Outrage after bullet-ridden corpse of pregnant beaver found on riverbank

Environmentalist Ben Goldsmith tweeted the images, prompting fury on Twitter

By Howard Lloyd

12:39, 10 MAY 2019

UPDATED17:38, 10 MAY 2019

There has been widespread revulsion after the rotting corpse of a pregnant beaver was found riddled with bullet holes in a wood in Devon.

Ben Goldsmith - an environmentalist and financier - tweeted grizzly images of the dead creature, sparking a furious reaction online.

Ben had written about the successful return of the beaver in the same woods in an article in The Spectator less than two months ago.

But he lashed out at the 'embedded culture of killing' which was hindering efforts to reintroduce the beaver in Britain.

"I wrote last month about a magical Devon wood that has been transformed by a pair of beavers. I went back there today and found the decomposing corpse of the female, pregnant, shot," he said.

"The male nowhere to be seen. Beavers in England have no protection, yet.

A beaver released into the wild (Image: One of the Forestry Commission)

"In this country there is an embedded culture of killing. So many country people consider themselves to be fighting a war against nature, unable to stop for fear that nature might somehow ‘win’.

Read on

Wild wolf shot and killed in Denmark

As wild wolves return to Europe, one of the first wolves to settle in Denmark has been shot dead in an incident captured on film

Matthew Taylor

Tue 1 May 2018 18.06 BSTLast modified on Tue 1 May 2018 22.00 BST

One of the first wild wolves to roam free in Denmark for 200 years has been shot and killed, threatening the survival of the species in the country.

Two naturalists who were observing the wolves captured the moment the animal was shot on camera. The film has sparked outrage.

The footage appears to show the animal, a female, being shot by someone in a parked car. The wolf was not posing a threat or being aggressive.

Guillaume Chapron, associate professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences said the killing was “completely unacceptable” with the wolf showing no sign of aggressive behaviour before it was shot but “rather a mix of caution and curiosity.”

“From the video recording of the animal behaviour, there was absolutely no threat to humans and there was also no indication whatsoever that this animal could become a threat.” 

He said it was difficult to find a reason for the shooting “except simple wolf hatred and a belief that humans do not tolerate predators in the landscape”.

“I don’t think we have a problem wolf here but we certainly have a ‘problem hunter’ and such people need to be stopped.”

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15 loose buffaloes that crossed New York highway are killed

By JOHN KEKIS and MICHAEL HILL17 hours ago

COEYMANS, N.Y. (AP) — Fifteen buffaloes that escaped from a farm were intentionally shot and killed Friday after they dashed past a group of police, crossed a major highway and ended up near some schools, authorities said.

"The last thing we wanted to do was put these animals down," Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said. "But it wasn't a safe scene."

Three men hired by the farm opened fire on the animals Friday afternoon in woods in the town of Coeymans, about 10 miles south of the capital.

Bethlehem police Lt. Thomas Heffernan said the decision was made after experts agreed tranquilizers would not be effective and no portable corrals or trailers could hold the animals.

They escaped Thursday from a farm across the Hudson River in the Rensselaer County town of Schodack. The owner believes they swam across the river to the town of Bethlehem, where they wandered across a busy stretch of Interstate 87 and into neighboring Coeymans as a police helicopter tracked them.

Read on ...

Tiger shot dead after killing another woman

Forest officials had ignored warning that relocating animal who had lost fear of humans was a dangerous and misguided conservation strategy

Janaki Lenin

Monday 29 December 2014 11.16 GMT

A tiger released in a wildlife sanctuary in south India has been shot dead on Sunday after it killed a woman.

The animal was released in Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary, Karnataka, on 19 November. The young tiger, suspected to have killed a woman in Pandaravalli village 186 miles away, was caught and released in the sanctuary. A large contingent of forest officials camped at Bhimgad to ensure it didn’t trouble villagers and also protect the tiger from people. Officials said the tiger did not pose a threat to human life. But tiger biologist Ullas Karanth had warned it was not safe to release the animal as it seemed to have lost fear of humans.

Despite the number of people keeping a watch on the tiger’s activity and the GPS transmitter around its neck, it remained elusive. The transmitter stopped functioning soon after the animal’s release, and tracking the animal using the backup VHF radio transmitter in hilly dense forests was difficult. 

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Grey wolf appears in Iowa for first time in 89 years – and is shot dead

Hunter mistook animal for a coyote and escapes being cited despite wolves being a protected species in the state, reports Mongabay

Jeremy Hance for Mongabay, part of the Guardian Environment Network

theguardian.com, Monday 12 May 2014 15.52 BST

DNA testing has confirmed that an animal shot in February in Iowa's Buchanan County was in fact a wolf, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. This is the first confirmed grey wolf (Canis lupus) in the US state since 1925. 

Experts believe the wolf likely travelled south from Wisconsin or Minnesota, the latter of which has the largest wolf population in the lower 48. 

The Iowa wolf, which was a 65-70 pound healthy female, was shot and killed in February of this year by a hunter who mistook it for a coyote. Although wolves remain a protected species in Iowa, the hunter was not cited, because he believed the animal to be a coyote and has cooperated with authorities, including bringing the wolf to them in the first place. 

"I was surprised but not that surprised," DNA specialist Vince Evelsizer told the Gazette. "Large animals can cover great distances, and state lines mean nothing to them." 

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Endangered red wolf killed by gunshot wound

A radio-collared red wolf has recently been found dead due to a suspected gunshot wound. The wolf was found on 11 March near Creswell, in Washington County, North Carolina, and is the second red wolf killed by an apparent gunshot wound this year. US Fish and Wildlife Service and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission suspect that the wolf was killed illegally and are investigating the incident.

Once found widely throughout the southeastern United States, the red wolf is now one of the rarest canines in the world, and is federally protected in North Carolina under the Endangered Species Act as an experimental, non-essential population. This means that landowners are legally entitled to kill a red wolf if it attacks their livestock or pets. In addition, a red wolf killed accidentally during legal activity – such as coyote hunting – on private land isn’t against the law providing the death isn’t intentional. The death must also be reported to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, or the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission within 24 hours.

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Endangered Florida Panther Found Shot Dead in Nature Reserve

An endangered Florida panther was found shot dead over the weekend, in the Big Cypress National Preserve, a (supposedly) protected area for wildlife. The death is significant as there are only 100 to 160 Florida panthers remaining, scientists estimate.

The National Park Service is asking anybody with information to come forward. It's a crime to kill a panther, with a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

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