Endangered Species Day Treat

I traveled to Yellowstone last week on Endangered Species Day (Sunday, May 18 on my calendar but originally designated by Congress for May 16.) What a great treat!


One would never know half of the bison herd have been killed over the winter, mostly at the hand of humans. There were lots of bison to see! I did tell a few of them to "Stay in the Park or you'll be slaughtered!" Quite a few babies have been born but not as many as I had hoped to see. A herd was lounging around in the yards of Mammoth. A big boy was rolling around a small terrace. Another big boy grazed it way to a pedestrian bridge and was eyeballing tourists as they crossed it-way to close for comfort for me!



This day took the prize for the most bears I've seen in one day. 5 grizzlies and 1 brown black bear (top photo). The black bear was a kid bear roaming alone. 2 of the grizlies were big males. One was sitting up in a snow patch like a dog. Then it fell back and rolled around. The other one, in a different location, was slowly walking and pawing at the ground (bottom photo). The other 3 grizzlies were a mom with 2 cubs pawing at the ground and playing in some downed trees on a small hill. There were reports of 3 more bears by the Lake but I did not get that far. Finally, the bears are out of hibernation!

The Oxbow wolf pack was out and people had scopes set up at the usual pullout watching them. Unfortunately, I could not stop to look due to a kid's bathroom emergency. I'll see them next time.


The 2 bighorn sheep I saw were very raggedy from struggling through the harsh winter. They were actually outside of Gardiner right on the roadside and not in the Park.

Usually I don't see many deer but this time there was quite a few. The usual antelope hered was hanging around near Gardiner and lots of elk were out and about, mostly dispersed among bison. Ravens and eagles were abundant. Prairie dogs have babies trailing near. They all have 2 babies. (Photo: The other baby went underground before I got the shot. They are fast when they think they're in danger.)


The funniest thing I saw was a Canadian goose bobbing up and down wildly as it rode the rapids of a swelled up river (which is now flooding downstream). I imagine this goose's legs were quite tired from paddling after it finally reached the bank on the other side, and a long way from it's intended destination. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

Hope For Wolves But Not For Bison

First, I will say that I am traveling this weekend to my beloved Yellowstone. Just a day trip to see what is going on with the animals.


Photo: Mammoth Terraces-way off date stamp.

Now, a quick update on the buffalo and the wolves. They were supposed to stop killing bison a few weeks ago but they have braisenly went against their own word. Bison have been slaughtered. And worse yet, 400+ bison, including many, many newborn calves are being held captive now. They claim they are holding all these bison until Yellowstone greens up and the bison will then not leave the park in search of food. Seems quite assinine to me. What's the great difference in vegetation between the corrals and the surrounding land-nothing. Maybe they are feeding the corralled bison. Obviously, they took the time to herd up the bison and push them into the corrals so why not herd them up and push them into the valleys farther into the middle of the park? I believe it's just another excuse to trap and kill these bison. The herd is already half of what it was last season.

As for the wolves, there is some good news. Environmentalist groups have a lawsuit pending over the recent delisting. The government asked for an extension on the case but a judge in Billings, MT told them no, there will be no delay in hearing this case. He will not chance more wolves being lost. I was taken back when I heard the story. I could not believe a judge around here would be sympathetic to wolves. This sounds promising.

Wolf Massacre Update

The death toll for gray wolves continues to rise as they are ruthlessy killed by hateful people. It is very disturbing although I had no doubt at all that this would happen as soon as federal protection was taken away from them only a few weeks ago.

Here is sad news from Defenders of Wildlife:
Wolf 253M, known as "Limpy" was the beloved member of Yellowstone's Druid Peak pack -- and one of the first wolves shot dead when federal protections were lifted on Northern Rockies wolves.


Photo: Limpy. Copyrighted by Tim Springer.

The Druids are a famous Yellowstone wolf pack. Many documentaries show this pack. I've never ran into them myself-yet. Their home is in Yellowstone's Northern range. Poor unsuspecting Limpy and other pack members wandered into elk feeding grounds in Wyoming across that infamous invisible line that tells wolves and bison not to cross or they will be killed. Limpy and 2 other wolves were shot to death. What a shame. And on the very first day that protections were lifted. FYI, yes, Limpy had a limp. My understanding is that his back legs were crippled up from a fight.

Worse yet, a front page story in the Billings Gazette had the tale of one wolf hunter. He (the man) "stalked his prey (the wolf) for 35 miles on snowmobile" before he was able to kill the wolf. The guy went on to say that although that particular wolf did nothing to him, he killed it out of hate for what wolves have done to livestock-the token wolf (what a cool manly dude, huh?). He claims that pro-wolf folks just do not understand what wolves are capable of. Sorry buddy, but yes we do. We just have more tolerance and and are more capable of seeing the larger scope of things. We see ways for coexistance. Of course there will have to be some loss on both sides. We are not blinded by money. God created all life-He was pleased with all animals. He put them here for a reason and that reason is not to become extinct at the hands of ignorant, hateful, greedy people with guns.

Oh yeah, I am fed up with this town's crappy biased reporting and subliminal hatred & fear tactics! If I had money, I would start my own paper.

Other wolf news, The Southwest's Mexican wolf population continues to drop. Now there are only 52 of them left and basically nothing is being dome to restore that population to a stable number-even though prior government plans were to get that number up to 100 3 years ago.

There are more wolf deaths I could mention but I'm upset now thinking about all this waste of life. All we can do is keep fighting for the wolves even if it is in vain.