83rd MAFWA Directors’ Annual Meeting – Save the Date!

The 83rd MAFWA Directors’ Annual Meeting will be held Sunday, June 26 – Wednesday, June 29, 2016 at the Chase Park Plaza, Saint Louis, Missouri. For more information, click here.

The MAFWA Directors’ Meeting is for senior level management of natural resources professionals in the fields of wildlife and fisheries management, information and education, licensing and administration, law enforcement, and conservation engineering.

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Experimental CWD Vaccine Failing Initial Tests

By:

Patrick Durkin +

Posted: 12/14/15

 

elk  

An experimental vaccine for chronic wasting disease actually increased the likelihood of elk to contract CWD by at least three times.

Hopes for a vaccine to prevent chronic wasting disease (CWD) suffered a severe blow when Wyoming researchers announced in early November that elk inoculated with an experimental serum were at least three times more likely to contract CWD than unvaccinated elk. Continue reading

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Wildlife Service, several states appealing ban on wolf season

Efforts underway to overturn court decision barring their hunting or trapping 

By Doug Smith Special to the Star Tribune

November 28, 2015Wolf

 

 

 

 

Gary Kramer • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

For the first time in four years, Minnesota’s 2,200 wolves aren’t in the crosshairs of hunters or trappers. The state’s fledgling wolf season was killed last December by a federal court ruling that reinstated canis lupus to the protection of the endangered species list.  Now individuals can kill a wolf only in defense of human life, and only federal trappers can remove or kill wolves causing livestock depredation.  Hunters and trappers killed 272 wolves last year.  “The intent of the wolf season was to allow sustainable hunting and trapping,” said Dan Stark, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wolf specialist. “We weren’t trying to have an impact on the [wolf] population or [livestock] depredations.”  Winter severity and fluctuations of deer numbers have greater impact on wolf numbers than hunting and trapping, Stark said.  The DNR estimated 2,221 wolves inhabited Minnesota last winter and 2,423 wolves the winter before, a statistically insignificant difference. Continue reading

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New Toxin for Feral Swine

By Joshua Rapp Learn

The Wildlife Society

Posted on October 23, 2015

Feral swine are one of the most difficult invasive species to eradicate in North America. The pigs (Sus scrofa), first introduced from Europe, are intelligent enough to avoid many traps and can change their behavior to be more evasive and nomadic once they’ve had encounters with hunters.

But researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services are perfecting a poison that’s as basic as bacon for breakfast: salt. Continue reading

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National Pheasant Coordinator Job Opportunity

October 9, 2015

Pheasant range states are seeking a National Wild Pheasant Plan Coordinator. The position will be located in the Pheasant’s Forever office in Brookings, SD. Application deadline is November 30, 2015.

National Pheasant Plan Coordinator Second Announcement

 

 

 

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