We’ve got kids in the yard so anytime after dark, you’re a little bit worried,” he said. “When kids get on the school bus in the dark in the morning, it’s a little worrisome.” In fact, over the past five years, McClelland has seen the numbers of bears increase drastically. One bear was already removed from the property in early September. He explained the wooden granary bins had been on the property for close to five decades; this was the first time they had been broken into...more

NM depredation bill clears first hurdle

New Mexico officials and wildlife groups are pressing the Legislature once again to eliminate a provision in state law that allows farmers and ranchers to kill wildlife on private land, unless the animals are predators that pose an immediate threat to humans, livestock or pets. Legislation that would reform New Mexico's depredation law passed its first hurdle Tuesday with a 5-3 vote in the House Health and Government Affairs Committee. Under the bill, it would be illegal for landowners to kill big game animals simply for threatening crops. The bill calls for the Department of Game and Fish to investigate any crop damage and come up a non-lethal solution. That could mean providing fencing material for the landowner. Critics say the bill will only result in frustration for landowners. AP

Coyotes Spotted on Some Golf Courses

A Pinehurst golfer has a novel excuse for a lost ball - a coyote ran off with it. Recent sightings of coyotes on and near golf courses Pinehurst No. 5 and No. 6 and in Pinewild are bothering residents with small pets, but animal control and wildlife officials report that there is no serious danger to human beings. Earle Hightower, a Pinewild resident who grew up with coyotes in Utah and Colorado, said coyotes pose little danger to humans." With small pets, it is a different story. However, Hightower said, coyotes usually leave large dogs alone. Sgt. Mark Dutton, the commission's enforcement officer in Moore County, said coyotes are expanding their territory throughout North Carolina because the region offers no natural predators to keep their numbers under control. It is legal to hunt coyotes six days a week, Monday through Saturday, in North Carolina. Dutton said the hunter can use a firearm or a trap during daylight hours, beginning half an hour before sunrise and continuing until half an hour after sunset. Hunting is prohibited on Sunday and at night. Dutton said local regulations apply, however, and this means that no one can shoot a coyote in most municipalities. Pinehurst, like most municipalities, has an ordinance prohibiting the discharge of a firearm within village limits. Trapping regulations likewise apply in many jurisdictions...read more

Hunting the hunters

Livestock predators are an unwelcome fact of life for many ranchers, particularly where coyotes are active. Unlike wolves, these year-around hunters can work in packs, in pairs or singly, making wholesale killing raids on poultry flocks and on herds of sheep, goats and young cattle. Their numbers and the number of costly attacks they make on livestock in eastern North Dakota’s Red River Valley appear to be increasing. John Paulson, supervisor at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services in Bismarck, N.D., says coyote predation is at least partly to blame for the reduced number of deer fawns sighted by hunters this year. Also known as the American jackal or prairie wolf, the coyote is a canine predator found throughout North America and Central America. It evolved in North America, unlike its cousin, the gray wolf, which migrated from Europe and Asia. Coyotes are found all over the Lower 48 states, Alaska and about a half of Canada. Nineteen different species of coyote are recognized, 16 of which live in the U.S. and Canada. Typical coyote packs are made up of six closely related adults, yearlings and young. They generally are smaller than wolf packs. Coyotes are thought to be mostly nocturnal, but often can be seen during daylight hours. They once were diurnal or daytime hunters, according to research, but have developed more nocturnal hunting behavior since faced with human competition...read more

Clubfoot died after dining on local bull

The grizzly bear you're referring to first was named Reelfoot, which was a reference to the club foot he gimped around on after losing three toes to a trap. After his death, he also became known as Clubfoot. Reelfoot had a taste for prime beef and was indeed the scourge of cattle ranchers in the Southern Oregon-Northern California area. According to a story published in the Mail Tribune in 1957, old Reelfoot finally came to his end in 1890 after inciting the ire of rancher Bill Wright by killing his best bull near Camp Creek, a stream flowing east from Pilot Rock into the Klamath River drainage. Wright recruited a 17-year-old hand, Purl Bean, and the two of them set off in pursuit. They knew exactly which grizzly they were after, because Reelfoot's distinctive footprint was all too familiar to ranchers. He had killed so much livestock and ticked off so many ranchers that a prodigious bounty of $1,800 — a virtual fortune at the time — was placed on his head. Wright and Bean tracked Reelfoot for two days and, on April 10, 1890, came across him in a forest opening, about three miles east of Pilot Rock. After they fired on him from 80 yards, Reelfoot charged them. It took 10 rounds from their big-bore rifles to bring him down for good, by then only about 20 feet from the two men. Reelfoot was huge, standing 8 feet tall and with a chest that measured 40 inches across. Wright estimated he weighed 1,800 pounds, but some suspect that estimate came after he'd spent too much of the reward money at a local watering hole. Others estimated him at 1,200 pounds. Reelfoot was stuffed and mounted on a wagon pulled by mules as an early-day mobile exhibit. The exhibit toured the West and apparently took a few detours, including to the World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago in 1893...read more