Musician plays for animals at local shelter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As a musician in Nashville, Michael Smith has played in front of plenty of tough crowds over the years. But the guitarist for a popular cover band has recently discovered his toughest audience is at the Williamson County Animal Center.

Smith, started playing here a few months ago. He typically comes on Monday nights after everyone has gone home for the day. Usually it's just him, his guitar and a room full of cats or dogs.

"The dogs are tougher customers, you have to win them over. They may be man's best friend but they're pretty picky," he says sitting with his guitar inside the shelter.

An animal lover himself, Michael has cats at home and doesn't have the space to adopt anymore. When he recently learned the shelter was dealing with overcrowding issues, he decided to volunteer his time to come in and play.

The gentle strumming of his guitar reverberates through the halls here. Some of the cats can often be seen struggling to keep their eyes open as the music gently seems to coax them into a deep sleep.

"It's the sonic waves, when it hits them they can feel it, they can actually feel it. And what's the one thing we have in common with everyone throughout the entire world? Music," the 49-year-old says.

Michael will typically post videos of himself playing on his band's Facebook page , the Williams County Animal Center also does them same and those in charge say it's help get dogs and cats here adopted.

"Any positive exposure for our animals is good exposure," says Penny Adams, Community Outreach Assistant for the center.

"And it helps these animals when they go to their new homes, we have some animals who have never heard music before."

Computers successfully trained to identify animals in photos

A computer model developed at the University of Wyoming by UW researchers and others has demonstrated remarkable accuracy and efficiency in identifying images of wild animals from camera-trap photographs in North America.

The artificial-intelligence breakthrough, detailed in a paper published in the scientific journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, is described as a significant advancement in the study and conservation of wildlife. The computer model is now available in a software package for Program R, a widely used programming language and free software environment for statistical computing.

"The ability to rapidly identify millions of images from camera traps can fundamentally change the way ecologists design and implement wildlife studies," says the paper, whose lead authors are recent UW Department of Zoology and Physiology Ph.D. graduate Michael Tabak and Ryan Miller, both of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health in Fort Collins, Colo.

The study builds on UW research published earlier this year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in which a computer model analyzed 3.2 million images captured by camera traps in Africa by a citizen science project called Snapshot Serengeti. The artificial-intelligence technique called deep learning categorized animal images at a 96.6 percent accuracy rate, the same as teams of human volunteers achieved, at a much more rapid pace than did the people.

In the latest study, the researchers trained a deep neural network on Mount Moran, UW's high-performance computer cluster, to classify wildlife species using 3.37 million camera-trap images of 27 species of animals obtained from five states across the United States. The model then was tested on nearly 375,000 animal images at a rate of about 2,000 images per minute on a laptop computer, achieving 97.6 percent accuracy -- likely the highest accuracy to date in using machine learning for wildlife image classification.

The computer model also was tested on an independent subset of 5,900 images of moose, cattle, elk and wild pigs from Canada, producing an accuracy rate of 81.8 percent. And it was 94 percent successful in removing "empty" images (without any animals) from a set of photographs from Tanzania.

The researchers have made their model freely available in a software package in Program R. The package, "Machine Learning for Wildlife Image Classification in R (MLWIC)," allows other users to classify their images containing the 27 species in the dataset, but it also allows users to train their own machine learning models using images from new datasets.

The lead author of the PNAS article, recent UW computer science Ph.D. graduate Mohammad Sadegh (Arash) Norouzzadeh, is one of multiple contributors to the new paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Other participating researchers from UW are Department of Computer Science Associate Professor Jeff Clune and postdoctoral researcher Elizabeth Mandeville of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

Other organizations represented in the research group are the USDA's National Wildlife Research Center, Arizona State University, California's Tejon Ranch Conservancy, the University of Georgia, the University of Florida, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Montana.

Bears and other wild animals are in your yard to stay

Recently, a friend of mine was traveling on Route 10 between Delhi and Stamford. Suddenly, a large black bear came out into the road with an ear of corn hanging out of its mouth. My friend asked me later about the number of bears in the area.

Black bears have moved north from the Catskills over the past few years. And why not? There is an increased amount of suitable habitat that allows them to live in our backyards. Let's face it - animals have the ability to adapt.

Fifty to seventy-five years ago there were far more farms than there are today. Every available field was mowed and tilled to provide food for cows and crops for market. Heck, from West Oneonta to Morris there were once 17 or 18 working farms. Today there are only a couple. The small family farm has long disappeared.

I live on our old farm. It has been in my family for 148 years. Our barn was built to hold Jersey cattle that were smaller than the large, milk-producing Holsteins of today. At the peak we could only milk 34 cows, but my ancestors made a good living for the times, even providing butter for several mom-and-pop stores in Oneonta.

Like our farm the pastures have grown up to brush lots and trees and many of the fields have gone out of production, thus creating habitat for animals.

For some reason there was a sudden influx of bears in the area a few years ago. They were looking in windows in Morris, wandering the roads and streets and checking out backyards. Bears were becoming a nuisance. They tore down bird feeders and destroyed farmers' crops.

The DEC has learned over the years that you just don't live trap nuisance bears and move them to a different area. They carry on the same tactics in their new area, creating problems. That left one solution – open a hunting season and let hunters control the problem. It works.

I had a neighbor call me one afternoon. "I've got a bear on my back porch."

Jokingly I responded, "Feed him jelly donuts. He's really fond of them."

The neighbor wasn't thrilled with my joke, so I told him to send him up to my house.

A farmer just outside of Poland had bears destroying acres of corn each night, so he put up signs reading "Bear Hunters Wanted." It was the only way to stop them. It helped.

There were rumors going around that the DEC was releasing the bears into our area. I heard stories that New Jersey was controlling its growing bear population by trapping them and releasing them in the Catskills at night. I heard the same thing about the coyotes and the mountain lions that sometimes roam our area.

The DEC doesn't have to release them. They have moved in on their own to fill a niche and have increased in numbers ever since. Coyotes were not brought in to reduce the deer population, and it was not funded by insurance companies to reduce the number of deer-car accidents.

In many areas where the population is encroaching on the animal's habitat, they learn to adapt to civilization. Just drive up West Street towards the colleges. There are more deer in the roads than pedestrians. People have e-mailed me, "They're eating all my plants and shrubs."

My response was to get the city let bow hunters harvest some of them. She didn't like that answer.

Let's face it. Wild animals are here to stay. Enjoy watching them and stock up on jelly donuts.

How some animals use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate

COME wintertime thousands of garden warblers, pied flycatchers, and bobolinks—all tiny songbirds—will cross the equator heading south for sunnier climes. It is an epic trip. For guidance they will rely on the position of the sun and stars, as well as smells and other landmarks. They may also use the Earth's magnetic field, thanks to a sense known as magnetoreception. Theories about it have long attracted quacks. Franz Anton Mesmer, a German doctor working in the late 1700s, argued that living things contain magnetic fluids, which, when out of balance, lead to disease. His idea of “animal magnetism” was debunked and similar ones viewed with scepticism. But magnetoreception has drawn more serious attention in the past half-century. A pioneering study in 1972 demonstrated that European robins respond to magnetic cues. The list of animals with a magnetic sense has since grown to include species in every vertebrate category, as well as certain insects and crustaceans. Some may use it simply to orient, such as blind mole rats. Others—salmon, spiny lobsters, thrush nightingales—may use it for migration and homing, alongside other sensory cues. How do they do it?

Think of the Earth's magnetic field as shaped by a bar magnet at the centre of the planet. From the southern hemisphere, magnetic field lines curve around the globe and re-enter the planet in the northern hemisphere. A few features of the field vary predictably across the surface of the Earth. Intensity is one variable—the Earth's magnetic field is weakest at the equator and strongest at the poles. Another is inclination. The angle between the field lines and the Earth changes with latitude, so an animal migrating northwards from the equator encounters steadily steeper inclination angles on its route.

Animals can potentially derive two types of information from the geomagnetic field: the direction in which they are facing, and where they sit relative to a goal. Directional information is the more basic, as polarity lets animals orient north or south as if using a compass. But this has limited utility over long distances. A strong ocean current can sweep turtles off track; winds can do the same for migratory birds. Determining latitude relative to an end point is more useful, and magnetic cues like intensity and inclination may help. Take loggerhead sea turtles (pictured). They swim from the coasts of Florida into the North Atlantic gyre, circling it for years before returning to their natal beaches to breed. Straying from the course can have deadly consequences. One study put hatchlings in test sites that simulated the magnetic fields at three points on the outer edge of the gyre. In all three cases, the turtles reoriented to stay within its confines. Another study, published in April, showed that turtles nesting on far-off beaches with similar magnetic properties (like two on either side of the Florida peninsula, at similar latitudes) had more in common genetically than with those nesting closer by. Turtles, it would seem, can get lost while searching for their natal beach. They may swim to one farther afield but more magnetically familiar and breed there.

Questions still abound. The evidence for a magnetic sense is mostly behavioural; researchers have yet to find receptors for it. Part of the problem is that the cells could be located anywhere inside an animal, since magnetic fields pass freely through tissue. (By contrast, cells that enable the other senses, like sight and smell, make contact with the external environment.) Two theories of magnetoreception dominate. One says animals have an intracellular compass. Another suggests that chemical reactions influenced by the geomagnetic field produce the sense. For researchers, this means more questions than answers.

Crowd was 'Out Here With Animals' Saturday

Twin Towns Area residents and visitors were "Out Here With Animals" Saturday, Aug. 25.

From 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Tractor Supply Company, Wahpeton, hosted animal adoptions, a pet supplies drive, live music and more in its parking lot. All proceeds benefit Chahinkapa Zoo and 4-H of Richland and Wilkin Counties.

"We're very grateful to have Mike (Rosley) and TSC as a great community partner," Zoo Director Kathy Diekman said. "It's fun to see the other animals from different places. This is outstanding and we're really looking forward to continuing this partnership."

Youth of all ages enjoyed petting and playing with the livestock provided by Brad Abel. The petting zoo included five goats, a donkey, a pig, three ducklings and three guinea chicks.

Guests also viewed the 11 antique tractors on site and a vendor fair. Everything from canned goods to glass works was available for purchase.

"We've got vendors from as far as Fergus Falls," Rosley said. "There's 100 racks of ribs (to eat)."

Throughout August, Tractor Supply Company is accepting new sealed food, toys, cleaning supplies, bed, scratching posts, leashes and bowls. They'll be donated to area animal rescue facilities and shelters.

"The supplies drive is an important component to Out Here With Animals because it allows our customers who don't have the ability (to adopt) to still give back in a much needed way," stated a TSC press release.

If all of the activities weren't enough, Out Here With Animals included music from Mike Morris of The Roosters, nail trimming and checkups for animals and a dunk tank sponsored by Heritage Insurance Services. Eric Issendorf, head coach of the North Dakota State College of Science Wildcats football team, was among the community members who volunteered to be dunked.

"It slipped," joked Sarah Abel of the Wahpeton Breckenridge Area Chamber of Commerce as she helped a youth send Issendorf into the water.

Dozens of animals saved thanks to new animal sanctuary in Jonesborough

JONESBOROUGH, TN (WJHL)- It's a place where every animal has a heartbreaking story but where they all get to live happily ever after. Tilted Tavern Animal Sanctuary opened this year in Jonesborough.

The goal is to rescue and provide care for farm animals who have been abused or neglected. It's a unique mission the Jones family said never expected to take on.

About a year ago, in her role as a veterinarian, Brooke Jones took a phone call from someone looking for a place to take a hen in bad shape. "They asked if we know anyone that would help and so I said sure," Tilted Tavern co-owner Brooke Jones said with a laugh.

After the hen, "We rescued one cow and a chicken and now we have around 50 animals," Tilted Tavern co-owner Robert Jones said. "We would've never thought we would be here."

The husband and wife team have turned their historic 50-acre farm into Tilted Tavern Animal Sanctuary.

"Right now we have chickens, ducks, cows, horses, a goat, and a pig, and two roosters," Robert Jones said.

He said animals like Skittles the goat and Dumbleboar the pig have come along way since they first arrived. Like most of the animals here they have a heartbreaking story.

"We've had neglect, we've had animal cruelty, our pig is from an animal fighting ring," Robert Jones said.

Without the animal sanctuary, "Some animals would've just died at where they were at the beginning before we got there, others would've been euthanized," Robert Jones said.

Once an animal is rescued, if they are not fit for adoption they come here where they are rehabilitated, loved, and safe.

"The fact that I can not only help the community out but also help animals and have something for them is really wonderful for me personally," Brooke Jones said.

Now after living through nightmare situations, the animals get to to live out their days on this peaceful Jonesborough farm.

Alpacas to aquariums and beyond: Jennifer's passion for animals fulfilled

To Jennifer Vandenbergh, the phrase 'all creatures great and small' is more than a line from a well known hymn or a recognisable RSPCA advertising hook – it's a way of life.

The TAFE NSW Orange Animal Studies student has used her training to involve animals as varied as fish and alpacas in both her professional life.

In addition to working at Second Nature Aquarium, Ms Vandenbergh played a crucial role in setting up and running her brother Scott's stud farm, Kienella Aplacas, at Springside.

According to the stud's website it breeds “show-quality alpacas … for sale as pets, stock guards, and breeding females; their fleece is also available for hand spinners”.

For Ms Vandenbergh, the operation allows her to pursue her passion for animals while lending a hand to family.

“I love everything about animals, particularly the unconditional love, loyalty and companionship they provide,” she said.

“Since starting our stud, my brother, who is disabled, has been a different person. He just loves being with the alpacas.”

The former Orange High School student also uses her free time to visit nursing homes with a qualified therapy dog, Chevy.

“It's rewarding to see how happy she makes the residents,” Ms Vandenbergh said.

Enrolments are now open for semester two at TAFE NSW Orange, with a range of courses on offer.

What We Get Wrong About Animals

Humans have long trapped animals in cages, nets and snares, but the tangled webs of vanity, curiosity, cruelty and fear we cast over other creatures may be even more perilous. We see our virtues and vices reflected in animals — hardworking beavers, indolent sloths, innocent lambs, greedy vultures — through a glass darkly. But these well-worn clichés blind us to a world far more dazzling and varied, according to Lucy Cooke, the acclaimed zoology-trained author and documentary filmmaker, in her new book, "The Truth About Animals." As she writes, "Painting the animal kingdom with our artificial ethical brush denies us the astonishing diversity of life, in all of its blood-drinking, sibling-eating, corpse-shagging glory." (Yes, corpse shagging. The penguin portion is not for the faint of heart.)

In 13 breezy chapters, each devoted to a misunderstood creature, Cooke collects some of our most crackpot notions (and the equally startling truths) about animals. She nimbly pings between arcane, medieval and modern sources, assembling a cast of characters that includes unhinged aristocrats, ill-fated adventurers, Thomas Jefferson, Julius Caesar, Sigmund Freud, the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe and more than a few mad scientists.
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Aristotle believed the courage of animals corresponds to the heat of their blood; European scientists contended that frogs hatch from wet clay, caterpillars from cabbage and eels from drops of dew. Others theorized that migrating swallows spend winters underwater or on the moon. The real animal behavior Cooke reports is often even more extraordinary. Researchers have recently observed chimpanzees dancing in the rain, fashioning spears to hunt bush babies and playing with sticks they cradle and put to bed like dolls.

Cooke unearths old beliefs and debunks modern-day myths with humor and panache. Pandas, we learn, are not bumbling fluff balls too busy being cute to breed in captivity. Elaborate matchmaking efforts at zoos say more about us and our obsessive meddling than the bears, which are known to mate more than 40 times in a single afternoon in the wild. And bats — popularly believed to be blind, bloodsucking, disease-bearing rats with wings — are more "Buddha than Beelzebub." They see perfectly well, are very rarely rabid and share more DNA with us than they do with rodents, and only three species are vampiric. They are also among the few animals to engage in oral sex, a fact Cooke presents as one of their "porn-star credentials."

The book is big on bawdy humor, and while it's not that weird mating habits and giant genitalia aren't funny, Cooke describes the "ins and outs" of animal sex with a glee normally found among middle schoolers. (Gonads inspire some of the most blindingly painful puns and rhymes; a debate over beaver testicles becomes the "fluster over the beaver's cluster.")

Cooke's appetite for the salacious sometimes overwhelms her sensitivity, as it does in her account of Maurice K. Temerlin, an American psychology professor who reared a chimpanzee named Lucy in his suburban home. At first Lucy is a model "daughter" who uses silverware and raises a kitten. Temerlin, disturbingly, then begins to fix her cocktails. Soon Lucy is fixing herself cocktails. When she takes to masturbating with the vacuum cleaner, Temerlin responds by buying her Playgirl and even participating in one of these sessions to "see what would happen." (Nothing, mercifully.) When Lucy eventually grows too unruly, Temerlin offloads her in Gambia, where she is flayed and butchered by poachers. A story like this is worth analyzing for what it might reveal about anthropomorphism at the edge. Cooke, however, plays it for laughs.

The fraught history of humans and animals has lately been the focus of expanding scholarship, insightful meditations such as John Berger's influential essay "Why Look at Animals?" and environmentalist critiques. Cooke, however, attempts neither to probe its complexities nor to sound apocalyptic alarms (though she does, dutifully, note the impact of human carelessness and mass consumption on other species). She is not plumbing the depths; she is riding the thermals. Her pace is quick, her touch is light, and through her wealth of research we can reach new heights of wonder.

Live exports review: animal welfare groups criticise vet's appointment

Animal welfare organisations have indicated that they are concerned about a perceived conflict of interest of a veterinarian appointed to conduct a review into conditions experienced by sheep on live export ships during the Middle Eastern summer.

Dr Michael McCarthy was appointed by the agriculture minister, David Littleproud, to conduct the review on 10 April, two days after 60 Minutes aired footage of sheep suffering extreme distress on the Emanuel Exports stocked ship Awassi Express, which left Fremantle on 1 August 2017 and lost 2,400 sheep to heat stress.

McCarthy has more than 30 years experience as a livestock veterinarian and has worked most of his career in the live export trade.
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He has acted as shipboard veterinarian on 65 live export voyages for eight major Australian exporters, including Emanuel Exports, conducted industry-funded research for Meat and Livestock Australia and Livecorp, and acted as an expert consultant for Murdoch University and the University of Queensland.

Animal welfare groups say McCarthy is extremely knowledgeable about the industry but his extensive working history as a paid contractor to the live export industry created a perceived conflict of interest.

The RSPCA, Animals Australia and Vets Against Live Export (VALE) wrote separately to Littleproud raising concerns about McCarthy's appointment.

VALE spokeswoman Sue Foster said McCarthy was a well-published researcher who had made recommendations for change in the past, although those recommendations had not been taken up by the industry.

But she said his extensive work history with key live exporters, including Emanuel Exports, whose conduct sparked the review, created a possible conflict of interest.

"VALE has concerns about the independence of the review given the long-term association and employment that vet has in the live export industry," Foster told Guardian Australia.

The RSPCA said it did not questions McCarthy's scientific credentials but said "we were surprised that they had appointed someone who was so reliant on industry funding".

Animals Australia said the review should have been co-chaired by Australia's chief veterinary officer.

McCarthy declined to comment when contacted by Guardian Australia.

Littleproud said McCarthy's review would be "absolutely independent".

"Animal welfare groups regularly cite Dr McCarthy's research in their arguments and some were consulted prior to him being consulted," Littleproud said, adding that McCarthy would consult with animal welfare organisations as part of the review.

"Appointing a vet who had never had any involvement with live export to perform a review of conditions on live export boats would be a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money.

"The reviews I've ordered after being in the job just three months will be done by eminent and fiercely independent people."
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Neither Animals Australia, nor the RSPCA, nor VALE said they were consulted specifically about McCarthy's appointment.

Labor has called for an immediate suspension of the live sheep export trade until the McCarthy review is completed. It has also called for a three-month ban during the hottest months in the Persian Gulf.

The final report is due on 11 May.

Littleproud has said that he will support an end to the summer trade if that is what McCarthy recommends, saying on Friday that: "If I am looking at evidence that Dr McCarthy comes back with that says there is no way in any sense that this could be undertaken then we have to listen to that."

Rossmore veterinary hospital to house Camden animals

Camden Council is expected to continue utisilising Rossmore Veterinary Hospital to impound the area's lost and unwanted pets for a further two years.

Councillors will vote to adopt the hospital for continued use at this Tuesday's council meeting.

Camden Council used Renbury Farm, in Austral, for its pound services until late 2016, when the site was sold.

Negotiations with Campbelltown Council to use its pound facilities fell apart in 2017, causing the council to look elsewhere.

Rossmore Veterinary Hospital was selected for a short-term trial in June last year, ahead of a call for tenders to provide an impound service.

The centre applied for the tender, which council staff have recommended be approved.

A report said the hospital was aligned with the council's view on impounded animals.

"The intention of the tender was to appoint a contractor with the ability to provide core animal impounding and veterinary services, demonstrate complying facilities and demonstrate strong corporate and social responsibility to deliver on council's adopted 'no kill' policy in operating its animal care facility," the report read.

The council was looking for a facility to house both companion animals and livestock, however no applications were received to cater for livestock.

The council will continue to seek a suitable location to impound livestock.

The report praised the Rossmore facility for making the site more comfortable for animals.

"Since June 1, there have been more than 140 dogs and 70 cats from Camden LGA pass through Rossmore Veterinary Hospital," the report stated.

"In this time, council officers and the hospital have built a productive and professional working relationship.

"Rossmore vets have facilitated a number of improvements including the installation of blinds on the kennels and a new air-conditioning unit in the cattery.

"Importantly, Rossmore vets have worked closely with council officers to promote and market impounded animals to give them the best opportunity of being rehomed."

The council will continue to "investigate long-term options for our growing community".

Animals worldwide stick close to home when humans move in

Animals living in landscapes used intensively by people travel, on average, only half to one-third as far as animals in more remote areas do — a pattern that's consistent across dozens of species worldwide. The finding, published today in Science1, has implications for important ecological processes linked to animal movement, such as seed transport and nutrient cycling. And it could spell trouble for the animals themselves as the climate changes.

More than 100 scientists around the world shared satellite-tracking data for 803 mammals from 57 species, from impala (Aepyceros melampus) to olive baboons (Papio anubis) and grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). The data charted the animals' movements over timescales of up to ten days, and were correlated with a Human Footprint Index that measures how deeply our species has impacted a place, using metrics such as population density and the presence of roads and night-time lights.

There's likely to be more than one explanation for the animals' reduced mobility, says Marlee Tucker, a macro-ecologist at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, who led the study. "Some animals might be sort of trapped, caught in fragments that are suitable for them, surrounded by a landscape that is not suitable — a road, a fence or a lot of people." But others might be tethering themselves to attractive resources, such as edible crops or water sources intended for livestock.

Sticking close to calories

That helps to explain the behaviour of a herd of elk (Cervus elaphus) near Banff National Park in Canada tracked by ecologist Mark Hebblewhite of the University of Montana in Missoula. Many have stopped migrating between summer and winter range. "They've given up their old wild ways," Hebblewhite says. The same dynamic is playing out with migrating ungulates across the western United States and Canada, Hebblewhite says. Many now spend the summer feasting on irrigated alfalfa crops in areas they once abandoned in warm months. "The point of migrating was to get access to what's under that [sprinkler] in August" — calories."

Reduced movement can affect ecosystems because it means that seeds and nutrients in dung might not be spread so widely, or because herbivores such as elk graze smaller areas more intensively. It can affect the animals, as well: crowding together in a small area could increase the risk of disease. "It is definitely concerning," Tucker says.

Conservation biologist Reed Noss, president of the Florida Institute for Conservation Science in Chuluota, says the findings underscore the importance of corridors of land that allow wildlife to move between core areas of habitat. As the climate changes and the seas rise, these features enable animals to search widely for food and mates — and eventually seek more hospitable climates.

A helping hand

Where human barriers such as roads and cities can't be perforated with wildlife corridors, or where animals can't move quickly enough to keep up with changes in their environment, some species may need help moving, Noss says. "It seems like we will have little choice but to intervene if we don't want to lose species."

Hebblewhite says that knowing that human activity is reducing species movement "galvanizes" him to fight for more wildlife-friendly open space —even rail-thin corridors — to help animals roam. "It is going to be tough to make big new protected areas in the twenty-first century," he says. But it is possible to build new connections, such as wildlife overpasses across highways, and to protect existing slivers of habitat criss-crossing cities and farms that can serve as corridors. Even convincing ranchers to leave their gates open in the winter when cattle aren't around can help, says Hebblewhite, by allowing pronghorn antelope to migrate with the seasons.

Tucker adds that migration is one of the world's great natural wonders and deserves to be protected for its own sake. "It would be a real shame if we modified the landscape so much that you didn't have that joy of knowing that the animals travelled so far," she says. "And nature documentaries wouldn't have that great footage anymore.