This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Law enforcement raided the illegal cannabis operation in Shasta-Trinity National Forest months before, but rotting potatoes still sat on the growers’ makeshift kitchen worktop, waiting to be cooked. Ecologist Greta Wengert stared down the pockmarked hillside at a pile of pesticide sprayers left behind, long after […]
Poison
Posted inNews
Multiple Dogs in Cutten Die from Possible Poisoning
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the deaths of several dogs in Cutten. Within the span of one week, five dogs have apparently been poisoned in the neighborhood of Excelsior Road in Cutten. According to a sheriff’s office news release, multiple dogs have died after reportedly exhibiting symptoms associated with poisoning. A preliminary investigation […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Collateral Damage
It would appear Humboldt County remains a cannabis trendsetter. Leafly is reporting that Humboldt County’s controversial strategy of dealing with illicit grow operations through civil code enforcement abatement notices and fines of up to $10,000 per day, per violation has caught other jurisdictions’ attention. A similar program is already in place in Sonoma County, according […]
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HumBug: Don’t Lick the Newts
Sometimes when I’m out looking for insects to photograph, I see other things. Imagine a creature sporting a neurotoxin hundreds of times more deadly than cyanide in sufficient quantities to kill a full grown man. And it’s common in our area. The Rough Skinned Newt (Taricha granulosa) sports the same toxin that makes the pufferfish […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: Millipedes
The biggest land “bug” that ever lived was a one-foot-wide, 6-foot-long millipede called Arthropleura. The largest nowadays is the foot-long giant African millipede, which some folks raise as pets. The good news is that millipedes on the whole are inoffensive critters, content to dine on decaying vegetation and fungi. By nature millipedes are shy and […]
Posted inNews
EPIC Pooh-poohs Poisons
Following on the heels of the somewhat high-profile report this week that poison-laced hot dogs killed a fisher at a Humboldt County grow in July, the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) says it’s campaigning to get rat poison off of local shelves. EPIC says it’s trying to convince retailers to voluntarily ban the sale of “second […]
Posted inNews
Dead Fisher at Grow was Poisoned
Insecticides killed a fisher found at a marijuana grow in late July, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reports. A necropsy determined the mammal — a candidate for the endangered species list — was killed by Methomyl, an insecticide, and had rodenticide in its system as well. From the Sheriff’s Office: The necropsy of the deceased […]