#human-wildlife-conflict

#human-wildlife-conflict

The north-eastern town of 128,000 people is best known for its Naruko Onsen hot springs, autumn foliage and kokeshi cylindrical dolls carved from a single piece of wood. But this year it has made the headlines as a bear hotspot, as the country reels from a year of record ursine encounters and deaths, with warnings that winter will not bring immediate respite.

Is there something I would figuratively die on a hill for? Yes, there is and as it happens, I'm sitting on a literal hill right now, feeding them. Pigeons. Why pigeons? Because it's about time they get the respect they deserve. I like pigeons. Because they're like me, working class. You can tell pigeons are working class because every pigeon looks knackered. It's about this point in the conversation that people politely make their excuses and slowly back away (literally) while avoiding eye contact.

I hate beavers, a woman tells the beaver hotline. Forty years ago she planted an oak tree in a small town in southern Zurich now at the frontier of beaver expansion and it has just been felled: gnawed by the large, semi-aquatic rodents as they enter their seasonal home-improvement mode. The caller is one of 10 new people getting in touch each week at this time of year. Beavers, nature's great engineers, can unleash mayhem during winter as they renovate their lodges and build up their dams.

Johnson said yes. A 550-pound black bear was still wedged in the crawl space under his Altadena home, as it had been since Sunday, giving him his 15 minutes of unwanted fame. The homeowner, who lives across from the canyon where the devastating Eaton fire sparked in January, is no stranger to bears. Residents say Altadena's bear problem has been escalating for years.

The attacks seemed to come from nowhere. At first, the tigers snatched guard dogs on the edge of villages in Russia's far east, emerging from the forest at night to prey. Others went for livestock, going after horses and cattle. Then the attacks on people began. In January, an ice fisher was mauled at night and dragged away by a big cat, just weeks after a forester had been killed. In March, another man was attacked and partly eaten by a tiger.

Unexpected encounters with bears are being reported almost daily in the lead up to hibernation season as the animals forage for food. The bears have been roaming near schools, train stations, supermarkets and even at a hot springs resort. Some of the encounters have resulted in injuries and even a number of deaths. The growing bear population's encroachment into residential areas is happening in a region with a rapidly aging and declining human population.

It is New Zealand's fastest bird, capable of flying 200km/h in its pursuit of prey, and has impressive talons. Karearea are powerful aerial hunters and watch other birds, lizards or small mammals sometimes larger than themselves from a high vantage point before diving to snatch their prey. During nesting season, they become incredibly territorial and protective, which some walkers have discovered the hard way.

Part of the GreaterYellowstone Ecosystem's draw is its magnificent megafauna, especially its bears. Excited tourists who see grizzly or black bears sometimes pull over to snap photos or even leave their cars, endangering both themselves and the bears. The National Park Service and other agencies have long used signs to warn people away from roadside bears, but little research has been done on whether the messages work and why.

Since 2012, I've worked with the Tonkawa Foundation, in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Mexico, on the recovery of the Mexican wolf ( Canis lupus baileyi), a grey-wolf subspecies that had been hunted to near-extinction by the 1980s. Reintroducing wolves to the Chihuahua region will restore ecological balance and help to regulate other wildlife populations. The Mexican wolf's return not only helps to conserve biodiversity but also represents an act of reconciliation with a species that humans persecuted for decades.

Fast-forward 15 years and the news has got even better. The group's latest census found that in 2024 there were 5,326 jaguars in Mexico, a 30% increase compared with 2010. The fact that the country has managed to maintain and increase its population over the last 14 years is extraordinary, Ceballos said. For me it's great news for the country. Mexico and the world need good news.

The goats have been part of the town for decades, but while 15 years ago there were only a couple of dozen, now their numbers have multiplied and there are "around 2,000", according to Chateauneuf-les-Martigues mayor Jean-Baptiste Saglietti. Although their origin is uncertain, it's widely believed that a pair of goats either escaped or were abandoned some decades ago, began a new life as feral animals and started to breed.