Wedge Pack: More cattle attacked in Stevens County (poll and letter)

[sebek556]

 more of these hybrid sheep running lose... guess its time to go sheep hunting

[Dave Workman]

Be sure and leave a comment below my column if you have facebook...weigh in, speak your piece....

Wolf advocates howling over WDFW action in ‘The Wedge’
 
Wolf management by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in Northeast Washington could be on a collision course with the Defenders of Wildlife (DOW), which is sounding alarms over plans by the agency to kill up to four more wolves because of predation on cattle.
 
http://www.examiner.com/article/wolf-advocates-howling-over-wdfw-action-the-wedge?cid=db_articles

[MikeWalking]

FWIW This just showed up on my Facebook page a little bit ago.


http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/gray_wolf/packs/wedge/

[pianoman9701]

Good write up, Dave. Comment posted!

[BOWHUNTER45]

I hope everyone who has facebook will leave a comment and start giving them a sheet load of ( LIKES ) TIme to shine 

[pianoman9701]

A friend of Northway got really rude on my Facebook page. Guy by the name of Grizzly Bear. I've PM'd Northway to see what he has to say.

[sebek556]

paino would you mind a little copy and pasting of said facebook?

[RG]

Good job Dave, comment posted...

[Gringo31]

One of my favorite DOW posts/comments from their facebook page....

Candice Forsmark: DONT KILL THEM!!!! I hate humans. we are a terrible race. we already destroyed the land, the oceans, now we are destroying wildlife. the government is stupid and will lead EVERYONE to extinction. they should atleast relocate the wolves to a safer area instead of killling them like cockroaches!!! they are beautiful creatures that deserve to live more than we do. They help keep the balance of the World, and we kill them for doing it. i hate humans. someone should go and take the wolves away in the middle of the night and send them to a safer area AWAY from horrible humans!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gringo31]

One more....just to let you guys know what the other side is saying and what we are up against....

Mystic Wolf Project Alpha Wolf

Here is a copy of the letter I just sent to the Director of WDFW with a link to the Wedge Pack petition:

Hello,

My name is Shelly Bristow and I am a co-founder of Project Alpha Wolf, a wolf advocacy group based in Washington State.

I am attaching a petition I started on Friday after a telephone conversation I had with David Ware on Thursday, August 16th. After this conversation I did not feel that the actions being taken against the Wedge Pack were based in science, that appropriate non-lethal had been attempted or that every effort was being made to meet the recovery goals for wolves in our state. In addition, as wolves are still listed as endangered, this felt like a very rash decision.

It does seem like a political play to prove to ranchers that WDFW is willing to kill wolves. I'm not sure how much support WDFW will get from the pro-wolf community based on the circumstances surrounding the Wedge Pack. These include the fact that the Rancher (Mr. McIrvine) has publically stated he would like to poison and trap wolves. In addition he has refused to accept help from conservation groups and boycotted educational events that were offered to help ranchers deal with non-lethal deterrents.

This is not even touching on the fact that at least one of the depredations occurred on public grazing land in a National Forest. Apparently the BLM is surprised at the number of cows that are actually on that grazing allotment, and that the allotment is in the middle of the rendezvous site for the Wedge Pack.

I think we all know that the real problem here is not wolves. The problem is this piece of public grazing land is located in a national forest on public lands. Therefore, this land is leased by Mr. McIrvine for grazing purposes and actually belongs to all of us.

David Ware explained to me that WDFW is looking to "experts" in Idaho and Montana for help on how to work with this pack. Therefore it is no surprise that the logical answer would be to kill 5 members of a pack that you have no official count on. How can you even know what the impact will be if you don't know the total number of wolves? Maybe before you kill 5 of them, you need an accurate count? Maybe you should consider talking to experts from Minnesota or Wisconsin, or even Alberta Canada, where they have lived with wolves longer and more harmoniously then with Idaho or Montana. Apparently one of the calves was actually hit by a car, and your "expert" still thought it was a wolf kill?

The people in Washington State will not get used to killing a pack as a "routine" method of dealing with wolf issues. Do not assume we are like the citizens of Idaho or Montana, as that will be a big mistake. Assume that we expect you to make rational decisions, perform research, support your decisions with accurate scientific data and follow the intent of the Washington State Wolf Management plan in order to serve ALL citizens, not just ranchers and hunters.

I attended several of the Wolf Management meetings and testified at them. I heard the tone and attitude of the Commission. It was very biased towards ranchers and hunters. That was not very well disguised.

If you go through with eliminating this pack, and do not have adequate science to produce to support it, expect a very swift and loud response, and be prepared to produce documentation to support every aspect of how you came to your decision. Expect a flood of phone calls, emails, petitions and letters. Expect a lot of your time to be spent explaining your actions to 75% of the people who supported wolves coming back into this state.

I and many others have watched how the wolf situation has been handled in other states. A small minority of loud mouthed ranchers and hunters are NOT going to determine the fate of wolves in Washington State. There are many ranchers and hunters who are very reasonable and willing to work with wolves. The hill you are choosing to die on for this McIrvine guy...I don't think the timing (the plan not even being a year old and you not knowing the number of wolves in the pack prior to taking 5 out, the fact that all non-lethal has not been pursued)...or his character (he is not a sympathetic character and comes off as a hotheaded wolf hater) are going to promote any kind of support for WDFW. It's going to look biased, which it probably is.

In addition, my group is affiliated with several Wolf Advocacy groups nationwide. They are all watching and waiting for your next move. The Wedge Pack is the next Imnaha Pack. I'd be very cautious and thoughtful about how this is handled.

Will you be posting investigation reports online for the public to see? Why were the calves returned to Mr. McIrvine before a second opinion could be completed? Why does this seem so shady?

I'd appreciate some answers. So would the people who have signed this petition. It just went up on Friday. It has 3352 signatures to date...

I would appreciate a response.

Sincerely,

Shelly Bristow

[sebek556]

ohh I've got a response for her all right....
" Assume that we expect you to make rational decisions, perform research, support your decisions with accurate scientific data and follow the intent of the Washington State Wolf Management plan in order to serve ALL citizens"
isn't this what we wanted? then we got told we are retarded and just go sit in the corner and pay us basically..
"I and many others have watched how the wolf situation has been handled in other states. A small minority of loud mouthed ranchers and hunters are NOT going to determine the fate of wolves in Washington State."
We watched it too, and your right a small minority that is us will not determine the fate of wolves, cause the people's who salary we pay won't listen to us..
"I don't think the timing (the plan not even being a year old and you not knowing the number of wolves in the pack prior to taking 5 out, the fact that all non-lethal has not been pursued)" umm learn to read they know the pack number and have the alpha collared, non lethal has been used and as normal it does nothing.

I could go on and on, but my beer is empty and that is something I can fix, unlike this closed minded wolf loving animalphile

[Kola16]

Does this person even know what they are saying 



Kristi Lloyd · Top Commenter
"One wolf from this pack was killed about two weeks ago. It is a well-known fact that this can lead to MORE depredation on livestock, WFW screwed this up. You know why there was no answer from Spokane? Because of the many, many phone calls from people across the country, NOT just WA, but across the country burning up their phone lines, the phones were turned off! The governor has washed her hands of this and handed it back to WFW. This rancher let his cows wander off into national forest, unattended, on their own....how many predators live in national forests? Do cows really need to graze in forests?? 4 more members of this pack have been targeted to be killed, including this spring's pups, er, sub-adults, according to WFW. It sounds more PC when you say you will kill sub-adults instead of 4,5 month old pups. Their ...excuse for it being ok to kill the pups...fewer mouths to feed. How about the rancher stepping up to protect his own cows, preferably on his OWN land. But when you pay $1.35/animal unit in the first place you expect mountains to be moved for you. Two weeks ago, USFWS PR specialist told me that they are trying to build up credibility with ranchers (this was regarding the Mexican gray wolf that was going to be killed). Today the assistant director of WFW said that they are trying to build trust with ranchers. The coincidence of these two agencies saying practically the same thing is just amazing, isn't it? This WA rancher has said he would boycott the meeting where non-lethal methods of controlling predators was being done. He has been uncooperative, irresponsible, and just wants these wolves dead, period. This is NOT proper management...wolf management is more about the humans than it is the wolves." See More
Reply · 2 · Like

· 5 hours ago

[bobcat]

One of my favorite DOW posts/comments from their facebook page....

Candice Forsmark: DONT KILL THEM!!!! I hate humans. we are a terrible race. we already destroyed the land, the oceans, now we are destroying wildlife. the government is stupid and will lead EVERYONE to extinction. they should atleast relocate the wolves to a safer area instead of killling them like cockroaches!!! they are beautiful creatures that deserve to live more than we do. They help keep the balance of the World, and we kill them for doing it. i hate humans. someone should go and take the wolves away in the middle of the night and send them to a safer area AWAY from horrible humans!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Hilarious!  What a moron!  She should go live with the wolves then, if she hates humans so much!   

[BOWHUNTER45]

She hates humanes  what is she ?

[KFhunter]

Be sure and leave a comment below my column if you have facebook...weigh in, speak your piece....

Wolf advocates howling over WDFW action in ‘The Wedge’
 
Wolf management by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in Northeast Washington could be on a collision course with the Defenders of Wildlife (DOW), which is sounding alarms over plans by the agency to kill up to four more wolves because of predation on cattle.
 
http://www.examiner.com/article/wolf-advocates-howling-over-wdfw-action-the-wedge?cid=db_articles

 
 
I got a kick out of this little gem from Defenders of Wildlife

Though I’m not a field investigator, I have personally evaluated more than one million dollars of livestock depredations due to wolves
 

What more needs said?