From BRNODaily.com in the Czech Republic:
Brno, June 4 (BD) – What are large predators? The term is partially arbitrary, in the sense that it is not a taxonomic category defined by strict criteria of physical and genetic characteristics, but is defined by their place in the food chain: they can eat most large herbivores and are not eaten by any other animal. In Central Europe, the broad term predator therefore includes four species: the wolf, the brown bear, the lynx and the golden jackal. The fox is not included because it is only able to attack modest prey such as rodents.
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Washington: State wildlife commission debates wolf rule in charged meeting
From the Yakima Herald in Washington:
In a sometimes heated meeting Washington wildlife managers continued to debate last week whether or not to implement new wolf-livestock rules.
While the commissioners won’t vote on the proposed rule until July 8, based on comments during the Friday meeting it appears the appointed body has little appetite for the new rule which stems from a letter Gov. Inslee sent the agency in 2019, demanding the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife kill fewer wolves.
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US agency to limit predator killing methods in Idaho
From MagicValley.com and the Associated Press:
BOISE — A U.S. agency responsible for killing wolves and other predators to prevent attacks on livestock has agreed to settle a lawsuit by completing an extensive environmental study on its methods in Idaho.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services also agreed last week not to use poison gas cartridges or fire to kill wolf pups in dens in Idaho until the study is finished at the end of 2024.
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Czech Republic: What Does The Wolf Eat? Mendel University Researchers Study The Diet of Wolves
From BRNODaily.com in the Czech Republic:
Brno, June 4 (BD) – What are large predators? The term is partially arbitrary, in the sense that it is not a taxonomic category defined by strict criteria of physical and genetic characteristics, but is defined by their place in the food chain: they can eat most large herbivores and are not eaten by any other animal. In Central Europe, the broad term predator therefore includes four species: the wolf, the brown bear, the lynx and the golden jackal. The fox is not included because it is only able to attack modest prey such as rodents.
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Washington: WDFW tried more range-riders before shooting wolves
From the Capital Press:
Washington killed two wolves in June after an influx of range-riders couldn’t stop the Togo pack from attacking more calves, according to Fish and Wildlife reports released Wednesday.
Adding more state-funded range-riders from two organizations was a last-stand tactic to discourage a pack with a long history of preying on cattle in Ferry County.
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Genomic analysis shows 18,000-year-old-puppy Dogor is a wolf
From Queen Mary University of London:
He was remarkably well preserved – and scientists were able to tell that he was male, his body was 18,000 years old and he was around 2 months old when he died. His name means ‘friend’ in the Yakut language. He was particularly puzzling because normally it’s relatively easy for scientists to distinguish between wolves and dogs.
Queen Mary’s Dr Dave Stanton and Love Dalén from the Centre for Palaeogenetics carried out the genomic sequencing that finally pinpointed Dogor’s true identity.
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Webinar about Minnesota’s draft wolf plan update is July 13
From The Pilot-Independent in Walker, Minnesota:
Anyone interested in learning more about the Department of Natural Resources’ draft wolf plan update is invited to an informational webinar at 6 p.m. July 13.
The webinar is free but registration is required. Participants will have an opportunity to pre-register to ask questions and comment during the webinar.
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Wolves survived the ice age as a single, global population
From arstechnica.com:
Man’s best friend was the first of many animals humans have domesticated. But there was no clear before-and-after moment where dogs were suddenly a distinct population of wolves. While some ancient skeletons are clearly dogs, there are a lot of ambiguous skeletons earlier than that. It’s possible to get a sense of what happened using the genomes of modern and ancient dogs. But this analysis depends heavily on what you think the wolf populations dogs were derived from look like.
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Oregon: Conservationists call for action on Pacific Northwest wolf poaching
From OPB.org in Oregon:
Wildlife advocates say there has been a distressing uptick in wolf poaching cases in the Northwest in the past year and a half.
Four dead wolves were discovered in the northeastern corner of Washington state in February. That followed the poisoning of eight wolves in eastern Oregon in 2021, along with the poaching of a total of eight wolves in Idaho last year.
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Wolf shot in southern Sweden after sheep attack
From thelocal.se in Sweden:
A wolf was shot near the city of Lund in southern Sweden on Sunday, after it was discovered by a farmer while attacking a sheep.
The animal, a female weighing 34kg, was shot according to a paragraph in Sweden’s hunting law which allows livestock owners to shoot predators if they find them attacking their animals.
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Expert warns habitat loss threatens endemic Ethiopian wolves
From China.org.cn
ADDIS ABABA, June 27 (Xinhua) — Native Ethiopian wolves are threatened by loss of habitat mainly due to an ever-depleting number of prey, an Ethiopian wildlife expert has warned.
Girma Ayalew, wildlife health and research expert at the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority, told Xinhua recently that not more than 500 Ethiopian wolves remain in their shrinking and increasingly fragmented habitat on top of the Ethiopian highlands.
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