{"id":23462,"date":"2014-09-11T18:50:47","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T00:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ibo.boisestate.edu\/?p=23462"},"modified":"2022-03-17T08:35:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T14:35:57","slug":"silver-lining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2014\/09\/11\/silver-lining\/","title":{"rendered":"Silver Lining"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few of you may have noticed that we haven\u2019t had any updates on Venus, one of our ACEC curlews, in quite some time. Unfortunately, Venus died on the Long-billed Curlew Area of Critical Environmental Concern\u00a0 (ACEC) study area during the last week of May. We launched an official investigation of her death with the Idaho Fish and Game\u2019s Wildlife Health Laboratory, and so haven\u2019t been able to share the news until now. Read on for the rest of the story, and the conclusions of her autopsy.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Venus\"<\/figure>\n

We are saddened to lose Venus (and the monetary\/time investment that went into attaching her transmitter) but we hope that her story will help bring attention to the plight of her fellow Long-billed Curlews on the ACEC. We are also sad to share this news with the Community Cub Scout Pack (#255) of Middleton, who visited her home this spring and chose her name.<\/p>\n

Her story<\/h2>\n

Toward the end of May, we began to get a signal that Venus\u2019s transmitter had not moved. As always we were concerned, but we were out of town attaching transmitters on other curlews and so were not able to go check on her right away. We became even more worried when realizing that the crew had last seen her with recently hatched chicks but hadn’t found her on the last couple visits to her territory. In 2013 we strongly suspected that one of our curlews was shot<\/a>, and he was killed just days after his chicks hatched – when curlews are the most defensive of their territory, most visible, and most likely to loudly approach humans that are near their chicks. With her risk of being shot elevated, we feared the worst. This was not just a transmitter glitch.<\/p>\n

When we finally made it to the ACEC in June, we found what we had expected: Venus was dead. There was no sign of her mate or chicks anywhere in the area. Since chicks of a young age are not very mobile, we assume that her chicks died and her mate fled (he did not have a transmitter, so we will never know but it’s possible that the male continued to care for the chicks).<\/p>\n

\"Not
Not much was left of Venus by the time we found her<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because of the hot summer weather, there wasn\u2019t much left of her, but thankfully we were able to recover Venus\u2019s transmitter unharmed. After some debate, we decided it would be worth it to collect what was left of her body to investigate the cause of death, though we were not hopeful that any evidence remained so long after her death. We contacted Mark Drew from the IDFG Wildlife Health Laboratory and he kindly offered to do an autopsy for us.<\/p>\n

\"Mark
Mark begins the investigation with an x-ray of the evidence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Necropsy Report<\/h2>\n

This month, after rigorous testing, x-rays, and a careful necropsy report, we have the results. Venus was killed by a gunshot wound to her upper chest.<\/strong><\/p>\n