Posted November 7, 200618 yr This series appeared in the 10/22/06 Dayton Daily News: PHOTO GALLERY: Wild things returning (22 photos) Wild animals return to Ohio State efforts pay off, but obstacles remain By Steve Bennish Staff Writer Sunday, October 22, 2006 Beavers are back on Dayton-area rivers and streams after an absence of about a century. Wild turkeys are again abundant. Bird species that had all but vanished from Ohio are returning. A rare species of blue butterfly is re-emerging. According to experts, Ohio wildlife is doing better now than at any time in the past century. There are cradles for the comebacks. The comebacks, while inspiring, are uneven. Some species continue to struggle. Tremendous obstacles remain, some of which are legacies of the Buckeye State's industrial history. Ohio's extensive network of roads and highways are killing zones for slow-moving creatures. MORE: http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2006/10/22/ddn100806wildmaina1.html Cleaner waterways, improved habitat and lots of effort have brought species back to Ohio Species such as beavers and badgers were gone or almost gone from state By Steve Bennish Staff Writer Sunday, October 22, 2006 PIQUA — Jared Duquette has chosen the most difficult job in Ohio. The 24-year-old, who hopes to earn a master's degree at Ohio State University, is tasked with trapping and tagging with a radio collar perhaps the most antisocial, elusive and ornery of Buckeye inhabitants — the badger. Ask most residents of Ohio's western counties whether they've ever seen the stocky, nocturnal 30-pound member of the weasel family, and you're likely to get a funny look. The badger, when it has made appearances, usually turns up as striped and sharp-clawed road kill that only experts can identify. Duquette's job is to figure out just how numerous the fur-bearing animal is in an effort to guide wildlife officials on how to classify it for potential hunting purposes. MORE: http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2006/10/22/ddn100806wildthingsmain.html With population below 2,000 in 1999, water snake returns By Steve Bennish Staff Writer Monday, October 23, 2006 SOUTH BASS ISLAND — The Island Snake Lady is a title that effervescent 30-year-old biology doctoral candidate Kristen Stanford wears well. When she showed up at Put-in-Bay in 2000, the year the water snake was designated as endangered in Ohio, she had quite a mission — to save a strangely despised but unique part of the Lake Erie islands landscape, the Lake Erie Water Snake. The snake for decades had been hunted, attacked and killed by those who didn't understand it, Stanford said. A popular sport was shooting it from dockside. Snakes, curled up during hibernation, were even set afire by some. When the snake's population dived below 2,000 in 1999, it earned a place on the endangered list. With funding from the Ohio Division of Wildlife, Stanford set to work on a community campaign for local residents. Hundreds of signs began to appear on the island, signs that are now something of a collector's item. Soon, locals began calling her the snake lady. Youngsters sought her out for tidbits of snake lore. MORE: http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2006/10/22/ddn102306wildsnakes.html
January 21, 200817 yr Bump... Bobcats, even cougars, could be on prowl in Ohio woods, naturalists say By Steve Bennish Staff Writer Monday, January 21, 2008 TIPP CITY — Memories of running his coon dogs through Miami Valley fields and forest fill George Bell with longing. A lifelong hunter and close observer of the outdoors, Bell, 74, can't get out as much because of health problems. But when it comes to wildlife, he speaks with uncommon authority. His experience dates to the 1940s, before deer returned to Ohio. He worked as a farmhand and hunted every chance he got. Confirmation by authorities in December that a bobcat is roaming Germantown MetroPark didn't surprise Bell. He's among those who have said for many years that they've seen bobcats in places they aren't supposed to exist. What's more, Bell believes, as do others, that another great cat of Ohio history is hiding out in the woods and perhaps never left the state: the eastern cougar, or mountain lion, a beast of more than 100 pounds that can easily take down deer or other large mammals. Bell said he knows hunters who have seen cougars in Miami County. MORE: http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/01/20/ddn012108bobcat.html
January 21, 200817 yr My guess is the cougar would be in Sycamore State Park or Englewood Reserve. Anyone else have a guess?
January 21, 200817 yr A tracking club in Hamilton County has logged 200 unconfirmed sightings of a cougar or signs of couger. They set a camera trap and got a photo of one!
January 21, 200817 yr We saw a dead one on the side of the road 2 yrs ago on 71 towards L-ville but this side of the speedway. ( I would have never guessed that one of these things would ever dart into traffic.)
January 25, 200817 yr Ohio bald eagle population is 'growing exponentially' Posted by Michael Scott January 24, 2008 20:11PM Ohio's bald eagles are spreading their wings and spreading out. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/01/ohio_bald_eagle_population_is.html
January 25, 200817 yr One flew right above my rental car in Trumbull County (Ohio Turnpike) last year. It was HUGE, what a beautiful sight.
January 25, 200817 yr Bravo Ohio! I'm a little surprised that none has been spotted in Montgomery or Green Counties. Montgomery has a good river system and dozens of lakes and Greene County has a lot of wetlands.
January 26, 200817 yr Good that the Bald Eagles are making up comeback in Ohio, but now that the Bald Eagle is no longer on the endangered species List the habitat is no longer protected.
Create an account or sign in to comment