Niemeyer: Wolves didn’t kill cow near Eagle last week

It died of birthing problems

Last week there was a big story about how wolves had killed a cow in the foothills above Eagle, Idaho, which most of you probably know is just west of Boise. Well, Carter Niemeyer, – the Montana western supervisor for Wildlife Services from 1975-1990 and the Wildlife Services Montana wolf specialist for the following 10 years until he took a post in Idaho as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s wolf recovery coordinator – did his own investigation and says that wolves didn’t kill the cow.

Here are the comments that I received today from Carter about the findings of his own investigation:

Wildlife Services revises Idaho Wolf Environmental Assessment

Drops gassing of pups in their dens and sterilization but continues heavy handed killing of wolves.

Public Comments accepted until January 3, 2011

Basin Butte Wolf Spring 2006 © Ken Cole

In anticipation of Monday’s federal court hearing of a case brought by Western Watersheds Project, Wildlife Services has revised its Idaho Wolf Environmental Assessment. While the new EA drops gassing of wolf pups in their dens and use of sterilization, the preferred alternative does not consider exhaustive use of non-lethal methods to prevent wolf conflicts by intimating that it would be too expensive for ranchers to use proper animal husbandry techniques to avoid such conflicts.

Wildlife Services [sic], formerly Animal Damage Control, is an agency under the Department of Agriculture which responds to wildlife threats to agriculture. They are not related to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is under the Department of Interior and who manages endangered species, enforces the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and manages National Wildlife Refuges.

Carter Niemeyer strongly questions Wildlife Services report.

Calls recent Montana report “misleading”.

Carter Niemeyer’s recent book “Wolfer” described, in great detail, the inner workings of Wildlife Services for whom he worked as their Montana western supervisor from 1975-1990 and as their Montana wolf specialist for the following 10 years until he took a post in Idaho as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s wolf recovery coordinator. In the book he describes how the incestuous relationship between the livestock industry and Wildlife Services works to maintain hegemony over how predators are blamed for livestock deaths so that they can be managed and killed and so that the taxpayer funds flow freely. He goes on to describe how the reporting of livestock depredations is routinely influenced by the higher ups in the department so that blame could be squarely placed on any number of predators instead of what usually boils down to poor animal husbandry practices.

Often times he was called to the scene of a “wolf depredation” only to find out, upon investigation, that the animal had died from other causes or that dogs had been behind the incident. When he would write up his report he would skin the animal out to look for hemorrhaging caused by the bites of a wolf or other predator, he would take pictures, he would look for tracks. This was frowned upon by his superiors and he was told to use only the small space on the investigation report form to describe whether the livestock had been killed by predators or not.

A different kind of wolf book: Niemeyer’s “Wolfer” has been published

A real page-turner is available now just before the holidays-

A lot of folks have waited for the publication of Carter Niemeyer’s autobiograpy, Wolfer. It is now available from a couple sources, but Amazon.com will get it to you before Christmas. I’ve checked that out. It is also available at Amazon as a download for your Kindle.

I understand autographed copies are available at www.carterniemeyer.com/ I’m not sure they will be ready for Dec. 25, however. The book also has a Facebook site — http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wolfer/103634586341350

I read the draft and the book grabs you from the first page. It seems like Niemeyer is good at just about everything, and that includes writing his story.  It certainly needs to be told because people just don’t know what being a “government trapper” is like.  They also don’t know what it takes to change your mind about the direction of your career.

I will post a full review after the holidays when I get my final copy.

Feds Can Withhold GPS Data on Wolf Attacks

Feds Can Withhold GPS Data on Wolf Attacks.
Courthouse News Service

Reminder: Comments due today on Wildlife Services Idaho Wolf EA.

Wolf management plan examines killing of pups and sterilization of wolves.

The Wildlife Services issued an Environmental Assessment at the beginning of August. Today is the last day to comment on the EA which calls for killing pups which have been orphaned by their control actions, sterilization of wolves, and increased killing of wolves in response to livestock depredations.

Western Watersheds Project and the Wolf Recovery Foundation have submitted comments on the EA which you can read here:
WWP & Wolf Recovery Foundation Comments on Gray Wolf Damage Managment in ID Draft EA

Here is the post I made earlier in the month:

Wildlife Services wants your comments.

Wolf management plan examines killing of pups and sterilization of wolves.

Wildlife Services has issued a draft Environmental Analysis which examines a myriad of ways to kill wolves. Comments on the plan are accepted until August 31, 2010.

Idaho Wolf EA

“Management strategies would be developed for individual situations by applying the WS Decision Model (Slate et al. 1992). When appropriate, farm management practices (animal husbandry), frightening devices and livestock guarding animals would be recommended and utilized to reduce wolf damage to livestock. In other situations, WS might potentially utilize foothold traps, snares, ground shooting, chemical immobilization and euthanasia, and aerial shooting to remove individual problem wolves. An additional potential management method under the Proposed Action would be the infrequent taking of pups in or near the den, in those cases where removal of adult wolves due to chronic depredations on livestock might leave the pups defenseless and subject to starvation. Another potential management method under the Proposed Action, as an alternative to total removal of some chronic depredating wolf packs, would be removal of most or all wolves except the alpha pair from a chronic depredating pack. One (or both if possible) of the alpha animals would concurrently be live-captured, surgically sterilized, radio-collared, and released to maintain and defend their territory against other wolf packs which might be more likely to prey on livestock. This approach would only be considered on a case-by-case basis, and only with the concurrence of IDFG and potentially affected livestock producers.”

Oregon Wolves Earn Reprieve as Hunt Halted

Wildlife advocates celebrate short-term victory for endangered wolves-

A temporary victory for the Imnaha Pack.

News release from the plaintiffs.

– – – – – – – – – –

I borrowed the info below from email. It is a news summary from Oregon on the lawsuit (before the reprieve).

Here are the other press hits:

La Grande Observer:
http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/News/Local-News/Wolf-kill-order-prompts-groups-to-file-lawsuit
Oregonian:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/environmental_groups_file_fede.html
Natural Oregon:
http://www.naturaloregon.org/2010/07/01/lawsuit-filed-to-stop-oregon-wolf-hunt/
Longer AP story as printed in the Seattle PI:
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_or_wolf_lawsuit.html
OPB on June 30th Rule Change
http://news.opb.org/article/7742-groups-object-changes-wolf-kill-rules/
Press release on all plaintiffs websites
http://www.oregonwild.org/about/press-room/press-releases/lawsuit-filed-to-stop-federal-state-sanctioned-killing-of-endangered-wolves

Perhaps the best was in the Bend Bulletin, but that is by subscription only.

Conservation groups sue feds (Wildlife Services) on Federal Wolf Management Actions in Oregon

Groups argue federal animal killing agency has no business killing 2 of the 13 known wolves in Oregon-

Revenge wolf killing threatens to make its way to Oregon.  In Idaho the attitude is of WS is “their are so many damn wolves who cares if we kill the wrong ones?” “We have lots of leeway to indulge our 16th century urges.”

Oregon is different with just a few wolves. The wolves responsible for killing the livestock have moved well away from the area. There is still a kill order for two of the pack.  Any two will do as long as they have no radio collars. Thus, it is simply revenge killing, not an attempt to solve a problem.

NEWS RELEASE-
Here is the text of the suit.
Oregon-wolves-NEPA-complaint

Josh Laughlin, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495
Greg Dyson, Hells Canyon Preservation Council, (541) 963-3950 x 22
Rob Klavins, Oregon Wild, (503) 283-6343 x 210

Lawsuit Filed to Stop Federal, State-sanctioned Killing of Endangered Wolves

PORTLAND, Ore.­ Four conservation groups sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s predator control branch, Wildlife Services, today for its role in killing wolves at the behest of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). The state has issued, and now extended to Aug. 31, a permit to the federal agency to hunt, track and kill two wolves across a 70-square-mile area in eastern Oregon. According to the conservation groups’ lawsuit, Wildlife Services never conducted the environmental analysis required to disclose the impacts of killing a substantial portion of Oregon’s wolves. Cascadia Wildlands, Hells Canyon Preservation Council, Oregon Wild and the national Center for Biological Diversity brought the suit, and are also strongly considering suing the state for its role in authorizing the kill permits.

Eight wolves killed in SW Wyoming because of the death of just one lamb

Two adult wolves and six pups killed by Wildlife Services in an area with just one confirmed wolf depredation, a mere lamb-

The state of Wyoming wants to confine wolves to 13% of the state, and Judge Molloy struck that plan down back in 2008.  Currently under federal wolf management wolves are allowed to inhabit anywhere in Wyoming under federal protection, dependent of course on their behavior.

It seems the wolves have to be very well behaved because in an area northwest of Kemmerer, USFWS told Wildlife Services to kill a lone adult male wolf and a female and all of her pups because one lamb had been confirmed killed by wolves. Other dead sheep (number not released) were found dead in the general area but the cause could not be determined.

Here are some thoughts (1) that is a lot of dead wolves to compensate for a dead lamb, (2) the federal government seems to be carrying out Wyoming’s illegal wolf plan but  in a de facto way, (3) this is an ideal way to make sure wolves never get to Colorado, northern Utah or southeast Idaho.

The story is in the official latest Wyoming weekly wolf report of June 25, 2010. I converted the Microsoft Word report to a pdf file and put emphasis (boldface) to the relevant parts of the story.

wyomingnews-June25-2010

Idaho Fish and Game/Wildlife Services targets wolf and her 7 pups 8 months after last depredation.

Blue Bunch Pack near McCall and New Meadows hasn’t killed livestock since October and all other members have been killed

IDFG Director Cal Groen & Idaho Governor "Butch" Otter

It has been nearly 8 months since any member of southwest Idaho’s Blue Bunch Pack killed any livestock yet, on March, 16, members of the Blue Bunch Pack were killed by Wildlife Services under an order that has apparently extended to persist to this day.

As far as anyone knows there is only the collared alpha female tending 7 wolf pups in the mountains to the west of McCall, Idaho and the Idaho Fish and Game wants them dead. This, even though there is a standing policy memo in place which extends “the effective period for take orders by USDA Wildlife Services (WS) and kill permits (livestock owners) from 45 to 60 days following the most recent depredation incident” which, in this case, was October 2009. There have been no depredations since. The memo also authorizes “additional WS wolf removals and extended kill permits based on recurring incidents or chronic history of the wolf pack involved”.

It appears that this is how the IDFG plans on managing wolves into the foreseeable future. They plan on carrying out heavy handed control even long after any depredations on livestock have occurred. This means that any pack that has been deemed a chronically depredating pack will be killed even if they haven’t preyed on livestock for a long period of time.

Idaho April Wolf Report released

IDFG/Wildlife Services’ war on wolves has begun. 42 wolves killed for 23 depredations.

The monthly update from IDFG, which contains little useful or timely information, has been released for the month of April. It appears from the numbers that Wildlife Services has been given the permission to conduct extensive revenge killings on behalf of livestock producers.

I wonder how much the number has risen in the last month as there have been reports of Wildlife Services planes in the Wood River Valley, Salmon area, and the Boise Foothills this month. I have been told that Wildlife Services has put orange collars on wolves in an attempt to make them easier to spot from the air, in turn, making it easier to avoid killing the “Judas” wolf. In one instance they accidentally shot this wolf so the remaining wolves will be harder to “control”. I guess the lazy, expensive way of managing wolves didn’t work out so well 😉

Idaho Wolf Management Progress Report April 2010

YEAR	Depredations1				Wolf Mortality
	Cattle	Sheep	Dogs	Total	WS2	10j / 36-11073	Other 4	Hunter Harvest	Total
2003	7	130	3	140	7	0	8		15
2004	19	176	4	199	17	0	21		38
2005	29	166	12	207	24	3	16		43
2006	41	237	4	282	35	7	19		61
2007	57	211	10	278	43	7	27		77
2008	104	215	14	333	94	14	45		153
2009	76	295	14	385	87	6	45	135	273
2010 (1/1 – 4/30)	17	6	0	23	36	6	5	46	93

¹ Includes only confirmed wolf depredations of cattle, sheep, and dogs that resulted in death or injury.
² Wolves taken by USDA Wildlife Services in response to depredation on livestock.
³ Authorized take under 10j, or legal take after delisting under state law for protection of stock and dogs (Idaho Code 361107).
⁴ Other includes of mortalities of unknown cause, documented natural mortality, collisions with automobiles, and illegal
take.

Imnaha pack’s breeding pair to be protected in Oregon control action

Wildlife Services authorized to kill only two uncollared wolves after pack kills 5 head of livestock-

The state of Oregon seems to be to be taking a reasonable, measured bit of action after that state’s only confirmed wolf pack killed a handful of livestock in the upper Wallowa Valley.

According to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, “The lethal action is aimed at killing wolves that are showing an interest in livestock, not wolves simply in the area, and will be limited to an area where three of the confirmed livestock kills are clustered. Under the terms of the authorization, the wolves can be killed a) only within three miles of three clustered locations with confirmed livestock losses by wolves and b) only on privately-owned pasture currently inhabited by livestock. ODFW’s authorization will be valid until June 11, 2010.”

If Idaho and Montana took this kind of approach, the wolf controversy would be much less.

ODFW authorizes lethal removal of wolves
Breeding pair to be protected
News Release from ODFW

The Problem with Wildlife Services

The leaders in the war on wolves

When was the last time you heard about Wildlife Services talking about non-lethal methods of preventing livestock losses to wolves? The only place in Idaho that this is practiced is with the sheep passing through the Wood River Valley each year and by Lava Lake Land and Livestock but nowhere else has it even been talked about.  In their annual reports they talk about how they want greater latitude to kill more wolves rather than try to avoid conflicts in the first place.

The Problem with Wildlife Services.
Switchboard, from NRDC :: Andrew Wetzler

Someone in Nevada has it right about the uselessness of predator control

NDoW opposes killing of predators says habitat is the issue.

There is a battle raging in Nevada about predator control under the guise of helping deer and sage grouse. As it turns out the problem isn’t about predators but about habitat quality. For years the BLM and the ranchers have colluded in an effort to make more grass available to livestock under the guise of “habitat improvement projects” which destroy piñon/juniper forests and sagebrush needed for cover while ignoring the fact that overgrazing has eliminated essential grasses from vast areas of the landscape and greatly impacted valuable bitterbrush.

When one looks at grazing permit renewal documents from the Nevada BLM, the habitat needs of wildlife are given only cursory analysis and the BLM always makes sure that when there are problems there are never any real cuts in AUMs but only what are commonly referred to as paper cuts, or animals that aren’t really grazed. Utilization standards often allow for utilization of native perennial grasses and shrubs or half shrubs of 50% which, as with the case of blue bunch wheatgrass, often kills the plants or greatly hinders their vigor in these arid environments.

Back in December came news that mountain lions, coyotes, badgers, skunks and ravens would all be targeted in an effort to improve deer and sage grouse survival using $866,000 from the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s Heritage fund. The money would have been used to fund operations of Wildlife Services. Since then Nevada Department of Wildlife has come out in opposition saying that these issues revolve around habitat issues rather than predators and that the science doesn’t justify the wanton killing of predators.

Tony Wasley, NDOW mule deer specialist, said controlling predators won’t stop the disappearance of the sagebrush-covered terrain that deer depend on in Nevada and much of the West.

“We’re talking about a landscape-scale phenomenon here,” Wasley said. “The population is limited by habitat.”

Where there is insufficient habitat, “all the predator control in the world won’t result in any benefit,” Wasley said.

Feds, Nevada officials clash over deer predator control
Reno Gazette Journal

Montana Allows Unfettered Killing of Wolves by Wildlife Services

“Wildlife Services agents no longer need FWP authorization to kill wolves at or near confirmed livestock depredation sites.”

Wolf © Ken Cole

This is about the worst scenario for wolves of Montana that could be concocted by the state, especially while the decision to delist them is being considered in the courts. This nudges wolves even closer to a condition where the killing by a Federal agency becomes entirely unregulated. These conditions resemble those in place when wolves were eradicated in the first place. For those who think that Montana has a better management plan than the other states, think again.

This sets up a situation whereby Wildlife Services may kill an entire pack of wolves for killing a single sick cow or sheep left out on the landscape, a circumstance often documented by those who are watching. This does, however, put a greater responsibility on the agency that has actually made the call on how these situations are handled. Wildlife Services can no longer claim that FWP made the call on how the situation was handled when things go awry.

At the same time, livestock producers who use public lands have no requirements to do anything to avoid such circumstances.  The removal of livestock carcasses that have died natural deaths, or the removal of sick animals, is not required as part of the authorization to graze on public lands.  Non-lethal methods which have been demonstrated to be effective deterrents against livestock depredations are not required.  These poor livestock husbandry practices will continue and be rewarded by livestock compensation programs in place and being proposed by the government.

Will this action influence Judge Malloy’s decision on whether to remand the decision to delist wolves back to the USFWS?  Will Ed Bangs see this as a reason to change his decision?  Time will tell.

Too many wolves: FWP gives wildlife agents more authority to kill problem predators
By EVE BYRON Helena Independent Record

Mont. giving more authority to kill problem wolves
Associated Press

Interview: “Predatory Bureaucracy” author Michael J. Robinson

Howl Colorado.org gets a very interesting and important interview-

If you are interested in the politics and history of government animal killing for the livestock industry, Robinson’s book, Predatory Bureaucracy is a must. I think this interview with its author is too. Also, interviews are easier to digest than a grim journey through a long history.

Interview: “Predatory Bureaucracy” author Michael J. Robinson.

Howl Colorado.org

ID Fish and Game shows they are turning Idaho’s wolf plan into one like Wyoming’s

Leaked memo shows massive effort coming to kill off Idaho wolves-

The memo below from Cal Groen, Director of the Idaho Fish and Game Department confirms my call about six months ago that the Department was working with, or told to work with livestock interests to devise a method for a massive wolf reduction program.

The memo essentially says that many parts of Idaho where wolves now live, and where the Idaho Wolf  Plan said wolves could live, will  actually be frequently swept clear of them by Wildlife Services.  The excuse will be the relatively minor livestock damage that takes place.

This, no doubt, includes the Sawtooth Valley and the entire Sawtooth National Recreation Area.  In fact, it includes almost all of Idaho where there are any livestock.  This has the effect of making Idaho’s wolf plan into something very much like Wyoming’s plan, namely to keep the wolves out of most the state — the very reason why the wolf was not delisted in  Wyoming  in the first place.

Wyoming was upfront about it. They would kill wolves as varmints in 87% of the state. Idaho claimed that wolves would be allowed to inhabit any part of the state. The wolves would be judged on their behavior. This no doubt impressed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In fact, livestock politicians were planning to make most of Idaho a no wolf zone just as Wyoming was. However, they were more clever and more sneaky than Wyoming.

The 2009 Idaho Wildlife Services Report

From Mark Collinge

“The attached report summarizes information regarding wolf management activities conducted by the Idaho Wildlife Services (WS) program in Federal fiscal year 2009, covering the period from October1, 2008 – September 30, 2009. If you have questions regarding any of the information in this report, please contact the Idaho WS State Office.”

ID WS FY 2009 Wolf Report.pdf

Mark Collinge
State Director
APHIS Wildlife Services
9134 W. Blackeagle Drive
Boise, ID 83709
Phone (208) 378-5077
Fax (208) 378-5349
mark.d.collinge@aphis.usda.gov

More about the Thanksgiving Wolf Massacre of the Basin Butte Pack

Alpha female’s body retrieved

Last week I received a fundraising email from Living With Wolves, a 501c3 non-profit group run by Jim and Jamie Dutcher, who’s mission is “dedicated to raising awareness about the social nature of wolves, their importance to healthy ecosystems, threats to their survival and the essential actions people can take to help save wolves”. In the email was a story about the massacre of the Basin Butte Pack over Thanksgiving which shed some light on the aftermath of the incident. I asked them to put this on their website so that I could post it here.

Warning there are graphic images of a dead wolf.

The Thanksgiving Wolf Massacre
Living With Wolves

Update: Lynne Stone writes this:

I was part of the “recovery” team on Dec. 11th that found B171 Alpha Fe in Goat Creek Meadows in the Sawtooth Wilderness. I put my wolf tag on her, hoping that one less wolf would be killed in the Sawtooth Zone. I phoned the IDFG wolf kill number and reported it. Several days later I called local IDFG to “process her”.

Unfortunately, IDFG took her away from me, saying that any wolf killed by Wildlife Services is property of the state. IDFG has not heard the end of this yet. Alpha Fe is in Jerome. I am filing state records request every few days to know what IDFG has planned for her … if I can’t get her back (lawyers are being consulted since WS left her in the woods, not wanting her), then maybe eventually she will go to auction. She was a magnificent, beautiful wolf, even when the life had gone out of her. I am so heartsick over this. I tried for four years to keep this pack alive and it’s a miracle they lasted as long as they did – due to the hatred of wolves of Challis ranchers who run a sloppy cattle business near Stanley from June to Nov.

Federal agents hunt for wolves from 5 Montana packs

Up to 22 wolves could be killed in Montana

“Carolyn Sime with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks says it is unusual to have so many livestock attacks this late in the year.”

This couldn’t be what happens when you disrupt pack structure with a hunt could it? These questions need to be asked of wolf managers.

See: Wolf hunt information and effects that need to be collected

Federal agents hunt for wolves from 5 packs. Associated Press – Idaho Statesman

So far this year 91 Montana wolves were killed by livestock owners directly or Wildlife Services (mostly WS). 112 were killed in the hunt, natural causes, etc. This is a total of 203 dead wolves. If this action is carried out the dead wolf total for the year could reach 225, or 45% of the state’s wolf population. The rule of thumb, meaning it isn’t a hard and fast percentage, is that somewhat over 30% of the wolves in a state can die during a year with no decline in the wolf population.

Official: Montana Wolf hunt was effective

The real story is that 40% of the wolves in Montana were killed this year-

Official: Wolf hunt was effective. By Matthew Brown. Associated Press

The rule of thumb is that wolves can withstand annual mortality of about 30 per cent of the adult wolves, and the population will remain stable. The article below indicates that hunters killed 14% of Montana’s wolf population this year. On the other hand, 26% were killed by Wildlife Services, poachers, ranchers defending their livestock, and natural mortality. They aren’t done yet either. There was just an article about them taking out a wolf pack near Helena because the wolves killed a couple sheep dogs and a goat or something. These officials, not named in the article, want to increase the number of wolves  taken in the hunt next year, but what the figures show is that it’s not the hunt that threatens the wolves, but the killing of wolf packs for mostly trivial livestock losses.

I’m not sure why the article ended with this: “Ranchers like Jerry Ehmann, 63, counter that the state’s hunt is not doing enough. Ehmann said he used to run about 200 head of cattle on 25,000 acres of public land in southwestern Montana’s Bitterroot Range. After wolves started harassing his animals this year and five calves went missing, Ehmann decided to cut back to only 72 animals and keep them fenced in on his ranch near Sula. He sold off the remaining cattle in November.”

Are we really to believe that the only reason this rancher reduced his herd of 200 to 72 is because “5 calves went missing” — not killed by wolves, but just missing. Calves too, not cattle. Isn’t there a recession or something going on too?  😦 And isn’t this rancher getting toward retirement age?

Update editorial in the Great Falls Tribune. Highly regulated wolf hunt does seem like the right track. The Tribune looks at the Montana hunt and finds it to be sucessful and not a threat to the wolf population. What Tribune hasn’t looked at, what few look at, and what cause dispute between some hunters and wolf advocates, is the focus on hunting.

The Montana problem is not wolf hunting, it is Wildlife Service killers shooting wolves for usually minor offenses like killing a couple sheep or cow calves or maybe someone just ” a couple of my livestock gone missing.”

Wildlife Services: The Most Important Wildlife Agency You’ve Never Heard Of

Wildlife Services, the agency that does the killing

“The USDA’s own statistics show that most livestock losses come from weather, disease, illness, and birthing problems, not predation.”

Wildlife Services: The Most Important Wildlife Agency You’ve Never Heard Of
Andrew Wetzler NRDC Switchboard

Chuck Carpenter is the district supervisor for central Idaho for the U.S. Wildlife Services.

Feds kill 7 wolves near Stanley

Here is the longer story from the Mountain Express about the killing of the Basin Butte Pack near Stanley.

Basin Butte Wolf just across the river from Stanley, Spring 2006 © Ken Cole

Livestock do not winter in the Sawtooth Valley so there was no imminent danger of livestock losses. This was a revenge killing.

On public lands allotments there are no mandatory terms and conditions requiring livestock permittees to do anything proactive to protect their livestock. There are several non-lethal methods of avoiding conflict with wolves on public lands but there are no requirements to do so. Cracker rounds, turbo fladry, guard dogs, more herders, and better management of livestock are effective ways but they are resisted because of cost. It appears that ranchers would rather have the taxpayers pay to shoot livestock from the air.

Maybe it would be better for the taxpayer if livestock grazing on public lands ended, especially where there is a history of conflict due to the presence of livestock in wolf habitat.

Feds kill 7 wolves near Stanley
Jon Duval – Idaho Mountain Express

Turbo fladry © Ken Cole

Shooting Wolves in a Barrel

About the shooting of the Basin Butte Pack.

Wildlife Services Helicopter

Todd Grimm from Wildlife Services and Suzanne Stone from Defenders of Wildlife were interviewed for a segment on BSU Radio.

“One of the main concerns we had is that a hunter may take a collared wolf from this pack. If that happened we would no longer be able to find the wolf responsible if we waited longer. So we knew which wolves were involved in the depredations and we needed to remove as many of them as we could.”

“The number of depredations in the state of Idaho have increased to an almost unmanageable level. Our argument has been that if we can reduce the wolf population in Idaho there will be fewer depredations, there will be fewer ranchers that have wolf problems and there will be fewer wolves that have to be killed after the depredations.” Todd Grimm APHIS Wildlife Services.

This is the future of wolf management in Idaho. It now seems certain that those 26 “chronically depredating” wolf packs will be targeted this winter in Idaho long after livestock leave many of the areas they inhabit.

Shooting Wolves in a Barrel
Adam Cotterell – BSU radio

Wildlife Services blasts away Basin Butte wolf pack at Stanley, Idaho

Is there an explanation for this in the middle of the scheduled wolf hunt?

Right in the middle of the wolf hunt and in the zone where there is the highest quota, Wildlife Services took to the air this week in their gunships and blasted away the long-standing Basin Butte Pack at Stanley, Idaho. This is one of 26 wolf packs Wildlife Service has labeled as a “chronic depredating” pack, which seems to mean a pack that at one or more times killed some domestic livestock.

It doesn’t mean killed recently, however. All the livestock left the area for the winter in October.

This pack has lived around Stanley, mostly in Stanley Basin for about 5 years now. Even summer and part of the fall thousands of cattle and sheep are trucked into what many regard as Idaho most scenic valley.  Every year or so the pack kills a calf or two.  Amazingly it stays near the town of Stanley, even within city limits. If this was a pack that was going to be taken during the wolf hunt, this would seem to be it.

I think there needs to be some explanation why Idaho Fish and Game’s regional supervisor approved the killing of this pack of 7-10 wolves in the middle of the wolf  hunt 7 months before the cows show up again.

You might want to call Jim Lukens, the Salmon area regional supervisor and ask him. (208) 756-2271. Approval of Wildlife Services wolf kills has been parceled out to the regional supervisors, like Mark Gamlin (who seems to have few to no wolves in his district).

– – – – – –
The real wolf hunt is about to begin?

One possibility is they just got too frustrated watching this pack avoid wolf hunters. I have heard through the grapevine, however, that from now until the wolf population is down to the 500 they view acceptable (for now), Idaho Fish and Game and Wildlife Services is going to reduce the wolf numbers by any means possible. In fact, they admit it. They have spoken on the public record time and time again that they have lots of other “tools in the their toolbox.” The meaning should be clear. It is just the start date they haven’t announced.

WildEarth Guardians Seeks End of Aerial Gunning, Poisoning of Wildlife on Public Lands

Obama asked for executive order-

This is clearly something the President could do quickly to rehabilitate his tarnished image on wildlife. Ironically, it was President Richard Nixon who in 1972 issued Executive Order 11643 banning the use of poisons to control predators on Federal land. Reagan later weakened this. In addition, there is plenty of poison available. Much of it is left over from the 1970s.

While in the Senate, now Interior Secretary Salazar was one of those who opposed efforts to ban the use of compound 1080, an extremely poisonous, colorless, tasteless, odorless, substance that creates an agonizing death, and which would be an ideal poison for use by terrorists to put in a municipal water supply.

Meanwhile, as far as aerial gunning goes, USFA’s Wildlife Services killed off a famous Idaho wolf pack this week (more on this later). They used one or more of their aerial gunships.

Update 11-28.2009. A lot of newspapers picked up the AP story by John Miller on the petition.

Petition from WildEarth Guardians-

WildEarth Guardians Seeks End of Aerial Gunning & Poisoning of Wildlife on Public Lands

Denver, CO. The U.S. Department of Agriculture should stop sending its agents up in aircraft to shoot coyotes and planting lethal cyanide booby traps on the nation’s forests and other federal lands, according to a formal request filed today by WildEarth Guardians with the Obama administration.

“Federal wildlife-killing programs are unsafe, illegal, and reckless,” said Wendy Keefover-Ring, Director of Carnivore Protection for WildEarth Guardians. “We call upon the Obama administration to protect our native carnivores on the Nation’s public lands.”

Idaho Fish and Game prepares to close wolf hunt in 3 zones

Hunters are nearing the quota in three Idaho wolf hunting zones-

Sixty-nine wolves have been shot now, 151 are left in the quota, but their are  sub-quotas — quotas for each wolf zone.

Palouse-Hells Canyon, McCall-Weiser, and Upper Snake have only 3 wolf tags left to fill.  Two of the three had only 5 tags to start with. McCall-Weiser had 15 tags and 12 have been filled.  The most wolves have been killed in the Sawtooth Zone, 17; but the quota is 55.

No wolves have been shot in Southern Idaho where the quota is 5.  In fact, there might not any wolves there.   The only real surprise to me is the Lolo Zone where Idaho Fish and Game and hunters have been crying for years now that there are huge number of wolves, and they say have had a big impact on elk.  However, only 3 wolves have been taken out of a quota of 27.  I never believed there were all that many wolves in the area, and have stated my opinion time after time.

An interesting question will be will the Idaho Fish and Game Commission increase quotas in some areas if as the hunt goes on, it becomes clear that certain hunting zone quotas will not be filled.  Alternatively they might call on that band of killers, Wildlife Services, to go in and make sure the quota is filled. Both possibilities will create a lot of controversy.

Story. Idaho F&G prepares to shutter wolf hunt in 3 zones. The Associated Press.

Map and table giving Idaho wolf hunt info to date.

Wildlife Services Montana kills twice as many wolves on Blackfoot Reservation than entire wolf hunt so far

23 wolves in pack killed for some reason-

So far 12 wolves have been killed in Montana’s wolf hunt. It has generated a lot of controversy because most were taken in a small area just north of Yellowstone Park. Montana’s wolf hunt quota is 75.

I read in the latest Montana Wolf Weekly Report today that in contrast to the 12, twenty-three wolves in the Livermore Pack on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation were killed by Wildlife Services this year. Fifteen were killed in September alone. These wolves were said to be responsible for an unstated number of livestock losses. I read a number of their past wolf weeklies and could find no information why 23 wolves had to die for killing something.

Here is the URL of the wolf weekly that reports this http://fwp.mt.gov/content/getItem.aspx?id=40509

While the focus remains on the wolf hunt, I must emphasize again the real threat to wolves is not hunters, but Wildlife Services with its huge budget, high tech gear, and a mandate to aid and comfort the noblemen of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

County commits $20,000 for predator control

Two Oregon counties commit $40,000 taxpayer dollars but ranchers want more.

Ranchers ask for more subsidies in Oregon and receive taxpayer dollars to kill wildlife. Rather than adapting to a changing circumstance by doing more to proactively protect their livestock from predators they ask for the Federal Government to step in with funding while two counties divert $40,000 to hire a wildlife executioner who will spend their days killing coyotes, bears and cougars until the comparatively rare wolf depredation occurs.

Witness the beginning of another welfare ranching subsidy which turns into a system that asks for more and more taxpayer dollars and kills more and more wildlife.

County commits $20,000 for predator control.
Baker City Herald

Kill order placed on Ore. wolves killing livestock

This would be the first “control” of wolves in Oregon.

There are only two breeding packs in Oregon, one of them has been implicated in 5 incidents of livestock predation, two wolves are slated to be killed.

Kill order placed on Ore. wolves killing livestock
Associated Press

Montana Gov: State would fight injunction on wolves

This is hardly news. I won’t bother to put a link, but has anyone thought of this . . .?

What if Judge Molloy allows the hunt, but puts the wolf back on the endangered species list?

This doesn’t have to be an all or nothing kind of decision. The judge could allow the hunt to begin under careful scutiny of the Court and grant the injunction the minute any “funny stuff” starts. The plaintiffs make a number of claims in the lawsuit. It is not just an anti-hunt suit. JB recently posted a list of the total list of the claims the plaintiffs are making in their brief.

As I have written many times, I fear the the cattle and sheep association/Wildlife Services wolf killing machine more than a well regulated wolf hunt. The wolves will probably replenish themselves in a year, but they won’t come back from the Idaho Fish and Game Commission’s stated intent to use minor livestock depredations as an excuse to kill dozens of wolf packs.  Hunting won’t harm genetic diversity, it might make the wolves more wary, it might even spread them to other states — awesome!!  High tech Wildlife Service killers, however, won’t allow any wolves to remain in a pack.

Animal kills by Wildlife Services more than double in ’08

Animal kills by federal agency more than double

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press Writer

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The number of animals poisoned, shot or snared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture more than doubled last year, and environmentalists who are critical of the killings renewed their effort Tuesday to limit the agency’s funding for such activities.

AP EXCLUSIVE: Wildlife whistleblower case in NV

Wildlife Services employee fired for reporting the illegal killing of two mountain lions from an airplane by co-workers.

How much of this kind of thing actually happens? I’ve definitely heard of cases where wolves were shot at and injured by WS.

AP EXCLUSIVE: Wildlife whistleblower case in NV
Scott Sonner, Associated Press

IDFG’s plans to manage wolves includes killing 26 packs as well as 80% or 100 wolves in the Lolo

250 to 300 Idaho wolves could be killed if delisting occurs.

On May 2nd wolves will be delisted leaving a window of at least 30 days before the decision could be enjoined by a judge. During this time, assuming an injunction, a number of things could happen at the hands of the Idaho Fish and Game Department and Wildlife Services.

Based on what is in the written record it appears that anywhere from 250 to 300 wolves could be killed in a very short period of time through means other than hunting by individual hunters. Earlier I reported that Wildlife Services was seeking the flexibility to kill 26 packs for “chronic” depredations and now it appears that Idaho Fish and Game is on board with this plan. In the event of delisting, these plans will likely go forward and the result will be the death of 30% to 35% of Idaho’s 846 wolves.

From: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/about/commission/2009/jan27.pdf

To develop and aggressively utilize all available tools and methods to control wolf-caused depredation of domestic livestock.

• Staff have worked with Wildlife Services to identify 25 wolf pack territories with chronic livestock conflicts (>3 occurrences in 2008)

• Staff will implement aggressive and efficient control measures, including entire pack removal, for wolf packs with chronic histories of livestock depredation

• Staff will work with the Office of Species Conservation to request a Department of Interior Solicitor’s opinion on the 45-day window

Idaho Fish and Game Department commonly states that it will manage wolves in the same way that it manages bears and mountain lions but this seems to be a falsehood. There are no plans underway to reduce the number of Idaho’s 3000 mountain lions or 20,000 bears by a third nor is there the hysteria surrounding those species. The State legislature has not stepped in with crazy legislation regarding bears and mountain lions either, and the director of the Idaho Fish and Game has not attended meetings where illegal activities are promoted to exterminate wolves from the state as happened this weekend.

The Idaho Fish and Game also continues to perpetuate false information. In this video you will see that IDFG claims that the growth rate of the wolf population in Idaho is 20%. This is incorrect. Their own report shows that the rate is actually 16%, which is higher than last year’s 9%, but in line with trends showing that the growth rate is declining. This is a strong indication that wolves have filled the available habitat and natural regulation is taking place as anyone with a biology background would expect.

Wildlife Services Seeks “Flexibility” to Kill 26 Idaho Wolf Packs

Ranchers and Wildlife Services are asking for county tax dollars to do it.

Ralph Maughan posted about this recently when it was a big secret, but now it is out in the open. Wildlife Services in Idaho is seeking flexibility to kill wolves several months after depredations have occurred. They have identified 26 packs which they say are “chronically depredating” packs, or packs that have killed at least 3 domestic animals. This definition begs this question; what is the timeframe of the 3 depredations? Could these depredations have occurred over the course of several years and Wildlife Services just wants to settle the score?

This information is confirmed from several sources. The USDA-APHIS IDAHO WILDLIFE SERVICES WOLF ACTIVITY REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2008 states:

If WS efforts to remove depredating wolves during the summer months are unsuccessful, and it may reasonably be expected that depredations will reoccur during the next grazing season, then WS would like to have the flexibility to reinitiate control efforts several months later, during the winter months when implicated wolves may be more vulnerable to removal.

Wildlife Services sprays tons of herbicide into Dakota marshes to destroy blackbirds

Another reason to eliminate this destructive agency-

In the Western United States we think of Wildlife Services as the agency that kills a host of native wildlife to benefit cattle and sheep growers, but their noxious actions are more far flung. In the Dakotas they are expanding their program of dumping the herbicide Rodeo into cattail marshes so the blackbirds will have no resting or roosting sites.

This is to benefit sunflower farmers who could solve the “blackbird problem” by not planting sunflowers next to marshes.

Story:  USDA taking applications for Cattail eradication. Associated Press

115 Groups urge Ag Secretary Nominee to End Wildlife Service’s mass killing of wildlife

Groups want lethal control programs ended-

Here is the news release:

WILLIAMS, Ore.– Today, 115 conservation, animal protection, ranching, and faith-based organizations submitted a letter to Tom Vilsack, the Agriculture Secretary nominee, urging him to end the federal government’s systematic killing of wildlife, including wolves, coyotes, bears, cougars, and prairie dogs. Members of the coalition – comprised of Big Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Creation Care Study Program, Christians for Environmental Stewardship, Humane Society of the United States, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Sierra Club, and Ranchers for Rural Responsibility, among many others – said that each year the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services kills millions of wild animals, primarily on behalf of agribusiness. Coalition members said halting the agency’s “lethal control” programs should be one of the nominee’s first steps once he is confirmed as Secretary of Agriculture. (See complete list of signatories below.)

New Idaho bi-weekly wolf report

Latest Idaho wolf report is entirely short of site specific information-

There are some interesting figures on numbers of livestock and wolves killed . . . an unnecessary number of both in my opinion. It should also be noted 2 dead head of livestock, 7 wolves killed by Wildlife Services. Ralph Maughan

IDAHO WOLF MANAGEMENT

BI-WEEKLY PROGRESS REPORT

To: Idaho Fish and Game Staff and Cooperators

From: IDFG Wolf Program Coordinator, Steve Nadeau

Subject: Status of Gray Wolf Management, Weeks of Dec. 5- Dec. 31, 2008.

Delisting: FWS – Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf Status (WY, MT, ID):

For the time being, all wolves to the north of Interstate- 90 in Idaho remain listed as endangered. All wolves in the southern half of Montana, all portions of Idaho south of Interstate-90, and all of Wyoming are being managed under the 2005 and 2008 Endangered Species Act nonessential experimental population 10j regulations. The State of Idaho Department of Fish and Game is acting as the designated agent for the USFWS in implementing day-to-day management of wolves under the MOU between the Secretary of Interior and Governor of Idaho signed January 2006.

Delisting wolves and assuring their proper long-term management is and has been of highest priority for the state of Idaho and the Fish and Game Department. We continue to work along with the Department of Interior, Department of Justice, and other states and interveners toward the eventual delisting of wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains, and move toward state management under the State Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and the Wolf Population Management Plan.

Killing of Hog Heaven pack draws cries of protest

Fortunately the Hog Heaven Pack’s slaughter is not going away. You can bet more of this is planned-

Killing of Pack Draws Cries of Protest. By Jim Mann. Northwest Montana Daily InterLake.

In the article, it reads “Laudon [of MT Fish, Wildlife, Parks] said he can imagine what it would be like if the state completely ignored the concerns of livestock owners and the costs they incur due to wolves.

” ‘There would be a hell of a do-it-yourself club out there,’ he said. ‘We can’t have that. Now that would be a trigger-happy Wild West.’ ”

In fact, without their radio collars and aircraft, a do-it-yourself-club would be far less lethal than Wildlife Services. The problem is Wildlife Services and their “toys.” These need to be taken away from them.

This level of livestock loss is trivial, and would be of no public interest at all were it not wolves.

I have it from a pretty good source that slaughter of this pack (assuming it even was just one huge pack) was a trial run. More will be in order and soon, including Idaho if they get away with this.

With all of the truly bad news out there, what looks like an impending depression, they might think there is enough noise in the news that their actions won’t be noticed.

– – – – –

Related. Wolf kills rise in Rockies. Bush administration set to remove gray wolves from endangered species list [again]. By MATTHEW BROWN. AP

Slaughter of Hog Heaven Pack condemned by Montanans and wildlife groups

State and feds’ behavior called “outrageous” “unnecessary”–

Story: “Montanans, wildlife groups condemn state, feds for wolf pack slaughter.” Missoulian.

The coalition (Wildlife Watchers and Big Wildlife) issuing this statement also said the action left many questions unanswered and that the public must be given specific formation about the killing of so many wolves.

Montana wolf news. Massacre by the Wildlife Services

Montana FWP oversees wiping out a pack of 27 wolves-

Wildlife Services has killed 19 members of the Hog Heaven Pack over a three day period. The news reports said the pack originally had 27 members. Now it is gone.

This is 8 per cent of Montana’s wolves for scattered killings over the year. I’ve seen no complete tally as to numbers, ages, whether the owners had attractants. It seems the dead livestock were cattle (mostly calves) and 3 llamas.

Montana has also killed off other large numbers of wolves this year, eliminating them from entire areas of the state.

This is doubly significant because Montana claims to have an enlightened wolf management plan, but even Wyoming doesn’t kill wolves at this rate.

According to a story in the Daily InterLake (Kalispell), “Over the last few months, the pack was involved in eight separate incidents of depredation on livestock. In the latest incident on Nov. 18, the pack killed a 2-year-old bull. Hog Heaven wolves also were believed to be responsible for killing three llamas on Aug. 6, a calf on Sept. 16, two breeding-stock heifers on Sept. 23, a calf on Sept. 25 and another calf on Oct. 8.”  Entire story (you can add your comments)

Here’s what you can do, go to change.gov and suggest that Wildlife Services is an agency that needs to be eliminated or changed so that it only engages in non-lethal actions with  domestic vertebrate wildlife. All lethal control should be redirected to foreign animals that do significant harm — invasive species like nutria and feral hogs.

In other words, they can kill non-native pests like starlings and English sparrows.

More specifically, ask them for reform by  1. Supporting committee report language in the FY 2010 Agriculture appropriations bill that reads: “the Committee expects that Wildlife Services will make use of the non-lethal methods developed by the National Wildlife Research Center, and will make non-lethal controls the near exlusive method of choice, and will resort to lethal means only as a last resort.” Ask them to nominate a person who is committed to this policy for the position of  USDA Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs.
2. Support passage of wolf/livestock legislation S. 2875 (Gray Wolf Livestock Loss Mitigation Act of 2008) with an amendment to make funding come from USDA not the Department of the Interior and pass companion House language.
3. Prohibit all aerial gunning of domestic wildlife.

Questions arise over tallies of wolf depredation figures in Montana

Claim is that more are killed than reported-

Yes, and given Wildlife Services’ seeming intent to reduce wolf populations by control after “depredations”, it seems just as likely the depredation figures are inflated.

At any rate, the cost is small. Many people as individuals have lost far more in the decline of their retirement funds, stock portfolios, etc., than the cost of entire wolf depredation in the state of Montana. Of course, the 120,000 dollar losses to many John Does in Missoula somehow is not news, but the loss of a $1000 heifer somewhere in rural Montana is news.

How about equal time?

Questions arise over tallies of depredation figures. By Eve Byron. Helena Independent Record

Suit to uncover human hazards of federal wildlife eradication

For Immediate Release: July 16, 2008
Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337

SUIT TO UNCOVER HUMAN HAZARDS OF FEDERAL WILDLIFE ERADICATION — Secret Agency Review of Poisonings, Crashes, Explosions and Terror Risks – PEER :

Washington, DC — What you don’t know surely can hurt you is the theory behind a lawsuit filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) against the federal agency which kills “nuisance” wildlife to force release of information about the inadvertent dangers of its activities to humans. The lawsuit seeks documentation on perils posed by agency operations ranging from stockpiles of high-powered poisons to airplane crashes during aerial coyote hunts.

The agency is Wildlife Services, an obscure, euphemistically-named arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which spent $108 million to kill more than 1.6 million animals in 2006, the latest year for which figures are available. Wildlife Services acts as an all-purpose exterminator for ranchers, farmers, and others by engaging in “lethal removal” of a Noah’s Ark of animals spanning the alphabet from armadillos and beavers to vultures, weasels, and wolves.

Idaho Fish and Game rules on two of three recent wolf killings

Under Idaho’s you-can-shoot-a-wolf-for-worrying-your-cow-dog-or-whatever law, Idaho Fish and Game has ruled that 2 of 3 shootings were justified.

It says a third is still under investigation.

Story.

According to rumors in Stanley, the third was a shooting of a Basin Butte wolf that came down to where the pack regularly hunted ground squirrels only to find the pasture filled with trucked in cattle. The wolf was shot while standing in the vicinity of the cattle.

There has also been a kill order out for another Stanley area pack, the Galena Pack, for allegedly killing a cow calf. This pack too stays low under later in the summer so it can hunt ground squirrels. The Idaho Fish and Game regional manager ordered one wolf taken.

I called him and suggested that instead the pack should have been hazed to its summer range in the higher elevations of the White Cloud Mountains.

After spending several days trying to trap a wolf, our observers noted WS has left the area. Whether they got a wolf is unknown. They may be coming back with aircraft gunships. The cost for the revenge killing of one calf??

Decisions on wolf killing in Idaho have been devolved from the state’s large carnivoire manager, Steve Nadeau to the F & G regional managers; although I get the impression that the federal agency Wildlife Services [as in wildlife killing] makes the call and the regional managers probably rubberstamps WS’s decision.

EPA Cites USDA For Wildlife Poison Violations

Update: The story as told by the Associated Press. Dog died at cyanide trap set in an off-limits area
EPA: Coyote poison wrongly placed on public road in Utah. By Mike Stark. The AP fails to mention that the dogs’ owner was poisoned too.

Unfortunately too, so far he has failed to get compensation from USDA.

– – – –

Earlier

News release from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337

EPA CITES USDA FOR WILDLIFE POISON VIOLATIONS — Wildlife Services’
Sodium Cyanide Device Killed Dog and Sickened Hunter

Washington, DC — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited a
federal wildlife eradication agency for violating safety rules
governing a highly lethal poison, according to records released today
by WildEarth Guardians and Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER). EPA’s action was sparked by placement of a
deadly sodium cyanide device on federal public lands in Utah, causing
the death of a family’s dog and the illness of its owner.

Wildlife Services: The ugly economy of killing wildlife

The ugly economy of killing wildlife. Writers on the Range in High Country News. By Lisa Upson and Wendy Keefover-Ring.

Predator control looks a lot different on the ground. Writers on the Range in High Country News. By Bonnie (Kline is the is executive director of the Colorado Wool Growers Association)

Comment by Michael Robinson: Delisting Will Intensify Government War on Wolves on Behalf of Livestock Industry

Michael Robinson certainly knows about Wildlife Services. His book, Predatory Bureaucracy, gives the history of this agency’s war on wolves and other wildlife from the greatest to the least on behalf of the livestock history.

After you read this book and see how this agency has managed to survive under various names to go on and kill and kill, you can hardly feel good when you hear them announce they have killed some more wolves, but the wolves needed to be dead.

Robinson’s Opinion.

– – – – –

Around eighty-five percent of the vast region of the northern Rocky Mountains and adjoining grasslands in which gray wolves were removed from the endangered species list — comprising all of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana plus parts of Utah, Oregon and Washington — has no wolves in it. Wolves periodically show up in these areas, which include national forests and other public lands, but because most of these regions are severely grazed by livestock — so much so that deer and elk don’t find enough to eat and are very rare — the wolves end up killing stock and the federal government traps and kills them or shoots them from the air.

The purpose of the delisting is to kill as many wolves as the livestock-industry can get away with to ensure that fewer wolves enter these severely grazed regions, fewer show up anywhere where stock are pastured, and, on a broader scale, that no wolves survive to disperse outside of the “recovered” zone and establish themselves in states such as Colorado where they would enjoy full legal protection; they will be killed en route.

Wildlife Services doing their work

The photo was taken by an unknown person on 9-26-06.

These wolves were shot from the air in Danskin Mountains, a vast rugged area of low, steep mountains NE of Boise. I could never found out what these wolves supposedly did, although in August 2006 Ed Bangs reported “On the 15th, an ID WS aircrew spotted one black adult wolf and two pups on a calf carcass on Danskin Ridge.

Wolf control for livestock has deteriorated in recent years. They used to try to remove the offending wolf. Now they just kill a few wolves in the area if they can find some — vengeance killing. There is a rumor that their new informal protocol is to kill two wolves for every head of livestock killed, even day old cow calves and lambs.

Chuck Carpenter is the district supervisor for central Idaho for the U.S. Wildlife Services.