Archive for the ‘Conservation News’ Category

Wood Bison to be Reintro’d in Alaska

via Hubspot.com

North America’s largest land animal is coming back to one of its natural environments. A subspecies of the more commonly known plains bison, the wood bison once ranged wide swathes of Alaska and Canada until the 1900s. A series of environmental factors forced the species to near extinction.

According to the Alaska Dispatch, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently announced a plan to reintroduce the wood bison to the state with the end goal of promoting tourism and hunting. Conservation groups have been lobbying for the creation of a wild bison population since 53 of the endangered species were moved to an Alaska quarantine from Canada. Their efforts were stalled by concerns that the bison might interfere with gas and oil development.

So far, the FWS plan involves moving a “nonessential experimental population” of the animals to an area near Fairbanks, Alaska. The region was historically a bison range before they became endangered. The bison will be kept under careful surveillance for a short period to allow them to acclimate, and then released into the wild.

[Read the full story here]

Wildlife Management & Exchange, LLC Inaguaral Exotic Video Auction This Weekend

As a famous quote goes, “Times…they are a changin”.  With the current climate of the exotic industry and the attacks being waged against it, exotic ranchers are now looking at the way they do things. One of the processes that has long been scrutinized is the buying, selling & transport of exotic animals. One company is looking to change all of that…

Wildlife Management & Exchange (WMX) is bringing a new auction format to the industry (the video auction) to streamline the process, lower costs & commissions, improve animal welfare…all while contributing to the future of exotic animals in Texas.

WMX auctions will be periodically held around the state and do not require the animals be physically present. The video auction alleviates transporting the animals to an auction site (reducing stress & transportation costs).  WMX takes ZERO commission from the seller and will donate 1% of every lot sold to the Exotic Wildlife Association (EWA) to help assist in exotic conservation for future generations!

Advantages of WMX: Accurate identification of exactly what animal and what condition you are buying, facilitate an efficient sale process and support the EWA effort, no hauling cost to the auction for the seller & a much more efficient auction; no more waiting on the animals to come through the ring, eliminates stress on the animals – no handling/hauling injury or death.

Event: WMX Inaguaral Exotic Video Auction
Date: Saturday, June 30th
Location: Austin, Texas – Travis County Exposition Center at the Skyline Club,
7311 Decker Lane Austin, TX 78724
Time: Sale begins at 10 am

WMX Mission Statement: “To facilitate the humane and effective capture, transport and sale of exotics and support the conservation of animals through the Exotic Wildlife Association.”

To register animals for this sale or for more information contact the Wildlife Management & Exchange LLC — Phone: 713.594.1576, mark@wildlifemx.com or 512.565.2968, logan@wildlifemx.com

Visit www.WildlifeManaagementExchange.com to learn more about what sets WMX apart in the industry!

Exotic Hunting Debate to Re-Air on ’60 Minutes’

via the Exotic Wildlife Association Newsletter

“60 Minutes” producer, Max McClellan, notified the EWA office that the “Three Species” segment, “Can Hunting Endangered Animals Save the Species?”, will air again this Sunday, June 10th by special request.  This was one of the top rated segments this past year.  If you missed it the first time or you simply want to watch it again, tune in to 60 Minutes on CBS Sunday night at 6 P.M. central time. This report was well received across this country and also by some people who identified themselves as animal rights activists who said that, although they did not support the hunting of these animals, they did applaud the Texas rancher’s efforts to save these species. Let your friends and family know, especially if they missed it the first time.

This special about the “Three Species” — Addax, Scimitar Horned Oryx and Dama Gazelle, has initiated a tremendous response from several key U.S. Congressmen and EWA Executive Director, Charly Seale, has been invited to testify later this month in Washington D.C. before the House of Representative’s Committee on Science on how hunting relates to conservation.

Don’t want to wait to watch the segment? Click here to watch it now >> CBSnews.com/video/big-game-hunting.  To learn more or to join the the Exotic Wildlife Association, visit myewa.org.

Texas Reps/EWA Fight Federal Exotic Ruling

COMMISSIONER STAPLES, ATTORNEY GENERAL ABBOTT DEFEND EXOTIC WILDLIFE INDUSTRY AGAINST FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S BURDENSOME REGULATION

Federal rules will result in damage to Texas economy and possible extinction of species

AUSTIN – Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples today joined the Texas Attorney General in filing an amicus brief in support of the Exotic Wildlife Association’s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The suit is asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop a rule that will severely limit private Texas landowners’ ability to manage three species of African antelope, despite the landowners’ success in increasing the number of animals in the United States.

“Leave it to the federal government to create a problem where one doesn’t exist,” Commissioner Staples said. “All Americans should withstand overly burdensome and unnecessary regulations, and protect the rights of private citizens who have responsibly promoted the conservation of these exotic species.”

Three antelope species – the Scimitar Horned Oryx, Addax and Dama Gazelle – are endangered in regions of Northern Africa. In 2005, Texas ranchers were given an exemption from the regulatory requirements of the Endangered Species Act. As a result of this exemption and favorable management by Texas ranchers, these animals, which are virtually extinct in their native Africa, number in the tens of thousands in Texas. If the court does not act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will implement a policy that will require ranchers and hunters to undergo a complex and cumbersome permitting process to manage and hunt these exotic species in Texas.

“This is the most successful conservation effort ever undertaken by game breeders and ranchers here in Texas,” said Charly Seale, Executive Director of the Exotic Wildlife Association, based in Ingram, Texas. “We have literally brought these animals back from the brink of extinction in their native Africa and are currently involved in a conservation project that will send Scimitar Horned Oryx and Addax back to their native land.” (more…)