skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, October 11, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Florida picks up the pieces after Hurricane Milton; Georgia elected officials say Hurricane Helene was a climate change wake-up call; Hosiers are getting better civic education; the Senate could flip to the GOP in November; New Mexico postal vans go electric; and Nebraska voters debate school vouchers.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Civil rights groups push for a voter registration deadline extension in Georgia, federal workers helping in hurricane recovery face misinformation and threats of violence, and Brown University rejects student divestment demands.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Hurricane Helene has some rural North Carolina towns worried larger communities might get more attention, mixed feelings about ranked choice voting on the Oregon ballot next month, and New York farmers earn money feeding school kids.

Wolf poaching affects recreation in OR

play audio
Play

Thursday, September 12, 2024   

Groups in Oregon are warning wolf poaching poses a threat, not just to the creatures targeted but to people who enjoy the outdoors.

Poaching was a big issue in 2023 and again this year, especially through poisoning.

Bethany Cotton, conservation director for nonprofit conservation organization Cascadia Wildlands, said the wolf population did not grow in 2023 for the first time since the species returned to the state and a high rate of deaths has continued in 2024, largely caused by humans.

In May, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife started warning recreationists to keep their dogs on leashes because of potential exposure to poisoning meant to illegally kill wolves.

Cotton noted she decided against visiting eastern Oregon because of it.

"I have two rescue dogs, and I was invited to some friends' property out there and to spend some time out there this summer and I chose not to go," Cotton recounted. "Because it's too high a risk to go camp or hike in that part of the state right now knowing that this is happening."

Cotton acknowledged the investigation into a wolf's death takes time but poisonings are indiscriminate. In February, a poisoned cow carcass in Hells Canyon National Recreation Area killed three wolves, two golden eagles, a mountain lion and a coyote. The poaching led to the Department of Fish and Wildlife's May warning. The wolf count was 178 at the end of 2023.

Groups have banded together to take on poachers with the Turn-In-Poachers program. The collaboration is between O-D-F-W, the Oregon State Police, the Oregon Hunters Association, the Oregon Wildlife Coalition, the Oregon Outfitter and Guides Association and the Oregon State Marine Board. Rewards have been offered for tips on poachers but have not led to any arrests or convictions.

Cotton wants to see the silence around poaching events broken.

"We really do hope that those with knowledge about this poisoning incidents or future poisonings will come forward because of the possibility and the reality that it impacts far more than wolves," Cotton emphasized. "It impacts lots of other species and has impacted dogs and very likely will again in the future."

Cotton added healthy wolf populations are good for humans, including controlling diseases like chronic wasting disease in deer and elk and reducing vehicular accidents with deer.

"They bring a lot of benefits to the landscape," Cotton stressed. "It's been a huge success story that wolves naturally recolonized Oregon after having been absent for so many decades, and we just need to really learn to coexist with them like humans and wolves did for millennia."

Disclosure: Cascadia Wildlands contributes to our fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, Endangered Species and Wildlife, Environment, and Public Lands/Wilderness. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
A 2022 University of Indiana report concludes recent studies on voucher programs show that students attending private schools through voucher programs have experienced "large, negative impacts" on their achievement. (sheilaf2002/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Nebraska is one of four states with measures about state funding of private-school vouchers on the ballot this year. Referendum 435 asks voters to …


Social Issues

play sound

As Ohio heads into a pivotal election season, the divide between rural and urban voters might seem deep - but one expert says the gap isn't as wide …

Social Issues

play sound

After 17 years, the state of New York is re-evaluating its school funding formula. The state budget agreement calls for the Rockefeller Institute to …


Eric Greenlee, a student from Georgia Tech, installs water-level sensors in lakes at Lac du Flambeau to help monitor wild rice beds. (Photo courtesy Naomi Blinick)

Social Issues

play sound

By Spoorthy Raman for Mongabay.Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Wisconsin News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News…

Environment

play sound

Savannah's leaders are pointing out the ways federal dollars are being used to boost the area's resilience against climate change. In the aftermath …

A recent report gave Wyoming low marks for its efforts to reduce exposure to lead in K-12 schools. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Groups that advocate for clean water are applauding the Environmental Protection Agency's new rule on replacing lead pipes - but they warn that the dr…

Environment

play sound

Neighborhoods across New Mexico and other states will soon be cleaner and quieter as the U.S. Postal Service rolls out its new electric mail-delivery …

Social Issues

play sound

Voting may be a bit more confusing than expected in Utah this year, as two of the four amendments on the ballot have now been voided. The Utah …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021