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Killing nearly 500 wolves last year failed to protect endangered caribou – study

With their ability to glide silently through snow drifts and vanish into forests, mountain caribou have been called the grey ghosts of western Canada’s alpine region. But in recent years, a steep drop in their population has raised fears the knobby-kneed ungulates may disappear forever.

The rapid decline of mountain caribou has alarmed both biologists and government officials and prompted an aggressive response. In 2015, British Columbia placed a bounty on wolves, which the province believed to be a key threat to the ailing herds. The sanctioned cull is estimated to have killed more than a thousand of the apex predators. But a new study from the University of Alberta suggests that the cull is doing little to save the most vulnerable caribou populations.

For decades, the mountain caribou – an ecotype of woodland caribou that once ranged from Alaska down to Montana and Idaho – has suffered catastrophic decline. Biologists have long suspected habitat degradation and increased predation were to blame. In addition to clearcutting forests, human incursions into the hinterlands – by snowmobile and ski trails – have created corridors for wolves to more easily stalk caribou.

Today, roughly 46,800 mountain caribou remain. Both the central and southern mountain ecotypes are considered endangered, with only 1,825 remaining. They now only live in British Columbia after having effectively disappeared from the United States.

In 2019, an influential study suggested that culling wolves and creating fenced refuges for pregnant females could help stem the demise of mountain caribou. The government of British Columbia cited the paper’s findings to establish an expanded wolf cull, believed to have killed more than 460 wolves in the last year – part of the province’s multimillion-dollar caribou recovery plan.

But after running their own simulations, a team of researchers at the University of Alberta concluded that killing wolves wasn’t saving the caribou in areas where caribou were most vulnerable and at risk. In a new paper, published in the journal Biology and Conservation, the researchers used the same data results from the 2019 paper, but added a null model – a “self-check” meant to determine if a pattern is real, or just part of a random variation – to their statistical analysis of areas where caribou are declining.

The team could find no statistical support for claims that culling wolves and penning in pregnant caribou offset population decline – especially in the most vulnerable cases. In the case of the endangered Wells Grey herd in central British Columbia, which has suffered one of the worst population declines, the researchers found that wolves weren’t even a major predator: bears, cougars and wolverines were far more deadly. 

“The [2019 study] cannot be considered sufficient to make far-reaching decisions on killing animals and where to place conservation priorities,” concluded University of Alberta’s Toby Spribille, a biologist and co-author of the new paper.

Spribille anticipates the findings will generate controversy, largely because in some cases, killing wolves has been shown to save caribou and increase herd numbers. “I have no doubt that the [original] authors, in response, will find examples of cases where a wolf is pursuing a caribou and you shoot that wolf, it saves the life of that caribou,” he said. “Does that mean that can be scaled up to herds where wolves are not even a major predation issue? Does that mean it can be scaled up to a province wolf cull programme?”

Environmental groups opposed to the cull have welcomed the findings. Wolves have been an easy villain, but a focus on predation ignores a more complex web of factors in the decline of the caribou, they argue.

“When you remove top level apex predators, like wolves, you see a collapse of ecosystems from insects to riparian areas, to the predator prey relationship to the forest cover itself,” said Ian McAllister, executive director at Pacific Wild, a conservation organisation. “Wolves in every meaning of the word are being used as a scapegoat for government negligence.”

Spribille and his colleagues believe habitat degradation, in the form of clear-cut logging practices, inflicts far greater harm on the caribou. By chopping down old trees, loggers remove critical food sources, as well as valuable shelter. It takes roughly 80 years for a forest to mature to the point that it produces a suitable amount of lichen, says Spribille, the main staple of the mountain caribou.

A study published in May found that over the last five years, the British Columbia government has permitted more than 900 sq km of land to be logged, despite the forests being listed as critical caribou habitat. In the last year, 314 logging cut-blocks have been approved in areas where the caribou are most vulnerable.

Spribille, who comes from a small community in the region where forestry is a large industry, understands the tensions and difficulties that many face in confronting the reality that human action plays an outsized role in the decline of caribou.

“When you talk about habitat degradation, you’re talking about people’s livelihoods. I understand that things like this are going to be controversial,” he said.

But, he added: “If we’re serious about mountain caribou, we’re going to have to address the complexity of this problem. And that means we’re going to have to have some uncomfortable conversations.”

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features

Reference: The Guardian: Leyland Cecco 6 hrs ago 14th July 2020

Antibodies from llamas could help treat COVID-19 patients

Antibodies taken from the blood of llamas could be used to help develop a new treatment for patients who are severely ill with COVID-19.

a group of sheep standing on top of a grass covered field: Llamas could hold the key for the development of a new treatment to help patients with COVID-19. File pic© PA Llamas could hold the key for the development of a new treatment to help patients with COVID-19. File pic
Laboratory tests have shown the antibodies can fight the coronavirus - and scientists hope to be able to push the breakthrough on into pre-clinical trials.

The antibodies - known as nanobodies due to their small size - could be engineered to neutralise the coronavirus.

The scientists found that the nanobodies can bind tightly to the spike protein of Sars-CoV-2 - the virus which causes COVID-19 - by blocking it from entering human cells and stopping any infection.

The work was carried out by a team from the Rosalind Franklin Institute, Oxford University, Diamond Light Source and Public Health England.

The immune system produces antibodies when it is being attacked, or in response to infections.

Llamas, camels and alpacas naturally produce quantities of small antibodies with a simpler structure that can be turned into nanobodies.

The researchers are now assessing results of antibodies taken from Fifi, a llama based at the University of Reading.

The findings show that Fifi's immune system has produced different antibodies from those already identified, which will enable cocktails of nanobodies to be tested against the coronavirus.

It is hoped any future treatment could be used in a similar way to convalescent serum, which involves taking antibodies from blood donated from people who have recovered from an illness.

James Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and professor of structural biology at Oxford University, said: "These nanobodies have the potential to be used in a similar way to convalescent serum, effectively stopping progression of the virus in patients who are ill.

"We were able to combine one of the nanobodies with a human antibody and show the combination was even more powerful than either alone."

The study was published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.

Reference: Sky News: 13thJuly 2020

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Reference: U Tube

Heartbreaking moment pony died in front of rescuers after being brutally beaten by teens

A walker who was passing along the Grand Canal in West Dublin on Saturday night spotted a lone pony in among the trees, acting very distressed and in obvious need of help.

The man quickly rang My Lovely Horse Rescue (MLHR), and volunteers from the organisation headed out to try and locate the animal.

Darkness quickly set in and the search failed, but in the early hours of Sunday morning two volunteers, assisted by police, were able to find the poor pony with her head drooped "heartbreakingly low" and her body in a "horrendous condition", as reported by Dublin Live.

The battered and bruised pony, named by staff as Jenna, was taken in by the charity with "lumps all over her body" and a badly swollen face.

a person petting a horse: Volunteers stayed up through the night to give her round-the-clock care© My Lovely Horse Rescue Volunteers stayed up through the night to give her round-the-clock care
"She was weak, really really weak," said Martina Kenny, co-founder of MLHR. "Her head was low.

"We didn't think it at first but she had been beaten badly. When we got back to the van we had the vet waiting for her and he said she’s been beaten really badly, and from a couple of the cuts that she did have, she could have septicemia."

Jenna was put on a drip, as well as being given antibiotics and painkillers, while volunteers pooled together to provide round-the-clock care in hour-long night shifts.

At 1am, she began struggling to breathe and lay down, having previously paced around agitated and in pain.

a close up of an animal: Witnesses say they saw a teen hitting the pony with an unknown object© My Lovely Horse Rescue Witnesses say they saw a teen hitting the pony with an unknown object
"She laid down and rested, and we had a massive bed of straw for her so her poor head could be comfy, and she, basically, just died right there in front of us," Marina said.

“We called the vet, but by the time he got there she had died already. She died very peacefully.

"She was only about three years old, and she shouldn't have died."

When MLHR posted about the tragic outcome on Monday, witnesses said they had seen what had happened to her.

One person, who called police when she saw the horrific abuse, said a young child had been on her back riding her and treating her "very aggressively".

Martina said they described the scene, saying: "A bigger kid, about 15 or 16, came over with some object in his hand, and saw quite clearly her being beaten on the back and on the side."

The vet who helped in the effort to try and care for Jenna said her injuries were also consistent with being trampled.

Martina is now calling for the "horrible group" who took part in the sickening attack to be brought to justice.

"She has been living in Clondalkin, and we know it," she said.

"Two people have seen her being bashed, and others have been in touch to say she was in Clondalkin.

"There wouldn't be many around that look like her.

"If you’re going to have a horse, look after it. If you can’t look after it, call us. We say it every time. We're always helping if needed.

"We don’t want anyone leaving an animal to suffer, but this time it wasn't that.

"There was a horrible group of people bashing that animal, and they should be held accountable."

Reference: Alex Dunne & Luke Matthews 3 hrs ago: July 2nd 2020