Wildlife

Friday, November 20, 2009

Arts and Culture | Wildlife

10/28/2009

Robert Beall won the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest with the portrait above. Beall, the Washington Post tells us, is a farmer, fish taxidermist and wildlife artist from Maryland — and after 27 years of trying, he's finally won the only art competition sponsored by the U.S. government.

The government prints 3.1 million duck stamps a year. You can't mail a letter with a duck stamp. You need a stamp to hunt ducks, and stamps are collected by birders, hunters and philatelists. The government has been printing duck stamps since 1934 and the program has raised more than $750 million, enough to purchase 6 million acres of wildlife habitat.

Beall painted a wigeon. He first entered the competition in 1982 and in 1983, he came in second — losing to a pair of wigeons. The Fish and Wildlife Service selects five waterfowl a year for the contest. This year the Service picked the wood duck, the gadwall, the cinnamon teal, the blue-winged teal and the wigeon. Beall thought the wood ducks would drive the judge snow-blind and that the teals were "niche ducks." So he painted a wigeon, and won. "Now I'll always be referred to as a Federal Duck Stamp winner," said Bealle. "It may not mean a lot to most people, but to me it means a hell of a lot."

Travel/Recreation | Wildlife

Killing Tradition: Dominion and Autonomy

01/08/2009

A folklorist explores some of the social and ethical issues of hunting. And reviewer David Romtvedt tracks down several more.

Food | Travel/Recreation | Wildlife

West Virginia's Hunters Step Up to the Plate

12/29/2008

Deer hunting dominates the Mountain State this time of year. Sharpshooters are targeting hunger as well as big bucks.

Wildlife

Pickens Swoops In To Save Wild Horses

11/18/2008

The wife of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens has offered to "adopt" more than 30,000 captive wild horses and burros. The animals were mostly likely to be killed or sold for slaughter. Madeleine Pickens' (above, with T. Boone) offer ended a proposal to euthanize or sell more than 10,000 animals. Pickens made her proposal at a meeting Monday of federal officials and a wild horse advisory committee.

The Washington Post described it as a "dramatic rescue" by the couple, who are "lifelong animal lovers." Madeleine Pickens is now searching for land where the horses can be pastured. Some 33,000 horses still roam federal lands in 10 Western states; most are in Nevada. The land can only sustain 27,000 horses, so each year up to 13,000 horses are rounded up and put in holding pens. There are now 30,000 horse in these pens and these are the animals the Pickens will adopt.

Adoption of wild horses has declined while the cost of feed has almost doubled. A Government Accountability Office report called the situation a "crisis" last week.

Environment | Wildlife

There Are More Grizzlies — And More Grizzly Problems

09/17/2008

The U.S. Geological Survey announced Tuesday that there were about 765 grizzly bears in northwestern Montana, a good bit more bear than the 250 to 350 estimated earlier. The results came from a five-year study of grizzly DNA derided as pork (to mix meat metaphors) by John McCain. Montanans wanted the study in the hopes that a high bear-count would lead to reduced restrictions on oil drilling and logging.

Now that there are more bear, there are more bear problems, reports the Choteau Acantha, a weekly paper in Teton County. Melody Martinsen reports that bears are increasingly dining on local livestock as they try to put on weight before winter. Bears are munching on sheep and cattle like they were party favors. Ranchers are setting snares, catching and relocating bears. Sheep producer John Hayne had put up three sides of an electric fence (paid for in part by Defenders of Wildlife), but the bears came in side four. Hayne fired some "cracker shells" at the grizzlies and chased them away. It's pretty exciting out there in Teton County.

Ag and Trade | Cool Places | Environment | Media | Wildlife

One Shocking Story at a Time: Saving the Sierra

06/07/2008

"It shocked the industry," says Brett Matzke, a self-avowed "fish kisser." Matzke was referring to the cattle industry and "Cowboy Unite" -- a collaboration of ranchers (like Todd Swickard, above), enviromentalists, and federal agencies. These age-old combattants agreed to work together to improve cattle management in the Plumas National Forest and bring back the fragile creek that runs through it. And they're succeeding.

Two media pros now present the compelling story of "Cowboy Unite" and other true tales of rural California via Saving the Sierra Radio. The project, led by Catherine Sifter and jesikah maria ross, lets top notch radio features prove what federal forestry officials, residents, cattlemen, and environmentalists like Matzke (a trout conservationist) all want and how many long-range interests they share.

As Sifter writes in the latest edition of Sierra Citizen, the goal is to "make downstream communities more aware of conservation issues at the top of their watersheds, and motivate greater involvement throughout the state." How do you do that? Writes Sifter, by airing "real rural voices."

Did you think bringing fish kissers and cow punchers together was impossible? Listen in for lots more shockers.

Environment | Health | Wildlife

West Nile Virus: A Bite Out of Summer

06/05/2008

The mosquito-borne West Nile Virus, threatening human and equine health, may now stop sport-hunting on a wild bird, too.

Travel/Recreation | Wildlife

Feral Pigs: First Property, Then Scourge, Now 'Wildlife'

01/15/2008

Are feral pigs private property, an invasive species or wildlife? The latter, says Pennsylvania's Supreme Court. Enthusiastic hog hunters must wait for boar season, whenever that may be.