(EnviroNews Wyoming) – In what is to serve as the official launch of EnviroNews Wyoming, this awesome video from the archives demonstrates a very young black bear grazing on grass and various plants in a large meadow in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

While taping the episode, the curious young bear moved closer and closer to our camera crew, at one point coming within ten feet of them. A great opportunity to see an American black bear up close and personal, set to the live and spontaneous trance music of the Shamanic Ceremonial Music Ensemble.

Welcome to EnviroNews Wyoming. Please stay tuned!

The post EnviroNews Wyoming Cameraman Captures Black Bear From Eight Feet Away in Yellowstone Park appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

(EnviroNews Wyoming) – In one of those boggling moments that life can throw you, our EnviroNews Wyoming cameraman was standing there quietly filming some beautiful and nature-filled backdrops in Yellowstone National Park when he noticed something very peculiar.

As he looked over his right shoulder he noticed what appeared to be a person hiding and squatting down behind a tree, messing around with a pair of elk antlers. What you see next will surprise you in this entertaining and fun wildlife episode. Only on EnviroNews Wyoming.

The post A Bull Elk With a Sense of Humor in Yellowstone National Park appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

(EnviroNews Wyoming) — Yellowstone National Park — It was a sobering outcome for social media activists who had been clamoring to #SpareTheBear. Despite the tumult on Twitter and fury on Facebook, Yellowstone Park managers were undeterred.

The park announced from the beginning, it would euthanize the mama grizzly that attacked and partially ate a hiker last week — and although Yellowstone’s Facebook page was inundated with posts begging park managers to rethink its decision to kill the 15-year-old female known as “Blaze,” none of the over 20,000 comments changed the minds of park managers.

To be sure, not all of the comments were against the park’s decision — some recognized the dilemma Yellowstone faced. And to its credit, Yellowstone officials tried their best to explain the decision and responded to many comments. That responsiveness seemed to assuage the anger of many upset activists:


Perhaps it was posts such as the one below, that helped calm many upset social media protesters, while eliciting some much-needed sympathy for the park’s plight:

Not everyone, however was buying the Park’s remorse:



In the end, park officials plugged their ears to the hashtag howls:

If I surprise a mama grizzly with cubs and she eats me..please do not kill the bears. Let me live on as bear energy. #Yellowstone #grizzlies

— akmk (@akmk) August 10, 2015

They overlooked the letters, and paid no attention to the petitions imploring the park not to euthanize the bear:

Petition 4 Blaze's cubs to send them to rehab, not zoo. S&S http://t.co/cYTdudd9lh #YellowstoneGrizzly @Animal_Network4 @Protect_Wldlife

— WeBeOfOneBloodYe&I (@FeketeZita) August 15, 2015

Please sign this petition to #Yellowstone or, once again, a wild animal will be destroyed due to human carelessness. http://t.co/O9QchngaSe

— Patricia McGahan (@BeachcomberNC) August 12, 2015

Instead, once DNA confirmed the 259-pound grizzly was the bear that killed 63 year old Lance Crosby, officials turned a blind eye to the posts and petitions and turned a tranquilizer gun on Blaze. Once the 15-year-old grizzly mama was heavily sedated, they fired a captive bolt into her skull.

“How could they?” asked activists (especially angry, after it was revealed the hiker had wandered off-trail and was not carrying bear spray — nor had he taken any other precautions before venturing into known bear territory).

Ultimately, the frantic Facebook posts were fruitless. Even calls to Montana Governor Steve Bullock, asking him to intervene in the death penalty case of a killer bear, fell on deaf ears.

Officials say they would not have put the animal down had the attack been a defensive move to protect the cubs. Instead, the animal was euthanized because it had eaten part of the Montana man’s body and hid the rest — which is not normal behavior for a female bear defending its young, spokeswoman Amy Bartlett told the AP.

A press release from the park, suggested the attack was predatory, and not completely defensive behavior. As proof, officials pointed to the fact that the bear partially ate the body, then hid it off-trail—covering it with leaves and pine needles — so, it seemed the animal’s intent was to return and continue feeding. “The decision to euthanize a bear is one that we do not take lightly”, said Dam Wenk, Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park in a statement a few days before they killed Blaze. “Our decision is based on the totality of the circumstances in this unfortunate event,” continued Wenk.

For protestors, the park added insult to lethal injury when it announced mama bear’s two orphaned cubs would be leaving the wide-open spaces of Yellowstone for the enclosed cages of an Ohio Zoo.

Yellowstone implied the baby bears are actually lucky, because upon examination, it was determined that both cubs had also fed on the hiker’s body — and leaving them to roam the park with the taste of human flesh fresh in their memories would have been too dangerous.

Park Spokeswoman Amy Bartlett said they would have euthanize the cubs too had a zoo not stepped in to offer the baby bears a home. “Cubs can adapt to a facility much easier, and there is no danger of them learning humans are food,” Bartlett said.

Crosby, who worked as a nurse in the park’s Lake Village area was the sixth person killed by grizzlies since 2010 in and around Yellowstone. According to the National Park Service there are between 674 and 839 grizzly bears roaming Yellowstone and nearby areas of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

Officials can’t be sure the exact number, but for certain there will be three fewer. The bear cubs will arrive at the Toledo Zoo in the next month or two. In the beginning the Zoo says the cubs will be quarantined and kept out of the public eye for awhile in order to acclimate to life there.

Sometime after 30 to 60 days, the cubs will be moved to an existing empty exhibit. The zoo isn’t sure how long it will be until the cubs are ensconced in their permanent home, but a zoo official told the Washington Post, “We are very fortunate that it’s two, so they have each other to play with.”

Many are sympathetic to posts like Ronda Carrick’s above. With their mother now dead and only a life behind bars to look forward to, the zoo’s remark that “at least the cubs will have each other” barely seems much of a bright side.

The post No Fairytale Ending for Yellowstone and the Three Bears After Park Shuns Thousands of Comments appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

(EnviroNews Wyoming) — Missoula, Montana — In a move that has angered environmentalists and wildlife enthusiasts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed on March 3, 2016, to strip the iconic Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear of its protected status under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), recommending that state-based conservation plans be used to manage the population instead.

Those management plans could also open the door for grizzly hunting — a practice that’s been outlawed in the lower 48 states since 1975 when the species was first listed to the ESA — and a practice wildlife organizations say they won’t stand for.

Ursus arctos horribilis, as the great bear is scientifically know, is currently listed as threatened by the USFWS, and occupies less than two percent of its historic home-range. The legendary predator had been poached to near extinction by the mid-twentieth century, and was one of the first species in America to receive protection under the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966. A few years later, the grizzly would also become one of the first to be listed to the ESA after it became law in 1973.

Numbers had dipped as low as 136 in the Yellowstone-Teton region back in 1975. Today, that same population harbors somewhere in the neighborhood of 715 animals — an improvement USFWS is calling a “historic success” — and a point the Service is using to justify delisting the Yellowstone grizzly. But not everyone agrees with that assessment. Environmental groups point out the species occupies a dismally low portion of its once expansive range, and say the creature should remain safely protected under the ESA.

“Like history repeating itself, the Service is once again attempting to evade its duty to protect imperiled wildlife on behalf of all Americans,” said Kelly Nokes, carnivore campaign lead for environmental group WildEarth Guardians. “The Service should be devoting public resources toward achieving grizzly bears’ recovery across their range, not cherry-picking one population to prematurely declare success while undermining restoration everywhere else,” Nokes continued.

WildEarth Guardians also says delisting the bear before any solid state conservation plans are in place to protect it would be a knee-jerk reaction, stating in a press release, “the proposed stripping of protections [are] based on mere promises of future actions.”

But not everyone is mad about the proposed delisting. Hunters, ranchers, multi-party conservation groups and government agencies are cheering the idea, saying that ESA protections are supposed to be used only to salvage a species and help its numbers to recover, whereafter the states should take over.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, a group containing the Forest Service (USFS), Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (USNPS), the state wildlife agencies of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington, as well as the British Columbia Wildlife Branch, the Alberta Wildlife Branch, and Parks Canada wrote this in a statement:

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) is encouraged by the announcement by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service that it is beginning the final step in the process to delist the Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear population. According to IGBC Chair and Director of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife James Unsworth, “It has only been through decades of committed scientific management by IGBC member agencies that the Yellowstone grizzly population has met and exceeded all biological goals set forth in the recovery plan. The goal of the Endangered Species Act is to bring populations back to the point that the states can resume control. In the case of the Yellowstone grizzly we have met that goal.

But environmental groups fired back, saying the bear would surely come under assault from multiple angles should current protections be removed. “It’s simply too soon to remove protections for grizzly bears,” asserted Andrea Santarsiere, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re prepared to make sure the Service follows the science and the law to ensure these wonderful animals can truly recover,” Santarsiere continued. “We’re disappointed that the Obama administration is taking such a narrow view of grizzly bear recovery.”

Yellowstone Grizzly Bear

Even if that is the case, some grizzly bear biologists also fear the Yellowstone population could run into a problem with lack of genetic diversity, and say the bear should remain protected — at least until the Yellowstone population can be adjoined to other still unconnected sub-populations. Environmental groups hold little faith in state-run conservation efforts, and say linking populations will be difficult without current ESA protections.

But USFWS Director Dan Ashe claims recovery can continue just fine with the states taking over. “Even with this proposed delisting, the service remains committed to the conservation of the Yellowstone grizzly bear, and will stay engaged to ensure that this incredible species remains recovered,” he said.

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE HAS TRIED AND FAILED TO DELIST THE GRIZZLY BEFORE

USFWS tried to remove protections for the grizzly a decade ago, but a federal judge shot them down following legal challenges. Now the Service is trying again, and these efforts will surely not go uncontested either.

What’s interesting in this story though, is that USFWS is not proposing merely to maintain what it calls a “stable” population — the agency is actually suggesting to reduce the number of bears for the region to 500 — a would-be drop of over 200.

“The bears will be treated as a game species after federal protections are removed, opening them up to extremely controversial sport hunting seasons in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho,” wrote WildEarth Guardians in its press release.

The possibility that conservative western states, like Idaho and Montana, would deploy hunting as part of their “conservation” strategies, must be taken very seriously. For example, Idaho’s highly controversial “wolf-killing derbies” should be examined as part of a historical track record when addressing predator conservation plans in these places. Experts tell EnviroNews Wyoming it seems likely Idaho, Montana and Wyoming could deploy similar hunts on grizzlies if the new rule takes hold.

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD UNDERWAY ON DELISTING OF YELLOWSTONE GRIZZLY

EDITOR’S NOTE: This section was amended by the EnviroNews Wyoming Editor on March 20, 2016, to reflect the opening of the public comment period.

USFWS is now holding a 60-day public comment period on the draft conservation strategy, and the supplemental 1993 Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan (Yellowstone population), where it intends to review opinions from agencies, scientists, and the public at large. Nokes told EnviroNews Wyoming it is “highly likely” WildEarth Guardians and others will “seek to have the comment period extended.”

USFWS is encouraging citizens and experts alike to make their voices heard. Members of the public may visit the following link to post their official comment in the Federal Resister: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2016/03/11/2016-05167/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-removing-the-greater-yellowstone-ecosystem-population

A BEAR OF A BATTLE TO COME

WildEarth Guardians and Center for Biological Diversity, have achieved victorious rulings in court over the federal government on hundreds of imperiled wildlife species. In fact, the two organizations alone, have forced USFWS to move forward on protections for some 800 species. To say the groups strongly oppose USFWS’ March 3 announcement would be an understatement.

“Though grizzlies occupy less than two-percent of their historic range in the lower-48 states, the Service decided to place political interests ahead of its duty to recover the species as a whole,” said WildEarth Guardians.

Center for Biological diversity already filed a petition with USFWS in June of 2014, requesting the Service revise and beef up its recovery plan for Ursus arctos — a request the Center says has fallen on deaf ears. The non-profit organization maintains there are still multiple areas in the bear’s historic range that are suitable for it to thrive — and it wants to see the animals reintroduced there.

Yellowstone Grizzly — Photo: Wikimedia Commons

WildEarth Guardians indicated to EnviroNews Wyoming that multi-group legal action is highly probable should USFWS choose to move ahead with the proposed delisting. Endangered species battles of this nature have a historic track record of dragging out for years-on-end in court before settlements or final rulings are achieved.

THE MIGHTY GRIZZLY, TOO MIGHTY FOR AMERICAN SOCIETY

Native American cultures revered, respected and even feared the mighty grizzly bear for its obvious physical power, but also for its spiritual qualities, whereas European colonists sought to wipe the creature from the face of the earth completely. That’s not to say every person of European decent or white skin color desired genocide for the iconic predator, but the same can’t be said for American society altogether, as grizzlies were hunted to complete extinction over most of their home-range.

Native Americans, as a whole, didn’t set out to obliterate the grizzly — but European pioneers did. This is not a racial point — simply a historical fact.

Sadly, the livestock-based existence of “civilized” society, just didn’t jive with the lumbering lifestyle of America’s most powerful predator — in a world in which it was the boss and had no human telling it where it could and couldn’t roam — in a world in which it wasn’t confined to zoos or the boundaries of parks and wildlife preserves.

AMERICA’S MOST POWERFUL PREDATOR REDUCED TO RUBBLE

There are six recognized distinct population segments of grizzly: The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), North Cascades sub-population, Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (Glacier National Park area), the Selway-Bitterroot Ecosystem of Idaho and Montana, the Cabinet-Yaak sub-population, and the Selkirk sub-population.

To be clear, USFWS’ proposed rule is only targeted at the GYE population, but environmental groups say this smells of a sneaky backdoor way to delist the entire grizzly bear species piece-by-piece — a move they say is not only shady, but also unlawful.

Noteworthy on this point is the fact that in the case Humane Society of the United States v. Jewell, the D.C. District Court ruled that the Service cannot remove a distinct population segment from the ESA for the purpose of delisting a species as a whole in piecemeal fashion.

“Yellowstone grizzly bears are an isolated population that is experiencing high levels of conflicts with people and is likely declining in the wake of the loss of whitebark pine, a critically important food source,” said Sylvia Fallon, a senior scientist at Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC).

No matter which way the pie is sliced, two-four percent of its historic range, doesn’t sound like much of a recovery at all to many wildlife lovers.

THE FUTURE OF THE GREAT GRIZZLY

Today, the grizzly remains in few places, with a grand total of around 1,500 specimens in the lower 48 states — down from 50,000. All but about 100 or so of those bears exist in Montana and Wyoming with about half of those belonging to the aforementioned Yellowstone-Teton population. Around 100 bears reside between eastern and northern Idaho with another 20 bears taking refuge in Washington’s Cascade Mountains. Sightings have been reported in both Utah and Colorado, though no official confirmation has been made in any of these cases.

Several legal attempts to reintroduce grizzlies into historic territories have been shot down in court over the years, leaving many to wonder if or when the lumbering giant will ever return to former strongholds of its once immense home.

Center for Biological Diversity, a group that boasts a 93% success rate in endangered species court battles, failed with a petition to introduce the grizzly to California recently, leaving people to wonder if a grizzly bear will ever step foot in the Golden State again.

In December of 2014, the Center also introduced a petition to reintroduce grizzlies into the Idaho-Montana adjoining Selway-Bitterroot — a proposal the organization said could have tremendous ecological benefit by connecting into the Yellowstone population. The region had been designated as a target for reintroduction by USFWS in 1993, but the idea was stifled during the George W. Bush administration.

Real estate, agriculture and energy production are gobbling up the West at a baffling pace. With myriad threats facing the grizzly bear, how will the species not only survive, but thrive, in a once vast wilderness, now fast disappearing.

MORE ON YELLOWSTONE BEARS FROM ENVIRONEWS WYOMING

The post Feds Attempting to Strip Yellowstone Grizzly Bear of Endangered Species Act Protection appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Nature) — In the late 1980s, farmers in Great Britain started to notice their cows stumbling around, acting strangely and losing weight. The problem got continually worse, until in 1993, more than 36,000 cattle in the UK died in a single year from mad cow disease.

Prior to 1996, the disease, scientifically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), was not believed to be a threat to humans. The British Government, in an effort to avoid a panicked reaction to the mad cow crisis, told the public the risks to humans were remote. “It is now clear that this campaign of reassurance was a mistake,” stated the report of a Parliamentary inquiry in 2000. “When on 20 March 1996 the government announced that BSE had probably been transmitted to humans, the public felt that [it] had been betrayed.”

In fact, mad cow disease had been transmitted to humans as a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a related brain disease that afflicts about one in 1,000,000 people. From 1996 to 2014, 229 cases of vCJD were reported in 12 countries, including four in the U.S. It is incurable and inevitably fatal.

BSE, as well as CJD and vCJD, are linked to malformed proteins known as prions (pronounced pree-on). Since they are not viruses or bacteria, they do not elicit an immune response from the body. Thus, they go undetected and can progress quietly for many years. In humans, the average incubation period for CJD is estimated at about 17 years, but can be as short as 15 months or as long as 40 years. Cattle can be infected with BSE from two to eight years before showing symptoms.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), another prion disease, affects cervids: mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, moose and caribou. It is found in 24 states and two Canadian provinces as well as Norway and South Korea. Some of the cases have occurred in captive herds, where the animals are likely to be euthanized once the disease is detected. In the wild though, infected animals weaken slowly until they can no longer forage for enough food; becoming disoriented and feeble, they wind up easy prey for cougars, bears or wolves.

Dr. Debbie McKenzie, a biologist at the Center for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases at the University of Alberta, told EnviroNews Nature:

The disease is spread naturally via movement of cervid populations. Infected animals shed CWD prions in saliva, feces and urine. We and others have demonstrated that the CWD prions bind avidly to soil and soil minerals and that the infectivity can persist for years in the environment. As infected deer move across the landscape, they can infect other deer directly by animal to animal contact or indirectly via environmental contamination.

A 2016 report by Michael W. Miller of the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife and John R. Fischer of the University of Georgia states, “Based on experience to date, the true geographic distribution of CWD likely remains underestimated.”

No human infections related to CWD are known. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns, “Because of the long time between exposure to CWD and the development of disease, many years of continued follow-up are required to be able to say what the risk, if any, of CWD is to humans.”

Zoonotic diseases such as malaria, Lyme disease and rabies, are those that can be transmitted from animals to humans. Laboratory studies have indicated that a “species barrier” may exist, preventing CWD prions from infecting humans. The caveat however, is that BSE prions do cause disease in humans, and that 92 percent of squirrel monkeys given CWD prions orally in a 2014 study were susceptible to infection. In the same study though, cynomolgus macaques did not show susceptibility. The study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, concluded that humans are at a low risk of contracting CWD, but stated, “Nevertheless, it remains sensible to minimize exposure to tissues potentially contaminated with the CWD agent.”

McKenzie said that among the most significant new developments in the field is the identification of different CWD strains. “The importance of strains is that each prion strain has unique characteristics.” These include different incubation periods, neuropathology and range distribution. “This becomes important when assessing the zoonotic potential of CWD. Most of the work performed to date addressing the question of zoonotic potential has centered on the most common strain of CWD; the emerging strains have not been tested yet.”

Even though mad cow disease has now been reduced by regulations banning the use of cattle and chicken byproducts in cattle feed, there may be thousands of Europeans walking around with latent variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease who don’t even know it.

But new studies, published December 21, 2016, in Science Translational Medicine, show promising results for early detection of the disease through blood exams. The tests were 100 percent accurate in diagnosing vCJD in 32 patients against 391 healthy controls. Currently, detection is only possible once symptoms appear and can only be confirmed by examining brain tissue after death.

A separate study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013 found that the antihistamine Astimezole lengthened the lifespan of mice infected with prion disease. The study was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has been targeted for a $5.8 billion budget cut by the Trump Administration.

Responsibility for dealing with prion diseases in the U.S. is spread among multiple state and federal agencies. At the federal level, the CDC is primarily responsible for human disease. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) handles human protection efforts while the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates and inspects slaughter practices. Research is the purview of the NIH. Oversight takes place at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In addition to proposed cuts at NIH, which includes the CDC, Trump’s budget proposal calls for slashing $9.3 billion from HHS beyond the cuts targeted for the NIH. The Administration also seeks to slash $4.7 billion from the USDA.

Research and action on prion diseases inside some of these agencies is already weak, out of date or underfunded. The FDA’s recommendations to industry on the use of deer and elk in animal feed were issued in 2003 and are non-binding. The HHS management plan for CWD is 15 years old.

Meanwhile, CWD is a rapidly growing problem. On March 28, 2017, an entire herd of more than 70 deer were euthanized at a deer farm in Iowa after CWD was detected. In Wisconsin, testing by the state’s Department of Natural Resources in 2016 found 7.3 percent of the state’s deer were infected with CWD. The disease has been moving west across the state of Wyoming and now threatens the Jackson Hole area, which has so far been uninfected.

A study released in January 2017 found infected mule deer just 35 miles from the National Elk Refuge (NER) in Jackson Hole. Infected elk are within 160 miles of the refuge. The elk that concentrate in the NER during winter migrate as far as Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

The disease spreads more easily where elk are concentrated in refuges, which is partly the result of a feeding program. “Supplemental winter feeding for elk has occurred on the NER and U.S. Forest Service lands in Wyoming for over 100 years,” the study states. “This practice typically results in a highly concentrated elk herd from January to April.” Some 46 winter feeding grounds are located in the western U.S., in what is becoming an evermore controversial practice due to the explosion of CWD in America’s ungulates.

The Jackson elk herd numbers about 11,000 animals. Local predators include wolves, coyotes, cougars and bears. Hunting is allowed on the refuge. The study, conducted by the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, determined that if CWD reaches the refuge and hunting continues, the elk population could decline below a sustainable level. “A declining population becomes more probable with increasing disease prevalence, particularly in the presence of recent harvest levels,” the study concluded.

Outside the U.S., Norway has just announced plans to exterminate an entire herd of up to 2,200 caribou to stop the spread of CWD, which arrived in Europe in 2016. Many wildlife managers in the U.S. have resorted to special hunts or to using sharpshooters to cull herds, though few such programs have worked.

The only state known to have had success in eliminating CWD within its borders is New York. The disease was found in two deer in captive facilities and two wild deer in 2005. Aggressive efforts to manage and monitor the state’s deer population have paid off: no new cases of CWD have been found in the past 11 years. And that has been the sole bright spot in an otherwise dark story.

In 1997, CWD had only been discovered in three states: Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota, as well as Saskatchewan, Canada. Twenty years later, it ranges from Montana to Texas, west to Utah and east to the Great Lakes region, as well as into Alberta. Some observers see a scary parallel with mad cow disease — only this time, the killer is on the loose in the wild, not in captivity.

Writing in ZD Net in 2012, science writer John Rennie stated, “Both [mad cow and CWD] are diseases that affect animals with major economic value. Both, at least in the early stages of their epidemics, seemed like they would be containable and non-threatening to humans.”

The potential for CWD to cause harm, were it to spread to humans, may be more worrying than for BSE. The prions responsible for mad cow disease are generally confined to the nervous system, whereas those for CWD can be found in blood, bones, muscle and fat tissue as well. Domestic cattle are often confined to farms and ranches, and are well controlled. Wild deer, elk, moose and caribou move freely and many migrate seasonally.

There are 10 million deer hunters in the U.S. They can become exposed to infected animals when dressing the kill or when consuming it — often with family and friends. Cooking does not destroy prions. Hunters are generally advised to avoid deer or elk that are acting abnormally, and to wear rubber gloves when field dressing a kill. They are also warned not to consume brain or spinal cord tissues, eyes, spleen or lymph nodes.

Shrinking federal budgets for research and management won’t make it any easier to stop the spread of CWD in animals or to prevent a mad cow-like outbreak in humans either.

“Surveillance and management interventions have declined over the past decade,” McKenzie told EnviroNews Nature in an email. “It is important that we continue to monitor the geographic spread of the disease, providing information to hunters, aboriginal people and others as to the areas where the disease is endemic.”

RELATED:

The post Invasion of the Zombie Elk — Chronic Wasting Disease Spreading Fast, Nearing Yellowstone Herds appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Montana) — Washington D.C. — EnviroNews Montana Exclusive: On April 25, 2017, U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced the “Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act” (Yellowstone Act) — a bill seeking to permanently ban mining on 30,000 public acres in the Paradise Valley of Montana, just outside Yellowstone National Park (Yellowstone). The legislation follows up on a two-year pause on gold and other types of mining in the region, announced in 2016. If signed into law, the Yellowstone Act will protect public land in the Custer Gallatin National Forest adjacent to Yellowstone and the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness.

“The Upper Yellowstone River contributes $70 million a year to the economy of Park County through fishing alone. This pristine waterway supports some of the best recreation and some of the most important agricultural areas in the West and brings with it economic stability and good-paying jobs,” Tester told EnviroNews Montana in an email for this exclusive report. He continued:

The proposed mines in the area risk the water quality of this critical river. Cities and towns downstream rely on the Yellowstone for drinking water and a lot of agriculture producers irrigate from the Yellowstone. Water is a finite resource and we must protect it for future generations, which is why I introduced [the Yellowstone Act] to protect the Paradise Valley from large-scale mining.

Tester also said Yellowstone as a whole is “a huge economic driver” for Montana and that more than 4 million people visit Yellowstone annually “to take in its breathtaking views.”

“These visitors contribute $196 million per year to the economy of Park County, Montana,” he added. “That’s why a proposed mine on the doorstep of Yellowstone is so dangerous. It threatens jobs and the economy in the area.”

The Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition (The Coalition), a group of Montana businesses and landowners, has been an important partner to Tester in protecting the area surrounding Yellowstone from mining. It was The Coalition that originally requested a “mineral withdrawal,” which started the two-year mining pause, and could protect the lands in question for up to 20 years if finalized, according to environmental law firm Earthjustice.

A mineral withdrawal limits mining on specific public lands in order to maintain other public values or purposes in the area. The Coalition’s Park County Economic Report describes the thriving local economy and how it is intimately interwoven with Yellowstone’s natural bounty and provides the stats Tester quoted above.

Tracy Raich, Owner of Raich Montana Properties, described The Coalition’s work in this way in a Tester press release:

We are advocates of property rights. We are not anti-mining. We understand that there are places to mine, but the door step of [Yellowstone] isn’t one of them. The spectacular public lands, agricultural heritage, clean rivers and streams surrounding this area give the region a competitive advantage. The lifeblood of our economy is tied to these high-quality natural resources.

The two proposed gold mine locations near Yellowstone are known as the Crevice and Emigrant mining districts. Tester’s Yellowstone Act would permanently withdraw federal mineral rights on 30,000 acres and prohibit the expansion of new proposed mines onto unclaimed public land.

Mining companies Lucky Minerals and Crevice Mining Group are seeking permission to explore for gold on private lands in the area, but according to Yellowstone Insider, Tester said any large extraction projects “would need a lot of land to expand, since the private parcels are relatively small and surrounded by federal lands. The legislation will take away the incentive to mine in the region, in effect stopping large mining close to the Paradise Valley.”

EnviroNews asked Tester how much momentum he thought he could gather for the Yellowstone Act and whether he thought Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke would support it. To that, the Senator responded:

I am hopeful that Secretary Zinke will help push this bill forward. As [a] Congressman, Secretary Zinke supported the bill and now it’s my hope that by working together we can get Senator Daines (R-MT) on board so we can get a hearing in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Yellowstone Insider reports Tester stated he will broach companion legislation with whoever wins Zinke’s former seat in the May 25 special election. Tester also recently launched an email fundraising campaign seeking public support, sharing this compelling narrative:

Imagine loading your family into the car for a trip to Yellowstone. Sleeping bags in the trunk. Kids in the back seat. On your way to the gate, you look out over the landscape and see — mining equipment. I don’t think it’s a good idea either.

While Tester sees passing the Yellowstone Act as the crucial “first step in protecting the doorstep to Yellowstone National Park,” he told EnviroNews he would also “like to see Congress invest in addressing the maintenance backlog that is plaguing all our parks. In Yellowstone alone, the unmet maintenance needs total $632 million.”

In related news, on April 26, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order instructing Zinke to review 27 national monument designations made under the Antiquities Act since Jan. 1, 1996. A public comment period is now open – the deadline is May 26 for Bears Ears National Monument and July 10 for all others. The Center for Biological Diversity urges the public to defend Bears Ears and all of the monuments by signing a letter to Zinke on its site.

On May 15, WildEarth Guardians (Guardians) revealed Zinke is dismissing the thousands of comments entered before May 11. Guardians encourages monument supporters to submit or re-submit their comments and also offers a signable letter to Zinke on its website.

Tester had this to say to EnviroNews about the monument review:

I don’t think there’s any harm popping the hood and taking a look to make sure things are working for folks in rural America. However, if the outcome rolls back public access and undermines the outdoor economy surrounding these treasured places, I’ll be the first person to defend our Montana way of life.

OTHER GREAT ENVIRONEWS REPORTS ON YELLOWSTONE AND SURROUNDING AREAS:

The post Sen. Jon Tester Wants Your Help to Stop All Future Mining Around Yellowstone appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Nature) — Washington D.C. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced June 22, 2017, that it has finalized its plan to rescind Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), and turn management of the iconic creature over to three western states — Idaho, Wyoming and Montana — all red states legendary for their predator hunts and even “wolf-killing derbies.”

Once implemented, the rule would open the doors for trophy hunting of the iconic predator, despite the fact that grizzlies occupy only two percent of their historic range in the lower 48 states. Environmental groups and conservationists responded with harsh criticism of the federal government, as more wildlife-based lawsuits loom.

In a joint press release titled,”Planned Trophy Hunts Would Fundamentally Undermine Grizzly Recovery,” WildEarth Guardians (Guardians), alongside the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC), blasted USFWS saying, “The Service is derailing the recovery of this iconic species by prematurely stripping the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears of federal protections. As a result of today’s announcement, Yellowstone’s bears may soon face a trophy hunter firing line once they roam outside the safety of our beloved national parks.”

“The Service’s determination that an isolated population of 700 grizzlies is fully recovered and no longer in need of federal protections is absurd. It’s a purely political decision devoid of any scientific support,” the press release continued.

But Ryan Zinke, Trump’s Secretary of the Interior, says it’s time to call USFWS’s efforts a “success,” and for the federal government to delist the bear and move on. “This achievement stands as one of America’s great conservation successes; the culmination of decades of hard work and dedication on the part of state, tribal, federal and private partners,” Zinke said. “As a Montanan, I am proud of what we’ve achieved together.”

The USFWS news release on the plan stated:

Due to the success of conservation efforts and collaboration among a variety of stakeholders, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced today that the Yellowstone population of the grizzly bear has been recovered to the point where federal protections can be removed and overall management can be returned to the states and tribes. The population has rebounded from as few as 136 bears in 1975 to an estimated 700 today and meets all the criteria for delisting.

USFWS first announced it intended to delist the GYE grizzly on March 3, 2016. At the time, local EnviroNews Wyoming reported the draft plan not only called for delisting of the species, but to actually reduce the population from approximately 700 bears to around 500. Based on Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana’s historical track records, it seems almost certain that hunting will be a part of the state-based “management” and “conservation” strategies.

Still, many groups are happy about the delisting decision. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC), a group made up of the Forest Service (USFS), Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (USNPS), the state wildlife agencies of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington, as well as the British Columbia Wildlife Branch, the Alberta Wildlife Branch, and Parks Canada cheers the government’s plan and wrote this in a statement last March when USFWS released its draft plan:

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee is encouraged by the announcement by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service that it is beginning the final step in the process to delist the Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear population. According to IGBC Chair and Director of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife James Unsworth, “It has only been through decades of committed scientific management by IGBC member agencies that the Yellowstone grizzly population has met and exceeded all biological goals set forth in the recovery plan. The goal of the Endangered Species Act is to bring populations back to the point that the states can resume control. In the case of the Yellowstone grizzly we have met that goal.

While government agencies, the states, hunters and ranchers applaud the decision to delist the bear and allow hunts to commence, conservationists fervently disagree, and call the move “a gift to trophy hunting.” One of environmentalists’ main concerns is that the GYE population lacks genetic diversity, and must be allowed to adjoin still unconnected sub-populations — an event they say will only happen if federal ESA protections remain in place.

Kelly Nokes, Carnivore Advocate at WildEarth Guardians, in tandem with Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center who “represents Guardians in a forthcoming challenge,” are leading the resistance to USFWS’s plan, and explained the need to continue protecting the bear in their press release:

Full grizzly bear recovery includes establishing natural connectivity between the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem sub-population in and around Glacier National Park, and re-establishing a viable population in the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Grizzlies must eventually connect across the six recovery zones, including with the sub-populations of the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yak ecosystems and bears in the North Cascades ecosystem.

Guardians is a prominent environmental non-profit with a track record of high success in suing the federal government for failing to protect endangered species. An epic decade-long legal battle between USFWS and the Center for Biological Diversity and Guardians, culminated in a landmark settlement wherein the USFWS agreed to move forward toward protection of some 800 previously imperiled wildlife species. It now looks as if the future of the great GYE grizzly bear will fall yet again to the courts.

FOR AN IN-DEPTH READ ON THE GOVERNMENT’S MOVE TO DELIST THE YELLOWSTONE GRIZZLY, VISIT THE LONG-READ BY ENVIRONEWS WYOMING BELOW:

MORE ON YELLOWSTONE BEARS FROM ENVIRONEWS WYOMING

RELATED:

Tweet

(EnviroNews Nature) — On August 30, 2017, WildEarth Guardians (Guardians), a nonprofit environmental group legendary for suing the federal government on wildlife issues, sued the Trump Administration — this time for stripping the iconic Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) of its endangered species status — a move the Administration made on June 30. Guardians is represented by attorneys from the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) in the case.

“The Service’s premature removal of crucial federal safeguards undermines the recovery of the species as a whole, while subjecting grizzlies stepping outside the safety of our national parks to state-sanctioned trophy hunting,” Guardians stated in a press release.

Back in June when the bear was delisted, President Trump’s Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said, “This achievement stands as one of America’s great conservation successes; the culmination of decades of hard work and dedication on the part of state, tribal, federal and private partners” — a sentiment not shared by conservationists.

“The Service failed to carry out its paramount – and mandatory – duty to ensure grizzly bears in the contiguous United States are recovered to the point at which the protections of the Endangered Species Act are no longer necessary,” said Kelly Nokes, carnivore advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “The Service’s decision is riddled with flaws, not based in science nor the law, and places this icon of all that is wild squarely in the crosshairs of extinction once again.”

A draft copy of Guardians’ legal complaint, obtained by EnviroNews earlier this week, accuses the federal government, and specifically Secretary Zinke, the Department of the Interior (DOI), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) alongside its Director Greg Sheehan, for failing to evaluate how delisting the Yellowstone grizzly “may affect the survival and conservation of the remaining grizzlies in the contiguous United States.” In these regards, the suit accuses USFWS of acting in a manner “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”

Grizzlies presently occupy only two percent of their historic range in the lower-48 states, dropping from around 50,000 bears when settlements began, to around 1,800 today. By the mid-1970s, the Yellowstone grizzly’s numbers had plummeted to as low as 136 bears, and in 1975, Ursus arctos horribilis became one of the first animals listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The bear was already amongst the first species to be listed to the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966.

Guardians also elucidates in clause 25 of its complaint that “Grizzlies have one of the slowest reproductive rates of all terrestrial animals,” with the “average age of first reproduction by a grizzly in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem [being] six years old.”

One of the greatest concerns to scientists in the recovery of the bear is genetic diversity. Researchers say it is imperative that the GYE population be allowed to adjoin with other nearby, but still unconnected, grizzly populations in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming — a task they say will be impossible without federal safeguards. But now, “Grizzly bears inside the Distinct Population Segment (DPS) 25 boundary are now classified as a ‘game’ species,” the lawsuit states. Clause 76 of the suit reminds the court that all three states in question have already “announced plans to allow recreational hunting of grizzly bears within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.”

Guardians’ lawsuit elaborated this way:

The Service’s 2017 final delisting rule does not restrict where the states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming may allow recreational hunting of grizzly bears outside National Parks. Recreational hunting may be allowed on lands adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. Recreational hunting may be allowed in areas where grizzly bears congregate to consume food sources, including moth sites, carcasses, root fields, and spawning areas. Recreational hunting may be allowed in important linkage zone or connectivity areas used by grizzly bears that disperse outside Yellowstone National Park.

Wyoming, Montana and Idaho are all red states well-known for their big predator hunts. When USFWS’s protection-stripping rule was finalized in June, it turned management of the creatures over to the wildlife programs in those states — states that time and again have included predator hunts as part of their “conservation” strategies. These states have even played host to wolf and coyote killing derbies in the past — events that have enraged conservationists and animal rights activists alike.

Idaho Wolf and Coyote Killing Derby

“Biologists agree that grizzly recovery hinges on connecting isolated populations and distributing the genes they carry,” said Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. “Under this illegal and ill-advised plan, dispersing grizzlies essential to species recovery would be the first to die.”

The lawsuit also contends that it is illegal for USFWS to delist an isolated population within a “metapopulation” because “in 1975, the Service listed all grizzly bears in the contiguous United States as a single, threatened species under the ESA,” and furthermore that, “under the ESA, a fragment of a species’ current range cannot be declared recovered before the species is recovered at the larger, regional scale.”

In its press release, Guardians also pointed out that the Yellowstone grizzly has been unusually hard hit over the past two years, adding to the case to put the predator back on the endangered list. Guardians stated:

At last count, approximately 690 grizzly bears resided in the Greater Yellowstone region in 2016, down from 2015’s count of 717 bears. The last two years had near record-breaking grizzly mortality, with at least 139 bears killed since 2015 (including 20 documented deaths thus far in 2017, 58 dead bears in 2016, and 61 dead grizzlies in 2015). Of those, at least 98 bears died due to human-causes and 30 deaths remain undetermined or are still under investigation.

WildEarth Guardians, alongside the Center for Biological Diversity, sued the federal government in a behemoth decade-long lawsuit that resolved in 2011. The result: the USFWS agreed as part of the landmark settlement, to move forward with protective measures for over 800 previously unprotected imperiled species. The Center for Biological Diversity, often partnered with WildEarth Guardians in wildlife actions, boasts a 93 percent success rate on wildlife cases against the federal government. The courts have frequently sided with conservation groups in the past. Now, the public is watching and wondering if the courts will force the federal government to protect a beleaguered species once again in the case of the Yellowstone grizzly.

RELATED COVERAGE FROM ENVIRONEWS ON THE DELISTING OF THE GREAT YELLOWSTONE GRIZZLY:

MORE ON YELLOWSTONE BEARS FROM ENVIRONEWS WYOMING

OTHR RELATED NEWS FROM ENVIRONEWS:

Tweet

(EnviroNews Wyoming) — In what wildlife and conservation organizations are calling a “fantastic victory,” on Feb. 1, 2018, Federal Judge Christopher Cooper ruled U.S. wildlife officials must reconsider their 2015 decision to deny Yellowstone bison protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

According to the opinion written by Judge Cooper, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) rejected a study by Natalie D. Halbert showing the number of animals in Yellowstone may be too few to sustain the park’s two genetically distinct herds. On the other hand, Cooper said the agency prioritized a study by Patrick J. White and Richard L. Wallen, which stated genetic diversity wasn’t important to maintaining the herds because it was artificially created in the first place. Hence, in his ruling, Judge Cooper said the agency couldn’t “simply pick and choose” whatever scientific studies it wanted to support its findings. Cooper also said USFWS must consider research that undermines its own position and explain why the undermining studies are “unreliable, irrelevant or otherwise unreasonable.”

“The Fish and Wildlife Service made a political decision to suppress and ignore science in order to deny the Yellowstone bison the protection they deserve,” said Josh Osher, Montana Director for Western Watersheds Project (WWP). “The Administration is clearly bowing to the influence of the livestock industry and its agenda to minimize bison populations and their natural migrations, despite their status as the national mammal.”

The Yellowstone bison (Bison bison), also known simply as “buffalo,” number about 5,000 animals, comprising two herds. While there are herds of bison scattered throughout the United States, most of them exist because they have been restocked in those areas. In many cases, these herds have also been interbred with cattle, compromising their genetic integrity. Yellowstone’s herds are the largest pure bison left in the wild, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) is the only place in the U.S. where the creatures have lived continuously since prehistoric times.

“This is a huge victory,” said Ken Cole, Executive Director of the Buffalo Field Campaign, in a press release. “This is a long battle but we won a significant round for the buffalo today.” The Buffalo Field Campaign partnered with WWP and Friends of Animals to file the first petition in the lawsuit.

The park’s animals are routinely hunted and slaughtered to assuage the fears of nearby ranchers. Brucellosis is a bacterial infection that can wreak havoc on bison. According to the National Academy of Sciences, there has never been a documented case of the disease being transferred from Yellowstone’s wild bison herd to domestic cattle. Nevertheless, ranchers, especially in Montana, support a seasonal culling because they fear their cattle will become contaminated. These ranchers say they are also concerned about the competition for grass and the possibility of property damage. Thursday’s court ruling will not affect culling in 2018.

Bison were named the National Mammal of the United States in 2016. Much like the Bald Eagle, these animals have represented the West for years because of their iconic physicality and sheer numbers when America expanded westward.

Hunters and sportsmen, like Buffalo Bill Cody, would shoot the animals from trains and leave the carcasses to rot on the prairie. Wild herds dwindled from tens of millions of animals, reaching a dismal low of 1,091 animals by 1889. Though the creatures were nearly wiped from the face of the earth in the 1800s, there has been a modest rebound today, including those found in Yellowstone and smaller herds elsewhere. Now, the USFW will have to reconsider how it classifies American buffalo in Yellowstone and carefully ponder all of the scientific data, rather than just reports supporting its own position.

Mountain of American Bison Skulls

In light of Judge Cooper’s ruling, bison are now back in line to receive protection under the Endangered Species Act. For now, the court has ordered the Government to take a step toward protecting these last remaining pure bison in their natural habitat.

RELATED NEWS FROM ENVIORNEWS

The post ‘Fantastic Victory’ for Yellowstone Bison as Court Rules USFWS Must Reconsider ESA Protection appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Idaho) — Boise, Idaho — On March 22, 2018, Idaho’s Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously to direct the Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) to collect comments on a proposed grizzly bear hunting season. Idaho would allow all hunters together to shoot a grand total of one (1) male grizzly bear (yes, you did read that right), but plans to make grizzly season official are moving forward nonetheless.

Where and when people will be able to comment on the proposed hunting season has yet to be announced. Once comments are received, the IDFG is expected to use them in formulating a hunting plan for the Commission to consider.

“Idaho’s plan to open a grizzly bear hunting season is extremely reckless and dangerous,” Kelly Nokes, a staff attorney with WildEarth Guardians (Guardians), told EnviroNews. “Aside from the fact that Idaho will almost certainly violate its prior commitments under the delisting rule by opening an entire trophy hunting season for only one male grizzly bear, the State is blatantly disregarding the important role its remote wild landscapes play in fostering necessary connectivity amongst isolated grizzly bear populations.”

This hunt, and the one scheduled in Wyoming, would be the first such events in the lower-48 states since 1975 when grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) were protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Last year, on the recommendation of the Obama Administration in 2016, the grizzly was removed from the list of protected animals, allowing states to manage the populations themselves.

“It’s disappointing that another state is moving in the direction of hunting grizzly bears,” Andrea Santarsiere, Senior Attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity (the Center), told the AP. She also questioned the ability of hunters in Idaho to hunt just one male bear and not shoot any females.

The Center is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by wildlife advocates and Native Americans in an effort to restore protections for grizzlies under the ESA. According to The Missoulan, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula has “denied the federal government’s request to delay proceedings in six lawsuits” and “rejected requests by three different [environmental] groups to decide the case based on technicalities” in an effort to speed up the judicial process before the Idaho and Wyoming hunting seasons start. Judge Christensen has asked that arguments be reduced to a single set of briefs for a hearing in August.

“I don’t think we always make our best decisions, our best briefs or our best arguments in the context of emergency injunctive relief motions,” U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen said in Missoula on March 13, 2018. “It’s not efficient to deal with issues of this importance in the context of restraining orders.”

Using a formula based on a state’s terrain in the Demographic Monitoring Area (DMA) around Yellowstone National Park, and the mortality rates of grizzly bears, Montana, which is not looking to open a grizzly hunting season could allow six males to be killed, while Wyoming has opened up the opportunity to shoot 24 grizzlies (10 male bears and 2 females within the DMA and 12 outside the DMA). Toby Boudreau, Assistant Wildlife Chief for the IDFG, said Idaho wasn’t looking at hunting in the area outside the DMA this year. About 700 grizzlies live in Yellowstone and the DMA.

Boudreau also told the AP most hunters would prefer to hunt male bears, but the inadvertent killing of a female bear in the DMA would be subtracted from next year’s planned hunts in Wyoming and Idaho. Multiple killings may lead to the end of hunting seasons altogether.

“This irresponsible hunt will all but prohibit grizzly bears from reclaiming key historic habitats, such as in the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Such careless action provides a concrete example of why federal protections are so critically important for this still struggling iconic species,” Nokes concluded to EnviroNews.

As a subspecies of the brown bear, the grizzly (Ursus arctos horribilis) is not considered threatened or endangered internationally because of the large numbers of bears in Alaska and other areas. According to National Geographic, grizzlies can live up to 25 years in the wild, reach about 8 feet (2.5 m) in length and weigh up to 800 pounds (363 kg).

The post Idaho to Open Grizzly Hunting Season So Yokels Can Kill One Male Bear in Name of ‘Management’ appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Wyoming) — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGF) has sanctioned an upcoming bison hunt on the North Fork because the area’s population has skyrocketed to a whopping 18 animals. There will be two tags available for resident hunters and one tag for non-residents, making a grand total of three animals to be culled. The state’s preferred number of bison for the area is 15.

“The second Wyoming has just a few animals over their ‘goal,’ they start killing,” said Bethany Cotton, Wildlife Program Director at WildEarth Guardians (Guardians), in an email to EnviroNews.

The bison season will run from September 1 to November 1, 2018. Many residents in the North Fork area do not like the buffalo because they can destroy fences and be a road hazard.

At a meeting at Big Horn Federal Savings Bank on March 24, WGF biologist Tony Mong from Cody Region, said when a vehicle hits a 1500-pound bison, “it’s a mess.” The buffalo on the North Fork are older males “who got tired of the fast pace of living in Yellowstone.” According to Mong, “they’re older bulls kind of living on their own.” This will be the first time “in recent memory” people will be able to hunt bison in the North Fork.

Ranchers also fear the bison carry disease that may be contagious to their cattle. As EnviroNews reported earlier this year, there are no documented cases of brucellosis being transmitted from bison to cattle in the wild.

Wyoming has also announced grizzly bear hunts for 2018 — the first such hunt in over 40 years. Hunters will be allowed to kill 10 male and 2 female grizzlies in the tri-state Demographic Monitoring Area (DMA) in the Yellowstone region, and an additional 12 grizzlies outside that area. The Cowboy State will allow the hunting of grey wolves again this year too. Idaho, another state in the DMA, is currently considering opening hunting season for just one male grizzly bear.

The American bison (bison bison) is the state mammal for Wyoming and the U.S. National mammal. Tens of millions of bison once roamed the American prairies. Now, they are only found in the wild in a few places with about 5,000 specimens spanning two different herds in the Yellowstone area.

RELATED NEWS FROM ENVIRONEWS

The post Wyoming Schedules Wild Bison Hunt So a Grand Total of Three Animals Can Be Culled appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Wyoming) — Reversing what was hailed as a “fantastic victory” in federal court for both wild plains bison and environmentalists, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS/the Service), with a post in the Federal Register on September 6, 2019, made it clear that it will not be affording any Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections to the two genetically distinct bison herds living in and around Yellowstone National Park. The announcement has conservationists up in arms, calling foul, and saying the move is nothing more than an ad hoc maneuver discharged to pander to the livestock industry.

In February of 2018, EnviroNews Wyoming reported, “Federal Judge Christopher Cooper ruled USFWS officials must reconsider their 2015 decision to deny Yellowstone bison protections under the ESA.” Cooper went on to rebuke the Service in his opinion saying the agency couldn’t “simply pick and choose” studies that only supported its own position, demanding the Service to also provide science that undermines its “not warranted” stance, and then explain why those undermining studies are wrong.

The origin of that legal dust-up can be traced to a petition filed with the Service on November 14, 2014, by two environmental non-profits: Western Watersheds Project (WWP) and the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC).  The NGOs requested the Service add Yellowstone’s bison to the endangered species list as a genetically distinct population segment (DPS).  The USFWS thumbed its nose at that request, claiming it lacked the science to demonstrate a need for protection.  But Judge Cooper didn’t see it that way, in fact, opining that it was the Service that was lacking science, and ordering the agency to reevaluate its original conclusion.

The Service has now apparently done this, and it has arrived at the same result, summarizing its new findings in the Federal Register this way:

FINDING

Based on our review of the petitions and sources cited in the petitions, we find that the petitions do not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating the petitioned action may be warranted for Yellowstone National Park bison. Because the petitions do not present substantial information indicating that listing Yellowstone National Park bison may be warranted, we are not initiating a status review of this species in response to the petitions. However, we ask that the public submit to us any new information that becomes available concerning the status of, or threats to, the Yellowstone National Park bison or its habitat at any time.

In a joint press release titled, “Conservationists Blast USFWS Denial of Yellowstone Bison Protection,” WWP, BFC and a third organization, Friends of Animals (FoA), fired off at the USFWS saying the agency presented nothing new to further its case for a “not warranted” decision.

“Today’s finding does nothing to remedy the fundamental flaw in the original finding that was struck down by the District Court for the District of Columbia in 2018,” the groups wrote jointly in the statement.

“Once again, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has applied the wrong evidentiary standard in our petition to list the Yellowstone bison as threatened or endangered,” said Darrell Geist, Habitat Coordinator with the BFC. “The genetically distinct subpopulation of wild bison in the Central Range is at risk of extinction. Nothing is being done to turn that fact around.”

“The new finding continues to flaunt the Endangered Species Act’s legal requirement to use the best available science and not politics,” said Michael Harris, Legal Director at FoA.

Yellowstone’s herds harbor about 5,000 animals and contain the last continuously free-roaming plains bison (Bison bison bison) in the United States.  Genetically free from cross-bred cattle DNA, these animals are the only pure-blooded descendants from the estimated 60 million bison that once roamed the American prairie. In other words: these aren’t just your run-of-the-mill buffalo.

“Unfortunately, due to the political pressure applied by the livestock industry, America’s national mammal is confined to less than one percent of its original range,” the NGOs wrote, also pointing out that “in Yellowstone it faces the constant threat of capture and slaughter by the National Park Service as they attempt to migrate beyond the Park’s borders.”

Brought by European settlers, Brucellosis abortus is a bacteria that can infect bison and do damage to the animal’s reproductive functions and fetuses.  The bacteria can infect humans too, causing flu-like symptoms.  It’s been all but eliminated in U.S. livestock and exists primarily in elk and bison in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE).  But despite both the National Academy of Sciences and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) acknowledging that not one documented case of transmission from wild bison to cattle has occurred in the area, ranchers enthusiastically support an annual roundup and culling of any buffalo that may be carrying the pathogen.

But it’s not only fear of the spread of brucellosis that drives these ranchers to participate in thinning the herds every year. Fear of property damage and competition for prime grasslands is also a motivating factor.  Hunters kill the animals when they stray from their designated areas in a search for wintertime food.  According to the Salt Lake Tribune, over 10,000 animals have been captured and slaughtered or killed on the range “over the past several decades.”

“The simple truth is that the livestock industry does not want bison to exist as a native wildlife species in the United States,” said Josh Osher, Montana Director for the WWP. “The Trump Administration’s latest finding is one more example of [how] industry is favored over the natural world at all costs — even the potential extinction of an American icon, the wild bison.”

Considering the WWP’s history, wherein the group touts an impressive 85% success rate when suing the federal government in endangered species cases, it seems logical to surmise that the case of the Yellowstone bison will be heading back to court soon.

RECENT AND RELATED FROM ENVIRONEWS

POPULAR NEWS FROM ENVIRONEWS

OTHER BISON NEWS FROM ENVIRONEWS

The post Trump Admin. Just Denied Yellowstone Bison Endangered Species Protection, Sparking Outrage appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Wyoming) – In what is to serve as the official launch of EnviroNews Wyoming, this awesome video from the archives demonstrates a very young black bear grazing on grass and various plants in a large meadow in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

While taping the episode, the curious young bear moved closer and closer to our camera crew, at one point coming within ten feet of them. A great opportunity to see an American black bear up close and personal, set to the live and spontaneous trance music of the Shamanic Ceremonial Music Ensemble.

Welcome to EnviroNews Wyoming. Please stay tuned!

The post EnviroNews Wyoming Cameraman Captures Black Bear From Eight Feet Away in Yellowstone Park appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Wyoming) – In one of those boggling moments that life can throw you, our EnviroNews Wyoming cameraman was standing there quietly filming some beautiful and nature-filled backdrops in Yellowstone National Park when he noticed something very peculiar.

As he looked over his right shoulder he noticed what appeared to be a person hiding and squatting down behind a tree, messing around with a pair of elk antlers. What you see next will surprise you in this entertaining and fun wildlife episode. Only on EnviroNews Wyoming.

The post A Bull Elk With a Sense of Humor in Yellowstone National Park appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Wyoming) — Yellowstone National Park — It was a sobering outcome for social media activists who had been clamoring to #SpareTheBear. Despite the tumult on Twitter and fury on Facebook, Yellowstone Park managers were undeterred.

The park announced from the beginning, it would euthanize the mama grizzly that attacked and partially ate a hiker last week — and although Yellowstone’s Facebook page was inundated with posts begging park managers to rethink its decision to kill the 15-year-old female known as “Blaze,” none of the over 20,000 comments changed the minds of park managers.

To be sure, not all of the comments were against the park’s decision — some recognized the dilemma Yellowstone faced. And to its credit, Yellowstone officials tried their best to explain the decision and responded to many comments. That responsiveness seemed to assuage the anger of many upset activists:


Perhaps it was posts such as the one below, that helped calm many upset social media protesters, while eliciting some much-needed sympathy for the park’s plight:

Not everyone, however was buying the Park’s remorse:



In the end, park officials plugged their ears to the hashtag howls:

If I surprise a mama grizzly with cubs and she eats me..please do not kill the bears. Let me live on as bear energy. #Yellowstone #grizzlies

— akmk (@akmk) August 10, 2015

They overlooked the letters, and paid no attention to the petitions imploring the park not to euthanize the bear:

Petition 4 Blaze's cubs to send them to rehab, not zoo. S&S https://t.co/cYTdudd9lh #YellowstoneGrizzly @Animal_Network4 @Protect_Wldlife

— WeBeOfOneBloodYe&I (@FeketeZita) August 15, 2015

Please sign this petition to #Yellowstone or, once again, a wild animal will be destroyed due to human carelessness. https://t.co/O9QchngaSe

— Patricia McGahan (@BeachcomberNC) August 12, 2015

Instead, once DNA confirmed the 259-pound grizzly was the bear that killed 63 year old Lance Crosby, officials turned a blind eye to the posts and petitions and turned a tranquilizer gun on Blaze. Once the 15-year-old grizzly mama was heavily sedated, they fired a captive bolt into her skull.

“How could they?” asked activists (especially angry, after it was revealed the hiker had wandered off-trail and was not carrying bear spray — nor had he taken any other precautions before venturing into known bear territory).

Ultimately, the frantic Facebook posts were fruitless. Even calls to Montana Governor Steve Bullock, asking him to intervene in the death penalty case of a killer bear, fell on deaf ears.

Officials say they would not have put the animal down had the attack been a defensive move to protect the cubs. Instead, the animal was euthanized because it had eaten part of the Montana man’s body and hid the rest — which is not normal behavior for a female bear defending its young, spokeswoman Amy Bartlett told the AP.

A press release from the park, suggested the attack was predatory, and not completely defensive behavior. As proof, officials pointed to the fact that the bear partially ate the body, then hid it off-trail—covering it with leaves and pine needles — so, it seemed the animal’s intent was to return and continue feeding. “The decision to euthanize a bear is one that we do not take lightly”, said Dam Wenk, Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park in a statement a few days before they killed Blaze. “Our decision is based on the totality of the circumstances in this unfortunate event,” continued Wenk.

For protestors, the park added insult to lethal injury when it announced mama bear’s two orphaned cubs would be leaving the wide-open spaces of Yellowstone for the enclosed cages of an Ohio Zoo.

Yellowstone implied the baby bears are actually lucky, because upon examination, it was determined that both cubs had also fed on the hiker’s body — and leaving them to roam the park with the taste of human flesh fresh in their memories would have been too dangerous.

Park Spokeswoman Amy Bartlett said they would have euthanize the cubs too had a zoo not stepped in to offer the baby bears a home. “Cubs can adapt to a facility much easier, and there is no danger of them learning humans are food,” Bartlett said.

Crosby, who worked as a nurse in the park’s Lake Village area was the sixth person killed by grizzlies since 2010 in and around Yellowstone. According to the National Park Service there are between 674 and 839 grizzly bears roaming Yellowstone and nearby areas of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

Officials can’t be sure the exact number, but for certain there will be three fewer. The bear cubs will arrive at the Toledo Zoo in the next month or two. In the beginning the Zoo says the cubs will be quarantined and kept out of the public eye for awhile in order to acclimate to life there.

Sometime after 30 to 60 days, the cubs will be moved to an existing empty exhibit. The zoo isn’t sure how long it will be until the cubs are ensconced in their permanent home, but a zoo official told the Washington Post, “We are very fortunate that it’s two, so they have each other to play with.”

Many are sympathetic to posts like Ronda Carrick’s above. With their mother now dead and only a life behind bars to look forward to, the zoo’s remark that “at least the cubs will have each other” barely seems much of a bright side.

The post No Fairytale Ending for Yellowstone and the Three Bears After Park Shuns Thousands of Comments appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Wyoming) — Missoula, Montana — In a move that has angered environmentalists and wildlife enthusiasts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed on March 3, 2016, to strip the iconic Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear of its protected status under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), recommending that state-based conservation plans be used to manage the population instead.

Those management plans could also open the door for grizzly hunting — a practice that’s been outlawed in the lower 48 states since 1975 when the species was first listed to the ESA — and a practice wildlife organizations say they won’t stand for.

Ursus arctos horribilis, as the great bear is scientifically know, is currently listed as threatened by the USFWS, and occupies less than two percent of its historic home-range. The legendary predator had been poached to near extinction by the mid-twentieth century, and was one of the first species in America to receive protection under the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966. A few years later, the grizzly would also become one of the first to be listed to the ESA after it became law in 1973.

Numbers had dipped as low as 136 in the Yellowstone-Teton region back in 1975. Today, that same population harbors somewhere in the neighborhood of 715 animals — an improvement USFWS is calling a “historic success” — and a point the Service is using to justify delisting the Yellowstone grizzly. But not everyone agrees with that assessment. Environmental groups point out the species occupies a dismally low portion of its once expansive range, and say the creature should remain safely protected under the ESA.

“Like history repeating itself, the Service is once again attempting to evade its duty to protect imperiled wildlife on behalf of all Americans,” said Kelly Nokes, carnivore campaign lead for environmental group WildEarth Guardians. “The Service should be devoting public resources toward achieving grizzly bears’ recovery across their range, not cherry-picking one population to prematurely declare success while undermining restoration everywhere else,” Nokes continued.

WildEarth Guardians also says delisting the bear before any solid state conservation plans are in place to protect it would be a knee-jerk reaction, stating in a press release, “the proposed stripping of protections [is] based on mere promises of future actions.”

But not everyone is mad about the proposed delisting. Hunters, ranchers, multi-party conservation groups and government agencies are cheering the idea, saying that ESA protections are supposed to be used only to salvage a species and help its numbers to recover, whereafter the states should take over.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, a group containing the Forest Service (USFS), Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (USNPS), the state wildlife agencies of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington, as well as the British Columbia Wildlife Branch, the Alberta Wildlife Branch, and Parks Canada wrote this in a statement:

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) is encouraged by the announcement by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service that it is beginning the final step in the process to delist the Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear population. According to IGBC Chair and Director of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife James Unsworth, “It has only been through decades of committed scientific management by IGBC member agencies that the Yellowstone grizzly population has met and exceeded all biological goals set forth in the recovery plan. The goal of the Endangered Species Act is to bring populations back to the point that the states can resume control. In the case of the Yellowstone grizzly we have met that goal.

But environmental groups fired back, saying the bear would surely come under assault from multiple angles should current protections be removed. “It’s simply too soon to remove protections for grizzly bears,” asserted Andrea Santarsiere, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re prepared to make sure the Service follows the science and the law to ensure these wonderful animals can truly recover,” Santarsiere continued. “We’re disappointed that the Obama administration is taking such a narrow view of grizzly bear recovery.”

Yellowstone Grizzly Bear

Even if that is the case, some grizzly bear biologists also fear the Yellowstone population could run into a problem with lack of genetic diversity, and say the bear should remain protected — at least until the Yellowstone population can be adjoined to other still unconnected sub-populations. Environmental groups hold little faith in state-run conservation efforts, and say linking populations will be difficult without current ESA protections.

But USFWS Director Dan Ashe claims recovery can continue just fine with the states taking over. “Even with this proposed delisting, the service remains committed to the conservation of the Yellowstone grizzly bear, and will stay engaged to ensure that this incredible species remains recovered,” he said.

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE HAS TRIED AND FAILED TO DELIST THE GRIZZLY BEFORE

USFWS tried to remove protections for the grizzly a decade ago, but a federal judge shot them down following legal challenges. Now the Service is trying again, and these efforts will surely not go uncontested either.

What’s interesting in this story though, is that USFWS is not proposing merely to maintain what it calls a “stable” population — the agency is actually suggesting to reduce the number of bears for the region to 500 — a would-be drop of over 200.

“The bears will be treated as a game species after federal protections are removed, opening them up to extremely controversial sport hunting seasons in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho,” wrote WildEarth Guardians in its press release.

The possibility that conservative western states, like Idaho and Montana, would deploy hunting as part of their “conservation” strategies, must be taken very seriously. For example, Idaho’s highly controversial “wolf-killing derbies” should be examined as part of a historical track record when addressing predator conservation plans in these places. Experts tell EnviroNews Wyoming it seems likely Idaho, Montana and Wyoming could deploy similar hunts on grizzlies if the new rule takes hold.

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD UNDERWAY ON DELISTING OF YELLOWSTONE GRIZZLY

EDITOR’S NOTE: This section was amended by the EnviroNews Wyoming Editor on March 20, 2016, to reflect the opening of the public comment period.

USFWS is now holding a 60-day public comment period on the draft conservation strategy, and the supplemental 1993 Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan (Yellowstone population), where it intends to review opinions from agencies, scientists, and the public at large. Nokes told EnviroNews Wyoming it is “highly likely” WildEarth Guardians and others will “seek to have the comment period extended.”

USFWS is encouraging citizens and experts alike to make their voices heard. Members of the public may visit the following link to post their official comment in the Federal Resister: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2016/03/11/2016-05167/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-removing-the-greater-yellowstone-ecosystem-population

A BEAR OF A BATTLE TO COME

WildEarth Guardians and Center for Biological Diversity, have achieved victorious rulings in court over the federal government on hundreds of imperiled wildlife species. In fact, the two organizations alone, have forced USFWS to move forward on protections for some 800 species. To say the groups strongly oppose USFWS’ March 3 announcement would be an understatement.

“Though grizzlies occupy less than two-percent of their historic range in the lower-48 states, the Service decided to place political interests ahead of its duty to recover the species as a whole,” said WildEarth Guardians.

Center for Biological diversity already filed a petition with USFWS in June of 2014, requesting the Service revise and beef up its recovery plan for Ursus arctos — a request the Center says has fallen on deaf ears. The non-profit organization maintains there are still multiple areas in the bear’s historic range that are suitable for it to thrive — and it wants to see the animals reintroduced there.

Yellowstone Grizzly — Photo: Wikimedia Commons

WildEarth Guardians indicated to EnviroNews Wyoming that multi-group legal action is highly probable should USFWS choose to move ahead with the proposed delisting. Endangered species battles of this nature have a historic track record of dragging out for years-on-end in court before settlements or final rulings are achieved.

THE MIGHTY GRIZZLY, TOO MIGHTY FOR AMERICAN SOCIETY

Native American cultures revered, respected and even feared the mighty grizzly bear for its obvious physical power, but also for its spiritual qualities, whereas European colonists sought to wipe the creature from the face of the earth completely. That’s not to say every person of European decent or white skin color desired genocide for the iconic predator, but the same can’t be said for American society altogether, as grizzlies were hunted to complete extinction over most of their home-range.

Native Americans, as a whole, didn’t set out to obliterate the grizzly — but European pioneers did. This is not a racial point — simply a historical fact.

Sadly, the livestock-based existence of “civilized” society, just didn’t jive with the lumbering lifestyle of America’s most powerful predator — in a world in which it was the boss and had no human telling it where it could and couldn’t roam — in a world in which it wasn’t confined to zoos or the boundaries of parks and wildlife preserves.

AMERICA’S MOST POWERFUL PREDATOR REDUCED TO RUBBLE

There are six recognized distinct population segments of grizzly: The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), North Cascades sub-population, Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (Glacier National Park area), the Selway-Bitterroot Ecosystem of Idaho and Montana, the Cabinet-Yaak sub-population, and the Selkirk sub-population.

To be clear, USFWS’ proposed rule is only targeted at the GYE population, but environmental groups say this smells of a sneaky backdoor way to delist the entire grizzly bear species piece-by-piece — a move they say is not only shady, but also unlawful.

Noteworthy on this point is the fact that in the case Humane Society of the United States v. Jewell, the D.C. District Court ruled that the Service cannot remove a distinct population segment from the ESA for the purpose of delisting a species as a whole in piecemeal fashion.

“Yellowstone grizzly bears are an isolated population that is experiencing high levels of conflicts with people and is likely declining in the wake of the loss of whitebark pine, a critically important food source,” said Sylvia Fallon, a senior scientist at Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC).

No matter which way the pie is sliced, two-four percent of its historic range, doesn’t sound like much of a recovery at all to many wildlife lovers.

THE FUTURE OF THE GREAT GRIZZLY

Today, the grizzly remains in few places, with a grand total of around 1,500 specimens in the lower 48 states — down from 50,000. All but about 100 or so of those bears exist in Montana and Wyoming with about half of those belonging to the aforementioned Yellowstone-Teton population. Around 100 bears reside between eastern and northern Idaho with another 20 bears taking refuge in Washington’s Cascade Mountains. Sightings have been reported in both Utah and Colorado, though no official confirmation has been made in any of these cases.

Several legal attempts to reintroduce grizzlies into historic territories have been shot down in court over the years, leaving many to wonder if or when the lumbering giant will ever return to former strongholds of its once immense home.

Center for Biological Diversity, a group that boasts a 93% success rate in endangered species court battles, failed with a petition to introduce the grizzly to California recently, leaving people to wonder if a grizzly bear will ever step foot in the Golden State again.

In December of 2014, the Center also introduced a petition to reintroduce grizzlies into the Idaho-Montana adjoining Selway-Bitterroot — a proposal the organization said could have tremendous ecological benefit by connecting into the Yellowstone population. The region had been designated as a target for reintroduction by USFWS in 1993, but the idea was stifled during the George W. Bush administration.

Real estate, agriculture and energy production are gobbling up the West at a baffling pace. With myriad threats facing the grizzly bear, how will the species not only survive, but thrive, in a once vast wilderness, now fast disappearing.

MORE ON YELLOWSTONE BEARS FROM ENVIRONEWS WYOMING

The post Feds Attempting to Strip Yellowstone Grizzly Bear of Endangered Species Act Protection appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Nature) — In the late 1980s, farmers in Great Britain started to notice their cows stumbling around, acting strangely and losing weight. The problem got continually worse, until in 1993, more than 36,000 cattle in the UK died in a single year from mad cow disease.

Prior to 1996, the disease, scientifically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), was not believed to be a threat to humans. The British Government, in an effort to avoid a panicked reaction to the mad cow crisis, told the public the risks to humans were remote. “It is now clear that this campaign of reassurance was a mistake,” stated the report of a Parliamentary inquiry in 2000. “When on 20 March 1996 the government announced that BSE had probably been transmitted to humans, the public felt that [it] had been betrayed.”

In fact, mad cow disease had been transmitted to humans as a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a related brain disease that afflicts about one in 1,000,000 people. From 1996 to 2014, 229 cases of vCJD were reported in 12 countries, including four in the U.S. It is incurable and inevitably fatal.

BSE, as well as CJD and vCJD, are linked to malformed proteins known as prions (pronounced pree-on). Since they are not viruses or bacteria, they do not elicit an immune response from the body. Thus, they go undetected and can progress quietly for many years. In humans, the average incubation period for CJD is estimated at about 17 years, but can be as short as 15 months or as long as 40 years. Cattle can be infected with BSE from two to eight years before showing symptoms.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), another prion disease, affects cervids: mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, moose and caribou. It is found in 24 states and two Canadian provinces as well as Norway and South Korea. Some of the cases have occurred in captive herds, where the animals are likely to be euthanized once the disease is detected. In the wild though, infected animals weaken slowly until they can no longer forage for enough food; becoming disoriented and feeble, they wind up easy prey for cougars, bears or wolves.

Dr. Debbie McKenzie, a biologist at the Center for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases at the University of Alberta, told EnviroNews Nature:

The disease is spread naturally via movement of cervid populations. Infected animals shed CWD prions in saliva, feces and urine. We and others have demonstrated that the CWD prions bind avidly to soil and soil minerals and that the infectivity can persist for years in the environment. As infected deer move across the landscape, they can infect other deer directly by animal to animal contact or indirectly via environmental contamination.

A 2016 report by Michael W. Miller of the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife and John R. Fischer of the University of Georgia states, “Based on experience to date, the true geographic distribution of CWD likely remains underestimated.”

No human infections related to CWD are known. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns, “Because of the long time between exposure to CWD and the development of disease, many years of continued follow-up are required to be able to say what the risk, if any, of CWD is to humans.”

Zoonotic diseases such as malaria, Lyme disease and rabies, are those that can be transmitted from animals to humans. Laboratory studies have indicated that a “species barrier” may exist, preventing CWD prions from infecting humans. The caveat however, is that BSE prions do cause disease in humans, and that 92 percent of squirrel monkeys given CWD prions orally in a 2014 study were susceptible to infection. In the same study though, cynomolgus macaques did not show susceptibility. The study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, concluded that humans are at a low risk of contracting CWD, but stated, “Nevertheless, it remains sensible to minimize exposure to tissues potentially contaminated with the CWD agent.”

McKenzie said that among the most significant new developments in the field is the identification of different CWD strains. “The importance of strains is that each prion strain has unique characteristics.” These include different incubation periods, neuropathology and range distribution. “This becomes important when assessing the zoonotic potential of CWD. Most of the work performed to date addressing the question of zoonotic potential has centered on the most common strain of CWD; the emerging strains have not been tested yet.”

Even though mad cow disease has now been reduced by regulations banning the use of cattle and chicken byproducts in cattle feed, there may be thousands of Europeans walking around with latent variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease who don’t even know it.

But new studies, published December 21, 2016, in Science Translational Medicine, show promising results for early detection of the disease through blood exams. The tests were 100 percent accurate in diagnosing vCJD in 32 patients against 391 healthy controls. Currently, detection is only possible once symptoms appear and can only be confirmed by examining brain tissue after death.

A separate study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013 found that the antihistamine Astimezole lengthened the lifespan of mice infected with prion disease. The study was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has been targeted for a $5.8 billion budget cut by the Trump Administration.

Responsibility for dealing with prion diseases in the U.S. is spread among multiple state and federal agencies. At the federal level, the CDC is primarily responsible for human disease. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) handles human protection efforts while the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates and inspects slaughter practices. Research is the purview of the NIH. Oversight takes place at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In addition to proposed cuts at NIH, which includes the CDC, Trump’s budget proposal calls for slashing $9.3 billion from HHS beyond the cuts targeted for the NIH. The Administration also seeks to slash $4.7 billion from the USDA.

Research and action on prion diseases inside some of these agencies is already weak, out of date or underfunded. The FDA’s recommendations to industry on the use of deer and elk in animal feed were issued in 2003 and are non-binding. The HHS management plan for CWD is 15 years old.

Meanwhile, CWD is a rapidly growing problem. On March 28, 2017, an entire herd of more than 70 deer were euthanized at a deer farm in Iowa after CWD was detected. In Wisconsin, testing by the state’s Department of Natural Resources in 2016 found 7.3 percent of the state’s deer were infected with CWD. The disease has been moving west across the state of Wyoming and now threatens the Jackson Hole area, which has so far been uninfected.

A study released in January 2017 found infected mule deer just 35 miles from the National Elk Refuge (NER) in Jackson Hole. Infected elk are within 160 miles of the refuge. The elk that concentrate in the NER during winter migrate as far as Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

The disease spreads more easily where elk are concentrated in refuges, which is partly the result of a feeding program. “Supplemental winter feeding for elk has occurred on the NER and U.S. Forest Service lands in Wyoming for over 100 years,” the study states. “This practice typically results in a highly concentrated elk herd from January to April.” Some 46 winter feeding grounds are located in the western U.S., in what is becoming an evermore controversial practice due to the explosion of CWD in America’s ungulates.

The Jackson elk herd numbers about 11,000 animals. Local predators include wolves, coyotes, cougars and bears. Hunting is allowed on the refuge. The study, conducted by the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, determined that if CWD reaches the refuge and hunting continues, the elk population could decline below a sustainable level. “A declining population becomes more probable with increasing disease prevalence, particularly in the presence of recent harvest levels,” the study concluded.

Outside the U.S., Norway has just announced plans to exterminate an entire herd of up to 2,200 caribou to stop the spread of CWD, which arrived in Europe in 2016. Many wildlife managers in the U.S. have resorted to special hunts or to using sharpshooters to cull herds, though few such programs have worked.

The only state known to have had success in eliminating CWD within its borders is New York. The disease was found in two deer in captive facilities and two wild deer in 2005. Aggressive efforts to manage and monitor the state’s deer population have paid off: no new cases of CWD have been found in the past 11 years. And that has been the sole bright spot in an otherwise dark story.

In 1997, CWD had only been discovered in three states: Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota, as well as Saskatchewan, Canada. Twenty years later, it ranges from Montana to Texas, west to Utah and east to the Great Lakes region, as well as into Alberta. Some observers see a scary parallel with mad cow disease — only this time, the killer is on the loose in the wild, not in captivity.

Writing in ZD Net in 2012, science writer John Rennie stated, “Both [mad cow and CWD] are diseases that affect animals with major economic value. Both, at least in the early stages of their epidemics, seemed like they would be containable and non-threatening to humans.”

The potential for CWD to cause harm, were it to spread to humans, may be more worrying than for BSE. The prions responsible for mad cow disease are generally confined to the nervous system, whereas those for CWD can be found in blood, bones, muscle and fat tissue as well. Domestic cattle are often confined to farms and ranches, and are well controlled. Wild deer, elk, moose and caribou move freely and many migrate seasonally.

There are 10 million deer hunters in the U.S. They can become exposed to infected animals when dressing the kill or when consuming it — often with family and friends. Cooking does not destroy prions. Hunters are generally advised to avoid deer or elk that are acting abnormally, and to wear rubber gloves when field dressing a kill. They are also warned not to consume brain or spinal cord tissues, eyes, spleen or lymph nodes.

Shrinking federal budgets for research and management won’t make it any easier to stop the spread of CWD in animals or to prevent a mad cow-like outbreak in humans either.

“Surveillance and management interventions have declined over the past decade,” McKenzie told EnviroNews Nature in an email. “It is important that we continue to monitor the geographic spread of the disease, providing information to hunters, aboriginal people and others as to the areas where the disease is endemic.”

RELATED:

The post Invasion of the Zombie Elk — Chronic Wasting Disease Spreading Fast, Nearing Yellowstone Herds appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Montana) — Washington D.C. — EnviroNews Montana Exclusive: On April 25, 2017, U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced the “Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act” (Yellowstone Act) — a bill seeking to permanently ban mining on 30,000 public acres in the Paradise Valley of Montana, just outside Yellowstone National Park (Yellowstone). The legislation follows up on a two-year pause on gold and other types of mining in the region, announced in 2016. If signed into law, the Yellowstone Act will protect public land in the Custer Gallatin National Forest adjacent to Yellowstone and the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness.

“The Upper Yellowstone River contributes $70 million a year to the economy of Park County through fishing alone. This pristine waterway supports some of the best recreation and some of the most important agricultural areas in the West and brings with it economic stability and good-paying jobs,” Tester told EnviroNews Montana in an email for this exclusive report. He continued:

The proposed mines in the area risk the water quality of this critical river. Cities and towns downstream rely on the Yellowstone for drinking water and a lot of agriculture producers irrigate from the Yellowstone. Water is a finite resource and we must protect it for future generations, which is why I introduced [the Yellowstone Act] to protect the Paradise Valley from large-scale mining.

Tester also said Yellowstone as a whole is “a huge economic driver” for Montana and that more than 4 million people visit Yellowstone annually “to take in its breathtaking views.”

“These visitors contribute $196 million per year to the economy of Park County, Montana,” he added. “That’s why a proposed mine on the doorstep of Yellowstone is so dangerous. It threatens jobs and the economy in the area.”

The Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition (The Coalition), a group of Montana businesses and landowners, has been an important partner to Tester in protecting the area surrounding Yellowstone from mining. It was The Coalition that originally requested a “mineral withdrawal,” which started the two-year mining pause, and could protect the lands in question for up to 20 years if finalized, according to environmental law firm Earthjustice.

A mineral withdrawal limits mining on specific public lands in order to maintain other public values or purposes in the area. The Coalition’s Park County Economic Report describes the thriving local economy and how it is intimately interwoven with Yellowstone’s natural bounty and provides the stats Tester quoted above.

Tracy Raich, Owner of Raich Montana Properties, described The Coalition’s work in this way in a Tester press release:

We are advocates of property rights. We are not anti-mining. We understand that there are places to mine, but the door step of [Yellowstone] isn’t one of them. The spectacular public lands, agricultural heritage, clean rivers and streams surrounding this area give the region a competitive advantage. The lifeblood of our economy is tied to these high-quality natural resources.

The two proposed gold mine locations near Yellowstone are known as the Crevice and Emigrant mining districts. Tester’s Yellowstone Act would permanently withdraw federal mineral rights on 30,000 acres and prohibit the expansion of new proposed mines onto unclaimed public land.

Mining companies Lucky Minerals and Crevice Mining Group are seeking permission to explore for gold on private lands in the area, but according to Yellowstone Insider, Tester said any large extraction projects “would need a lot of land to expand, since the private parcels are relatively small and surrounded by federal lands. The legislation will take away the incentive to mine in the region, in effect stopping large mining close to the Paradise Valley.”

EnviroNews asked Tester how much momentum he thought he could gather for the Yellowstone Act and whether he thought Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke would support it. To that, the Senator responded:

I am hopeful that Secretary Zinke will help push this bill forward. As [a] Congressman, Secretary Zinke supported the bill and now it’s my hope that by working together we can get Senator Daines (R-MT) on board so we can get a hearing in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Yellowstone Insider reports Tester stated he will broach companion legislation with whoever wins Zinke’s former seat in the May 25 special election. Tester also recently launched an email fundraising campaign seeking public support, sharing this compelling narrative:

Imagine loading your family into the car for a trip to Yellowstone. Sleeping bags in the trunk. Kids in the back seat. On your way to the gate, you look out over the landscape and see — mining equipment. I don’t think it’s a good idea either.

While Tester sees passing the Yellowstone Act as the crucial “first step in protecting the doorstep to Yellowstone National Park,” he told EnviroNews he would also “like to see Congress invest in addressing the maintenance backlog that is plaguing all our parks. In Yellowstone alone, the unmet maintenance needs total $632 million.”

In related news, on April 26, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order instructing Zinke to review 27 national monument designations made under the Antiquities Act since Jan. 1, 1996. A public comment period is now open – the deadline is May 26 for Bears Ears National Monument and July 10 for all others. The Center for Biological Diversity urges the public to defend Bears Ears and all of the monuments by signing a letter to Zinke on its site.

On May 15, WildEarth Guardians (Guardians) revealed Zinke is dismissing the thousands of comments entered before May 11. Guardians encourages monument supporters to submit or re-submit their comments and also offers a signable letter to Zinke on its website.

Tester had this to say to EnviroNews about the monument review:

I don’t think there’s any harm popping the hood and taking a look to make sure things are working for folks in rural America. However, if the outcome rolls back public access and undermines the outdoor economy surrounding these treasured places, I’ll be the first person to defend our Montana way of life.

OTHER GREAT ENVIRONEWS REPORTS ON YELLOWSTONE AND SURROUNDING AREAS:

The post Sen. Jon Tester Wants Your Help to Stop All Future Mining Around Yellowstone appeared first on EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists.

Tweet

(EnviroNews Nature) — Washington D.C. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced June 22, 2017, that it has finalized its plan to rescind Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), and turn management of the iconic creature over to three western states — Idaho, Wyoming and Montana — all red states legendary for their predator hunts and even “wolf-killing derbies.”

Once implemented, the rule would open the doors for trophy hunting of the iconic predator, despite the fact that grizzlies occupy only two percent of their historic range in the lower 48 states. Environmental groups and conservationists responded with harsh criticism of the federal government, as more wildlife-based lawsuits loom.

In a joint press release titled,”Planned Trophy Hunts Would Fundamentally Undermine Grizzly Recovery,” WildEarth Guardians (Guardians), alongside the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC), blasted USFWS saying, “The Service is derailing the recovery of this iconic species by prematurely stripping the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears of federal protections. As a result of today’s announcement, Yellowstone’s bears may soon face a trophy hunter firing line once they roam outside the safety of our beloved national parks.”

“The Service’s determination that an isolated population of 700 grizzlies is fully recovered and no longer in need of federal protections is absurd. It’s a purely political decision devoid of any scientific support,” the press release continued.

But Ryan Zinke, Trump’s Secretary of the Interior, says it’s time to call USFWS’s efforts a “success,” and for the federal government to delist the bear and move on. “This achievement stands as one of America’s great conservation successes; the culmination of decades of hard work and dedication on the part of state, tribal, federal and private partners,” Zinke said. “As a Montanan, I am proud of what we’ve achieved together.”

The USFWS news release on the plan stated:

Due to the success of conservation efforts and collaboration among a variety of stakeholders, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced today that the Yellowstone population of the grizzly bear has been recovered to the point where federal protections can be removed and overall management can be returned to the states and tribes. The population has rebounded from as few as 136 bears in 1975 to an estimated 700 today and meets all the criteria for delisting.

USFWS first announced it intended to delist the GYE grizzly on March 3, 2016. At the time, local EnviroNews Wyoming reported the draft plan not only called for delisting of the species, but to actually reduce the population from approximately 700 bears to around 500. Based on Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana’s historical track records, it seems almost certain that hunting will be a part of the state-based “management” and “conservation” strategies.

Still, many groups are happy about the delisting decision. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC), a group made up of the Forest Service (USFS), Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (USNPS), the state wildlife agencies of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington, as well as the British Columbia Wildlife Branch, the Alberta Wildlife Branch, and Parks Canada cheers the government’s plan and wrote this in a statement last March when USFWS released its draft plan:

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee is encouraged by the announcement by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service that it is beginning the final step in the process to delist the Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear population. According to IGBC Chair and Director of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife James Unsworth, “It has only been through decades of committed scientific management by IGBC member agencies that the Yellowstone grizzly population has met and exceeded all biological goals set forth in the recovery plan. The goal of the Endangered Species Act is to bring populations back to the point that the states can resume control. In the case of the Yellowstone grizzly we have met that goal.

While government agencies, the states, hunters and ranchers applaud the decision to delist the bear and allow hunts to commence, conservationists fervently disagree, and call the move “a gift to trophy hunting.” One of environmentalists’ main concerns is that the GYE population lacks genetic diversity, and must be allowed to adjoin still unconnected sub-populations — an event they say will only happen if federal ESA protections remain in place.

Kelly Nokes, Carnivore Advocate at WildEarth Guardians, in tandem with Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center who “represents Guardians in a forthcoming challenge,” are leading the resistance to USFWS’s plan, and explained the need to continue protecting the bear in their press release:

Full grizzly bear recovery includes establishing natural connectivity between the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem sub-population in and around Glacier National Park, and re-establishing a viable population in the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Grizzlies must eventually connect across the six recovery zones, including with the sub-populations of the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yak ecosystems and bears in the North Cascades ecosystem.

Guardians is a prominent environmental non-profit with a track record of high success in suing the federal government for failing to protect endangered species. An epic decade-long legal battle between USFWS and the Center for Biological Diversity and Guardians, culminated in a landmark settlement wherein the USFWS agreed to move forward toward protection of some 800 previously imperiled wildlife species. It now looks as if the future of the great GYE grizzly bear will fall yet again to the courts.

FOR AN IN-DEPTH READ ON THE GOVERNMENT’S MOVE TO DELIST THE YELLOWSTONE GRIZZLY, VISIT THE LONG-READ BY ENVIRONEWS WYOMING BELOW:

MORE ON YELLOWSTONE BEARS FROM ENVIRONEWS WYOMING

RELATED:

Tweet

(EnviroNews Nature) — On August 30, 2017, WildEarth Guardians (Guardians), a nonprofit environmental group legendary for suing the federal government on wildlife issues, sued the Trump Administration — this time for stripping the iconic Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) of its endangered species status — a move the Administration made on June 30. Guardians is represented by attorneys from the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) in the case.

“The Service’s premature removal of crucial federal safeguards undermines the recovery of the species as a whole, while subjecting grizzlies stepping outside the safety of our national parks to state-sanctioned trophy hunting,” Guardians stated in a press release.

Back in June when the bear was delisted, President Trump’s Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said, “This achievement stands as one of America’s great conservation successes; the culmination of decades of hard work and dedication on the part of state, tribal, federal and private partners” — a sentiment not shared by conservationists.

“The Service failed to carry out its paramount – and mandatory – duty to ensure grizzly bears in the contiguous United States are recovered to the point at which the protections of the Endangered Species Act are no longer necessary,” said Kelly Nokes, carnivore advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “The Service’s decision is riddled with flaws, not based in science nor the law, and places this icon of all that is wild squarely in the crosshairs of extinction once again.”

A draft copy of Guardians’ legal complaint, obtained by EnviroNews earlier this week, accuses the federal government, and specifically Secretary Zinke, the Department of the Interior (DOI), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) alongside its Director Greg Sheehan, for failing to evaluate how delisting the Yellowstone grizzly “may affect the survival and conservation of the remaining grizzlies in the contiguous United States.” In these regards, the suit accuses USFWS of acting in a manner “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”

Grizzlies presently occupy only two percent of their historic range in the lower-48 states, dropping from around 50,000 bears when settlements began, to around 1,800 today. By the mid-1970s, the Yellowstone grizzly’s numbers had plummeted to as low as 136 bears, and in 1975, Ursus arctos horribilis became one of the first animals listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The bear was already amongst the first species to be listed to the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966.

Guardians also elucidates in clause 25 of its complaint that “Grizzlies have one of the slowest reproductive rates of all terrestrial animals,” with the “average age of first reproduction by a grizzly in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem [being] six years old.”

One of the greatest concerns to scientists in the recovery of the bear is genetic diversity. Researchers say it is imperative that the GYE population be allowed to adjoin with other nearby, but still unconnected, grizzly populations in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming — a task they say will be impossible without federal safeguards. But now, “Grizzly bears inside the Distinct Population Segment (DPS) 25 boundary are now classified as a ‘game’ species,” the lawsuit states. Clause 76 of the suit reminds the court that all three states in question have already “announced plans to allow recreational hunting of grizzly bears within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.”

Guardians’ lawsuit elaborated this way:

The Service’s 2017 final delisting rule does not restrict where the states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming may allow recreational hunting of grizzly bears outside National Parks. Recreational hunting may be allowed on lands adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. Recreational hunting may be allowed in areas where grizzly bears congregate to consume food sources, including moth sites, carcasses, root fields, and spawning areas. Recreational hunting may be allowed in important linkage zone or connectivity areas used by grizzly bears that disperse outside Yellowstone National Park.

Wyoming, Montana and Idaho are all red states well-known for their big predator hunts. When USFWS’s protection-stripping rule was finalized in June, it turned management of the creatures over to the wildlife programs in those states — states that time and again have included predator hunts as part of their “conservation” strategies. These states have even played host to wolf and coyote killing derbies in the past — events that have enraged conservationists and animal rights activists alike.

Idaho Wolf and Coyote Killing Derby

“Biologists agree that grizzly recovery hinges on connecting isolated populations and distributing the genes they carry,” said Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. “Under this illegal and ill-advised plan, dispersing grizzlies essential to species recovery would be the first to die.”

The lawsuit also contends that it is illegal for USFWS to delist an isolated population within a “metapopulation” because “in 1975, the Service listed all grizzly bears in the contiguous United States as a single, threatened species under the ESA,” and furthermore that, “under the ESA, a fragment of a species’ current range cannot be declared recovered before the species is recovered at the larger, regional scale.”

In its press release, Guardians also pointed out that the Yellowstone grizzly has been unusually hard hit over the past two years, adding to the case to put the predator back on the endangered list. Guardians stated:

At last count, approximately 690 grizzly bears resided in the Greater Yellowstone region in 2016, down from 2015’s count of 717 bears. The last two years had near record-breaking grizzly mortality, with at least 139 bears killed since 2015 (including 20 documented deaths thus far in 2017, 58 dead bears in 2016, and 61 dead grizzlies in 2015). Of those, at least 98 bears died due to human-causes and 30 deaths remain undetermined or are still under investigation.

WildEarth Guardians, alongside the Center for Biological Diversity, sued the federal government in a behemoth decade-long lawsuit that resolved in 2011. The result: the USFWS agreed as part of the landmark settlement, to move forward with protective measures for over 800 previously unprotected imperiled species. The Center for Biological Diversity, often partnered with WildEarth Guardians in wildlife actions, boasts a 93 percent success rate on wildlife cases against the federal government. The courts have frequently sided with conservation groups in the past. Now, the public is watching and wondering if the courts will force the federal government to protect a beleaguered species once again in the case of the Yellowstone grizzly.

RELATED COVERAGE FROM ENVIRONEWS ON THE DELISTING OF THE GREAT YELLOWSTONE GRIZZLY:

MORE ON YELLOWSTONE BEARS FROM ENVIRONEWS WYOMING

OTHR RELATED NEWS FROM ENVIRONEWS: