The robots are coming - Alaska's newest robotic dog sent from the future to control wildlife 🤖

Here’s to hoping you’ve had an opportunity to work off some of that Easter chocolate. Even if you haven’t, the fact that you are here means you’ve made it to the middle of yet another week.

With that in mind, let’s all take a minute to grab a coffee or whiskey (no judgement) and get another mid-week dispatch out the door.

Here's what's worth reading about so far this week:

• The robots are coming - Alaska airport shows off their new robotic dog programmed to control wildlife 🤖

• Utah handing out buck tags - Despite falling mulie numbers, Utah wants more general buck tags this fall 🏷️

• I’ll see your a** in court - Two Michigan hunting groups sue state wildlife officials 🧑‍⚖️

• No more fishies - Fertilizer spill completely wipes out fish from Iowa river ☠️

• Gone vaccinatin’ - Michigan kicks off deer vaccine program 💉

• Off course - Golfer’s backswing interrupted by a pair of fighting deer 🏌️

DESIGNED AND BUILT BY SKYNET BOSTON DYNAMICS
CLEARING ALASKAN RUNWAYS WITH A $70K ROBOTIC DOG

Somewhere within our fear of robots and artificial intelligence taking over the world and holding us hostage, lies a glimmer of hope. That hope, of course, is finding a way to utilize this technology for our benefit. 

While someone, somewhere is undoubtedly planning our demise with this tech, the good news is that there are some that are, instead, using it for good. As part of a recent pilot project, the Fairbanks International Airport is rolling out a unique robotics program to help tame local wildlife. With the focus of keeping wildlife away from arriving and departing planes, Alaska’s second largest airport introduced a robotic dog named “Aurora” to help keep things in check.

Announced by the Alaska Department of Transportation last month, Aurora, a $70,000 robotic dog, will be ‘trained’ to patrol the runways and infield of the busy airport as part of a wildlife hazard reduction project.

“Aurora is the first of its kind wildlife hazard reduction robot,” AKDOT program manager Ryan Marlowe said. “It will be used in Fairbanks for the sole purpose of clearing wildlife. This will give us the ability to test routine, every-hour-on-the-hour … clearing out the infield.”

🚜 The cub that could - Last month one New York state excavator operator got more than he bargained for when clearing out a farm field. During the process of removing trees and brush, the operator unintentionally trashed a bear den that, much to his dismay, was still in use. It wasn’t long before a cub emerged from the brush pile and proceeded to climb up into the cab of the excavator and make himself at home between the seat and the wall of the machine. New York’s Department of Conservation was on scene to help out with the cub and eventually had him placed with a local wildlife center until he is old enough to venture out on his own.

🇺🇸 Utah making general buck tags great again - As drought conditions and a tough winter ravaged the west last year, many states, including Utah, reported devastating losses to their mule deer herds - many of which have yet to fully recover. While conditions did improve this year, Utah remains about 100,000 mulies short of its target population objective.

Despite this, the state’s Division of Wildlife Resources announced Friday that they would be proposing an increase of nearly 7,000 general buck hunting permits.

Why the increase you ask?  The answer is derived from a number of factors, but ultimately comes down to buck-to-doe ratios. While overall population numbers are down, this year’s ratio comes in at an estimated 21 bucks per 100 does. It’s a good time to be a buck in Utah.

This ratio remains below the state’s objective that sits between 15 and 20 bucks per 100 does. As such, officials are proposing that the new permits be spread out across the state with additional consideration for areas that exhibit better habitat conditions.

🧑‍⚖️ I’ll see your a** in court - Following Michigan’s March 14th decision to shorten the state’s coyote season, two lawsuits have been heaved at state regulators by a pair of hunting and trapping organizations. As per the rule change, hunters in Michigan will not be allowed to pursue ‘yotes between April 15th and July 15th of each year moving forward. The reason, according to officials, is to help protect pups that remain dependent on their parents for survival. 

The problem, according to the two groups, is that the commission made the ruling based on social factors rather than, you know, good old fashioned science. According to the Michigan United Conservation Clubs’ executive director Amy Trotter, “the commission has not heard or cited any scientific literature or rationale justifying the closure.”

☠️ Fertilizer spill kills 750K fish - In what looks to be Iowa’s largest fish kill in over a decade, officials from both Iowa and neighboring Missouri are still taking stock of the damage. As of current estimates, officials have pegged the loss at about 750,000 fish (read: all of them) spread out over a 60-mile stretch of the East Nishnabotna and main Nishnabotna Rivers. 

According to reports, the massive fish kill was brought on by a fertilizer spill that occurred near Red Oak. New Cooperative, Inc., a member-owned farmer’s co-op has fessed up to the incident, notifying the DNR last month about the nearly 265,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer that accidentally spilled into a drainage ditch that feeds into the East Nishnabotna River.

GONE VACCINATIN’
HOW THE MICHIGAN DNR PLANS TO VACCINATE DEER AGAINST BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS

While we don’t expect any deer to lose their jobs over this particular vaccine, it’s clear that the Michigan DNR is hopeful that the state’s deer will participate in its latest vaccination efforts.

Rather than distributed via a painful needle, biologists with the DNR, Michigan State University and the USDA are placing oral vaccines around common feeding areas with hopes of curing the herd of bovine tuberculosis.

Now proven to have the ability to spread to humans, a recent study out of Michigan sounded the alarm bells, so to speak. While the disease was once the number one killer here in the United States, antibiotic treatments have since made it inconsequential for the most part. 

Despite this, the disease has proven to be detrimental for deer herds causing pus-filled lesions and lung damage to host animals. Much like its evil cousin, chronic wasting disease, bovine tuberculosis is spread through nose-to-nose contact around shared food and water sources. Studies have shown that the oral vaccine proved to be effective in captive deer situations and has since been rolled out in the wild. Running a small test of test subjects in Alpena County, biologists are using feeders to help spread the vaccine on private farms known to house high populations of whitetails…

VIDEO // ^{_{SOME THINGS JUST HAVE TO BE SEEN}}

🪙 Depositing a buck or two - Watch as a deer busts head-first through a Lockheart, Texas bank window. According to reports, the deer wandered around for about 20 minutes before showing itself out.

🏌️“I'm trying to hit my wedge here, boys”: Watch as a golfer breaks up a fight between two bucks that breaks out in the middle of his backswing.