Connecticut Tribune, March 09, 2022
PIG BOMB?
State Police refuse to answer questions about the 2-year-old story, insisting that it never happened. But rumors continue in the Quiet Corner about a nighttime semitruck accident on Rt. 84 that accidentally released a cargo of Wild Boar into the forests of Tolland and Willington. At the TA Travel Center on Ruby Road, just off the highway, you can find truckers willing to share their opinion that hunters, while attempting to bring captured wild boar north to Maine or New Hampshire to create a viable hunting population, created havoc when in 2019 the trailer slid off the road, breaking open its swing door.
Wild Boar are a hybrid of European Boar and domestic pigs and are a significant invasive species in North America. Up to nine million of the feral swine now roam free in at least 45 states. Illegal translocation for hunting or breeding is suspected to be the primary cause for the rapid expansion of their range. The European swine were introduced to North America by Hernando DeSoto in the 1500s. They are known for ruining agricultural crops, attacking livestock, and devastating native ecosystems. Wild Boar host dozens of parasites as well as viral and bacterial contagion. The sale of Wild Boar meat is legal.
DEEP maintains that an investigation is ongoing but that there is no concrete evidence that the rumors are true. The wild pig is a cunning and secretive animal which learns quickly. There have been a few unconfirmed sightings and no photographs have appeared. In other states, eradication by controlled hunting has backfired, causing the animal to run farther, thereby expanding its range. Biologists have described the situation as a “pig bomb” – which may now be ready to go off in the state of Connecticut.
Hartford Times, March 12, 2022
Local
Harbinger
of
Global
Warming?
Strong south winds ahead of last year’s relentless rainstorms were a boon to coastal Connecticut birdwatchers, although they kept their rarest sightings secret. During late August, when the warm waters of the Gulf Stream come closest to our shores, a small flock of Magnificent Frigatebirds became temporary residents of the Thimble Islands off Guilford. The Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens), also called the Man’o’War bird, is a large black seabird with a 7.5-foot wingspan. Males sport an inflatable red throat as a mating display. Known as an equatorial species with a small population in Florida and rare sightings to South Carolina, this is one more harbinger of global warming’s effect on the Atlantic Ocean, according to Peter Way Carson of the Saybrooke Bird Club. Other southern visitors to the Thimble Islands that month included a Glossy Ibis, several Anhingas, and a pair of White-Tailed Tropicbirds. “A flock of crazed birders would have spooked them, ruining it for everybody”, Carson explained, “We’re sorry – but not much.”
New Haven Advocate, January 23, 2022
“The same happens with Mountain Lions”, insisted our whistle-blower, “JB”, who wishes to remain secret. “Which in fact have been in southern New England for decades. And now they also hide from Connecticut citizens the fact that these poisonous snakes have made a comeback, increasing the danger for anyone who loves nature, and even those who just want to enjoy a beer in their back yard”.
“Truly, they
could be
anywhere
in the state of
Connecticut
by now.”
JB photo
The remnant populations of Timber Rattlesnakes in the Meshomasic State Forest and along northwestern Litchfield County have been long documented and protected by CT DEEP. The snake’s habitat is anywhere with rock ledge crevasses where they can safely den for the winter. There are dozens of hills, mountains, and roads in CT named after the venomous pit viper, from Canton to Chaplin, evidence of the snake’s former range. “I know for sure there are Timber Rattlers in the Nathan Hale Forest, and in Ashford in the Friedman Forest conservation area. And along the ridge above Boston Hollow”, JB added. When asked by our reporter if some herpetology-minded citizen may have caught and redistributed the rattlesnakes to protected areas, her answer was a wink and a shrug.
After concerns were raised about these news items, Joshua’s Trust has promised to seek further corroboration. We will publish our conclusions on Friday, April 1st.
George Jacobi