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

[coop2424]

I have heard that wdfw has removed the shooters and traps and are now looking into relocating the 4 wolves from the wedge pack.

[denali]

Wolf hunting is legal right across the border in BC from McIrvins. I wonder if the BC ranchers are having to same wolf problems ?

U.S. wildlife managers could have seen that coming if they had only looked north. Wolves run rampant in many parts of Canada, and the problem is so bad in parts of Alberta that a $300 bounty was posted on them, Boon said.

Boon attributes the growth of the British Columbia wolf population to abundant food -- moose, caribou, deer and livestock -- and lots of snow in the winter, making it easier for them to kill their prey. He also says there is less hunting and fewer wolves are trapped because the value of pelts is falling.

As the number of wolves has grown, "they have driven some of our guys out of business," he said.

Wolves cost British Columbia cattlemen an estimated $8 million to $10 million

   http://www.capitalpress.com/mobile/cs-WA-wolf-edit-081712-w-map

[Northway]

The Conservation Northwest management could have saved themselves the trouble; In my opinion, the writing was on the wall for this pack. They are now backpedalling after the latest confirmed attacks (their latest statement):

"Wedge Pack update: The latest two incidents (two injured calves reported late last week). This time, all the field experts, including Carter Niemeyer, agree that wolves are involved. Conservation Northwest believes that the evidence is now conclusive that Wedge wolves are actively attacking livestock. We accept that under the Wolf Recovery and Management Plan, these incident trigger management responses, including lethal removal, but we call for moderation and incremental action by the state and more effort by the rancher, in hopes that a solution can be found that abates the attacks while preserving the existence of this pack."

Conservation Northwest gets a strategy FAIL for its handling of this situation.

[Special T]

This "lets wait and see" attitude is what bothers me the most. It not like these issues have not already happened in ID or MT. We are not reinventing the wheel here.  Many of these "conservation groups" are just stalling even when there are lots of wolves like in ID and MT than fight tooth and nail when ANY kind of lethal MGT is involved.

[Northway]

This "lets wait and see" attitude is what bothers me the most. It not like these issues have not already happened in ID or MT. We are not reinventing the wheel here.  Many of these "conservation groups" are just stalling even when there are lots of wolves like in ID and MT than fight tooth and nail when ANY kind of lethal MGT is involved.

What bothers me the most is that too many folks who work for, or support these non-profits are driven so much by emotion that they are willing to fall on the sword for every individual animal. If someone can't handle the fact that wolves will be hunted, they will be removed in control actions - even entire packs, then they should be opposed to wolf recolonisation of Washington.

If WDFW decides a pack needs to be removed, then I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt right now. I don't believe, and I doubt anyone here would make the claim that they are going to be overly trigger-happy when it comes to wolves. After having quite a wolf-friendly management plan put in place, why would a single group publicly call out WDFW on one of their first removal decisions? Calling a bunch of people out over a chronically depredating pack that doesn't even spend all its time in Washington State doesn't make sense to me.

If these groups are coming out publicly over this because of pressure from their membership, they need to get better at saving some of those folks from themselves...........

[bearpaw]

ON LOCAL RADIO THIS MORNING
More new wolf attacks found on cattle in Stevens County over the Labor Day weekend. The ranchers are losing at least $1000 with every attack and wolf groups say there is no proof it's wolves doing the damage. Many of you have read about the repeated wolf attacks on livestock in Stevens County. These problem wolves need to be removed.

LETTERS TO GOVERNOR
I have heard that roughly 15,000 letters have been received by WDFW and Governor Gregoire asking that wolf management be ceased. I also heard that not one letter has been received in support of wolf removal. The WDFW had suspended wolf removal efforts for the Labor Day weekend. Over the weekend, Washington for Wildlife (WFW) has sent a letter of support for wolf removal.

Hunting-Washington is sending a letter of support today asking that wolf removal be continued.

PLEASE SEND A LETTER
I am urging everyone who support responsible wolf management to take a few moments and send a quick email message in support of problem wolf removal.

Copy and paste this email list and your choice of messages below or make your own message and please do it now so you don't forget!

director@dfw.wa.gov
commission@dfw.wa.gov
commissioners@co.stevens.wa.us
Joel.Kretz@leg.wa.gov
Short.Shelly@leg.wa.gov
Morton.Bob@leg.wa.gov
Kevin.Ranker@leg.wa.gov
brian.blake@leg.wa.gov

Also please send your message to the governor here: http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/ 

template #1
Dear Governor Gregoire,
I fully support the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s (WDFW) actions to remove problem wolves that are attacking and killing livestock in Northeast Washington.

The McIrvin family has suffered significant financial losses due to these problem wolves. Thank you for helping these people.

Respectfully,
Your Name
Address
City, State, ZIP
Email


template #2
Dear Governor Gregoire,
I wish to express my support the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s (WDFW) actions to remove problem wolves “wedge pack” that are attacking and killing livestock in northeast Washington.

It’s the responsibility of WDFW to respond to wild animal complaints including wolf attacks on livestock.

Thank You,
Your Name
Address
City, State, ZIP
Email


template #3
Dear Governor Gregoire,
Please support the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s (WDFW) actions to remove all the problem wolves from the “wedge pack” that are attacking and killing livestock in northeast Washington.

Wolf groups don't care what happens in Eastern Washington because it's not in their backyard. But it’s important for the WDFW to remove all wolves that attack livestock in Washington before they teach other wolves to do the same. These wolves will have significant impacts on ranching incomes and local economies.

Thank You,
Your Name
Address
City, State, ZIP
Email

[Skillet]

Thanks for the link Bearpaw. Message sent.

[sebek556]

added my own little message as well to number 3 :



This is however my back yard. My family and many others in the area depend on our small herds of cattle to make it threw each year. Many familys in stevens county cannot afford the lose of one cow. I know of multiple familys who depend on one to two cows to provide food for their family each year. The lose of these animals would be devastating to those familys. This issue needs to be addressed now, rather than bow down to wolf groups. The wolf groups do nothing to support the stevens county area, look at the news all they do is slander us into some back woods hicks that want to shoot everything. If these problem animals are killed the environmentalist will be upset and might spill their latte. If they continue and kill a needing familys cow, that family will go hungry this year.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Need to transport some wolfs to downtown Seattle and the surrounding cities and see how fast they are killed! Message sent to governor! !!!!

[washingtonmuley]

Dale,
Thanks for the info. Message has been sent.

[arees]

Message sent.

[KopperBuck]

Thank you - my message...


Dear Governor Gregoire,

Please support the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s (WDFW) actions to remove all the problem wolves from the “wedge pack” that are attacking and killing livestock in northeast Washington. And rather than consider this a one-time approach, recognize that in these particular instances there are no other options. They have learned the behavior, it must be stopped no different than with problem bears.

I live in Eastern WA working with cooperators and have family that ranches in NE Oregon - has not the "confirmed" volume of attacks not increased dramatically within such a short time in both states just recently? You claim to be of Eastern WA stock growing up in ML. While that is mostly farm country and would not reap the negative impacts of these wolves, I hope you understand the impact to the livelihood of those that feed the nation, that grind out the often thankless, and always never ending jobs that many of the wolf supporters take for granted. Even worse, some of these groups feel that we're to blame and would gladly see the farmers and ranchers out of the picture (see Forest Service grazing permits).

I completely disagree with the state's management plan of finding a happy medium between wolf and non-wolf groups with the establishment of breeding packs. Regardless though, problem packs, without consideration of established groups, must be dealt with immediately. To kowtow to so called "environmentalist" or "conservationist" groups in regard to handling this issue gathers absolutely no confidence from this voter in regards to management of any wildlife. Please take the politics out of it, follow the science, and most of all, follow through.

Take into consideration that the individuals that fight the cause with emotion and without fact most likely are not on the front line of this. I would be more than happy to spread the canine wealth around to their backyards so all could "enjoy". It's a fact that we're short in numbers, inferior in dollars, and just too damn busy to spend the time or effort in the courts that these non-native pro-wolf groups do. How about we consider those that are directly impacted by the issue, not those that are emotionally driven.

[Buckblaster]

After reading in last weeks Colville paper about how those cows were having nervous breakdowns, not eating and just shaking in the holding pens after being attacked, the biggest thing that totally pisses me off, is the fact that these wolf huggers have no compassion for those poor cattle.  I have not seen that addressed by Conservation Northwest.  Cattle are defenseless against wolves or any other of the other so called predators that the enviromentalist blame the attacks on.  I'll be sending a message to the governor for sure and hopefully the Statesman Examiner (if I have time).  I believe the ranchers were asking for our help when one of them said in the paper this week that if we put put a petition to the silent majority in Stevens County, we could get 10,000 signatures tonight.  I hope we can exceed that.

[Buckblaster]

Thanks for the links Bearpaw, I sent a letter to all of them. 
It is the responsibility of the WDFW to actively respond to this threat since they are the stewards of our state's wildlife.  Today it is cattle kills, tomorrow it may be children killed while waiting for the school bus.  If you think this wolf issue is sensitive now, this is nothing compared to what will happen throughout the state if WDFW continues to allow these wolves to multiply while they protect these dangerous animals.  This is just the tip of the iceberg so they better get these wolves under control real quick before this problem is too big to fix. 

[bearpaw]

 

please send more letters... 

(see previous posts)