El Dorado County Local News: Animals

Coyotes are a natural part of Folsom’s landscape, contributing to the unique environment that makes the city distinctive by nature, and lately there's more reports of them than in the past. The City of Folsom is reminding concerned residents that coyotes do play an important role in the local ecosystem, it’s essential to take precautions to ensure safe coexistence.

At the Tahoe Environmental Research Center's (TERC) "Ski with a Scientist" event, Dr. Rachel Vannette spoke to the Tribune on her lab's exciting research on how bees survive harsh winters, using preservation techniques that can resemble how humans ferment food.

Assemblywoman Heather Hadwick (R-Alturas) introduced Assembly Bill 1038 to address California's rapidly growing black bear population through non-lethal wildlife management. AB 1038 will reintroduce a "pursuit season", that will allow trained dogs to haze bears without harming them.

Wildlife researchers Tanya Diamond and Ahíga Sandoval at Pathways for Wildlife were initially met with worry after viewing footage of a three-legged coyote on one of their field cameras last March, unaware that this coyote would soon unveil important findings for wildlife in Tahoe.

The horrific fires in Southern California are not only wreaking havoc on the lives of people in the area; wildlife and domestic pets have been severely impacted as well.

The Folsom City Council approved a resolution during Tuesday’s meeting authorizing the City Manager to amend the 2024 contract with the Sacramento Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) for shelter services. The agreement extends the partnership for an additional two years, through December 31, 2026.

When Malea Jordan, a ski patroller and search-and-rescue avalanche dog handler at Northstar California, first got her avalanche dog Ripp, he was so small he could fit inside her ski helmet.

It's time to polish up those binoculars.  The Tahoe Institute for Natural Science is hosting its annual Mid-Winter Bald Eagle Survey on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Volunteers are grouped into small teams and stationed at one of 26 vantage points throughout the Tahoe basin, mostly around the lakeshore, to get an accurate snapshot of eagle numbers at the lake.

Living in an urban/wildland interface, as we do here in the Lake Tahoe Basin, comes with a responsibility to do our best to coexist with native wildlife. Human/wildlife conflict issues can at times become flashpoints for local debate between community members, especially on social media.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing protection for one of the nation's most beloved species the monarch butterfly and is encouraging the public to be part of its recovery. The Service is seeking public input on a proposal to list the species as threatened with species-specific protections and flexibilities to encourage conservation under section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Public comments will be accepted on the proposal until March 12, 2025. The Service will then evaluate the comments and any additional information on the species and determine whether to list the monarch butterfly.