00:00:09 Speaker 1: From Mediator's World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Kel's we can review with Ryan kel Kelly. Now here's kel murder hornets. They're huge and their sting crazy. Just kidding, but they are in Washington State. The Asian giant hornet, or more headline grabbing murder hornet is non native and invasive and a threat to the US's honey bees, which is where the murderous nickname comes from. The hornets will destroy honey bee colonies, not your children. I'm gonna say that again for David Cromwell. They're after the bees, not your kids, So quit writing in Loka bears. The Washington State Department of Agriculture has been actively hunting the hornets since two thousand nineteen, when they were first reported in British Columbia. If you recall previous episodes regarding Washington State and murder hornets, the murder of honey bees and mass would potentially cripple the state's pollinator dependent cash crops, such as the ninety percent of red raspberries in the US seventy nine point three percent of our hops, which is near and dear to my heart. Scent of spearmen oil. I'm talking directly to you, fans of dr brown or soap. Seventy one point seven percent of our apples, fifty point one percent of Concord grapes of Niagara grapes, which is our number one green table grape, scent of sweet cherries, and forty of our pears of our pears, what will we do? The Moira rose routline line would come to an ant one that papers its fruit like its own babies. As well as the obvious real world implications that would come from a pollinator crash, you could say we'd be up Ship's creek. In order to avoid that unfortunate sitcom scenario, Washington State Department of Agriculture organized a murder hornet task force led by entomologist spin Eric Spickager. The team located free roaming murder hornets and attached radio transmitters to them in hopes of tracking them back to the nest. Despite losing several transmitters, a few hornets were eventually tailed to a cavity inside a tree, a perfect hangout. When the state team closed in, about eighty of the hornets were vacuumed out of the crack. Several more were cotton nets as they returned to the nest. The tree was eventually cut open to reve you more hornets developing eggs to fully developed queens, and two pounds of meth amphetamines. Uh sorry, I got my reports mixed up. Just hornets in this bust. The Washington State Department of Agriculture has declared the sting operation a success. At least that's the buzz around here. Be on the lookout. We don't often get the opportunity to get ahead of a potentially devastating invasive specie before it gets out of hand. If you find a large two inch long hornet with a three inch wide wingspan that just doesn't belong, be sure to call your state Department of Agriculture or Natural Resources. This week we've got politics, octopus, and a quick stop at the crime desk. But first I'm gonna tell you about my week. I'm going on vacation, as in getting off the grid. In fact, I'm getting so off the grid i cannot bring a reliable, dependable, lightweight steel bad to repower chainsaw with me ahead for the wilderness with the capital w and looking at the forecast, I'm gonna wish I could stack up firewood fast, getting primitive on public land where all are welcome as long as you are willing to walk or ride something non mechanized like a horse, mule burrow that sort of wilderness. The other thing that my vacation will not have is internet or cell phone coverage, meaning this podcast you are listening to was recorded prior to learning what the election results are. However, I do know what they are, and ladies and gentlemen, they're they're not good. Imagine if you will, we were to shake up the entire United States, so all the residents got mixed around and evenly distributed. So when if you're listening to this podcast as you're driving down the road, every other vehicle you pass voted for the person you did not vote for. Every other person in the checkout line wanted the other person to win. I don't know the final numbers or the future president of the United States, but I do know that the math doesn't exactly say that the whole of America has chosen its leader. The math doesn't exactly say that my grocery store line scenario is correct either, But we don't like to see fifths or eighths of people it would be very messy. If you'll remember one of the greatest lines and Ghostbusters too, you know, the River of Slime and walking Statue of Liberty. Ghostbusters. Allen, New York City is going crazy as usual. The Ghostbusters are freed from jail to be marched in front of the mayor, who is demanding to know what's going on. The line dan Ackroyd or Ray delivers is something a lot of politicians should be hearing. First of all, Mr Mayor, it's a great pleasure to see you again, and we'd just like to say that almost us voted for you in the last election. Inspiring. So what does this mean for conservation? Well, as per usual, you need to be an active participant because the difference between the hunting, fishing, outdoor recreating line at the store and the previously described blue red split is we all really want the same things. Like if you ask the folks in the grocery store line to vote on the issue of food or no food, they are in the grocery line, so it stands to reason they are pro food. There is a clear majority who want access to public lands, a clear majority who want well maintained, healthy habitat in clean waters full of fish. We want our children and our children's children to have access to not only the same things, but often the same opportunities. In the aim for us lakes and wilderness areas that have been formative of our lives, we outdoors people have some serious strength in this room divided, the power of the outdoors unites people. Chances are if the House and Senate want to get something done while they're in off us, they will have the best chance at getting conservation minded bills and amendments passed, just like we've seen in the latter half of the Trump presidency. Your job and my job is to make sure our elected officials know where to put their efforts and what issues they shouldn't touch. I know none of you expected it, but we, as conservation minded people, will not have four years off to hunt, fish and relax. We wouldn't have if the other guy won't either. We need to be on top of our game, paying attention to city council and town hall meetings and legislation. We need to make the time available to pick up the phone right and occasionally show up, make a compelling case to keep the things we hold dear in good shape and hopefully even get more of it. Now, after my week or so off the grid exploring our communal inheritance of public lands, I'll be refreshed, even when it's not asked for. I'll be ready to help our elected officials make good decisions. Chasing big mule deer does that for a person. Moving on, but we're gonna take quick stop the snort. Report that little girl is now six months old and only about forty pounds. She's a pocket sized labrador. We had a long, long walk this weekend. No birds, just feathers. Snort. Not pleased, but tired. Now she's heading to Grandma's for some time, dedicated to being a puppy. I'm hoping to get real serious about the birds upon my return from big mule deer country. Jumping over to the law enforcement desk, we the quick update on the biggest wildlife crime bust in Nebraska state history. As you recall, over one hundred people from twenty one states were somehow involved in wildlife crimes involving Hidden Hills outfitters. One couple who had hunted numerous times with h h O has come forward, pleading not guilty to all offenses and in part of their defense have taken to attacking the Lacy Act. The Lacy Act was established back as a way to define wildlife crime, specifically the act of trafficking wildlife for sale. The couple in question made headlines years ago on an ethical situation, so I won't bring them up now because all are innocent until proven guilty. Correct. So what I would like to focus on quickly is the Lacy Act and why I believe if you hunt or fish, you should not disparage this federal layer of wildlife crime enforcement of protection. This is a pin to be clear. If you think back on all the wildlife crime we report here on the Weekend Review, it is very, very seldom, if ever, that we think, wow, the penalty should have been left for that wildlife crime. That is because we have to contextualize an animal into dollars. What is the dollar figure that best represents this scenario to the state. When you stack up the life of a doe deer, for instance, against that of the actions of a drunk driver, let's say the drunk is going to cost more. The Lacy Act, when violated, can be used to bring additional reparations for wildlife to the table. Again, when we see wildlife crime pop up on the blotter, the usual reaction from the hunting and fishing public is resounding that is too low, The punishment is not enough, not odd geez, poor folks. Let them off. It was just a buck. But according to states, oftentimes these wildlife crimes carry the same gravita us as a speeding ticket a misdemeanor, which is the stance this couple is taken. And keep in mind again they could be totally innocent, but you need to take into account the situation at Hidden Hills Outfitters was loose, as in the place had a stink to it from all the illegal activity. It would be very hard for someone to hear an attack against the lazy act from people who frequented this operation, which, according to Deer and Deer Hunting, the couple in question did frequent this operation three to four trips per year for four years. The thing to remember with wildlife crime is the victims cannot speak. We don't see situations where rabbits on the stand pointing a shaky finger at the perpetrator. They witnessed killing a buck out of season. Right, You can't handle the truth, So the onus is and always has been on the hunter. If you are in a situation that doesn't seem right, you are expected to back out and self report. If you don't, it is then up to the investigators the wardens to try to step into your shoes and see what you see and interpret the intention of your actions. We'll be hearing much, much more about this one. Please check out Sam Longren's in depth article at the meat Eater dot com. Next up, the Better Late than Never Desk. This one's going to bring you the perfect Halloween story just as your kids might be finishing that very last package of Neco waivers. Quick side here, Why do people even hand out neco waivers? Is there anyone out there who actually likes them? Anyway? Cemetery in the Belgian city of Antwerp has recently been overrun by zombie marbled crayfish. You heard that right, zombie stations eating anything they can get their claws around under a full moon in Europe's most sinister graveyard. While not technically zombies, these crayfish are not truly undead. Corpses come to feast on the flesh of the living. They are, however, feasting on some flesh and not a species found in nature, but rather mutated variants of the crayfish you might find in the southeastern US. For those of you have never seen a crayfish, picture a lobster shrunk down to about, you know, four inches long. Scientists believe that German pet sellers altered the genetics of standard crayfish to make them parthenogenetic, meaning that the females can reproduce without a male mate. You just keep one or two females, and then those individuals have babies, and then their babies have babies, and soon you have very very very healthy inventory of pets to sell. I guess thinking goes, if you can make an unlimited number of a thing people want, you can get rich from selling that. What could go wrong? Regular listeners to this long podcast will be able to predict exactly what went wrong. One of those sellers, or maybe a pet owner who wanted to make room for a newer, more exciting pet in the aquarium, dumps some of those genetically altered crayfish into a canal or storm drain, and so without any natural predators, and without the complicated process of male and female crayfish trying to find one another and make little crayfish. The population exploded because asexual reproduction produces offspring with the exact same genetic makeup as the parent. All of these crayfish are exact clones of each other. I guess the lead for this story should have been clone crustaceans instead of zombie crustaceans. But you know, zombie gets a lot of buzz these days. Maybe clone apocalypse, the gun the wars anyway, shoot, sohof Cemetery and Antwerp has become ground zero for the cray apocalypse, and the ecosystem in the park has taken a beating as these mutant mudbugs burrow up to three and a half feet into the earth to find food and shelter. I'm not sure what the average deceased body depth is in Antwerp, but let's hope it's a little bit deeper than three and a half feet. In any case, they're disrupting the soil and habitat for other species who live there. Biologists and city officials aren't sure how they're going to try to control the outbreak. Is they can't poison the crayfish without you know, poisoning everything else. It seems that the only upside here would be to ship a load of zat trans seasoning over to Belgium Little Tony Seas maybe make lemons into lemonade or lemons into enormous pot along with corn, potatoes and other things that make a crawfish boil really great. Moving on to our every popular Florida desk, researchers recently published a study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology that sheds light on why Florida's great egrets, the large white birds that look like swans with a stiletto for a beak, have been having so much trouble uh copulating getting it on. Over the last twenty years, egrets and the Everglades have suffered a fifty decline and breeding events. Scientists have been studying several problems with e grit reproduction, including fewer eggs laid and fewer hatchling egrets surviving to reproductive age. That's called recruitment, but the problems might start even earlier, with adult birds just never getting in the mood to woo each other. The main ingredient of this awful Avian anti aphrodisiac seems to be mercury. And we're not talking Freddie home tonight. When humans burn gasoline and other petrochemicals. One of the by products released into the atmosphere is mercury, which then settles in very thin layers all over the environment. Many kinds of mining also release mercury into our water. Although at first the mercury is very widely diffused, as in spread out, organisms at the bottom of the food chain like algae and plankton begin to absorb it and can't pass it out of their systems. Insects and shellfish consume those lower down species, and in so doing they collect the trace mercury and also can't pass it out of their systems and up the food chain, the mercury travels, going from small amounts and many individuals to greater and greater amounts and the predators who eat all that smaller prey. That is why doctors warn people not to eat too much swordfish or tile fish or king mackerel, because all that mercury has been collected in those top of the food chain fish and can be harmful to us. In so saying, these predatory Florida egrets are not exempt from this kind of mercury accumulation. Once it collects an an animal, mercury disrupts hormone functioning, and hormones regulate biological processes, including the urge to mate. With the urge to mate disrupted, there's less love making, and with less love making, they're fewer young. Fewer young obviously mean fewer egrets altogether, and if this trend continues, maybe there would eventually be no egrets, which would be a colossal shame, but also at a minimum, a great tattoo or maybe a band name no regrets, It's got a ring to it. Watching egrets hunt is a simply amazing experience. They often use a form of what we hunters would call still hunting, keeping their heads almost perfectly still while moving very very slowly through shallow water looking for prey. You'll often then see an egret moving its head from side to side so that it can correct for refraction, which is the way that water bends light and makes it look like something below the water surface is in a different place than it actually is. Any of our bow fisher folks out there, you know what we're talking about. Once the egret has a fix on its target, it strikes like a snake and spears its prey with its beak. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, egrets were almost hunted to extinction for their bright white plumage, which was used in making fancy hats, and so their recovery is just another example of the enormous progress we've made in conservation. But this progress, like so much other progress, is anything but secure, and egrets are definitely not the only species suffering from desruption of their hormonal systems due to rising mercury levels. We can't lower the lights and put al green on the high fi for all of the egrets in the Everglades, so we'll have to find ways to lower the mercury that goes into the ecosystem to get these birds feeling a little more frisky. So it's all banded together for more egrets and fewer regrets in New One America. Moving on to the travel desk, specifically ice traveling, you may have been especially surprised to hear about a broken off piece of iceberg the size of Delaware bearing down on South Georgia and expected to smash into the shoreline. They're threatening native inhabitants. Every word of what I just told you was factually correct, But it's not just the presidential election that's prevented this story from getting airtime on the evening news in Atlanta or Savannah. That's because South Georgia is not just the name of the bottom half the Peach State. It is also the name of an island off of Antarctica, where looming icebergs are not quite so unusual. However, the effect of an iceberg collision on this slightly less well known South Georgia could nevertheless be newsworthy. This is the time of year when the islands penguin, sea lions, and other animals are protecting the offspring that they recently brought into the world, and if the enormous iceberg crashes into the shoreline of the island, it could cut parents off from the ocean where they get the food they need to feed their young. I think everyone should pay attention to this story if you feel like you've been dealt a raw deal. The sea lions and penguins have literally swum a predator filled gauntlet to raise their young, and now, quite possibly by no wrongdoing of their own, an ice island could come and seal them off from the ocean that provides all of their sustenance and sometimes their security. So despite what you have going on in your world. You may want to put South Georgia on your mind. If you thought that was tasteless, wait until you visit the octopus desk. You may think that you have pretty much nothing in common with octopuses, octopi, octopuses, you know, those creatures with eight legs that are super tasty. Anyhow, I'm wagering that you do not, for example, squirt ink to hide from your enemies, that you don't swim by shooting out a jet of water to propel yourself along, and you don't have suction cups all up and down your limbs. Octopuses also have a nervous system that would be something in common, but it is again quite different. We humans have just one brain in our head, and all the information that comes from our senses, from our noses and skins and toses and ears, travels up through our nerves and goes into that one brain to be sorted out. Similarly, the neurons in our one brain send out all the signals to our legs to move, our hearts to beat and so on. Octopuses, on the other hand, have a much more widely distributed nervous system two thirds of their neurons are located all up and down their tentacles, and each tentacle can operate independently from the other tentacles and independently from the brain the octopus has in its head. Think about that, How must the world seem to a cree sure with brains all over its body. It's crazy to contemplate. It's data overload, But researchers are discovering at least one way that a human and an octopus might not be so different. Both of us have the sense of taste. A team of biologists at Harvard University have been hard at work studying specific cells octopuses have in their suction cups that have the same structure as the cells we have in our tongues, and they've been studying what happens when these octopus cells come in contact with the chemicals that their prey animals release under stress. When the octopus is suckers touched an object that had these chemicals on it, they were much more likely to grab onto that object. That's a lot like how your mouth would close around a strawberry once your tongue detected the sweetness and strawberry nous of that strawberry. How cool would it be to have taste buds on your limbs. You could taste an apple just by whole holding it in your hand, or experience the deliciousness of good whiskey just by touching a few spilled drops, or smell a walleye through your fingers as you gutted it. Well, actually, come to think of it, maybe I'm pretty glad after all that I'm still a little bit different from an octopus in this particular way. However, there's not a day that goes by that I don't wish I had a little extra brain power, let alone maybe seven times the brain power. That's all I've got for you this week. Thank you so much for listening, and most importantly, let me know what's happening in your neck of the woods by writing in to a s k C A L. That's asked Cal at the Meat Eater dot com. I'll talk to you next week.