World famous black bear Hope is believed killed

The bear "born on the internet" is believed to have been shot and killed by a hunter in Minnesota, US.

Hope was recognised internationally after her birth was filmed and broadcast live via a webcam in 2010.

The black bear and her mother Lily were subjects of a study by US biologist Dr Lynn Rogers and featured in the BBC documentary The Bear Family and Me.

Recreational hunting is permitted by licence in the state but hunters are asked not to shoot collared bears.

Dr Rogers and his colleagues at the Wildlife Research Institute were tracking 13 bears, each wearing identifying collars.
Using the GPS tracker in Hope's mother Lily's collar, the researchers confirmed her visits to a known hunter's bait site, but they could not account for the rest of the family.

The biologists have been working with the Minnesota Department for Natural Resources (DNR) who licence hunting in the state.

Read more ...

By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature

Biologists: BWCA fire will help moose habitat

St. Paul, Minn. - Count Minnesota's moose experts among those quietly celebrating the fire that has burned more than 150 square miles in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Wildlife biologist Mike Schrage has taken many flights over the area of the Boundary Waters where the fire is burning while researching Minnesota's moose population. And he's noticed fewer moose there compared to other areas of northeastern Minnesota.

The fire - and the new forest growth that follows in the next few years - could change that, he said.

"As soon as I heard there was a fire up there, I thought - woo-hoo! I can't say that very loudly because there's people in Isabella who are quite inconvenienced by it, but I think moose will benefit from this fire," said Schrage, who works for the Fond du Lac Band's Resource Management Division.

In the coming years, it could also benefit the thousands of people visiting the Boundary Waters who hope to catch a glimpse of one.

Estimates by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources of northeastern Minnesota's moose population show a decline from about 8,000 moose during the middle of the last decade to less than 5,000 this year. Biologists are trying to figure out why. Parasites and stress from warmer temperatures are possibilities, and Schrage said a large-scale fire could kill some of the winter ticks that feed on moose and weaken them.

There has also been some concern about whether moose have adequate habitat. A group of conservation organizations have even proposed to start using money from the state's Legacy Amendment to restore moose habitat in northeastern Minnesota.

Moose like to eat new growth, such as tree saplings, so a fire clears out some of the older, woody, trees and shrubs and allows new plants and trees to grow. There are even certain types of trees, including black spruce and jack pine, that need fire for their cones to open and scatter seeds.

Schrage said research across North America has indicated that moose numbers increase in areas where fires have caused new growth. And he's seen anecdotal evidence of that in the area that burned during the Ham Lake fire of 2007 and the Cavity Lake fire of 2006.

"I think slowly we're seeing some moose respond to those fires," he said.

How well suited the forest will be for moose will depend on how hot or how long a fire burned in an area. Steve Merchant, DNR wildlife programs manager, expects the land affected by the fire will be a mix of areas that don't burn and areas that burn a lot. That means that in a few years, moose will have both the new growth for food and the older areas where tall trees still stand and offer thermal cover during the winter and summer, he said.

"That interspersion is what really creates that ideal moose habitat," Merchant said.

The Boundary Waters, of which roughly 10 percent has burned in the fire, is home to a significant portion of Minnesota's moose population, Merchant said. Prescribed burns have taken place in the area over the years, but the total size of the areas burned in a given years is much less than the area
burned by the Pagami Creek fire.

One thing biologists aren't worried about is losing moose in the fire. The animals are able to walk long distances and are good swimmers.

"They're going to run from the fire," said Ron Moen, a researcher at the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota-Duluth who monitors dozens of moose that have been fitted with radio collars and GPS units.

Moen said the closest moose he's monitoring is several miles away from the fire, and so far the research team hasn't detected any unusual movements. He said he'll be watching for moose to soon move into areas that weren't burned as severely.

"When these new trees come in, and shrubs and saplings, moose that are on the edge of that area will start moving into it. And then they'll gradually move further out as it grows and there are more moose around," he said.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/09/16/bwca-fire-moose/

Minnesota man mistakes bear for mosquito (via D R Shoop)

Melrude, Minn. (AP) - A 20-year-old Melrude man says he recently came face-to-face with a large black bear, which sniffed his cheek and snorted at him before wandering away.

Mason Cavanaugh was at a cabin last month on Dinham Lake. He was sitting on the porch when he felt what he thought was yet another pesky mosquito on the back of his neck.

He slapped at the offender and felt something wet and furry. He turned to see the bear rearing up on its hind legs. He was so stunned that he didn't budge.

The bear stood for about 10 seconds before walking over to investigate some nearby bird feeders. Then it came back and sniffed Cavanaugh's face, as he remained motionless.

A Duluth News Tribune report says it eventually ambled away.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/09/01/mason-cavanaugh-mist
akes-mosquito-for-bear/

Minnesota: Expert discredits Bigfoot footprint find

Jana Peterson, Duluth News Tribune
It was a little over a year ago when the Siltanen brothers found the footprints. Checking for bear bait on a Monday morning, it wasn't bear tracks they found in the freshly plowed field. In fact, they weren't sure what they found.

"We found about 75 of these footprints," Robert Siltanen said. "My brother had plowed the field Friday and seeded it Sunday. We found the footprints on Monday morning."

Siltanen said the prints measured 4 inches wide and 11½ inches long, with a 42-inch stride from heel to toe.

"There have been (Bigfoot) sightings in the (Kettle River/Automba) area," Siltanen said, adding that he knew of at least three more-recent ones and recalled people in high school talking about Bigfoot sightings. "So we started snooping around, and we called all the neighbor ladies to see if they'd seen anything."

The really strange part, Siltanen said, was the fact that the footprints seemed to appear 60 feet from the outer edge of the field, then continue toward the woods. There were no prints leading onto the field.

"Who the heck knows," he added. "It's one of those unexplained situations."

He made casts of the footprints using plaster of Paris, which are displayed in an old shoebox. The prints are quite different: The left one looks almost deformed, with the smaller toes practically stacked on top of each other..

The brothers, who are the third generation in their family to farm their land in Kettle River, said they also hear strange noises early in the morning, sometimes a scream, other times a low moan.

Robert Siltanen imitated the moan.

Roger Siltanen laughed.

"It was hell walking to the deer stand after that," Roger Siltanen said. "I don't know how I would react to seeing one."

Robert Siltanen said a man named Jim Hebb from a Minnesota Bigfoot organization came and looked at the prints three weeks later and guessed they could belong to a juvenile Bigfoot.

However, in a response to viewing photographs of the footprint casts together and compared to Robert Siltanen's bare foot, Idaho State University professor Jeff Meldrum said the prints look very human.

Meldrum, an anatomy professor whose specialty is primate and human locomotion and the adaptation of the foot for walking on ground, is well-known as an expert on reported Bigfoot casts. He initially became interested in doing serious research on the legendary North American ape after seeing about 35 to 45 clear prints in the ground in 1996.

"My forte is footprint evidence," said the professor, who also published a book, "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science," in 2006. In endorsing the book, noted primatologist Jane Goodall said, "Jeff Meldrum's book `Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science' brings a much-needed level of scientific analysis to the Sasquatch — or Bigfoot — debate."

Although his recent film and television credits include Monster Qwest and National Geographic programs, the Idaho State University professor has not worked with the "Finding Bigfoot" television cast … at least not directly.

"They did send some prints after they found the first Georgia footprints," Meldrum said. "But I

couldn't get back to them in time. I concluded they were bear tracks. One of the hosts raved about those tracks, that they were some of the best he'd seen.

"It's unfortunate," he added. "You get these amateur `experts' making silly pronouncements, and the skeptics use it as ammunition to discredit all the evidence that comes to light."

On the subject of Sasquatch and footprints, Meldrum said the more-credible Bigfoot prints have several things in common:

They exhibit a flat, archless foot that shows a greater degree of flexibility in the mid-foot.

They have a much greater width and length than a human foot.

The toes tend to be more squarely aligned; there's less of an angle from the big toe to the little toe. There's also less of a size difference between the big toe and the smaller toes, although the big toe is still bigger than the rest.

Meldrum has no trouble making the call on the Siltanen casts on the basis of two photographs.

"The photo of the man [Robert Siltanen] with the cast is the most telling," Meldrum said. "There are so many resemblances [between his foot and the print] … I'd be surprised if it's not his foot or someone closely related to him."

Robert and Roger Siltanen both insist the footprints were not their own.

"We might (stretch the truth), but we wouldn't do this," Roger Siltanen said. "It's still a mystery if they (Bigfoot creatures) are really out there or if it's someone that's had too much to drink … or it's an elaborate hoax."

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/207804/

Bizarre roadkill perplexes DNR officials

The mystery animal was ghostly white and hairless, its neck bloated out of proportion with the rest of its limp body.


When Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials received a picture of the roadkill from Alexandria, Minn., this week, it wasn't clear what it was.


There were five front toes with long nails, so it most likely wasn't a dog. Several employees, working off the picture, concluded it was a badger.

"If you look at the picture, it is weird-looking," said Jason Abraham, a fur-bearer specialist with the DNR. "If there were four or five of these found on the road, we might have a bit more interest."

The badger, assuming that's what it was, probably lost its hair during the decomposition process, Abraham said. The animal most likely lived in Minnesota, although the species is more commonly found in Wisconsin.

The badger's picture was placed on Facebook, which gave the critter a little notoriety in the Alexandria area.

In 2006, residents of the North Shore were perplexed by a hairless animal roaming the woods. It turned out to be a timberwolf with mange.


http://www.startribune.com/local/126857738.html

Photo: http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/617*425/1badger080611.jpg

Minnesota research project focuses on saving tiny songbird (Via D.R.Shoop)

St. Paul, Minn. — Nearly half the golden-winged warblers in the world are in northern Minnesota right now for the summer breeding season.

Their habitat shrinking, the tiny birds have become the subjects of a two-year research project that could help determine whether they should be listed as a threatened or endangered species.

Mountain lion sightings more common, but still rare

Duluth, Minn. — The mountain lion, one of North America's top predators is being sighted more often in Minnesota.


State Department of Natural Resources officials say mountain lions, also known as cougars and pumas, have turned up in increasing numbers in the past two years.

That wouldn't surprise Ron Brodigan, who has a vivid memory of his encounter a decade ago with what he is certain was a mountain lion - the fourth time he had seen one.

Brodigan would take late night jogs on the road past his place near Isabella, in the Superior National Forest. His running partner was Teddy, a big golden retriever.

"We headed out here to the driveway, and out to the road. She started acting kind of funny, and her hair was standing up on her back and on her neck," Brodigan said of his dog. "The two of us took off down the road, and we'd only gone a few yards, and she really reacted. And then all of the sudden there was a big 'yowl.' And, that was one of the scariest things in my life."

There, clearly visible in the glow of his driveway light, Brodigan said, was a mountain lion, right in the middle of the highway.

"It was just walking toward us, minding its own business, coming up the center line of the road," he said. "And a couple of seconds later we would have smacked right into it."


The DNR has confirmed six reports in 13 months as mountain lions. They're turning up on trail-cams, like photos a few weeks ago north of Two Harbors. One animal was hit and killed in traffic near Bemidji last year. Another caught on a Champlin squad car camera last winter was then tracked wandering through Wisconsin.

Mountain lions range from the Canadian Yukon territories south to the South American Andes. In the United States they occupy mostly western states, reaching east to the Black Hills, which the cats re-populated in the 1990s.

Sightings have become so common in Minnesota that the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association is collecting cougar stories on their website.

Mark Johnson, the association's executive director, said deer hunters are concerned about the cougar sightings because they're after the same prey as mountain lions.

"With the sightings and with reports of sightings, people are a little apprehensive when they go into the woods about any time there's a big predator that potentially could rival you, or hunt you," Johnson said.

The website has received a few reports the organization felt were strong enough to share with state wildlife officials. But that doesn't mean each one was a mountain lion, said John Erb, a biologist with the DNR's Forest/Wildlife Research Group in Grand Rapids.

"They've gotten a ton of stuff reported, but only one that has information that you can sort of try and verify, and that was this one that's being worked on," Erb said of one report. "It's actually a series of three pictures of the same cat."

DNR officials say no evidence exists to prove that cougars have become resident in Minnesota. Some people mistake deer, dogs or bobcats as mountain lions. Erb said some actual mountain lions found in the state had been in captivity.

"We've had at least, I think five mountain lions captured or killed running around that we are either certain or highly likely were captive animals," he said. "One of them was de-clawed. Someone shot it on their front porch. It was looking into their house."

Where mountain lions are clearly established, Erb said, you see the evidence such as their kills. In the Black Hills, half a dozen mountain lions are killed by cars every year.

"So far the evidence is pretty strong that the people who think we have hundreds of them out there probably need a little dose of reality," he said.

Erb said the cats might eventually settle in Minnesota. There's plenty of deer to eat. But little is known how cougars interact with wolves -- or how they'd do in northern Minnesota's deep snow. Even if established, they might remain very scarce.

But with some 400,000 deer hunters in the woods during the annual firearms deer hunt, the number of mountain lion sightings may be on the verge of a new spike.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/11/12/mountain-lions/

Mountain lion sightings more common, but still rare

Duluth, Minn. — The mountain lion, one of North America's top predators is being sighted more often in Minnesota.


State Department of Natural Resources officials say mountain lions, also known as cougars and pumas, have turned up in increasing numbers in the past two years.

That wouldn't surprise Ron Brodigan, who has a vivid memory of his encounter a decade ago with what he is certain was a mountain lion - the fourth time he had seen one.

Brodigan would take late night jogs on the road past his place near Isabella, in the Superior National Forest. His running partner was Teddy, a big golden retriever.

"We headed out here to the driveway, and out to the road. She started acting kind of funny, and her hair was standing up on her back and on her neck," Brodigan said of his dog. "The two of us took off down the road, and we'd only gone a few yards, and she really reacted. And then all of the sudden there was a big 'yowl.' And, that was one of the scariest things in my life."

There, clearly visible in the glow of his driveway light, Brodigan said, was a mountain lion, right in the middle of the highway.

"It was just walking toward us, minding its own business, coming up the center line of the road," he said. "And a couple of seconds later we would have smacked right into it."


The DNR has confirmed six reports in 13 months as mountain lions. They're turning up on trail-cams, like photos a few weeks ago north of Two Harbors. One animal was hit and killed in traffic near Bemidji last year. Another caught on a Champlin squad car camera last winter was then tracked wandering through Wisconsin.

Mountain lions range from the Canadian Yukon territories south to the South American Andes. In the United States they occupy mostly western states, reaching east to the Black Hills, which the cats re-populated in the 1990s.

Sightings have become so common in Minnesota that the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association is collecting cougar stories on their website.

Mark Johnson, the association's executive director, said deer hunters are concerned about the cougar sightings because they're after the same prey as mountain lions.

"With the sightings and with reports of sightings, people are a little apprehensive when they go into the woods about any time there's a big predator that potentially could rival you, or hunt you," Johnson said.

The website has received a few reports the organization felt were strong enough to share with state wildlife officials. But that doesn't mean each one was a mountain lion, said John Erb, a biologist with the DNR's Forest/Wildlife Research Group in Grand Rapids.

"They've gotten a ton of stuff reported, but only one that has information that you can sort of try and verify, and that was this one that's being worked on," Erb said of one report. "It's actually a series of three pictures of the same cat."

DNR officials say no evidence exists to prove that cougars have become resident in Minnesota. Some people mistake deer, dogs or bobcats as mountain lions. Erb said some actual mountain lions found in the state had been in captivity.

"We've had at least, I think five mountain lions captured or killed running around that we are either certain or highly likely were captive animals," he said. "One of them was de-clawed. Someone shot it on their front porch. It was looking into their house."

Where mountain lions are clearly established, Erb said, you see the evidence such as their kills. In the Black Hills, half a dozen mountain lions are killed by cars every year.

"So far the evidence is pretty strong that the people who think we have hundreds of them out there probably need a little dose of reality," he said.

Erb said the cats might eventually settle in Minnesota. There's plenty of deer to eat. But little is known how cougars interact with wolves -- or how they'd do in northern Minnesota's deep snow. Even if established, they might remain very scarce.

But with some 400,000 deer hunters in the woods during the annual firearms deer hunt, the number of mountain lion sightings may be on the verge of a new spike.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/11/12/mountain-lions/

Dolphin calf at Minnesota Zoo (Via D.R Shoop)

http://wcco.com/pets/new.dolphin.calf.2.1811129.html

It's a girl! There's a new addition to the Minnesota Zoo Dolphin
Stadium. After just two hours of delivery and 12 months of pregnancy, Allie, one of three Atlantic bottlenose dolphins at the zoo, gave birth to a calf at 10:51 p.m. Saturday. On Monday, the zoo confirmed the calf is a female.The newborn calf weighs approximately 30 pounds and is about 3-feet-long. She's the second born to Allie, who is 23. This is the father, Semo's, fourth calf. Dolphin Stadium will be closed Sunday in order for Allie and her new calf to bond and be nurtured.The calf is expected to go on exhibit in the fall, if all goes well.

An eagle expedition

Lilydale, Minn. — Every year, ecologists with climbing gear scramble to the tops of trees in Minnesota and Wisconsin to gather baby eagles from their nests. They're testing the eaglets for a variety of chemicals, including DDT, the one that nearly wiped out the eagle population decades ago.


By all accounts, the eagle population in this part of the world is doing very well. But the researchers are still finding plenty of chemicals in the blood of baby eagles. To find out more, we tagged along on one of those research expeditions.

National Park Service ecologist Bill Route and his crew are searching national park lands in Minnesota and Wisconsin, looking for eagle nests.

He points to a big old cottonwood tree, right at the edge of the Mississippi River in Lilydale Regional Park, across from Fort Snelling.

"It's that tree right there, kind of leaning over. It's hard to see, shrouded in all those leaves there," Route said.

Two budding biologists are using a cross-bow to shoot climbing ropes over a branch just above a nest.

"I think they have their first line fixed, so that means he's been successful at finding the right limb he wants to climb," Route says.

The climber hoists himself gracefully up the rope; then he disappears for awhile in the leaves.

The eagles in this popular park seem pretty calm about people. One soars in a wide circle above the nest, clucking mild disapproval at the intruders.

Spotting the eagle's nest"Some pairs squawk a lot and make a lot of noise, but they never dive-bomb onto the climbers," said Route. "Other parents will just go to a tree nearby and just sit there and sulk at us."

The climber found three chicks in the nest, and now each one is tucked into a bag hanging from his belt.

The climbers carry the captives to dry land, where a dozen or so birders and park officials have gathered to watch.

They weigh the birds while they're still in the bags. Then they set the youngsters down on small canvas tarps to band them.

They take measurements that suggest these creatures are roughly seven weeks old. They're about the size of a newborn human baby, and they're quite calm.


They pant a little in the heat, and glare at their handlers with steady dark eyes. Their feathers are a little scruffy, and one of them smells like dead fish.

"Now we're going to do the most important sample, the blood sample," said Route.

The researchers are looking for six types of contaminants -- lead and mercury, DDT and dioxin, and a couple of newer chemicals.

DDT, the pesticide that was banned in the U.S. in 1972, has been declining steadily over the last 25 years. But Bill Route says it's still found occasionally in eagles' blood. DDT is still used in many places, including South America.


"It may be the prey they're getting from South America -- maybe migratory birds that are coming up, and they have [DDT] in their systems, they're preying on them; they're getting it in their systems."

Route says the ban on lead pellets in shotguns has helped reduce lead poisoning, but eagles are still poisoned by lead from fishing tackle.

And then there are the new chemicals, like flame retardants. Route says in the first part of this decade, the flame retardant chemicals found in eagles' blood doubled. But recently Europe and some states have banned certain formulations, and those chemicals immediately began to decline.

"But there's 170 formulations of flame retardants, so it's pretty hard for us to keep up with," he said.


They're also checking for perfluorinated chemicals, like the stain-resistant and heat-resistant products once made by 3M. Traces of those products spiked in eagles five years ago, but they've been declining quickly since 3M stopped making them.

These new chemicals don't have the outright lethal effect that DDT had on eagle populations. But Bill Route says they may have subtle effects, especially because there's so many of them.

"So it could be these eagles or other animals -- or ourselves -- just aren't functioning quite the way we could be if it wasn't that we have a number of chemicals in our system affecting our neurology, affecting our endocrine system," said Route. "And I think there's lot of linkages that are tantalizing but not exactly smoking guns yet."

The population of eagles along the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities area is growing more than 10 percent each year. And that includes the three baby eagles returned to their nest after their adventure with the scientists.

By Stephanie Hemphill, Minnesota Public Radio