{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"KZYX News","title":"Partnership possible to resolve wildlife conflict at school","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":389,"description":"November 29, 2021 — In the two weeks since a mountain lion killed two goats at the high school farm in Boonville, the remaining goats have been listening to a.m. radio all night long, and scarecrows have been giving off offensive odors to deter further losses. \r\nBut the long-term solution is a high fence, ideally twelve feet tall, with a five-foot visual barrier around the bottom so predators looking for an easy meal won’t be as easily tempted.\r\n Project Coyote, an organization dedicated to promoting coexistence between wildlife and humans and their livestock, has offered to get together volunteers to help build a more lion-proof fence at the eight-acre farm, which includes about 15 goats and a herd of sheep. The farm is at the Anderson Valley High school in Boonville, which is a populated area, but it’s also adjacent to a creek, in a corridor where similar attacks have happened in the past.\r\nIn August, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to end the county’s contract with USDA Wildlife Services, a relationship which, according to Supervisor John Haschak, had already ended. Haschak serves with Supervisor Glenn McGourty on a committee to develop a non-lethal wildlife policy for the county.\r\nWildlife Services offered non-lethal services as well as trapping and killing, which led to lawsuits and controversy. According to Dr. Michelle Lute, the National Carnivore Conservation Manager with Project Coyote, attempts at getting rid of carnivores have far-reaching effects.\r\n“You see this a lot with coyotes and mountain lions,” she explained; “where you remove a resident adult, and it opens up a vacancy for a new individual to come in. That new individual may be younger, may not know how to hunt as well, so that can create increased conflict, where there was low potential for conflict in the first place. So that’s why we say the evidence suggests that removing individual carnivores can sometimes increase conflict, despite the purported purpose being to decrease...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/xZpAumwbhFUpJUYcwaQ1-q6snzOyqAm13l7cW6AWPCM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mMzkz/NjAwNjc2OWMyZmFk/YWY2YTdmYjI5M2Mz/YWMxNy5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}