From Popular Science:
Most pet owners probably know what it’s like to cave to those “puppy dog” eyes—no matter the age of their canine. When your dog looks at you with that curled brow and doleful stare, it’s difficult not to give it a loving scratch or meaty treat. And why not: You and your furry friend have been conditioned by thousands of years of evolution for this moment, according to a growing body of research by biological anthropologists like Anne Burrows.
“Dogs are our closest companions,” she says. “They’re not closely related to us [as a species], but they live with us, they work with us, they take care of our children and our homes. So investigating different aspects of the dog-human bond, I thought, would help me understand human evolution and human origins.”
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Alberta: Closures implemented at Banff to give space, security to wolves
From RMOToday.com:
BANFF – The Bow Valley’s montane habitat is considered critically important in spring, providing wildlife with much needed food and a place to raise their young when much of Banff National Park is still covered in snow.
At this time, many wildlife species including wolves during the critical denning period, require secure habitat and space because human behaviour can increase stress and change how animals feed, rest, reproduce and move.
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A record number of Yellowstone wolves have been killed. Conservationists are worried
From NPR.org:
This winter saw the most wolves from Yellowstone National Park killed in about a century. That’s because states neighboring the park changed hunting rules in an effort to reduce the animals’ numbers. At the same time, wolf biologists inside the park are finding out what losing the animals means.
“This was the winter of my discontent,” Yellowstone National Park senior wolf biologist Doug Smith says while driving over a washboarded dirt road near the park’s northern border.
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Wyoming: Finding answers to livestock depredation
From the Sublette Examiner in Pinedale, Wyoming:
BOULDER – The Sublette County Predator Board hosted a workshop at the Boulder Community Center on March 30 for ranchers whose cattle and sheep are preyed upon by gray wolves, mountain lions and grizzly and black bears.
The audience heard from a panel of county, state and federal employees to deal with the big question after finding dead or injured livestock – “What do I do now?”
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Rep. Lauren Boebert and fellow Republicans want gray wolves off endangered species list
From the Finger Lake Times:
DENVER — Colorado’s U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and 23 other Republican members of Congress wrote federal officials this month asking that they remove the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list.
A northern California judge’s February ruling placed the gray wolves on the federal endangered species list once more after they were taken off during former president Donald Trump’s administration.
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Wisconsin: Spring hearings will ask citizens whether to ban hunting wolves with dogs, end killing contests
From Wisconsin Public Radio:
Wisconsin’s Conservation Congress will hold its annual spring hearings online next week to collect input from residents on dozens of natural resource issues, including whether the state should ban hunting wolves with dogs and end wildlife killing contests.
The citizen advisory group for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Natural Resources Board is holding the hearings online for the third year in a row. The hearings begin at 7 p.m. on April 11 and run through April 14.
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March marks another wolf killing in Oregon, the 11th in a year, combined reward for information reaches over $80,000
From original.newsbreak.com:
Killing a wolf for reasons apart from self-defense is illegal in Oregon, and gray wolves are a protected species under state law. There were at least 173 gray wolves in the state at the last official count at the end of 2020.
Five wolves from the same pack were poisoned to death in Union County in February 2021 which was followed by three grey wolves, two females and a male, similarly poisoned to death within the same county. Two other wolves died in separate suspected killings. Then, on March 25, 2022, another wolf was found dead in the foothills of the Richland Valley.
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Annual Washington wolf population report shows growth in 2021
From the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife:
OLYMPIA – Washington’s wolf population continued to grow in 2021 for the 13th consecutive year. The 2021 annual wolf report was released today by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and shows a 16% increase in wolf population growth from the previous count in 2020.
“Washington’s wolves continue to progress toward recovery, with four new packs documented in four different counties of the state in 2021,” said Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Director Kelly Susewind.
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A day in the life of a wild Minnesota wolf
From Minnesota Public Radio:
Scientists studying wolves in and around Voyageurs National Park have released what they believe is a first-ever video showing an entire day in the life of a wild wolf, shot from the wolf’s perspective.
The 25-minute video from the Voyageurs Wolf Project is filmed using a remote camera attached to a GPS research collar placed on a lone male wolf, dubbed Wolf O2L. It shows everything the wolf did at five-minute intervals over the course of one day last June in northwestern Minnesota, south of Lake of the Woods.
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CSU studies: What influenced Coloradoans on close vote to reintroduce wolves
From Colorado State University:
In November 2020, Colorado voters approved Proposition 114, which mandated that Colorado Parks and Wildlife develop a plan to start reintroducing gray wolves (Canis Lupus) to the western part of the state by 2023. The initiative passed narrowly with 50.9 percent of the Colorado public voting in favor.
Given the close nature of the vote and the need to integrate diverse perspectives in the wolf reintroduction plan, researchers at the Colorado State University Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence conducted two studies on what influenced public voting on the issue.
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Dogs know exactly what they’re doing when they give you the ‘puppy eyes’
From Popular Science:
Most pet owners probably know what it’s like to cave to those “puppy dog” eyes—no matter the age of their canine. When your dog looks at you with that curled brow and doleful stare, it’s difficult not to give it a loving scratch or meaty treat. And why not: You and your furry friend have been conditioned by thousands of years of evolution for this moment, according to a growing body of research by biological anthropologists like Anne Burrows.
“Dogs are our closest companions,” she says. “They’re not closely related to us [as a species], but they live with us, they work with us, they take care of our children and our homes. So investigating different aspects of the dog-human bond, I thought, would help me understand human evolution and human origins.”
Click here for the full story.