00:00:02 Speaker 1: From Mediators World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Cal's weekend review, presented by Steel. Steel products are available only at authorized dealers. For more, go to Steel Dealers dot com. Now here's your host, Ryan cal Callahan. 00:00:22 Speaker 2: The animal rights group PETA that's People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently published what may be the strangest press release on the Internet to date. Pet president Ingrid Newkirk announced her intention to bequeath various body parts to well known figures and organizations. She's updated her last will and testament so that upon her death, the clothing brand north Face will receive one of her feet, Elon Musk will receive a piece of her heart, and Donald Trump Junior will get her spine. 00:00:52 Speaker 1: What about the heart that. 00:00:53 Speaker 2: You promised, tin Man and the courage that you promised? 00:00:55 Speaker 1: Collard le Lyon when I'm scarecrow free? 00:00:59 Speaker 2: Why is miss Newkirk decided to be the world's weirdest organ donor? According to the press release, she's doing it to quote ensure that she continues drawing attention to animal abuse and exploitation even after her death, which you know, drawing attention is what they do for the price of millions and millions and millions of dollars. What's more, each of her various appendages have a cutesy metaphorical meaning, like a gross children's book. North Face is getting her foot so she can quote give the company a kick in the behind for selling down and wool elon. Musk is getting her heart because quote his cruel and deadly neuralink brain experiments on monkeys, pigs, rats, and sheep indicate that he doesn't have one. And Trump Junior will receive her spine because if he had one, he might stop quote trying to prove his manhood by gunning down magnificent, unthreatening, and unsuspecting animals. The north Face, Musk, and Trump aren't the only beneficiaries of Newkirk's generosity. She's been donating other body parts to Westminster Kennel Club, the Governor of Alaska, and the King of Spain. She would also like someone to fry up or flesh with onions for a human barbecue, and saw off her other foot for an umbrella. Stand. Now, I know what you're wondering. Is it legal to send your body parts to your enemies? Allah the Godfather? Unfortunately for Newkirk, probably not, at least not in the United States. The state of Virginia, where the Humane Society headquarters are located, only allows anatomical gifts for the purposes of transplantation, therapy, research or education. I suppose Newkirk might justify her gifts as a way to educate her recipients about animal welfare, but I think that's probably a stretch. This week, we've got legislation, animals and so much more. But first, I'm going to tell you about my week. And my week was pretty spectacular. Loaded the truck up to the gills, hitched up the black Series, and headed northwest to Glacier National Park Country. Stopped in some old haunts along the way, bumped into a bunch of great folks, and met up with a bunch of old friends. We floated, we fished, snort retrieved like a crazy dog. We collectively wrangled a pile of small children and a herd of dogs. We kayaked, we swam, we ate heartily. My turkey wing experimentation still needs work. I ran the wings in the souwed until tender, then dropped them into a three hundred and fifty degree beef fat and coated them in cream style. Barbecue sauce I would say extremely tasty, but that meat was still a little uh springy, and I wasn't quite able to get the skin to crunch like I wanted it to. It's good to have goals, right, yes, Jeff Shoulder, Yes, chef, Yes, chef. 00:03:45 Speaker 1: Yes Jef chef. Oh yes, shif yes chef. 00:03:49 Speaker 2: The burgers I ran through the grinder were a big hit, along with the antelope ribs, which disappeared incredibly quickly. Then we seared scaled skin on snapper courtesy of probably Kimmy Warner or Stephen Ranella, scallops and octopus poached in California olive oil and sea salt, then seared it in the piea pan until crispy three pia pants. All tasty, but the turkey thighs in Canada goose sausage really made people go holy hell. I had no idea those birds could taste so good. It was awesome. We fed twenty people for dinner and probably just as many for lunch out of the pie a night alone, and that giant pile of food was all done after a day of rafting and fishing for cold clear water cutthroat trout right there on the shoulder a Glacian National Park. Now, I have not been or attempted to visit a national park since I lived and guided whitewater and fishing on the edge of this particular one. I lived in the back of my truck or eventually, in nineteen seventy two terry camper trailer in my buddy's parents' backyard. I was pretty darn nervous to return. We had such great times then and I just didn't want to see the changes. In fact, just driving anywhere in Montana right now kind of gives me anxiety. Why the hell would you build a house there and ruin? This landscape just constantly rolls through my mind. Then, stack on top of that anxiety the skyrocketing park attendants and reservation systems and all the rudeness that comes out of people who are attempting to protect quote their vacation from everyone else who's on vacation. And that's typically what makes me think of a really good house project to tackle on holiday weekends. Things are changing around Glacier National Park. The Old West g which my add character has been homogenized into a bland landscape of cliche signs and kitsch kitsch is spelled kitsch and it means a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naive imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. Now you know that all of these signs, which are totally unnecessary, are in matching font and paint and could probably be found Also in Branson, Missouri, it appeared that the local employee base had largely been replaced with tourism employees from all around the world, which I suppose inject some cultures in ways, and I'm sure it provides some much needed economic opportunity in other ways. But you know, it was a busy weekend full of people, and I stuffed my pockets full of micro trash, pieces of candy wrappers, the always gross and horrid toilet paper, cigarette butts, and more toilet paper in a fire circle right next to a lake that someone decided to just leave instead of lighting them on fire because I suppose they didn't want to walk five feet to get more water to dump on a fire that they just put out, or you know, break their back packing out that extra ounce of trash or so found random bits of clothing, fishing poles, fishing line. I did a pretty darn good job on being the trash hauling champion of the weekend, but I was outdone by my buddy's six year old son, who said, Hey, look what I just found and he held up a gallon ziploc bag full of Marlborough reds and uh loose marijuana and half a pre rolled joint. All that to say, gang, it was still totally worth it. The rivers and mountains and lakes were still there. It was still an epic landscape and beautiful and full of brush choked grizzly bear holes and bright clear cutthroat trout holes. Still a great place to adventure and get together with friends. I had a great weekend, and I hope y'all did two. Just do me a favor and pick up a little trash on your next celebration of public lands. Okay, okay. Moving on to the legislative desk, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife is asking for public input on a new wolf management plan that would downgrade the state's wolf population from endangered to sensitive within the boundaries of the state. This new designation would not impact the population's federal designation under the Endangered Species Act, and it would not permit wolf hunting, but it would acknowledge the incredible recovery wolves have made in Washington State, and it would give ranchers more flexibility to deal with wolves who repeatedly attack and injure livestock. The wolf population has grown from virtually zero in the early two thousands to a minimum of two hundred and sixteen wolves in thirty seven packs with at least twenty six successful breeding pairs. The latest model suggest that wolves have a greater than ninety nine percent chance of recolonizing the Southern Cascades and Northwest Coast by two thousand thirty, which is the only recovery region where there are no successful breeding pairs today. The plan would set a target goal of at least four successful breeding pairs in each recovery region before the population could be considered for delisting in the state. If you'd like to weigh in, search draft Periodic Status Review for the Great Wolf, or visit themeeteater dot com. Forward slash Coal comments will be open until August sixteen. Staying in the pack endw at specific Northwest. I have some good news out of Oregon thanks to listener Ellie Gage for sending this one. In the Oregon legislature passed a bill that would restructure how Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife commissioners are selected. The previous commission makeup required one person from each of the five congressional districts, plus two at large positions, one east side and one west side. The new statute bases all positions on the river basin regions. There will be two commissioners each from the Northwest and West Central regions, and one commissioner each from the Southwest, north Central, and Eastern regions. The Oregon Hunters Association says this change provides greater representation to the eastern portion of the state and ensures the commission will no longer be stacked with three or more commissioners from the Portland area. This bill passed ust as wildlife commissions around the country are being pushed by animal welfare groups to marginalize the perspective of hunters and anglers. On the surface, at least, this bill seems like it will have the opposite effect, which is good news. Out of the Pacific Northwest, the Atlantic northeast is a different story. The New York legislature just passed a bill to end so called wildlife killing contests. These contests usually target coyotes, and, as we've covered before on this program, they're used to manage specific coyote populations that local residents believe are causing problems. The bill makes it unlawful to quote, organize, sponsor, conduct, promote, or participate in any contest, competition, tournament, or derby with the objective of taking or hunting wildlife for prizes or other inducement or for entertainment. Violators will be fined between five hundred and two thousand dollars. The bill makes an exception for white tailed deer, turkey, and bear, presumably because harvest is limited to just a few animals per person. Interestingly, the bill does not make an exception for fish, so it's unclear whether bass tournaments and other similar contests will still be legal in the state. The bill passed both legislative chambers by wide margins and now heads to the governor's desk. In other bad bill news, the Massachusetts legislature is considering a massive bill that would further restrict gun ownership in the state. The bill is one hundred and forty one pages long, so we won't be able to cover everything here, but it changes the definition of quote assault weapon to include all semi automatic firearms capable of using a detachable magazine and including any one of the usual defining characteristics such as a folding stock. It then prohibits all ownership of those firearms without including a provision that would grandfather currently own firearms or allow for any kind of registration process. The only exceptions to makes are for gun owners who owned prohibited firearms prior to September thirteen, nineteen ninety four. The bill also requires all guns to be registered with the state and increases training requirements to own a firearm. If you'd like to weigh in, get in touch with your state representatives and tell them what you think. HD four four to two zero is what you want to comment on. Thanks to Mike Kraus for letting us know about that one. Moving on to the wolf desk, biologists announced earlier this month that gray wolves are thriving at the Isle Royal National Park on Lake Superior. The report comes five years after authorities airlifted nineteen wolves to the island chain in an attempt to save the dying population and try to limit the amount of destruction moose we're doing on the island to the ecosystem. The scientist's annual report estimates that there are thirty one wolves on the island, up from twenty eight last year. Said the wolves appeared to be forming three packs, with others wandering alone or in smaller groups. I know what you're thinking. This is an actual biology based experiment. It's not a reality TV show. Yes, it's an island. It's about survival, and they do use the word alone very confusing. The moose total has dropped about fifty four percent since twenty nineteen to about nine hundred and sixty seven, due to both disease and the wolves. This is good news for the biologists working on this project, but not everyone believes it was necessary in the first place. Moose first migrated to the island around nineteen hundred, with the wolves following close behind, and it's been a battle Royale on Isle Royale ever since. Their populations rose and fell over the next sixty years, until a lack of genetic diversity destroyed the wolf population between twenty eleven and twenty eighteen. Biologists noticed this decline and shipped in wolds from Minnesota, Ontario, and Michigan to rebuild the packs. But moose and wolves aren't the only predator prey duo to occupy the island. Linx and caribou had the same relationship, but I don't see anyone advocating that we rebuild those populations. Plus global warming means fewer ice bridges will form on Lake Superior, which means the wolves may someday wind up with the same genetic diversity problem they had in twenty eighteen. Even some of the park's biologists say they may need to import wolves every decade or so. Still, biologists would like to maintain the status quo because it offers a unique opportunity for research. Ile Royal is the longest continuous study of any predator praise system in the world, and researchers have gained valuable insight into wolf behavior since the project began in nineteen fifty nine. Maintaining a healthy wolf and moose population might be worth it for that one reason, at least, That's what I think the researchers working on that project would say. If you're thinking this is all just craziness, keep in mind that when Lake Superior would freeze every single year, Ile Royal would then be connected to them mainland with an ice bridge frozen lake, right, and that would allow these animals to you know, exchange genes, get off the island, kind of like that reality TV show. However, due to changing temperatures global warming, that ability to get to the mainland just isn't there as frequently. Thanks to listener Andrew Whitman for sending us that story. Moving on to the animal attack Desk, a rabid beaver attacked a man earlier this month as he was swimming in the Connecticut River in western mass The beaver reportedly attacked the swimmer three times, and the man was taken to the hospital with wounds to his arm and chest. The beaver was still latched on the man's arm while his friends helped him reach the bank. The Board of Health chairman declined to tell the media how the large rodent was dispatched, but he did say that police responded to the scene and now the beaver is dead, so draw your own conclusions. The man was immediately put on an anti rabies regimen and he's recovering at home. Believe it or not, this isn't the first time beavers attacked a human in this area of Massachusetts, another swimmer got jumped back in twenty twenty one, and he sustained lacerations from head to toe, had chunks of flesh torn from his arms and legs, a fractured finger on his right hand, and a lacerated tendon on his left index finger. According to the YouTube channel Mike's Videos of Beavers, which I encourage you to check out, and trust me it's safe for children, a beaver can now throw a six inch diameter tree in about ten minutes. If you'd like to see for yourself, you can watch the whole thing on Mike's Videos of Beavers. I'd be real careful typing that one in, but again, you can imagine the kind of damage those teeth could do to a human arm. Not my kind of river trip. And the next time you're out there and you hear that big tail slap, a couple other things might go floating through your brain. Big thanks to Jerry Me for sending that one in. 00:16:53 Speaker 1: Up. 00:16:53 Speaker 2: In Oregon, a black bear attacked man after being shot at twice for trying to eat the man's chickens. Craig Lengthford told the Oregon Department of Fishing Wildlife that he shot at the bear one evening as it was snuffling around his chicken coop. He didn't know whether he'd hit it, and the bear ran off. The next morning, Langford went to investigate, and he found it very alive and very angry black bear. He shot at the bear again and it still didn't go down. Instead, it went after him. Langford suffered injuries to his head and arms, but fortunately for Langford, the bear didn't stick around to finish the job. When deputies and wildlife officers arrived, they found and shot a bear consistent with Langford's descriptions, and Nekruptcy revealed bullet fragments from Langford's gun. Though officials didn't say which of the two shots hit the bear or where it was struck, they did remind residents that wounded bears are the most dangerous kind of bear. Black bears rarely attack humans, but wounded and cornered bears will do what most animals do in that situation. Langford is expected to make a full recovery, and chances are he might put a little solar powered electric fence around that chicken coop and some solid bullets. Another black bear attack, this one in Arizona, ended On a much more tragic note, the Arizona Game and Fish Department reported on Facebook that a sixty six year old man named Stephen Jackson was having coffee in a remote area about one hundred miles north of Phoenix. A black bear attacked him in what appears to have been an unprovoked or predatory attack. Neighbors heard jackson screams, but the bear refused to abandon his victim, even after the neighbors shouted and blasted their car horns. Eventually, one of the neighbors retrieved a rifle and shot the bear, but it was too late. Jackson had already died of his injuries. This is the first fatal bear attack in Arizona since the nineteen eighties, and officials are still trying to work out what prompted it. They said there wasn't anything at the site that would have encouraged the bear to hang around, like food, a cooking site, or access to water. As of this recording, officials are still investigating. For me, this is an insult to injury thing, because when I'm camping, one thing I darn sho or know is exactly how much coffee I have. So to be attacked thus spilling my coffee would have been a real angry cow bear encounter. That's all I'm saying. Moving on to the rhino desk, Poaching continues to be a big problem in Africa, and rhino horns are one of the most sought after prizes. To help disincentivize poachers, conservationists have for many years been sawing off rhino horns themselves. Without a horn, rhinos make a pretty poor target for poachers, which, the theory goes, helps ensure the continued survival of the species. Although those de horned rhinos are definitely still alive, a new study out of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that they may not really be living. Black rhinos become less social and less confident following their de horning, sort of like if you made someone attend a fancy party wearing nothing but a bathrobe. Would you still be able to have a good time? Sure, but you're more likely to spend most of the evening hiding in the bathroom. Rhinos are the very same way. They don't like being around other rhinos if they're not wearing their best Vanessa Duthay, the studies lead authors, said, quote it's sort of like if you put a muzzle on a dog. They're not so sure of themselves anymore. They've lost their main defense and their confidence. Day and her colleagues observed three hundred and sixty eight rhinos and concluded that the territory of a de horned rhinos shrank by an average of forty five percent or four and a half miles. Male rhinos lost around thirty eight percent of their territory, whereas females lost about fifty three percent of their territory. The good news for rhinos is that, like hair and fingernails, their horns grow back. The bad news is that poaching is so bad in some areas that conservationists have to DeHorn rhinos every eighteen to twenty four months, and rhinos are still killed by poachers. The d horning process leaves a small amount of horn behind, so sometimes poachers will kill one of the massive and dangered animals just for that small piece. Moving on to the mail bag listener Anna Anderson wrote in with what I thought was a great question about chronic wasting disease and white tailed deer. She asked, quote, if an animal is harvested in an area with known CWD, with the best practice for containing the spread be bagging the entire deer head and disposing of it in a landfill. She's imagining a situation where samples have been sent away to a lab and she's still waiting for the test results to come back. Most state game agencies have a page on their website that outlines best practices for deer carcass disposal. I reviewed several of these and they all say pretty much the same thing. The ideal scenario would be to dispose of the brain, eyes, spleen lymph, glands, and spinal cord materials at the kill site. That ensures that if the animal were to have CWD, the densest areas of CWD, p brain, spleen lymph, glands, spinal cord all remain at that kill site. If the entire animal is taken away from the kill site, then yeah, and I'd agree with you. You are transporting CWD. Those parts I just mentioned should be bagged up and taken to a landfill. If you've already transported the animal, the worst thing you could do is take those parts to a new site and distribute them on the open ground. Another email caught my eye from listener Sean Miller. If you're a Kansas resident and a white tail hunter, that might sound familiar. Sean was quoted in several national outdoor media outlets as opposing the new ban on trailcams recently passed by the Game Commission. The ban applies to all types of game cameras on all public land in the state. Sean said at the commission meeting that he would like to see trail cameras allowed during the summer, but not during the deer or turkey hunting seasons. He said in his email quote, the excitement of pulling a camera card is like Christmas in July to me and many others. I would stop short of saying I'm more excited about pulling cameras than i am about hunting, but it's closer than you'd think. I'm sure other hunters feel the same way. Sean thinks trail cameras are a way to keep deer hunters engaged during the off season, and he doesn't buy the idea that a trail cam ban will reduce conflicts between hunters. He points out that public hunting grounds will be packed no matter what, and nothing is going to keep squirrel hunters, deer hunters and duck hunters from having conflicts. The idea that banning trailcams will keep them from being stolen also doesn't pass the smell test for Sean. He calls that a quote jackass problem, not a camera problem. Boy. That quotes very applicable to a lot of things. The good news for Kansas hunters who want to keep us using trail cams on public land is that coordinate. To Sean, this conversation is not over. He said that even though the final commission vote was unanimous, all commissioners seemed convinced. Even the chairman who committed to passing the regulation before the meeting, committed to continued discussion on the issue, Sean said. Quote. While he stopped short of saying changes would be made, he stated there would be discussion about potential amendments to the REGs, possibly allowing the trail cameras at certain times a year. Thanks for the update, Sean. The debate about trailcams is far from over, and Kansas is a great example. I encourage Kansas hunters to stay engaged and keep advocating for the policies you believe. All right, Thank you so much. For listening, and remember to write in to ask cl that's Asscal at the meat eater dot com and let me know what's going on in your neck of the woods. On top of that, pay special attention to the meeeater dot com. We are launching our biggest giveaway yet, twenty thousand dollars in prizes plus a home cooked fancy pants Byson dinner cooked by Steven Ronella and possibly several other guests that you may know. So head on over to the meeteater dot com and find that mega give away opportunity. If you're not into free stuff, that's fine because you can always head on over to www dot steel Dealers dot com and find that local, knowledgeable steel dealer near you. They're gonna get you set up with what you need and not try to send you home with what you don't. Thanks again, I'll talk to you next week.