Free Republic

The Lake County (Oregon) Board of Commissioners has declared a public safety and livestock emergency in the wake of livestock depredations by wolf OR158. It is, according to Commissioner Barry Shullanberger, one of the first times such a declaration has been made. According to the declaration, OR158 is responsible for five confirmed calf kills and three probable kills in Lake County in less than 10 days. Efforts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal Plant Health Inspection Service to haze the wolf with a drone, which was ineffective. The declaration requests immediate assistance from Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek for intervention...

Wolf depredations on livestock in Idaho reached a record level during the past fiscal year, which ended June 30. From July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019, Idaho Wildlife Services conducted 264 depredation investigations related to wolf complaints from 136 livestock producers in 17 counties. Of those 264 investigations, 175 involved confirmed wolf depredations, said Todd Grimm, the Idaho state director of Wildlife Services, which is a federal agency that helps solve conflicts between humans and animals. “Last year we had a pretty busy year,” he said during the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board’s Aug. 21 meeting. “The cattle guys...

The mysterious duo who were pulled over in Coventry, Vt. in the deadly shootout are leftist trans militants with alleged ties to a trans terror cell allegedly involved in three other homicides. On Inauguration Day, the shocking news that a US Border Patrol officer had been shot dead near the Canadian border in Vermont in an incident involving a now-deceased foreign national was overshadowed by coverage of Donald Trump's events in the nation's capital. One week later, a 21-year-old Washington woman was charged over the deadly incident, but little has been reported about her and her deceased accomplice, a German...

BURLINGTON, Vt. — The FBI says an arrest has been made in connection to the fatal shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was from Minnesota. On Friday, FBI Albany announced a 21-year-old woman from Washington state, Teresa Youngblut, was arrested in David "Chris" Maland's death in Vermont. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Vermont has since charged Youngblut with assault on a federal law enforcement officer. "Our hearts remain with our partners at U.S. Border Patrol Swanton Sector as they mourn this tremendous loss," the FBI said. Maland, who was born in Blue Earth, Minnesota, was killed Monday...

I have been reading the articles concerning Proposition 127 and how this undermines the Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s ability to properly manage wildlife. I agree 100 percent. However, there is another insidious movement underway that will undermine both the CPW and hunting in a big way. The National Forest Service is quietly, but steadily closing off dispersed camping — camping in areas other than designated campgrounds. I experienced this in September on my muzzleloading deer/elk hunt in South Park. This will probably be the last tented hunting camp I will be able to do with my hunting partner. I am...

Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou, and Jambo have lived in Colorado Springs for decades in the elephant exhibit at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Now an animal rights group is trying to release the elephants from what they say is essentially a prison for such highly intelligent and social animals known to roam for miles a day in the wild. Colorado's highest court will hear arguments Thursday on whether the older African female elephants should be legally able to challenge their captivity under a long-held process used by prisoners to dispute their detention. The animal rights group NonHuman Rights Project says the...

In spite of intense pressure from deep green “environmentalist” and “animal rights” groups, Florida Governor DeSantis signed HB 87 on June 21, 2024. If Governor DeSantis had not signed the bill, it would have become law on June 22. HB 87 restores the right of people to protect themselves, their pets, and their homes from destructive, rogue black bears.Animal rights groups wanted to continue a failed policy that demanded people ask permission from a bureaucratic agency before they were “allowed” to shoot a destructive bear.From clickorlando.com:DeSantis signed HB 87, Taking of Bears, which allows people to claim self defense in...

On April 17 and 18, Colorado Parks and Wildlife received reports of livestock depredation by wolves in Grand County. The agency confirmed that four cattle were killed... Four yearling cattle have been killed by a wolf or wolves in Grand County. Colorado Parks and Wildlife believes the depredation occurred between Monday night and Tuesday morning. In an email to Sky-Hi News, Parks and Wildlife officials stated that they responded to a possible livestock depredation incident on Wednesday morning and then again on Thursday morning. Both incidents occurred on the same property. On Wednesday, the agency investigated three yearling cattle that...

On February 8th, 2024, my brother had started his morning exercise walk. It was 6:27 am his time when I received the phone call; it was still dark in northern Wisconsin. It wasn’t what I expected.Only 200 yards from his home, on a lonely country lane with dense forest and brush on both sides, he was confronting a pack of wolves, their reflective eyes easily visible in the beam of his headlamp. The pack of six was less than 30 yards away. Wolves are common in the area. Common and protected. The brush was fairly thick; the eyes were relatively...

Colorado completed the transfer of 10 wolves into the state last week after the animals were captured in Oregon. For the people involved, it was framed as a success, a joyful occasion at an invitation-only event. For the rest of the public, the release details were kept secret, and many livestock producers were in the middle of a meeting with state wildlife officials when it was announced that the release of the first five wolves had taken place. Step 1: Ignore History On Monday, Dec. 18, Colorado Governor Jared Polis declared, “Today, history was made in Colorado. For the first...

The cost of a dozen eggs has now surpassed the price of a pound of beef, marking the first time that’s happened since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began keeping data in 1980. The average price of a dozen large Grade A eggs ran at $4.82 in January 2023, while a pound of ground beef was $4.64. In January 2022, eggs were $1.93, and beef was $4.77, but egg prices have soared by 70% in the last year alone. Farm Action, a farmer-led advocacy group, says the “real culprit” behind sky-high prices is a “collusive scheme” among top U.S....

Two people and their dog were found dead at Banff National Park on Saturday after a grizzly bear attack. A GPS device alerted Parks Canada on Friday night, indicating a bear attack was happening within the Red Deer River Valley region west of Ya Ha Tinda Ranch in Canada’s Banff National Park... Due to poor weather conditions, an emergency team reportedly could not fly to the location via helicopter, so they traveled by ground during the night. When the team arrived at the scene, they reportedly found two individuals who were deceased and ... The victim’s identities have not been...

Bandages infused with casein, a protein that occurs naturally in cow's milk, significantly improved wound healing in rats compared to those in control groups, according to a study. The study is the first to test casein's reputed healing benefits on an animal model. The promising results suggest that casein, which is cheap, abundant and has antimicrobial properties, has potential to replace expensive materials such as silver in wound dressings. Casein is a protein found in the milk of mammals and is most abundant in cow's milk, where it makes up to 80% of the substance. In the last decade, interest...

The Biden administration announced Thursday that it is moving ahead with prohibitions on the type of equipment hunters are allowed to use on federal refuges, a move strongly opposed by sportsmen groups. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released its 2023-2024 hunting and fishing rule — an annual plan laying out regulations for the upcoming hunting season — banning cost-effective lead ammunition and fishing tackle across eight national wildlife refuges by 2026. Such an action has been supported by eco groups, but opposed by hunters, who argue that it could serve as a backdoor attack on hunting broadly. "This...

We’ll say it again now that Gov. Jared Polis has inked his purported “relief” for soaring property taxes: His plan is largely an illusion. Ignore the stagecraft of Wednesday’s signing ceremony for Senate Bill 23-303. It was a nice publicity stunt — the governor and assorted lawmakers turning up at the home of a Commerce City resident who supposedly would benefit. It was all sleight of hand. As we noted here only weeks ago, the Polis plan is as if someone offered to help you pay your bills — then reached into your pocket, grabbed your wallet, pulled out some...

We recently looked at the growing threat posed by the presence of violent drug gangs on pubplic land, such as national parks, and the wisdom of no longer mandating that park visitors be rendered unable to defend themselves from that danger. While the greatest threat of violence is undoubtedly posed by rogue humans, a recent tragedy reminds us that sometimes, lethal danger walks on four legs. we were constantly told that wild places like national parks are "oases of peace in a violent society," and thus having a means of self-defense in such places is unnecessary. Some of our national...

A Steamboat Springs couple recently had a scary encounter with a mountain lion at Mad Creek. Mark Stanford and his wife, Kristen Joaquim, were having a picnic Monday for Joaquim's birthday at the Mad Creek barn, and they started hiking back to the parking area at about 7:45 p.m. "I looked up and saw a set of eyes staring back at me," Stanford said. He said he saw a yellow-green reflection off the eyes, and he tried to size up the animal. "I could see that it was a big cat," Stanford said. "I knew that they had sighting ups...

North Park rancher Greg Sykes said he has tried to do things the right way since wolves migrated across the boarder from Wyoming into the area near Walden. He has kept an eye on the predators as they could be seen in the distance around the ranch he manages and got guardian dogs to watch over his cattle. “I was that one rancher that said, ‘OK, they’re here. Let’s figure out how to get along,'” Sykes said. “That’s what I intended to do.” Early on Monday, March 13, wolves killed one of his cattle dogs named Cisco, according to Colorado...

School leaders in rural northwest Oregon are worried about big budget cuts. The Oregon Department of Forestry is working on a plan to protect habitats for endangered species across 640,000 acres of state forest. The loss of timber revenue will affect local schools. The Jewell School District expects to be the most heavily impacted because it gets almost all of its funding from timber revenue. It could see budget cuts of 40 percent. The Jewell School District has about 150 students and a budget of $5 million. District superintendent Cory Pederson estimates the cuts will bring his annual budget down...

Nebraska officials say a pair of migrants shot and killed a North American bald eagle - a protected animal and the national emblem of the United States - with the intention of eating the bird. Two Honduran nationals, Ramiro Hernandez-Tziquin, 20 and Domingo Zetino-Hernandez, 20, both of Norfolk were cited for unlawful possession of the eagle. Hernandez-Tziquin was also cited for having No Drivers License," the Stanton County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release on Feb. 28. The sheriff’s office said officials responded to an area near the Wood Duck Recreation Area, which is about 100 miles northeast of...