*Editor’s Note* – The following is an article from The Outdoorsman, Bulletin #44 for June 2011. It is republished here by permission of the author.

Read the Truth about Hydatid Disease in Humans

By George Dovel

On Page 3 of the January 2005 Outdoorsman, I described how Hydatid disease in tapeworm eggs spread by wolves causes cysts to form in the internal organs of moose, elk, caribou, deer and humans. I published the following photo of two Hydatid cysts in moose lungs and wrote that in Alaska, more than 300 cases of Hydatid disease in humans had been reported during the 35 years from 1955-1990.

That article described how both Alaska and Canadian F&G agencies publish warnings urging trappers and hunters to wear rubber gloves and protective clothing when skinning or handling a wolf carcass. They also warn dog owners not to let their dogs eat internal organs, to prevent ingesting the cysts (which contain thousands of larvae) and the dog then becomes a host for the tapeworm.

Bangs Lied About Impact of Wolf Parasites

The article pointed out that concerns from APHIS and CDC about the spread of this disease resulting from the importation of wild canines from areas where it exists have been ignored by wolf biologists. It also referred to Pg. 1-20 of the 1993 Draft Wolf Environmental Impact Statement to Congress that stated, “Wolf recovery is unlikely to have any measurable impact on disease or parasite transmission.”

A dozen years earlier, Ed Bangs, who either wrote or approved everything in that Wolf EIS, authored an FWS research report in which he similarly denied the impact of wolf predation on an Alaska moose population.
He knew that Alaska and Canadian wildlife agencies were issuing warnings about the spread of hydatid disease by wolves yet he ignored it. He also ignored expert testimony from several people, including Will Graves and world-renowned parasitologist Dr. Delane Kritsky about the spread of Hydatid and other diseases by wolves, when he published the same lie again in the final Wolf EIS in 1994.

Thousands of Worms per Wolf Hidden From Public

Nearly a year after that issue was circulated, Idaho and Montana State F&G agencies began to quietly count and record the number of hydatid worms found in the lower intestine of dead wolves from each state. William Foreyt, a Wash. State University parasitologist, and veterinarians Mark Drew from Idaho and Mark Atkinson and Deborah McCauley from Montana, conducted the study.

The 10-page September 2006 (FY 2006) IDFG Wildlife Health Laboratory (WHL) Report included only the following sentence about IDFG’s discovery of hydatid disease in mule deer, elk and a mountain goat during necropsy (post mortem) examinations of various species:

“In addition, 1 mountain goat and several mule deer and elk were found to have hydatid cysts in the lungs (Echinococcus granulosa), likely with wolves as the definitive host of this previously unrecognized parasite in the state.”

The report stated: “Wolf necropsies indicated the presence of lice,” but made no mention of their finding E. granulosus eggs in the wolf feces or their finding tens of thousands of adult worms in many wolf intestines. It also mentioned examining fecal samples from 10 live wolves that were captured, but again there was no mention of the existence of the eggs that resulted in the deer, elk and a goat being infected with hydatid disease.
In other words, the inference was that Idaho big game animals were already infected with hydatid disease caused by other predators that were already here before the “nonessential experimental” wolves were brought in.

Annual Reports Did Not “Connect the Dots”

But whether or not that was the main reason for not reporting the massive spread of hydatid disease by wolves, the deception continued. The FY 2007 WHL Report stated: “Wolf necropsies indicated the continued presence of lice (Trichodectes canis) and tape worm< .strong> (Echinococcus), previously detected last year in Idaho. Wolves are most likely the definitive host of this previously unrecognized parasite in the state”. (emphasis added)

The FY 2008 WHL Report said exactly the same thing but neither report mentioned the hydatid cysts found in the mountain goat and in deer and elk beginning in 2006. All three of these reports were signed by IDFG officials, including two veterinarians, and sent by F&G Directors to the feds, but massive infestations were kept from the public until Tom Remington discovered the researchers’ final report in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases on Dec. 13, 2009.

When the Dec. 2009 Outdoorsman published the truth about the cover-up of the wolves’ spread of disease in Idaho and Montana, plus facts about hydatid disease and wolves by Dr. Valerius Geist, the tapeworm counters published a few facts mixed with half-truths and even several absurd lies to try to discredit our information.

First Absurd Lie Published by Mainstream Media

In newspaper articles in both Idaho and Montana, the study’s lead author, Parasitologist Foreyt, claimed, “You’d have to eat the eggs in the feces, not just inhale them, in order for the tapeworm to take root (in humans).” If that were true, how did tens of thousands of deer and elk get the disease?

If you believe they caught it from eating wolf feces, please don’t read any further. This is a perfect example of the “dumbing down of America” that explains why most people no longer question the agenda-driven “reporting” they read in their newspaper or watch on TV.

Not even one letter-to-the-editor was printed in the Idaho or Montana newspapers questioning this so-called “expert’s” absurd claim that humans have to eat wolf feces to become infected. This apparently prompted Panhandle Region Supervisor Chip Corsi to publish the following directive to Regional IDFG employees:

“Based on Mark’s assessments (attached), human health risk is quite low, provided you avoid consuming things like canid [canine] feces and uncooked organs; and I think suggests Dovel’s interpretation is more than a bit sensationalized.”

Drew’s Documents only Address Eggs Still in Feces

Corsi was referencing several documents prepared by tapeworm counter/veterinarian Mark Drew, which were promptly cited by the urban media as additional information from a so-called “expert” to denounce the facts published in The Outdoorsman (see “Who’s afraid of the big bad tapeworm” by environmental activist Rocky Barker in the Jan. 28, 2010 Idaho Statesman).

Barker copied the propaganda in Drew’s papers, which apparently attempted to provide a flimsy alibi for the States’ failure to warn its citizens of the billions of hydatid tapeworm eggs it had allowed to be deposited over the landscape where citizens live, work and recreate. In response to the question, “How do I prevent getting infected with this parasite if I am a hunter, trapper or outdoor enthusiast?” Drew wrote, “The potential for human exposure to E. granulosus eggs in wolf feces or fecal contaminated hides is relatively low.”

He suggested wearing latex or rubber gloves when skinning a wolf or coyote or when handling feces from wolves or dogs, washing your hands after handling feces, and said all wild game meat should be butchered as soon as possible after killing. He warned that all wild game should be cooked thoroughly and cautioned that uncooked meat or organs of deer, elk, moose, etc. should not be fed to dogs.

But landowners who have spent years attempting to control weeds, parasites and diseases that are transported over distances of a mile or more by wind, water, birds animals, beetles, flies and other insects, expressed outrage that Drew only addressed danger to humans while the eggs are still in the feces. He made no mention of the fact that eating unwashed wild foods such as asparagus, mushrooms and berries or drinking water that is not in the immediate vicinity of the feces are still sources of infection in people.

The Second Lie – “Sylvatic Infection Is Not Severe”

Drew implied such precautions are really not that important with his false claim: “The human infection with the northern biotype of E. granulosus is relatively benign.” In a Jan. 16, 2010 Lewiston Tribune article that mentioned the Dec. 2009 Outdoorsman and Dr. Geist’s comments, Foreyt added, “The news media have overblown this – that it is going to affect people and animals and it really is not. If this wildlife strain ever does affect people, they usually don’t produce any serious problems.” Drew added that people diagnosed with the disease can be treated with medication.

These dangerous myths, promoted for about half a century by Parasitologist Robert Rausch, were based on treatment of elderly Eskimos who had no symptoms but whose hydatid cysts were accidentally discovered during chest X-Rays to detect early TB. Most of those Eskimos, with no symptoms of disease, were treated without surgery.

But more recently, university medical teams from Winnipeg and Edmonton pointed out the failure of the older reviews cited by Rausch to include patients who were actually suffering from Sylvatic Hydatid disease – rather than only those fortunate enough to have survived supposed cyst rupture or calcification in their lungs.

With an impressive number of case histories from 1987-97 and 1991-2001, these Canadian doctors found no difference between either the severity or the complex treatment of sylvatic vs. domestic versions of the disease. (see Pages 4 & 5 of the Jan. 2010 Outdoorsman).

Instead of using these published reviews of actual medical cases involving the sylvatic tapeworm, the tapeworm counters chose to use the flawed reviews from the 1950s and 1960s as their source of information on the impact of the Northern wild Hydatid strain on humans. In fact 30% of their published reference data was written by Robert Rausch who also verified the identity of the tapeworms for them.

If medical doctors ignored facts to resurrect flawed theories the way many wildlife officials are doing, it would doubtless result in a much shorter lifespan. The following disputed claims published by the tapeworm counters in the October 2009 issue of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases are designed to make citizens and their elected officials believe there is not a significant health hazard from the tapeworms:

“The human infection produced by the northern biotype is relatively benign”; “Because the northern biotype has low pathogenicity in humans, the human health hazard potential is not as important as the domestic biotype, which has more serious ramifications in humans”; “In humans, the cysts are primarily in the lungs, and the cysts often have poorly developed cyst walls, few or no protoscoleces, and often the infections resolve via rupture and expulsion.” (emphasis added)

Few Treated Hydatid Disease Cases Are Reported

Even in places where reporting treatment of human Hydatid disease is required by law, only a small percentage of the humans treated are actually reported. For example a five-year study of hospital records in just the Australian State of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory from 1987-1992, found that 321 separate patients were treated for hydatid disease but only 17* were reported! (* despite a mandatory reporting requirement until 2001)

In the U.S. and Canada, anyone who claims to know how many people were treated for the disease in recent years – much less claiming to know the ratio of lung to liver cysts in untreated patients – is not telling the truth. A recent composite of reported cases showed liver-63%, lung-25%, muscle-5%, bone-3%, kidney-2%, brain-1% and spleen-1%.

Recent Sylvatic Hydatid Disease in Alaska Humans

In 1999 in Alaska, only two cases of hydatid disease were reported, both apparently resulting from the Northern Sylvatic biotype, yet both were described as “life threatening”. They were discussed in detail in the Jan. 2010 Outdoorsman, and are briefly re-mentioned here.

The first patient, a 51-year-old Caucasian woman with no symptoms, was misdiagnosed as having a simple liver cyst that was felt during a routine physical exam and confirmed with ultrasound. She was sent home without treatment but three months later, she suddenly became sick and died three days later, reportedly from a leaking hydatid cyst that was never diagnosed while she was alive.

The second 1999 Alaska patient, a 17-year-old Native woman, experienced an extended period of painful illness, high fever and surgical treatment of two sylvatic* hydatid liver cysts. After a 30-day hospital stay, including transfer to a larger hospital for observation, she took two daily 400 mg doses of albendazole (wormer) for another 12 months and was then pronounced free of symptoms.
(* The sylvatic infection was confirmed by subsequent genetic testing of the cyst material in an Australian facility)

In Feb. 2010, after I published so many case histories of patients treated in Canadian hospitals for serious sylvatic hydatid cyst infections in the Jan. 2010 Outdoorsman, the barrage of propaganda in the media ceased. But there was no attempt by the tapeworm counters, state F&G officials, several elected officials or the media to correct any of the widespread misinformation.

New F&G Excuse to Hide the Truth

Following my publication a month ago of the Outdoorsman article by the lady whose hydatid cyst was not diagnosed for two years despite life-threatening complications, at least one IDFG official is now trying to claim there is very little danger of human infection because heat and low humidity kill the eggs once they are released from the pile of wolf scat. But that appears to be simply another example of trying to invent an excuse to cover up the potential of human infection over large areas in the two states.

Page 178 of the 2008 OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) Manual stipulates a minimum water temperature of 185 degrees F to kill E. granulosus eggs, or a minimum dry temperature of 158 degrees F for at least 12 hours. It says that chemicals will not kill all of the eggs and decontamination of laboratories requires a constant 86 degree F temperature with 40% or less relative humidity for at least 48 hours.

Because of lower morning temperatures and higher humidity, no place in Idaho or Montana where such records are recorded ever meets those specifications. With the extreme wolf densities in many areas resulting in a 90% infection rate and up to tens of thousands of tapeworms in each wolf, a continued supply of infective eggs is assured.

Factual Information from Bona Fide Experts

Hydatid disease was recently declared eradicated in Tasmania because strict control of the sole definitive host (domestic dogs) and the intermediate host (sheep) was finally achieved after 40 years of effort. But bona fide experts in mainland Australia say it can never be eradicated there because a sylvatic (wild) strain of infection continues, with wild dogs and dingoes as the definitive host blanketing the landscape with eggs – and their wild prey, kangaroos and wallabies, eating the eggs and developing cysts, which continues to perpetuate the disease cycle.

According to the 2007 Primefact 475 publication titled, Hydatids – you, too, can be affected, “This makes the eradication of the tapeworm impossible, and the wildlife cycle of increasing importance in human infections, especially in areas bordering National Parks where control of wild dogs/dingoes is difficult, and in suburban areas fringing regional towns.”

The updated Australian publication also explains, “At one time it was thought that the strains in the domestic life cycle and the sylvatic life cycle were distinct, but it now appears that they are genetically the same.” These experts, who have managed to finally eradicate hydatid disease in both Tasmania and New Zealand during the last decade, realize that without the ability to eradicate the sylvatic disease in the wild canids, their effort to eradicate it in mainland sheep and dogs can never be successful.

Unfortunately, the hydatid disease problems described in the Australian mainland parallel the situation in Idaho and Montana. That is probably why Idaho’s world-renowned parasitologist, Dr. DeLane Kritsky, wrote, “The only way that the parasite will be eliminated from our area is elimination of the wolf” (see page 16 of Feb-April 2010 Outdoorsman).

Australia Published Facts – Not Unsupported Theories

Because the early reviews of hydatid disease in Alaska and Canada dealt with the sylvatic (wild) strain, the lung cysts they assumed had ruptured at some earlier time without ill effects (in the elderly Eskimos they X-Rayed) may have simply died. The very same thing happens in some cysts in intermediate hosts from the dog-sheep strain in Australia, but unlike their early Alaska counterparts they reported facts – not assumptions – as follows:

“As the [intermediate host] animal gets older, some of the cysts die and form scars. Often, dead cysts become filled with caseous (cheesy) material, or they become calcified, but the outer laminated layers can still be distinguished microscopically.”

Then instead of speculating this phenomenon meant that the Australian dog-sheep strain of hydatid disease is also “more benign” and has “low pathogenicity” in humans, as Rausch has done with the wolf-moose strain, the Australians reported the facts:

“Hydatids in humans is a serious disease…the formation of cysts in the body is always dangerous and their surgical removal is never straightforward. A major concern during surgery to remove cysts is that brood capsules can float free within the cyst. If a cyst ruptures, the brood capsules can spread through the body and secondary cysts can grow wherever they come to rest. This contributes to the high level of recurrence (37.5% of patients). Deaths from hydatid disease still occur both before and after surgery.”

Incomplete Information Puts Citizens at Risk

Unfortunately for residents of Idaho and Montana who live, work or recreate in the outdoors beyond the confines of the cities, their state government officials are pretending the only significant risk to them of catching hydatid disease is either from handling wolf feces or wolf carcasses, or not properly supervising what their dog eats or rolls in. For those who fail to monitor what their dogs and other pets eat, they are told to wash their hands after handling the animals and worm them with Praziquantel every six weeks.

Although six weeks is reportedly about how long it takes for most E. granulosus tapeworms to reach maturity in the intestine of a dog or wolf, the pet owners are not told that the wormer may not last beyond the initial worming day. Also it does not kill any eggs that may exist in the gravid section of the tapeworms, or those that exist in the intestine or in the animal’s coat, and it is these eggs which cause the disease in humans and other intermediate hosts.

Dog owners are not told to stake their dog on bare ground when worming and for a significant period after worming – and then to pour kerosene on that ground and burn it to kill the eggs. Nor are they warned that allowing access to lawns, vegetable gardens, water sources, etc. to dogs, raccoons and other animals with the eggs on their coats will provide another source of contamination for humans even in their homes (see warnings from Dr. Geist).

Otter’s Promise to Kill Wolves Nets Poor Results

Despite Idaho Gov. Otter’s promise to significantly reduce the number of wolves impacting big game since conditional management of wolves was returned on May 5th, only five Lolo Zone wolves have been killed by a USDA Wildlife Services helicopter gunner team, a sixth was shot by an IDFG officer and none were killed by the designated outfitters and their guides. A seventh wolf was shot in Elk City by local Sheriff’s Deputies (see photo).

State Agencies Protect Wolves – Not Citizens

Despite expert testimony warning MT Legislators of the serious impact hydatid disease spread by wolves will have on humans, opposition by MTFWP and other state agencies criticizing the cost defeated legislation to protect Montana citizens. When similar legislation (HB 343) passed overwhelmingly in Idaho, Gov. Otter’s refusal to declare a wolf disaster plus his failure to use the necessary tools to halt the spread of disease has had the same result.

Instead of protecting the health and welfare of private citizens and their constitutional right to enjoy their livestock, pets and other private property, the governors and their bureaucratic agencies continue to protect wolves and the diseases they spread. Pretending that sport hunting and trapping seasons advocated by biologists will resolve the problem is just another excuse to implement their destructive agenda with less public resistance.

Citizens Forced to Protect Themselves from Disease

Private citizens, and county governments that realize what is taking place are being forced to educate and protect themselves from the disaster that is being forced on them by both federal and state bureaucrats. The following photographs may help you understand the parasite that is infecting humans, and the long-term massive changes that take place once its eggs enter the human body:

Except in snow or extreme cold which preserves the eggs, wolf feces are disturbed by assorted creatures, including humans riding horses or ATVs on the trails. Lightweight and invisible to the naked eye, they are soon spread across the landscape settling on both vegetation and water* where some are ingested by the intermediate hosts.
(* Surveys indicate that contamination of water may be the second highest source of human infection in some areas.)

Danger! – Do Not Puncture Cysts

Once the eggs are ingested by humans the stomach juices dissolve the protective membrane (“eggshell”) and the tiny hooked embryos “hatch” and soon bore through the intestinal wall into veins or lymphatics. If in the veins, they encounter the liver first where some began to grow into a cyst, but others travel on to the lungs or other organs.

Development of the cyst, including its size and rate of growth is dependent upon the type and age of the host and many other factors including the organ it is in. One of the 17 Northern sylvatic liver cysts reported by the Winnipeg hospital reached a diameter of 10-1/4 inches in an 18-year-old woman before it became life-threatening.

A single fertile cyst may contain millions of “grains” of “hydatid sand” which are actually juvenile worms waiting for a canine to eat them so they can attach to its gut and grow to adults. But if the cyst is accidentally punctured whether by a doctor, someone examining a dead body, or a butcher cutting up the meat, the cyst fluid may spurt into their eye or mouth and create new cysts without the stomach or eggs being involved.

Hundreds of mature E. granulosus tapeworms, averaging about 1/8? in length, attached to the lower intestine of a dog.

For doctors and others who want accurate, truthful medical facts concerning hydatid disease, the U.S. Military has provided the latest version of the 1,700-page medical journal, “The Imaging of Tropical Diseases,” free at: http://tmcr.usuhs.mil/tmcr/chapter3/intro.htm Then click on “next page” to continue. WARNING!! Do not accept as factual any statement from any state Wildlife Vet or F&G official or other State bureaucrat (Ag., Health & Welfare).

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From the U.S. Sportsman’s Alliance:

(Columbus, OH) – The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation (USSAF) and a group of state sportsmen’s organizations have submitted comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for returning recovered wolf populations in the Western Great Lakes region to state management. Western Great Lakes wolves are currently on the Endangered Species List (ESA). This is the latest in the long-running saga of the USSAF’s support of scientific wildlife management.

In April, the Service announced a proposal to remove Western Great Lakes region wolves from ESA protection. This move would allow wolves in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to be controlled by state wildlife managers.

USSAF’s comments to the Service highlight two major reasons for delisting this population.

First, the comments point out that wolves in the region have far exceeded recovery goals. Second, USSAF’s comments address a critical scientific issue created by the Service when it also announced that it may recognize a second species of wolves in the Western Great Lakes region. An incorrect finding that two species of wolves exist in the region would open the delisting to a challenge by the anti-hunting lobby seeking to prevent the return of wolves in the region to state management.

USSAF’s comments are supported by the affidavit of wildlife and wolf genetics expert Dr. Lisette Waits. Dr. Waits’ comments highlight wolf genetic studies and other scientific facts showing there are not two separate wolf species in the Western Great Lakes region and thus, the Service should not recognize a second species.

Joining USSAF in its comments are the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, Dairyland Committee of Safari Club International Chapters of Wisconsin, Whitetails of Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Firearms Owners, Rangers, Clubs, and Educators, Inc.

“For years, science has shown that these wolves have far exceeded recovery goals,” said Rob Sexton, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance vice president of government affairs. “Additionally, we hope that the Service will look at the prevailing scientific facts that show only one wolf population exists within the Western Great Lakes region and it will avoid letting the antis use this unsupported claim as another roadblock to rightfully returning wolves to state management.”

Previous efforts to delist recovered wolf populations have been reversed as a result of lawsuits filed by animal rights groups. In those cases, the reversals dealt with technical issues and did not question or overturn findings that wolves have met recovery goals.

Click here to view a complete copy of USSAF’s comments.

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I’ve talked about this asinine phenomenon before but here’s just another example of how either crooked or completely stupid our government is…..or a combination of both.

Investors Business Daily tells us that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), headed up by Lisa Jackson, a left-over puppet of New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, gives money to environmental groups and they use that money to sue the EPA in order to get more money. What’s even more absurd is that the EPA provides literature to these groups with instructions on the best ways to sue the government.

One organization involved in the suit, the Environmental Defense Fund, has a long history of taking the EPA to court. In fact, a cursory review finds almost half a dozen cases in the past 10 years.

The odd thing is that the EPA, in turn, has handed EDF $2.76 million in grants over that same period, according to an IBD review of the agency’s grant database.

This strange relationship goes well beyond EDF. Indeed, several environmental groups that have received millions in EPA grants regularly file suit against that same agency. A dozen green groups were responsible for more than 3,000 suits against the EPA and other government agencies over the past decade, according to a study by the Wyoming-based Budd-Falen Law Offices.

The EPA even tacitly encourages such suits, going so far as to pay for and promote a “Citizen’s Guide” that, among other things, explains how to sue the agency under “citizen suit” provisions in environmental laws. The guide’s author — the Environmental Law Institute — has received $9.9 million in EPA grants over the past decade.

And, these same groups take full advantage of the Equal Access to Justice Act, in which they often get their legal fees paid for by your and my tax dollars.

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MISSOULA, Mont.–Relocating elk and improving habitat in the Clam Lake area, plus sponsoring numerous youth education initiatives across Wisconsin, are the main themes in a list of 2011 grants for Wisconsin from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

All together, the new RMEF grants total $ $52,111 and affect 24 counties: Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Douglas, Fond du Lac, Forest, Green Lake, Iowa, Kewaunee, La Crosse, Lafayette, Marathon, Milwaukee, Portage, Price, Sawyer, St. Croix, Washburn, Waukesha and Wood counties.

“The ‘assisted dispersal’ of the Clam Lake elk herd is making news in Wisconsin, and we’re pleased to help with that relocation project. We expect it to help the herd grow by moving elk to new areas with good habitat and reducing elk mortality from wolves and highway accidents,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO.

Allen said about 120 acres of habitat will be enhanced with 2011 grants in Wisconsin.

Nationally, RMEF hopes to impact about 100,000 acres in 2011 to reach the 6 million-acre lifetime mark in lands conserved or enhanced for elk and other wildlife.

Allen thanked RMEF volunteers and fundraiser attendees for building the organization’s conservation impact in Wisconsin and across elk country, saying, “Because of their amazing passion and generous support, we’re doing some great things locally and a national conservation milestone is within reach.”

RMEF grants will help fund the following 2011 projects, listed by county:

Ashland County–Improve forage for elk on the decommissioned Navy ELF corridor by applying herbicide on 20 acres and bio-controls (insects) on 2 acres, mowing 58 acres, hand-cutting trees and shrubs on 30 acres and prescribe burning 12 acres in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (also affects Sawyer County); provide funding for radio telemetry equipment operated by students from Glidden High School to research elk habitat use and movement patterns in the Clam Lake area (also affects Price County); sponsor Clam Lake Elk Visitor Center costs associated with an informational kiosk.

Barron County–Provide sponsorship for Coyland Creek 2011 Youth in the Outdoors Day to introduce youths to outdoor recreation and conservation (also affects Polk, Burnett and Washburn counties).

Columbia County–Provide sponsorship for Fall River School District National Archery in the Schools Program to introduce students to outdoor recreation and conservation.

Dane County–Provide sponsorship for Blackhawk Bowhunters Archery Club programs to introduce youths to outdoor recreation and conservation; sponsor Lake Marion 2011 Family Fishing Day.

Dodge County–Provide sponsorship for Wisconsin Outdoor Alliance Foundation 2011 Outdoor Education Expo to introduce youths from across the state to outdoor recreation and conservation.

Douglas County–Provide sponsorship for Superior High School National Archery in the Schools Program to introduce students to outdoor recreation and conservation.

Forest County–Provide sponsorship for Laona School District National Archery in the Schools Program to introduce students to outdoor recreation and conservation.

Green Lake County–Provide sponsorship for the Berlin Conservation Club’s 2011 Youth Outdoor Skills Day to introduce youths to outdoor recreation and conservation (also affects Fond du Lac County).

Iowa County–Provide sponsorship for Friends of West Park 2011 Youth Fishing Day to introduce students to outdoor recreation and conservation.

Kewaunee County–Provide sponsorship for St. Paul’s Lutheran School National Archery in the Schools Program to introduce students to outdoor education and conservation.

La Crosse County–Provide sponsorship for La Crosse Rifle Club hunter safety program to educate youths on proper use of firearms and archery equipment; sponsor West Salem Rod and Gun Club 2011 youth event.

Lafayette County–Provide sponsorship for Lafayette County 4-H Club archery program to introduce youths to outdoor recreation and conservation.

Marathon County–Provide sponsorship for Marathon County 2011 Sporting Heritage Day to introduce youth to outdoor recreation and conservation; sponsor Wausau West High School National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP); sponsor Rib Mountain Bowmen Club House NASP; sponsor Weston Hunter Safety Group hunter safety classes; sponsor Stratford Sharp Shooters and Stratford Public Schools NASP.

Portage County–Provide sponsorship for Antler Archers 2011 Youth Archery Program to introduce youths to outdoor recreation and conservation.

Price County–Provide sponsorship for the Phillips School District Outdoor Activity Group which works to introduce students to outdoor recreation and conservation; sponsor Phillips Sportsman’s Club 2011 Youth Field Day to introduce Phillips area youth to outdoor recreation and conservation.

Sawyer County–Relocate 12-15 elk from the Clam Lake herd to unoccupied habitat expected to enhance elk survival and expansion rates (also affects Ashland, Bayfield and Price counties); provide sponsorship for Hayward RMEF 2011 Outdoor Youth Day to introduce students to outdoor recreation and conservation.

Statewide–Provide sponsorship for Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) production of a hunting regulations informational packet; sponsor WDNR Sandhill Outdoor Skills Center 2011 Learn to Hunt Workshops; sponsor WDNR biologist attendance at Eastern Elk Management Workshop in preparation for Wisconsin’s first elk hunt in 2012.

St. Croix County–Provide sponsorship for Baldwin Christian School National Archery in the Schools Program to introduce students to outdoor recreation and conservation.

Waukesha County–Provide sponsorship for Wisconsin House Outdoorsmen hunter education programs to instruct students on hunting and firearms (also affects Milwaukee County).

Wood County–Provide sponsorship for Wisconsin Rapids Kiwanis Club 2011 Youth Outdoor Day to introduce youths from across the state to outdoor recreation and conservation; sponsor West Central Wisconsin 2011 Intro to the Outdoors Youth Education Day.

Conservation projects are selected for grants using science-based criteria and a committee of RMEF volunteers and staff along with representatives from partnering agencies and universities. RMEF staff and volunteers select education projects to receive grants.

Partners for 2011 projects in Wisconsin include U.S. Forest Service, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, sportsmen clubs and many other organizations.

Since 1985, RMEF and its partners have completed 211 different conservation and education projects in Wisconsin with a combined value of more than $5.9 million.

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Oh, for crying out loud! Does the editorial staff of the Idaho Statesman really think they know what it is that they call “good science“? They are calling on, “Idaho officials to show that they can make judicious decisions that ensure a balance between wolf and big-game populations.” At the same time they declare that making those “judicious decisions”, is “good science and good politics”, and ask for more of it.

First of all, the Idaho Statesman knows nothing about “managing” wolves or wildlife for that matter. They seem to base their assessment of wolf management on politics or court rulings they agree with. To them this is “good science”?

Secondly, while parading the claim that achieving a balance of wolves and big-game animal populations is “good science”, what is that claim based on? Oh, yeah. Sorry! Good Science!!

Toby Bridges explained just the other day about all the decisions that have been made concerning wolf introduction and management as being “junk science”. Does junk science then become good science because we want to agree with it? Or is it not junk science because government paid officials state it as so? Bridges relates:

Science is a wonderful tool when it is used for the right reasons. But when it is used to lie and deceive, to cover up what’s really happening, and to support a radical agenda, perhaps it should be handled as a criminal offense.

Was it “good science” when scientists told the people, in order to sell their fraud, that 100 wolves in each of three states was enough to recover the population? Does the editorial staff at the Idaho Statesman now believe the “good science” does not include wolf hunts because it fits a narrative? Has the staff also abandoned all hope for “good science” because due to excessive and frivolous lawsuits, we are now subjected to the intervention by Congress?

Just what the hell is “good science”? Yeah, yeah! I know it’s that magical balance between “managing” wolves and having enough big-game animals to sell enough hunting licenses to keep the cash flow going.

The Idaho Statesman can’t even get the court rulings straight, showing they fail at basic knowledge of the topic they are trying to form opinions on. They state:

State leaders have argued, some 15 years after the release of 35 wolves in Central Idaho, that this population can no longer be considered “endangered.” They barely acknowledged that neighboring Wyoming had failed to come up with a responsible plan for maintaining a sustainable population— which is why Molloy put the northern Rockies’ wolves back under federal protection.

Two big and incorrect issues here to dispute. The editorial staff claims Wyoming “failed to come up with a responsible plan for maintaining a sustainable [wolf] population-”. Which is an outright false statement. Wyoming did and has all along had a plan to maintain wolves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved that plan and then only AFTER pressure from environmentalists, did they renege on Wyoming’s plan. Court rulings have cleared any confusion about this and shame on the Idaho Statesman for its failure to know this and/or point this out. While eager to chastise those who “barely acknowledged” their perceived Wyoming problems, they are guilty of presenting incorrect information barely acknowledging the truth of the matter.

The second piece of bad information is the Statesman’s claim that Judge Donald Molloy returned wolves to the Endangered Species Act list because Wyoming didn’t have a responsible wolf plan. Again, absolutely not true. If the Idaho Statesman did its job, or perhaps chose to publish facts instead of unsubstantiated claims, and read all court rulings pertaining to the delisting processes of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, they and their readers would understand that Judge Molloy returned wolves to protection because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service attempted to remove wolves from federal protection in Idaho and Montana and not in Wyoming, stating that it was his interpretation of the Endangered Species Act that you cannot delist wildlife species based on state boundaries.

While all this information continues to infest the media outlets worldwide, rotting the brains of readers only interested in believing what they read, they all have it wrong. The laws that guide the Endangered Species Act have been broken, twisted, manipulated, abused and administered using Toby Bridges’ “junk science” and yes, it amounts to what Robert Fanning, founder of Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd, calls “scientific fraud”.

The Endangered Species Act, which is the instrument used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to introduce gray wolves and manage those populations during and after recovery, clearly states what criteria is to be used in the implementation of the Act.

Section 8A(c)(1)&(2) – Scientific Authority Function, reads as follows:

FUNCTIONS.—(1) The Secretary shall do all things necessary and appropriate to carry out the functions of the Scientific Authority under the Convention.
(2) The Secretary shall base the determinations and advice given by him under Article IV of the Convention with respect to wildlife upon the best available biological information derived from professionally accepted wildlife management practices; but is not required to make, or require any State to make, estimates of population size in making such determinations or giving such advice.(emphasis added)

Not only does the Endangered Species Act not read ANYWHERE in it that “good science” is needed to find balances between wildlife and politics, it also does not say that implementation of the Act must be based on social demands. Got that? It clearly refers to “best available biological information”.

It does NOT say: good science; best science provided by government scientists; science provided by the Center for Biological Diversity; science given by Ed Bangs or Dr. David Mech; science provided by well-paid environmentalists’ lawyers; science created by Judge Donald Molloy or any other judge or court; science based on computer modeling; and a myriad of other scientific, non scientific, junk science or any other available propaganda sources, including rogue Congressional bills designed to circumvent the U.S. Constitution.

The Act demands the “best available biological information”. This must come from all sources and not be limited to just government sponsored information sources or have all decisions and authority given to one person or one group of persons. The Act does not make that stipulation. There are no restrictions as to where the “best available biological information” must come from. For the administrator of the Act, and the Scientific Authority, who happens to be the Secretary of Interior, fails in his duties to utilize the “best available biological information”, he or she should be called on a failure of duties and made public. Continued failures should result in firing the person from that position.

In addition, the Courts fail miserably when their own rulings are based on limited “available biological information” because they either refuse to consider “all and best” available science in rendering decisions or worse yet, they rule with complete disregard of this part of the Endangered Species Act.

To utilize the term “good science” is nothing more than calling for the support of “junk science”, social demands and politics in attempting to determine how to manage gray wolves. It is all of these things that has mired us in the wolf wars of which it appears even dirty and underhanded, good-ole-boy politics will not render any solution.

There is one thing for certain. If the Idaho Statesman really wanted to do something about finding a solution to this problem, the first thing they can do is stop publishing false information and making claims in which they know nothing about. They should take the time to read the Endangered Species Act to first understand what laws are supposed to govern this event, in addition to actually reading and understanding what the court rulings actually say. Then and only then can they be taken as a legitimate source of information and editorial opinions based on facts.

We ache to move on!

Tom Remington

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*Editor’s Note* Below is an email being sent to NRA members asking them to sign a petition seeking the firing of Attorney General Eric Holder for his handling of gun issues involved at the U.S. and Mexico borders. The information provided in this email may or may not reflect the views of this author and/or anyone associated with this website.

Dear [NRA Member],

I’ve just returned from the border between the United States and Mexico and I’ve never witnessed anything like the stinking, rotten level of murder, corruption, cover-up, and conspiracy confronting us today.

This conspiracy ignited two years ago when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder claimed that your Second Amendment rights are to blame for the drug crimes and killings in Mexico.

Holder and other top-level Obama Administration figures — even the President himself — claimed that 90% of the guns used by violent drug cartels were coming from American gun dealers.

In short, they blamed our Second Amendment rights for the violence of the Mexican drug cartels.

But leaked U.S. State Department cables have exposed this as a bald-faced LIE.

These Obama Administration cables proved beyond a shadow of a doubt what the Mexican government already knew: That the drug cartels were getting guns — along with fully-automatic weapons, grenade launchers, anti-personnel mines and other military hardware — through Central America, NOT THE U.S.

While these leaked cables exposed the lies propping up Obama’s gun control agenda, administration officials at the highest levels pushed a strategy to fit their gun control aims.

In a display of corruption and arrogance that’s shocking even for this Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) launched Operation “Fast and Furious” — an illegal pipeline for shipping guns into Mexico.

With our government’s full knowledge and complicity, BATFE higher-ups ordered firearms dealers to sell these guns illegally to straw purchasers. And it wasn’t just a few guns… It was over two thousand!!!

At the time, BATFE agents protested the insanity of Operation Fast and Furious, and the sheer stupidity of letting thousands of illegally purchased guns just walk over the border into the hands of criminals.

But BATFE supervisors pushed back saying, “if you want to make an omelet, you have to break some eggs.”

One of those “eggs” broke on the night of December 14, 2010.

That night, 40-year old Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was in a remote Arizona canyon with a six-member tactical team that encountered a group of armed Mexican illegals.

Sources said that the “illegal entrants” were in Arizona to rob cartel drug mules and other illegals. In the initial skirmish, the Border Patrol agents fired low-velocity shotgun beanbag rounds and were met with 7.62x39mm return fire.

Officer Terry died in the exchange. And when the bandits fled, they left behind two AK-style rifles that were traced to sales made under the Fast and Furious operation.

Senator Charles Grassley (IA) and Representative Darrell Issa (CA) are defending our Second Amendment rights and fighting for justice for Agent Terry by holding Congressional hearings on Fast and Furious.

But they’re being stonewalled by Obama, Holder and others who are bent on sweeping the truth under the rug.

They are withholding government documents that say exactly who ordered the operations. Government e-mails warn witnesses not to cooperate. Congressional subpoenas are being ignored.

If you want to help NRA protect our Right to Keep and Bear Arms, our freedoms and our country from corrupt government officials, then I need you to take action today.

That’s why I’m counting on you to sign NRA’s National Petition to Fire Eric Holder. It will only take a moment, but your signature on this petition is absolutely critical. You can sign the petition by clicking here now.

When Attorney General Holder was questioned by Senator Charles Grassley about how guns that were allowed to “walk” out of gun shops during Operation Fast and Furious ended up at a U.S. Border Patrol Agent’s murder scene, Holder said, “I frankly don’t know.”

That one statement from our nation’s top law-enforcement official cuts right to the heart of the matter and proves that Holder is either covering up for Obama, his failed gun control schemes, and the crimes committed, or he’s incompetent.

Either way, he can’t be trusted with the powers of Attorney General, the law enforcement agencies he commands, the sanctity of the Second Amendment, or the lives of Federal agents.

That’s why NRA is launching a nationwide campaign to gather hundreds of thousands of signatures on this Petition to Fire Eric Holder, one of Obama’s chief architects for his gun ban agenda.

We must act now because the Obama Administration and Holder have crossed the line.

If the Obama Administration is willing to endanger Americans by attacking our Second Amendment liberties, there’s no limit to their arrogance and willingness to abuse power to achieve political gain, and they must be stopped.

Thank you for doing your part by signing NRA’s petition. As always, thank you for your friendship, your support and your words of encouragement. I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours in Liberty,
Wayne LaPierre
Executive Vice President

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Guest blog by Toby Bridges
Republished with permission from the author.
The original article can be found at Lobo Watch.

July 2011

It is now very apparent that when plans were first being made to bring wolves back into the Northern Rockies, knowledgeable “wolf scientists” must have been extremely rare – and extremely far and few in between. When one takes the time to mull over the so-called Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery Plan, and especially the long and drawn out 1994 Environmental Impact Statement filed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, drafted before the first wolves were released into the Greater Yellowstone Area in 1995, and compares the “facts” within those two documents with what we now know has happened and continues to happen, it becomes very clear that the chosen experts knew little if anything about wolves.

In those days, the team of wildlife biologists, managers, ecologists and environmentalists pushing to “reintroduce” wolves into the Yellowstone ecosystem and throughout the Northern Rockies definitively established that to achieve a recovered wolf population it would take 100 wolves, with a minimum of 10 breeding pairs, in each of three states – Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. And that goal was achieved in 2002. At that time, according to the “Recovery Plan” and the 1994 EIS, management was supposed to have been turned over to the state wildlife agencies. But, it was not.

Although the team of “scientists” and “wildlife biologists” who drafted both of these official documents signed off on the recovery goal numbers well before the first wolves were released, intervening environmental groups, including the Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity, began filing lawsuits to prevent wolf management hunts. And this is even though the wildlife agencies of these states had voluntarily planned to insure a minimum of at least 15 breeding pairs in each state. And that battle continues to this very day.

By the time wolves had reached the agreed upon recovery goal in 2002, it was already evident that those scientists who drafted the plan and EIS had missed their predictions, their claims and their promises to a concerned public by a country mile. Hunting is not just a recreation in the Northern Rockies, it is a way of life, with many families relying heavily on the harvest of elk, deer and other big game to supplement how they keep their family fed. It is also big business. In fact, in Montana alone hunting is an annual $230-million-plus boost to the state’s economy. And well before the first 17 wolves were released into Yellowstone National Park in 1995, Congress proclaimed that the planned project was to “not hurt hunting”, to “not hurt ranching”, and that the release of wolves in the Northern Rockies was not to threaten any other endangered species – i.e. the grizzly bear.

Wolf impact on other wildlife resources was realized by 2002. One of the first elk herds to be severely impacted by wolf depredation was the Northern Yellowstone elk herd. In 1995-96, when the first wolves were released, that herd numbered between 19,000 and 20,000 – and as wolf numbers quickly grew in and around the park, elk numbers dwindled quickly. That summer when wolves reached their recovery numbers, this herd was already down to 12,000. Currently, the Northern Yellowstone elk herd numbers right at 4,000 animals.

The so-called wolf experts who contrived the Recovery Plan claimed that the average wolf would kill around 14 big game animals yearly. Subsequent research, observing what was actually happening once the wolves had far surpassed the recovery goals, established that the average wolf was killing between 20 and 30 big game animals annually – for sustenance. Likewise, they were killing nearly the same number – simply for the sport of killing, eating nothing. That meant the average wolf was killing between 40 and 60 animals each and every year. The “scientists” who drafted the plan failed to even address what is now referred to as “sport killing” or “surplus killing”.

These same wolf specialists also failed to address other aspects of wolf impact that just may prove to have an even greater impact on elk, moose, deer and other big game populations – and that is the stress the wolves put on pregnant females. With the reintroduction of the wolf into the northern U.S. Rocky Mountains, the spring calf to cow ratio has nose dived. In many areas where the survival rate was once 30 to 50 calves per 100 cows, it is now down into the single digits – 6 to 9 per 100 cows. Elk biologists realize that it takes at least 30 to 35 calves per 100 cows to sustain a hunted elk herd. Just to sustain itself without being hunted, a herd must realize an 18- to 20-percent calf survival.

Wolves, mountain lions and grizzlies all account for a high rate of calf loss during late spring and early summer calving. However, where wolves very likely make the biggest impact on the calf-to-cow ratio is through the winter, prior to calving time. Wolves put continual pressure on its prey base during the lean months of December, January, February and March. Constantly kept on the move, there is little time for elk to fatten up for the harshest weather of the year. And as cow elk become heavier with a calf fetus inside, the stress of that constant pursuit is now causing a high number to abort the fetus. And this is an impact factor that our wolf “scientists” either purposely ignored, or were not knowledgeable enough about wolves to even realize.

Another oversight was just how this would affect the overall health of big game herds, especially elk. When USFWS brought in the first Canadian wolves into the Yellowstone area, the Northern Yellowstone elk herd averaged 4 to 5 years of age. Due to the excessive loss of calf recruitment, the herd has gotten much older on the average – now between 8 and 9 years of age. Many cows are now reaching an age where reproduction becomes biologically impossible.

Math is an integral part of science, the part which can be most easily manipulated. That can now be witnessed with the “guesstimated” wolf populations that now roam the upper two-thirds of Idaho, all along the western half of Montana and in the northwest quadrant of Wyoming – and which are now moving into Washington, Oregon and Utah. Our experts claim the region is now home to around 1,700 wolves – even though the wildlife agencies in these states do not have the technology or the manpower to accurately assess. The hundreds of thousands of sportsmen who spend most of the year in the outdoors say that number wouldn’t even account for half the wolves in the Northern Rockies. And one of the most respected wolf scientists in the world, Dr. L. David Mech, of Minnesota, tends to agree with them.

Mech was deposed as an expert witness for the 2008 wolf delisting hearings, and in his declaration he established that even with natural death losses, and wolves culled by hunters and animal control officers, the Northern Rockies wolf population was, then, more than 3,000. Today, the number is more like 4,000 – with as many as 1,500 to 1,600 in Montana alone. Still, the wolf specialists with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks continue to downplay the wolf numbers, claiming there are “at least” 566. Next door in Idaho, wildlife managers also tout a number far below the real number, generally claiming 800 to 900.

The “science” Dr. Mech presents that scares the daylights out of those who continually push for more wolves is the level of reduction it’s going to take in order to stop the destruction of other wildlife populations. In that same declaration, he stated that to just stop the growth rate of depredation could mean eliminating upwards of 50-percent of all wolves in the Northern Rockies. To pull big game populations out of what is referred to as a “predator pit” situation would require culling 70-percent or more of existing wolves.

Plaguing the science of the Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery Project even more is the wolf which USFWS chose to transplant from north-central Alberta, Canada as the replacement wolf for the “reintroduction”. It is not the same subspecies as the wolf that was native to the region. Prior to the importation of those non-indigenous Canadian wolves (Canis lupus occidentalis) , the native wolf of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming was a smaller subspecies (Canis lupus irremotus) . Many residents of the region have stated there were still several small pockets of the native wolf in remote areas when USFWS began bringing in the larger and more aggressive non-native Canadian wolves – and that those native wolves were soon eliminated by the invasive species.

Sportsmen are now seriously questioning how USFWS chose to bring in an entirely different wolf to repopulate one of the richest wildlife ecosystems in the U.S. They tend to feel that bringing in that subspecies would be no different than if the agency arbitrarily chose to truck a few thousand pronghorns from the plains of Wyoming down to Mexico to supplement the endangered Sonoran pronghorn, or to help out the endangered Florida Keys Deer by transplanting noticeably larger whitetails from the Midwest. Then there are Idaho’s extremely endangered woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), will USFWS come to their rescue and transplant Central barren ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) from the Canadian Arctic? Is this science…or playing God?

More and more, people who live in the Northern Rockies are accusing USFWS of actually violating the Endangered Species Act by introducing, not reintroducing, a wolf subspecies that never lived in the region. And that those non-endangered Canadian wolves have destroyed any chances of ever truly re-establishing a population of the native wolf. The manner in which USFWS, with the encouragement of environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Defenders of Wildlife, pushed for such an accelerated recovery project of wolves in and around Yellowstone National Park has many residents suspecting their agenda has much more to it than re-establishing a wolf population. More now claim it is all a part of the spurious “Wildlands Project” (now called the Wildlands Network) and the United Nation’s “Agenda 21″ – with goals to greatly reduce human utilization of rural lands.

Recently, one prominent NASA scientist, James Hansen, was accused of illegally accepting more than $1.2-million from well funded environmental groups to support their “Stop Global Warming” agendas. The manner in which some state wildlife agency biologists now seem to be favoring the “let nature balance itself agenda” has many sportsmen, who are the primary financial supporters of these agencies, wondering if the “selling out” problem has now come much closer to home. In the same light, many overly radical environmental professors who are teaching our future wildlife scientists are now under public scrutiny.

A new area of wolf-related science that is just now surfacing is the threat of the Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm – which close to 70-percent of all wolves tested in the Northern Rockies now carry – and spread widely during their long ranging hunts. Every pile of scat left by these wolves could deposit thousands of the tapeworm eggs, which can result in cystic hydatid disease in elk, moose, deer, livestock – and even humans. The eggs of this parasite can cause health and life threatening cysts on the lungs, the liver and on the brain. Once contracted, detection of hydatid disease could take years. Having the cysts surgically removed presents a new danger. They are filled with a cloudy liquid, filled with tiny tapeworm heads, and should one burst, either during surgery or on its own, leads to a severe allergic reaction, called anaphylatic shock – and possibly death. When a cyst does burst, it can spawn the growth of multiple new cysts, making surgery a tricky procedure.

As wolf numbers continue to grow in the Northern Rockies, so will the chances of contracting the disease. It already has many outdoor oriented people afraid to enjoy harvesting and eating wild berries and mushrooms, which could be covered with microscopic tapeworm eggs. Several cases in humans have now been reported, and a growing number of hunters are finding the cysts on the lungs and livers of elk, deer and moose harvested.

Science is a wonderful tool when it is used for the right reasons. But when it is used to lie and deceive, to cover up what’s really happening, and to support a radical agenda, perhaps it should be handled as a criminal offense. Montana resident Robert Fanning, the founder and C.E.O. of the group known as the Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd refers to the science used throughout the Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery Project as “scientific fraud!”

The evidence says he’s right. – Toby Bridges, LOBO WATCH

Note: Robert Fanning is one of many who feel that the Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery Project is the greatest wildlife disaster of our lifetimes, and definitely not a conservation success story. He believes those who are responsible should be held accountable. He points out that Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd has carefully preserved it’s standing to sue and expose this criminal scientific fraud.

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Hat tip to reader “James” for the link.

*Scroll for Updates*

For those following this blog, we have learned of over 30 different diseases carried by wolves (canines), some of them potentially deadly. I don’t have any good news to report on that front. Only bad.

Veterinary Practice News is reporting an outbreak of Bubonic plague in New Mexico and canines and cats play a role.

We have had human cases where the exposure was most likely due to hunting dogs bringing plague infected fleas back into the home where the case patient allowed the dog to sleep in bed with them.”

While the article states that, “Dogs haven’t been shown to be direct sources of human infection”, the above indicates the “indirect” ways of contracting the plague and warns that the most common means of humans contracting the plague is from their infected cats.

Take precautions and while we’re at it, when will it be time to bring back many, if not all, of those banned insecticides and pesticides that will prevent these diseases from spreading? Surely a few “possible” side effects if far less concerning than the Bubonic plague……….. isn’t it?

*Update One* 7/5/2011 8:35 p.m.

I emailed a link to the article provided in this story to Jim Beers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service retired. He sent me back the following response.

I knew that ground squirrels and rats and mice and cats carried the fleas and contracted the Plague. This is the first confirmation I have seen that in addition to carrying the infected fleas, the dogs contract it as well.

It makes perfect sense though that if dogs carry it (along with the fleas) wolves and coyotes certainly do as well. As with so many of these diseases and infections, the wolf as a vector is so much greater a threat to everyone and everything because it 1. ranges so far and wide, 2. Sticks its nose and tongue et al into everything it is curious about or eats and picks up while dropping fleas and ticks constantly, and 3. FREQUENTS HUMAN HABITATIONS AND TRANSMITS IT ALL TO DOMESTIC DOGS THAT THEY DON’T KILL AND HUMANS. It is all far more serious than anyone wants to admit.

Mr. Beers also provided the following in which he was sending on to his other email recipients.

WOLVES & DEADLY DISEASE

Reading the second-to-the-last sentence in the following article [referring to the article link I've provided] makes one wonder about those other canids (the wolf and the coyote) and feel relief that, although they “roam and hunt” and are totally-free of any “flea control product recommended by their veterinarian”, the government “experts” and government “documents” that put wolves back in the Lower 48 assured us that there was nothing to worry about. Anyway the “expert” below [again referring to linked article] says such cases are “uncommon in the Western US”. Is this historical “uncommonness” to be expected to maintain itself in the face of expanding wolf populations ranging far and wide, hunting, evading “flea control products”, and all the while flitting in and out of human and dog habitats?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Jim Beers

(PS Bubonic Plague was #22 on the list of 30 deadly wolf-transmitted diseases that I presented to the Oregon State Legislature’s Agriculture Committee last year. That was the list that generated little more than laughs and derision at the time.)

Tom Remington

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I would not wish to take away from this woman’s message, however, it is not right to use such a broad brush in painting “all” children, “all” teachers, all, all, all, as propagators of unsubstantiated information given to our children as being incorrect, agenda-driven information. I understand the desire of the speaker to get their point across but it does reduce one’s credibility to present their message in this manner.

Not all teachers are doing this or want to do this. Some teachers are fully aware of the truths of environmentalism and the anti-humanity propaganda that is being foisted upon our children as well as the rest of society. Many of them try to make the corrections but they have the rug of the administration yanked out from under them and often fear getting fired or some other reprisals for not towing the line. They are often left to carefully just not talk about it unless forced to.

This woman references “quotes” from information being used in the schools to indoctrinate, and mentions in a quotation that humans have killed all the animals. I and hundreds, and I hope thousands, of others have pounded the proverbial pulpit for years hoping to break these cycles of lies but I am not going to cast all teachers into a fiery pit when what and how they teach is forced upon them by the school’s administration and the curriculum they adhere to.

While I concur with the general message that is being given here, I cannot sit by and not speak up in defense of those who have no other options but to get fired or walk away from their job. As idealistic as it would appear, it’s easy to demonize a person in such a position, but with families to feed and care for, the options are non existent. This may not be what we would like to see but it is the bed we, as a society, have made for ourselves. Are we now to somehow put the blame on all teachers when what few that are left in the classrooms may be the only hope for the future to turn this around. Attack the message not necessarily the messenger unless they are actually part of the curriculum builders.

Had people been more willing to listen to those “whack nuts” and “right-wing extremists” many years ago and not allowed the department of education to be taken over by the far left and their messages on environmentalism and blaming all global problems on humanity, I doubt we would be having this conversation today.

However, please don’t miss out on the greater message here and then go find out what YOU can do to begin to right the wrongs.

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Yes, I took the photo at an elk ranch but it’s still very cool!

Click to Enlarge

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