Wildlife Weekly Wrap-Up

New Study: Legally Killing Wolves Leads to Illegal Poaching
A study published this week shows that legal wolf killing increases incidents of wolf poaching. Why? Because when state or federal agencies authorize killing of a species, the perceived value of that species declines. The authors of the study sum it up the following way: “liberalizing wolf culling may send a negative message about the value of wolves or acceptability of poaching.” Poaching and other human-caused mortality continue to be a major impediment to wolf recovery. These findings suggest we must rethink lethal control as a strategy for wolf management if we want to want to continue to make meaningful progress on wolf recovery. This study is more evidence that nonlethal management tools and strategies better manage wolf-livestock interactions than antiquated lethal control methods, which clearly have negative effects cascading on the population as a whole.

Tragic Ending for Baby Yellowstone Bison
In a sad twist of events, tourists unknowingly led a baby bison to its death after they put it in the back of their SUV, thinking the animal looked cold. While the intention was good, the outcome was lethal for this tiny calf. After the bison was released, it was later rejected by its herd and became habituated to humans, leading to the National Park Service’s decision to euthanize the calf one week later. This story serves as a poignant reminder that wildlife are just that – wild. And they must be treated as such. While this story is uncommon, fatal outcomes for wildlife after interactions with humans are not. That’s why Defenders is focused on preventing encounters between wildlife and humans (or our property) that lead to the death of the wildlife. Too often wildlife are killed by wildlife managers after they become reliant on human sources of food. To prevent this from occurring, we work closely with landowners to install deterrents, like electric fencing, around things like orchards, chicken coops and livestock pastures, which might unintentionally attract wildlife. It’s a win-win strategy when we work together to keep landowner’s property protected and wildlife at a safe distance. Each wildlife attractant we secure can mean the difference between life and death for many individual animals.

Shame on Shell
Last week, a Shell oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico — yes, the same waters as the catastrophic BP oil spill of 2010 — discharged a whopping 88,200 gallons of oil into the ocean, creating a 13-mile long oil slick. It took 150 people five days to clean up the water-oil mixture. This is just more bad news for the Gulf. On Earth Day, scientists revealed that far more shoreline was damaged by the BP spill than originally thought. This latest disaster only serves to highlight how the pursuit of dirty energy can have deadly consequences for wildlife-and just how important it is to safeguard our natural heritage from oil development. That is why Defenders promotes smart from the start renewable energy.

Warning from the White House: No Riders!
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has passed the House of Representatives and it’s chock full of harmful, anti-wildlife riders that attack the Endangered Species Act and give away our public lands. However, two days before it passed, the White House issued a statement warning that President Obama would veto the NDAA in its current form. The White House said that among other issues regarding funding sources, the NDAA “includes non-germane policy riders, such as those undermining the Endangered Species Act as well as public land management statutes.” The Senate version has passed the Senate Armed Services Committee and does not include these disastrous riders that harm sage-grouse and other native species. We are urging the Senate to refrain from including any of these anti-wildlife attacks when the bill goes to the Senate floor. We applaud the White House for demanding a clean NDAA, and we’re working hard to make sure this harmful House version never crosses the president’s desk, period.