The digest is a roundup of news concerning fish and wildlife management in Washington and beyond.

Washington Fish & Wildlife News

Index

Washington Fish & Wildlife News

National & International Fish & Wildlife News

On the Lighter Side

Washington Fish & Wildlife News

Top News

Inside Olympia – Claire Loebs Davis and Dan Wilson from Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. TVW. June 27, 2024.

• For the final episode in Inside Olympia’s three-part series on fish and wildlife management in Washington State, host Austin Jenkins interviews Claire Loebs Davis and Dan Wilson from Backcountry Hunters and Anglers about management in general, cougar hunting, and the proposal to downlist wolves.

Wolf killed in Asotin County after being caught in the act of attacking livestock. Eric Barker, Lewiston Tribune. July 9, 2024.

• A rancher killed a male Couse pack wolf on July 8 near Anatone in Asotin County. The wolf was allegedly chasing cattle when a rancher shot him. WDFW is investigating and will not release more information until it has finished.

My Turn – Wait before implementing cougar rule changes (letter to the editor). Dan Carlton, Methow Valley News. July 4, 2024.

• The writer responds to Tim Coleman’s June 13 column, which explained the urgent need to pass the new cougar rule this summer. In contrast, Carlton denies that there is any pressing need to reform rules that have led to cougar overkilling, writing that such a claim is “gross hyperbole” and decrying the “politicization” of the Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Study: Food availability more important than predators for white-tailed deer in northeast Washington. Michael Wright, The Spokesman Review. June 28, 2024.

• “The most important thing limiting [the northeast Washington] deer population is the amount of food that’s available to them,” saus Taylor Ganz, a research scientist at the University of Washington. Ganz is the lead author of a new study, “White-tailed deer population dynamics in a multi-predator landscape shaped by humans.” The paper is the latest from Washington’s predator-prey project, a collaborative effort between the WDFW and the University of Washington to analyze how game species respond to predators in the state.
• UW News offers more explanation of the findings: that habitat is the primary factor affecting white-tailed deer populations, followed by cougar predation.

Southern resident orca numbers decline during census year; Bigg’s orcas continue to expand. Christopher Dunagan, Puget Sound Institute at University of Washington. July 5, 2024.

• A preliminary census of killer whales (the official report will be issued next month) finds that two Southern Residents have died over the past year, according to the Center for Whale Research. One of the deceased was the only known calf born in 2023, known as J60. A third orca, the male designated L85, has also been missing for several months.
• On June 28, WDFW issued an emergency rule for the fourth year in a row, ordering commercial whale watching boats to stay half a nautical mile from Southern Resident killer whales due to their poor body condition.

State Democrat Environment, Climate Caucus (ECC) adopts resolution recognizing inherent rights of Southern Resident Orca. Kriss Kevorkian, The Orcasonian. June 26, 2024.

• Last month, the Environment and Climate Caucus of the Washington State Democrats voted to approve a resolution recognizing Southern Resident killer whales’ inherent rights to “life, liberty, autonomy, free and safe passage, adequate food supply from naturally occurring sources, and freedom from conditions that cause Orcas’ physical emotional, or mental harm.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Releases Final Environmental Impact Statement on Proposed Strategy to Manage Invasive Barred Owls to Protect At-Risk Spotted Owls (press release). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. July 3, 2024.

• FWS has released its final Environmental Impact Statement on its proposal to kill barred owls for the benefit of spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest. According to the press release, “The Service’s preferred alternative is the implementation of a proposed Barred Owl Management Strategy, which would result in the annual removal of less than one-half of 1% of the current North American barred owl population.”
• Read news coverage by the Associated Press (via The Washington Post).
• Feds draw up final plan to kill hundreds of thousands of barred owls in PNW. Lynda V. Mapes, The Spokesman-Review. July 3, 2024.
• S. Fish and Wildlife propose killing half a million of one species to save another. Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest News. July 3, 2024.

Wolves

The Wolves Are Back. Kevin Schofield, South Seattle Emerald. July 6, 2024.

• The article applauds wolf reintroduction because wolves are a critical apex predator, summarizing WDFW report of increased wolf numbers in Washington. It also notes the minimal “disruption” to ranchers and the contributions of wolves to the state’s natural ecosystems.

Monthly wolf report- June 2024. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. July 8, 2024.

• WDFW provides updates on Washington’s wolves for the month of June, including probable and confirmed predation incidents involving the Couse, Leadpoint, and Togo packs.

Further Reading

The time for gray wolf management to change is now. Pam Lewison, Washington Policy Center. July 2, 2024.

Cougars & Bears

Massive ‘Well-Fed’ Bear Visits a Washington Backyard. Bethanie Hestermann, Outdoors. July 6, 2024.

• Bothell residents spotted a bear that one witness guessed weighed 1,000 pounds in a neighbor’s backyard, where it ate from a bird feeder and “lazed around.”

Thurston County’s urban neighborhoods have had a flurry of bear sightings.  Here’s why. Gabrielle Feliciano, The Olympian. July 6, 2024.

• Feliciano explains that the high number of bear sightings in urban Thurston County in June is the result of “human-provided bear attractants,” including “garbage, bird feed, beehives, fruit trees, and other food sources.” So far, the bears “have not done any serious damage,” and WDFW will focus on educating people about removing bear attractants and otherwise protecting their property.

Further Reading

Stevens County grizzly bear returns, last seen breaking into chicken coop. Vinny Saglimbeni, KREM2. June 7, 2024.

Managing bear encounters in the East Cascades. NCW Life Channel. July 2, 2024.

Fish & Marine Animals

PNW orcas won’t get separate species designation. Lynda V. Mapes, The Seattle Times. July 2, 2024.

• The Taxonomy Committee of the Society for Marine Mammalogy has decided not to consider Southern Resident killer whales as a separate species, but the committee has designated Bigg’s (transient) killer whales as a “distinct subspecies.” While Bigg’s killer whales will be known as Orcinus orca rectipinnus, Southern Residents will be designated Orcinus orca ater.

Washington shoring up aquatic invasive species program. Michael Wright, The Spokesman-Review. June 28, 2024.

• The Washington legislature has provided $1.81 million to WDFW this year, which, along with matching Army Corps funds, will help the agency fight the invasion of ecosystem-damaging zebra and quagga mussels.

Further Reading

Washington’s Drone Deployment to Monitor Drought Effects on Endangered Bull Trout in Yakima Basin. Emily Tran, Hoodline. July 5, 2024.

WA wants to kill goldfish illegally introduced to Spokane County lake. Michael Wright, The Spokesman-Review (via The Seattle Times).

Tribe members rejoice after fish populations return for first time since ‘historic; dam removal: ‘It’s been a long time coming.’ Katie Dupere, The Cooldown. July 4, 2024.

Other Washington Wildlife

Officials Offer $6K Reward to Find the Poacher Who Shot a Family of Loons in Washington State. Dac Collins, Outdoor Life. June 28, 2024.

• An unknown poacher or poachers shot an entire family of loons near Beaver Lake in northeastern Washington, where there are now only 11 known breeding pairs. Loons are a state sensitive species in Washington; they were nearly extirpated by 1979 because of poaching and habitat loss. Six conservation and hunting organizations are offering a $6,000 reward for information leading to convictions. Read WDFW’s press release here.

Mount Rainier’s chubby snowbird is now a threatened species. John Ryan, KUOW. July 5, 2024.

• FWS has designated the white-tailed ptarmigan as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Climate change may drastically reduce the species’ habitat in Washington in the coming decades – up to 90%.
• Cool Critters: Bobcats are common in our region, but typically only their pawprints are visible. Linda Weiford, The Spokesman Review. June 30, 2024.

Rescued Kinkajou in ‘fair health’ after wellness exam at Point Defiance Zoo. Alton Worley II, KOMO News. July 1, 2024.

• A juvenile kinkajou found at a rest stop in Yakima and rescued by WDFW is thin but healthy, according to the head veterinarian at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. Kinkajous, imperiled by the exotic pet trade and hunting, are native to Central and South America.

Cool critters: Why the brown-headed cowbirds leave their young to be parented by other birds. Linda Weiford, The Spokesman-Review. July 7, 2024.

• This article gives a rundown of cowbird reproduction: Historically, cowbirds followed bison herds to eat kicked up insects and seeds, leaving them no time to build nests and raise families. They became brood parasites to survive, outsourcing their parenting work to more than 200 other bird species. The cowbird chicks often outcompete the hosts’ own chicks, resulting in their failure to survive. The near-extermination of bison forced the species to adapt by “following cows, horses and other grazing livestock introduced by Euro-American settlers.”

Nearly 400 endangered frogs relocate from Eatonville to eastern Washington. Jacob Dimond, Yelm Online. June 25, 2024.

• WDFW has relocated a total of 400 endangered northern leopard frogs from Northwest Trek Wildlife Park to rearing pens in the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge. The relocation is part of an effort to protect the juvenile frogs from predators, including invasive species.

National & International Fish & Wildlife News

Top News

Animal Welfare, Conservation Groups Announce Lawsuit Against U.S. Fish & Wildlife Over Wolves. July 9, 2024.

• Animal Wellness Action, Center for a Humane Economy, Project Coyote, The Kettle Range Conservation Group, and several other organizations have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for “its refusal to give Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections to the Western gray wolf, in violation of the ESA and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).” Read the joint press release here. The lawsuit text is available here.

Outrage after Biden administration reinstates ‘barbaric’ Trump-era hunting rules. Tom Perkins, The Guardian. July 7, 2024.

• The Biden administration has reinstated controversial Trump-era rules allowing “barbaric” hunting practices that target bears and wolves, including pups and cubs, on federal land in Alaska. The practices include killing young in their dens, “probably decimating predator populations on federal Alaskan preserves.” The director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Jeff Ruch, has denounced the decision, saying, “This was [the Biden administration’s] attempt to undo the largest damage the Trump administration’s NPS had done and they whiffed at it, and for reasons that aren’t at all clear.”

Human hunting played a decisive role in the extinction of large mammals. Amit Malewar, Tech Explorist. July 7, 2024.

• Researchers from the Danish National Research Foundation’s Center for Ecological Dynamics at Aarhus University has found that hunting by humans caused the extinction of many of the 151 megafauna species that existed 50,000 years ago and have now vanished. Jens-Christian Svenning, lead author of the study, writes: “Our results highlight the need for active conservation and restoration efforts. By reintroducing large mammals, we can help restore ecological balances and support biodiversity, which evolved in ecosystems rich in megafauna.”

Ninth Circuit Upholds Conservationists’ Efforts to Stop Coastal Old-Growth Logging. June 26, 2024.

• The Ninth Court of Appeals “affirmed a lower court ruling that prevents Scott Timber from clearcutting old growth trees within Oregon’s Elliott State Forest” because the logging plan would affect the threatened marbled murrelet. Read press releases from the organizations that sued to protect the species; Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Bird Alliance of Oregon.

The Mountain Lion Foundation Goes to Work in Colorado. Paige Munson, Mountain Lion Foundation. July 1, 2024.

• Munson writes about the Mountain Lion Foundation (MLF)’s advocacy for coexistence in Colorado, including participating in the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists, supporting the Cats Aren’t Trophies campaign to pass Proposition 91 banning mountain lion and bobcat trapping and trophy hunting, and visiting Cats Aren’t Trophies’ Campaign Manager Sam Miller’s alpaca farm, which employs guardian dogs to protect livestock without killing cougars.

With static harvests, Utah sticks to new status quo for cougar hunting, but advocates express concerns. Alysha Lundgren, St George News. July 8, 2024.

• Since the Utah legislature removed permit requirements in May 2023 to hunt cougars by tacking a provision on a bill on land sales and trail cameras, cougar mortality from hunting has reportedly not risen dramatically. However, R. Brent Lyles, executive director of MLF, tells the News: “These numbers hide all the changes in who is hunting, and how they’re hunting…We’re hearing reports of long-time, ethical hunters from the state giving up because so many new hunters are coming to Utah just to trophy hunt a mountain lion. There are also serious concerns that the addition of trapping has led to needless cruelty to lions (and other animals including dogs) caught in those traps.”

Bear baiting ban reinstated by NPS in Alaska national preserves. Leah Thom, NewsCenter Fairbanks. July 1, 2024.

• Humane Society of the United States and the Humane Society Legislative Fund denounced the National Parks Service’s failure to ban shooting hibernating bears with their cubs or killing pups in their dens. However, the organizations commend the decision to ban bear baiting.
• For more on this decision, read coverage in The Guardian, which quotes Director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility Jeff Ruch: “This was [the Biden administration’s] attempt to undo the largest damage the Trump administration’s NPS had done and they whiffed at it, and for reasons that aren’t at all clear.”

Wyoming wolf torment case catalyzes pack of activists calling for national reform. Mike Koshmrl, WyoFile. July 5, 2024.

• The case of a Wyoming man who ran over a wolf with a snowmobile and tortured her for several hours afterward has sparked calls for a federal ban on this so-called “wolf-whacking” by motorized vehicle. An all-female group of activists, including members of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, Apex Protection Project, Plan B to Save Wolves, and the Endangered Species Coalition, has been meeting with congressional representatives to advocate for this ban, while an advocate from the Humane Society for the United States has been working with a Republican Texan lawmaker on a bill that would make it a felony to use “a motor vehicle to intentionally drive, chase, run over, kill, or take a wild animal on federal land.”

Tlingit & Haida Opposes Listing King Salmon under Endangered Species Act. Alaska Native News. July 4, 2024.

• The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska voices opposition to the Wild Fish Conservancy’s petition to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to list Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA recently extended the comment period to September 6, 2024.

Ban Sought on U.S. Trophy Hunters’ Imports of Famed Amboseli Elephants (press release). Center for Biological Diversity. July 8, 2024.

• Amboseli Trust for Elephants, ElephantVoices, and the Center for Biological Diversity have filed a petition with the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife to “ban trophy imports from the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro elephant population.”

General Wildlife Management

Effort to Ban All Hunting, Fishing, Trapping, and Ranching Defeated in Oregon, For Now. Congressional Sportsmen’s Alliance Press Release.  July 8, 2024.

• As of July 5, Oregon Initiative Petition 3 officially did not qualify for the 2024 ballot. According to the Congressional Sportsmen’s Alliance, this proposal would have removed all animal cruelty exemptions, criminalizing hunting, fishing trapping, animal husbandry, pest removal, and other activities.

Yellowstone Voices: A Path Forward for the American Bison (YouTube video). Greg Cairns and Bonnie Lynn, Yellowstone Voices. July 7, 2024. 

• A short documentary on the tragic mismanagement of Yellowstone bison.

Further Reading

N.Y. Gov Hochul signs law with new restriction on capturing wildlife. Scott R. Axelrod, siilive.com. July 5, 2024.

New Wyoming Game and Fish Director Announced on Friday, First Woman in Position. Mark Heinz, Cowboy State Daily. July 5, 2024.

Should We Kill Some Wild Creatures to Protect Others? Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker. June 10, 2024.

Cougars and Bears

Colorado Mountain Lion Hunting Ban Could Make Ballot. Sara Wilson, Colorado Newsline (via Missoula Current). July 5, 2024.

• Organizers of the Cats Aren’t Trophies campaign to put a ban on mountain lion and bobcat trophy hunting and trapping have reported that they submitted enough signatures to put the proposition on the Colorado ballot.
• Read more coverage in the Denver Gazette, and for the pro-cougar-hunting perspective, see this article in Outdoor Life and this one in Complete Colorado.  

Vermont’s bear hunt exposed (op-ed). Lisa Jablow, Waterbury Roundabout. July 5, 2024.

• Jablow, a member of the board of directors for Protect Our Wildlife VT, writes that, according to information obtained through public document requests, hunters killed black bear “cubs, yearling bears, and a large number of females” in the state’s 2023 hunt. She also points out that research does not support the idea that hunting lowers human-bear conflict.

Grizzly bears back in crosshairs as Alberta lifts hunting ban in select cases. Jessica Lee, Rocky Mountain Outlook. July 8, 2024.

• Certain hunters will be able to kill Albertan grizzly bears “involved in human-bear conflicts, without young and with authorization by wildlife officers.” Some Canadian wildlife advocates are expressing concern over the decision, which they say was made without public consultation or an official provincial announcement.

Further Reading

Animal crossing: Highway bridge aims to save California’s cougars. Paula Ramon, NonStop Local 360. July 7, 2024.

Wolves

Northwest ecosystems changed dramatically when wolves were nearly exterminated, study finds. Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle. July 5, 2024.

• Further reporting on the new Oregon State University study in BioScience, which found that “ecosystems in the Northwest were heavily shaped by wolves before they were nearly wiped out of the region,” and that our “flawed” understanding of the natural ecosystem may be impeding habitat restoration projects. The article quotes lead author William Ripple: “It is important that we do not forget what ecosystems looked like before the loss of wolves. We need to document the shifting baseline and remember that we might now be studying landscapes that are a sick patient.”

UW-Madison study finds wolves can bring benefits to ecosystem, but are not a ‘cure all’. Siddhant Pusdekar, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. July 5, 2024.

• Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied wolves’ effect on the ecosystem on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. They found that wolves “brought some balance” to the ecosystem by driving away foxes and creating “breathing room” for small predators that compete with foxes, like pine martens. However, in the case of martens, these effects may only be temporary.

A myopic view of success: Killing wolves is not the answer. Sadie Parr, Opinion, Canada’s National Observer. June 28, 2024.

• The author, a conservation biologist, criticizes a recent study supporting the continued killing of wolves to save caribou, noting there has never been an environmental assessment of the impacts of British Columbia’s tax-funded wolf kill program in Western Canada on wolves or ecosystems. She posits that science without ethics is not acceptable and notes the paper’s omission of the impact of continued disturbance, destruction, and impoverishment of caribou habitat by ongoing industry and recreation. Her conclusion: “saving caribou is not worth the slaughter of thousands of wolves.”

Effectiveness of population-based recovery action for threatened southern mountain caribou. Clayton T. Lamb, et al., Ecological Applications. July 10, 2024.

• Habitat loss is affecting many species, including the southern mountain caribou. Given the slow rate of caribou habitat recovery and the rate of caribou population declines without intervention, recovery actions are needed in the interim to avoid ongoing extirpations.  Wolf reduction was the only recovery action that consistently increased population growth when applied in isolation.

Letter: Public land belongs to all Americans, and livestock grazing on it is a privilege, not a right (letter to the editor). Kirk Robinson, The Salt Lake Tribune. July 2, 2024.

• The writer denounces Utah lawmakers and agriculture officials’ “contempt for the law, for wildlife, for at least half the residents of Utah” in their remarks about killing Colorado’s wolves. He asserts that “Data from Idaho, Montana and Wyoming consistently show that in those states only a tiny fraction of cows and sheep are killed by wolves,” that cows grazing on public land cause “tremendous ecological damage,” and that we need large carnivores like wolves, cougars, and bears to control chronic wasting disease in wild ungulates.

Can ‘wolf haters’ and ‘wolf lovers’ talk without howling? Dan Kraker, MPR News. July 9, 2024.

• This article profiles two wolf advocates in Minnesota, Peggy Callahan of the Wildlife Science Center and Grant Spickelmier of the International Wolf Center. In the midst of a clash over wolves, with hunters blaming wolves for poor deer harvests despite the effects of severe winters, Callahan expresses frustration over both anti-wolf myths and what she characterizes as overly emotional reactions to federal killings of wolves involved in predations. Callahan also supports federally delisting wolves. Spickelmier’s center, meanwhile, “refuses to get involved in politics” and focuses on educating people.

Wolf Petitions Ignored by FWS – Notice of Intent to Sue Filed. Sportsmen’s Alliance. July 2, 2024.

• The Sportsmen Alliance has filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to respond to two petitions to delist wolves in the Western Great Lakes Region and to downlist West Coast wolves – those found in Western Washington, Western Oregon, and California – from endangered to threatened.

Further Reading

Prompted by Wyoming wolf incident, lawmakers tackle predator policy changes. Katie Klingsporn, WyoFile. June 25, 2024.

Running predators down with snowmobiles could stay legal in Wyoming. Mark Heinz, Cowboy State Daily. June 25, 2024.

Steeper penalties were available in Wyoming wolf torment case. Katie Klingsporn, WyoFile. June 26, 2024.

Fish & Marine Mammals

Remnant salmon life history diversity rediscovered in a highly compressed habitat. Sara A. Hugentobler et al, PubMed. July 2, 2024.

Salmon hatchery strays can demographically boost wild populations at the cost of diversity: quantitative genetic modelling of Alaska pink salmon. Samuel A. May et al, Royal Society Open Science. July 3, 2024.

Man sentenced for killing thousands of salmon after pouring bleach into Oregon hatchery pond. Michaela Bourgeois, KOIN. July 5, 2024.

Other Wildlife News

Firefighters rescue dehydrated coyote pup who lost mom. Associated Press (via Oregon Live). July 5, 2024.

On the Lighter Side

A new FWS song called “Hellbender!” just dropped? HELL YEAH! (Instagram post). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. July 4, 2024.