Black Hills cougars victims of red state morass

That the US Fish and Wildlife Service is allowing a state agency, especially one that believes all wildlife is game, to dictate management on any federal property is absurd on its face.

Anyone wishing to help fund lawsuits against the USFWS, the Forest Service and/or the Bureau of Land Management for condoning this unprecedented assault by SDGFP on a single species let me know: email at bottom of blog page. Kickstarter?

Kevin Woster covers the cougar slaughter for the Rapid City Journal. He talked to Dr. John Laundre, volunteer biologist for the Cougar Rewilding Foundation:

Laundre contends that the actual lion population is likely closer to 150. He said there is more politics than science in the commission's season proposal, shaped to respond to complaints from hunters about too many lions killing too many elk and deer. "Hunters are greedy," Laundre said. "They want it all for themselves. And what that leads to is a single-species management where they push game agencies to manage for game they want to hunt."

Woster attended the recent public hearing in Deadwood where the Republican-owned South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks held kangaroo court. KW writes:

A majority of those who spoke supported the proposed increase in the kill quota, although a strong minority opposed the plan. Dr. Sharon Seneczko, a Custer veterinarian who heads the Black Hills Mountain Lion Foundation, said the substantial increases in lion quotas during the past few years are not based on sound science. "We believe it is unacceptable to drastically decrease cougars to provide more deer and elk for hunters," she said.

California has changed the name of a state agency sez the Marin Independent Journal:

Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed legislation sponsored by Marin Assemblyman Jared Huffman replacing "Game" with "Wildlife," in a nod to environmentalists and animal-rights activists. Sporting groups fear the legislation signals a change in the department's traditional focus. Once the name change takes effect Jan. 1, only 12 other states will use the word "game" in the names of their wildlife agencies.

Coyotes have emerged to fill the void left by the wars on cougars and wolves, now birth control techniques are being developed that could affect ungulate and grouse populations.

From the Billings Gazette:

The technique uses deslorelin, a hormone that renders coyotes sterile. According to MacGregor’s paper, “Chemical Castration of the Coyote,” studies conducted in Utah and Colorado confirm that lamb and pronghorn fawn survival rates are higher in sterile versus intact coyote territories.

Technologies to administer hormones to cougars effectively using dogs exist: orphaned kittens are the trouble-makers.

Fascinating that the same people who would deregulate predator capitalism would eliminate another species threatened by the Anthropocene.

The first black president, ca. 1983. Prophetic.