Archive for the 'Animals' Category

Outdoor Life.

Although domestic dogs are generally accepted as wolf descendants, wolves are a completely different animal. It’s easy to see why much of the general human population places wolves on a pedestal. They are wild, majestic, smart, and perceived as relatable, given our tight-knit relationship with domesticated canines. Wolves don’t care about your suppositions, however. Given the chance, they will kill your dog.

Some might think that wolves and dogs would be friends, but all it usually takes is your dog getting a single whiff of a wolf to convince you otherwise. Hell, wolves aren’t even friends with each other. Here in Alaska I spent several years skinning for a local fur buyer and put up hundreds of wolves. I had wolf smell on me all winter long and any domestic dog I encountered either got its hackles up or wet itself.

The late Outdoor Life contributor Jim Rearden’s book Alaska’s Wolf Man, about the famed Frank Glaser, elaborates on the subject. Years after encountering a pair of mixed wolf-dogs, Glaser captured a male wolf and bred his own wolf-dogs to pull sleds. He noted that they had the distinct smell of wolves, and any time he pulled into the small town of Healy, any loose dogs cleared the street at the smell and sight of them.

[ … ]

It’s not normal for wolves to attack humans, but it’s not unusual for them to kill domestic dogs—even in the backyard. Living in Fairbanks, Alaska, it’s never surprising to hear of wolves eating dogs “off the chain.” Another Fairbanks resident, John Reeves recently mentioned it on a Joe Rogan podcast appearance, and it’s true. When passing through the edges of populated areas, it’s not uncommon for wolves to prey on domestic dogs.

In 2007, there were packs of wolves in different parts of the Fairbanks area ravaging dog yards. A re-posted story written for the Fairbanks Daily News Miner by Tim Mowry that year talks about the winter of 1974-75 when wolves killed an estimated 165 dogs in the Fairbanks area.

There are some gruesome stories at the link.  I suppose there’s always the exception (at one minute into the video).

But it doesn’t matter whether the threat to my beast is a Coyote, Wolf or big cat.  I carry weapons and will use them to defend my family.

Source.

A string of mountain lion attacks on dogs in the Nederland area has left many community members concerned about the safety of their pets.

Nederland resident Peter James said the community has lost around 12 to 15 dogs to lion attacks in the past six months. Most of the attacks are logged on a wildlife tracker James said was created by a local designer.

“It’s gotten sort of out of hand and it needs to be addressed,” he said. “It kind of feels like, is the community responsible for maintaining this kind of safety?”

On Monday, a woman in Rollinsville shared in a Nederland Facebook group that she watched her Australian Shepherd get snatched off her porch by a mountain lion. James said group members have also posted about attacks on a Doberman and a Great Pyrenees.

Three weeks ago, James said around 50 people attended a Colorado Parks and Wildlife lecture on mountain lion safety at the Nederland Community Center, with over 70 tuning in remotely. Some residents, he said, are even concerned about kids becoming targets.

“This lion is now coming up on decks, taking dogs that are 100 pounds, and we’re worried about a little kid who weighs maybe 40 pounds,” he said.

Jill Dreves, executive director of Wild Bear Nature Center in Nederland, said she has noticed a pattern of recent lion attacks near Ridge Road and Magnolia Road.

“There is an increase,” she said. “It’s not made up. There’s a big increase in dogs getting taken by mountain lions.”

[ … ]

“I think the most important thing is to understand that we are sharing a habitat with the mountain lions, bears, moose and all the other wildlife,” Dreves said.

In another report, “Since early November, she had been contending with the lions, which she says had been “actively stalking” her mini horse and daughter’s pony. Her tenant, Sarah Bennett, had also encountered them on early-morning runs with her dog, Bagel.

The lions had been around for weeks by that point. Rose had seen them watching the horses from a hillside on her land in the Roosevelt National Forest. Reports of lions attacking dogs in her immediate neighborhood, coupled with their sudden interest in the livestock and Bagel, had put her nervous system in “overdrive,” she says.

The night she texted CPW was a breaking point. A lion had been sitting outside of Bennett’s garden-level door, seemingly waiting for her to bring Bagel outside to pee. Bennett saw it 25 feet away and rushed the dog back inside. “I felt like it knew our patterns,” Rose says. “It knew Bagel lived there, and it was waiting to attack.”

What are the authorities going to do about it?

“As morbid and messed up as it sounds, if we just have a dog getting attacked or killed and no human involvement, then it’s just lions doing lion things and we can’t kill them,” Peterson said. “But if we were responding to every pet that was killed by wildlife with lethal removal, then we would be spending the majority of our time as officers (at least on the Front Range) doing that, and we would have to kill a lot of bears, lions, bobcats and coyotes. Instead, I think the best solution is advocating for responsible pet ownership and being diligent with your pets when living or visiting areas where wildlife are likely to be.”

I agree with everything he said, except the part about “we can’t kill them.”  Maybe he can’t but you sure can, and I sure would if a lion was threatening me or my family.  I find it oddball that people who live in Colorado would be surprised at this sort of thing.  Where do they think they live, anyway?

I did have to read this part several times to get the full force of it.

AJ Koziel’s 90-pound Bernese mountain dog mix, Duke, vanished from his house in the Gamble Gulch neighborhood near Rollinsville on Oct. 27.

Koziel let Duke outside to go to the bathroom. When he didn’t return, Koziel knew something was wrong. It was dark, so Koziel waited for morning to go looking. When he found Duke’s body, on a hillside above his house, he says he saw claw marks on his hips and most of his neck, “one shoulder hanging off to the side, and half of the skin on his face torn off.” As someone who honors the natural life-and-death cycle, Koziel said he left Duke’s body where it lay, “for the raven and his brothers to feast on.”

Astounding.  Men, you are responsible for your beasts, and that means protection too if needed.  Don’t let them out alone.  Carry large bore firearms with you.  Be prepared to shoot invaders, whether two-legged or four-legged.  Be men, not sheep.  I would never have waited to see if my dog came back home, but then I wouldn’t have sent him out alone either.

Better yet, extend the hunting season and send packs of dogs after the lions (or even set up in a deer stand and wait for the lions if you know they are scouting the area).  We’ll see who runs then.  A mountain lion may be fierce but is no match for a 45-70 round.

But I doubt that the hippies who moved in from California would allow something like that.  It’s just like the hippies to move into the bush and expect the .gov to make them safe.

Cowboy State Daily.

A retired Canadian fish and wildlife agent has voiced concern that black bears are “hunting” humans more frequently in Alberta, but that’s not a big concern in Wyoming, some biologists said.

Veteran wildlife agent Murray Bates says he’s noticed a disturbing shift in the pattern of black bear behavior over the course of his 34-year career.

“Grizzlies were protecting their territory, young and food, but certainly, on occasion, killing a human,” he said. “The key word here is hunt. During my tenure I was starting to notice a shift in black bears attacking humans and grizzlies maintaining traditional patterns of attack or kill.

“The records and experts may state otherwise, but I found myself investigating more complaints of black bears tracking humans as prey, then killing and feeding on them,” Bates added.

[ … ]

“I would still rather encounter a predatory black bear than being involved in a surprise encounter with a grizzly bear at a carcass; time is not on your side in the latter whereas with a proper response a predatory black bear can be deterred (first choice is bear spray, followed by standing your ground and fighting with rocks, sticks, and etc.),” he said.

I’m not surprised.  When hunting is discouraged and guns are outlawed, the predators will roam free to do what they want.

Suck it up, Canadians.  There’s more to come with the impending laws against basically any firearm, including hunting with bolt action rifles.  Get used to it, change your government, or carry non-permissively.

And as for his advice to “stand your ground,” that’s not even done in America without a weapon.  The whole notion is legalization of the use of weapons in stand your ground cases rather than having a duty to retreat.

It’s probably not a big concern for Wyoming because they carry guns.

Video here. News story here.

Goldsby’s husband, Thomas, was out walking their elderly dog, Dandy, at about 4:45 a.m. along Main Street when he ran into a Knoxville police officer shining his spotlight along the First Baptist Church lawn.

The officer rolled down his window and asked him if he had seen a bear.

[…]

Bear sightings in Knoxville occur with some frequency. Erland [PD Spokespuppet] said he recalled one instance, about three years ago, when a bear refused to leave a tree in Morningside Gardens Apartments in the Five Points neighborhood. In that instance, TWRA wildlife officers tranquilized the bear and relocated it to a forest, he said.

Bear populations are growing in Tennessee, but it is more common to see bears in the spring and summer, according to the TWRA website.

East Tennessee’s black bears are normally elusive and shy animals, and unless they have become accustomed to human food sources, they tend to avoid people, the website says.

Any local can tell you that that is a bald-faced lie. The article had just said sightings “occur with some frequency,” which is much closer to the truth. It’s never good to see a bear in winter. Winter bears are usually hungry and may have no fixed den location. They should be avoided. Info about bear dens is here and here. I suspect they’re living within city limits and certainly in Knox County.

If you encounter a bear at close range, the TWRA advises, “Make your presence known by yelling and shouting at the bear in an attempt to scare it away. If a bear is reluctant to leave then proceed to throw rocks or other objects at the bear while continuing to yell. Portray yourself as the dominant animal and do not back down. If a bear is close enough that you feel uncomfortable, slowly back away, continuing to yell while watching the bear at all times. Never run from a black bear as this may trigger a natural response to chase.”

Discharging a firearm inside city limits is illegal, but self-defense, which the State has preeminence over, is not. I generally carry hollow points unless purposefully going to a less populated region; that may have to change. Run by communists and being overwhelmed with carpetbagging leftists who destroyed Maryland, California, Illinois, and Massachusetts, Knoxville is turning into an unpleasant place to live; bears are the least of its problems.

Specifically, leopards.  As best as I can tell, both of the incidents in the linked videos happened in India.  The first dog gave up enough fight to end it.  The second dog had that big cat by the neck and the big cat wondered why he had decided to get into brawl.  It both cases, the fights ended with both the dog and big cats deciding to retreat and live another day.

I love dogs.  Man’s best friend and best protector.

LINK.

For the second encounter use this link.

Coyote drags two-year-old away.

Heart-pounding footage shows the moment a quick-thinking Israeli man jumped into action to save his two-year-old daughter before she was dragged away by a coyote outside their Los Angeles home.

Georgia sheepdog, Casper, fights off, kills 8 coyotes after pack attacks his sheep

A harrowing story in the video at the link. That’s one tough dog.

A Georgia sheepdog is recovering from injuries after squaring off against a pack of coyotes, killing eight of them, while protecting his flock.

Casper, a sheepdog who works on John Wierwiller’s Georgia farm, fought off the more than half a dozen coyotes in a fight that lasted over half an hour, WAGA-TV reported.

Wierwiller says that Casper disappeared for two days after the brutal fight.

“We knew he was hurt because we found parts of his tail and blood and other things, so we were worried,” Wierwiller said.

That’s a good boy.

H/T Battle Beagle @HarmlessYardDog

Using the power of the state to punish your enemies isn’t a tactic limited to the beltway.  It happens all the time in small town America.

One commenter suggests this: “I know what happened here, the person who made the complaint had been feeding that deer and getting trail cam pictures of it. That person just happens to be a friend of that DNR officer. This was a jealously case, the person who was feeding the deer was pissed someone else shot his trophy buck and was using the power of the DNR to get the antlers for himself. I’m from WV, hope he sues the crap out of the DNR for public defamation.”

And law enforcement couldn’t be silent about it.  They just had to go and defame his character in front of the world, with no evidence that he did anything they said he did.

This really is an ugly look for local law enforcement, and also for DNR.  Jealousy is always and everywhere a sin, it and can control a man’s heart.

The only thing this guy did wrong is talk to the police.  Never, ever talk to the police.  Let your attorney do your talking for you.

Caught on video, the cat was “known to authorities” and even has a tracking collar.

Wildlife experts have confirmed that LA’s most well-known mountain lion, P-22, was the big cat that attacked and killed a dog on a leash near the Hollywood Reservoir earlier this month.

A Chihuahua named Piper was killed in the attack, but the family’s other dog survived.

They were able to make that determination using P-22’s GPS tracking collar and other information.

The National Park Service, which tracks and studies mountain lions in the region, said attacks on leashed pets are rare. The service is not aware of any other such attacks in the Los Angeles area and has only seen studies that have documented two other such incidents, one in Colorado and one elsewhere in Southern California.

They also generally do not attack humans and the service noted the person walking the dog was not harmed.

P-22 typically hunts prey animals such as deer and coyotes and recently killed a large buck in Griffith Park, officials say.

“In terms of this incident, there is no evidence that preying on pets is related to an increased chance of an attack on a person, either in mountain lions, or in other urban carnivores such as coyotes,” according to a post from the service’s Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. “Mountain lion attacks on humans are exceedingly rare, although they do occur.”

P-22 lives in Griffith Park and is estimated to be 12 years old. He is known as the most famous cat tracked in the Los Angeles area, making appearances in backyards and neighborhoods around Griffith Park and the Hollywood Hills.

It’ll start killing people soon.

Source:

Wyoming dentist, Dr. Lee Francis, 65 years old, was hunting elk with his 40-year-old son, in the area near Rock Creek, in the Sawtooth Mountains, east of Bondurant, Wyoming.

In this video from KSAL-TV, he gives an interview and explains what happened. Dr. Francis is an avid hunter and outdoorsman. He successfully collected a large grizzly bear with a bow and arrow in 2013. Several attempts to contact Dr. Francis have been unsuccessful.

Dr. Francis had separated from his son when he unintentionally stepped in front of the entrance to a bear den. He saw the fresh dirt, had drawn his Glock 10mm, chambered a round, and was backing away when the bear charged at him out of the den from 10 feet away.

The best interview about the encounter appears to have been in an article at cowboystatedaily.com.  The article says Dr. Francis used 130-grain hardcast bullets in his 10mm Glock.

“He came right at me, and he came on full blast,” the elder Francis said. 

Counting the cartridge already in the chamber, he had 14 rounds loaded with 130 grain hard cast bullets in his Glock. 

“I just remember shooting three or for times, right before he hit me,” he said. “Then I went down on my back.”…

Hard cast bullets will punch through a bruin’s body, instead of rapidly expanding and expending their energy in massive, shallow wounds
the way that hollow point bullets do, he said. 

“Hollow points are meant for stopping people, not bears,” he said, adding that it was also fortunate for him that his weapon was loaded
with hard cast bullets. 

“A hit from a hollow point would have probably just exploded my whole foot,” he said. 

He also said he favors the high-capacity, semi-automatic Glock over magnum revolvers.

130-grain hardcast bullets for a 10mm would be unusual. Perhaps it is a typo or misreading of notes, where another weight of bullet was intended.  Buffalo Bore has a 220-grain hardcast bullets loaded for bear in the 10mm.

More at the link and the CowboyDaily link has good details as well.

Source:

The New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Council will vote Tuesday on a proposal to revive the state’s bear hunting season.

The bear hunting season could be returning to New Jersey after farmers and residents have complained about the surging black bear population and the Department of Environmental Protection reporting that encounters with bears have increased by 237% over 2021 numbers, according to reporting from News 12 New Jersey.

Those factors have prompted Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to reconsider his stance on the season, which he canceled in part starting in 2018 and entirely last year, following through on a promise he made to animal rights activists during his 2017 election campaign.

“Since the outset of my administration, I have promised to ground every difficult decision on the latest science and evidence in order to protect our communities,” Murphy said in a statement last week while signaling support for reviving the hunt.

“From the data we have analyzed to the stories we have heard from families across the state, it is clear that New Jersey’s black bear population is growing significantly, and nonlethal bear management strategies alone are not enough to mitigate this trend.”

Murphy’s change of heart would be a welcome one for many state residents who have complained of increased encounters with bears that have terrified residents and damaged crops and livestock.

“They really knock a lot of corn down, eat a lot of corn and they’ll take anywhere from 5% to 25% of a field. We’ve seen some fields that have been 70% decimated this year,” Phillip Broadhecker, a farmer from Hampton Township, told News 12. “You can actually go on to Google maps and look at Earth views in the fall of fields and see circles and round spots in fields, and it’s astounding how bad it is.”

Broadhecker said the damage doesn’t stop at crops, noting that livestock and even people’s pets have been the targets of the growing population of bears.

“We’ve got a lot of livestock that have been killed or injured up here. Goats, chickens, pigs, small horses, even people’s dogs,” he said.