Mushers and dogs braved a horrific Alaska winter to deliver lifesaving serum 100 years ago

From 2News.com:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Gold Rush town of Nome faced a bleak winter. It was hundreds of miles from anywhere, cut off by the frozen sea and unrelenting blizzards, and under siege from a contagious disease known as the “strangling angel” for the way it suffocated children.

Now, 100 years later, Nome is remembering its saviors — the sled dogs and mushers who raced for more than five days through hypothermia, frostbite, gale-force winds and blinding whiteouts to deliver life-saving serum and free the community from the grip of diphtheria.

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Colorado lawmakers advance bill to block names of ranchers who file for compensation for wolf attacks

From The Aspen Times:

Colorado ranchers who file for state compensation over wolf attacks would have their name, address, and business information hidden from open records requests under a bill being advanced by Colorado lawmakers at the Capitol.
Senate Bill 38 was approved unanimously by a bipartisan Senate committee on Thursday after it received initial approval from an interim committee that met before the beginning of the 2025 session.

Wolf bills would allow year-round hunting: Unlimited takes

From BozemanDailyChronicle.com:

Two bills advancing through Montana’s Legislature aim to dramatically expand wolf hunting in response to growing concerns from ranchers and hunters about the state’s wolf population, currently estimated at 1,100 animals.

House Bills 176 and 222 both passed the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee (FWP), with local support from Stillwater County’s agricultural community.

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Titan’s Farewell: Bramble Park Zoo to Honor Its Last Wolf with New Habitat Plans

From MyKXLG.com:

{KXLG – Watertown, SD} The Bramble Park Zoo is mourning the loss of Titan, the last wolf in their care and a cherished ambassador for his species. Titan passed away peacefully in his sleep at the age of 12, significantly surpassing the average wild wolf lifespan of 6 to 8 years—perhaps a testament to the exceptional care he received at the zoo.

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Debate rages over size of Colorado’s new wolves

From The Daily Sentinel:

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) transported 15 wolves from British Columbia, Canada, to Eagle and Pitkin counties, where they were released in mid-January. An additional five wolves who had been living in Colorado were re-released.

In an interview with The Daily Sentinel, House District 54 Rep. Matt Soper expressed concern that these newly introduced wolves from Canada were “much larger” than the previously introduced wolves that had been brought to the state from Oregon.

 

 

A quarter of the Netherlands’ known wolves have vanished

From DutchNews.nl:

A quarter of the officially registered wolves in the Netherlands have disappeared, and experts believe they may have been killed by poachers, according to a report by the Volkskrant on Wednesday.

Out of the 91 wolves whose DNA was recorded between 2015 and 2023 through excrement, carcasses, and other traces, 23 are confirmed dead, the paper said. Two of these wolves were shot by poachers, 15 were hit by vehicles in the Netherlands, and one was run over in Germany and Belgium respectively.

However, 22 wolves have disappeared without a trace, with no further DNA samples detected, in the Netherlands or elsewhere, European wolf experts told the newspaper.

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A Haven of Hope: The Wolf Conservation Center’s Fight for the Future of Wolves

From AOL.com:

Tucked into the landscape of South Salem, New York, the Wolf Conservation Center (WCC) is a haven of hope and education for one of nature’s most misunderstood predators. Founded in the mid-1990s by Hélène Grimaud, a classical pianist turned wolf advocate, the WCC has grown from a modest educational facility into a cornerstone of wolf conservation, blending advocacy, research, and public outreach to secure a future for these majestic (and in many cases, endangered) animals. We even have new information on Slides, a fostered wolf pup who was released into the wild. Get the inside scoop on this pup’s incredible journey to start his own pack!

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Committee tables wolf bill proposed by local legislator [Montana]

From BozemanDailyChronicle.com:

A bill sponsored by House District 58 Rep. Jamie Isaly (D-Park County) that proposes to place gray wolves in the furbearer hunting category has been tabled in committee. The bill failed to advance Jan. 23 by a 12-8 vote of the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee, which includes Isaly.

Shortly before the vote, Isaly said the bill had been requested by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The bill would revise state law to define gray wolves as furbearers; prevent the hunting of furbearers within cities or towns, from public highways, from vehicles, or with the assistance of motion-tracking cameras; forbid the waste of a gray wolf head or pelt in the field; create furbearer tagging offenses for gray wolves; classify wolf licenses as furbearer licenses; and exclude a wolf license from a class C nonresident trapping license.

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Some Say Legislative Response To Wyoming Wolf Torture Doesn’t Go Far Enough

From CowboyStateDaily.com:

There’s agreement across the board that the torture of a wolf in Daniel, Wyoming, last year goes against everything Wyoming hunters stand for.

But as House Bill 275, written in response to that incident, advances through the Wyoming Legislature, whether it should be legal to chase and run down wolves and other predators with vehicles remains a hotly debated point.

“Why can we not put something in a bill that stops the use of motorized, over-the-ground vehicles and over-the-snow vehicles to be used as a weapon to kill any wildlife, including predators?” Rep. Mike Schmid, R-La Barge, told the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Committee on Tuesday.

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Wolf advocates, Colorado ranchers agree range riders critical to reducing livestock losses

From Coloradoan.com:

Wolf advocates and ranchers rarely see eye to eye regarding Colorado’s wolf reintroduction plan, but some have found common ground on at least one topic — the effectiveness of range riders.

Range riders, who protect cattle and sheep from predators such as wolves by riding among the livestock, are one of multiple wolf-livestock conflict minimization tools the state is rolling out to reduce the chances of a repeat of the first year of wolf releases.

Last year, 26 livestock were killed or injured by wolves, according to the state wildlife agency’s wolf depredation report.

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