It’s Called Canada Lynx For A Reason
October 8, 2007
Last week the state of Maine, namely the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife along with support from the United States Sportsman’s Alliance and others, agreed to settle a lawsuit filed against the state by the Animal Protection Institute for breaking the Endangered Species Act. Specifically, the lawsuit said MDIFW was responsible for the incidental taking of Canada lynx by licensed trappers in Maine. Maine does not have an Incidental Take Permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Many have wondered why and some believe the feds told them they didn’t need one.
The goal of the lawsuit filed by the API was to ban trapping because in eight years 2 lynx had been trapped and killed while 11 had been killed by automobiles. Seems a bit absurd. The basis for the lawsuit was a violation of the Endangered Species Act and therein lies the problem.
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is now an outdated, overwritten document that clearly defines very little and leaves far to much to the discretion of the powers that be, namely the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department or the Department of Interior. There is a history of abuse of the Act and these abuses are becoming more numerous with each passing year. It is time for a major overhauling.
Other troubling issues with the ESA come from the result of listing certain species as endangered or threatened or in the designation of “critical habitat” when that species and/or habitat fall in perimeter areas. One prime example of this is the Canada lynx found in the state of Maine.
The Canada lynx for the most part thrives in much of Canada and Alaska. The best way to describe the habitat the lynx prefer is to take a look at that of the snowshoe hare.
Snowshoe hares are forest-dwellers that prefer the thick cover of brushy undergrowth. They are primarily a northern species that inhabits boreal forests and can also range as far north as the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Along North American mountain ranges, where elevation simulates the environment of more northerly latitudes, they can be found as far south as Virginia (the Appalachians) and New Mexico (the Rockies).
It is no secret that hares are the meal of choice of a lynx. Even though lynx will eat such things as grouse, ptarmigan, mice, voles, red squirrels, carrion and almost any other flesh, including its own, the lynx, as shown by several studies, flourish and die off in relationship to the flourishing and dying off of the snowshoe hare.
To better understand the cycles and habits of the lynx one has to fully understand the same of the hare. National Geographic describes the up and down life cycle of the hare this way.
Snowshoe hare populations fluctuate cyclically about once a decade—possibly because of disease. These waning and waxing numbers greatly impact the animals that count on hares for food, particularly the lynx.
Other studies show that the up cycle of the hare also contributes to a destruction of plant food necessary to sustain a hare population. Sid Marty, a journalist who spent time in the Northwest Territories of Canada reporting on lynx studies, describes more of the life cycle of the hare.
Hares increase until the winter’s browse is eaten bare. If you fell an aspen during this time and leave it lying, bunnies descend on it like fuzzy piranhas and nibble it bare. In response to intensive browsing by hares, most vegetation produces secondary compounds — chemicals which make browsable plants less palatable and nutritious. The increase of these chemicals occurs in cycles and this too plays a role in triggering hare population crashes.
A resulting drop in lynx population will also occur but it is not seen immediately.
As the food supply disappears, hares, like the lynx, will cannibalize their own dead. A hare’s fat reserves are very slight. Weakened by hunger and cold, hares soon begin to starve to death. Lynx and other predators gorge on hares, and continue to breed, producing young at a peak rate until they run out of prey.
What happens to the lynx after a major die-off of hares, believed to occur roughly every 10 years, is interesting and should be noted because I don’t believe most people are aware of what happens. As you can see from above, the lynx doesn’t begin to disappear immediately after the hare disappear. With now an overblown population of lynx, there are too many animals competing for a much reduced supply of food.
A normal cycle of starvation occurs and no new lynx kittens are born. The younger males will begin to move in all directions searching for food. There have been recorded incidence where lynx have traveled in excess of 700 miles during this time. This of course does not end the cycle. Where the hares had died off before, the vegetation begins to replenish itself and the hares return and flourish because they now have plenty of food again and the cycle begins all over again.
To the right, you will see two maps. The top map shows the range of the snowshoe hare. The lighter shading on this map indicates the historic range of the hare. The map just below it shows the range of the Canada lynx. The darker shading indicates areas that are believed to have current lynx populations. The lighter brown shading shows the historic ranges of the lynx. In other words, it is 
believed that lynx have at one time or other lived in these regions.
To the common man, also known as the taxpayer of this country, we would have to at least ask some common sense questions when it comes to making a determination as to what, where and when a species gets added to the list of threatened or endangered. A likely place to start would be in Maine where a recent lawsuit wanted to ban trapping because of the incidental taking of lynx.
Maine clearly sits on the outer fringes of lynx habitat. If we examine the map above showing historic lynx habitat we can see that at one time it is believed that lynx lived in areas to the south of Maine. Why then and not now? Science has shown that climate has changed for millions of years. Isn’t if fair to assume that with these climate changes, so too do the habits of animals, including the Canada lynx? Isn’t it just as plausible to assume that during these fluctuations of ample lynx and sparse lynx populations Maine’s lynx population will fluctuate, not only because of it’s own population fluctuations but those fluctuations occurring many, many miles away?
If Maine sits on the outer fringes of lynx habitat, I wonder if that habitat is always fluctuating adding to the uncertainty of good snowshoe hare habitat and thus good lynx habitat? Is it fair to make judgment that perhaps Maine’s lynx population is really nothing more than the ups and downs we might experience do to normal life cycles? Is it right then that the citizens of Maine and the taxpayers of this country have to make unnecessary sacrifices in an attempt to accomplish something that we may not even have any control over?
If this observation carries any weight at all, and I’m sure in some circles it will and others it won’t, then we also need to ask ourselves the same thing when it comes to other endangered or threatened species that sit on fringe areas.
Of course the global warming advocates are saying that soon Fort Kent, Maine will have the same climate as New Jersey. If they truly believe that, then it is pointless to try to save the lynx habitat for Maine.
There is a reason that the Canada lynx thrives in most of Canada and Alaska. It is the prime area of their habitat. Areas of northern Maine and other parts of the U.S. near the Canadian border are fringe areas for the lynx. While we should be aware of this and do what is feasible and realistic to protect lynx as well as other species, we should not be further crippling the local economies by forcing them to adhere to ridiculous rules in hopes of saving 2 more lynx over the next 8 years.
The ironic part about this agreement reached between Maine and the API is some well-paid scientist will conclude in a few years that the steps taken to reduce incidental taking of lynx worked because there were fewer trapped lynx when in reality it resulted from a normal ten-year cycle of the hare and the lynx when populations decreased. Of course we will never hear about that will we?
Abuse of the ESA is prevalent all across the U.S. with no end in sight. Groups are using the ESA as a tool and for leverage to gain a foothold in their quest to end hunting, trapping and fishing. There is no or very little science behind most of what they do. They play on the emotions of people and are winning the battles. Few people realize that the present agreement, which involves outlawing the use of a trap best known to catch coyotes, will result in more coyotes which in turn compete with the lynx for food such as the snowshoe hare. The efforts of the API will result in the needless starvation of some lynx because their interest lies more with the stopping of trapping than the protection of the lynx or any other animal.
This foolishness has to stop somewhere.
Tom Remington
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