Tag Archives: Arizona

AZGFD.gov Game and Fish officers euthanize bear that clawed camper

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GR:  As the human population grows and expands, encounters with wildlife increase.  We kill any animals that injure a human–usually no questions asked.  We also kill wildlife as we build homes and roads and destroy necessary wildlife habitat.  Research indicates that already half of all animals are gone.  Eventually, there will only be humans, their domestic animals, and a small number of other species.

Do we care enough about other creatures to protect their habitat and reduce our population?  None of the zoning regulations I’ve seen preserve habitat just because wild animals need it.  Certainly there is no effective effort to control our population.  So, is it truly inevitable that humans doom most wild animals to extinction?

black bearPHOENIX — “Arizona Game and Fish Department officers last night trapped and euthanized a black bear that had scratched and injured a camper earlier in the day in a dispersed camping area (not a developed campground) near Cherry Creek in Young, Ariz.

“The subadult (1-1/2 to 2-1/2 year-old) [young] male bear was caught in a culvert trap set by a highly trained team of wildlife officers. They confirmed this was the bear involved in the incident based on descriptions from other campers and because it had a unique hind paw pad that matched tracks found at the scene. The bear was euthanized [killed] per department policy because it attacked a human and was deemed a threat to public safety.

“Officers noted there were unsecured food sources and garbage in the area, and a field necropsy revealed garbage in the bear’s stomach contents. Arizona Game and Fish reminds everyone that leaving food and trash around may be luring an animal to its death.”  Read more: AZGFD.gov Game and Fish officers euthanize bear that clawed camper.

The photo is a Pixabay Free Illustration.

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Sierra Club Releases 2016 Report Card for Arizona Legislature and Governor | Sierra Club

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Phoenix, AZ – The 52nd Legislature’s focus was on limiting safeguards for much of what makes Arizona special. Legislators sought to further weaken water laws, promoted unaccountable special taxing districts to accommodate unsustainable developments, clouded the future of rooftop solar, and passed bills to hinder protection of public lands via national monuments and via the use of impacts fees for regional parks and open space.

Bahr, Sandy“The Arizona Legislature is determined to allow harm to what makes Arizona special – unique and threatened rivers such as the San Pedro, endangered Mexican gray wolves, public lands around Grand Canyon,” said Sandy Bahr, Chapter Director for Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon (Arizona) Chapter. “Rather than taking advantage of our 300-plus days of sunshine and growing solar industry and the jobs its provides, legislators passed a bill to hinder installations and even considered proposed constitutional amendments that would have likely destroyed the rooftop solar industry in Arizona.”

Source: Sierra Club Releases 2016 Report Card for Arizona Legislature and Governor | Sierra Club

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How You Can Help Protect Arizona Wildlife

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Support Arizona Wildlife

AZGFD i_support_wildlife_sticker_miniEach year, more than 100,000 people apply for a license to kill one or more of Arizona’s wild animals.  The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) encourages wildlife killing because roughly one quarter of the Department’s budget comes from hunting license sales. The Department also supports killing to reduce conflicts with the harvesters, the farmers, ranchers, and others that complain about wildlife (click to read more about cattle).

At the same time it encourages killing wild animals, AZGFD works to protect wild animals.  Though this sounds crazy, it is a common practice for governments to sell some of their wildlife species for funds to use to protect other species. Of course, we all know that, as of today, protection has failed and more than half of all vertebrates on the Earth has disappeared since 1970.

I find it difficult to believe that there are more people in Arizona that want to kill animals than people that want to protect them.  There are many programs that aim to protect wildlife. There is even one by AZGFD called “I Support Wildlife.”  Here’s what the Department says about the program.

“I Support Wildlife™ bridges the widening gap between wildlife facing new threats and a sharp increase in the cost of conservation. A one-year membership lets you explore Arizona’s unique natural heritage while taking action to preserve it for the future.”

Arizona Wildlife Problems

“Arizona is home to more than 800 wildlife species, from Gambel’s quail to bighorn sheep. But their natural habitats — which stretch across 50 million acres of public land — are increasingly at risk. A rapidly changing world presents a host of threats to wildlife: Expanding cities, competing uses for open space and increasing demands for a limited water supply all play a role in this.”

“It is the job of the Arizona Game and Fish Department to protect, restore and preserve these species and the places where they live. But no Arizona tax dollars go to support this mission. Instead, the sales of hunting and fishing licenses are the primary source of funding. However, these funds are not keeping pace with the cost of wildlife management, leaving our native animals vulnerable at a critical time.”

You may have noticed that cattle grazing isn’t mentioned directly.  That doesn’t mean that AZGFD is unaware of the enormous impact of ranching.  It’s just that our political system leaves the Department powerless to protest.

AZGFD I Support with costSupport AZGFD

Having financial support from those of us wanting to protect, not kill, the animals will help AZGFD with inventories and analysis of more species.  It’s possible that our donations will be used to promote more hunting license sales, but I don’t believe that.  Anyway, let’s give it a try.  Click the I-Support-Wildlife image, sign up, pay your $25, and let’s see if AZGFD’s promotion of hunting licenses declines and its protection programs and reports on wildlife conditions increase.

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Saudi Arabia is out of water so it grows hay in Arizona

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Outside of Phoenix, in the scorching Arizona desert, sits a farm that Saudi Arabia’s largest dairy uses to make hay for cows back home.

(Image:  NPR)

“That dairy company, named Almarai, bought the farm last year and has planted thousands of acres of groundwater-guzzling alfalfa to make that hay. Saudi Arabia can’t grow its own hay anymore because those crops drained its own ancient aquifer.
“The laws were put in place in the ’70s, and kudos to Arizona — they were really one of the first states to put in groundwater laws. But the laws were really designed for local or domestic farming. The idea that another country would come and essentially export your water via crops just wasn’t really around 30, 40 years ago. And so the laws that are in place are really inadequate for dealing with this new trend.

“This is occurring in a part of Arizona that is unregulated for groundwater. So there are no limits on how much water they can pump.”  From: www.dailykos.com

GR:  Not sure how long Arizona can afford to give water to the Middle East.  Perhaps this will continue until 1) the depth to water becomes so great, the Saudis will find desalinization of water for livestock feed is cheaper than pumping the water and shipping the hay, or 2), the ruling Saudis complete their move to the U. S. and simply abandon the poor people of their country.

(Thanks to DT Lange for placing the link to this story on Robert Scribbler’s site.)

Arizona Wildlife Notebook Revised – #Wildlife, #Arizona, #Conservation

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Arizona Wildlife Notebook

A new edition of the “Arizona Wildlife Notebook” is available.

In the year, 2015, lethal heat waves and storms made it clear that humanity was changing the Earth.  Anyone who paid attention to the news knew that Earth’s animals and plants were disappearing.

Animal Declines

This figure from the review by the World Wildlife Fund (2014) shows that, from 1970 to 2010, Earth’s animals declined by 52%.

I have come to believe that nature conservation is the great challenge of our time. Human beings are imposing a mass extinction that will eliminate almost all animals on Earth. We may not be able to stop this, but I believe that the Notebook will be useful for anyone who hasn’t given up and wishes to work to protect Earth’s creatures.

Arizona Species Conservation Status

For this edition of the Notebook, I added more information on conservation.  The table below shows group status for species that AZGFD specialists consider critically imperiled (S1), imperiled (S2), and vulnerable (S3).  It also shows group status according to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for Threatened (LT) and Endangered (LE) species.  I didn’t include butterflies, moths, damselflies, and dragonflies in this table because the status of most species in those groups is unknown.

Many species that the AZGFD says are critically imperiled are not given national recognition and protection by the U. S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).  It seems that only after species are mostly gone that protection becomes available.  Thus, the ESA achieves very little overall protection from biodiversity loss.

ARIZONA WILDLIFE CONSERVATION STATUS

Species Group

Total  minus

Exotic & Extinct

AZGFD

S1+S2+S3

ESA

LT+LE

Amphibians

31

18 (58%)

2

Birds

451

260 (58%)

9

Fish

40

40 (100%)

13

Lizards

67

27 (40%)

0

Mammals

189

64 (34%)

15

Snakes

76

35 (46%)

1

Turtles

10

6 (67%)

2

TOTAL

864

450 (52%)

42

The third column shows how many species AZGFD considers at risk.  For instance, all native Arizona fish species are at risk, and about one-third of native Arizona mammals are at risk.  Being “at risk” usually means that numbers are dropping.  The principal causes are construction of buildings and roads, and invasive plants and animals.

Click–Arizona Wildlife Notebook–for a free copy of the 168-page book formatted as a PDF “fillable form.” If you like the book, tell others. Write a review for Amazon: http://mybook.to/AZWildlifeNotebook , or Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1Mkgmei.  If you would like to review a printed copy of the book, send a note using the form below.  Thank you.

Now that you’ve downloaded the book, you have a conversation-starter for tonight’s warm-up party for World Animal Day!

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Arizona Game & Fish Department – Small Game

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Get ready! Dove hunting like the good ol’ days!

Other great news for dove hunters

-15 bird daily bag limit
-10 white-winged daily bag limit (early season only)
-45 bird possession limit (respectively)
-All day shooting hours
-Expanded open hunting areas
-New simplified licenses, including $5 youth license

Roosting sites often make for good shooting. Doves will typically pick densely vegetated areas for roosts. Mesquite bosques, tamarisk (salt cedar) thickets, and citrus groves are typical roosting sites. Doves establish flight patterns and follow them.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: azgfdportal.az.gov

GR:  These pesky birds keep doing well, but shotgun management can solve the problem.  And remember the kids can kill for free.

Upcoming Watchable Wildlife Events by the Arizona Game and Fish Department

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Elk Workshop (August)
Arizona Game and Fish and Mormon Lake Lodge will host the elk workshop at Mormon Lake Lodge. Come learn more about Arizona’s largest wildlife species. Free to the public. Flagstaff, Arizona. For more information, contact the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Flagstaff regional office at (928) 774-5045 or visit the Region II Facebook page at Arizona Game and Fish Flagstaff Region.  Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.azgfd.gov

GR:  Provided free by the Arizona Game and Fish Department–these are the BEST opportunities to view Arizona wildlife.  If you appreciate the Department’s efforts and want to give support, you can buy a hunting license.  License fees support the Department.  You could even pay the fee for a chance to be drawn to hunt one of Arizona’s large species, and if you win, you can feel the satisfaction that comes from knowing that you might have saved an animal from being shot and killed.

See on Scoop.it – GarryRogers NatCon News

Mercury Contamination of Arizona Fish

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#Mercury #Contamination of #Fish in Bartlett Lake, Arizona

Bass - Largemouth

Largemouth Bass

Channel cat

Channel Catfish

Here is another threat to Arizona wildlife. Because it threatens humans, the state government is acknowledging it publicly. According to an email sent this morning by the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), “the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), in association with the AZGFD, has issued a fish consumption advisory recommending that people limit consumption of channel catfish and largemouth bass caught from Bartlett Lake [an artificial reservoir on the Verde River] in Maricopa County. ADEQ is issuing this advisory because recent fish tissue samples from Bartlett Lake contained elevated levels of mercury.”

“ADEQ recommends that adults limit consumption of channel catfish and largemouth bass to 2.4 ounces (uncooked weight) per week and children 12 years of age and under limit consumption to two ounces per month (uncooked weight). 
This advisory does not limit the use of this water body for fishing, bird watching, swimming, or other recreational uses. In general, the level of contaminants in fish is several folds higher than levels found in water.”

“Any health risks associated with eating fish from this advisory area are based on long term consumption and are not representative of risk from eating fish occasionally.  Fish are an excellent source of protein and can be an important part of a healthy, diverse diet as they are low in saturated fat and high in omega-3 fatty acids.  The American Heart Association recommends that individuals eat at least two fish or seafood meals weekly.”

Bald-Eagle-And-BabiesGR:  Unfortunately, wildlife eat these mercury-contaminated fish their whole lives. Unlike humans, they can’t “limit their consumption.” Mercury pollution is nothing new in Bartlett Lake or many other streams and lakes in Arizona.  It and the many other pollutants that wash into the State’s waters are helping destroy Arizona wildlife. The Bass and Catfish covered in the advisory are not native Arizona species, but they are often eaten by native amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, snakes, and turtles that live in around the lake. Thus, mercury works its way into the food chain and causes illness and shortened lives. Bald Eagles, for example have mercury in their eggs and tissues (Driscoll et al. 2006).  According to Robin Silver, Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, this mercury contamination is “worrisome.” You could also call it “harmful” or “deadly.”

What is the Origin of Mercury?

Mercury washes into streams and lakes after exposure by floods, mining, and construction.  Some probably comes from roads and urban wastes around and upstream from the lake.  And some comes from power plants in and around Arizona:  “Mercury is one of the most harmful pollutants faced by fish and wildlife. Toxic mercury is released from coal burning power plants across the country and accumulates in rivers, lakes, and forests.” — National Wildlife Federation.

Mercury is just one of many pollutants that humans feed into the Verde River and Bartlett Lake. Worldwide, human wastes are a major cause of wildlife disease and decline.  ADEQ makes little or no effort to regulate the sources of pollutants, but as wildlife declines and extinctions become public knowledge, the agency may have to step up and face the developers and . . . . Well, that’s not going to happen.  Not until private citizens force their political representatives to ignore their donors and future employers and direct the agency to say “enough is enough” without fear of retribution.

References

  • Driscoll, et al. 2006. Conservation assessment and strategy for the Bald Eagle in Arizona. Tech Rept 173, Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program, AZGFD, Phoenix, AZ, 69 p.
  • ADEQ. 2015. Arizona Fish Consumption Advisories – July 2015. Lists 15 waterbodies of concern.