A Russian wild boar, unusual in Massachusetts, was hit on route 2 in Lancaster, only about 35 miles from Boston.
(Image: Poster of the Hogzilla movie, based on the country's most famous giant pig).
Boston's Conservation Law Foundation thinks so and wants to protect this unusual fish whose jaws can snap broomsticks and has an "antifreeze element" in its blood but are vulnerable to fisherman who drag nets across the sea floor trying to catch other fish.
Revere: Revolution in Silver is a graphic novel set in colonial Boston where Paul Revere isn't just a silversmith and a hero of the American Revolution but must battle monsters like werewolves as well. Werewolves are vulnerable to silver so that could work.
The Museum of Science ventures into the misty regions of cryptozoology with a lecture by Loren Coleman, the most famous researcher into bigfoot and other great folkloric creatures.
Time: Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008, 7:00 pm
Location: Museum of Science, Boston/Cahners Theater
Cost: Free "Seating passes are available to the general public in the Museum lobby beginning at 5:45 pm the evening of the program. First come, first served."
An interesting discussion by University of Maine student Cameron McCormick.
(Video by BatGuys of a coyote in Sudbury).
Once hunted for their fur, fishers were re-introduced to northern New England to help control porcupines. Since their reintroduction they've been spreading out as far as Rhode Island, Connecticut and suburban Boston.
"Sinewy, with bushy tails and beady eyes, fishers weigh 5 to 15 pounds and live on land and in trees. They are mainly carnivorous, typically eating squirrels, mice, voles and other small animals, as well as nuts and seeds. Fishers are also one of the porcupine’s few enemies, killing it by attacking its snout and flipping it on its back.
“Fishers are pretty vicious,” said Michelle Johnson, the animal control officer in West Greenwich.
The fisher belongs to the mustelid family, which includes weasels, otters and wolverines. It has the aggressive, carnivorous temperament of a wolverine and can climb trees like a marten. Like weasels, a fisher will kill multiple animals at a time in a confined space. Fishers are nocturnal and not easily spotted."
Although fishers can be dangerous to small pets and livestock they aren't a threat to humans.
"In suburban Lexington, Mass., officials hung fliers in the common area of a condominium complex urging residents to keep cats and small dogs indoors because a fisher was spotted in nearby woods. In Northborough, Mass., officials put a warning in the newspaper asking that residents seal all garbage cans and refrain from putting out food for animals." (Image: Fisher by John James Audubon)
Vermont Yak is possibly the first New England farm and certainly the first Vermont farm to raise yaks.
Why raise yaks?
"We are interested in introducing this spirited Tibetan animal to Vermont as a way to bring new variety to the local food movement, as a contribution to a holistic farming effort in which pasture-fed yak would fertilize fields and gardens, and as a multi-faceted revenue source – meat, fiber, agri-tourism, and breed stock would be the four primary sales arenas."
Locally raised yak meat will be the initial focus:
"The upstart Vermont Yak farmers first learned about the animals on a visit to family in Montana. They loved the meat, calling it richer and sweeter than beef, juicier and less fatty too. Williams figured she could raise and sell premium yak meat here, since Vermont has such a strong localvore movement. Localvores are people who try to eat primarily Vermont-raised food."
Is Melendy Pond in Brookline, New Hampshire, not far from MA, the home of a fugitive alligator? Probably not considering the water is about 50 degrees but a fisherman claims one attacked him there.
""I don't know how close it was to him," Fish and Game Officer Todd Szewczyk said. "A lot of times when we get reports like this, it's a snapping turtle, not an alligator. I don't know how close it was when it was seen. When the police officer arrived from Brookline, the line was broken off, and he didn't get a chance to see it.""
What attacked a dozen sheep on a Shelburne, MA farm last fall? Scientists now say it was a gray wolf, a species that has been rare in the state for more than 150 years after examining the body of the animal which was shot.
"According to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, the wild gray wolf was considered extinct in Massachusetts by about 1840. One was recorded in Berkshire County in 1918, but was believed to have escaped from domestic captivity.
A handful of confirmed spottings have been reported over the past decade of wolves being found in parts of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, but determining if they were wild or had been kept as illegal pets was difficult.
New England's large stretches of interconnected woods, mountainous regions and rural farmland offer good north-south corridors for wolves on the move.
***
Wolves can travel hundreds of miles as they wander from where they were born, seeking food, mates and new territory.
If this wolf originated in Canada, the experts say, it likely crossed the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, went through Maine, then navigated hundreds of miles of roads, rivers and communities before reaching Shelburne."
Another example of how a wildlife renaissance in New England is bringing back species common in colonial times and forces the region to confront some of the wildlife issues present in the West.
You can see wolves nearby in Ipswich, MA at the Wolf Hollow nonprofit sanctuary. (image: Nina, one of the Wolf Hollow wolves: Wolf Hollow).
After causing a mild uproar in Somerville Donald F. Norton has a nice shot of the coyote heading out along the train tracks.
Nature continues to mingle with city dwellers with increasing coyote sightings in Cambridge and more unusually the weasel known as the fisher.
"John Maguranis, an animal control officer in neighboring Belmont,
tracks coyotes by observing their paw prints and droppings, or scat. He
believes that the coyotes seen in Cambridge are members of two main
families that den throughout Belmont, Arlington, and Lexington as well.
He says the animals' scat indicates they feed predominantly on rabbits
and mice."
-
"While raccoons are the most frequently sighted wild animal, Cambridge
is also home to skunks, bats, and hawks. More elusive species spotted
from time to time include possums and, most recently, fishers, members
of the weasel family known as one of the porcupine's few natural
predators." (Image Washington DFW)
Some of the best spots for seeing hawks are along the Charles and at Fresh Pond.
Coyotes have now been seen in Cambridge and given the title of this announcement from the City of Cambridge "Coyotes in the City - a time for Precaution not Panic" not everyone is excited about it. Where have they been observed? "There have been
sightings of coyotes in the City of Cambridge, specifically in the
Cambridge Cemetery, Antrim Street, Wendell Street and the Third street
areas. This is not unusual since the normal range of a single coyote
can be from 2 to 30 square miles." (Image: Emily Chambliss, Duke University)
Roadkill proves bobcats are living in southeastern Massachusetts. Coyotes not the only threat to small pets. (Image: John James Audubon)
A Canada lynx, a large and highly elusive wild cat, was confirmed to be present in Vermont after it was shot by a farmer. This is the first confirmation of the presence of the endangered species since 1968. Because lynx are so hard to find and observe, scientists seeking confirmation of their presence have to be creative to capture evidence. (Image: National Wildlife Federation)
Following up on yesterday's post about a Maine high school's project to prove that cougars are present in the state, the Eastern Cougar Foundation promotes the return of mountain lions (also known as pumas, panthers) to their historic range throughout the eastern U.S.
"[A] large body of verified evidence is accumulating that documents the movement of wild cougars from west to east, and from Florida to points north. Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and other midwestern states report cougars in areas where they haven't been seen in a century or more.
The regrowth of forests and the successful reintroduction of deer across the East in the twentieth century have now recreated good habitat for cougars. Especially in the southern Appalachians, with more than seven million acres of national forests and parks, in Pennsylvania with its extensive state forests, and in the heavily forested Northeast, the two fundamental necessities of cougar habitat -- cover and prey -- are once again sufficient to support cougar populations. The question of cougar recovery is not so much biological as psychological and political. Will human beings tolerate cougars in the East?"
Massachusetts coyotes are part wolf; Sometimes almost all wolf.
Is a mysterious beast at loose in Wiscasset, Maine responsible for the slaughter of 26 sheep? Stick-in-the-muds favor the theory that feral dogs are responsible but crypto-zoologists hold out hope for a more mysterious creature to be found responsible. Previous attempts to determine the identity of the Maine Mystery Beast have ended in confusion. (Banner (left) for the Mount Desert Island Marathon by Paul Szauter celebrates the Beast)
