A Texas Town's Misery Underscores the Impact of Bitcoin Mines Across the U.S.

Andrew R. Chow

TIME
Fri, February 2, 2024 

Cheryl Shadden, a resident of Granbury, hung a sign on her street to protest the noise from a nearby bitcoin facility. Credit - Cheryl Shadden

Every night, the nurse anesthetist Cheryl Shadden lies awake in her home in Granbury, Texas, listening to a nonstop roar. “It’s like sitting on the runway of an airport where jets are taking off, one after another,” she says. “You can't even walk out on your back patio and speak to somebody five feet away and have them hear you at all.”

The noise comes from a nearby bitcoin mining operation, which set up shop at a power plant in Granbury last year. Since then, residents in the surrounding area have complained to public officials about an incessant din that they say keeps them awake, gives them migraines, and seemingly has caused wildlife to flee the region. “My citizens are suffering,” says Hood County Constable John Shirley.

Granbury is one of many towns across the U.S. feeling the negative impacts of bitcoin mining, an energy-intensive process that powers and protects the cryptocurrency. Those impacts include carbon and noise pollution, and increased costs on consumers’ utility bills. According to the New York Times, there are 34 large scale bitcoin mines across the U.S. In 2022, the crypto market tumbled, in part due to high-profile collapses of crypto companies like Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX. But in 2023, prices rebounded once again, and mining companies decided to expand their operations in order to cash in, causing global energy consumption for mining to double, according to one study. Critics say that mining is causing both long-term environmental damage, due to its energy use, as well as local harm. “We’re at a loss here,” Granbury resident Shadden says. “We want our lives back.”

Bitcoin is so energy-intensive because it relies on a process known as proof-of-work. Rather than being overseen by a single watchdog, bitcoin is designed to disperse the responsibility of the network’s integrity to voluntary “miners” around the globe, who prevent tampering through a complex cryptographic process that consumes a vast amount of energy. Over the last few years, Texas has become a global leader in crypto mining because miners can access cheap energy and land there, as well as benefit from friendly tax laws and regulation. Bitcoin miners consume about 2,100 megawatts of the state's power supplies, and companies like Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital Holdings have recently expanded in the state. (Other states, conversely, have pushed back on the industry: In 2022, New York imposed a moratorium on bitcoin mining over concerns that miners were overusing renewable energy resources.)
More From TIME

In December, Marathon paid $178 million to purchase bitcoin mines in Kearney, Nebraska and Granbury from Generate Capital. But with the Granbury purchase, Marathon also inherited a swath of angry nearby residents across Hood County whose lives have been upended by the mining facility. Generate Capital started operating the 300-megawatt facility, which sits about an hour southwest of Fort Worth, in 2023. Initially, many residents were unaware what, exactly, was causing the noise. Shannon Wolf, who lives about 8 miles from the plant, first assumed that the rumble was coming from a nearby train. “It has woken me from a dead sleep before,” she says.

The rumble, it turned out, comes from the massive cooling fans that the facility runs to keep their computers from overheating. Data centers, like bitcoin mines, also run massive cooling fans that have drawn the ire of nearby residents.

As residents learned what had caused the din, social media platforms like NextDoor and Facebook flooded with complaints. “This sound has been driving me to the point of insanity. I have continuous migraines, I can barely get out of my head, vomiting, nosebleeds, painful knots on my scalp,” wrote one commenter. “All the birds have left, only [buzzards],” wrote another poster.

As complaints swelled, local officials brought their concerns to the site’s operator, US Bitcoin Corp. Over the summer, the company agreed to construct a 24-foot sound barrier wall on one end of the property at the cost of $1 to $2 million. But while the wall reduced sound in some areas, it actually amplified it in others. “To be honest, the complaints have gotten louder for us since the mitigation efforts,” Constable John Shirley says.

Shirley says that he is monitoring the decibel levels of the facility. Texas state law stipulates that a noise is considered unreasonable if it exceeds 85 decibels. For comparison, vacuum cleaners often run at around 75 decibels—and a cardiologist told TIME in 2018 that chronic exposure to anything over 60 decibels had the potential to do harm to the cardiovascular system. Shadden took her own readings at her house near the Bitcoin mining facility that reached 103 decibels.

But the maximum penalty for breaking that Texas law is a $500 fine, Shirley says, adding: “The state law is inadequate.” He says that he has been talking to the county attorney’s office about options for recourse. “If we have a repeated violation problem, he will be looking into potential injunctive relief,” he says.

The community’s ire boiled over at a town hall on Jan. 29, hosted by Shirley and Hood County Commissioner Nannette Samuelson. About 75 people filled the room to complain about the facility. Complaints from attendees included migraines that required trips to the emergency room and a vertigo diagnosis. One attendee said she had been forced to put her chihuahua on seizure medication. Others claimed that their windows rattled from the vibrations, and that the noise made their homes unsellable.

“How does Hood County benefit from having such a ridiculous thing?” asked one woman. “What does this community gain from having them there?”

Charlie Schumacher, the vice president of corporate communications at Marathon Digital Holdings, wrote in an email to TIME that the company was unaware of the noise issues when it purchased the site. He said Marathon was commissioning a third party to conduct a sound study as early as next week. And on Feb. 1, three days after the town hall, Marathon announced that it planned to take over full day-to-day control of the Granbury mine from its previous operators.

“Marathon deeply values our relationships with the communities in which we live and work, and we appreciate the candid input our neighbors have shared with us in recent weeks,” he wrote. "Our team will now have more influence over the sight and can hopefully have a more positive impact for the community. We are in constant touch with local officials and working with community leaders to gain more information about the situation and to work on solutions.

US Bitcoin Corp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While the constant noise has become a major irritant in the county, residents also worry about the facility’s impact on their power supply and the surrounding environment. Texas has a notoriously fragile grid that becomes strained in cold weather: a 2021 deep freeze caused millions of people to lose power. Wolf Hollow II, the gas plant that supplies the Granbury bitcoin mine with energy, failed during that crisis.

This year, parts of Texas were hit with a frigid arctic front in mid-January, with temperatures dropping into the teens. The state’s grid operator, ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), asked Texans to conserve electricity. The grid mostly held up under strain, and Wolf Hollow continued to operate at full capacity, as did the mining operation.

Nevertheless, some residents in rural Hood County lost power. That included Hunter Sims, who lives a mile and a half from the plant and lost power for 9 hours, relying on a backup generator for his well. Sims was angered that he was without power while the mining operation continued unabated. Overall, he says his quality of life has worsened due to the facility’s noise pollution. “When I’m sitting in my living room, I can hear a loud humming,” he says. “You can’t really relax.”

A representative for Constellation Energy, the company that runs Wolf Hollow, said that any power outages were not a result of any issues at the plant, but rather on the local level of transmission or distribution.

Read More: Fact-Checking 8 Claims About Crypto’s Climate Impact

Erik Kojola, a senior Climate Research Specialist for Greenpeace USA, says he’s monitored similar complaints from residents near new bitcoin mining centers across the country, in Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, and upstate New York. He also contends that bitcoin mining poses a much larger threat to the environment. “Bitcoin mining is essentially a lifeline for fossil fuels,” he says. “It's ultimately creating a new industrial scale demand for energy at a time where we need to be reducing our energy use.”

Back in Granbury, the discomfort caused by the plant is causing some consternation for a region that largely prides itself on being pro-industry and anti-regulation. “I agree with people having the right to own a business if it’s not illegal or amoral,” says Granbury resident Wolf. “But when you’re harming a group of people, there needs to be some type of remedy.”

Correction, Feb. 2, 2024

A previous version of this story misstated when the Wolf Hollow II power plant failed. It failed in 2021; it did not fail during a 2011 storm, though a separate but nearby plant, Wolf Hollow I, did.

All American Families Have Stories of Illegal Immigration

César Cuauhtémoc, García Hernández

TIME
Thu, February 1, 2024 

Coast Guardsmen stand guard as illegal migrants arrested by police and FBI agents, and are escorted out of a police van at the barge office in New York City on Dec. 9, 1941. They were later transferred to the immigration detention center on Ellis Island. Credit - Bettmann Archive—Getty Images.

By the time I showed up on the scene, my wife’s grandmother was in her 90s. Her hearing was bad and her mobility worse. But her spirit was all there. The first of her Italian migrant family to be born in the United States, she enjoyed telling my wife and me about her parents. Unlike more recent migrants, they had done things the way they should be done, she insisted. Her father left Italy in 1912 only after his brother had a job lined up for him in Philadelphia. Then the rest of the family joined. Over the years, they worked hard, stayed out of trouble, and lived well.

In those moments, I often felt like I was shouting to be heard past the FOX News commentators that wouldn’t stop complaining about the Mexican migrants, some of whom resembled my own relatives. In my quiet frustration, I would tell grandmom that in the early 1900s, a century before I met her, it was illegal to come here with a job in hand. Her father, I pointed out, had lied to get into the U.S.—and her uncle had helped.

Watching endless stories of recent migrants' arrivals who violate immigration law, it’s easy to forget that the migrants who came to the U.S. generations ago often did, too. But reinventing the past doesn’t make migrants then any more fit for life in the U.S. than migrants today.

Read More: The Current Migrant Crisis Is a Collective Trauma

By the time grandmom died, I never convinced her that her family’s migration story was more complicated than she imagined it. That didn’t surprise me. This happens in most families. We remember the victories and celebrations, while forgetting the defeats and tragedies. Eventually the history we imagine becomes the only history anyone knows, creating pasts that are happier, less stained by stories of illegality, than the lives our ancestors lived.

More From TIME

But the truth about migration, like the truth hidden in the family history that I was born into and the one I married into, is more complicated. In those years when my wife’s relatives were settling into a life in the U.S. that they weren’t legally entitled to, transitioning from maligned southern Europeans to the ranks of white Americans, Louis Loftus Repouille busied himself building a life in New York City. A white man from the Dutch West Indies, Repouille spent his working days operating elevators at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

One afternoon in October 1939, Repouille’s wife and one child went shopping. He sent two other kids to a movie, leaving him alone with 13-year-old Raymond Repouille, the couple’s oldest child, a boy whose poor health prevented him from walking or talking. Quietly and deliberately, Repouille soaked a rag in chloroform and approached the bed where the boy laid. We don’t know whether Raymond understood what was happening or whether the father hesitated. But we do know that Repouille covered the boy’s mouth and nose with the rag and held it there until the boy stopped moving. Repouille had killed his son.

A jury eventually convicted Repouille of manslaughter but asked the judge to go easy on him. Raymond’s death was a “mercy killing,” newspapers declared. Evidently agreeing with the jury, the judge made sure he was home in time for Christmas.

Four years, 11 months, and one week after being convicted of killing Raymond, Repouille applied for U.S. citizenship. He met all the requirements, except for one: he hadn’t waited long enough since the conviction. Federal law required five years of good moral character before applying for citizenship. Had he just waited another three weeks, a federal court concluded, his crime would’ve been forgiven. “The pitiable event, now long passed, will not prevent Repouille from taking his place among us as a citizen,” Judge Learned Hand, a towering figure in 20th century U.S. law, wrote. And so it was: When Repouille later reapplied for citizenship, he succeeded.

There was never any worry that Repouille might be deported because, back then, immigration law could forgive even the vilest conduct.

Today, immigration law forgives little and forgets less. Since the 1980s, Republicans and Democrats have steadily made it easier to fall into immigration problems because of a run-in with the police. And they’ve made it harder for judges to let people out of the immigration prison and deportation pipeline. “The ‘drastic measure’ of deportation or removal is now virtually inevitable for a vast number of noncitizens convicted of crimes,” the Supreme Court wrote in 2010.

These days, immigration agents regularly target migrants for far less. In 2017, 12 years after racking up a drug possession conviction, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents knocked on Kamyar Samimi’s door near Denver, Colo. After four decades of living in the U.S. with the government’s permission, Samimi’s entire life was here, not in his native Iran. His daughter Neda, a Denver college student at the time, remembers the care he gave her as a young child and the laughter and happiness he brought to her life as she grew. “He was so sweet, gentle, understanding, and helpful,” she told me.

To ICE, none of that mattered. The only thing that was important was that conviction a dozen years earlier. Agents arrested him just before Thanksgiving. Neda and her family never again saw Samimi alive. Within days of arrest, his health worsened. Samimi told prison guards he felt sick and showed signs of physical distress, but the prison doctor never saw him, and nurses struggled even to reach the doctor by phone, according to ICE’s records. Fifteen days after being hauled into the immigration prison, Neda’s father was dead.

In a statement released after Samimi’s death, ICE listed his conviction, but didn’t mention his family. That didn’t come as a surprise to Neda. When ICE called with news of her father’s passing, the agent on the other end of the phone didn’t offer an explanation, much less sympathy. ICE merely wanted Neda’s address so someone could mail her father’s belongings. The only reason she knows what happened during the last two weeks of his life is because she sued ICE to get its internal review of his death.

Forgetting the "failures" that line our family stories mean we can imagine migrants like Samimi as different from—and worse than—the migrants who arrived generations ago. For my wife’s grandmother, overlooking her own family’s history of illegality meant she could more easily warn my wife about our families’ different “cultures”—too different to allow for a good match.

When politicians suggest that migrants today pose a greater threat to the nation than migrants in the past, they are living a public version of my personal experience. The memories lost are private, but the consequences change laws. Republicans like Donald Trump vilify migrants with abandon. Democrats use kinder words, but policies they support also assume that migrants today present an extraordinary danger against which extraordinary powers must be deployed—whether blocking migrants at the border or erecting steel and concrete barriers near the Río Grande.

Forgetting our family histories, ordinary people like my wife’s grandmother overlook that imperfect people dot all of our family trees. And by sanitizing history, politicians turn outsized fears of today’s newcomers into laws intended to keep out people who are flawed—much like migrants of earlier generations were. Eventually I won over my wife’s grandmother. Sadly, changing laws is much harder, but it begins by remembering that migrants of today have much more in common with migrants of the past than many of us like to admit.

Residents ask for a full examination of damage to a Japanese nuclear plant caused by a recent quake

MARI YAMAGUCHI
Fri, February 2, 2024 


This aerial photo shows Shika nuclear power plant, rear, in Shika, on the western coast of the quake-struck Noto peninsula, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, on Jan. 28, 2024. A group of residents of towns near Japanese nuclear plants submitted a petition on Friday asking regulators to halt safety screening for the restart of idled reactors until damage to a plant that partially lost external power and spilled radioactive water during a recent powerful earthquake is fully examined. (Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO (AP) — A group of residents of towns near Japanese nuclear plants submitted a petition on Friday asking regulators to halt safety screening for the restart of idled reactors until damage to a plant that partially lost external power and spilled radioactive water during a recent powerful earthquake is fully examined.

The magnitude 7.6 quake on New Year’s Day and dozens of strong aftershocks in north-central Ishikawa prefecture left 240 people dead and 15 unaccounted for and triggered a small tsunami.

Two idled reactors at Shika nuclear power plant on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa suffered power outages because of damage to transformers. Radioactive water spilled from spent fuel cooling pools and cracks appeared on the ground, but no radiation leaked outside, operator Hokuriku Electric Power Co. said.

The damage rekindled safety concerns and residents are asking whether they could have evacuated safely if it had been more severe. The earthquake badly damaged roads and houses in the region.

All Japanese nuclear power plants were temporarily shut down after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster for safety checks under stricter standards. The government is pushing for them to be restarted but the process has been slow, in part because of lingering anti-nuclear sentiment among the public. Twelve of the 33 workable reactors have since restarted.

Residents of Ishikawa and other towns with nuclear plants gathered in Tokyo on Friday and handed their petition to officials at the Nuclear Regulation Authority. They are asking officials to freeze the screening process while damage at the Shika nuclear plant is fully examined and safety measures are implemented.

Susumu Kitano, a Noto Peninsula resident, said there would be no way to escape from his town in case of a major accident at the plant.

Nuclear safety officials have noted that the extensive damage suffered by houses and roads in the area of the Shika plant make current evacuation plans largely unworkable. The damage, including landslides, made many places inaccessible, trapping thousands of people on the narrow peninsula.

Experts say current nuclear emergency response plans often fail to consider the effects of damage from compounded disasters and need to be revised to take into account more possible scenarios.

Takako Nakagaki, a resident of Kanazawa, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of the Shika plant, said the current evacuation plan is “pie in the sky.” Under the plan, residents closer to the plant are advised to stay indoors in case of a radiation leak, but that would be impossible if houses are damaged in an earthquake.

The Noto quake also sparked fear in neighboring Fukui prefecture, where seven reactors at three plants have restarted, and in Niigata prefecture, where the operator of the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant is preparing to restart its only workable nuclear plant, the world’s largest seven-reactor Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant.

Hundreds of other residents of towns hosting nuclear plants submitted similar requests to regulators and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this week.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority has requested a further investigation of the Shika plant, even though initial assessments showed no immediate risk to its cooling functions or outside radiation leaks. NRA officials said Shika’s operator should consider the possibility of additional damage to key equipment as aftershocks continue.

The Shika reactors, inaugurated in 1993 and 2006, have been offline since the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Hokuriku Electric Power has expressed hopes to restart the newer No. 2 reactor by 2026, but reviews of the recent quake damage could delay that plan.

Despite the Fukushima disaster, the government has pushed increasing use of nuclear energy as a source of stable and clean energy.

Federal court once again suspends bullfights in Mexico City, as activists and supporters lock horns

Associated Press
Wed, January 31, 2024 

A bullfighter performs during a bullfight at the Plaza Mexico, in Mexico City, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. Bullfighting returned to Mexico City after the Supreme Court of Justice overturned a 2022 ban that prevented these events from taking place in the capital. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)


MEXICO CITY (AP) — A federal court granted a temporary injunction against bullfighting in Mexico City on Wednesday, as activists and supporters of the practice once again locked horns in court.

Bullfighting had only just returned Sunday to the capital's Plaza Mexico, which held the city's first legal bullfight in almost two years.

The ruling will apparently force the postponement of fights scheduled for Feb. 4-6; organizers have not yet announced what they will do.


In May 2022, a local court ordered an end to bullfighting, ruling that the practice violated city resident’s rights to a healthy environment free from violence.

That case had been appealed to the Supreme Court, which struck down the ban on largely technical grounds but left the underlying questions unresolved.

But the joy of bullfighting enthusiasts only lasted a few days. Animal rights supporters quickly filed another legal challenge that resulted in Wednesday's ruling, which suspends fights until Feb. 7.

At that point, another hearing will be held to consider activists' complaints that the practice subjected the animals to cruelty and violated humans' rights to be free of degrading spectacles of cruelty and environmental insensitivity.

Animal rights groups have been gaining ground in Mexico in recent years while bullfighting followers have suffered several setbacks. In some states such as Sinaloa, Guerrero, Coahuila, Quintana Roo and the western city of Guadalajara, judicial measures now limit the activity.

Ranchers, businessmen and fans maintain that the ban on bullfights infringes on their rights and puts at risk several thousand jobs linked to the activity, which they say generates about $400 million a year in Mexico.

The National Association of Fighting Bull Breeders in Mexico estimates that bullfighting is responsible for 80,000 direct jobs and 146,000 indirect jobs.

The association has hosted events and workshops in recent years to promote bullfights and find new, younger fans.

____

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
View comments (4)


Mexican town continues bull running tradition despite legal struggle over bullfights in capital

ALBA ALEMÁN
Thu, February 1, 2024 






A reveler falls down after provoking a bull during a festival in honor of the Virgin of the Candelaria, in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz State, Mexico, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. For nearly a quarter century, the residents have taunted, slapped, chased and run from bulls as part of the religious festival. It is reminiscent, though at a much smaller scale, of the running of the bulls in northern Spain and has continued year after year despite laws banning the mistreatment of animals. 

(AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

TLACOTALPAN, Mexico (AP) — For nearly a quarter century, the residents of this riverside town in southeastern Mexico have taunted, slapped, chased and run from bulls as part of a religious festival.

It is reminiscent, though at a much smaller scale, of the running of the bulls in northern Spain and has continued year after year despite laws banning the mistreatment of animals. This year, it takes place amid an ongoing legal battle over bullfights 300 miles (485 kilometers) to the west in Mexico City.

The festival tied to Candelaria -- Candlemas in English – runs from Jan. 28 to Feb. 9 among the colorfully painted houses of Tlacotalpan.

The bulls, donated by the town’s most well-off families, are just part of days of cultural and artistic events. On Thursday, six bulls crossed the Paploapan river into the town on a boat.

Beer drinking crowds of mostly young men clad in red shirts chased them through the streets, tugging on their ears and tails, to an improvised coral where some people tried to climb atop them.

Some of the tormentors suffered injuries, knocked down or gored and treated by paramedics.

In 2016, animal rights groups successfully pushed legislation in the state of Veracruz banning this sort of event. But Tlacotalpan has continued its festival undeterred in the name of tradition.

Alfredo Cervin, 20, described the adrenaline rush of running with the bulls with a profanity. He said the tradition should continue because it was something that distinguished the town.

Elva Arroyo Urbano, 48, said they were more careful with the animals now. “They’ve improved the way they bring them a little tied. They let them rest and they don’t mistreat them as much. There’s a little more discipline toward the bulls.”

Local authorities say the event has continued since the town was founded on the banks of the river in 1777. The annual threat of fines – there’s no record any have ever been imposed – have not stopped the town’s tradition.

Feds won't restore protections for wolves in Rockies, western states, propose national recovery plan

MATTHEW BROWN and TODD RICHMOND
Fri, February 2, 2024 

In this February 2021, photo released by California Department of Fish and Wildlife, shows a gray wolf (OR-93) near Yosemite, Calif. Federal wildlife officials announced Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, that they have rejected requests from conservation groups to restore protections for gray wolves across portions of six western states, saying the population in those states is strong. 

(California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP, File)

Federal wildlife officials on Friday rejected requests from conservation groups to restore protections for gray wolves across the northern U.S Rocky Mountains, saying the predators are in no danger of extinction as some states seek to reduce their numbers through hunting.

The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service also said it would work on a first-ever national recovery plan for wolves, after previously pursuing a piecemeal recovery in different regions of the country. The agency expects to complete work on the plan by December 2025.

The rejection of the conservation groups’ petitions allows state-sanctioned wolf hunts to continue in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. They estimated the wolf population in the region that also includes Washington, California and Oregon stood at nearly 2,800 animals at the end of 2022.

“The population maintains high genetic diversity and connectivity, further supporting their ability to adapt to future changes,” the agency said in a news release.

Conservationists who have been working to bring the wolf back from near-extinction in the U.S. blasted the decision, complaining that Idaho and Montana have approved increasingly aggressive wolf-killing measures including trapping, snaring and months-long hunting seasons.

“We are disappointed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is refusing to hold the states accountable to wolf conservation commitments they made a decade ago,” said Susan Holmes, executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition.

Antipathy toward wolves for killing livestock and big game dates to early European settlement of the American West in the 1800s, and it flared up again after wolf populations rebounded under federal protection. That recovery has brought bitter blowback from hunters and farmers angered over wolf attacks on big game herds and livestock. They contend protections are no longer warranted.

Congress stripped Endangered Species Act protections from wolves in western states in 2011. The Trump administration removed Endangered Species Act protections for wolves across the lower 48 states just before Trump left office in 2020.

A federal judge in 2022 restored those protections across 45 states, but left wolf management to state officials in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and portions of Oregon, Washington and Utah.

Republican lawmakers in Montana and Idaho are intent on culling more wolf packs, which are blamed for periodic attacks on livestock and reducing elk and deer herds that many hunters prize.

The states’ Republican governors in recent months signed into law measures that expanded when, where and how wolves can be killed. That raised alarm among Democrats, former wildlife officials and advocacy groups that said increased hunting pressure could cut wolf numbers to unsustainable levels.

The Humane Society of the U.S., Center for Biological Diversity and other groups had filed legal petitions asking federal officials to intervene.

Despite the hunting pressure that they are under in some states, wolves from the Nothern Rockies region have continued to expand into new areas of Washington, Oregon, California and Colorado. Colorado this winter also began reintroducing wolves to more areas of the state under a plan mandated by voters under a narrowly approved 2020 ballot initiative.

There is continued political pressure to remove protections for wolves in the western Great Lakes region. When protections were briefly lifted under the Trump administration, hunters in Wisconsin using hounds and trappers blew past the state’s harvest goal and killed almost twice as many as planned.


Idaho wolves won’t return to Endangered Species list, Fish and Wildlife Service rules

Nicole Blanchard
Fri, February 2, 2024 


Gray wolves in Idaho will not be relisted under the Endangered Species Act despite conservationist concerns, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in a ruling Friday.

The agency’s decision concluded more than two years of analysis in response to multiple petitions regarding the animals’ status in the Western U.S. and the Northern Rocky Mountains area, which includes Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and parts of Oregon, Washington and Utah.

Fish and Wildlife Service officials said the Northern Rocky Mountains population doesn’t constitute a “valid listable entity” for Endangered Species protections. It said the Western U.S. population qualifies for protections but determined the animals don’t meet the threshold to be listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Conservation groups brought relisting petitions to the federal government in 2021 and 2022 following an expansion of wolf hunting and trapping opportunities in Idaho and Montana. Several of them expressed disappointment at the Fish and Wildlife Service decision.

Nicholas Arrivo, managing attorney for wildlife at the Humane Society of the United States, in a statement called the ruling “reprehensible” and said the agency is standing by as wolves in Idaho and neighboring states are “pushed to the brink of extinction once again.”

“The agency is essentially turning their backs on wolves,” Arrivo said.

Suzanne Asha Stone, director of the Idaho-based International Wildlife Coexistence Network, told the Idaho Statesman in a text message that the decision “clears the way for states like Idaho to brutally kill as many wolves as they want.”

“We have to ask the Biden administration: Why did the American people bring healthy wolf populations back only to see them eradicated from the landscape just a few decades later?” she said.

Friday’s ruling adds layers to an already-complex landscape of wolf protections. With the exception of wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains area, wolves in the Lower 48 states are protected by the Endangered Species Act. The species is considered “threatened” in Minnesota and “endangered” in all other states.

Idaho has managed its wolf population since 2011, when they were removed from the Endangered Species list. The Statesman has reached out to Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials for comment on the ruling.

The Fish and Wildlife Service decision coincides with the agency’s announcement of plans to start “a national conversation” about gray wolves. The agency said it will develop a national recovery plan for the species by December 2025.

Republicans raise alarm as Biden admin prepares plan to protect wolves nationwide

Thomas Catenacci
Thu, February 1, 2024


FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans on the Natural Resources Committee are raising the alarm about a Biden administration initiative they said could lead to expanded protections for the gray wolf species, despite opposition from farmers and western states.

Committee Republicans led by Chair Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., informed Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Martha Williams that they were probing her agency's National Dialogue Around Working Landscapes and Gray Wolves and Thriving Communities and Cultures, an initiative unveiled in December. The lawmakers said oversight was necessary given the significant effect of listing the gray wolf.

"The facts are clear regarding the listing status of the Gray Wolf in the lower-48 states — the species is recovered, should be delisted, and management should be returned to the states," Westerman and eight fellow Natural Resources Republicans wrote in a letter to Williams on Thursday. "Delisting the gray wolf in the lower-48 states has traditionally garnered bipartisan support."

"Yet under the vague parameters of the Service’s proposal, the Service could begin to dictate to states what their management approaches should be," they added in the letter. "Perhaps more concerning, they could utilize this proposal as a proxy to relist wolves in the Northern Rockies without the support of the impacted States."

BIDEN ADMIN PLAN TO RELEASE PREDATOR NEAR RURAL COMMUNITIES FACES WIDESPREAD OPPOSITION: 'A HUGE THREAT'

House Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman, R-Ark.

On Dec. 13, FWS launched its gray wolf dialogue initiative to "foster the long-term conservation of wolves and address the concerns of varied communities." The agency said the effort would include discussions involving those who live near wolf populations and those who are interested in preserving the species, and contracting a third-party conflict resolution firm to oversee the initiative.

However, while the agency said the initiative would inform its policies and future rulemaking about wolves, it did not offer any additional details about what it specifically hoped to achieve.

LOCAL RESIDENTS EXPLODE AT BIDEN OFFICIALS OVER PLAN TO RELEASE GRIZZLY BEARS NEAR THEIR COMMUNITIES

"The Committee is concerned that the 'National Dialogue Around Working Landscapes and Gray Wolves and Thriving Communities and Cultures' could potentially impact areas where wolves are delisted and currently under state management, like in the Northern Rockies Ecosystem," the Republicans wrote in their letter.

House Republicans are concerned about a Biden administration initiative they say could lead to expanded protections for the gray wolf species, despite opposition from farmers and western states.

"States in the Northern Rockies Ecosystem have a proven track record of success in managing healthy wolf populations, with current populations being stable and even slightly increasing year to year," they continued.

For years, environmental and conservation nonprofits have advocated, through both public campaigns and litigation, for FWS to maintain federal protections for the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Once a species is listed under the ESA, individuals and groups are prohibited from removing, interfering with, hunting or harming it.

According to environmentalists, the gray wolf is vital to ensuring ecosystems are healthy by keeping prey populations in check.

A 14-year-old wolf stands on top of her den at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center in the town of Divide.

However, western states, in addition to agriculture and livestock industry associations, have argued that gray wolves are already recovered and that any recovery plan should be overseen by state officials who are more informed about the wildlife needs within their borders. As such, in 2020, the Trump administration declared the species fully recovered in the U.S. and delisted it from the ESA.

"After more than 45 years as a listed species, the Gray Wolf has exceeded all conservation goals for recovery," former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in a statement at the time. "Today’s announcement simply reflects the determination that this species is neither a threatened nor endangered species based on the specific factors Congress has laid out in the law."

In early 2022, though, a federal district court reinstated the ESA protections in the lower 48 states, a decision that does not impact the Northern Rockies ecosystem. The Republicans on Thursday expressed concern that FWS would pursue further protections for the gray wolf, including in that region, as a result of its dialogue initiative.

Trudeau says Premier Smith's new transgender policies target 'vulnerable' youth

CBC
Fri, February 2, 2024 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Alberta Premier Danielle Smith Friday to defend the rights of vulnerable LGBT youth. (The Canadian Press/Nick Iwanyshyn - image credit)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slammed Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's decision to roll out what he called her "anti LGBT policies" days after sharing the stage with "far-right" U.S. media figure Tucker Carlson.

"It is telling that the week after welcoming far-right American conservative Tucker Carlson to her province [and sitting] with him on stage, Danielle Smith has now moved forward with the most anti-LGBT policies of anywhere in the country," Trudeau said in Waterloo, Ont. Friday.

Last week, four federal cabinet ministers condemned Smith's decision to meet with former Fox News personality Carlson, citing some of the rhetoric he used while speaking to a Calgary crowd.

Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault accused Carlson of "spewing hate speech about LGTBQ people," referring to Carlson's homophobic joke about Trudeau.

"I know that in Canada it is official policy that coming out of the closet is good — unless you're the prime minister," Carlson said during his appearance.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (second from left) stands with three men she shared the stage with at recent events in Calgary and Edmonton: author Jordan Peterson, U.S. broadcaster Tucker Carlson and former newspaper magnate Conrad Black. (X/@abdaniellesmith)

Earlier this week, Smith announced sweeping changes to Alberta's student gender identity, sports and surgery policies.

Smith said that puberty blockers will be prohibited for children 15 and younger while minors aged 17 and under will not be able to get top or bottom surgery — although bottom surgery is already limited to adults.

Under the policy, students 15 and younger will need parents' permission to use a different name or pronoun at school. Transgender women will also be banned from competing in women's sports leagues.

Alberta to introduce legislation

Trudeau said that LGBT youth in Canada are among those most vulnerable to suicide and parents and governments need to protect them, rather than target them.

"If Premier Smith wants to fight someone, stand up and fight for Canadians on lower grocery prices, on affordable fuel, on more housing, on fighting climate change," Trudeau said.

"Fight with us to defend the rights of vulnerable Canadians. Don't fight against vulnerable LGBT youth."

Smith said her government will introduce legislation to support the planned policy changes in the fall. Trudeau was asked how his government will respond when that legislation lands, but offered few specifics.

"As a federal government, we will always be there to protect the most vulnerable, particularly vulnerable LGBT youth who need to know that there are people across the country there to fight for them," Trudeau said.

The prime minister said the fight is not his alone and that Smith already has seen pushback from people concerned about the impact of the proposed policies.

"The first thing we are seeing is a number of Albertans, whether its doctors or teachers or community organizations, stepping up to voice their concerns directly with their premier about this anti-LGBT youth policy," he said.

Doctors, nurses and medical groups urge province to walk back plans to limit gender-affirming care

CBC
Fri, February 2, 2024 

Medical officials and organizations are condemning the changes in gender-affirming care for Alberta youth announced by the premier. 

(Jo Panuwat D/Shutterstock - image credit)

Sweeping changes to gender-affirming care, announced by the Alberta government this week, are sparking widespread backlash and condemnation from doctors, nurses and medical organizations, and calls are mounting for the province to reverse its decision.

Touting it as a move to protect children, Premier Danielle Smith positioned Alberta as the most restrictive in Canada and introduced a suite of policies impacting transgender youth this week, including a ban on the use of puberty blocking medication and hormone therapy in children under 16, for the purposes of gender affirmation.

While Smith also announced a prohibition on gender-affirming surgeries in children under 18, lower surgeries are already restricted to people over 18, and doctors say top surgeries are very rarely performed on older teens.

"This is a direct attack on trans youth," said Dr. Ted Jablonski, a Calgary family physician who specializes in transgender care. "This is an assault on their medical care."

Jablonski has been treating transgender Calgarians for more than two decades.

"I feel like we've stepped back in time," he said.

"There's no medical evidence to make any kind of restrictions. We have very good guidelines to manage trans youth."

These guidelines include a detailed position statement published by the Canadian Paediatric Society and standards of care published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

The pediatrics section of the Alberta Medical Association issued a statement late Thursday, calling on the provincial government to back off of its plan.

"Children and youth have the right to the appropriate medical care, at the appropriate time, and this should not be denied to them," the statement said.

"We urge the Premier, in the strongest terms, to reconsider the proposed changes for care of transgender youth."

The Canadian Paediatric Society also condemned the plan and called on the premier to walk it back.

"We are deeply concerned that implementation of these policies will not only undermine the fundamental rights of transgender children and youth in Alberta, but will lead to significant negative health outcomes, including increased risk of suicide and self-harm," the group said in a letter to Smith.

Facing a barrage of criticism, Smith defended her government's plan at a news conference on Thursday.

"We want to make sure that children do not prematurely make decisions that are going to be irreversible and affect their ability to have sex and affect their ability to have children, until they're of an age where they're fully responsible for those decisions. That's age 18," she said.

Dr. Joe Raiche, a psychiatrist who works in the youth gender clinic at the Alberta Children's Hospital, called the policies "shocking" and "devastating."

"This does tremendous harm. It has the potential to cause an irreparable impact on lives of trans youth and families," he said, adding no clinicians at the youth gender clinics in either Calgary or Edmonton were consulted on the policy.

Puberty blocking medication

One of Raiche's biggest concern is the ban on puberty-suppressing medication in kids under 16.


Dr. Joe Raiche is a psychiatrist working with transgender youth and adults at the Alberta Children's Hospital and Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary

Dr. Joe Raiche is a psychiatrist working with transgender youth at the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary. (David Aleman/f-stop Photography)

"This would make Alberta having the most restrictive gender-affirming care across all of Canada," he said in an interview with CBC News.

"The magnitude of the harm of having somebody go through puberty that's not aligned with their gender identity … is just downright cruel," he said.

The Canadian Paediatric Society notes hormone suppression is reversible and puberty continues once the treatment is stopped.

"It gives youth and their families a chance to pause, reflect [and] explore, without their body going through devastating changes that can be irreversibly and irredeemably harmful for them," said Raiche.

According to the society, gender-affirming hormones, which the province also seeks to ban for kids under 16, are considered partially reversible. These medications are prescribed to "promote the development of physical features that are better aligned with an individual's experienced gender."

Mental health concerns

Doctors are warning the mental health implications of these changes will be significant and long-lasting.

According to the Canadian Paediatric Society, transgender youth have a higher risk of mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide.

"Now we're asking youth to endure more mental distress, more mental anguish," said Raiche.

The AMA section of pediatrics said the move will increase the mental health needs, and burden, on the health system.

"The mental health of these children and youth will be markedly worse when denied care," the statement said.

"These new medical restrictions single them out and reinforce stigma."

Dr. Jake Donaldson, a Calgary-based family physician who treats gender diverse youth and adults, is worried about his patients

"Most studies, including here in Canada and here in Alberta, have shown that about 40 per cent of gender diverse individuals will try to kill themselves at some point if they are not in a supportive environment," he said in an interview on CBC Radio's Alberta at Noon.

"So it really can be a life-or-death situation for some of these kids."

Medical autonomy

Calling it an assault on human rights, the United Nurses of Alberta also lambasted the policy, warning it amounts to political interference.

"To use medical treatment of young people as an excuse to mount a politically motivated attack on gender-affirming health care will put the lives of young people at risk, ultimately increase the costs of providing health care, and set a dangerous precedent that should concern us all," the statement said.

"Political decisions to block one kind of medical treatment can easily lead to political decisions to block other kinds."

Jablonski agrees.

"I don't think there's any role for our premier to tell us what we should be doing medically," he said.

According to Donaldson, the policy puts doctors in a position where they face violating the Hippocratic oath.

"I took an oath when I went through medical training that I'm not going to do any harm to individuals," he said.

"If I sit back and do nothing … and force them to go through a transition that does not match their gender identity and live a life in a body that's going to leave them as a target of hateful violence … that just breaks my heart. I don't know if I can accept that."

Parents of transgender kids want Alberta government to stay out of medical decisions
CBC
Fri, February 2, 2024

Sherwood Park mother Catie Jones has launched a petition against Premier Danielle Smith's planned policy changes affecting transgender and non-binary youth and adults. (Travis McEwen/CBC - image credit)

Some parents of transgender children say the Alberta government's policy changes affecting transgender and non-binary youth will interfere with the medical treatment their children need.

On Wednesday, Premier Danielle Smith introduced Alberta's new policy, which includes restrictions on puberty blockers and hormones for children 15 and under.

The Alberta Medical Association's pediatric section says there are benefits for patients to start puberty blockers as soon as they show signs as it will make future surgeries less invasive. Bottom surgery is always performed on patients 18 and older.

Two Edmonton-area mothers, both with 10-year-old daughters, worry what Smith's new policy will mean for them.

Catie Jones's daughter Samantha felt safe enough to tell her parents she was a girl.

Jones said she was terrified to learn the province plans to restrict the use of medication for youth 15 and under.

"The first time I read details of the policy, specifically the one restricting access to puberty blockers and hormone treatments, I burst into tears," she said.


Catie Jones's ten-year-old daughter Samantha.

Catie Jones's 10-year-old daughter Samantha. (Submitted by Catie Jones)

Jones said her daughter is already showing signs of depression, anxiety and gender dysphoria. Jones said Samantha feels uncomfortable and doesn't want to look at herself in the mirror.

Jones said her daughter was furious after learning what Smith announced on Wednesday.

'This is a big deal'

Anna Paranich's daughter Ellie knew she was a girl since she was two years old, Now 10, Ellie is in the same boat as Samantha.

Paranich said Smith is spreading misinformation about puberty blockers by telling people that the effects are irreversible when they aren't.

Paranich said it's recommended for trans children to start taking medication as soon as they start showing signs of puberty and she thinks Ellie is about 18 months away from that transition point. Paranich said Ellie has been seeing a specialist at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton for two years.

Paranich said she plans to fight Smith's changes but will go elsewhere to get the medication Ellie needs.

"Developing facial hair or having her voice deepened, that would be very traumatic for her," Paranich said. "This is a big deal."

At a news conference Thursday, Smith defended her rationale for planning to restrict health-care options for youth.

"I am confident that Albertans do not want children to make irreversible decisions that impact their reproductive health," Smith said.

"I am confident that they don't think those are child decisions to make; that those are adult decisions to make."

The pediatric section of the Alberta Medical Association issued a statement on Thursday that spoke against the Alberta policy.

They said gender-affirming treatments are a medical decision involving the child, their parents, their doctor and other health-care providers.

"The doctor-patient relationship is inviolable and sacrosanct," the statement said. "Full stop."

But some parent groups support Smith's policy.

Jeff Park is the executive director of the Alberta Parents' Union. What Smith announced this week resolves many of the group's complaints.

FAILURE TO IDENTIFY THIS AS A RIGHT WING UCP LOBBY GROUP

The policy also requires parental notification if a student under 18 wishes to use a different pronoun at school. Parents need to give their permission if the child is under 16.

Park said his members are delighted by the changes.

"We've been hearing consistently from parents since the announcement came down and it's been overwhelmingly positive and a big step in the right direction," he said.

Smith hopes to table legislation this fall. Jones has launched a petition against the policy. She said her daughter has supports but she worries about the kids who don't.

Paranich wants the government to get out of medical decisions that are between Ellie, her parents, and her physician.

"Danielle Smith really espouses bodily autonomy and freedom of choice when it comes to things like vaccines," she said.

"But now she's taken away our choice to follow our recommendations by top physicians."

Paranich said she and her daughter plan to attend a rally in Edmonton on Saturday against Smith's policy.

Alberta restrictions for transgender youth 'extremely dangerous' -Canada minister

Updated Thu, February 1, 2024 

FILE PHOTO: Canada's Minister of Health Mark Holland rises to table a report in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa

By Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada's health minister on Thursday said planned restrictions for transgender youth in the Western province of Alberta are "extremely dangerous," a sign that policies could become a political wedge issue going into next year's election.

On Wednesday, conservative Alberta Premier Danielle Smith unveiled sweeping changes to policies related to students and gender identity.

She plans to restrict the medical treatments they may seek, including prohibiting hormonal treatment, puberty blockers and gender-affirming surgery for children under 15 years of age and banning gender-related surgery for minors.

Parents also will have to give permission for any student under 15 to use a different pronoun and name than the one given at birth, and transgender women will not be able to join female sports teams, Smith said.

"The decision that was made by Alberta places kids at risk. We know that one of the number one reasons why kids take their life is problems around sexual identity," Health Minister Mark Holland, a Liberal, told reporters.

"I think it's extremely dangerous to engage in this kind of thing, which is, I think, playing politics when you're talking about children's lives," he added.

Several Liberal ministers shared similar condemnations online or with reporters. Employment and Workforce Development Minister Randy Boissonault, the first openly LGBT member of parliament from Alberta, called the proposed rules "draconian".

"Trans kids aren't supposed to be part of your political strategy," Labor Minister Seamus O'Regan, who is gay, posted on social media platform X.

Alberta's guidelines would be the strictest introduced in Canada, and they are likely to fuel a debate that has polarized political parties in the United States for some time.

"We want to make sure that those adult decisions are made as adults," Smith told reporters on Thursday. "Issues involving kids' reproductive health are not a political stunt."

She said the rules would likely be implemented in the autumn.

Federal Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has built a commanding lead in opinion polls against Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, mostly by hammering the government on cost-of-living issues.

But in November of last year Poilievre did tell supporters that Trudeau "does not have a right to impose his radical gender ideology on our kids and on our schools," without elaborating.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Jonathan Oatis)


Danielle Smith unveils sweeping changes to Alberta's student gender identity, sports and surgery policies

CBC
Wed, January 31, 2024 

Smith made the announcement Wednesday on social media. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press - image credit)


Alberta will prohibit hormonal treatment, puberty blockers and gender affirming surgery for children 15 years and younger, Premier Danielle Smith announced Wednesday in a video posted to social media.

Smith said the policy bans all children under 17 from having top and bottom surgery, though bottom surgery is already limited to adults.

Teens aged 16 and 17 can start hormone therapy as long as they have permission from their parents, a physician and a psychologist.

Alberta parents will need to give permission before a student aged 15 and under can use a name or pronoun at school other than what they were given at birth, Smith said.

Students who are 16 or 17 won't require permission but schools will need to let their parents know first.

Albertans who require transgender surgeries have the procedures performed in Quebec. Smith said efforts will begin to attract these specialists to Alberta so the surgeries can take place in the province.

Smith said teachers need to get any third-party instruction material on gender identity, sexual orientation and human sexuality approved by the Education ministry before they are used in the classroom.

Parents will have to opt students in to every lesson about sex education, sexual orientation or gender identity.

The law right now requires one notification, and parents can opt out.

The new policy also forbids transgender women from competing in women's sports leagues. Smith said the government will work with leagues to set up co-ed or general-neutral divisions for sports.

It's unclear which changes would be done by law or by government policy and when any of the changes would take effect.

Smith said she didn't want to encourage or allow children to alter their biology or growth because she said it would pose a risk.

"Making permanent and irreversible decisions regarding one's biological sex while still a youth can severely limit that child's choices in the future," she said.

"Prematurely encouraging or enabling children to alter their very biology or natural growth, no matter how well intentioned and sincere, poses a risk to that child's future that I, as premier, am not comfortable with permitting in our province."

More detail is coming at a news conference on Thursday afternoon.

Policy 'interfering ideologically' in healthcare: expert

Fae Johnstone, a transgender woman and executive director of Queer Momentum based in Ontario, said Alberta's policies go further than what Saskatchewan and New Brunswick are doing.

Saskatchewan made changes via legislation. New Brunswick opted to make policy changes.

The Saskatchewan Party government passed its Parents' Bill of Rights, which requires consent from a parent or guardian "when a student requests that their preferred name, gender identity, and/or gender expression be used" at school.

New Brunswick's recent changes to its policy mean it's no longer mandatory for teachers to use the preferred pronouns or names of transgender or non-binary students under the age of 16.

A teacher or school would need to obtain parental consent for any child who wants to change their name at school. A student who refuses parental involvement would be referred to a school psychologist or social worker to develop a plan to inform the student's parents.

"This is interfering ideologically in the provision of medically necessary healthcare for trans and gender diverse young people," Johnstone said in an interview with CBC News.

"And flies in the face of establishing medical best practice, while also putting in parameters around school inclusion that are actually more likely to force trans kids back into the closet or extreme cases will lead to trans kids being kicked out of their homes."

Groups that support transgender kids said they will fight back.

Calgary-based Skipping Stone Foundation and Egale Canada said they condemn Smith's policy and called it "a direct and unprecedented attack on 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians, and trans and gender diverse youth in particular."

The groups said the measures violate the constitution and will create irreparable harm. They said they plan to take the matter to court.

Other groups wish Smith went further with her policy.

John Hilton-O'Brien is the executive director of parents for Choice in Education.

Hilton-O'Brien said Smith did more than he expected. While it didn't go as far he would like, he called it "reasonable."

Hilton-O'Brien said Smith took what he believes is a middle ground to diffuse tension between schools and parents.

"What you're looking at is a powder keg," he said. "If the premier doesn't do something to diffuse it, there will be much bigger trouble than a potential group of cases in [court]. She'll be looking at mass protests."

ATA says teachers need to be 'broadly consulted'

Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teacher's Association, said in a written statement that teachers are primarily concerned about the safety of their most vulnerable students after this announcement from Smith.

Teachers must be broadly consulted before this policy is enacted, he added.

"We are concerned about the chilling effect placed on classrooms and schools, impacting our ability to provide safe, caring and inclusive spaces for all students," Schilling said.

"We are concerned about how students may feel forced to suppress their identities and to be afraid of reaching out to teachers as an avenue for support.

"Transgender youth are five times more likely to think about suicide and nearly eight times more likely to attempt it than other children. We must be mindful of the vulnerability of these students and their need for safety, security and support."

Nigerian royals say Cambridge bosses ‘duped’ as Benin Bronzes row reignites

Craig Simpson
Fri, 2 February 2024 

Senior prince of Benin has ordered the university to return artefacts

 - NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Nigerian royals have claimed Cambridge University bosses were “duped” into an agreement to repatriate the Benin Bronzes and must now return them to a local king.

In 2022, the university pledged to return 116 artefacts to Nigeria, but paused its plan when it emerged that the treasures would become the private property of the king of the Benin people, rather than a Nigerian government body.

The Benin royal household has now claimed that Cambridge bosses were “duped” into making deals with false claimants to the Bronzes amid an internal political wrangle in Nigeria.


A senior prince representing the palace has insisted that the university stop stalling and return the artefacts to their “legitimate” owner, the king or “Oba” of Benin, reigniting an international row over the metal artworks.

Hundreds of artworks were created for the monarchs of the Kingdom of Benin – which was absorbed into Nigeria – and looted by British troops after they stormed the palace of then-ruler Oba Ovonramwen in an 1897 expedition.

His modern-day descendant, Oba Ewuare II, contends that the artefacts rightfully belong to him and should be returned directly.

The position has been endorsed by the Nigerian state to the surprise of pro-repatriation European museums.

‘I feel sorry for the Europeans’

Prince Aghatise Erediauwa of Benin, the younger brother of the Oba, has insisted that Cambridge respect his wishes.

He told the Telegraph: “I feel sorry for the Europeans who have been duped and received promises about the artefacts from those who should not have been claiming the Bronzes.”

He added: “Cambridge should most definitely return the artefacts. The Oba of Benin is the legitimate owner.

“The president of Nigeria has recognised this.

“I understand they are hesitating, but they must return the artefacts. They must now do the right thing, and return the artefacts to the right people.”

Benin Bronzes were created for the monarchs and looted by British troops

 - TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS

Cambridge holds 116 Bronzes in its Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which have faced demands for repatriation. Oxford’s museum collection and the more than 900 housed in the British museum have also been the subject of debate.

The Telegraph has been told that the Benin royal household became concerned when a third party, Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments, began negotiating terms for the repatriation of Bronzes from Western museums.

The commission wanted returned artefacts to be housed in the Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA) that it plans to build in Benin City. It is the capital of the former Kingdom of Benin, once looted by the British in an expedition that eventually led to the Bronzes being dispersed around the world.

Cambridge, Oxford and the Horniman Museum in London agreed to repatriate in 2022, taking their lead from institutions in Germany.