Mother shot by hunter under depredation permit in an already harvested cornfield ELLENDALE, Delaware; DENVER, Colorado––The September 19, 2026 shooting death of Santos Maria Chilel Soto, 39, a Georgetown, Delaware mother of five, Amendment 83 on the 2026 Colorado state ballot, and right-to-hunt constitutional amendments adopted in 23 other states since 1996 have in common […]
Wood & wine bucks allegedly bring barred owl & mule deer massacres
Claim that killing barred owls & Catalina mule deer is to protect endangered species is at best questionable SALEM, Oregon; LOS ANGELES, California––Blazing gunfire directed at barred owls in the Coast Range of Oregon and at mule deer on Catalina Island, 26 miles west of Los Angeles, again demonstrates how successfully adaptive species can become […]
Catalina Island Conservancy invokes drone ban, starts killing 2,000 deer
Deer cull may do more for wine-growing relatives of Catalina Island Conservancy founder than for either nature or claimed pretext of fire suppression LOS ANGELES––Henry David Thoreau, had he been an observer of the Catalina Island mule deer cull now underway, might have observed that “Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find […]
Oh deer: Marineland belugas rehomed, but deer & elk allegedly slaughtered
Belugas likely to be rehomed, anyhow. Marineland history suggests not holding breath unless swimming underwater NIAGARA, Ontario––Tentative good news about the fate of animals left by the 2024 closure of Marineland at Niagara Falls was offset within a week by more of the frequent bad news about Marineland that has emerged since Ontario animal advocate […]
Hunting lobby Michigan United Conservation Clubs goes bust
Would culling the Michigan hunter population have prevented the collapse? LANSING, Michigan––Once reputedly the most influential state-level pro-hunting lobbying voice in the U.S., the Michigan United Conservation Clubs are “dissolving after almost 90 years because of ongoing financial struggles,” reported Dan Basso on May 6, 2026 for the Lansing State Journal. The fiscal collapse of […]
Mule deer are again in Catalina Island Conservancy crosshairs
Mule deer are the major natural brakes on growth of tindery browse & grass, but conservancy wants to kill them all in the name of fire prevention AVALON, Catalina Island, California––The Catalina Island Conservancy, owners of 88% of Santa Catalina, California’s largest offshore island, as of January 30, 2026 has the go-ahead from the California […]
Big wins for elephants, rhinos, giraffes, sharks & falcons in Uzbekistan desert
The big loser at CITES Conference of the Parties 20 was the saiga antelope, native to host nation Uzbekistan SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan––Elephants, rhinos, giraffes, white-tipped sharks, peregrine falcons, and the Vantara captive wildlife sanctuary in Gujarat state, India, were among the big winners at the twentieth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the […]
Can more deer, goats, cows, elk, or wild horses really prevent wildfires?
Did the Grand Canyon Lodge burn because the Grand Canyon lacked hungry herbivores? GRAND CANYON, Arizona––A well-placed and well-timed bucket of water or the sudden, unexpected arrival of Smokey Bear can stop a wildfire before it gets started. Likely neither a bucket of water nor a bear, with or without hat and shovel, directed at […]
Texas House approves shooting feral aoudad sheep from helicopters
Texan cultural insecurity strikes again AUSTIN, Texas––The Texas House of Representatives on May 7, 2025 overwhelmingly approved a bill to allow hunters to shoot feral aoudad sheep from helicopters. “If the bill becomes law,” explained Austin American Statesman chief political reporter John C. Moritz, “aoudad sheep would join feral hogs among game animals who can […]
Tule elk win! Deal means cattle are to leave Point Reyes within 15 months
Nature Conservancy to pay ranchers $30 million to leave & take their cows with them POINT REYES, California––As wildfires erupted in the northern and northeastern Los Angeles hills on January 8, 2025, a much more hopeful story ignited in the coastal hills north of San Francisco, in habitat not much different from that of […]