Tasmanian Tiger and wolves share DNA: University of Melbourne study

From examiner.com/au

The study, conducted by Dr Charles Feigin, Princeton University and University of Melbourne, and Professor Andrew Pask, at the University of Melbourne, was published in the journal Genome Research.

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Denmark’s first wolf slaying trial sees conviction upheld

From Xinhua:

COPENHAGEN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) — The Danish Court of Appeal upheld on Wednesday a guilty verdict in the case of a 67-year-old hunter who had killed a wolf in violation of the country’s hunting act.

Wolves have been protected in most of the European Union (EU) countries since 1992. This means that hunting or trapping them is prohibited. Shooting a wolf can result in fines and imprisonment for up to two years.

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Three more wolves brought to Isle Royale

From the Daily Mining Gazette:

ISLE ROYALE — Will more wolves come to Isle Royale? That depends on what happens the wolves already on the island do over the next few months.

Three more wolves were successfully brought to Isle Royale National Park from the western Upper Peninsula on Sept. 13, ending the translocation for the fall. A fourth wolf was part of the transport, but died on the island the following weekend.

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Inside the harsh lives of the wolves living at the top of the world

From National Geographic:

In the blue light of an early Arctic morning, seven wolves slid across a frozen pond, yipping and squealing and chasing a chunk of ice about the size of a hockey puck.

The pond was opalescent at that hour, a mirror of the universe, and the wolves also seemed otherworldly in their happiness. Back and forth across the pond they chased, four pups scrambling after the puck and three older wolves knocking them down, checking their little bodies into frozen grass at the shore. In my notebook, in letters made nearly illegible by my shivering, I wrote the word “goofy.”

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Lynx and wolf may soon be roaming Britain’s wild places again. Is it a good idea?

From National Geographic:

Eurasian lynx used to stalk the forests of Britain. This magnificent cat’s greatest assets – a beautiful pelt, and sharp claws and teeth – were also tragically its curse. By around 700 AD our ancestors, either through sport, the fur trade or fear for the safety of their livestock, had hunted them to extinction. Now, a group of environmentalists wants to bring them back.

Lynx UK Trust hopes to transport six wild lynx (two males and four females) from Scandinavia and release them in the Kielder Forest, a 250-square-mile stretch of woodland in Northumberland. Here they would hunt and feed on the hundreds of roe deer that roam the region.

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B.C. predator cull would target 80 per cent of wolves in caribou recovery areas

From the Prince George Citizen:

The provincial government is proposing a predator cull that would kill more than 80 per cent of the wolf population in parts of central British Columbia that are home to threatened caribou herds, according to correspondence from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.

“The objective of this wolf reduction program is to reverse caribou population decline in the Tweedsmuir-Entiako, Hart Ranges, and Itcha-Ilgachuz herds,” says a memo signed by Darcy Peel, director of the B.C. Caribou Recovery Program. “To reverse caribou population declines, high rates of wolf removal (>80%) must be achieved.”

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Study suggests monogamous wolves make better parents

From swxrightnow.com:

In the rugged, sometimes violent world of the wolf, it pays to have mom and dad around.

The longer wolf couples are together, the more likely their offspring are to survive into adulthood, according to new research from the University of Idaho.

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Revisited plan to liberalize coyote/wolf hunt snares mixed reactions in northern Ontario

From the Manitoulin Expositor:

QUEEN’S PARK – The provincial government recently announced that it is revisiting a proposal to liberalize the hunting of wolves and coyotes, ostensibly on behalf of the concerns of hunters, across much of Northern Ontario and the proposal is meeting with mixed reviews on Manitoulin.

One of the key challenges with the hunting and trapping of wolves and coyotes, according to Billings trapper Ian Anderson, is that it is very difficult for even an experienced trapper or hunter to tell the species apart, especially at a distance.

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Wolves Gave Tibetan Mastiffs Their Mountaineering Genes

From Smithsonian.com:

In the mountains, Tibetan mastiffs dare to tread where other pups would drop their squeaky toys and whimper with exhaustion. The massive, 150-pound animals thrive at high altitudes, and now researchers know why: the mastiffs have a little extra dose of wolf in their genes.

The big, furry dog breed with a lion-like mane may date back as far as 1,100 B.C., when it began its role as a high-altitude guard dog. Tibetan people have used mastiffs guard their flocks of sheep from predators, like wolves, for centuries. The dogs lived alongside their human companions at altitudes of 15,000 feet or higher, heights in which average dogs wouldn’t withstand the lack of oxygen.

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Scientists urge five-country collaboration to save Himalayan wolf

From The Times of India:

SHIMLA: Wildlife Institute scientist Salvador Lyngdoh camped in Mane, a village approximately 4000 metres above sea level and juxtaposed to the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary in the Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh. 

His mission was to radio collar the Himalayan wolf and learn about the enigmatic predator of the higher Himalayas.

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