Wildlife Neglected: How Oregon Lost Track Of Species It’s Supposed To Protect

For wildlife in Oregon, the best way to stay alive is to make sure someone wants to kill you.  If the state can make money selling a fishing license or a hunting tag for an animal, it goes to great lengths to keep populations healthy.  Teams of biologists collar hundreds of mule deer with tracking devices that cost almost $1,000 each. State police fly planes over wilderness in the dead of night searching for poachers. In one recent four-year span, Oregon spent upwards of $37 million to improve habitat for mule deer. But for the Western pond turtle, a candidate for the endangered list, the state’s longest-running survey amounts to one man with some homemade gear in the back of his truck.