Capital Press
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Friday, September 17, 2021
Volume 94, Number 38
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University of Idaho
Michael Parrella, dean of the University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, at Rinker Rock Creek Ranch near Hailey, Idaho.
THE DEAN
Michael Parrella makes things happen for agriculture at the University of Idaho
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
M
University of Idaho
CALS Dean Michael Parrel-
la on the Moscow campus.
OSCOW, Idaho —
Michael
Parrella,
whose
contagious
enthusiasm helps drive
a growing lineup of
major projects at the
University of Idaho’s College of
Agricultural and Life Sciences, wants
to see them become reality before he
thinks about retiring.
There’s work left to do at CALS,
he said, adding that he thoroughly
enjoys working with the ag industry,
the university and state Legislature in
fi guring out how best to design and
fund projects that will benefi t ag and
the state’s economy.
Agribusiness, including food pro-
duction and processing, last year gen-
erated $26 billion in sales, or 18%
of Idaho’s total economic output,
according to the university.
The secret to Parrella’s success?
“You have to be there,” Parrella,
69, said during an interview on the
university’s main campus in Mos-
cow. “You have to be present and you
have to engage with stakeholders.
You need to be able to communicate
with them and show you are commit-
ted to helping them. It’s building trust
and following through.”
He moved to UI in February 2016
from the University of California-Da-
vis, where he was associate dean of
See Parrella, Page 11
MICHAEL PARRELLA
of California-Davis; asso-
ciate dean for agricultur-
al programs, UC-Davis
College of Agriculture
and Environmental Sci-
ences, 2000-10; entomol-
ogy and plant sciences
professor (including
fl oriculture and nursery),
UC-Davis; entomology
professor, UC-Riverside.
Occupation: Dean, Uni-
versity of Idaho College
of Agricultural and Life
Sciences, since Feb. 1,
2016.
Age: 69
Education: B.S., animal
science, Rutgers, 1974;
M.S.,1977, Ph.D.,1980, in
entomology at Virginia
Tech.
Family: Wife, Deborah,
three adult children.
Previous jobs: Entomol-
ogy and nematology de-
partment chair, 2011-15
and 1991-99, University
Hometown: Rahway, N.J.
Lives in Princeton, Idaho.
Agriculture braces for mandatory vaccinations
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Farm groups are awaiting details
on how the U.S. Labor Department
will carry out President Joe Biden’s
plan to force employers with more
than 100 workers to ensure all are
vaccinated or tested regularly for
COVID.
The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration will issue
an emergency rule, but no time-
line has been set. Unvaccinated
employees
will
have to produce
a negative test
at least weekly,
according to the
White
House,
which
provided
President
few other details,
Joe Biden
including whether
the
100-worker
mandate will count seasonal as
well as year-round employees.
Washington Growers League
executive director Mike Gempler
said he was surprised by the man-
date. “It’s an extraordinary time
with extraordinary problems, so
I think people have to take steps
they normally wouldn’t think of,”
he said.
“I feel like we’re going back-
ward instead of forward, so some-
one has to do something,” Gem-
pler said. “I really see vaccinations
as our way out of it.”
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee have
required vaccinations for state
who are still not vaccinated, even
though the vaccine is safe, eff ec-
tive and free,” he said.
Washington State Dairy Fed-
eration executive director Dan
Wood said a vaccination rule may
put agricultural employers in the
position of enforcing a policy that
doesn’t fi t some circumstances.
“Are you going to terminate
an unvaccinated employee who
works alone in a tractor?” he
employees. Their mandates have
drawn lawsuits in both states.
Republican governors in at least
fi ve states vowed to sue the Biden
administration over mandating
vaccinations in the private sector.
Biden congratulated his admin-
istration — “America is in better
shape than it was seven months ago
when I took offi ce” — and blamed
a “tough stretch” with COVID on
the unvaccinated.
“Many of us are frustrated with
the nearly 80 million Americans
See Mandates, Page 11
Cattle mutilations: One researcher’s theory on what’s happening
In the wake of recent cat-
tle mutilations across the West,
ranchers are asking who — or
what — is responsible.
According to FBI records,
thousands of killings and appar-
ent mutilations of cattle have hap-
pened since the 1970s. In each
case, a cow or bull is found dead
with body parts such as eyes,
tongues and genitals missing.
Ranchers and detectives have
speculated widely about what’s
happening, theo-
rizing aliens, cult
members, prank-
sters or even the
CIA could be
responsible.
The
Capital
Nick Nation Press sat down
for an interview
with retired award-winning Cana-
dian veterinary pathologist Nick
Nation, who has researched the
issue.
In Alberta, Nation has analyzed
the carcasses of mutilated cat-
tle and, more recently, dismem-
TIME TO PLAN
for next year.
bered house cats. In both cases,
he’s come to the same conclusion:
scavenger animals, primarily coy-
otes, are responsible.
The interview has been edited
for brevity and clarity.
CP: You started research-
ing the issue of cattle mutila-
tion in the 1980s. At the time,
you came to the conclusion that
scavengers were responsible for
body part removal. Do you still
believe that?
Nation: Yes. I’m still con-
vinced coyotes and occasionally
some other species, you know,
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birds, skunks, even mice, will do
damage to these carcasses. It’s
the bizarre nature of the appear-
ance of the animal that gets peo-
ple concerned that there may be
some nefarious activity going on.
CP: Wouldn’t coyotes leave
obvious bite marks? We hear
from ranchers and detectives
that the wounds usually look
clean-cut.
Nation: That’s common in
coyote predation, and it’s also a
feature on the cats we’ve done a
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See Mutilations, Page 11
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