Two New Litters of Wolf Pups Confirmed in Oregon
Oregon wolves have been gripped by pup fever.
Wildlife officials just released photos confirming that Oregon’s famous wolf “OR-7” — who founded the Rogue pack in the Oregon portion of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest near the Oregon-California border — has fathered his third litter of pups since the pack’s establishment in 2014.
And it just so happens that the Rogue pack’s neighbors in nearby Lake County — a pair known as the Silver Lake wolves — have also produced pups. The female of this pair is known to have dispersed westward from the Mount Emily pack, and the male wolf, OR-3, was born into the Imnaha pack and is OR-7’s brother. This means Oregon’s wolf population has reached the triple digits.
“It’s incredibly exciting that Oregon’s wolves are starting to find their way back to places this remarkable species once called home,” said the Center for Biological Diversity’s Amaroq Weiss. “This tells us how important it is to keep wildlands available for continued safe passage, and to keep legal protections in place for wolves.”
See photos and read more in
The Oregonian.
Iowa Moves to Rein in Turtle Trapping
A win for wild turtles: Iowa wildlife officials have proposed to restrict collection and killing of four species of wild turtles: common snapping turtles, painted turtles, spiny softshells and smooth softshells. If finalized the rules would impose seasons, daily bag limits and possession limits for the animals, which are under tremendous pressure from overcollection for the export market to Asia, where they’re killed for food and medicine. More than 3 million wild-caught, live turtles are exported from the United States each year to feed Asian markets.
Right now Iowa allows year-round commercial collection of the four turtle species without
any daily bag or possession limits. The proposed regulations protect them during their peak mating season by prohibiting commercial collection prior to July 1. But year-round recreational collection of common snappers is still allowed.
“The new proposals are a welcome step,” said Collette Adkins, a senior attorney at the Center, which in 2009 sought a ban on commercial turtle collecting in the state. “But a complete ban on commercial trapping is needed.”
Read more in the
Miami Herald.
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