Wolves aggressively trail dogs with owners near Elmendorf, Alaska

This video is making the rounds. It seems that a wolf pack near Elmendorf, Alaska has become very aggressive toward local dogs; and this means the wolves have gotten very close to people in their effort to attack the dogs.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/12/22/alaska.wolf.attack.cnn

I can’t understand why this wolf pack has not been shot by local Game and Fish or whoever.

There are a number of points that need to be made here.

The wolves after the dogs, not their owners. There have been several similar incidents in the Northern Rockies. People tend to think the wolves are after them, but dogs interest wolves a lot more than people do. Nevertheless, a person could be attacked by a wolf if he or she gets between the wolf and the dog.

The women in this video had good reason to worry. The safest course would have been to abandon their dogs, but fortunately other than a scare, only a dog was injured.

If anyone knows this area, I would like to know why this wolf pack has not been controlled?

Update: It looks like this is a military area. Fort Rich closes wolf range. adn.com. The wolves seem to have moved on.

Further update 1-2-2008. This story is really all about dogs and wolves as the comments below reveal. Proponents of wolf fear/hatred are still trying to get this story rolling. The latest is this tear-jerker from a local TV station that made it to MSNBC, Wolves attack area dogs. by Rebecca Palsha. KTUU-TV.

Contrast the hysteria over this with the story on the coyote attacking 2 people in Yellowstone and the bobcat attack in Death Valley.

Coyote bites two in Yellowstone (my post on 1-1) 

“Bullshit” Gazette op-ed from Stockgrowers

The headline came from an email sent my one of the folks who reads this blog.

Below is a guest opinion from the Montana Stockgrowers who recently sacrificed their friends in the Montana Cattle Association on the false god of brucellosis control.

Guest Opinion to the Gazette: Brucellosis policy must protect ranchers. By Steve Roth (Stockgrower dude). Roth writes: “The May 2007 disclosure of brucellosis was the most fearsome event in Montana’s livestock industry in over 20 years.”

I guess the Montana livestock industry must not have had much to worry about the last 20 years. When Idaho lost it’s brucellosis free status (since regained) the media and the livestock associations could hardly motivate themselves to even write a news release.

Remember, the Montana Stockgrowers only speak for a portion of the Montana livestock industry. They are going to hype this all winter long as they kill bison and probably violate the property rights of local residents.

Montana wolf hunt gets preliminary approval

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has set up a framework for a Montana wolf hunt once the wolves are delisted. Story. Montana wolf hunt gets preliminary approval. Great Falls Tribune.

Montana’s wildlife commission has been proceeding somewhat more cautiously than Idaho’s.

With 40 breeding pairs (“37” according to this story), it might seem Montana can easily keep its population above 15 breeding pairs, but the breeding pair count in Montana has been pretty unstable in the past, so caution seems warranted if they want to avoid a relisting. Breeding pair numbers are less stable than total population figures.

Here are the past numbers (breeding pairs)-

Year 2000 8 breeding pairs
Year 2001 7 breeding pairs
Year 2002 17 breeding pairs
Year 2003 10 breeding pairs
Year 2004 15 breeding pairs
Year 2005 19 breeding pairs
Year 2006 21 breeding pairs
Year 2007 37? breeding pairs

Forest Service is writing rules to help privatize your lands in favor of outfitters

We could see it in the Idaho wolf population management plan, and now we see in the rules the Forest Service is developing regarding allocation of recreation on public lands.

Story in the Casper Star Tribune. Sweet deal for outfitters? By Brodie Farquhar.

Ever since the Pombo-Gibbons bill to give away our public lands to the mining companies was slapped down in December 2005, there has been an upsurge in interest in keeping and protecting our American public lands from the special interests who want to privatize (steal) them from us.

Because citizens are more watchful now, those who want to grab our lands are getting more sneaky. Senator Larry Craig has always been one of the biggest land-grabbers, and the Forest Service still marches to his tune because his former aide Mark Rey oversees the FS.

Update: thanks to Robert Hoskins, here are the proposed regulations