When it comes to Cougar attacks, people don’t really think of Issaquah, Washington. Or when concerns about marauding cougars rise, wildlife experts offer reassurances: The typical cougar is a shy creature that avoids people and prefers to eat deer rather than pets or children.
Tell that to Wes Collins’ dog, who was eaten by a cougar:

LAS CRUCES -A mountain lion that may have killed a Pinos Altos, New Mexico, man was captured in a snare and killed Wednesday morning, according to the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.
The lion was an average-sized adult male weighing roughly 125 pounds, according to the department. It had four [...]

Whether or not a well regulated militia remains necessary to the security of a free state, as the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution declares, it isn’t the compelling motive behind the constitutional right of the people to keep and bear arms.
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The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee celebrated a quarter century of grizzly bear recovery on June 21, 2008, with a public ceremony at the Blackfoot—Clearwater Wildlife Management Area in Montana. The event was open to the public, and included displays and demonstrations of bear-related educational and safety programs and a ceremony with key partners involved in [...]
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Monster 2007 propels Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to 5.2 million acres
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
MISSOULA, Mont. — If a year’s accomplishments were scored like antlers, 2007 would be a trophy-class wallhanger for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
The conservation group last year helped to enhance more acres of elk habitat and complete more land [...]

In a widely circulated article titled, “What They Didn’t Tell You About Wolf Recovery,” in the Jan-Mar 2008 Outdoorsman, I documented the fact that Fish and Wildlife Service and state wolf biologists are knowingly underestimating wolf numbers in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The article explained that only individual radio-collared wolves, and packs including at least [...]
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Hunters can shoot up to 75 wolves this fall under a tentative quota unanimously approved Thursday by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission, despite pleas from some that a wolf hunting season is premature.
The public has until July 18 to comment on the tentative quotas, as well as the commission’s [...]

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today opened a 30-day public comment period on a proposal to add one national wildlife refuge to the list of areas open for hunting during the 2008-09 season and increase hunting opportunities at six other refuges.
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WASHINGTON — West Coast lawmakers are protesting a plan by the Bush administration to take $70 million from the $170 million approved in the farm bill as disaster relief for the Pacific Coast salmon-fishing industry.
Bush’s budget office says the money is needed to pay for higher-than-expected costs of the 2010 census.
After the reduction, which needs [...]

KALISPELL – Foresters looking to fight fire with fire have started looking beyond the boundaries of designated wilderness areas, and this summer will apply a sort of “let it burn” policy to public lands throughout northwest Montana.
They call it “wildland fire use” and this summer it could be used in the [...]

BOISE, Idaho — Thousands of vacationers in the West will likely see a wolf in the wild for the first time this summer, often from the road but sometimes while camping or hiking.
The federal government and state agencies that manage wolves have concise rules on what is legal in these encounters, and [...]

Idaho Fish and Game biologists have been monitoring over 800 radio-collared mule deer around the state. They began in the winter of 2007 and since then, of 263 mule deer fawns monitored, only 30 percent (78 fawns) survived until May 15th. The overall survival for the 528 adult females was 90 percent.
This means that mule [...]

Agency personnel shot a lone wolf near West Yellowstone on Tuesday, May 27. The wolf had been frequenting several campgrounds and residential areas north of West Yellowstone in the Horse Butte area over the last two weeks.
The animal was exhibiting aggressive behavior towards people and domestic dogs and showed no [...]

BY TODD ADAMS
Proposed changes announced last week to Rep. Mike Simpson’s Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act (CIEDRA) preserve economic development for Custer County and motorized access, contrary to claims by an anti-CIEDRA group, Simpson staff say.Lindsay Slater, Simpson’s chief of staff, was responding to claims recently made in ads [...]

INDEX, Snohomish County — After years cajoling fellow lawmakers, strategizing with environmentalists and attending countless community meetings, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray stood on the bank of the Skykomish River Friday and looked into the newly created Wild Sky Wilderness.
“Rick,” she declared, pointing to a forested mountain and then gleefully slapping the [...]
