Just When You Thought ...

...it was safe to go back in the water.

Sea otters face a growing threat: shark attacks

California's sea otters have struggled for years with diseases, parasites and even the occasional collision with boats. But now the fuzzy coastal mascots are increasingly facing another threat: shark attacks.

For reasons still a mystery to scientists, the number of sea otters killed by sharks has soared in recent years, with great whites as the leading suspects.
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In the mid-1990s, about 10 percent of the dead sea otters found along the California coast had shark bites. Today, it's about 30 percent -- and growing -- to the point where shark attacks now represent the largest hurdle to the otters' recovery from the endangered species list.

Sea otters may be cute and fuzzy little acrobats in the water, but something out there is doing a number on the population. And scientists aren't sure why the sharks are going after them. Perhaps the sharks need glasses. Or maybe they are just opportunists.

One major change: the abundance of elephant seals. Until 1990, the large mammals were rare along the coast in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. But that year, two dozen came ashore at Piedras Blancas, near Hearst Castle. Now there are more than 15,000.

A small number of white sharks, perhaps juveniles, could be coming into the area to feed on young elephant seals and ending up killing otters, as well, Tinker said. Had the rate of shark attacks remained where it was a decade ago, there would be about 500 more California sea otters now -- around 3,250, according to his computer models. That would be enough to reach the 3,090 population target to remove the otter from the federal endangered species list.

In any case, the sharks have discovered something the killer whales up north have known for a couple of decades: Sea otters taste good.

In the 1990s, Tinker and other biologists published studies showing that orca whales in southern Alaska were beginning to feed on otters there. Since then, the otter population there has fallen from 80,000 to about 5,000.

The question then arises:

Can anything be done?

No, he said. Even if people wanted to try to identify the sharks responsible and somehow kill them, others could easily take their place.

"It's a hard thing to explain to people," he said. "But there's nothing we can do about changes in shark distribution or shark behavior. It's natural."

Idiot in the Wild

Rev. Paul links to a story about a woman who got the bejeezus kicked out of her in an attempt to pet a moose in an Anchorage's Town Square Park the other day. (What Part of Wild Didn't She Understand?)

In the comments he further opines about the stupidity of people thusly:

It just gets worse. The numbers of people who think that wild freakin' bears are Winnie the Pooh or something. Oh, well; to paraphrase a good friend, Alaska can replace "stupid" with "dead" very quickly.

All I can say is:


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our

Night time visitor at the Aerie

No, it wasn't the bear. I've been taking the sunflower seed feeders inside at night to discourage that particular visitor.

Late yesterday afternoon I refilled the hummingbird feeder that hangs from the front deck. This morning it was empty and a set of very sugary paw prints could be seen both on the railing near the feeder (along with lots of little brown ants) and on the steps leading up to the deck. Raccoon paw prints to be more precise. The little bugger climbs up on the railing and licks all the sugar water out of the feeder but he spills quite a bit of it too.

It's annoying on two counts. First, I have to mix up more sugar water when the masked marauder hits; and two, the potted tomato and pepper plants are sitting on the deck and could easily become the food of choice for the 'coon. I can bring the hummingbird feeder in at night, but the seven pots of tomatoes and peppers? That's getting to be a little too much. And there is no way to keep the critter off the deck. Even if I were to put a gate at the bottom of the stairs, he'd simply climb the posts to get around/over it.

Let me make a short list of the mammals we have seen in the yard at the Aerie:
White-tail deer
Black Bear
Groundhog
Gray Squirrel
Red Squirrel
Chipmunk
Cottontail
Porcupine
Opossum
Raccoon

Everyone of them, with the possible exception of the porky, would gladly dine on many of the vegetables we could plant in the raised beds. (Although--so far--they have left the herbs and zucchini pretty much alone.)

Sometimes...

Sometimes, it is not wise to attempt to feed wild critters.

Sometimes it is best to allow Mother Nature to handle things her way.

Sometimes you do them a disservice by keeping them alive when they should be thinned by weakness and starvation.

Sometimes you realize you're going to need more ammo than you've got on hand and a much bigger freezer.

Here's why.

(h/t Theo at Last of the few.)

Looks lean, mean and ...white?

Ace has posted a picture that’s sure to make Jimbo at Parkway Rest Stop get all excited—just not in a good way.

Bats are in trouble.

No one is sure what's happening to the bats in southern New England, but it's not good. If this keeps up there's going to be a decided unbalance of power in the Adirondack air wars.


Bats Perish, and No One Knows Why

Wildlife biologists fear a significant die-off in about 15 caves and mines in New York, as well as at sites in Massachusetts and Vermont. Whatever is killing the bats leaves them unusually thin and, in some cases, dotted with a white fungus. Bat experts fear that what they call White Nose Syndrome may spell doom for several species that keep insect pests under control.

Researchers have yet to determine whether the bats are being killed by a virus, bacteria, toxin, environmental hazard, metabolic disorder or fungus. Some have been found with pneumonia, but that and the fungus are believed to be secondary symptoms.

I'm going to have to stock up on more citrinella candles and DEET. The bats are major factors in keeping night flying insect pests under control. They do a job on both mosquitoes and moths. If bat numbers nose dive, you can be sure these insects will experience a population boom.

Who's that howling at my door?

Last winter (2006-07) a logging man working the woods around the Bolt Hole claimed he had seen a wolf in our Adirondacks. We kind of pooh-poohed the idea saying it must have been a coydog (coyote-dog hybrid), which are known to grow quite large, but our logger insisted. He had been to Alaska often, he said, and knew what a wolf looked like. Based upon this story, from western Massachusetts, he might have been correct.
Wolf Shot in Western Massachusetts Last Fall

H/t to Maggie’s Farm

Bad News Bear

I was also thinking of calling this post The Bears and the Bees, but didn't want to confuse anyone who might think it had to do with The Talk.

This also comes via the Jungle Trader : Bear convicted of stealing honey

It happened in Macedonia.

At first I worried for the safety of Pooh, but then I remembered the Hundred Acre Wood is far removed from Macedonia. Reading the story it seems owner of the beehives tried to keep the bear at bay with bright lights and loud music. He obviously hasn't heard the complaints about prisoner treatment at Gitmo.

The bear is still loose and will likely face nothing more than more flashing lights and “thumping "turbo-folk" music” should it return to the scene of the crime. I assume the bee keeper has had sufficient time to fuel up his generator.

I do love the last line of the story: “There was no information on the whereabouts of the bear.”

Gators Rock!

I came across this over at the Jungle Trader and immediately thought of Jimbo over at Parkway Rest Stop.

HOW ALLIGATORS ROCK AND ROLL

Without a ripple in the water, alligators dive, surface or roll sideways, even though they lack flippers or fins. University of Utah biologists discovered gators maneuver silently by using their diaphragm, pelvic, abdominal and rib muscles to shift their lungs like internal floatation devices: toward the tail when they dive, toward the head when they surface and sideways when they roll.

It sounds like a fascinating study of the maneuverability of the alligator and may have implications for many other critters, including, obviously, crocs.

"It allows them to navigate a watery environment without creating a lot of disturbance," says doctoral student T.J. Uriona. "This is probably really important while they are trying to sneak up on an animal but don't want to create ripples."

The discovery in American alligators suggests "special muscles that manipulate the position of the lungs - and thus the center of buoyancy - may be an underappreciated but important means for other aquatic animals to maneuver in water without actively swimming," says C.G. Farmer, an assistant professor of biology.

I suggest you go over and read the rest. (Don’t worry Jimbo, there are no pictures.)

By the way, you’ll notice the people doing this research—and, I therefore assume, knowing a great deal about alligators—are from the University of UTAH! (Although, as the article mentions, they did travel to Louisiana to conduct the study.)

Man's best friend...even if he was just looking out for his bitch buddy.

Did I mention that Rick, my son, is headed to Oregon? He’s looking into a job with either a tree service (where he worked last spring) or walking electric and gas right of ways to recommend tree/brush clearing. (A power line arborist, he says.) He mentioned that he would have to get a dog if he did start trekking right of ways. We discussed bears but forgot all about the mountain lions. (If he had himself a permanent address, I’d also recommend a .357 or a .44 on his hip—just in case.)

From out in Bend, Oregon comes this report: After cougar terrorizes a terrier, Riley the bulldog saves the day. It sounds like Riley earned himself an extra dog biscuit (and maybe some loving from Sage).

Remember, boys and girls, ALL animals in the wild are potentially dangerous no matter how cute and cuddly they might look as a plush toy.

Black Squirrel

I went out and refilled the bird feeders this morning (between the birds and the tree rats, they were pretty well depleted) and wasn’t inside more than a few minutes when two squirrels were on the front deck after the sunflower seeds. Usually, if they are on the deck, it’s because the area around the feeders on the side of the house is crowded with their relatives, so I went to take a look. Sure enough, there were seven or eight of the gray thieves over there helping themselves. Then I saw a black nose stick out from behind the telephone pole (I’ve got a couple extra in the yard from past wiring) and a little tuft of black tail sticking out the other side. Immediately I started looking for any white stripes and was relieved and delighted to see none. What I had, instead, was a black squirrel.


The Black Squirrel is a melanastic version of the Eastern Gray Squirrel and is more common in the upper Midwest. I’ve seen them in Canada (Ottawa) and in the Thousand Islands but this is the first I’ve seen in PA. (Although Pittsburgh is supposed to have a goodly number.)



Quite a handsome little devil. I believe I shall spare him (her/it) when I decide to thin the population of his/her gray cousins. Later I spied eleven gray’s out there feeding on the sunflower seed.

More about black squirrels here here.

General information about gray squirrels can be found here and here.

I blame Global Warming

New giant rat and possum found in Indonesia's Papua

"Head out on the highway..."

"Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
In whatever comes our way"
--Born To Be Wild--

Back in the early 1980s, while pursuing a Master of Science degree at Seton Hall University, I spent two years live trapping white-footed deer mice (Peromyscus leucopus) on the medians and in the adjacent woods along Interstates 287 and 78. My goal was to see if the mice crossed the roadways in their wanderings. I trapped and tagged well over 150 white-footed deer mice as well as short-tailed shrews, voles, and even flying squirrels. Each of the mice would get a tag in the ear and have one or two toes clipped as a secondary means of identification. (The shrews were almost always dead in the live traps because of their hyperactive life styles but not after they had thoroughly soiled the traps, the voles were set free to roam as they wished, and the flying squirrels were petted and admired for their sleek coats before being allowed to scamper up the nearest tree.)

As a result of that study, I learned that damn few (if any) mice crossed the road either intentionally or successfully. Only one brave (lucky?) individual was caught on both sides of the highway’s two lanes and shoulder. Whether they didn’t venture across the road because of the hawks and owls that would have snapped them up when out in the open or they became nothing more than furred Frisbees if they did make the attempt, I did not discover.

Because of that work, I find this piece of new interesting:
Highway Habitats: Where Rodents Thrive

While I did achieve my goal of receiving my MS in Ecology/Wildlife Biology (possibly the only one Seton hall has ever granted in that field), I have just one question: Where the hell is my grant? Now that I have the time to do a real study, I’ve no affiliation that could help fund such a venture. *sigh*

Their Back.

Some push for hunts as grizzlies surge

Nearly extinct last century, grizzly bears are back in a big way in the northern Rockies — rising in numbers, pushing into new territories and mauling hunters who stumble across them in the wild.

While state and federal officials laud the bear's comeback, others say it's time to lift the remaining protections that helped them recover. They point to recent grizzly encounters as evidence.

Protection of the species has worked in increasing the numbers of bears. Now there’s an increase of the number of bear/human contacts. Some of these contacts have proven that the grizzly may be quite dangerous to man, but that man can turn the tables pretty darn quickly.

Workman's close call was the latest in a string of bear attacks and near misses this year in Montana and portions of Idaho and Wyoming near Yellowstone National Park. While there is no comprehensive data on grizzly-human conflicts, an Associated Press tally shows at least a dozen grizzly bear attacks reported since April.

Seven people were injured, some severely. At least five grizzlies were killed, either during the attacks or later by wildlife agents.

First, why the hell isn’t someone officially keeping track of these conflicts? I would think the data as to where and how often they take place would be vital to making any decisions. The establishment of a hotline to report any interactions at campsites, around homes, on ranches, while hunting, etc. would seem the least that could be done.

And second, things don’t seem to work out too well for the griz when the conflict involves human injuries. If there is concern for the bear population, why then go out and search for and kill the bears after the attack is over? (I know the reason—the bear has become a threat to humans by its success in attacking—but it does seem counter to the protectionists’ argument for hands off.)

You can expect the PETA and HSUS groups to get their panties in a twist as soon as someone officially proposes a hunt. The majority of those making the biggest noise will have spent little or no time in the woods and have only a meager knowledge of wildlife biology or ecology.

Da-dum....da-dum..

Should you visit south Florida, it might be a good idea to confine you swimming to the hotel's indoor pool or the ocean.

Seems there is was a thief in Miami who forgot that rule.

Sheesh!

Man with knife holds off aggressive deer

A knife would not be my first choice when hunting deer. And I don’t give a damn what Davey Crockett did when he was three. No, in deer season, when you walk away from camp, you carry your rifle (or a hand gun when legal). Especially during the rut. I won’t even walk across the Bolt Hole’s yard to the garage without my carbine. I’ve had deer stand up behind the garage during the summer while I was cutting grass or hauling fire wood out of the forest. I’m not about to pass on a chance or wrestle with a 175 pound animal armed with pointy antlers because I forgot to be prepared.

NJ Black Bear Hunt cancellation and what it forshadows

Over at The Bitch Girls was a posting of an article by NJ State Senator Robert E. Littell called The Dissolution of Sound Wildlife Management: When Politics Trumps Science. I strongly suggest you go read it. Senator Littell was one of the saner and more honest state senators in New Jersey. But then, he came from the rural west-northwest portions of the state and had an R next to his name.

Senator Littell decries the use of politics in place of science when it comes to managing wildlife and undercutting hunting in this most very diverse of states. He rightly points out that a court decision to halt the 2007 black bear hunt will embolden Governor Corzine and his cronies to essentially do away with all hunters, fishermen and farmers on the NJ Game Council and replace them with anti-hunting and fishing persons more inclined to abandon the management plans of NJ Fish and Wildlife to the detriment of all and eventual stop of all hunting in the state. In his article he also mentions that the DEP is spending an extra $850,000 to assist in implementing non-lethal black bear management policies, monies that come primarily from fishing and hunting licenses and excise taxes.

In the discussion in the comments, one commenter, name of Jadegold, claimed someone, I’m not sure who, was spouting bad science; that the numbers were skewed. She (I’m assuming “Jade” is the tag of a female) said there were only 500 bears in NJ and their conflict with humans was triggered by our encroaching upon their (the bears') habitat.

Well a few moments of research on the NJDEP web pages brought me to these facts: 328 black bears were killed in the 2003 hunt and 298 bears were killed during the 2005 NJ hunt. The hunt itself took place only in the northwest portion of the state (north of I-78 and west of I-287).

To suggest that there are only “500 bears in New Jersey” is laughable.
A conservative estimate of 1490 bears prior to the 2003 hunt can be found on page 15 of NJDEP’s Black Bear in New Jersey - Status Report 2004 (a pdf file).

Jade claims she is never wrong, that is a “gift.” Sorry to spoil your present there Jade.

And I will be doing my part to aid them along

Male Deer Are Born To Live Fast, Die Young

And in just a few weeks, millions of hunters will take to the fields and woods of the USA to try and speed their passage.

Black bears are harmless?

Bear attacks mountain biker in Kitsap park

The man was riding his mountain bike along the park trails with his two dogs ranging ahead of him. (Obviously not on any leash or restraint.) They came upon a bear, possibly one with two cubs that had been reported in the area earlier in the day, and it attacked first the dogs and then the man. The man was mauled pretty badly but was able to cycle out of the park after the bear cut off the attack.

So the response is to do what?

A state Department of Fish and Wildlife officer was gathering a team of dogs, with the intent of finding the bear and euthanizing it.

Yeah, they want to kill the bear.

Folks, letting your dogs run free in bear country (or any park that I'm aware of) is a big no-no. Getting between a Mama bear and her cubs or just too close for her comfort is an even bigger mistake.

I’m a hunter and fisherman but I really hope she and her cubs have gotten far away from the site of the attack.

“Snakes! It had to be snakes!”

14-foot python found in Holy Hill, Fla.

Experts said the reticulated python was so strong that it was impossible to get an exact length measurement, but it was definitely large enough to kill dogs and cats or small children, WFTV-TV, Orlando, reported Monday.

It ain’t just the gators or the fire ants ya’ll gotta look out for anymore.