LOCAL

Spring showers bring...bears?

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) shot and killed a bear on April 25th that was found in a residential area of North St. Paul. Conservation officers decided to shoot and kill the bear as they determined the animal posed an immediate safety threat. The bear was a male, estimated at two years old and weighed about 110-120 pounds.

Bear sightings in the metro area outside of their primary habitat in the northern forest range is not unusual. Bear sightings tend to be in the spring when young male bears are searching for new territories and food sources, when berries and vegetation are scarce.

Law enforcement is authorized to dispatch bears if found in the metro area and the DNR does not tranquilize and relocate them. The decision behind this is that bears can become aggressive and pose a danger to humans when they feel threatened. In addition, many people want to see the bear, which tends to gather crowds, as was the case in this scenario. This creates an unlikely situation for the bear to escape and avoid confrontation. The DNR recommends anyone encountering a bear to back away slowly and allow the bear an escape route.

DNR

NATIONAL

Fresh air a thing of the past

According to the American Lung Association (ALA) more than 141 million people in the United States (43 percent of the population) live in places with unsafe air quality. This number has climbed by 7 million more than reported last year. The number of cities with reported high days of ozone and short-term particle pollution increased in 2015 - 2017.

Particulate matter, for example dust, dirt, soot, or smoke, can vary in size from large (PM10) to small (PM2.5). Particulates are emitted from power plants, industries, automobile emissions, construction sites, fires, and more. PM2.5 pose the greatest risk to health due to their small size that can penetrate deep into the airways and bloodstream. Possible health consequences include lung and heart disease, and premature death. Individuals with preexisting lung or heart conditions are particularly at risk.

As temperatures rise and wildfires become more frequent and severe, smoke is increasingly driving unhealthy levels of pollution. Although this report shows that there is a spike in ozone and particulate matter driven by wildfires, it should be noted that most of the nation reports clearer air than even a decade ago. This demonstrates the continued concern though of air pollution due to climate change. Cleaning up these pollutants will become even more challenging in the face of increasing climate change related events.

Yale Environment

ALA

EPA

INTERNATIONAL

Operation poisonous sausage drop

In 2015, Australia’s national government decided to try and kill 2 million feral cats by 2020. This decision was made out of growing concern for the nation’s indigenous wildlife, in particular groups of small, threatened rodents and marsupial species. In the first 12 months following the plan’s announcement, an estimated 211,560 cats were killed, according to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

One of the methods to eradicate the feral cats includes dropping lethal sausages from the sky to poison the cats. The sausages are a combination of kangaroo meat, chicken fat, mixed herbs and spices and a poison called 1080, which is derived from gastrolobium plants and highly lethal to animals like cats as well as other non-native species. Other methods include trapping, shooting, and other poison-delivery vessels.

Planes will drop 50 poisoned sausages every square kilometer in areas with high population of roaming feral cats. Since Australia has no native cat species, the countries native resident species became accustomed to different predators, and while cats are not more prevalent in Australia than in other places, they are very destructive.

NY Times