{"id":31711,"date":"2015-05-31T05:27:49","date_gmt":"2015-05-31T11:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=31711"},"modified":"2015-05-31T05:27:49","modified_gmt":"2015-05-31T11:27:49","slug":"stupidity-and-tragedy-on-antelope-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/05\/31\/stupidity-and-tragedy-on-antelope-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Stupidity And Tragedy On Antelope Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

A week ago today\u00a0I witnessed two unfortunate events on Antelope Island and the causeway leading to it. Each was caused by poor decisions by humans and each had potential or real negative effects on wildlife.<\/p>\n

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\"pronghorn<\/p>\n

The first began with this female pronghorn near Bridger Bay Campground. Based on her behavior and her physical appearance (you’ll see that later)\u00a0she obviously had at least one fawn hidden in the tall grass nearby.\u00a0 As females with youngsters are prone to do this pronghorn was highly\u00a0stressed by the\u00a0nearby presence of a coyote that had just entered this large, thick\u00a0patch of sagebrush. In situations like this female pronghorns often\u00a0harass coyotes until they leave the area (something I’ve previously documented here<\/a> if you’re interested) and this one was trying to do just that but\u00a0she couldn’t or chose not to enter the patch of sagebrush because it was too thick.<\/p>\n

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\"pronghorn<\/p>\n

She frantically circled the perimeter of the sagebrush and repeatedly tore at it with her horns out of apparent frustration.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\"pronghorn<\/p>\n

Magpies don’t like\u00a0coyotes either and they gathered to loudly protest its presence. But soon the attention of the pronghorn was diverted by something across the road and behind me. At first I had no idea what it was but her focus on something there was intense…<\/p>\n

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\"pronghorn<\/p>\n

and soon she decided to leave the coyote, cross the road behind me at a trot, and investigate whatever she had apparently spotted. As you can see by her teats she is obviously nursing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"pronghorn<\/p>\n

After she crossed the road and I was able to turn my pickup around she was still headed toward something that, based on her alert postures and other unusual behaviors, had obviously alarmed her.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\"stupid<\/p>\n

And this is what it was. A camper from the nearby campground (she’s wearing a\u00a0head net to combat the\u00a0biting gnats)\u00a0was taking her little white dog for\u00a0a walk.\u00a0The dog was off-leash despite the fact that\u00a0state park rules state that “pets must\u00a0be on a maximum six-foot leash at all times”. Like many selfish and\/or unthinking people this lady apparently thought rules apply to everyone else but not to her.<\/p>\n

The pronghorn wasn’t concerned about\u00a0the\u00a0camper but\u00a0she was about the dog, which to her must have seemed like just another coyote threatening her offspring which must have been hidden in the nearby tall grasses and vegetation.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"pronghorn<\/p>\n

The pronghorn approached the dog in an obviously threatening manner.\u00a0\u00a0By now the dog was some distance from its owner…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"pronghorn<\/p>\n

and the pronghorn apparently attacked it. At this point I couldn’t actually see the little dog in the tall vegetation but what was happening was obvious. This mother pronghorn was very intent on protecting her offspring.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\"stupid<\/p>\n

The camper now did something that surprised me. She turned around, leaving her dog behind as the pronghorn pursued it, and walked back in the direction of the campground. I can only guess that she\u00a0personally feared the pronghorn\u00a0and decided to let the dog fend for itself and walk (not run) toward safety.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"stupid<\/p>\n

But then she apparently had a change of heart and turned around, pulled back her head net and walked back toward both the dog and the pronghorn, glaring at me as she did so.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"stupid<\/p>\n

She found her little dog…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"stupid<\/p>\n

removed its doggie coat and they both headed back to the safety of the campground.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"stupid<\/p>\n

Some time later I visited the campground again and the camper and her companion still seemed\u00a0worried about the dog (at their feet between them). Perhaps they were concerned that it had been injured but I never saw any evidence of that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"stupid<\/p>\n

She seemed upset and her companion consoled her.<\/p>\n

Based on their license plate these campers were from Ohio. I suspect they don’t follow rules and regulations in their home state either.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This incident was particularly disturbing to me because I was already in a foul mood over something I saw and photographed earlier that morning along the causeway as I approached the island.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote<\/p>\n

This coyote had a severely broken leg. The lower leg and foot flopped around uncontrollably as it walked on three feet. I often see limping coyotes on the island but this was the worst leg injury I’ve seen. It’s the management policy of the state park to let “nature\u00a0take its course” when animals are injured and I agree with that policy but it’s still hard\u00a0to watch their suffering.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote<\/p>\n

But the next day while I was reviewing my images I noticed something extremely disturbing. You can see right through a hole in its leg and I’m almost certain now\u00a0that this coyote had been shot. Utah considers coyotes to be vermin and many folks will shoot them on sight. A few of the coyotes often hunt the entire causeway from the island to the mainland and I’m guessing this\u00a0one was shot on the Syracuse side.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote<\/p>\n

An extreme crop of the same image convinces me that it’s a gunshot wound, possibly .22 caliber. I reported this incident to park officials (DNR) and looked for the animal on subsequent trips to the island but haven’t seen it since. And I suspect that I won’t in the future.<\/p>\n

Most of my trips to the island are filled with joy and wonder at what I see and photograph. This one disgusted me and my own species was the reason for that reaction.<\/p>\n

And I’m still not over it.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

PS – I’m heading for the island in a few minutes so I won’t be able to respond to any comments until I return.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week ago today I witnessed two unfortunate events on Antelope Island and the causeway leading to it. Each was caused by poor decisions by humans and each had potential or real negative effects on wildlife.<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,334,374,373],"tags":[31,98,2509,2511,2510,258,2508,311],"class_list":["post-31711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island","category-birds","category-coyotes","category-pronghorns","tag-antelope-island-2","tag-coyote","tag-dogs-on-leash","tag-gunshot-wound","tag-injured-coyote","tag-pronghorn","tag-rules-and-regulations","tag-utah-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/pronghorn-1751-ron-dudley.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-8ft","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}