First wolf pack in Utah!

This is posted as a comment by Joe (thanks!!), and was mentioned earlier by another comment (and Ed Bang’s included it in his latest report).

This Utah wolf pack is near Colorado, and also near Wyoming where they will get to kill every wolf outside a small area in the NW corner of the state come March 28. There could be a flashpoint on this pretty quick.

Wolf pack sighted in Utah for the first time in almost 80 years. KSL News.

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Added at bedtime. 3-20-2008. Wolf pack may be trotting around Flaming Gorge. By Melinda Rogers. The Salt Lake Tribune

Hunting is just one way to manage wolf packs. Idaho and Montana both use non-lethal techniques too.

The use of non-lethal aversive and proactive techniques with wolves is discussed in this article in Plenty Magazine. Story by Nicole Scarmeas. I hope both states continue to use non-lethal because the case of the Buffalo Ridge Pack in Idaho seemed a bad omen.

Then there’s Wyoming . . . such a sad case!

Another story on the “howlbox”. . . this one in the NYT.

A Bid to Lure Wolves With a Digital Call of the Wild. By Kirk Johnson. New York Times.

I have mixed feelings — every wolf tracked by the authorities just like those protecting us from the terrorists want to track our every move.

State wildlife agencies wait to take over wolves. 2007 also saw record number of wolves killed in the region

State wildlife agencies wait to take over wolves. 2007 also saw record number of wolves killed in the region. By Mike Stark. Billings Gazette Staff.

The record number of wolves killed did seem to reduce reduce, or was at least associated, with fewer losses of livestock in Wyoming. Sheep are more likely to be killed than cattle. Of course they are smaller are worth less. Stories rarely mention that a high percentage of the dead cattle are calves, and usually late winter, spring and early summer calves — small or smallish.

I need to calculate the rates, but my perception is that in Idaho the livestock losses per wolf are consistently lower than in Wyoming and Montana, probably due to the larger cow-free backcountry.

Except for an occasional large sheep kill, I must admit my perception is that wolf losses are trivial and the perception of high losses is an opinion artifact created by the livestock industry and politicians. They can tell me 75 cows is a lot of cows, but then I know they were mostly calves and Western Montana is a huge place, but if you report each lost calf and a tearful livestock operator (at least while the video is recording) . . . “how I loved that little gal. Now she’s hamburger (Ooops, I mean she was viciously hamstrung),” it will have the desired effect.