00:00:09 Speaker 1: From Mediators World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Kel's We Can Review with Ryan kel Kelly and now Here's kel Cocaine hippos are out of control in the jungles of Colombia and must be stopped. Although that previous sentence is technically accurate, there are no hippopotamus as snorting and chopping illicit drugs, wearing pastel, loose fitting shirts, gold chains, and rampaging through South America's waterway is on souped up cigarette boats. But if anyone from adults swim in the Cartoon Network is listening right now, consider atting Narco hippos to your prime time lineup. I may not watch, but I'll know it's out there and be happy. I'm not just you. Welcome back to check it out the show where we check things out. Guess we're checking out today? Can you guess? Animals? Still? The real story is plenty wild. Pablo Escobar, possibly the world's most famous drug dealer, who in the eighties reportedly spent a thousand dollars a week just on rubber bands necessary to hold together bricks of hundred dollar bills, was a big wildlife fan. Unfortunately, he wasn't satisfied with going out to see the thousands of unbelievably cool species native to Colombia, like the pink river dolphin or the spectacled bear, so he created a zoo at one of his ranches with animals from all over the world, giraffes, elephants, ostriches, as well as hippos one male and three female. Once Escobar was killed and his empire crumbled, the hippos wandered out of the zoo into the nice, warm Colombian wetlands and made some baby hippos. Hippos begat more hippos, and now scientists believe there are more than eighty of the giant aquatic ungulates roaming across almost eight hundred square miles, with the population continuing to grow exponentially. As with so many non natives, they are out competing native wildlife and having a detrimental effect on the ecosystem. How ironic is it that in Africa hippos are becoming more and more threatened, whereas in South America they can't get rid of them fast enough. Culling them is unpopular, and castrating males cost fifty thous dollars a pop and doesn't seem to slow population growth much and definitely doesn't do anything for the resource. Some scientists, however, are viewing the Colombian hippo explosion as a kind of place to seen rewilding opportunity. Apparently, tens of thousands of years ago, a giant ungulate called the toxodon roamed South America, about the same size as a rhinoceros. The toxodon went extinct about sixteen thousand years ago and left a big hippo shaped hole in the family tree of the Americas, that is, until Pablo Escobar came along. Maybe Escobar wasn't just a murderous, power hungry cartel boss, but also a secretive and extremely ambitious paleo zoologist. Remember Chico, First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the hippos. And then the hippos DeForest the jungle, allowing sunlight down to the ground, and then they redistribute the seeds, and then Chico, we see growth in the jungle that people have never seen before. In my mind, I thought I would go on with the accent and go into the deforestation theory and seed redistribution are theoretical Pablo the casual paleo zoologists came up with, you know, because he has to sell the drugs to save the forest. But I won't borrow you with that. This week we've got Albert Cole poaching, round up ice fishing, and so much more. But first I'm gonna tell you about my week. And my week as well as This podcast is brought to you by the fine folks at Steel Power Equipment, battery gas and good old fashioned human horsepower tools that last, no planned obsolescence, good dependable, you can earn a darn paycheck with it type of stuff. Pick up some steel Power equipment today. Alright, so everybody knows I'm back from Mexico. I'm slowly feeling the lard from the beans, rice and tortillas drained from my veins. Because of this, I decided that I should get a fish for I am. So I joined a bunch of folks from Meat Eater HQ out on the ice and proceeded to catch one as in one singular perch that happened to be the biggest perch I have ever personally caught. That was awesome. It happened to be a female full of eggs. The royal sack looked. Let's call it a creamy white. I tossed this in a bit of flour and corn starch, then dropped it into be fat at about three five degrees. The finished product led me to believe that I could make a passable and quite possibly very good donut out of perch row only. Hiccup here is I am a terrible perch fisherman. So if you know the secrets of hard water perch fishing depths, tips tactics, please right in to a s K C A L. That's asked cal at the mediator dot com. Also keep in mind that Bozeman, Montana has zero ice fishing gear right now, so simple solutions are best. I'd like to thank both thirteen Fishing and Aaron Schmidt a k A. Schmidty of Northwood Baiton Tackleing but Midji, Minnesota for helping me out with some essentials. Moving on, time to roll coal. Just kidding, but we are heading to the Alberta desk to talk about the changing coal policy. This is a topic that many many listeners have written in on a lot of fight You Bird of boys and girls. Here's the brief overview past administration nineteen seventy six developed a coal plan that broke the provinces land down into four categories. Category one land you are not going to get a permit on. Don't try the places off limits to mining. Category two, probably not gonna happen. You can look around a little bit, but definitely off limits to open pit mining. Categories three and four. If you're paying attention to the trend our lands that were designated as more and more suitable in some way for extractive use. Current administration has decided to revamp the coal policy starting at category two and the category two lands are where some great Alberta hunting and fishing opportunities exist and where a lot of snow pack collects to recharge the groundwater farmers, grazers and water drinking communities depend on downstream. Selenium is bad for fish. Selenium is a common byproduct of coal mining and coal power. Selenium in the water affects the reproductive ability of fish. While it will cause death an adult fish, it commonly collects in the eggs. These headwater mountaintop strip mining operations are in prime and more and more frequently the last holdouts for native fish species, such as West Slope cutthroat trout, grayling bowl trout, and Alberta's only native rainbow trout. The wastewater has the potential to run the full course to the Hudson Bay through three different provinces. If you folks in Quebec start thinking, Mary, it would be nice to go out to the mountains and catch some fish. Tune into the Bent podcast if you want the full fishing report. I know Joe Surmeli and my nulty having in depth bottom bouncing fish I view ready for your listening pleasure. So here's what we know. We know there are many more risks to the Alberta natural resources if open pit or strip mining is allowed in these Category two lands than if not. So if you are pro mining or pro mining job, that doesn't mean you are anti fish or anti clean water. You need to write into your elected officials or m l A in Alberta terms and let them know that I hire standard of protection and regulation is demanded for the duration and eventual clean up of all mining activities in Category two lands that include, but are not limited to, the Livingstone Range, the Elk River, the Old Man, the Red Deer. If you are just flat out against this situation, then you need to contact your duly elected representative or m l A and tell them that you can demand and expect a return to the nine six coal policy and the protections of category to land that went with it. Contact your duly elected officials or in Alberta terms m l A if you want. You can figure all of this out by going to back Country Hunters dot org forward slash Alberta underscore Coal, underscore minds. That's back Country Hunters dot org forward slash Alberta underscore Coal, underscore mines. And you know what water issues are international issues. I'm in Montana, I'm not that far south of the border. I love Alberta, love British Columbia for that matter. I'm gonna call him, I'm gonna write him and just let them know that I like to get up there and spend money on occasion, and maybe let them know that they're grizzly bears. Are you know, in need of a good pet? They're a little aggressive. Anyway, moving on, we're taking a quick stop at the New Hunting Opportunity Desk. Oklahoma's eight Representative, Justin Humphrey, recently introduced House Bill six, which, if written into law, would create the first ever big foot hunting season. While I'm always reluctant to turn down any kind of income for wildlife conservation, I think the success stats for this tag are going to be less than good. Not that I'm surprised by Humphreys Bill, not at all. Longtime mediator collaborator Casey Brown called this long ago with his gnome tussling with a sasquatched T shirt. When Idaho starts selling unicorn tags will be ready. My only concern with this Oklahoma bill is Bigfoot is supposed to be a ten foot tall harry ape with the brain and soul as sophisticated as ours. So what if, in response to House Bill six, all the big Foot's open a hunting season on us? After all, if you have ever listened to the song big Foot Legend of the Mountains, which all proceeds go to the Bigfoot Scholarship Fund, there's a line in there that says, if you hunt Bigfoot, Bigfoot may hunt you. I mean, I'm telling you what you already know. Now. I've been told that the proposed tag is that actual capture alive tag that coincides with the Hannobia Oklahoma big Foot festival and conference. Coming for the big Foot conference, don't forget to stay for the festival. Bigfoot hunting is hard work, serious work, but there's always time for a festival if you want. My opinion on this one well intentioned, but I don't see any positives coming out of this. Just some people with a fantasy validated by a real deal legal state hunting license and tag what could go wrong? And just say we don't want you anymore? Why can't you go back where you came from? Of course, if you do manage to capture a big foot, remember to make sure that you tell them about the big Foot's scholarship. Purchase of the song not necessary to apply. Moving on, when you think of animals at hunting packs, certain species spring to mind, wolves, lions, chimpanzees, even maybe human beings and coats. Until recently, with very few exceptions, fish were not on this list. Although feeding frenzy behavior can seem like sharks coordinating, in reality, it's just a bunch of predators overwhelmed by the volume of prey and attacking whatever is in front of them. That's why the recent discovery of pack hunting behavior by electric eels in Brazil is so important. In two thousand twelve, researchers with the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History found a previously undiscovered species of eel, electroforest voltai, which has a stronger shock than any other animal on Earth. Most animals who stunned their prey with electricity do so alone. Some eels use lighter electrical pulses to flush out their prey, essentially through the use of electric current, getting the animal to give themselves away. They move without meaning to. Others just slide up to sleeping prey, send out a shock and they dine. But in a recent study, scientists observe these eels in Brazil engaging in a much more complex behavior. First, the eels corral smaller fish into dense packs. Then, in coordinated pulses, the eels send shocks into the pack with a total power estimated at more than eight hundred volts. For context, seventy two hundred volts runs down your standard power line and is far more than enough to kill a person. This shock stuns dozens of prey fish at a time. The eels then eat their fill, wait a bit, then repeat the process. This is a truly amazing thing to watch. The tetra fish popping out of the water in one video look like packing peanuts shot upward with a steel b g A eight six brushless, quiet, professional yet homeowner friendly battery powered leaf blower. It's really something. You gotta see it. There's still a lot to learn about how this coordination is accomplished, so scientists are planning to fit a number of eels with radio tags to track their movement. Sounds like the type of eel handling that you could call shocking. A couple more partying electric eel facts for you. Alsandro Volta, the scientists who invented the battery and after whom the volt is named, got the idea of a self contained electrical source from observing electric eels. So all you tech bros whizzing along in your tesla's right now? How's that for sexy? And finally, one mystery remains. How to eel so close together managed to shock their target fish without shocking each other or themselves. Nobody knows, or rather nobody knows yet, Moving on, unfortunately to the poaching desk, which is working overtime. Idaho fishing game has had a big non big game season, recently tipped off to a wounded mountain goat nanny just south of Hell's Canyon, near the border with Oregon. The female was carrying two crossbow bolts, one and her throat when her left shoulder, preventing her from eating or drinking and severely inhibiting her movement. Fishing Game officers decided to put her out of her misery. When they reached the goat's body, they found a wound across her forehead, as well as another bolt nearby. It hardly needs saying, but this makes me sick. Such a waste, so much unnecessary suffering, and stories like this inflicts so much damage to the reputation of all upstanding hunters. With the general public. Mountain goat hunting opportunities are extremely coveted. What's more, the loss of a female has longer lasting implications on that herd than that of a billy. So your son of a gun, if you are listening, you shot a mom. You made her suffer in a terrible way, and you need to have your toys taken away. Another highly coveted species, the bighorn sheep, can get the best of a poacher. Last week, Idaho Fish and Game released a statement concerning the almost conclusion of a two thousand seventeen violation in Owahee County, which is the least populated county in Idaho and so underpopulated the area has been proposed as a federally designated wilderness. A Parma, Idaho woman drew the only tag for the southwest corner of the state, yet she and her husband turned in two big horn rams quick aside. Even if you find a deadhead while hiking something you and nobody else killed, you have to take the head into Idaho fishing game so they can put a plug in it, which has taken a horn core sample. This system helps prevent the sale of sheep heads and keeps track of the populations. Montana just recently switched to this system. Years ago, in my youth, I found a great big horn on the side of a mountain and mentally twisted myself into knots because I wanted to keep that skull so bad. However, it was illegal at the time. I hatched a plan right there on the side of the Montana mountain to drive that skull over to the Idaho border, claim it as an Idaho ram, get it plug so I could keep that trophy skull of course, I chickened out, or if you're feeling generous, you could say I knew it was wrong and left that beauty of a skull on the mountain as it was the right thing to do. Years later, while confessing my moment of weakness, I was told that the Idaho Fishing Game would have been able to tell exactly where I found that ram due to the extremely limited genetics of Rocky Mountain big horns. The genetic pool is a shallow one. Anyway, the incredibly fortunate tag holder bagged her ram in late September. On October six, the tag holders husband and hunting partner, turned in what he said was his wife's ram to Idaho Fishing Game. It was documented plugged into way he went. In February of eighteen, Idaho Fishing Game was alerted to the fact that the ram was not actually the but of them. As there was only one tag and one hunter, that was a problem. The couple was investigated, and both the electronic data as well as a preserved cape which is the hide you would use to make a shoulder mount told the tale of not one but two sheep. A ram killed September and a ram killed October one. Now for the prosecution. In an interesting turn, the tag holder was not charged. The helper and husband received the illegal possession of a big horn sheep, a ten thousand dollar our civil penalty, along with processing fees, court costs and fines amounting to one thousand dollars, a six month jail sentence which was suspended in the lieu of two years unsupervised probation. The husband's hunting and trapping privileges, together with an outdoor guide license, were revoked for seven years. This revocation of privileges extends to forty eight other states, all members of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact. Further, as a condition of his probation, he may not accompany anyone on any hunting or trapping excursions or be present in the camp of a hunter or trapper. If he were to violate, he would earn a six month stay in the Canyon County Jail. Now, it's hard to speculate what the circumstances were that the person who held the tag, and ultimately, in my opinion, the responsibility is not charged. Hard to speculate on the current condition of the marriage as well. Idaho is a once in a lifetime I'm tag state moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goat. Tags are a one and done situation. You could say, if you draw a tag and successfully fill the tag, you can no longer apply for that tag for your lifetime. You're out of the draw, which kind of has a little asterisks by it. I should say you're out of the general or nonresident pool draws. There are some goofy things that apply for like the super wealthy folks where they can just purchase an additional tag, and uh, you know, I guess it applies to if you're a poacher. But for the sake of argument, once in a lifetime makes people do strange things. Maybe the husband had intended to hunt his wife's tag all along, we just don't know. Sticking with poaching and moving over to Georgia, the poached species in question is a little more common, but the violations are similar in the fact that it's a little sickening and frustrating. Twenty eight year old Seth Strickland and thirty four year old Dennis Roberts where this month with a host of deer poaching violations, as well as drugs and weapons charges. After arresting Strickland, and Robert's. Officers from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources confiscated sixty nine sets deer antlers, and the two men are now also under investigation for violations that took place in Tennessee. Allegedly, all of these deer were just left to rot after their racks or heads were taken. Now, I don't believe anyone is beyond redemption, but as we've discussed before, the penalties for heinous wildlife crimes such as this one can seem frustratingly light. So there is part of me that's glad for those drug charges that Strickland and Robert's face. It may be a strange moral system in which possession of a few ounces of a controlled substance is punished more stiffly than wasting the life and meat of seventy animals, But if these Georgia poachers happen to pay more for the sum total of their crimes, at least there's a little more justice than that. Quick question for you, why is that that people breaking the law are seldom only breaking one law without the worst part. But you have heard of anyway. Twenty eight year old John Blick Jr. Of Sharon Kansas recently pled guilty to a hundred and thirty nine separate counts of poaching related crime and was sentenced to fourteen months in prison, plus hunting privileges revoked for five years. Black had killed both white tales and mule there for a total of sixty animals altogether. On top of his stretch in prison, Blake will also have to pay three hundred and forty two thousand, six hundred and forty one dollars in fines and restitution, which I'm going to bet he's gonna have a hard time coming up with. And let's be honest, when someone has one hundred and thirty nine separate counts of poaching, five years of revoked privileges probably won't mean much either. My quibbles about the justice of the sentence saying should not takeaway from the spectacular work on this case by Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism wardens Jason Harold Scott Stoughton, as well as a key member of the team, can Iron officer. Gypsy dogs have proven essential and poaching cases, So if you're keeping scoring the eternal contest between cats and dogs, it's not looking so good. For the felines. Oh by like come you didn't never heard of a guard cat? Oh bomb sniffing cat? Oh cn I cat? So that's a lot like dogs. Dogs have jobs. Moving on, a new world record has been set for a very unusual dough. Michael Alan Jr. Of Oa Carboro, Ohio, was out hunting in the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, which is not in Ottawa, Canada, but rather in Ottawa County, Ohio, when he saw a buck with a very weird set of headgear. The deer walked within twenty yards of his stand, and Lalon's aim was true. These antlers weren't just asymmetrical, they were also still covered in velvet, despite the fact that the land was hunting in October. On top of that, this antler dear was not a male, which was officially confirmed by local wildlife officer Reid Van Cleave, who, as I just said, confirmed that the deer in question was actually a dough. Can't imagine that took much time. Although there are certain rare deer who are either semi or fully hermaphroditic, meaning they have both the reproductive organs of both male and female deer, there are some anatomically female deer who nevertheless grow antlers. Their ovaries and adrenal glands produce enough testosterone to slowly grow the antlers, but not enough to cause the velvet to peel or to cause the antlers to drop in the winter. Because the antlers aren't shed, they grow season after season. This is very rare, and especially rare for a true dough that he is a deer only with female sex organs, so in fact that when buck masters took out the tape measure, they deemed laalawans Dear the biggest velvet antler doe ever taken, which will be a hard one to beat, although the captive servant industry may have just found a new trophy market anyway, who do love a world record? Thanks? I hate it. That's all I've got for you this week. Thanks so much for listening, and as always, be sure to 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. Thanks again, I'll talk to you next week.

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