Michigan Tribes are Protecting Michigan Wolves

Several Michigan Indian tribes have joined the Keep Michigan Wolves Protected coalition. Find out how they are supporting the cause by reading this article, "CALL to ACTION: Michigan Tribes Line Up to Protect Michigan Wolves."

Find out more about the cause and find out how you can help keep MI wolves protected at http://keepwolvesprotected.com/

Keep Michigan Wolves Protected: Article by Michael Markarian

Check out the link for an interesting article by Michael Markarian, "Animals & Politics: Michigan Voters to Make their Voices Heard on Wolf Hunting."


Michael Markarian: Animals & Politics: Michigan Voters to Make their Voices Heard on Wolf Hunting

For more information and to learn how you can help keep MI wolves protected visit the campaigns website and Facebook page.

Keep Michigan Wolves Protected!

Keep Michigan Wolves Protected is a coalition of conservation groups, animal welfare organizations, wildlife professionals, hunters, ranchers and other Michigan citizens working to protect Michigan's fragile wolf population.

Wolves have been on the protected list in Michigan for nearly 50 years. There are fewer than 700 wolves in Michigan and their numbers are only now starting to recover. It's not right to spend decades bringing the wolf back from the brink of extinction only to turn around and allow them to be killed for sport.

It’s already legal in Michigan to kill wolves in order to protect livestock or dogs. The wolf population is simply not large enough to support the hunting of wolves for sport. It's unnecessary and reckless given the decades spent trying to protect the wolf population in Michigan.

People don't eat wolves, and it's just pointless trophy hunting for no good purpose. Wolf hunting may involve especially cruel and unfair practices, such as painful steel-jawed leg hold traps, hunting over bait, aerial gunning from helicopters, and even using packs of dogs to chase down and kill wolves.

In December 2012, after Michigan state politicians rushed a 'lame duck' bill through the House and Senate, Governor Snyder signed legislation into law that would designate wolves a "game" species and authorize the Natural Resources Commission to establish a hunting season.

Keep Michigan Wolves Protected is seeking to collect more than 225,000 signatures of Michigan voters to place a referendum on the ballot. If we are successful, a proposal will appear on the Michigan statewide ballot in 2014 that would allow voters to choose whether or not to enact the legislature's wolf hunting law.

It is the goal of Keep Michigan Wolves Protected to preserve the longstanding Michigan prohibition on the trophy hunting of this iconic species.

Find out more about this issue and how you can help keep MI wolves protected at http://keepwolvesprotected.com/

• Collect Signatures
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• Spread the Word
• Donate

The Eagles Have Left the Nest

The Decorah eaglets have left the nest! They're practicing flying and exploring the branches surrounding the nest. Raptor Resource reports that Fledge will be closer to June 25th and they hope to band the young eagles.

RRP hopes to band these juvies and place a satellite transmitter on one of them. The juvies will be captured on the ground a couple of weeks after they fledge. The small band with its identifying color and number goes around one of the ankles and does not bother or endanger the bird. The transmitter is mounted loosely and comfortably like a tiny backpack, and it does not interfere with flight or with head or neck movement. The process takes just a few minutes and does not frighten or harm the birds. It is possible to take measurements of the juvies as they are banded to determine their sex. Banding eventually gives researchers information on how far the bird has flown from its birth nest once it has died or is found injured; the band might also be spotted during feeding, nesting, or migrating and thus can be useful in tracking the eagle's movements. The transmitter will allow researchers to track the juvie regularly via GPS and will yield invaluable information on its behavior. The transmitter is designed to fall off after a few years. Banding and placing the transmitter will be done by Bob Anderson, Director of RRP, and other raptor experts who have banded many birds before and who always follow the safest protocols, and who will have obtained the required permits to do so. Bob discusses his excitement about this in a recent interview. Here is a good web site that describes the process of banding.

It's amazing to think that just a few short months ago these three juvenile eagles we three tiny balls of fluff. Now they've left the nest and are flying like aces. Raptor Resource Project had this to say about the successful lift-off the three young eagles.

Decorah Bald Eagles - Houston, We Have Lift Off!

Greetings to Decorah Bald Eagle enthusiasts all over the world. On 6/16/11, four of us were traveling to Trempealeau, WI, to band young falcons when we received word that two of the Decorah eaglets had left the nest and flown to the upper branches of the nest tree. We had been expecting fledging to take place between June 11 and June 25, and were delighted with the news. However, we decided to continue with the day's planned banding before going back to Decorah - I had been surveying the Trempealeau cliff, a large wall overlooking the Mississippi river, for over twenty years and was looking forward to banding falcons there. It was most rewarding to don rappelling gear, go over the wall, and find two healthy babies. We quickly banded them and hurried back to Decorah. 

David Hecht rushed over to the shop while I unpacked our climbing equipment. I stepped into my office just in time to see him pan the camera and show the two “newly branched” eaglets out on a nearby limb. It was only a short while later that the third eaglet jumped from the nest to the branch to join the rest of the eagle family. I was convinced that the eaglets would return to the nest by evening and joined David to take my turn at the controls of the PTZ camera until well past dark. However, all three eaglets were still out on the limbs of the nest tree at dawn on the morning of 6/17/2011. They remained there all day, returning to the nest whenever one of the adult eagles brought food and flying back to perch on the tree limbs after feeding. 

On the morning of 6/18/11, I could see only two eaglets in the camera view. I drove over to the nest site and searched the nest tree, ground, and banks of the nearby trout stream. Nothing. I was perplexed. Later in the morning, as I was speaking to Brian Malaise at the nearby trout hatchery, I noticed one young eaglet flying back to the nest tree as if it had been on the wing for weeks. I raced back to the nest area and took a head count from directly under the nest tree, where I was pleased to find three young eaglets and the adult female. 

We will see the Decorah fledglings less and less as they take to the sky. We will soon be shutting down the cameras, closing chat, and suspending most Facebook wall posting, although we will continue to provide updates as they become available. Our 2012 plans include improved cameras mounted out of projectile poop range at the Decorah nest, and live video and audio from a Red-tail hawk nest (and very probably a Peregrine falcon nest). This will be an exciting complement to the now-famous Decorah Bald Eagle Cam. 

I would like each and every person to consider this: The 2011 Decorah Eagle Cam turned out to be a truly extraordinary wildlife learning experience for millions of people across the world. A great many thanks to all of the moderators for spending countless hours educating so many people about the natural world and life history of the Bald Eagle. The 2011 Decorah Eagle Cam was most likely the largest wildlife education program ever.

There are many people who have donated their time as volunteers for RRP to make the 2011 Decorah Eagle Cam the wonderful, enjoyable, and educational experience that it was.
The following is a list of those individuals who contributed their time to make the Decorah Eagle cam the huge success it evolved into. My apologies if I have overlooked anyone. Amy Ries, David Kester, Neil Rettig, Kenny Phillips, Shanna Riha, Elfruler, Char, Kathy, Ruby Tugade, Neil Flood, Jim Womeldorf, David Hecht, Karen Lee, Willard and Mary Ellen Holthaus, Jacob and Holly Mengelson, Lavonne Bjergum, the great support team at Ustream, and chat mods bellenurse1, birdsohio, bremerbirdfan, FinnBMD, gandpengelking, GoldenEagle4444, hummingbird2011, ILbirder, jollygiantredwood, lgb1126, luvsbirds, nature27, nwsonshine, ocalagaltomsriver, Pagent, Peg22, RaptorGal, RedBird51, spice1217, tekonshamichigan, ThinkingWoman, ToolesboroTom, and Totenzwerg.

Thank you so much for following us. We hope you'll be watching next year.

Defenders of Wildlife ColBEAR Campaign: On Notice!

I'm not sure how many of you are aware of Defenders of Wildlife's latest campaign for Bear Awareness Week--The ColBEAR Campaign. While the links--"Stephen Colbert's War on Bears" and "Trash Stephen Colbert..and Help Save Some Bears"--don't do the lengthy email newsletters' allegations justice, these outlandish attacks against Stephen Colbert have driven me to composes the following letter to Roger Schlickeisen, Defenders of Wildlife President.

To: Rodger Schlickeisen, Defenders of Wildlife President

From: In Medias Res 

Date: 20 May 2011

Subject: ColBEAR Campaign

I’m writing in concern of your recent Bear Awareness Week Campaign—The ColBEAR Campaign—that has been making ridiculous and outlandish allegations against Stephen Colbert with the verbal wit and tongue-in-cheek humor of a two-year-old.

Your most recent attack entitled “Trash Stephen Colbert…and Help Some Bears” is no more humorous than your previous campaigns against Stephen Colbert and begs the question as to whether or not you understand satire and/or sarcasm? In this case it would seem that “sarcasm” should be used as a noun and defined as such, Sar-chasm (n.): The giant gulf between the sarcastic comment and the person who doesn’t get it.

If you had started out your ColBEAR campaign with good humor and jest, then perhaps it could have been successful and not have left people wondering whether you understood that Stephen Colbert is speaking satirically. It’s not until your latest campaign that you state that your “tongue-in-cheek ColBEAR campaign” has been “poking fun at Stephen Colbert for his ridiculous and hilarious attacks on bears”.

You seem to think that Stephen Colbert has been “spreading irrational misinformation and fears about black bears, grizzly bears and polar bears” year after year. The only “irrational misinformation” is your ColBEAR campaign spreading false allegations about Stephen Colbert “viciously and repeatedly” attacking bears. Are you aware that sarcastic segments about bears air on the Colbert Report only a couple of times a year?

While the ColBEAR campaign raised more than $24,000 for polar, grizzly and black bears I’d like to see the Defenders of Wildlife put On Notice for stooping to trash talk against Stephen Colbert in order to fund awareness for bears, instead of attacking the people who are really doing the harm, like so called Animal Rights Activist, Frank Albrecht.

You may recall that German Animal Rights Activist, Frank Albrecht, believed that the captive born baby polar bear, Knut, should be killed after being rejected by his mother. He stated “feeding by hand is not species appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws. The zoo must kill the bear”. Perhaps you even remember that segment from the Colbert Report?

It would be in the best interest of Defenders of Wildlife to speak out against those who are actually doing wildlife harm, rather than seeking media attention under false allegations against the host of a satirical news program.

I wish continued success to Defenders of Wildlife for their efforts to aid wildlife and wildlife habitat, as long as it can do so without stooping to the level of a trash talking playground bully. Try to target the right audience, get a sense of humor, and hire an effective writer who will stop you from coming up with ridiculous campaign titles, like ColBEAR. For now you’re still On Notice until those 1,000 plush bears you said you sent to Stephen Colbert show up on the Colbert Report.

Regards,

In Medias Res

While I support Defenders of Wildlife's efforts to help wildlife and wildlife habitat, this campaign has slandered their organization in my eyes. Any wildlife organization seeking false media attention might as well join Paul Watson and the crew of the Sea Shepherd.

Want to share your thoughts? Post in the comments or contact Defenders of Wildlife: defenders@mail.defenders.org

Decorah Eaglets All Grown Up

The three Decorah eaglets are certainly looking all grown up--well almost--they still need to mature a bit more, but they're nearing full size.They've started to feed themselves and are even starting to test out their wings.

It's crazy to think that about a month and a half ago these little eaglets were just hatching. Then we watched them discover their feet--"OMG! I have toes!"--and now they're stomping all over the nest. And now their latest discovery: Wings! Pretty soon the flying lessons will start, so cross your fingers and hope we'll have three aces in no time!

USTREAM Videos

Just look at how big the three Decorah eaglets are getting! They're losing all their downy fluff and trading it in for feathers--looking more like their parents everyday. 

The whole world is watching the three eaglets grow up, but USTREAM has a ton of other live feeds to watch too. 

For instance, meet Phoebe, a hummingbird in California with a newly hatched chick--it's so tiny.

Phoebe is a Channel Island Allen hummingbird and you can watch the live stream of her and her chick on USTREAM.




Live video by Ustream