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January 2025
Troopers Foiling Thermal Imaging Poachers
Clackamas County OR -- High-tech
poaching emerged in Oregon when officials
served search warrants on nine Clackamas
County residences on Dec. 15 and 16.
Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife
(OSP F&W) Troopers arrested 13 individuals
and seized 14 infrared thermal imaging
devices, one rifle and four deer in an operation
that followed months of investigation into the
subjects’ use of Forward-Looking Infrared, or
FLIR, to illegally kill deer, elk and other big
game animals.
Laws prohibit the use of thermal and
infrared devices to hunt, locate, or scout for
wildlife because the heat-sensing technology
undermines an animal’s natural ability to
hide or conceal itself. FLIR users can spot an
animal’s heat signature in complete darkness
or heavy cover. Without camouflage or cover,
animals are unable to forage or move around
after dark.
Over the last two years, OSP F&W
Division has received an increasing number
of complaints regarding the unlawful use
of FLIR technology to hunt or scout for big
game animals. Several complaints originated
in the Clackamas County area.
This fall, F&W Troopers began
investigating several individuals who were
reportedly using infrared technology to kill
deer and elk in a specific area. Troopers were
successful and the result underscores officials’
ability to navigate evolving technology,
according to OSP Captain Kyle Kennedy.
“This case highlights the Fish and
Wildlife Division’s ability to adapt to modern
poaching threats and effectively investigate
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and seek criminal prosecution of poachers,”
he said.
Infrared technology gives advantage to
those using it, and can result in an increase
in the number of animals taken off the
landscape, according to Jason Kirchner,
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
(ODFW) District Wildlife Biologist based
in Newport.
“Thermal or infrared use is
illegal in Oregon, gives an unfair advantage,
and is not a fair chase,” he said, “This illegal
activity will increase harvest rates, reduce our
game populations and hunting opportunities,
and impact the public image of law-abiding
hunters.”
Bernadette Graham-Hudson, ODFW
Wildlife Division Administrator, agrees.
“Hunting regulations are in place to
level the playing field for all hunters, and
to maintain fair chase standards,” she said,
“People who bypass the rules steal from
legitimate hunters, and all Oregonians who
wish to experience our wildlife as they
recreate in the outdoors.”
The Oregon Hunters Association, a
statewide organization invested in protecting
Oregon’s natural resources, backs the effort
to curb unethical practices, according to state
President, Steve Hagan.
“OHA supports the vigorous enforcement
of laws designed to protect wildlife, habitat,
private property and hunter’s rights,” Hagan
said.
Officials will file criminal wildlife
charges with the Clackamas County District
Attorney’s Office for all 13 individuals
suspected of using infrared thermal imaging
while scouting or hunting big game animals.
Oregon News Herald
Elk
Creek Watershed Kidnapping Reported
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and others, who managed a great deal of work
over a long period, ending last year.
When Paula Estill contacted me
recently to let me know the Elk Creek Watershed
Coalition was forming to continue the good
work, I was really encouraged. Oregon has a
system of watershed management procedures
that are major source of land improvements
and management that provides resourceful help
for landowners and wildlife and environmental
concerns. The ECWC has done over 2 million
dollars in land improvements since 2005. There
is a lot work that can still be done. Elk Creek
has some of the best Coho in the region and the
low gradient waterways are primed to be first
rate habitat.
Along with Paula and Avi Zohar,
Lee has committed to help in his very capable
way and Susan Applegate returns with her
enthusiasm along with RuthAnn Duncan filling
the chairperson role. The meeting will help
determine the momentum and direction the
watershed takes for environmental and habitat
improvement and helping property owners
steward their resources for sustainability as
well as administratively setting up an effective
organization.
The meeting is on Tuesday January
14th in the Drain Civic Center, 205 West
“A” St, in the Conference room at 7pm. The
Coalition is actively looking for new members.
Open to all interested parties, the coalition
is seeking diverse individuals, interested in
fisheries, habitat restoration and responsible
property management. Welcome all who are
interested in the Elk Creek Watershed area.
Firearm involved in
Cottage Grove Abduction
Cottage Grove, OR -- On 01/01/2025
at about 12:07 AM South Lane 9-
1-1 received a report of a suspected
kidnapping that had just occurred at El
Tapatio Restaurant located at 725 E.
Gibbs Ave. in Cottage Grove. Cottage
Grove Police Officers were nearby and
responded immediately to the location
where they contacted witnesses to the
incident.
During the subsequent investigation
it was reported to officers that Austin K.
Waskiewicz was observed confronting
his girlfriend at the south entrance to the
restaurant while brandishing a firearm
and demanded that she come with him.
After a brief argument the two left the
restaurant together in their vehicle and
returned to their residence at 40 Sweet
Ln. in Cottage Grove. Officers were able
to confirm the location of the residence
and the presence of the vehicle described
by witnesses parked in front of the house.
Due to the volatile nature of
the incident and the involvement of a
firearm, the Eugene Police Department
was contacted to request mutual aid. The
Eugene Police Department SWAT team
responded to assist in the resolution of
the incident.
At about 8:30 AM, Waszkiewicz
was taken into custody by SWAT team
members at the residence without
incident. The SWAT team transferred
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Bird Flu a Growing concern in Oregon and World Wide
hospitalized with serious respiratory symptoms,
is believed to have contracted bird flu from
exposure to sick and dead birds in a backyard
flock. The patient has not been identified but
is reportedly over 65 with underlying health
problems and is the second person in the
United States who has been hospitalized with
the virus. The Louisiana patient was infected
with a strain of the virus different from the one
affecting dairy cows and causing sporadic cases
in farmworkers in the U.S.
Genetic analysis of two samples collected
from the Louisiana patient suggest that the
virus may have the ability to attach to cells in
the human upper airway. That’s worrisome,
experts say, because bird flu viruses like H5N1
typically attach to cell receptors found in
birds and other animals, but not commonly in
humans. This is why bird flu typically doesn’t
infect humans or spread person to person. One
of the mutations was also seen in a sample
from a British Columbia teenager who was
hospitalized with bird flu, the CDC said.
While the findings show that the virus
has the capacity to mutate in ways that could
make it more transmissible to humans, experts
stopped short of suggesting it’s on the verge of
a pandemic.
“There’s no evidence that there’s been
spread from this person to others, and that’s
a good thing,” said Dr. William Schaffner,
an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt
University Medical Center. “It clearly means
that we have to keep our attention on this, and if
anything, ratchet it up even more.”
Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine and infectious
disease expert at Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia, said there’s no evidence the
mutations were “functional,” meaning the virus
could actually attach to the upper airway and
replicate and spread to others.
“I think if there were clear and definitive
evidence that the virus has mutated to the point
that it can bind to the binding receptors in the
upper respiratory tract, meaning the lining of
the nose, the lining of the throat, the lining of
the windpipe and therefore reproduce itself
in the upper respiratory tract, that would be
worrisome,” Offit said. “But that’s not what the
report said.”
In the report, the CDC said the detection
“underscores the importance of ongoing
genomic surveillance in people and animals,
containment of avian influenza A(H5) outbreaks
in dairy cattle and poultry, and prevention
measures among people with exposure to
infected animals or environments.”
The agency said that the risk to the general
public hasn’t changed and remains low. As of
the end of 2024, 66 confirmed human cases of
H5N1 have been reported in the U.S., with the
majority linked to exposure to infected poultry
or dairy cows, according to the CDC. That
number is likely an underestimate, however,
as a CDC report published in November found
evidence of asymptomatic bird flu infections in
farmworkers. There is no evidence of person-
to-person spread associated with any of the
cases.
The Louisiana patient was infected with
a strain called D1.1, which is closely related to
other viruses recently detected in wild birds and
poultry in the U.S. and in recent human cases
in British Columbia, Canada and Washington
state.
The CDC said its analysis found no
changes associated with markers that would
mean antivirals, such as Tamflu, wouldn’t work
against the virus. That’s one of the agency’s
criteria for deploying a bird flu vaccine.
Angela Rasmussen, a virologist who
specializes in emerging infectious diseases,
noted on the social media platform X that
the mutations identified in the patient weren’t
present in samples from birds, indicating the
changes developed within the patient after
infection and aren’t circulating in wildlife.
She said that’s “good news” because “it
reduces risk of transmission to another person
and suggests ‘human-adapted’ viruses aren’t
emerging in birds.” But, “the H5N1 situation
remains grim” as human cases continue to rise,
Rasmussen posted.
“We don’t know what combination of
mutations would lead to a pandemic H5N1
virus and there’s only so much we can predict
from these sequence data,” she said. “But the
more humans are infected, the more chances a
pandemic virus will emerge.”
Oregon state veterinarian Dr. Ryan Scholz
says health officials are still trying to connect
the dots after an indoor house cat in Washington
County contracted bird flu after eating cat food
with raw turkey, and later died.
Since bird flu was first found in the U.S.
in dairy cattle in March, dozens of cats have
contracted the virus, primarily through poultry
or wild bird exposure. The Oregon Department
of Agriculture says Oregon’s first cat to catch
the illness died after eating a frozen feline
turkey meal from pet food company, Northwest
Naturals.
“Anytime you have a raw food product,
if there is a pathogen, there isn’t a chance to kill
that pathogen and so it does pass through,” said
Scholz.
Cat owners who may have bought the
product are being asked to throw out meals
with “Best by” sell dates of May 21 and June
23, 2026.
“We have not connected any other
products from that company to the source meat
that we believe was infected in this product, and
so there really is not a widespread recall,” said
Scholz. “It really is targeted to just those two
lots of this product.”
Scholz says when the virus is contracted
through food products, it’s usually through raw
dairy products.
“We don’t have this virus in dairy
cattle in Oregon, but we do know that several
neighboring states do have it or have had it and
particularly in California, we’re seeing this in
raw milk dairies, so raw, unpasteurized dairy
products are another big risk factor right now,”
Scholz said.
Scholz says symptoms of bird flu in
cats are mostly neurological. They can include
lethargy, depression, and refusing to eat.
“We have seen blindness reported a
number of times where the cats become either
temporarily or permanently blind and then just
kind of generally go downhill very quickly,”
he said.
Scholz says bird flu spreading through
different species is rare. The first human in
Oregon tested positive in November. He
says there are other things you can do to limit
exposure.
“If you do have birds that unexpectedly
die, make sure you’re taking some basic
precautions like wearing gloves, wearing an
N95 mask, wearing goggles when you handle
that bird, and if you have concerns, call us.”
The Oregon Department of Agriculture
has a hotline you can call to report a dead bird.
You can reach them at 503-986-4711 or through
email at AHHotline@oda.oregon.gov. If your
pet is displaying any symptoms of the virus,
you’re asked to contact your veterinarian.
A second brand of raw pet food sold in
farmers markets in California has been found
to contain bird flu, according to Los Angeles
County health officials. One house cats was has
been confirmed positive with the virus, and the
four cats living in the same house are presumed
to be sick, as well.
Last week health officials alerted
consumers about a separate brand of raw pet
food linked to the death of a cat in Oregon.
The most recent cases involve a brand
called Monarch Raw Pet Food, LA County
officials said in a press release in late December.
A list of locations where the raw pet food was
sold was listed on the product website.
Health officials in L.A. warned against
feeding pets raw food following the detection
of bird flu in a raw pet food brand last week.
Earlier this month, officials confirmed bird flu
in four house cats in another household. They
consumed raw milk, became sick and died,
officials said.
Cats infected with H5N1 bird flu
can develop severe illness that can include
neurologic signs, respiratory signs or liver
disease that can rapidly lead to death. There
have been no human cases of bird flu
associated with house cats, L.A. officials said.
Health officials say the overall risk of H5N1
bird flu to the public remains low.
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