Green Options

An Idaho man was cited for shooting and killing a female wolf pup while standing behind his pickup truck on a public road.

According to local reports, Idaho Fish and Game wardens have cited a man for shooting a wolf in Idaho’s McCall-Weiser area, which is not an open hunting zone until October 1, 2009. He was also cited for hunting from a public road.

One mountain lion in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona is single-handedly hunting the refuge’s endangered big horn sheep population to extinction.

The puma has already culled at least 15 sheep since last February, a remarkable pace which, if continued, would total 37 deaths by the end of the year. By comparison, the estimated annual yearling recruitment from the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge bighorn sheep herd is only 39 animals.

Around 22,000 “large flying foxes” — the largest fruit bat in the world — are legally killed every year in Peninsular Malaysia by hunters. At this rate, scientists say the bat could go extinct in the near future.

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission has decided to allow hunters to kill 220 of the state’s 1,000 wolves.

In the first-ever state regulated hunt of gray wolves in the continental United States, Idaho residents can purchase a hunting tag for $11.75 and out-of-state hunters will pay $186 for the opportunity to kill a wolf.

The hunt is set to begin on September 1, and Montana has planned to begin its wolf hunt in October.

Below are some excerpts from the field journal of Roland Goetz, Warden of Kissama National Park.  The WILD Foundation, an EcoWorldly media partner, was one of the first international conservation organizations to take help re-establish Kissama in the late 1990’s, after 25 years of tragic civil war left the region in great need.  WILD continues to provide urgently needed conservation supplies, training and capacity building and guidance on conservation efforts to the one million hectare park.

On 21 may 2009, we apprehended 5 poachers who had snared and killed a grey duiker and 2 red necked francolin.  They also made 10 bags of charcoal.  The following day we apprehended 4 illegal charcoal makers with 10 bags charcoal in their possession. After taking them back to Caua Camp, under guard, it was discovered that one of the poachers in our custody was Mr Fuma, who we’ve been looking for since 2004 for shooting and killing an elephant, (whose tusks we have been in possession of since the incident).

U.S. District Court has sentenced a Vermont man to a week in jail for killing an endangered lynx - after he left the carcass with a taxidermist for mounting.

According to the Bangor Daily News, Vermont Fish and Wildlife officials were tipped off by the taxidermist, who said the man claimed he thought was “shooting at a coyote” while enjoying a deer hunting excursion in Maine.

This marks the third time in less than three years that someone has been sentenced for killing an endangered Canadian lynx (Lynx canadensis).

U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk believed the jail time was necessary, saying that

We have the Endangered Species Act to protect, restore and save these types of animals. I do think this defendant deserves jail time. Just a fine would be a meaningless punishment.

The man who killed the lynx, Alan B. Clark Jr. 38, of South Hero, VT, admitted to Kravchuk that he knew it was a lynx when he took it to the taxidermist, and pleaded guilty to the federal misdemeanor crime of possession of unlawfully taken wildlife.

Although Clark faced up to six months in jail, and a fine up to $25,000, his attorney got him a reduced sentence, citing “recent chronic health problems” and “inability to work.” Clark’s jail time starts Thursday afternoon at the Penobscot County jail.

Apparently, Clark’s right to possess guns and hunt will not be affected by the conviction.

Hungry villagers have been caught stealing meat from the nearly extinct lions of Waza National Park.

The villagers likely scare off the lions with sticks or fire shortly after they make a fresh kill. Researchers fear the practice may be more common than previously thought, and it may help explain why lion numbers are plummeting in Cameroon.

Plans are underway to move a 48km section of Kruger National Park specifically to allow for trophy hunting.

The new section will be opened as an exclusive private nature reserve where hunters would target animals like elephant and buffalo for contracted killing. “This cannot be disguised as anything but a green light for hunting in Kruger National Park, which makes no ecological, biological, ethical or economic sense,” said Jason Bell-Leask of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Select hunters have been given permits in Florida to hunt and kill non-native pythons in the wild.

Experts say the alien constrictors number in the tens of thousands in Everglades National Park, and they are wiping out native endangered species. An official with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the hunt is just the beginning of a much larger eradication program.

Six businessmen from Tanzania were charged today for smuggling 11 tons of elephant ivory worth $600,000 into the Philippines and Vietnam.

The men were charged under 11 counts of conspiracy, unlawful hunting, exporting concealed and undeclared items as well as making false documents. It’s likely that the intricate smuggling job was conducted between October 2008 and March this year.

Sealers wielding clubs for the purpose of killing seals attacked two journalists, one from the UK and one from South Africa, who were filming the brutal Namibian seal cull last week.

The journalists were then arrested and jailed at the Henties Bay Police Station in Namibia, and their camera and video was confiscated by authorities. The British and South Africa Embassies are demanding their immediate release.