Feeding Will Continue on an "Emergency"
Basis until 2024
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Following our court case and the decision from Judge Nancy Freudenthal in 2018, the Bridger-Teton National Forest has issued a decision to permit feeding on Alkali Creek in the Gros Ventre on an "emergency" basis for up to five years. The emergency criteria however are a low bar and will likely allow for feeding up to an additional five years. The emergency criteria are:
- If a significant elk damage or elk/livestock co-mingling situation develops on nearby private land and it is deemed necessary to feed in order to draw and keep elk away from the conflict on private land as determined by WGFC standard practices; or
- If it becomes necessary to catch or stop a large number of elk from moving down drainage from Patrol Cabin or Fish Creek elk feedgrounds, emergency feeding could be initiated to draw them back to Patrol Cabin/Fish Creek. A large number of elk has been determined to be approximately 200 elk (which is 25% of the Alkali Feedground Objective found in the WGFD 2018-2019 Feedground Report
Read the decision memo
here
.
Jackson Hole News and Guide article about decision is
here
.
The main issue here is that high densities of elk lead to higher rates of disease transmission. If we as responsible stewards of the land want to decrease the transmission of disease in elk, we must reduce densities. This action from the Forest Service doesn't do that. In fact, it may even exacerbate the issue by more densely concentrating elk on the Patrol Cabin feedground. The Forest Service has said it has no intent to feed at Alkali Creek but the elk that usually winter there will just be funneled into the Patrol Cabin feedground. Further the Forest Service is not taking a "hard look" at the environmental impacts of feeding on Alkali Creek or any other of the feedgrounds on Forest Service land by conducting a NEPA analysis which is what the court originally ordered.
Artificially feeding elk on Wyoming's 23 elk feedgrounds poses a serious risk to healthy, free-ranging, wild herds in the Greater Yellowstone Ecoregion and surrounding states
.
Our elk and deer deserve better. We will continue to hold the agencies accountable for their actions and fight to protect the health of our ecosystems.
Kristin Combs
Executive Director
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YOU CAN HELP!
CWD Plan Comments Due
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is accepting comments on their latest chronic wasting disease plan that was issued December 2. Our initial review of the plan is that it doesn't go nearly far enough to reduce densities of elk and deer in the state and does nothing to use predators to help reduce the prevalence of CWD and other diseases. We will be writing formal comments on the plan and will send those out when we have them completed. The comments are due January 15.
The Sierra Club Wyoming Chapter, one of our partners on this program, have set up a petition you can sign telling the WGFD to stop the disease-causing feeding of elk.
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Thank you to everyone who supported us on
Giving Tuesday!
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We had our most successful Giving Tuesday yet raising well over $2,000! Thank you to everyone who donated online and on Facebook that day. We should know in the next month or so if we were one of the organizations that will receive matching donations. You really showed your support for wildlife on this global day of giving. On behalf of the animals, much gratitude.
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The grizzly cost of coexistence
Preventing grizzly conflicts is going to take long-term funding. Louisa Willcox outlines the problems and solutions in her latest blog post.
GYE Grizzly Mortalities 2019
With most bears tucked safely away in their dens for the remainder of the winter, hopefully mortalities for 2019 are finished. There were 40 bears killed this year in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Eighty-three percent of those were from human causes such as livestock and food conflicts. The bears are just out there trying to survive, we need to be working harder to prevent these conflicts before they occur. Read Louisa's blog above for a complete view of what we can be doing better. While this wasn't a record year for conflicts, 40 bears dead is still too many.
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So far this year 58 wolves have been killed by hunters and Wildlife Services in Wyoming. Many more have died from disease, vehicle strikes, and natural causes. You can monitor the wolves killed by
clicking here
or by visiting our homepage
here
.
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600-900 YELLOWSTONE BISON TO BE SLAUGHTERED, SENT TO ZOOS, AND HUNTED
Wild Yellowstone bison only number around 5,000. Those that leave Yellowstone National Park continue to be subjected to hunting, capture and quarantine, and sent to slaughter. There are a few that will be allowed to be transported to tribal lands, but only after a lengthy quarantine process that is very stressful on individuals.
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Massachusetts Becomes the Fifth State to Ban Wildlife Killing Contests!
Great news in the fight against unscientific and wasteful killing contests. Following California, Vermont, New Mexico, and Arizona, Massachusetts has now outlawed killing contests for coyotes and furbearers. The new regulations make it unlawful for any person to organize, sponsor, promote, conduct, or participate in a contest for take of coyote, bobcat, red fox, gray fox, weasels, mink, skunk, river otter, muskrat, beaver, fisher, raccoon, and opossum.
We applaud the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board for taking a stand against these wasteful contests and working to protect the wildlife for ALL citizens. We are part of the
national coalition
working to get these banned in all states and look forward to keeping the momentum going until they are banned countrywide.
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Our incredible wolf leggings make the perfect gift!
Thanks to Shannon Marie Artistry for the beautiful wolf image that adorns our leggings. Visit
her website
for more great gift ideas for that special someone in your life.
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DON'T FORGET AMAZON SMILE AS YOU FINISH UP YOUR HOLIDAY SHOPPING
Shop Amazon Smile and designate WWA as your chosen charity and we automatically get donations. It's a win, win, win and doesn't cost you a thing!
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