00:00:09 Speaker 1: From Mediators World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Col's we Can Review with Ryan col Callahan. Now here's cal Why is your Labrador retriever so fat? I ask with Snort laying here at my feet. Snort's been real, real lazy. Not by her choice this week, just been busy. Anyway. 00:00:33 Speaker 2: You may have asked yourself time or two and you see a labrador that resembles a potato walking down the street, an overstuffed sausage as I call them sometimes gotsagees. Is it the fact that that owner needs to be committed to more walks, fewer table scraps, more time at the dog park. Probably you should do all of those things. But a new study has found something all dogs and dog owners want to hear. It may not be your fault. The study, published in the journal Science Advances, found that about twenty five percent of all Labrador retriever dogs are hardwired to be fat. These unfortunate canons have a genetic mutation that makes them hungrier between meals and gives them a slower metabolism. They don't need as many calories as other dogs, but they tend to overheat because they appear to be hungrier if they haven't eaten in a while. To give the minds of our favorite furry friends, researchers fed eighty seven adult pet labradors a standard breakfast, Then three hours later, they were given a plastic box with the sausage inside. The dogs could smell and see the sausage, but couldn't get it. The researchers found that dogs with the mutation tried significantly harder to get the sausage from the box than dogs without it, which they said indicated greater hunger. The dogs were then allowed to sleep in a special chamber that measured the gases they breathed out, which is funny. This revealed the dogs with the mutation burn around twenty five percent fewer calories than the other dogs in the study. What should you do if you suspect your lab is destined to be pudgy? Exercise is always good, and you need to be especially careful about monitoring your dog's food intake. Researchers suggests spreading out a dog's meals throughout the day using puzzle feeders, or hiding food throughout the yard or house. Opinions vary, but most sources suggest feeding a seventy five pound dog about fourteen hundred calories per day, depending on the dog food you use. That's usually only three eight ounce cups. Three eight ounce cups for a seventy five pound potato sausage dog no offense. Start this week Colorado Commission Meeting, legislation, rare critters, and so much more. But first I'm going to tell you about my week, and my week was great. Got to work alongside Danielle Pruitt who puts the pro and prew it and the kitchen. We prepped a nose to tail bison dinner. Big thank you to Matt and Northbridger Bison for supplying the bison, and we cooked up a great multi course game dinner for the big winners from the last round of the Auction House of Oddities supporting public land through the Meat Eater Land Access Initiative. And it's good timing that we had a great time at that dinner and everybody loved it, because we are going to be launching the Auction House of Oddities again very soon. Like at the end of the month. We have a West Texas ad Dad Hunt, a one of a kind fur lined FHF chest rig Pelts handmade oars created by Pat Dirkin, a custom Wyoming Cowboys weather be Mark five, a pack Lama trip into Wyoming's Big Horn Range, plus some gear just for you super super serious meat eater trivia fans. More to come on that, but the important thing to know is proceeds are going to the Corner Crossing Defense Fund. If we, and I do mean all of us win this one, we are solidifying the fact that access to our public lands is all right, and access is synonymous with American freedom. Okay, if you like freedom, you like Corner Crossing. Now in super depressing news, the tag draw season is here. And if you are a cluster like I am, and you have to scramble like a first year accountant under an audit from the IRS, sweating and stressing, just to apply to all these states and try to get your hat in the rings so you can draw something cool, then you may want to take a look at Worldwide Trophy Adventures Tags, which is a service that takes care of this for you. Now, I'll be honest, I've been doing this a few seasons now. I still don't draw anything, but I have friends that have been using this service for years, and they draw and their kids draw stuff all the time, so I know it works. And even though I don't draw, at least I know that it was just my bad luck and not any of my other bad habits that didn't put a tag in my pocket. New Mexico, Montana and Colorado non resident application deadlines are looming New Mexico at first, Montana, second Colorado. I could just say in that order, but I got to hammer this home. If you don't weigh in, you don't wrestle, Okay, So if you want some help get your your poop in a pile, check out Worldwide Trophy Adventures. Tags just an option where you can, you know, make yourself spreadsheet and do the things and calendars and all of that. Anyway, moving on to the commercial wildlife desk, longtime listeners will remember all the way back to episode one two when we did a segment on Utah based dog food company Raw Wild. Raw Wild sells dog food made with wild elk and venison harvested by hunters. It is normally against the law to sell wild animal meat, but Utah had a provision that allowed the sale of quote inedible byproducts of wild game. This loophole allowed Raw Wild to purchase the scraps from game processors, grind them up and sell them as dog food. But not everyone was comfortable with the state of affairs. After our segment aired and Jordan Siller's published an article on the meaeater dot com, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources quietly changed their policy to close that loophole. The new regulation only allows the sale of antlers, heads, hides, and horns of big game animals, which is similar to what most other states allow. However, and here's where things get interesting, Raw Wild was still allowed to operate. We spoke with Wyatt Bubbuck, a law enforcement chief with the Utah Department of Natural Resources. He admitted that raw Wild was breaking the state's new policy, but they were holding off on enforcing it because the owners of the company were pushing a bill through the state legislature. This bill, which passed the House and Senate on unanimous votes, carves out an exception for Raw Wild. It creates a new category of items called a big game by product, and allows the sale of these products under certain conditions. A licensed game processor must obtain a permit to sell these byproducts, but it can only obtain a permit if it has processed eight hundred big game animals in three out of the five consecutive calendar years preceding application. Bubbuck told me that this essentially cuts out all big game processors in the state except the one or two of the very largest. One of those processors is an outfit called Meyer's Game Processing, which, as it turns out, is where raw Wild purchases their scraps. If you're like me, this all sounds, as the kids say these days, shady af but Bubik said his department supports this policy for several reasons. First, it puts constraints on the game processors to ensure their adhering to safety protocols that limit the spread of diseases like CWD. They're not allowed to include the brain or spine tissue in the dog food, and they're required to test all animals from states that have CWD or units in Utah where CWD is present. The game processors also have to post signage stating that they sell scraps two third parties, so hunters can avoid processors that participate in the system if they so choose. In addition, the processor must keep a record of the weight of the animal when it came in and the weight of the meat returned to the hunter. The legislation also defines exactly what a big game byproduct is, which wasn't the case with the old inedible byproduct definition. I won't bore you with the full list, but it includes things like fat tendons and ligaments, the rib and neck meat on deer, pronghorn, and cheap the legs below the knee, and internal organs. In several states, neck meat is not something that you are legally required to remove from the field, as in, you can just waste it. That's some of the best meat on these animals, full of collagen, gets that greasy, good for you kind of sliminess. It is fantastic. Is just a flat out crime that states don't require hunters to take that out of the field anyway. Bubick says he appreciates raw wild working with the DWR to craft this policy, and he says it's about as restrictive as it can be without outright banning the sale of meat scraps, which, as raw Wilde told Jordan for this article, would just end up in the garbage if they weren't allowed to sell them as dog food. If you still aren't getting the warm and fuzzies. Thinking about this situation, I get it. One of you wrote in to point out that the owner of Raw Wild is a powerful Salt Lake City attorney named Scott Sabee. This listener sent a photo of Sabee posing with the late US Supreme Court Justice Sandrady O'Connor as evidence for Sabe's connections. The fact that he was able to push a bill through the legislature so quickly is zero opposition is a testament to his power in the state. And it's never a good idea to craft wildlife policy based on political power. As of this recording, this bill has yet to be signed by Utah Governor Spencer Cox. If you want to a in the Governor's office is where you got to go. Eight oh one five three eight one zero zero zero. If you want like a little color commentary on this gang, I hate food waste. Hate food waste drives me crazy. I would love to see a zero waste program for just about everything. When it comes to our wildlife, you just can't be too careful, so it's a double edged sword. I would love to see all parts of the animals utilized. This is where like regulation comes in, right, Like there's got to be oversight, so as this business grows, or if this business grows, you aren't seeing good edible meat literally getting tossed to the dogs. Moving on to the legislation legislation. Legislative sessions will wrap up in most states over the next few weeks, so if you've been meaning to contact your representatives about a bill or policy, now's the time. And as a reminder, if you want information about any of these bills we've covered here at Cal's Week in Review, you can find a full list at the meeater dot com forward slash. Cal listener Colleen Foreignbacher sent me a note about a bill in Minnesota that would help more kids get outdoors. The bill HF three three two one would create an Outdoor School for All Grant program. This program would send grants to learning centers that provide outdoor education to fourth through eighth grade students. Colleen is the executive director of one of these schools called Egle Bluff Environmental Learning Center. They host students and families for day and overnight trips that teach them about ecology, conservation, and wildlife. The US part students get to learn about these things in hands on in the field experiences. As Colleen says, this legislation would help ensure the next generation has an appreciation for the natural world. Even if they don't grow up to be hunters and anglers, they'll be more likely to support all the ways we work to conserve habitat and wildlife, including hunting. That bill number again is Minnesota House File three three two one. Missouri. Maybe jumping on a bandwagon we've seen rolling along in other states. This year. Senate Bill nine to eighty one would limit the definition of waters of the state to give state regulators less control over large aquifers and small streams. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources warned in a fiscal analysis that the bill could jeopardize the state's groundwater, which provides drinking water to almost sixty percent of Missourians. It could also reduce protections for over one hundred and thirty six thousand miles of small streams as in other states. The sponsor of this bill said he was motive by a recent Supreme Court decision that limited the Environmental Protection Agency's authority over wetlands. Black's legislation would similarly limit the types of waters Missouri can regulate. Thanks to Ben Hathaway for sending us that story. If you're a Missouri waterfowler, you better pay attention to that one, or you know, just somebody who likes to drink water from the tap. Listener, Sean Buckett sent me a bill out of Tennessee that would prohibit residents from hunting, trapping, snaring, or possessing sand hill cranes. The bill is being opposed by the Tennessee Wildlife Federation for the simple fact that the eastern population of Greater sand Hill cranes is large, healthy, and can sustain regular hunting. The crane hunt, which was established in the volunteer state in twenty thirteen, benefits local economies, addresses crop damage, and increases conservation funding. If you want to weigh in, contact your state reps and tell them what you think about SB one eight sixty seven. A New York state legislator has introduced a bill supposedly designed to protect wolves that wander into the Empire State. The bill would require all coyotes killed by hunters to be checked and tagged, and coyotes weighing over fifty pounds would need a DNA test to confirm that they are not wolves. If a test comes back positive, the Department of Environmental Conservation would declare a moratorium on coyote hunting in that area of the state for as long as the Department determines it is necessary to protect the wolves in the area. For a little context, there have only been eleven wolves killed south of the Saint Lawrence River since nineteen ninety three. That includes New York along with Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Brunswick, and Quebec. And that's not coming from a coyote hunting group. That comes from a twenty twenty three press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, hardly an ally of coyote hunters. To weigh in, contact your state legislators about s seven nine two seven and A seven nine two seven and BA. Thanks to Rob Senz and New York Bow Hunters for making us aware of that legislation. The Kansas legislature is considering an important bill sponsored by Pheasants Forever that would create a conservation fund to protect good habitat and healthy soil in the state. Thirty five of fifty states already have some form of sustainable funding in place for conservation investments, but Kansas does not. These conservation programs do things like compensate landowners for habitat protection, which is especially important in largely private land states like Kansas. This new proposal would create these funding streams without increasing taxes for Kansas residents. Instead, it would reallocate existing funding sources toward natural resources. The bill number is HB two five four one, and it's been assigned to the Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. In Washington, DC, US Senators Tommy Tuberville, Katie Britt, and Ted Kruz have introduced legislation that would crack down on red snapper poachers. The Illegal Red Snapper Enforcement Act would require federal regulatory and law enforcement agencies to develop a standard methodology for identifying the country of origin of red snapper imported into the United States. The legislation would develop a field test kit the Coastguard could use to accurately ascertain whether fish were caught in Mexico or US waters. This would theoretically allow federal and state law enforcement officers to identify the origin of the fish and confiscate illegally caught red snapper before it is imported back into the US. All of these senators are from the Gulf Coast states, and they say this bill will help protect legal American fishermen from being undermined by poachers who steal fish from American waters, smuggle them across the US Mexico border, and then sell them in the US. One last thing for you, if you were paying attention to Senate Bill three in Kentucky, that Senate Bill three smoked it through the Senate. It's in the house right now, ah boy, take action in Kentucky. Quick recap. Basically, the Agriculture Department is trying to take the Fishing Game Department over. We want. If you're listening to this, I assume you want science backed natural resource management and a darn sugar should be bipartisan. So what you can do is go to the Kentucky Backhuntry, Hunters and Anglers page and take action. You can find them all across social media. You can also find your representative in the Kentucky House just by simply googling it and tell them your thoughts on Senate Bill III. It's a good homework for you right there, all right. Moving on to the hog desk, It's always big game season. If you live in a state with faral hogs, but not everyone agrees on the best method of controlling this invasive species. Texas recently announced it would allow a warfare and based poison to be used to control the state's pig population. This product, called Caput faral hog bait, kill hogs by thinning the blood and causing massive internal bleeding. It's the same poison used in some rodenticides, but at a lower dose. Ifput feral hogbait sounds familiar, that's because it had already been approved for use in Texas all the way back in twenty seventeen, but Kaput pulled its product a few months before it was officially released because they feared lawsuits. The Texas House also approved a bill stating all potentially lethal pesticides must be subject to state or university research prior to approval, so further research was conducted and now Texas agg Commissioner Sid Miller said he fully supports its use, quote, it'll eradicate them. If you have hogs on your property that are devastating your crops in your field, you can put this bait out and eliminate the problem. But not everyone is convinced. The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources released a lengthy statement explaining why they won't be Approvingkaput's feral hog bait anytime soon. They say that the data isn't sufficient to demonstrate the efficacy of the Specifically, they worry that the toxicity isn't high enough for hogs to ingest a lethal dose, and that pigs have to eat the bait several times over the course of a few days for it to be effective. They believe a poison made with sodium nitrate is a far better solution because it kills quickly and does not impact wildlife down the food chain. That poison is still several years away from being adopted, but they say that taking the extra time to get it right is worth it. Texans who want to use Kaput to control their hog population won't be able to get it at their local feed store. Land owners and managers will need to first get a license from the Department of Agriculture. It is also a violation of federal law to use the product in a way inconsistent with its labeling, so users will have to be careful to use the product properly. We're going to have to really circle back and figure out what happened to the best poison name ever, hog Gone, out of Australia, which I thought was in testing in Texas. We'll get back to you on hog Gone if that's going to be an option in the future too. Moving on to the rare animal's desk, an Austrian chef caused a minor culinary catastrophe earlier this month when he mistakenly used a near extinct species on a cooking show. The show whose German name I will not attempt to pronounce, aired a segment encouraging viewers to fry up a kind of carp for Lent. Lent For all you heathens out there is a period of time on the Christian Church calendar in which red meat is prohibited while fish meat is allowed. There's fasting. You can also, you know, instead of giving things up abstaining from things, you can also do some things during the Lenten period. For the chef, what he was doing was unfortunately kind of carp called a frowner flying fish. Say that five times? Say that fine type. I can't say it, can't say it, Go ahead, try it. Frowner the flying fish A'll wait, say it five times? Fast also known as a female nerf flank or a pigo. This species of karp has been red listed in Austria since two thousand and two and harvest has been prohibited since the late nineties. When asked how he could have made such an embarrassing mistake, the chef did the ol that's not my fish. I have no idea where that fish came from routine. He said he'd asked a friend for a fish to use on the show. He had no idea. It was nearly extinct. Ouch. If there's a silver lining here, it's that the dish looked pretty darn good fish fritters and a rue based potato salad on the side. If you're going to kill and eat an endangered fish, you might as well make sure it's a good meal. The recipe can still be accessed online, but it specifies that the fish u should be quote from a fisherman you trust, as opposed to you know, some guy gave me a fish. Speaking of endangered animals making a nuisance of themselves, the famous fountains at the Bellaggio Hotel in Las Vegas were turned off last week to protect a rare bird that landed in the pool. The bird in question was a yellow billed loon, largest subspecies of loon and an extremely rare bird to see south of the Canadian border. The autoboun Society reports that there are under ten thousand individuals left on Earth, and half of those can be found in Alaska. They winter in southern Alaska and coastal British Columbia, but migrate to breed in the high Arctic tundra lakes. It's safe to say that this particular bird was not where it should be, though there have been individuals seen on reservoirs in lakes as far east as Illinois and Arkansas and as far south as Arizona and Texas. The Nevada Department of Wildlife reports that they were able to safely capture and relocate the loon to a more suitable and remote location where it has space, food, and quiet surroundings. Doesn't that sound nice? Hey, before we sign off, tons of stuff happening right now. I know we didn't get to all of it as per usual. That's a theme that you should be picking up on. But if something here reminded you of something at home, that's because there's something happening at home that affects you. All the things that we talk about. Right, if you aren't at the table, you're on the menu, you know, sayings like that. You got to pay attention. You got a wig in and thank you so much for writing in to ask c Al that's Askcal at themeaeater dot com. One last plug for you. Okay, volunteer hour super important. If you want to hang out with some super cool folks, get some volunteer time in and learn about what it takes to plant sagebrush and bitter brush in critical mule deer habitat. Be on the lookout for brush. Four bucks. That is our annual one hundred and fifty person exclusive get together to replant critical mule deer habitat the fellas at Hushan, who are awesome. We'll be able to fill you in on all the details to go check those folks out. Yeah, so I will see you down there. Probably bring snort with me too. That's all I got for you this week. Thank you so much for listening, and remember to write into as K c A l. That's Ascal at the meeater dot com and let me know what's going on in your neck of the woods. Thank you so much for listening. I'll talk to you next week.

Save this episode