Money Buys Hunting Rights

I recently read this article and noticed that if one has enouh money than one can pretty much hunt or persue any animal with the intentions of killing it.  Ted Nugent is known for killing whatever he sees with his notorious motto of "wack em and stack em" so it is no suprise to me that he chose to illegally kill these bear.  If he keeps acting the way he does by buying his way out of trouble then he will probably run out of animals to "wack and stack".  This is something people need to think about before just going out and killing something that you may thing taste good or would look good on ones wall.

http://wildlifeprofessional.org/blog/?p=5011

Mammoths in America

  I believe that recreating all these long extinct megafauna is really exciting and interesting but like most people I realize that is in probably not going to work even if one is able to recreate the species.  The species became extinct for a reason and with it so did its predators so the species will probably either become a nuisance or not last very long.  It will also change much of the ecosystems that already exist and as Wildlife students we should know that intrducing a species such as these keystone species can be dangerous and can cause major problems in native habitats.


http://rewilding.org/rewildit/category/pleistocene-rewilding/

Deer Damage Management

Recently I have been doing lots of research of damage management for other classes and have noticed that White-tail deer are aesthetically pleasing although in high densities can really harm an environment in residential communities.  Recently I've done some work with Wildlife Services and taken data from their reserve project.  The main question that comes to mind when dealing with this kind of management is that is it right to kill these deer instead of just using chemicals to steralize or make the deer unfertile.  Some people complain that killing the deer is unhumane but they dont take science into mind.  Deer at extremely high densities are more susceptable to many diseases such as cronic waste desease and many other diseases that can also be transferred to humans.  Also the number of car collisions involving deer are higher around these areas.  Last of all they can cause detrimental effects from overgrazing of ornamental trees or shrubs which can cause several thousands of dallors.  Controlling deer populations is a simple and easy management implication if done right and should be done so that deer not become overpopulated and diseaseridden or become a burdon to residential housing.
http://researchmagazine.uga.edu/winter2000/deer.html

Sturgeon are not Emergin'

As I was creating my presentation for my senior seminar class I came across this blog for the Delware Sierra Club that told the sad story of the Atlantic Sturgeon.  In this story it showed how human's doministic attitude towards trying to control the animals we live amongst without knowing their biological boundaries can become fatal to an entire species.  Caviar being an extremely well sought after expensive food for the rich comes from this 150 million year old species of fish.  Over the past 100 years harvestin these fish is finally become illegal as of Feb 6 but it almost took the loss of the entire species to do this.  The fish take almost 20 years to become sexually mature and with the continuous building of dams these breeding grounds for these aged fish are becoming imposible to find so a population rebound may never occur but some say it will atleast take up to 100 years.

http://sierraclubdelaware.blogspot.com/2012/02/atlantic-sturgeon-receive-endangered.html

Save A Salmon Kill A Seal

                The Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River presents a huge issue in the ethical decisions that must be made in dealing of Wildlife Management/ Damage Management.  After the dam was built scientist and scene seekers noticed that this dam was causing a degradation of spawning environments on the river where the salmonid were annually travelling for breeding.   After noticing how the numbers of salmonids were declining after the dam installation Wildlife Managers bean to look for answers in what to do to solve the problem.  Well a man named Gary Locke decided that it would be best to eliminate the Sea lions that have been feeding on these fish in order to save the endangered fish.  Some people disagreed with his actions a great bit and so do I.(States, 2012)

                In my eyes he should have done a great bit more research before making the move to just eliminate the Sea Lions which are also a protected species under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.  If I were to have to put any kind of name on the actions he made I would have to say he acted in an “unethical” way.  He eliminated Sea lions that accounted for a mere 5% of the fishes death compared to the millions of fry and juvenile salmonids that are eliminated due to predation from “game” fish such as Walleye and non-native bass.(Humane, 2012)  These game fish were added to the water because they bring in money for the government from recreation fishermen that will travel long distances for some good fishing.  Gary Locke did what he thought was best financially and tried to keep the fishing community happy.  Another step I believe that should have been taken is to do further research into the local hatcheries and maybe trying to mass produce salmon and release them into the wild rather than kill Sea Lions.  In the end ethics will always be in question due that one species has to be “sacrificed” in order to manage for another.  If I were in charge I believe I would have eliminated the nonnative fish in order to save the native species and create a more sustainable breeding ground for these salmonids.  I also believe this could have been the cheapest way to go about doing this just by using electroshocking methods and lethally taking all non- native breeders that use the same breeding grounds as the Salmonids.  Some people may still say this is still unethical and that nature should just take place but I have been taught that it is best to keep an environment rid of all nonnative species in or to be the most sustainable for biodiversity.(Humane, 2012)

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/fisheries/timelines/bonneville_dam_sea_lions_under_siege.html

Exploitation Never Pays Off

In this article a small town in New York goes threw hard economic times and is reduced to a fifth of its original population due to job loss.  One thing this town is not going through a shortness in is natural resources.  This town is called Tupper Lake, New York.  It is said that it has trout filled streams,  forested mountains, crystalline lakes, and clean air, but now a huge devlopment is about to take place.  The project, the Adirondack Club and Resort, calls for more than 650 units of housing, a hotel, a ski area, a marina and an equestrian center. It is the largest development the agency has ever approved by the Adiirondack Park Agency.  I and surely some of you as well have come from a small town such as this one.  I apreciate the untouched nature that these small towns have and beleive that they should be left alone for other generations to enjoy.  I believe that after this development takes place the resources will become exploited and ruin the wildlife habitat in the area for good.  This resort will supply the area and its citizens with a variety of jobs but one has to assume that once the area gets back to normal population and the resort grows that the forested mountains and clear lakes that once were will become bombarded with new development.  This resort could be a plus for both the people and environmentalist only if they stick with their original plan of only desturbing 145 acres while spending some of the resorts profits to managing the 4,700 acres agreed to be left alone by the developers.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/nyregion/in-struggling-tupper-lake-resort-project-creates-rift.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=science

Cats are not wildlife management safe

The writer of this article must not have ever seen how fast cats reproduce and how many rare birds cats tend to lower number in the wild due to their "ability to survive" and "adaptable hunting abilities".  Cats are not a good source of pest management due to the fact that one will never be able to control the actions of a cat or otherwise select which organism that they kill.  Cats in high numbers can cause mass deaths of songbirds and other easy prey items such as shrews and small mammals.




http://news.yahoo.com/cats-world-suddenly-died-145802016.html

Mule Deer populations in Wyoming declined 30% after a new natural as development.  Are energy expansions also lowering natural wildlife? According to this article at least the loss of 1,520 acres of natural wildlife habitat are an "ok" loss for lowering gas prices.  They have even stated that they will expand into another 12,000 acres which the wildlife costs are unknown but one can only imagine it will be a devastation to the wildlife such as mule deer in this area.
http://joomla.wildlife.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=308&Itemid=180#9

http://www.coffeehabitat.com/2009/08/coffee-farmers-attitudes/

I find it hard to hear that these coffee growers that make very little money have a bigger respect for wildlife even though having little knowledge of it whereas whereas farmers in North America tend to be educated about wild things and their correlation with a healthy sustainable environment and still decide to destroy it at times.