Africa’s rarest carnivores face threats from disease-carrying dogs

From Mother Nature Network:

A thick layer of frost blankets the landscape, creating a gauzy haze over the tans and pale greens of the Ethiopian Highlands. Amidst the frozen stillness, a rust-colored lump dusted in rime stirs. A black nose appears from beneath a thick tail, and two ears twitch atop an elegantly long head. At last, the wolf rises, arches its back in a long stretch, and shakes. Nearby, several other pack members rise as well, touching noses in greeting. Pups, just weeks old, emerge from a shallow den and begin playing, scrambling over rocks, tugging at each other’s tails. As the sky brightens, the adults trot off to patrol the edge of the group’s territory and begin the day’s hunt.

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‘It’s that black or white’: Wolves must die to save Canada’s caribou

From the Calgary Herald:

EDMONTON — An extensive study of caribou herds across British Columbia and Alberta suggests a way to reverse a long and steady decline of the endangered species — kill more wolves and moose, and pen pregnant cows.

“It’s go hard or go home,” said Rob Serrouya, a University of Alberta biologist and lead author of the study released Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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British Columbia Interior hunting groups under fire for ‘wolf-whacking’ contests

From GlobalNews.ca:

Environmentalists are calling on the B.C. government to intervene after learning of at least three Interior hunting groups promoting contests for killing various predators.

An open letter signed by 47 members of pro-animal groups — as well as another letter from Bears Matter dated March 2 — has been sent to Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources Doug Donaldson, demanding the end to all “wildlife-killing contests” across the province.

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Wolves Kill Two Women In Tajikistan After Villagers’ Hunting Rifles Confiscated

From RFERL.org:

DUSHANBE — Wolves have killed two women in eastern Tajikistan, prompting complaints from residents that they have been unable to defend themselves against wolf attacks since local authorities confiscated their hunting rifles.

Umeda Yusupova, a spokeswoman for the Tajik government’s Committee on Emergency Situations and Civil Defense, told RFE/RL that the deadly wolf attack took place in the early morning hours of March 7 in Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous region.

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Wolves reach Oregon Coast, accused in ‘probable’ kill of 22 sheep

From the Statesman Journal:

Gray wolves have apparently reached the Oregon Coast, but their arrival hasn’t been entirely peaceful.

State wildlife officials say wolves “probably” killed 22 sheep in Curry County during four attacks in late February and early March. 

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U.S. wildlife officials plan to remove protections for gray wolves

From PBS.org:

BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. wildlife officials plan to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move certain to re-ignite the legal battle over a predator that’s rebounding in some regions and running into conflicts with farmers and ranchers, an official told The Associated Press.

Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt was expected to announce the proposal during a Wednesday speech before a wildlife conference in Denver, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Spokesman Gavin Shire said in an interview with the AP.

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Investigating the feeding habits of wolves in central Greece

From Science Discoveries:

Portrayed as fearsome creatures in mythology, wolves are also seen by farmers as killing machines that prey on their livestock. Consequently, the European grey wolf has been intensely persecuted across Europe in the past, and is now extinct in many European countries. However according to recent data, the wolf population is on the rise after legal protection of the species and restoration of its habitats. Researchers are now investigating how humans and wolves can coexist.

Understanding the feeding habits of wolves is crucial in protecting wolf populations, while reducing their predatory impact on domestic animals such as sheep, goats, cattle and pigs. This is especially important where wolves live in human-dominated landscapes such as southern Europe. In such areas of high human activity such as livestock raising, wolves have come to rely heavily on livestock and human refuse.

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Wildlife photographer turns lens on wolves killed with neck snares

From BCLocalNews.com:

John Marriott’s passion for the environment and those who live there was sparked when the then six-year-old went on his first fishing trip to Scotch Creek.

“That’s where I first started to fall in love with wildlife,” says the photographer who is actively advocating for animals that are being treated inhumanely and do not have a voice of their own. “It was all shaped there in the Shuswap.”

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German environment minister Schulze takes aim at wolves

From DW.com:

With the wolf population rising and on the prowl in Germany, Environment Minister Svenja Schulze is pushing for a new law to curb the damage they cause to farmers.

Schulze’s proposed “Lex Wolf” would make it easier to shoot the protected animals.

Killing wolves won’t save caribou herds, experts say

From CBC.ca:

Two wildlife researchers are calling the government of the Northwest Territories’ incentive for wolf hunters a political “distraction.”

In November 2018, the N.W.T. Department of Environment and Natural Resources reported that the Bathurst and Bluenose East caribou herds had collapsed. Both herds were reported to have declined more than 50 per cent since 2015. At the time, it was suggested that wolf predation could have played a role in the decline.

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