Orphaned CT bear cubs getting stronger every day

The two black bear cubs who were orphaned when their mom was killed by an off-duty police officer in Newtown, Connecticut, earlier this month are doing well at the Kilham Bear Center in New Hampshire. The center is calling them Izzy and Indra and they have been moved in with 11 other cubs. They fit right in and have been playing and communing with their new friends. The Center has been rehabilitating and releasing injured, orphaned and abandoned black bear cubs brought there by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department since 1993. 

Ben Kilham and his nephew Ethan Kilham are the primary bear caregivers. You can follow the CT bears progress on Instagram. The Center has released 350 cubs back into the wild.

Also giving us hope is this outstanding article about CT’s black bears in the Waterbury Observer.

“Connecticut is now bear country, and the bears aren’t going to change their behavior. Instead of shooting the bears, or hunting them to control the population, the best strategy is to adjust our behavior to not attract the bears near us in the first place,” writes John Murray.

We couldn’t agree more.

California getting new state park

Since Friends of Animals advocates for preserving open spaces and biodiversity, it gives us hope that California will acquire a sprawling former farm property in the San Joaquin Valley and create a new state park for the first time in 13 years.

The park is planned for Dos Rios Ranch, where the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers meet southwest of Modesto. The property will become California’s 280th state park and the first new one since Fort Ord Dunes near Monterey in 2009, the Modesto Bee reported.

The nearly four-square-mile expanse featuring willows and valley oaks will be donated by River Partners, a conservation group that’s spent the past decade restoring the site.

State Parks Director Armando Quintero said that the property will serve “a park-poor region” — the San Joaquin Valley — and help address inequities in access to state recreation sites.

UI becomes bee-friendly campus

The University of Iowa is now a part of a lengthening list of colleges that have committed to taking steps to protect pollinators by becoming a “Bee Campus USA” school. It means UI has agreed to create pollinator habitats—UI has created a native prairie—reduce pesticide use and support pollinator-focused educational programs. So far, UI has phased out the use of neonicotinoids — an insecticide that can show up in pollen and nectar, killing bees. 

Since 2015, 139 campuses have joined the .  UI is the fourth in Iowa to join, alongside Central College, St. Ambrose University and Luther College.

Utah hunting guide faces felony charges

Utah hunting guide Wade Lemon faces five years in state prison for the death of a Carbon County bear killed during a guided hunt on May 18, 2018. We hope they lock him up and throw away the key for allegedly using a pile of grain, cooking oil and pastries to lure a bear that Donald Trump Jr. then killed. Trump Jr. is not named in the recent filing against Lemon, but the Utah Department of Natural Resources confirmed his identity as the person named in the felony complaint as Lemon’s “client” on the hunt. 

Hunting guides who cater to the wealthy elite have a lot at stake in ensuring successful hunts. These companies employ hunters to scout woods, deserts, mountains and plains for the biggest game, to ensure these high-profile clients have the highest chance for a successful hunt. According to DNR, Wade Lemon Hunting has been investigated eight times for allegedly breaking the law to ensure a successful hunt, though he was not charged with a felony until this month.