March 2021
Tidbits from Traveling Horace McQueen See page 3
Progress Baxter Black See page 5
Supply and Demand Special Report See page 8
Black Beauty Ranch welcomes Texas tiger By Shelli Parker
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Athens Daily Review
uring the recent cold snap, Elsa, a 60-pound tiger was found wearing a harness and freezing in Bexar County, representing a huge problem in Texas with wild animal ownership. Local animal sanctuary Black Beauty Ranch turned her world around and she is now rolling around in the hay enjoying new smells before being transferred to her 1,400 acre sanctuary. Elsa is one of the lucky ones, who was found in time. After her brief quarantine she will be moved to a larger area at the sanctuary. Extreme confinement in small enclosures and cages, improper diet, shelter and veterinary care coupled with boredom and the inability to express natural behaviors is a recipe for disaster and a sad reality for many captive animals. Being denied normal habitats and care can create aggression, frustration and that isn’t good when coupled with human interactions. “Elsa is a rambunctious young wild animal and appears to be playful and active. Sadly, she spent her first few months of life as someone’s pet,” said Noelle Almrud, senior director of Black Beauty Ranch. The dog harness she was wearing is a harsh reminder of the unnatural life wild animals are forced to endure in captivity. Elsa has a raw area on her See TIGER on Page 3
Ice storm was tough on livestock By Rich Flowers
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Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center partially open Staff Reports
Athens Daily Review
Athens Daily Review
While the mid-February ice storm that gripped northeast Texas did damage to plants and crops, it also took its toll on livestock who endured the sub-zero cold. Henderson County Agri-Life Extension Agent Spencer Perkins said it wasn’t that the animals froze to death, but the ice storm brought other problems. “As long as their body condition score was up and they were able to get plenty of food it wasn’t necessarily the temperature,” Perkins said, “Our most common livestock loss was either newborn calves being born on top of snow and ice or when our ponds and lakes froze over, cattle would go out there to search for water.” Perkins said cattle would fall through the thin layer of ice and not be able to get back on solid ground. “They could only try to swim so long to get back out,” Perkins said. “Our cattle producers would go out multiple times a day, breaking ice at the edge.” When the cattle would get thirsty, they would try to get water right then, not knowing the producer would be out in a half-hour or so to provide a way for them to drink. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension puts the statewide losses to commodities like citrus, horticulture plants and livestock at about $600 million. A Texas A&M Today story broke it down to $230 million for citrus, $228 million for livestock and $150 million for vegetable crops. “A large number of Texas farmers, ranchers and others involved in commercial agriculture and agricultural production were seriously affected by Winter Storm Uri,” Jeff Hyde, AgriLife Extension director, Bryan-College Station said. “Freezing temperatures and ice killed or harmed many of their crops and livestock as well as causing financial hardships and operational setbacks. And the residual costs from the disaster could plague many producers for years to come”
he Texas Department of Transportation is enrolling 1.238 million acres of land, consisting of 73,038 center lane miles of highways and interstates, in the historic nationwide Monarch Butterfly Candidate Conservation Agreement for Energy and Transportation Lands administered by the University of Illinois-Chicago with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Nearly 450,000 acres are being adopted in the agreement, which encourages transportation and energy partners to participate in monarch conservation by providing and maintaining habitat on millions of acres of rights-of-way and associated lands. “The monarch butterfly is one of America’s most wellknown native insects, but it has experienced significant population declines during recent decades,” said Amy Lueders, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Regional Director. “Through the monarch butterfly CCAA, we’re working with energy and transportation partners to help save this iconic species and other pollinators. We are incredibly grateful to TxDOT for joining the agreement and stepping up to help improve habitat and actively contribute to the recovery of monarchs on the millions of acres of highways and interstates they manage.” “TxDOT’s rights-of-way are excellent habitat for wildlife
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including pollinators such as the monarch butterfly as well as bats, bees, birds, and many more,” said James Stevenson, TxDOT maintenance division director. “Since milkweed is a crucial host plant for monarchs, TxDOT fully supports milkweed growth on state rights-ofway. Thousands of acres of milkweed appear on rights-ofway every year due to TxDOT’s longstanding wildflower and pollinator programs.” Texas plays an important role in monarch butterfly migration, with the colorful pollinators visiting the state every fall and spring as they pass through their breeding grounds in the north
and their overwintering areas in Mexico. Monarchs rely on milkweed for laying eggs and caterpillar food and other nectar plants for forage, but as those native plants have declined with an overall loss of habitat, monarchs have too. Populations across the U.S., Canada and Mexico have dropped by about 90% over the past 20 years. Thanks to the nationwide monarch agreement, companies in the energy and transportation sectors will provide habitat for the species along energy and transportation rights-of-way corridors on public and private lands across the country.
Partners who enroll in the agreement through a certificate of inclusion, like TxDOT and currently 15 others nationwide, will carry out conservation measures to reduce or remove threats to the species and create and maintain habitat annually. Although this agreement specifically focuses on monarch habitat, the conservation measures will also benefit several other species, especially pollinating insects. “TxDOT’s early participation in the CCAA has helped us make huge strides towards the conservation targets laid out in the agreement and build See MONARCH on Page 3