Wildlife in Egypt - Types of Egyptian Animals

mexican grizzly bear :: Article Creator

Grizzly Bear Euthanized In Bighorn Mountain Basin

Prev Next

Jim Peaco/NPS

File - Grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park

(Wyoming Game and Fish Department press release)

A grizzly bear was euthanized Monday after confirmed cattle depredation on private land south of Ten Sleep. On April 14, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department investigated a report of an injured cow with wounds consistent with a grizzly bear depredation.

Wildlife managers verified nearby tracks and signs that suggested the bear frequented the ranch for approximately one week. The subadult, male grizzly bear was euthanized after consultation with the United States Fish and

Wildlife Service due to its involvement in depredation and its behavior frequenting the ranch.

The location of the conflict was in the basin of the Bighorn Mountains and more than 80 miles from the eastern boundary of what is known as the Demographic Monitoring Area — the area considered biologically and socially suitable for grizzly bears. Grizzly bears have not been documented in this area south of the Bighorn Mountains since long before the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population was listed under the Endangered Species Act in the 1970s.

"Wyoming's grizzly bear population is managed and monitored where suitable habitat exists as designated by the USFWS and informed by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team," said Game and Fish Director Brian Nesvik. "The Bighorn Mountain Range is not suitable habitat and the department is not interested in allowing grizzly bears to occupy this area. Their expansion into unsuitable habitat leads to increased conflict potential between bears and humans, which impedes the success of grizzly bear conservation."

Grizzly bears in the lower 48 states are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Management authority for grizzly bears rests with the USFWS. Game and Fish handles nearly all grizzly bear conflicts and conducts significant levels of monitoring, research and public education in accordance with the department's Grizzly Bear Management Plan.

Gray Wolf Abuse Sparks Investigation In Wyoming

Earlier this year, a man named Cody Roberts allegedly ran over a gray wolf with a snowmobile and then brought it to a local bar.

A video shows the injured animal tied up on the floor. In a photograph, you can see its mouth taped shut. Later, the man allegedly took the wolf outside and killed it. His punishment? A $250 fine for illegal possession of a live animal.

The local county district attorney says an investigation is underway. But animal rights advocates say this is an obvious case of animal cruelty and are demanding that lawmakers do something about it.

Rob Wallace, the Wyoming governor's chief of staff in 1995 when wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone, condemns the "cruel and indefensible" incident.

"That's not who Wyoming is as a state. We have a very strong record in wildlife conservation and stewardship," Wallace says. "It was an act that just caught everybody off guard."

Hunting is a cherished tradition in Wyoming; ranchers can legally shoot wolves threatening their livestock. But the act of torturing a wolf inside a bar makes this a case of animal cruelty, according to Wallace, who recently oversaw the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Trump administration.

Much of the public's outrage centers around the $250 fine Roberts received for the crime. The governor, the state's wildlife committees, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission are looking at the case, Wallace says.

"I think there's going to be a concerted effort to see how something like this fell through the cracks of our existing laws," he says.

Gray wolves in Wyoming were removed from the endangered species list in 2017, so the state now manages its wolf population after many years of federal protections under the Endangered Species Act. But because of this incident, new lawsuits suggesting that the state shouldn't bear that responsibility anymore have been introduced.

Wallace says wolves are doing well in Wyoming.

"In 1995, when I was working in Cheyenne, the Fish and Wildlife Service brought 31 wolves in from Canada with the idea of populating Yellowstone [National Parl]," he says. "In the preceding years, up to 2024, there [are] over 500 wolves in the ecosystem ranging far and wide from Yellowstone."

Wolves are a contentious species in Wyoming to many who see them as pests, notably ranchers concerned with losing livestock.

Wyoming must continue to balance species conservation with the needs of ranchers, Wallace says.

"There's no debate that the wolves have been a constructive addition to Yellowstone National Park," Wallace says. "And there's also no debate that they've also left the park and are now preying on livestock way far from the park."

Wolf populations are growing across the Western United States. In the eastern Arizona mountains, for example, the Mexican gray wolf is protected by the Endangered Species Act, but its population is booming. A Fish and Wildlife Service wolf manager there told Here & Now that soon there will be wolves from the Canadian border down to the Mexican border, which could potentially cause more conflicts.

As the wolf population grows, interested parties need to have more conversations about how to manage the species, Wallace says.

"Years ago when I was first getting interested in government, there was a lot of worry in Wyoming about the grizzly bear, the bald eagle, the whooping crane, the black-footed ferret, and the wolf, who wasn't at the time even in Yellowstone," he says. "All of those species are thriving now, thanks to wise management and cooperation with the state of Wyoming and the federal government. So I'm upbeat that these problems are going to resolve themselves in a very constructive way."

Ashley Locke produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Micaela Rodriguez. Allison Hagan adapted it for the web.

This segment aired on April 26, 2024.

Grizzly, Black Bear Capture Operations Scheduled For Yellowstone

Grizzly and black bear research is ramping up in Yellowstone National Park/NPS file

As part of ongoing grizzly bear and black bear research and management efforts and as required under the Endangered Species Act to monitor the population in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the U.S. Geological Survey, in conjunction with the National Park Service, is working to inform the public that scientific capture operations are once again about to begin within Yellowstone National Park.

Biologists with the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) and Yellowstone National Park will begin field captures on May 1 and continue through October 31. None of the trap sites in the park will be located near established hiking trails or backcountry campsites, and all trap sites will have posted warnings for the closure perimeter. Potential access points will also be posted with bright warning signs for the closure area. It is critical that the public heed these signs. Backcountry users who come upon any of these posted areas need to stay out of the area.

Monitoring of grizzly bear distribution and other activities are vital to ongoing recovery of grizzly bears in the Yellowstone Ecosystem. In order to attract bears, biologists use natural food sources such as fresh road-killed deer and elk. Potential capture sites are baited with these natural foods and if indications are that grizzly bears are in the area, culvert traps or foot snares will be used to capture the bears. Once captured, bears are handled in accordance with strict safety and animal care protocols developed by the IGBST.

Whenever bear capture activities are being conducted for scientific purposes, the area around the site will be posted with bright warning signs to inform the public of the activities occurring. These signs are posted along the major access points to the capture site. It is important that the public heed these signs and do not venture into an area that has been posted.

Search This Blog

Reptiles Definition