Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center 04 2016 newsletter

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Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center MAYOR SHUNKA

Casey graciously accepted the Mayor of Divide metal for Shunka at TCRAS animal shelter. Shunka was very busy with preparing speeches for things he would like to see with improving our town of Divide and was not able to travel. Shunka received over $5,000 votes/dollars.

CWWC also had a super pac from California who put him over the top.

We want to thank all those who participated.

This goes to such a wonderful cause and such a wonderful shelter.

We are honored.

CWWC pack

Wolf Named Shunka Inaugurated as Mayor of Divide

By Angela Case FOX21News.com

DIVIDE, Colo. — Divide’s newest mayor is settling into his seat.

Shunka, a wolf living at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, won this year’s election. Saturday was his inauguration. He wasn’t able to attend due to prior commitments, but sent his campaign manager in his place.

The election is organized by the Teller County Regional Animal Shelter.

Each mayor is elected to a two-year term.

This is the fourth election the organization has held, but the first time a wolf has won.

“We’ve had a wolf run almost every single election we’ve had, and the wolf always comes in second or third, so we are so excited that the wolf finally won first place and is our new mayor,” animal shelter executive director Mary Steinbeiser said.

Past mayors have included a threelegged cat and a three-legged dog.

Each vote costs $1, and the money goes to help the shelter with their daily expenses.

This year, the shelter nearly tripled what they raised last election, bringing in more than $38,000.

h t i w walk f l o w a

Please visit wolfeducation.org to learn more and schedule your walk

Spring is here so Vicky and Wakanda can go for walks again!

Wolves Surplus Killing Elk in Wyoming

By Michelle Smith - CWWC Staff Member During the last week of March, news hit that wolves apparently killed 19 elk at a feedlot in Wyoming, eating only two calves and leaving the rest untouched.

On occasion, wolves will kill more than they can eat at a single time, however, it is generally not in numbers this great – which raises the question on if wolves really did kill the elk, or if they are simply getting blamed for the deaths.

When I had a chance to speak to a wolf biologist from the state of Michigan a few years back, we discussed the reasons why wolves may engage in surplus killing. Wolves typically track their prey for several miles, giving chase until the prey is exhausted. However, in deep snow, sometimes deer and elk get trapped in places that they can not easily escape. In those rare cases, wolves may end up killing more than they need to eat right at that time, and eat only the parts of the animals that give them the most amount of energy return. Since wolves can only eat about twenty pounds

at one sitting, it makes it appear that the wolves killed a lot of animals, and then left the rest – this is when people say the wolves killed for “sport”. However, the wolf biologist stated that on the occasion that they came across these kill sites, instead of removing the elk and deer carcasses, they placed game cameras near the site to see if the wolves would return – and they did, for several weeks. Not only did the wolves return, but many other predators and scavengers also benefited from the kills.

Yellowstone wolf biologist Doug Smith also stated something similar, in the cases where he has seen photos of wolf kills that were left mostly untouched, one thing was always in common - the wolves had been run off the kill. There were tire tracks, shoe prints, and other signs of people’s interference all around the carcasses.

Early in the reintroduction period in Yellowstone National Park, wolves took down five deer in a single day - it was one of the only times wolves engaged in a surplus kill in the park - and since the wolves and

Wolf women at work cleaning up Twin Rock Road

the wild spaces within Yellowstone are left completely alone, the wolves returned over and over again until only two weeks later all the meat was gone from the carcasses. In other places in Yellowstone, some bison carcasses have been revisited up to a year later.

Wolves are opportunistic, and as we come into the spring time birthing season, if they are able to take down more food than they need at once, they will.

This means they won’t have to hunt as much, and can focus on raising their pups, while returning to previous kills for nourishment. Hunting large game like deer and elk is dangerous for wolves. If they are able to secure a large amount of food at a single time, it allows them to more successfully raise pups as they already have ample food, meaning they do not have to risk injury or death through hunting while pups are still depending on them for care.

Unfortunately, the case of wolves killing 19 elk at a Wyoming feedlot raises several questions. It is highly unlikely that wolves would be able to take down that many elk unless the elk were trapped in a small area,

such as in deep snow or in a fenced area. This was at a feedlot, where the elk are fed and are so socialized to humans that they wait for the feed trucks to pull up with hay every day. However, this out of the ordinary story is eerily reminiscent of the 2013 story from Michigan where wolves were stalking children outside of a daycare - that story led to wolves being hunted in Michigan that year. After the hunt closed, it came to light that the story about wolves outside of the daycare had been made up in order to pressure the state to allow a wolf hunt. Wyoming lost jurisdiction over wolves in 2013 after they had listed them as “predatory” in 2012, allowing everyone and anyone to kill wolves on sight. The story of wolves killing 19 elk at a feedlot is suspicious because it is an unusually high number, and it comes at a time when there is great political pressure to delist all wolves across the lower 48. It would seem that this is also a fabricated story in order to draw more negative attention to wolves to gain support for another wrongful delisting.

My sons and I were there for our second time just this past week (we live in Texas).

Tonight when my 10 yo son, Connor, colored his eggs he did these two.

Connor is a huge wolf fan and has been ever since our first trip foir years ago when Na’vi was just one year old.

My best, Kevin W.

For the wild, Kierán Suckling · Executive Director Center for Biological Diversity

BETRAYAL Feds Abandon Last 53 Red Wolves to Extinction

We won’t let the Service doom the red wolf to extinction. Help us fight back with a donation to our Wolf Defense Fund.

Beautiful and elusive, the American red wolf was once the poster child for one of the world’s most innovative recovery programs. But now bureaucrats caving to special interests have decided to just walk away. They’ve gotten rid of the recovery program director position, stopped releases of genetically crucial red wolves into the wild, and even revved up wolf killings to appease ranchers. They’re making a sham of decades of difficult struggle to restore red wolves to their rightful home.

These wolves are uniquely American. Once ranging from the East Coast to Texas, there’s only a handful left in a tiny corner of their historic range. This latest decision by the Fish and Wildlife Service is nothing less than tragic.

That’s why we’ve challenged this betrayal in court.

We’re going to make sure the Service gets back to work ensuring full recovery of red wolves in the wild.

To do that we need your help -- please donate to our Wolf Defense Fund.

Critically endangered red wolves have been abandoned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency charged with ensuring their survival.

It’s a devastating move because the last 53 red wolves don’t stand a chance without federal help. If the Service can do this to the last red wolves on Earth, hundreds of other species hovering on the brink of extinc- If we allow their the recovery program to crumble, tion could be abandoned next. That’s why the Center these distressingly rare wolves will surely slip into for Biological Diversity has gone to court -- to make oblivion. We can’t let that happen. Help us fight for the last 53 wild red wolves! the government do its job and protect red wolves.

We’ve just learned that Wildlife Services, the federal animal-killing program, is using “Judas” wolves to betray the location of their wolf families in Idaho so that aerial shooters can wipe them out.

It’s a sick trick that shows how low these killers will sink to slaughter wildlife. We need your help to stop them.

A Judas wolf is one that’s fitted with a radio collar and then used to repeatedly lead government killers back to his or her own family. These wolves are then forced to watch their mate and pups get gunned down around them, while they’re left alive to lead the wolf killers to a new pack next season.

Then, if they’re lucky enough to eventually find a new mate and start a new family, the killers find them again and repeat the slaughter.

Wildlife Services -- operating behind a veil of secrecy in collusion with Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and Idaho Fish and Game -- is behind this perverse practice. The Center is committed to stopping it. Please, help us with a gift to the Stop Wildlife Services Fund today.

The Judas scheme -- officially called “collaring for later control” -- uses unsuspecting

wolves to betray family and friends over and over until the day they die, or the batteries in their collars run down.

Wolves are intelligent, sensitive, social animals with strong families. Don’t let Idaho and Wildlife Services use that against them. We’ve launched a full-on legal battle to end this.

Your contribution to the Stop Wildlife Services Fund will help us take them down and end tragic and cruel abuses like Judas wolves.

Four years isn’t a long time, but it’s the average life expectancy of a radio-collar battery -- and also, pitifully, the average life span of a wolf under Idaho and Wildlife Services management. All it takes is a state order to set these killings in motion.

Only someone like Gov. Butch Otter and his anti-wildlife cronies could endorse a disgusting killing strategy like this. Help us bring an end to it. Please donate to the Center’s Stop Wildlife Services Fund.

Mother’s Day with the

WOLVES! May 8th 9-10am Wolf Tour A Flower for Moms Snacks $

30 adults $ 15 kids 12 & under Prepay Event

Reservations 719.687.9742

Spirit Wolf Energetics, LLC Holistic Care for Pets & Their People Healing Touch for Animals · Reiki Craniosacral Therapy · Gem Essences Color Therapy · Aromatherapy I am a compassionate and dedicated practitioner with 16 years of experience providing holistic care for all of the animals in your life in the comfort of their own home. Through the use of gentle and safe holistic therapies, your animals are more relaxed and better able to navigate through life’s challenges.

Some of the ways your animals may benefit include: • Disease prevention and wellness • Improved healing from illness, injury, and surgery • Recovery from physical and emotional trauma • Smoother transition into a new home environment • Relief of stress from separation anxiety and fears • Improved confidence and focus for training or competitions • End-of-life nurturing and support BETH SHEMO – HTAP, RMP 719.650.5071 · spiritwolfenergetics@gmail.com

Feel free to call or email if you have questions about how your animals’ particular needs can be addressed. I look forward to helping your animals live a more balanced and healthy life!

Janitell Jr High School hosted a Howling Fun Wolf Run fundraiser for the CWWC. Catherine from CWWC along with Madison and Michaela who put the event together!

A group of scientists has backed a federal plan to restrict the trapping and gunning down of bears and wolves in Alaska’s wildlife refuges, in the face of bitter opposition from the state government.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has proposed an overhaul of hunting regulations for Alaska’s 16 national wildlife refuges, which span nearly 77m acres of wilderness in the state.

The new rules would effectively ban “non-subsistence” slaughter of predators within the refuges without a sound scientific reason. Practices to be outlawed include the killing of bear cubs or their mothers, the controversial practice of bear baiting and the targeting of wolves and coyotes during the spring and summer denning season.

Anyone hoping to take a plane or helicopter to shoot a bear will also be unable to do so. These changes have been backed by a group of 31 leading scientists who said the current hunting laws hurt some of the “most iconic yet persecuted species in North America: grizzly bears, black bears and wolves”.

In a letter sent for the USFWS’s public comment process, the biologists and ecologists from across the US point out that research shows that killing the predators of moose and caribou does very little to boost their numbers.

“Alaska’s many-decades program of statewide carnivore persecution has failed to yield more ungulates for human hunters,” the letter

The Guardian

Top scientists back federal plan to protect Alaska predators New rules would ban ‘non-subsistence’ killing of bears, wolves and coyotes – some of the ‘most iconic yet persecuted species’– in the state’s 16 wildlife refuges Oliver Milman states. “Furthermore, the methods of predator persecution are seen as problematic by a clear majority of Alaska’s citizens.”

Alaska stepped up the trapping and shooting of predator animals after the Republican governor Frank Murkowski gained power in 2002. His successors, including Sarah Palin, have all supported a policy of “intensive management” that removes wolves and bears with the goal of boosting moose and caribou numbers for hunters.

The state has increasingly clashed with federal agencies over this policy. The situation escalated after the Alaska board of game removed a 122 sq mile buffer zone protecting wolves around the Denali national park – the US’s largest national park – and allowed the baiting of bears and the use of lights to rouse hibernating bears so that they can be shot as they emerge.

Alaska recently offered its support to a moose hunter who won

a supreme court appeal against the federal government over his use of a hovercraft in an ecologically sensitive area.

“We have a fiscal crisis here in Alaska but we see a large amount of money spent on ineffective hunting policies,” said Francis Mauer, retired wildlife biologist at the USFWS and one of the letter’s signatories.

“The hunting guys have total control of the board of game, there’s no balance there. The state has aggressively increased the killing of predators to the point where anyone can kill 10 wolves a day for 345 days of the year.

“This kind of approach isn’t supported by the science, nor is it legitimate for these refuges to be converted into areas for hunting.

We have seen wolf and bear numbers reduce in some areas at a time where there is increasing scientific evidence showing the value of them in maintaining healthy ecosystems.”

Alaska’s administration has said it “strongly opposes” the new USFWS regulations, arguing that they are federal overreach, undermine the state’s ability to manage wildlife populations and hurt native populations who rely upon moose and caribou for food.

“Ultimately, the new regulations would have significant impacts on Alaskans, particularly those living a subsistence way of life,” said Bruce Dale, director of the division of wildlife conservation.

Warriors in the Wild Lands Submitted by Casey Hampf

In the grasslands of Africa lives a mighty warrior well equipped for battle and survival. Black rhinoceroses are one of the oldest groups of mammals and are known for their distinctive double horn structures.

With this kind of status, it would be assumed that they would be well preserved and highly revered.

Unfortunately, the opposite is true.

The second horn, and its unique hollow structure, has made the black rhino a target for poaching and illegal trade. The decline in the black rhino population started early on when European settlers arrived in Africa in the early 20th century. At this time, they were killed for sport, entertainment, and extraction as “vermin”. Their decline became dire between 1970 and 1992 when 96% of the remaining rhinos in Africa were poached for illegal trade (WWF 2016).

Today they are hunted so their horns may be manufactured for medicinal purposes, folk remedies, and into religious daggers and chalices (Save the Rhino 2016, ARKive). Poaching has increased in the past years to due poverty in their range. Although conservation efforts have greatly increased to protect the black rhino, their numbers are still very low. They are

listed as critically endangered and have a population of only about 5,000 left in the wild (WWF 2016).

Their historical range was once found in much of sub-Saharan Africa, save for the Congo Basin and the equatorial forest regions of West Africa, but are now only found in small groups in reserves in Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Cameroon, Malawi and Swazilan (ARKive).

There are many features of the black rhino that make them beautiful and unique therefore should make them respected and honored rather than targeted for poaching.

Although their height is only about 5.2 feet, their weight can be anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 pounds (WWF 2016). Even at this massive size, the black rhino sustains itself as a vegetarian. They eat mostly trees, bushes, and shrubs with their hooked-lip which acts much like a gardening shear and can eat up to about 50 or 60 pounds per day (Save the Rhino 2016). Even with this weight, they have the ability to run up to about 30mph running speed (Oregon Zoo). The black rhino is mainly a solitary creature; however, the mothers will stay with their calves until they are about 2-4 years old. This is about the age when

the females reach sexual maturity (Save the Rhino 2016). Although they typically remain solitary from each other, they do form a symbiotic relationship with the ox-pecker. The ox-pecker will remove ticks and parasites from the black rhino’s back and open wounds, as well as alarm the rhino when danger is approaching. This helps as the black rhino has very poor eyesight (Save the Rhino 2016).

Although the rhino is both active in the day and night, it is mostly found in the hottest parts of the day under the shade of rock shelters and trees or cooling off in the mud wallows (Save the Rhino 2016). Its range is now exclusively limited to preservation sites as there are no other safe places for them. They are now protected and heavily guarded, but are still threatened by the rising demand for the rhino horn in Asia (WWF 2016). The black rhino does not know it is under attack, it does not know it is being targeted for its horn, and it does not know the reason. The black rhino does know that it wants to survive. With hope, the conservation efforts for the black rhino will continue to strengthen and the population will continue to increase before they are lost forever.

Sources: “Black Rhino.” Save the Rhino. Save the Rhino International, 2016. Web. 9 Apr. 2016. • “Black Rhino.” WWF. World Wildlife Fund, 2016. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.

“Black Rhinoceros.” Oregon Zoo. Oregon Zoo, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016. • “Black Rhinoceros Videos, Photos and Facts.” ARKive. Wildscreen Arkive, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

1 y 8 m · Male/Neutered · Australian Cattle Dog/Siberian Husky Hi. My name is Grover. Don’t I have the most beautiful blue eyes? Well, through no fault of my own...I am looking for my forever home. I am a sweet boy with lots of love to give. I may need a brush up on some of my training, but I am more than willing to learn. Please come and meet me...I know we can be great friends.

Teller County Regional Animal Shelter tcrascolorado.com 719.686.7707 TCRAS · The no-kill shelter in Divide, Colorado 3 y 1 m · Female/Spayed · Domestic Shorthair/Mix Hello. My name is Blanca. I am a pretty girl looking for a forever home.

I get along with other cats. I can be shy at first with people, but I love to be petted and can be a cuddler. Please come to meet me, I would love to show you what a wonderful cat I am.

These puppies will be available at 5020 N. Nevada Petco in Colorado Springs on April 30, from 10-4 PM 11 week old pups. 2 males and 1 female remaining.

Very well socialized, mellow, mostly lab, touch of Great Pyrenees, will be no more than 55 lbs.

Rhodesian Ridgeback mix pups, 4 months old.

3 males, 1 female remaining.

San Luis Valley Animal Welfare Society · slvaws.org · 719.587.woof (9663) Non-Profit NO-KILL Shelter · Monetary Donations Always Needed

Gardening Tips

BY KATIE GEIST

April is the month that gardeners start their work – cleaning, trimming, raking and planning.

However when you live in the high country of Colorado all plans are subject to the weather.

On April 16 we had over 2 feet of snow! And it continued to snow for several days. The wolves loved it, and it’s great moisture for the perennials and wildflowers.