Free Republic

A question must seriously be asked whether Jared Polis is interested in governing all of Colorado, or just the narrow strip that contains the vast majority of the state’s population. Polis has repeatedly angered the small band of hardy farmers and ranchers that make up Colorado’s second-largest industry by his insensitive slights and tone-deaf insults. It’s as if the governor pays lip service to agriculture one day and then slaps it in the face the next. Case in point: In February Polis ignored the recommendations of his own Department of Agriculture and appointed yet another animal welfare extremist to a...

[Catholic Caucus] USCCB seminary norms won't include proposed background databaseA U.S. bishops’ conference draft policy update on seminary formation does not incorporate a call to build a national screening database of applicants to seminaries and religious orders. Advocates say a database could help flag problem seminary applicants before they are accepted, by tracking rejected applications from seminaries or religious orders, along with those applications deferred or withdrawn.The database was proposed to the U.S. bishops’ conference by an Ohio seminary nearly six years ago, but there has been no apparent move toward adopting it. It has not been included in the...

Gray wolves will regain federal protection across most of the lower 48 United States following a court ruling Thursday that struck down a Trump Administration decision to take the animals off the endangered species list. Senior District Judge Jeffrey S. White, of United States District Court for the Northern District of California, found that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in declaring wolf conservation a success and removing the species from federal protection, did not adequately consider threats to wolves outside of the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains where they have rebounded most significantly. Although the decision to...

The Bureau of Animal Protection has a new director, selected from a pool of candidates that included two animal rights attorneys and a wolf introduction and “humane food choice proponent.” The final choice to lead the bureau, announced today by Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg, is Dr. Rebecca (Becky) Niemiec (pronounced “Knee-Mick”) an assistant professor in the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Department at Colorado State University and the director of the Conservation Action Lab. ... The BAP falls under the umbrella of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, but open records requests by The Fence Post indicate governor Jared...

Animal rights activist Ellen Kessler, a gubernatorial appointee to the State Board of Veterinary Medicine, submitted her resignation from the board at 3:26 p.m. Monday. Kessler's letter, released by the governor's office, said her resignation would be effective at the close of business on Feb. 11. "I realize that some of my actions have caused anger and discomfort and that I was unprofessional in my judgment," Kessler wrote. "I apologize to you and the citizens of our great state and wish you the best of luck as you continue to make Colorado the best in the nation." Kessler, appointed to...

Attacks on cattle and dogs by wolves that migrated into northwest Colorado from Wyoming have stoked a rancher-wolf controversy sooner than expected. Don Gittleson woke up Wednesday morning to a sight that’s starting to feel common on his North Park ranch: a cow torn up by wolves, the third attack on his livestock since a few days before Christmas. If this were Montana, Wyoming or Idaho, Gittleson could pull out a gun and shoot the predator dead. But this is Colorado. Wolves in Colorado are protected under state law. Killing them – no matter how many cows or sheep or...

Park Superintendent Cam Sholly first raised concerns last September about wolves dying near the park borderTwenty of Yellowstone National Park's renowned gray wolves roamed from the park and were shot by hunters in recent months — the most killed by hunting in a single season since the predators were reintroduced to the region more than 25 years ago, according to park officials. Fifteen wolves were shot after roaming across the park's northern border into Montana, according to figures released to The Associated Press. Five more died in Idaho and Wyoming. Park officials said in a statement to AP that the...

Profile in Cowardice: How Catholic Leaders Botched the Abortion-Linked COVID VaccinesFrom firmly standing against abortion-tainted vaccines, many bishops now favor forcing them on everyone. The letter states:It is critically important that Americans have access to a vaccine that is produced ethically: no American should be forced to choose between being vaccinated against this potentially deadly virus and violating his or her conscience. [Emphasis added]The letter then pointed out that completely ethical alternatives were available:Fortunately, there is no need to use ethically problematic cell lines to produce a COVID vaccine, or any vaccine, as other cell lines or processes that do...

[Catholic Caucus] Bye Christmas: Archdiocese Cancelled ALL EucharistsDue to the Covid hysteria, Quebec Archdiocese cancelled all Christmas Eucharists.Cardinal Gérald Lacroix announced December 22 that from midnight December 23 to January 10 all public Masses are canceled. Funerals are the only exceptions.“I am aware that it will be very disappointing not to gather in church this year for Christmas and New Year’s Day celebrations, but I consider that it is our duty to participate in the collective effort to avoid the further spread of the coronavirus,” Lacroix feigned.Lacroix allows “personal visits” to churches. He encourages Catholics to “celebrate the Nativity in...

A confirmed wolf kill was discovered near Walden, Colo., the home of one of Colorado’s wolf packs. An approximately 500 pound purebred replacement heifer was found dead after being attacked and eaten by this pack of wolves. This is the first confirmed wolf kill of livestock in Colorado in over 70 years. In early 2021, Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed the existence of this pack in north central Colorado; however, individual wolves have been sited in the area previous to the pack confirmation. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials are working closely with the livestock producer to learn as much from...

Conservation groups are offering nearly $43,000 for any information on wolves that were poisoned in Oregon this year. The organizations Wolves of the Rockies, Trap Free Montana, The 06 Legacy Project, Greater Hells Canyon Council, the Humane Society of the United States and other private donations raised the reward for information about the wolves to $42,977, The Oregonian reported. The poisonings, which are under police investigation, were discovered after a wolf with a tracking collar stopped moving in February, according to the Oregonian.

Schism, scandal, or sideshow? What’s a bishop to do about ‘womenpriests’?In the Episcopalian cathedral of Albuquerque, New Mexico, a Catholic woman will undergo a ceremony Saturday that will declare her a priest — a Catholic priest, specifically, and a member of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement.The ceremony will get some attention — the woman, Anne Tropeano, has been featured in both secular and Catholic press.A protest for the ordination of woman as Catholic priests. Credit: Sally and Richard Greenhill / Alamy Stock Photo.ShareThe ceremony will not validly confer ordination — Tropeano will not be regarded by the Church as a...

Conservation groups have expressed outrage after the US Department of Agriculture revealed it killed eight young wolves in an Idaho forest. The Timberline wolf pack - unofficially "adopted" by students at Boise's Timberline High School over the past 18 years - appears to have been among the targets. Their den, on public lands in Boise National Forest, was found empty this spring. An official from the Agriculture Department confirmed federal agents had killed the animals in order to force the adult wolves to relocate.

‘A Better Kind of Politics’US bishops' latest campaignTRANSCRIPTChurch of Nice leaders launched a new campaign for being "nice" in current political discourse. The latest brainchild of the U.S. bishops' conference appeals to the pope's encyclical Fratelli Tutti and includes a website where Catholics can pledge to play nicely. Church Militant's William Mahoney has some of the details of the pledge.The American bishops' new initiative is called "Civilize It." Visitors to the website are greeted by a byline: "A polarized Church. A divided nation. Pope Francis calls for 'a better kind of politics.' How will you respond?"One can respond by taking...

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife killed two wolf pups from a helicopter Sunday following "chronic" cattle depredation in eastern Oregon. "We want to see the pack persist and endure in this area, but we have a responsibility to address this chronic depredation," Oregon Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Michelle Dennehy told SFGATE. Advertisement Dennehy said the Lookout Mountain wolf pack killed four cows and injured one calf in a 14-day period in July, which qualifies as chronic depredation. On July 29, Fish and Wildlife approved a kill permit that enabled the livestock producer to kill up to four un-collared...

LA GRANDE — Nine confirmed attacks on lambs and ewes were attributed to the Ukiah Pack on private land eight miles south of Meacham — the first known report of this pack interacting with livestock. According to an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife report, a sheep herder in the Kamela area of Mount Emily notified a ranch hand July 4 that sheep had scattered from around their bedding area near his trailer the previous evening. That same morning, the report said, a member of the public found two dead ewes and one dead lamb on the same timbered, privately...

Dogs really are “man’s best friend” and “get” humans in a way other animals simply can’t relate to. Sorry “Game of Thrones” fans, a new study finds even the dog’s closest relatives — wolf pups — don’t gel with people the same way. Researchers from Duke University say 14,000 years of domestication plays a big part in this. In fact, man’s best friend has actually evolved to understand human gestures and look to humans for help in a way that no other animals do. Study authors, who compared wolf pups raised by humans to dogs who had barely any contact...

Archdiocese won't support vax religious exemptionThe Church's promotion of the China virus experimental gene therapy is becoming more aggressive in the archdiocese of St. Louis. From parish vax clinics to job threats, the Catholic hierarchy wants St. Louisans to get the jab. Church Militant's Kristine Christlieb is investigating the latest pressure tactic. St. Louis Catholics seeking a religious exemption from taking the vaccine are getting no support from the archdiocese.This new front in the vaccine wars began developing last week.Reporter: "SSM Health is joining a growing list of hospital systems to require staff to get vaccinated."The only way to avoid...

A litter of gray wolf pups has been spotted in Colorado for the first time in around 80 years, according to state wildlife officials.Colorado Parks and Wildlife said last week that several staff members have observed at least three pups of the endangered species in June. The parents are believed to be M2101 and F1084, or John and Jane as they're known by CPW, who were seen with the pups in the area north of Denver.

These bishops stand in the way of prohibiting Communion for Biden, pro-abortion politiciansThey don’t want the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to discuss prohibiting pro-abortion self-identified Catholics in public life from receiving Holy Communion.WASHINGTON, June 8, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinals Blase Cupich, Wilton Gregory, Sean O’Malley and Joseph Tobin are among the 68 bishops who don’t want the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to discuss prohibiting pro-abortion self-identified Catholics in public life from receiving Holy Communion.“Eucharistic coherence,” as the bishops call it, is theological shorthand for what is lost when famous people who identify as Catholics...