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Wolfwatcher

10 hours ago

Alaskan island wolves caused a deer population to plummetbit.ly/3DfDxIUOnly in recent decades, particularly with the reintroduction and legal protection of sea otters, have the populations of both species recovered and once again overlapped, providing new opportunities for predator-prey interactions between the twospecies.Historically, wolves and sea otters likely lived in the study area,Pleasant Island, the study area is adjacent to Glacier Bay and 40 West of Juneau.Wolves on an Alaskan switched to primarily eating sea otters in just a few years, a finding scientists believe is the first case of sea otters becoming the primary food source for a land-based predator. Using methods such as tracking the wolves with GPScollars and analyzing their scat the scientist discovered that sea otters had become the primary food source as the deer population had declined.Sea otters are this famous predator in the near-shore ecosystem and wolves are one of the most famous apex predators in terrestrial systems. So, it’s pretty surprising that sea otters have become the most important resource feeding wolves. You have top predators feeding on a top predator.Members of Levi’s lab in Oregon used molecular tools, such as DNA metabarcoding and genotyping of the scat, to identify individual wolves and determine their diets.GPS-collared wolves also provide evidence that the wolves are killing sea otters when they are in shallow water or are resting on rocks near shore exposed at low tide.Eating an occasional sea otter that has washed up on shore is understood, but the fact that wolves are eating so many of them indicates it has become a widespread behavior pattern throughout this pack and something that they learned how to do very quickly.The wolves are stalking them and dragging the bodies up on the land above the high tide line to consume them. This was documented throughout the Alexander Archipelago, a group of Southeastern Alaskan islands which includes Pleasant Island.That same research has now been extended to Katami and the same behavior is being found about the killing and eating ofSea otters.Photo: John Hyde Alexander ... See MoreSee Less

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Wolfwatcher

10 hours ago

Wolves are coming: Livestock growers voice concernsbit.ly/3YkvC5dWolves are coming!” was an oft-repeated statement at Saturday’s Holy Cross Cattlemen’s Association meeting in Rifle. And, indeed, they are. In fact, if all goes according to plan, wolves will be released into Colorado in December of this year. But, Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s (CPW) draft plan, made public in December 2022, is complicated.Concerns:Predator pressure combined with the impacts of drought on grazing allotment rotation, water shortages, water use efficiency, compensation for livestock losses due to wolves and lethal control of wolves were some of the concerns discussed during the panel.“We can’t expect as livestock producers to get everything we think we need and we have to also give some concessions to the other side,” We worked on a lot of really contentious issues and we came to agreement on some things that shocked me,” she said. “There were some advocates that agreed that we need lethal control.”Rancher worries:The ability to use lethal control is right up there with loss compensation as what worries ranchers most.10J RuleEnter something called the 10J rule, which was a big topic at Saturday’s meeting. The rule is part of the ESA and allows the USFWS to “designate a population of a listed species as experimental if it will be released into suitable natural habitat outside the species’ current range.”Mexican wolves live under 10] also.Delia Malone, ecologist and wildlife chair of the Colorado Sierra Club, told The Sopris Sun in an interview that the 10J rule is a down-listing of a species from “endangered” to “threatened.”CPW would like the 10J rule to be in place prior to December 2023, but USFWS must complete an analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). If the reintroduced wolves hit the ground in Colorado before the NEPA process is complete, the wolves will remain protected as endangered.So it goes with any state the problems and thoughts about the Introduction of wolves..Things that we have written about are allthe normal positions and thoughts of people and especially those who are scared and perhaps angry.The thoughts of modern Americans have a long history with LittleRed Riding Hood ideas. Older citizens certainly know the story and many of them are ranchers who many be involved in Colorado.Photo: Animalsarea.com ... See MoreSee Less

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