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Here’s what’s worth reading today, Wednesday, August 21, 2019:
Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission conducting regular meeting on hunting, fishing regulation changes: Appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate, the commission adopts policies and rules to carry out all programs of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Every August, the Commission conducts an annual public hearing to receive input from our partners, stakeholders and constituents concerning any issues relating to Department policies, goals, programs, and responsibilities. Anyone who is interested in speaking to the Commission is encouraged to attend. Additional information on this and other public hearings is available here.
Revamped mobile apps must-haves for Texas hunters, anglers: When gearing up for hunting and fishing this fall, be sure to include two items from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department that won’t take up any more space and offer access to a world of resources: The Texas Outdoor Annual mobile app and the My Texas Hunt Harvest mobile app. While hunters and anglers may be familiar with the printed Outdoor Annual booklet that has been a staple of tackle boxes and glove compartments for years, they may not be aware that the Outdoor Annual is now available as a mobile app. TPWD has developed this mobile app to give customers more choice in how they access important regulations information.
Grizzly bear kills soundgathering musician: A Franco-Canadian man died after being attacked by a grizzly bear in a remote area of Canada last week, police announced Monday. Julien Gauthier, a 44-year-old musician, was surprised by the animal in his sleep. He was travelling along the Mackenzie River to record sounds of nature for a musical project. On Aug. 15, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was alerted by the launch of a distress beacon in the Tulita area on the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories, a largely isolated area accessible only by sea or air. Camille Toscani, a biologist who had been traveling with Gauthier and raised the alert, said he had been dragged away by a grizzly bear in the middle of the night.
South Africa expands trophy-hunting permit program for black rhinos, saying it’s good for the animals: In the name of conservation, South Africa is adopting a new policy that will allow trophy hunters to kill more — not fewer — endangered black rhinos, a move that has wildlife advocates split as poaching concerns endure. At the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Geneva, delegates from countries across the globe voted this week in favor of South Africa’s hunting proposal, which slightly increases the annual number of game hunting permits available to the public and narrowly defines which black rhinos can be hunted: older, agitated non-breeding males. South Africa allows five black rhinos a year to be killed by trophy hunters. The new policy would change the math from a set quota to a fixed 0.5% of the black rhino population, which under today’s numbers would equate to nine adult males.
A Florida man fed a kinkajou. The next morning, the ‘super aggressive’ exotic creature attacked him: Florida wildlife officials say a man was attacked last month by a kinkajou, a small, raccoon-like animal native to Central and South America. Michael Litersky, 37, noticed the exotic creature outside his girlfriend’s home in Lake Worth on the night before the attack and left it some watermelon, according to a report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conversation Commission. When he opened the door to leave for work the next day around 5:45 a.m., the kinkajou was waiting for him. “The Kinkajou immediately attacked him, biting him on the ankles,” the report read. The sound of Litersky’s screams woke his girlfriend, Gillian Hicks, who told the Palm Beach Post she thought someone had broken into their apartment. “It was not a nice kinkajou, it was superaggressive,” she told the Post.
Michigan hunters face thousands in fines for poaching Canada geese, ducks: A group of southeast Michigan hunters is facing thousands in fines for allegedly poaching Canada geese and mallard ducks during the 2018 hunting season. A New Baltimore, Mich. court ordered the eight men to pay a total of $18,500 in fines — $2,312.50 per person — for species protection, illegally harvested birds and court costs. The eight hunters are from Macomb, St. Clair and Oakland counties:
- Joseph Fettue, 60, Chesterfield
- Ronald Perreman, 55, Clinton Township
- Geoffrey Regulski, 58, Roseville
- Giovanni Salvatore, 54, Oakland
- Jeffrey Soulliere, 58, Harrison Township
- Mark Soulliere, 55, Chesterfield
- Michael Soulliere, 22, St. Clair Shores
- Ryan Stateler, 24, Roseville
The men pleaded guilty to taking geese beyond their bag limits and failing to retrieve shot game, which is illegal. Michigan’s bag limits for Canada geese are three per person. The hunters took 33 geese in total, putting them nine birds over their allotted total.
NTSB: Bad weather a possible factor in plane crash that killed fishing guide Theophile Bourgeois: Federal investigators are trying to determine if bad weather played a role in the seaplane crash Sunday that killed a renowned south Louisiana fishing guide. According to National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Chris O’Neil, investigators are seeking more data on unfavorable weather conditions reported in the area of the accident that killed Theophile Bourgeois III, 55, and injured his two passengers. O’Neil wouldn’t specify what the conditions were, but there were widespread showers and thunderstorms scattered across the New Orleans metro area and along the coast Sunday.
Special Libby CWD hunting licenses sell out quickly: The 600 Libby Special Chronic Wasting Disease Hunt licenses sold out Monday only about two hours after they went on sale. The antlerless white-tailed deer B licenses went on sale at 8 a.m. over the counter at dozens of local stores. By the time they were available online at 10 a.m., there were only around 60 remaining and those were sold out 13 minutes later. Each hunter was allowed to purchase up to two licenses each. The special licenses were sold in response to the detection of chronic wasting disease in the Libby area. All deer, elk and moose harvested within the Libby CWD Management Zone, must be submitted for sampling, according to FWP.
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