Gray Wolf News "The latest in the Wolf Wars"

[bearpaw]

March 9, 2013
 
Wolf killed west of Ketchum
 
8 wolves killed in region this season
 
by Katherine Wutz March 6, 2013 Idaho Mountain Express
 
Eight wolves have been killed so far in the Wood River Valley region this season, including one from the Warm Springs pack northwest of Ketchum.
 
A Big Game Mortality Report from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game states that the Warm Springs wolf, a 100-pound, gray, 2-year-old male, was killed near Warm Springs Creek on Sunday, Feb. 24.
 
Lynne Stone, local wolf advocate and founder of the Boulder-White Clouds Council, said the wolf was likely part of the Warm Springs pack, which gained notoriety last summer when a pup from the pack was found by campers on Warm Springs Road. The pup now lives in Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va.
 
“[It’s] a shame these wolves are being killed,” Stone said. “Maybe they all should have gone to Virginia. The puppy that was saved is going to probably die of old age.”
 
Continued:
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005146360
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Wash. Senate OKs bill to allow animal owners to kill marauding wolves without a permit
 
By JONATHAN KAMINSKY - Associated Press March 08, 2013
 
OLYMPIA, Washington — The Washington state Senate passed a measure Friday to allow livestock and pet owners to shoot gray wolves without a permit when the wolves are attacking or threatening their animals.
 
The bill is the latest salvo in an ongoing debate over how to cope with the reintroduction —and subsequent population rise — of the predatory canines in northeastern Washington state.
 
"We have the right to protect our families and our properties and our livelihoods," said Sen. John Smith, R-Colville, the bill's sponsor. "It's a fundamental principle of the American system."
 
Bill opponents say it would hurt the state's wolf recovery efforts and contradicts years of effort put into hashing out a state wolf plan.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/bamuogm
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Oregon Commission Hears Gray Wolf Update
 
By Courtney Flatt March 8, 2013 NWPR
 
Two new wolf packs formed in Oregon last year. That brings the state’s total to six packs. Friday the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission learned what this could mean for possibly removing endangered species protection for the wolves.
 
2012 was the first year that more than four breeding wolf pairs were identified in Oregon. One goal for delisting gray wolves in the state: sustain four breeding pairs for three years.
 
Russ Morgan, Oregon’s wolf coordinator, briefed the state Fish and Wildlife Commission.
 
“By December of 2014, December of next year, we could conceivably meet that conservation objective," Morgan says.
 
Continued:
http://www.nwpr.org/post/oregon-commission-hears-gray-wolf-update

[bearpaw]

March 10, 2013
 
Anti-wolf group likely to get second $300,000 Utah payment
 
By Brian Maffly The Salt Lake Tribune March 10, 2013
 
A $300,000 line item to fund efforts to prevent wolves from being “reintroduced” in Utah as part of a federal gray wolf-recovery effort will be included in the budget headed for final votes in the next few days.
 
Democratic lawmakers on Friday unsuccessfully attempted to strip the money from the spending plan. Without debate, and on a party-line vote, the little-scrutinized project was adopted by the Legislature’s Executive Appropriations Committee, made up of leaders of the House and Senate.
 
“It seems like a waste,” said Senate Minority Leader Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City. “It’s another challenge to federal authority to protect wildlife. The problem isn’t even here.”
 
The $300,000 appropriation — the second in as many years for the anti-wolf campaign — was recommended by Senate Majority Leader Ralph Okerlund, R-Monroe.
 
An outspoken critic of wolves — who also was sponsor of last year’s so-called “Mule Deer Protection Act,” more than doubling the $20 bounty on coyotes — Okerlund received $6,500 in campaign donations last year from the two men requesting the funding.
 
Don Peay, founder of the influential Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and the spin-off organization Big Game Forever, gave Okerlund $1,500 last July, according to state records. Ryan Benson, attorney for and co-founder of Big Game Forever, contributed $5,000 last Aug. 2 — the same day the state Division of Wildlife Resources signed a contract with Big Game Forever to lobby in support of state control over the gray wolf, a federally protected species.
 
Continued (click cancel when print box opens):
http://tinyurl.com/awkjpuv
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Study: more female wolves on Isle Royale
 
March 10, 2013 By JOHN PEPIN - The Mining Journal
 
HOUGHTON - New genetic studies have detected more female gray wolves at Isle Royale National Park, boosting hopes the island's population is farther away from possible extinction than previously thought.
 
"We are still a ways off from making any decisions about the future management of wolves on the island, but these results are very encouraging," said Isle Royale National Park Chief of Natural Resources Paul Brown.
 
National Park Service officials at Isle Royale said the topic of the park's wolf population has been the subject of considerable debate over the past year. The park consists of one large island surrounded by more than 450 smaller islands; it encompasses a total area of 850 square miles including submerged land, which extends 4.5 miles out into Lake Superior, northwest of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
 
"In early 2012, observations from long-running research by Michigan Technological University suggested there was only one female wolf left on the island, raising the question of how soon wolves might go extinct on Isle Royale," park officials said in a recent news release. "The need to further understand the population issue led to genetic analysis to decipher the number and sex of individuals in the actual population."
 
The previous research drawing the conclusion a lone female wolf remained on the island did not have the benefit of genetic study to reach that deduction, park officials said.
 
Genetic analysis was conducted, funded mostly by the National Park Service, but contributions were also made by wolf researcher L.D. Mech and contributors to an Internet funding initiative.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ac5vrnr
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[bearpaw]

March 11, 2013
 
Groups flock to join lawsuit challenging Wyoming wolf plan
 
By BEN NEARY - Associated Press March 11, 2013
 
CHEYENNE, Wyoming — The cast of characters is growing in a legal fight in which environmental groups are challenging the federal government's recent decision to end protections for wolves in Wyoming.
 
U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson of Cheyenne has allowed a coalition including Wyoming county governments and sportsmen groups to intervene in the lawsuit. He hasn't acted yet on a request from the National Rifle Association and Safari Club International, a hunting group, to intervene.
 
The groups are siding with the state of Wyoming and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in defending the federal decision to turn wolf management over to the state. Wyoming's plan classifies wolves in most of the state as unprotected predators that can be shot on sight.
 
Two other similar lawsuits have been consolidated in Washington, D.C.
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Killing of 2 gray wolves before delisting means federal sentences for 2 North Shore men
 
by PAUL WALSH - Star Tribune March 11, 2013
 
A North Shore man was sentenced Monday for intentionally killing two gray wolves in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest with his vehicle while they were still an endangered species and then concealing the carcasses with his prison-bound cohort.
 
Kyler J. Jensen, 32, of Finland, Minn., was sentenced in federal court in Minneapolis to the time he has already served, about three months, for purposely killing the wolves in February 2010 on Forest Road 369 (Sawbill Landing Road) and moving them to a work site, where he dug a hole with a bulldozer and buried the animals. He later retrieved the remains, intending to destroy the evidence.
 
Conspirator Vernon L. Hoff, 55, also of Finland, was sentenced to one month in prison and fined $2,500 on Thursday for lying to authorities about the wolves being killed.
 
A jury convicted Hoff. Jensen pleaded guilty.
 
Continued:
http://www.startribune.com/local/197082631.html
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EFU film Shades of gray: America's wolf dilemma
 
11th March, 2013 Jim Wickens - The Ecologist
 
Reviled by ranchers and fawned over by conservationists, the Gray wolf is highly controversial in the US. Ahead of a new film on the issue, Jim Wickens travels to Montana and Wyoming to unravel the complex arguments surrounding plans to cull the animals
 
The elk carcass glints in the overhead sun, it's ribs picked clean, poking out of a tangled mess that lies buried beneath the blood-stained snow. It is a wolf kill, a bloody spectacle that is playing out with growing regularity across the Rockies, and dividing Americans in it's wake.
 
We are on a Yellowstone park patrol, crunching over fresh packed snow with Dr. Dan Stahler, a leading wildlife biologist and renowned wolf expert employed by the National Park Service, who has been following their introduction since 41 wolves were introduced into Yellowstone in 1995-6.
 
Wolf kill sites in  Yellowstone are regularly analysed, providing the Park with data that is helping to decipher the ecosystem impacts caused by the reintroduction of a predator into the Rocky mountain landscape. clutching the jawbone of the fallen elk, Dan explains the role that wolves are having on the Park ecosystem.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/b3l8f94

[bearpaw]

March 12, 2013
 
Federal judge allows Wyoming Wolf Coalition to intervene in delisting lawsuit
 
The Wyoming Wolf Coalition, made up of county governments and sportsmen's groups, was allowed to intervene on the side of Wyoming and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a lawsuit defending the federal government's decision to delist wolves and hand management of the species to the state. The National Rifle Association and Safari Club International have also petitioned to join the lawsuit.
 
Casper Star-Tribune; March 12, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/bf2lb29
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Wisconsin’s First Wolf Hunt Results
 
by Patrick Durkin on Mar 12, 2013 Bowhunting
 
Our understanding of gray wolves advanced far more from Wisconsin’s recent wolf-hunting season than from the 117 candles animal-rights activists lighted in mid-January to honor wolves killed during the hunt. Granted, activists had every right to ring bells and burn candles outside the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources offices in Madison that day. They can also believe wolves exist on a higher spiritual plane than other Wisconsin wildlife. Maybe they even stand superior to humans in some folks’ eyes. But wolves don’t benefit from such pubic displays of pretension.
 
In contrast, biologists, researchers and volunteers conduct the real work of wolf management in near anonymity from university campuses and DNR offices around Wisconsin, as well as in Michigan, Minnesota and a handful of Western states now home to wolves. For Wisconsin, this work includes not only tracking surveys to assess wolf numbers, but compiling and analyzing data from the 2012 wolf hunt. These studies are supported in part by the $294,320 generated through applications and license sales from the state’s first wolf season.
 
I realize most of that money will compensate people for pets and livestock killed by wolves, but at least the state is no longer grifting money from the DNR’s endangered resources program for those abatements. No matter what anyone thought of Wisconsin’s inaugural wolf hunt – which opened Oct. 15, 2012, and closed nearly 10 weeks later on Dec. 23 – we’re just starting to reap its educational bounty. For instance, most hunters and trappers pursued wolves with the same respect shown other game animals. Adrian Wydeven, the DNR’s wolf ecologist, said only two wolves were confiscated when investigators determined the licensees misled DNR wardens where they killed the wolf, hoping to dodge season closures in their areas.
 
For its part, the DNR proved it could monitor the season closely and close it quickly. Hunters and trappers exceeded the state’s 116-wolf goal by one animal statewide. The DNR matched the quota to the wolf in three of the six zones, going 32 for 32 in Zone 1, five for five in Zone 4, and 23 for 23 in Zone 5. It fell one short of the 20-wolf quota in Zone 2, and exceeded by one the 18-wolf goals in zone 3 and 6. That performance stood in contrast to grim – if not apocalyptic – predictions from critics last year who claimed the agency couldn’t cap the kill effectively. With help from TV, radio, emails, news releases, Internet alerts, and old-fashioned word-of-mouth, the DNR closed the season compartment by compartment like seasoned sailors securing a ship for heavy seas.
 
Source:
http://tinyurl.com/b2ycgo5
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Pro-wolf group's poll finds support for delaying next Minnesota hunt
 
By John Myers - Duluth News Tribune 03/11/2013
 
A majority of Minnesotans surveyed last month favor a five-year delay before the state holds another wolf hunting and trapping season, according to a poll conducted for a pro-wolf group.
 
The group Howling for Wolves on Monday released results of a statewide survey of 600 registered voters that also found two-thirds of those polled say there is no reason for a hunt if landowners and others already have the right to kill wolves attacking livestock, pets or people. Of the people surveyed, 25 percent said a wolf hunt still is necessary.
 
The poll was conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Lake Research Partners from Feb. 28 to March 4 and comes as the Minnesota Legislature considered a bill to delay the next sport hunting and trapping season for wolves by at least five years. That five-year delay was called for by a wolf-advisory committee a decade ago but was dropped by lawmakers last year when they approved a hunt the same year federal Endangered Species Act protections for wolves were dropped in the Great Lakes region.
 
The survey also found that 66 percent oppose the use of traps, snares and bait to hunt and trap wolves in Minnesota with 29 percent favoring trapping of wolves.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/b8nhspn

[bearpaw]

March 13, 2013
 
Report: Wolf takes down in 2012-13
 
Hunters shoot 25 percent fewer than previous season
 
By KATHERINE WUTZ - Idaho Mtn. Express Wednesday, March 13, 2013
 

A new report on wolf harvest numbers for the 2012-13 season indicates that the number of wolves killed by hunters and trappers is down about 25 percent from last year.
 
A wolf management update released last week by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game details the wolf harvest, trapper education and monitoring efforts for the 2011-12 season as well as for the first half of the 2012-13 season.
 
Department spokesman Niels Nokkentved said the department would likely have numbers on the state’s current wolf population by the end of March.
 
The report states that as of Jan. 31, 2013, hunters and trappers had killed 202 wolves, down from the same date in 2012, when 270 wolves had been killed.
 
Continued:
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005146443
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Twisp, Washington: Wolf Attacks Local Pet Dogs
 
March 13, 2013 by Tom Remington
 
Below is the copy of an email, with photos, I received yesterday with what is described as a true account of what took place in Twisp, Washington, when a wolf attacked two domestic dogs...
 
Sunday morning, at approximately 1:00 AM, John Stevie was awakened by one of his dogs furiously barking and growling, while still inside the house, at their living room sliding glass deck doors. John hurried to the door and saw a very large wolf up on the ten-foot-high deck, savagely attacking his blue heeler dog. He opened the door in an attempt to rescue his dog, but his other dog pushed past him out to the attack. The wolf and dog fought out on the deck for a short time before the wolf leapt off the deck and headed toward the creek bottom with John’s dog hot on his heels. The blue heeler, “Shelby” was taken to Daniel Deweert’s Valley Veterinary Clinic for treatment. “Shelby” is still in critical condition with deep puncture wounds to her head and neck..
 
WDFW was called. Mr. Stevie told them that he was within two feet of the wolf in an attempt to save his dog, but WDFW suggested “perhaps it was a cougar instead of a wolf!” Mr. Stevie assured them that he was within very close proximity to the wolf, and that he had numerous wolf sightings close to his home and knew a wolf when he saw one. John asked WDFW if they would be paying any of the vet bills, their reply was, “We will have to send this information to Olympia to see if it will be called a wolf attack or not.”
 
Full story with sad photos:
http://tinyurl.com/chtzwj8
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Wolf hunt ends with highest harvest yet
 
3/13/2013 By Daniel Martynowicz - Valley Journal
 
HELENA — The 2012-13 Montana wolf hunt saw a 36-percent increase in harvest numbers from last year. The 181-day season closed with a total of 225 wolves taken by hunters and trappers — the largest harvest so far.
 
According to a press release, 128 wolves were taken by hunters and 97 by trappers. An additional 104 wolves were harvested by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 70 different incidences.
 
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks communication and education spokesman Ron Aasheim said of the wolves taken by the FWS, the vast majority were preying on livestock. In Idaho, Aasheim said, most wolves are in the backcountry and away from people, landowners and livestock, resulting in fewer confrontations.
 
“In Montana, we have wolves that are in places that are more accessible, and they’re more inclined to get in trouble with landowners,” he said.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/csfk2bf
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California without wolves again as OR7 returns to Oregon
 
Mar 13, 2013 Pete Thomas Outdoors
 
California is without wild wolves again as the famous male gray wolf known as OR7 has returned to his home state of Oregon.
 
Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife reports that OR7, which first entered California on Dec. 28, 2011, crossed the state border  on Tuesday evening. He entered via southwest Klamath County, Oregon.
 
This marks the second time OR7 has returned to Oregon, the other being a brief visit two months after he became California's first recorded wild wolf in nearly 90 years.
 
(See our story from last week, implying that OR7 might be headed back to Oregon.)
 
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which had been issuing daily position reports obtained via OR7's GPS collar unit, did not issue a report Wednesday.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/chucae8
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Canine Assets
 
Putting a price tag on the Mexican gray wolf
 
By Laura Paskus SF Reporter 03.12.2013
 
One of the hallmarks of wolf recovery in New Mexico and Arizona is the intensity of emotion it ignites on both sides of the issue. (Wolves suck! Wolves rock!) For a moment, let’s set those emotions aside and talk numbers instead.
 
Extirpated from the United States, Mexican gray wolves were reintroduced to the southwestern United States in 1998. Fifteen years ago this month, the US Fish and Wildlife Service released 11 wolves into the remote forests along the Arizona-New Mexico border.
 
According to the plan drawn up in the early 1980s, by 2006 there would be 100 wolves living in the recovery area. But by the time those first wolves were actually released, politics had intruded upon science to such an extent that what happens on the ground today is quite different from what scientists envisioned three decades ago.
 
In the late 1990s, when FWS finalized the project, it classified the Mexican gray wolf population as “nonessential experimental” rather than “endangered” or “threatened.” The unique designation allowed FWS “greater management flexibility.” (FWS enforces the Endangered Species Act and is mandated to protect and recover rare plants and animals.) With such a designation, the agency tried to assuage the fears of livestock owners and program opponents: If a wolf threatened livestock, FWS and its partners would remove that particular predator from the wild. And the agency has upheld that promise.
 
Continued:
http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-7298-canine-assets.html
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Michigan wildlife official says wolf hunts wouldn't take place across entire Upper Peninsula
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 13, 2013
 
IRONWOOD, Michigan — State wildlife officials say if Michigan allows hunting of gray wolves, it won't take place across the entire Upper Peninsula.
 
Officials with the Department of Natural Resources discussed wolf management issues Tuesday during a public meeting in Ironwood.
 
The Legislature authorized wolf hunts in December, and the Natural Resources Commission could make a decision in June. Opponents of the hunts are raising petition signatures to get the issue on the 2014 election ballot.
 
The latest DNR count found there are nearly 700 wolves in the U.P., and a new estimate is expected next month.
 
According to the Daily Globe of Ironwood, (http://bit.ly/YaKKwH ) Bump told about 270 people at the meeting that hunters wouldn't be allowed to use dogs when pursuing wolves, but trapping would be a possibility.
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Minnesota wolf policy should include Ojibwe perspective
 
What we regard coldly as ‘wolf management’ should include tribes’ perspectives.
 
by CLINT CARROLL Updated: March 13, 2013 Star Tribune
 
On Thursday, the Minnesota Senate Environment and Energy Committee could decide the fate of a bill (SF666) that would reinstate the five-year moratorium on wolf hunting that was disregarded last year. In the spirit of cooperation with Minnesota tribes, I urge our state senators to pass this bill.
 
The heated debate surrounding the wolf hunt in the western Great Lakes region boils down to this: Are wolves relatives or resources? How one answers this question shapes one’s ultimate stance on the recent state-sanctioned hunts in Minnesota and Wisconsin. One need not be American Indian to respect wolves as other-than-human persons.
 
For Ojibwe people, the wolf is a relative, and the Ojibwe are fighting to honor their responsibilities to wolves by opposing the hunt.
 
The Ojibwe view is not a mystical or teary-eyed appeal to a worn-out ¬stereotype. Ojibwe philosophy and natural law clearly state that people have a shared destiny with wolves and are bound to them through a relationship of brotherhood. In other words, wolves and the Ojibwe people go “way back.”
 
Continued:
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/197677461.html

[bearpaw]

March 14, 2013
 
Hunting season changes on Idaho Fish and Game's agenda next week
 
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission meets next week in Boise and on the panel's agenda are changes to hunting seasons for wolves, lion, bear, deer, elk and pronghorn antelope.
 
Twin Falls Times-News; March 14, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/a8qav6c
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Wash. Senate OKs Killing Wolves Without Permit
 
Mar 08, 2013 Associated Press
 
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - The Washington state Senate has passed a measure to allow livestock and pet owners to shoot gray wolves without a permit when the wolves are attacking or threatening their animals.
 
The bill, which passed the upper chamber Friday, is the latest salvo in an ongoing debate over how to cope with the reintroduction of the predatory canines in Washington state.
 
Supporters say the measure is necessary to allow people to protect their property.
 
Bill opponents say it would hurt the state's wolf recovery efforts and contradicts years of effort put into hashing out a state wolf plan.
 
The measure passed by a vote of 25-23, with Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom not voting. It heads next to the Democratic-controlled House, where it faces an uphill battle for passage.
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'High probability' that wolf attacked dogs near Twisp
 
By Ann McCreary - Methow Valley News March 13, 2013
 
John Stevie was awakened about 1:30 a.m. last Sunday (March 10) by frantic barking. His Siberian husky-wolf hybrid, Lopi, was throwing himself at doors leading from the kitchen to an outdoor deck of his home.
 
Stevie rushed to the kitchen and threw open the French doors to the deck to see what was upsetting Lopi. In the light from the kitchen, he saw his other dog, a 60-pound female husky-wolf hybrid named Shelby, pinned down by another canine that had its jaws around her head.
 
Stevie began instinctively reaching out to try to pull them apart. The attacking animal was startled by Stevie’s sudden appearance and looked up at him, still gripping Shelby’s head. Stevie realized he was face-to-face with a wolf.
 
“They’ve got different eyes. Kind of yellowish, greenish. It was showing its teeth,” Stevie said.
 
A moment later Lopi, who weighs about 100 pounds, bounded onto the deck and attacked the wolf. The two fought briefly before the wolf leaped through the wooden railing around the deck, landed on snow about five feet below the deck and took off running, with Lopi in pursuit.
 
Continued:
http://www.methowvalleynews.com/story.php?id=9586
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Minn. Senate panel approves 5-year wolf hunt moratorium
 
by Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio March 14, 2013
 
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota Senate committee approved a bill Thursday that would put a five-year moratorium on wolf hunting in Minnesota.
 
The Senate Environment and Energy Committee approved the measure on a seven to six vote. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Center, said she thinks it's irresponsible to hunt wolves so quickly after the animal was removed from the endangered species list.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/a8ebelp
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Fun Facts About Wolves
 
Nina Sen, LiveScience Contributor 14 March 2013
 
Known for its bone-chilling howl, a wolf is the largest member of the dog or canid family. Wolves live in the remote wilderness of North America, Eurasia, and North Africa. They are usually shy and cautious around humans but unlike the dog, have not been domesticated at all.
 
The most common type of wolf is the gray wolf. These animals are about 36 to 63 in (91 to 160 cm) long and weigh about 40 to 175 lbs (18 to 79 kg). Just like its name, the gray wolf typically has thick gray fur although pure white or all black variations exist.
 
All wolves are carnivores that hunt in packs usually consisting of a male and female with their pups. The average pack has about 10 animals but larger packs of 30 have been recorded. Wolves always follow the leaders, called alphas, and are highly territorial. They may even kill other lone wolves they encounter. Wolves hunt by corralling a young, weak or sick animal away from its herd. Their diet consists of goats, sheep, deer, moose and other prey.
 
Continued:
http://www.livescience.com/27909-wolves.html
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"Alpha" Wolf?
 
Dr. L. David Mech talks about the terms "alpha" and "beta" wolves and why they are no longer scientifically accurate.
 
2:35 minute video:
 
"Alpha" Wolf?
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Dr. L. David Mech Wolf Lecture
 
USGS Public Lecture Series featuring Dr. L. David Mech.
 
Topic: Wandering Wildlife: Tracking movement, migrations and mileage.
 
April 7, 2010
 
26:05 minute video:
Dr. L. David Mech Wolf Lecture
 
See also:
 
Ellesmere Wolf Blog
 
http://internationalwolfcenter.blogspot.com/

[bearpaw]

March 15, 2013
 
Minnesota Senate panel approves moratorium on wolf hunt, but many hurdles ahead
 
By STEVE KARNOWSKI - Associated Press March 14, 2013
 
ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Opponents of wolf hunting won a victory Thursday as a Minnesota Senate panel voted 7-6 for a five-year moratorium on future wolf seasons.
 
An overflow crowd made up mostly of wolf hunting opponents heard several people argue before the Senate Environment and Energy Committee that the state acted too hastily when it decided to resume sport hunting and trapping after the region's wolves came off the endangered list early last year. Hunters and trappers then killed 413 wolves during the state's first wolf season, which ended in January.
 
Supporters of the hunt testified the state's wolf population has recovered enough to allow for properly managed hunting and trapping, and they said years of study and legal battles preceded the hunt.
 
The bill now goes to a Senate environment budget committee, where its prospects are uncertain. No hearing has been scheduled for a similar bill in the House.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/aqf5eyw
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Wolf release plan stirred plenty of opposition
 
By Jerry Lackey San Angelo Standard Times March 14, 2013
 
SAN ANGELO, Texas — The controversy surrounding a recent issuance of a draft concerning the release of the southwestern gray wolf in West Texas has been withdrawn — at least for now, said Sandy Whittley, executive secretary of Texas Sheep & Goat Raisers Association.
 
“Word from our colleagues in New Mexico and Arizona is that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have decided to withdraw the proposed implementation of the Southwestern Gray Wolf Management Plan ‘at this time,’ ” Whittley said. “They say the plan met with too much opposition.”
 
At the TS&GRA winter meeting in February, a resolution was unanimously passed “to oppose the plan, not only from Texas but including New Mexico and Arizona.”
 
Joe Will Ross, a Sutton County rancher and San Angelo attorney who heads the TSGRA resolutions committee, said: “The TSGRA does not support wolf recovery within Texas and desires any wolf found within the state be returned to wolf recovery areas or lethally removed if causing damage.”
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/b4nmo2h

[CementFinisher]

For sounding like such a pro wolf hippie Dr. L. David Mech sure seemed to bring alot of evidence that helps support our stance as hunters conservationist.

[bearpaw]

March 16, 2013
 
Wash. Senate OKs bill to allow animal owners to kill marauding wolves without a permit
 
By JONATHAN KAMINSKY - Associated Press March 08, 2013
 
... Bill opponents say it would hurt the state's wolf recovery efforts and contradicts years of effort put into hashing out a state wolf plan.
 
"This bill undermines a three-year intensive public process that the ranchers agreed to, as did the environmentalists," said Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island.
 
full story:
http://tinyurl.com/bamuogm
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Lynn Stuter questions Senator Ranker’s claims regarding wolf bill
 
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 Okanogan RLC (blog)
 
Senator Ranker,
 
I’m calling you out on your claim that “This bill undermines a three-year intensive public process that the ranchers agreed to, as did the environmentalists.”
 
Your environmentalist buddies may have agreed to the Washington Wolf Plan, but the ranchers did not.
 
As you well know, the Wolf Working Group, while representing the environmental lobby quite liberally, did not equally represent those most affected by wolves – ranchers.
 
And I will tell you the same thing I told the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife when they agreed to the stupidity that is the Washington Wolf Plan – you can either control this predator by keeping the numbers strictly in check or you can face the reality that those affected by this predator are going to take care of the problem, and there is not one thing the WDFW is going to do about it because, in these economic times, the WDFW won’t have the money. Besides that, the WDFW is a bureaucracy that does not represent one person in this state, their claims to the contrary.
 
The fact is that, at this point in time, WDFW has no clue how many wolves there are in this state; admitting that the population expanded 100% in one year. What this says is that people like you have no clue the reality of wolves – having listened to the environmental whackos who have brought pseudo-science to the table in pursuit of their anti-rural, anti-rancher, anti-hunting agenda.
 
Here are some pictures of the reality of wolves, Senator Ranker. How would you like it if this were your dog? This happened near Twisp, Washington. This dog was on a deck when attacked by the wolf. The dog’s owner, in an attempt to save his dog, was no more than two feet from that wolf. Yet your WDFW friends tried to convince him that the wolf he was so close to was really a cougar!
 
How about it, Senator Ranker, you want to help pay the vet bill to save this dog’s life? What if this had been your kid instead of a dog?
 
Sincerely,
Lynn M Stuter
 
Source (warning, sad photos!):
http://tinyurl.com/a84pp5q
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Hard work, emotion part of wolf study
 
March 16, 2013 by RON SEELY - Wisconsin State Journal
 
CLAM LAKE — As Adrian Wydeven drove the snowy wilds of the Chequamegon National Forest, keeping an eye out the truck window for signs of wolves, his thoughts returned again and again to one old wolf, different from any he had ever encountered, and that for years made these remote forests and swamps her home.
 
An ecologist and conservation biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources, Wydeven has helped run the agency's wolf recovery program for the past two decades. He spends his days tracking wolves, trapping and radio-collaring them, howling on summer nights for them. He traipses despondently toward steady signals from their transmitters, known in the trade as "mortality" signals, to collect the stilled bodies of dead wolves.
 
And now, he is helping to figure out how the state's first wolf hunt affected an animal that just a little over a year ago was listed as an endangered species.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/b2dt4nl
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West Texas wolf release plan stirred plenty of opposition
 
Jerry Lackey March 15, 2013 Reporter News
 
A controversial draft concerning the release of the southwestern gray wolf in West Texas has been withdrawn — at least for now, said Sandy Whittley, executive secretary of Texas Sheep & Goat Raisers Association.
 
“Word from our colleagues in New Mexico and Arizona is that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have decided to withdraw the proposed implementation of the Southwestern Gray Wolf Management Plan ‘at this time,’ ” Whittley said. “They say the plan met with too much opposition.”
 
At the livestock association’s winter meeting in February, a resolution was unanimously passed “to oppose the plan, not only from Texas but including New Mexico and Arizona.”
 
Joe Will Ross, a Sutton County rancher and San Angelo attorney who heads the association’s resolutions committee, said: “The TSGRA does not support wolf recovery within Texas and desires any wolf found within the state be returned to wolf recovery areas or lethally removed if causing damage.”
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/b3brcgn

[bearpaw]

March 17, 2013
 
The Wolf That Changed America
 
Doug Smith - PBS
 
Uploaded on Nov 19, 2008
 
See the full episode at http://video.pbs.org/video/1069630535
 
In this Web-exclusive video, wolf expert Doug Smith discusses the Yellowstone Wolf Project. Started in 1994, the Wolf Project has taken advantage of the visibility of Yellowstone's wolves to explore wolf population dynamics. Of particular interest is how wolves interact with prey and scavenger populations in the park. Smith hopes that Wolf Project research can help replace common misconceptions about wolves with factual information.
 
"The Wolf That Changed America" aired on PBS Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 8pm as part of the 29th season of the Peabody and Emmy award-winning series produced by Thirteen in association with WNET.ORG for PBS.
 
6:23 minute video:
NATURE | The Wolf That Changed America | Wolf Expert | PBS
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
 
Management of Habituated wolves in Yellowstone National Park
 
September 12, 2003
 
Wolves are among the shiest of all wildlife and are generally suspicious of humans. Historically, problem wolves are rare and have an almost zero probability of attacking a human. However, some wild wolves have shown aggressive behavior towards humans, and it is the purpose of this plan to acknowledge that possibility in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) and take steps to prevent such an occurrence.
 
Wolves are intelligent animals that learn quickly, so changing the behavior of a problem wolf is difficult. Also, because problem wolf behavior is rare, there is little published information and management strategies on this topic, and the common solution is wolf removal. Unlike other aspects of wolf management, where a plethora of information exits, there was little information upon which to draw for formulation of this management plan.
 
Our management objectives discussed in this plan are to: 1) maintain a wild population of wolves in YNP; 2) prevent the development of habituated wolves; 3) reduce wolf–human contact; 4) prevent human injury due to an habituated wolf; 5) educate the public about proper wolf viewing so as to prevent habituation; and 6) gather more information on habituated wolves to help manage future situations that may develop. We intend to achieve these goals through human education and intolerance of fearless wolves that may pose a threat to human safety. Should cases of problem wolves occur, and non-lethal management actions are unsuccessful in eliminating the problem, then removal of the problem wolf will take place. We recommend, however, that wolf removal be considered on a case-by-case basis.
 
Continued (646 kb 19 page PDF file):
http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2009/02/habituatedwolves9-2003.pdf

[bearpaw]

March 18, 2013
 
Woman attacked by wolf in Manitoba
 
March. 18, 2013 UPI
 
Manitoba, March 18 -- A woman in Grand Rapids, Manitoba, drove herself to a hospital after she was attacked and bitten by a wolf as she stopped to aid another motorist.
 
She credits a childhood lesson for saving her life, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday.
 
The wolf lunged at Dawn Hepp as she walked from her car.
 
"His face and jaws were around my neck. I could just hear my dad saying 'Stay calm, Dawn.' He [the wolf] dug a little deeper. Whether he couldn't get a good grip or what, he let go," she said of the incident.
 
She returned to her car, pulled up next to the other vehicle, rolled down her window and asked, "You guys OK? I've got to get to the nearest hospital."
 
Remaining calm, Hepp drove herself to a hospital in Ashern, Manitoba, and was treated for puncture wounds and possible rabies, the CBC said.
 
The report didn't say why Hepp stopped to help the other motorist.
 
The incident occurred about 415 kilometers (258 miles) north of Winnipeg.
 
Source:
http://tinyurl.com/d6vgbrv
-- --
 
See also:
 
Attacked by wolf, Manitoba woman drives to hospital
 
CBC News March 18, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/dxuz8u4
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
 
WDFW Can’t Pay For Injuries To Dog Attacked By Wolf
 
By Andy Walgamott, March 15th, 2013 Northwest Sportsman
 
State law is barring WDFW from paying the vet bill for a dog that was attacked by a wolf on Sunday morning in the Methow Valley.
 
However, in the future, pet owners could be reimbursed if their animals are injured when they tangle with wolves under a bill that passed the state Senate earlier this week.
 
The bills for Shelby, the Siberian husky-wolf hybrid, have rung up at least $289 for John Stevie and his family, and will probably be more. The dog suffered injuries to her face, neck and ears.
 
After WDFW determined it was indeed a wolf attack, based on interviews with Stevie and his partner and evidence at the scene, state wolf manager Donny Martorello looked into compensation for them.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/crw8nkd
-- --
 
[Note: The above story came with the following comments.]:
 
"BY AN UNUSUAL COINCIDENCE???, the attack came just two days after the state Senate passed a bill that  “Requires that rules established by the fish and wildlife commission allow an owner, the owner’s immediate family member, the agent of an owner, or the owner’s documented employee to kill a gray wolf that is attacking or poses an immediate threat of physical harm to livestock or other domestic animals regardless of its state classification and without the need for a permit or other form of permission.,” according to a bill digest for SB 5187. It is now in the House where it will have a hearing on March 20 before the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee".
-- --
 
Not unusual at all Andy, in the last two years there have been four wolf attacks on dogs within a few miles of the same area that Shelby was attack, WDFW just refuse to report these attacks. Why do you suppose that is? Out of sight out of mind in WDFW's eyes and to hell with the people and their pets who have to deal with an out of control wolf population in the Methow Valley.
 
Did anyone see the story of the rancher who believes wolves were into his cattle last fall, his cows chased his herding dogs, just like has happened in other states where wolves are killing cattle. This rancher said he believes he lost two calves to wolves last year. I talk to this same rancher in 2011, he lost a calf close to home that year and believed it was wolves. He told me he had seen the cow and calf the night before and the next morning all that was left was a calf head and a wild-eyed cow.
 
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,120283.0.html
 
What will it take to bring honesty back into WDFW? Is protecting wolves that have made liars out of the USFWS, and those who promote them more important then other wildlife, livestock, pets and people?
 
Please call or e-mail every Washington State Representative and urge them to pass SB 5187.
 
[Note: I have a list of the emails from the message, too many to post in the newsletter. I can forward the message upon request to interested parties.]
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Wolves may contribute to Minn. moose decline
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 18, 2013
 
DULUTH, Minnesota — Researchers using GPS trackers and transmitters to find out what's causing the decline of northeastern Minnesota's moose population are getting some early results that show wolves are to blame for some of the deaths.
 
State wildlife experts recently tranquilized 111 moose to fit them with high-tech collars that send satellite messages if the animal stops moving for six hours. The goal is to get crews to the dead moose quickly to harvest organs and tissue to find out what killed them.
 
Six of those moose already have died and at least two appear to be wolf victims, Department of Natural Resources officials told the Duluth News Tribune (http://bit.ly/XU4MiO ) for a story published Monday. The four others are listed as having died of complications from the stress of being tranquilized and collared.
 
In a similar study of 19 moose collared by the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa, at least one animal died from a wolf attack.
 
Northeastern Minnesota's moose population has plummeted from 8,800 in 2006 to 2,760 this January, prompting the DNR to cancel moose hunting for the foreseeable future.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cegsy6q
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Minnesota DNR counts the state’s elusive wolves
 
By Sam Cook, INFORUM March 17, 2013
 
DULUTH, Minn. - It’s a daunting assignment for a wildlife biologist: Count one of the most elusive creatures that roam the north woods.
 
That’s John Erb’s task. He’s trying to determine how many gray wolves live in Minnesota. Erb is the furbearer research biologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources at Grand Rapids. He’s directing the state’s first wolf population estimate since 2007-08.
 
He knows what he’s up against.
 
“Trying to count wolves is a challenging thing,” Erb said. “When you’re talking about 30,000 square miles (of wolf range), and it’s a secretive animal, there are always going to be uncertainties.”
 
Continued:
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/393537/group/homepage/
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We need to live in harmony with nature
 
March 16, 2013 By Aurelia Valente - My View
 
I would like to address the issue of the Mexican gray wolves. One of the reasons is because the executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, Caren Cowen, in a recent story said: “These animals haven’t proven to be able to live in the wild, for whatever reason. … Why are we trying to make something happen that clearly nature doesn’t want to happen?”
 
This was very wrong to say. It is not nature that doesn’t want the wolves to survive, but some ranchers.
 
The Mexican gray wolves are a symbol of the West. They also provide biological diversity. Keeping them here, in New Mexico, would have many good effects.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/auuj2eu
-- -- -- --
 
Proximity is the problem. Mexican wolf encounters with children impacted on the rise.
 
January 30, 2012 - Wolf Crossing
 
With the onset of the 2012 breeding season sightings, close encounters and home encounters have created a difficult situation for managers of the Mexican wolf program and they are not getting much slack from local governments and citizens.
 
In December the program issued it’s first lethal control order after a female wolf with a long track record of livestock depredations and human habitation was found circling a private home at regular intervals where small children were exposed to her close presence. The same wolf had birthed a litter of hybrid pups the prior spring and FWS are still on the lookout for the one Mexican wolf hybrid that got away. They haven’t found it presumably it will add to the genetic mix that is the rare Mexican wolf. The remarkable thing about this control action is the fact that despite dozens of human safety encounters since the beginning of the program many of which involved their attraction to children, this was the first time the agency admitted lethal control was warranted for human safety reasons.
 
The encounters with wolves did not end after AF 1105 was removed from the picture. Despite the claims from radical environmental organizations that the wolf was merely lonely and only needed to find a male. They also claimed that there weren’t enough male wolves in the wild for her to mate with, The next three encounters at homes and highways were with male wolves looking for a mate in the same region as AF 1105.
 
The photo’s in the attached gallery show these animals are clearly in the vicinity of people and they are also in the area where pairing with AF 1105 was possible and feasible. Instead, they appear more interested in easy prey or a handout at a home than pairing with a female that was making herself readily available for another breeding with a ranch dog. It makes a reasonable person wonder what these big males are breeding with since they showed little interest in AF 1105 possibly coyotes it is possible as the canine DNA is nearly identical subject to family markers.
 
Continued:
http://wolfcrossing.org/?p=585
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Young Family Held Hostage by Mexican Grey Wolf
 
December 19, 2011 Wolf Crossing
 
Crystal Diamond, who lives on the family ranch near Beaverhead, spent 24 hours indoors with her two daughters, ages two and three, with a collared Mexican Grey Wolf on her front porch and in her yard, before the wolf was controlled by Wildlife Services personnel. (Crystal has written a detailed timeline of events, see below.)
 
Continued:
http://wolfcrossing.org/?p=567

[bearpaw]

March 19, 2013
 
Are Wolves Causing Low Body Fat in Moose in Minnesota?
 
March 19, 2013 by Tom Remington
 
The Duluth News Tribune has a story from yesterday, March 18, 2013, that headlines that wolves are taking a toll on Minnesota moose; a headline that many of us have waited for quite some time. But perhaps the headline is a bit premature. Further data collection and research might tell a better and more complete story……..or will it?
 
It’s always difficult to get an accurate assessment of events such as wildlife studies from newspaper accounts and I don’t think I need explain why. So, from this one newspaper account, I would like to point out just one part of it that presents a confusing and perhaps misleading bunch of statements. This may be intentional bias or not. I don’t really know, but it does little to solve a problem.
 
Here’s a snippet taken from the article:
 
Of the two animals that died from other causes, both appear to be victims of wolf attacks. One had been mostly eaten, and the other had injuries from a wolf attack but had not been eaten. From a post-mortem investigation at the scene, it appears wolves got the big cow’s calf and then left the area before the cow died, Butler said.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/d84q299
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Stressed out cattle and elk?
 
10/25/2010 by DeLene - Wild Muse
 
Can the mere presence of a wolf stress a prey animal so much that they lose weight? New research says, Yes, maybe so.
 
When I was working on my master’s, I interviewed several cattle ranchers in the Southwest — namely, Arizona and New Mexico. I was looking for their beliefs and opinions about Mexican wolf reintroduction, and an oft-repeated claim was that the mere presence of the wolves was stressing their cattle, resulting in lower weights. And a skinny cow never made anyone any money, so that was a problem, they said. Wolf conservationists laughed in my face when I told them about this complaint.
 
But biologically speaking, is there something to it? A new study by a group of Canadian researchers found that both domestic cattle and wild elk change their behaviors when wolves are around; and this often costs the animals energy, they say. Until this past August, Defenders of Wildlife offered a compensation program that paid ranchers for wolf-killed cattle and other domestic livestock in the Northern Rocky Mountains and in the desert Southwest where wolves were being reintroduced. Had they continued it, perhaps they would have been asked to compensate ranchers not only for wolf-killed cattle, but also for cattle that did not grow out to whatever the rancher’s historic average was due to “stress” from wolves. (How you would separate this variable from changes in forage due to drought, I have no idea.)
 
For this study, the authors guessed that the artificial selection of cows over the years, for domestic breeding purposes, may have resulted in the loss of behaviors that you may expect from wild animals, such as elk, when faced with the stress of being eaten by a predator such as a large gray wolf. Or, they wrote, artificial selection of cows may have resulted “in erratic and inconsistent responses.”
 
Continued w/link to study and interesting comments:
http://tinyurl.com/cgddvf3
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Bill would let farmers kill attacking wolves
 
March 19, 2013 Yakima Herald
 
OLYMPIA — John Smith and other Eastern Washington farmers talk often about a new predator in their midst: the gray wolf.
 
They’ve have been known to prey on calves, sheep and family pets — and Smith said little can be done to stop them. And because wolves are an endangered species in Washington, farmers can’t shoot them.
 
“Right now, if my wife or I were to hear one of our dogs being attacked by a wolf one night, we’d have to stay in the house while that wolf killed our dog,” Smith said. “The way that this species of wolves operates is that they don’t do quick kills. We’d be forced to listen to our pet be chewed to pieces for who knows how long while our children cried inside.”
 
Smith also happens to be a state senator, a Colville Republican, and he’s introduced legislation to help Washington farmers protect their animals from wolf attacks.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/c8pxved
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Are wolves really all that?
 
08/18/2012 by DeLene - Wild Muse
 
Have conservation scientists become carried away, touting the ecological benefits of wolves where there are perhaps — dare I say it? — not as many as we believe there to be? Perhaps some people in the media, and even some in science, have gotten carried away with the ecological changes that wolves are actually capable of mediating, says globally-renowned wolf biologist L. David Mech in his most recent paper “Is science in danger of sanctifying the wolf?”
 
Ever since the reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park, and by extension the Northern Rocky Mountain ecoregion, the role of apex predators in regulating trophic cascades has been an issue of great debate. Among the first to publish a correlation between a return of aspen and willow recruitment to stands where they’d been long absent, at the same time that wolves were reintroduced, were a pair of researchers from Oregon State University, Ripple and Beschta. They promulgated an idea dubbed the ecology of fear which postulated that the presence of wolves caused a behavioral shift in elk, leading them to graze less often in open riparian corridors where they were more likely to be attacked by wolves. Their warier behavior, and shift in browsing pressure, led to a rebound in the aspen and willow growth. It’s become a familiar, almost calcified narrative, and one that many wildlife proponents have embraced (myself included).
 
But in his newest paper, Mech reviews the literature both supporting and refuting wolves as the mechanism of a behaviorally-modulated trophic cascade in Yellowstone. He asserts that other factors may be at play in stimulating the willows and aspen to regrow, and that they at least deserve more serious discussion. Mech seems to feel that some conservation scientists have become so myopically focused on wolves as the mechanism of ecological change that we tend to view as positive that they are unwilling or unable to look beyond wolves for alternative or contributing factors.
 
I have to admit, if this paper had been written by someone other than Mech, I’d probably have not have paid as much attention to it. This is because I find myself wanting to believe the wolf-as-ecological-mediator narrative. I freely admit, I’m biased in this regard. But the fact that a wolf biologist as learned and experienced as Mech produced this definitely caught my eye.
 
Continued with links:
http://tinyurl.com/cojwflc
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Gaylord public meeting Tuesday to feature discussions on state's gray wolf management plans
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 19, 2013
 
GAYLORD, Michigan — Gray wolf management is being discussed at a public meeting in Otsego County.
 
The meeting with state Department of Natural Resources officials is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Wisconsin Street Hall in Gaylord, about 160 miles north of Lansing.
 
The state Legislature authorized wolf hunts in December, and the Natural Resources Commission could make a decision in June.
 
Opponents are raising petition signatures to get the issue on the 2014 election ballot.
 
The latest DNR count found there are about 700 wolves in the Upper Peninsula.
 
About 270 people attended a meeting last week in Ironwood. Meetings also have been held in Marquette and Saint Ignace.
 
The DNR also is consulting with Indian tribes and compiling data about livestock and pets killed by wolves.

[bearpaw]

March 20, 2013
 
'Stay calm': Woman walks away after Canada wolf attack
 
By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News March 20, 2013
 
A woman in Manitoba, Canada, was receiving rabies treatment Wednesday after surviving a roadside attack by a timber wolf.
 
Dawn Hepp was driving along a highway near Grand Rapids, Manitoba, on March 8 when she pulled over to see if a stopped motorist was in need of help, Canadian national broadcaster CBC reported.
 
As she walked to the other motorist's car, the wolf leapt at her.
 
"His face and his jaws were around my neck," she told CBC, adding that she could feel the wolf's fur on her face.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/brc2edo
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Fish and Game Commission approves increase in elk tags, changes in wolf hunting rules
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 20, 2013
 
BOISE, Idaho — Big game hunters in Idaho will have a chance to bag more elk next season and more time to hunt wolves in certain parts of the state.
 
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission on Tuesday adopted a series of new rules and regulations for the 2013 big game hunting season.
 
Major changes for elk include an increase of more than 2,300 controlled hunt tags. The commission also made adjustments in a variety of hunting zones across the state for elk season.
 
Commissioners also approved extending the wolf hunt on private land in the Panhandle Zone to year-round and stretched the season in the Middle Fork Zone north of the Selway River to June 30.
 
Changes also included expanding wolf trapping in certain hunting zones.
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Wolves targets of legislation, bullets, traps, rumors
 
by Rich Landers March 19, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
Here’s a lengthy update on gray wolf news, issues and activities in the region, including bills being considered this week:
 
WASHINGTON LEGISLATURE 
 
Still alive in Olympia is a bill that could let landowners kill wolves caught in the act of attacking pets or livestock.
 
Senate Bill 5187, introduced by Sen. John Smith, R-Colville, is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday morning (March 20).
 
While some conservation groups oppose most measures that involve killing wolves, which are listed as endangered in Washington, state Fish and Wildlife officials tend to support the bill.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cp5tb2j
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2013 Wash. wolf costs estimated at $2.3 million
 
by Rich Landers March 20, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
The cost of managing protected wolves in Washington is likely to increase by 300 percent from last year to about $2.3 million in 2013, a state wildlife official told legislators in Olympia this morning.
 
Dave Ware of the Department of Fish and Wildlife gave the figure in his testimony during a public hearing on wolf-related legislation before the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
 
In November, Ware had estimated the state had spent $376,000 by that time in 2012 on wolf management, including $76,500 to eliminate the cattle-killing Wedge Pack in northern Stevens County.
 
But this morning, Ware said the total for 2012 was $750,000. With the population of wolves growing rapidly — doubling in a year under endangered species protections — the costs will increase as the state is obliged to work with livestock producers, investigate cases of livestock killed by wolves and dedicate more staff in the field to trapping, researching and monitoring wolf packs.
 
See a more detailed recap of today's hearing by Andy Walgamott of Northwest Sportsman. 
 
The post notes — as many of us have while we observe and report on the historic re-entry of wolves to the region— that conservation groups continue to oppose the killing of wolves. They continue to ignore wolf experts who say wolves must be killed in some situations to help ease the impact to rural people and the social tension, a necessary step that will work in favor of wolves in the long run.
 
Source w/links to more info:
http://tinyurl.com/ckzc3as
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Washington wolf bills under discussion
 
By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press March 19, 2013
 
A Washington State House committee will take up a bill that would allow ranchers to kill wolves caught in the act of attacking pets or livestock.
 
Senate Bill 5187 would allow a rancher to kill a wolf caught in the act of attacking a domestic animal, including dogs, cats, cows, horses and pigs.
 
"Under current law, if my wife this evening was to go out and discover a wolf attacking one of our dogs, she would have to hold our children inside while the wolves ripped our pet to shreds," said Sen. John Smith, R-Colville. Current laws prohibit killing a wolf in such a scenario, he said.
 
The bill would not require a permit, Smith said.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ccg7fho
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NRA, Safari Club blame wolves for decline of hunting in NW Wyoming, push to enter lawsuits
 
By BEN NEARY - Associated Press March 19, 2013
 
CHEYENNE, Wyoming — The National Rifle Association and Safari Club International are blaming wolves for bringing down the quality of big-game hunting in northwestern Wyoming.
 
The hunting groups are now pushing to intervene in two lawsuits pending in federal courts in Washington, D.C., and Wyoming. The groups want to oppose environmental groups' push to reinstate federal protections for wolves in Wyoming.
 
Nearly 70 wolves have been killed in Wyoming since the federal protections ended last October. Wyoming allows trophy hunting for them in a zone around Yellowstone National Park and classifies wolves as unprotected predators in the rest of the state.
 
Both the state of Wyoming and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are arguing against the environmental groups' call for reinstating federal protections for the wolf.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/d3pfc3x
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
 
Letter: Claim about wolf hunting is false
 
March 19, 2013 By: Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, Alexandria, Minn., INFORUM
 
A recent Star Tribune article, “Minnesota Senate panel passes wolf hunt moratorium 7-6,” includes a statement from a Sierra Club lobbyist that is blatantly false. The provision to allow a Minnesota wolf hunt went through our standard legislative process, had ample discussion and everyone was allowed to testify. As the author of the bill two years ago and former chairman of the Senate’s Environment Committee, I know this to be true.
 
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wolf management plan says a minimum population of 1,600 wolves is needed to ensure their long-term survival. The Department of Natural Resources and Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration agreed the state should have a wolf hunt because there were twice as many wolves than needed to ensure their survival. Senate leadership should continue this wolf hunt, not work to eliminate it.
 
I will continue to support a wolf hunting and trapping season.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
 
Wis. gov's budget would end night wolf hunting
 
March 20, 2013 LaCross Tribune
 
Gov. Scott Walker's executive budget would prohibit wolf hunters from going after the animals at night.
 
A law Republicans passed last spring establishing the wolf hunt allows people to hunt wolves at night after the November gun deer season ends. Walker's budget would repeal that section of the law.
 
The governor's spokesman says night hunting isn't necessary. He says hunters killed only one wolf at night during last fall's hunt and still easily met the statewide kill quota.
 
The law's chief author, Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder, an Abbotsford Republican, says he disagrees. He says hunters are allowed to go after other animals such as coyotes and raccoons at night. He says he plans to speak with Walker's office about retaining the provision.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
 
Saving Wolves Through Social Media
 
03/20/2013 Cathy Kangas, Board of Directors, Humane Society
 
Fifteen years ago this month, 11 captive-reared, Mexican gray wolves were released into the wild for the first time in the Blue Range Recovery Area of Arizona and New Mexico. These magnificent creatures had almost become extinct; their distinctive howl had nearly been silenced.
 
To mark this anniversary, during the week of March 23-30 wildlife organizations, zoos, advocacy groups, businesses and individuals will join forces using social media to celebrate these Mexican gray wolves and educate the public about the important role these animals play in our ecosystem.
 
The Wolf Conservation Center (WCC) located in South Salem, N.Y. is one of the organizations leading #LoboWeek. Since 1999, this nonprofit has promoted wolf conservation by teaching about wolves, their relationship to the environment and our role in protecting their future. As a member of the organization's Board of Directors, I have witnessed firsthand how tirelessly the small, committed staff works to protect wolves.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/boub3f9

[bearpaw]

March 21, 2013
 
Idaho Fish and Game Commission Adopts Major Hunting Changes
 
Twin Falls Times-News March 20, 2013
 
BOISE - The Idaho Fish and Game Commission on Tuesday adopted 2013 seasons for deer, elk, pronghorn, black bear, mountain lion and gray wolf, including some big changes proposed by Fish and Game biologists.
 
The new seasons include an increase in elk controlled hunt and pronghorn tags and expanded wolf hunting and trapping seasons, said a press release from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Here's a summary of major changes.
 
Major changes for deer:
 
- Reduce antlerless tags in units 22, 31, 32, 32A and 39 to maintain or increase deer numbers.
 
- Move popular rotating muzzleloader controlled hunt from east side of Unit 45 to east side of Unit 52.
 
- Add new archery hunt in Unit 45 with 10 tags.
 
- Move archery unlimited controlled hunt in Unit 72 up two weeks to start on Nov. 16 and run through Dec. 5, and expand the hunt area into a part of Unit 76.
 
- Reinstate 390 either-sex deer tags reduced after 2010-11 winter in units 60, 62, 64, 66 and 67.
 
- Create “high-quality” buck hunts with five tags each in hunt areas 21, 28-1, 30, 36A and 36B from Oct. 10 through Nov. 30.
 
- Convert 85 extra antlerless tags in Units 21 and 36A to youth extra antlerless tags.
 
Major changes for elk:
 
- Include a net increase of 2,321 controlled hunt tags.
 
- Increase either-sex tags in units 2 and 3.
 
- Eliminate 71 late bull hunt tags in Unit 11 in response to low bull numbers in winter survey.
 
- Increase antlerless tags in Hells Canyon Units to reduce high cow densities and low calf survival.
 
- Place a cap on Bear River B Tag to reduce bull harvest about 20 percent. A cap at 550 tags represents reduction of about 20 percent of hunters based on prior five-year average. Proportional reduction allocation: 440 resident tags, 55 nonoutfitted nonresident tags and 54 outfitted tags.
 
- Shift tags from nonresident allocation to resident hunters in Diamond Creek and Salmon zones where resident quota has been filled but nonresident tags were left unsold.
 
- Eliminate extra antlerless tags in units 68A, 74 and 76 where depredation conflicts have been successfully resolved.
 
- Reinstate general season A-tag muzzleloader antlerless hunt in Pioneer Zone units 36A and 50, and increase antlerless controlled hunt tags in Units 49, 50 and 36A.
 
- Shorten general A-tag any-weapon antlerless hunts in Tex Creek and Palisades zones to reduce cow harvest and increase population.
 
Major changes for pronghorn:
 
- Include an increase of 115 tags.
 
- Create new youth hunts in Unit 39 with five tags, and Unit 54 with 15 tags.
 
- Increase tags in units 44 and 45 to provide additional opportunity and address depredations.
 
- Split Hunt Area 68 unlimited controlled archery hunt into two hunts, with 40 tags early and unlimited tags late, to resolve hunter crowding.
 
Major change for black bears:
 
- Convert Unit 1 archery-only season to any-weapon opening 16 days earlier.
 
- Increase harvest in units 7 and 9 to reduce summer depredation on elk calves.
 
- Allow use of electronic calls in units 4, 6, 7 and 9.
 
Major change for mountain lions:
 
- Open season in Panhandle units 16 days earlier on Aug. 30.
 
- Increase harvest in units 7 and 9 by allowing a second tag, use of electronic calls and extending the season two months to close June 30.
 
Major change for gray wolves:
 
- Extend hunting season on private land in the Panhandle Zone to year-round.
 
- Extend hunting season in the Middle Fork Zone and in that portion of Unit 16 in the Dworshak-Elk City Zone north of the Selway River to end June 30.
 
- Extend hunting season in Beaverhead and Island Park zones two months to end March 31.
 
- Increase harvest limit in the Salmon Zone to 45.
 
- Expand trapping to portions of units 2 and 3.
 
- Expand trapping to private lands in units 13, 18 and 22 from Nov. 15 through March 15.
 
- Expand trapping season to Island Park and Salmon zones with foothold traps only; except snares may be used on private lands and in that portion of Unit 28 within designated wilderness.
 
Details of the 2013 big game hunting seasons will be posted on the Fish and Game website at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov, and the new printed brochure will be available at all license vendors in late April, the Fish and Game release said.
 
[Hat tip to Idaho for Wildlife]
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NRA, Safari Club want in on lawsuits over wolf management in Wyoming
 
The National Rifle Association and the Safari Club have asked to intervene in two federal lawsuits filed by environmental groups seeking to put wolves in Wyoming back on the federal endangered species list.
 
Casper Star-Tribune; March 21, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/d2r44d8
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Arizona commission backs lawmakers' effort to take gray wolves off endangered-species list
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 21, 2013
 
PHOENIX — The Arizona Game and Fish Commission is supporting an effort by two members of Congress to remove gray wolves from the endangered-species list.
 
The Arizona commission voted unanimously Wednesday to endorse the letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's director by Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Republican Rep. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.
 
The letter says wolves aren't endangered and don't need federal protections.
 
The commission also voted unanimously to continue state efforts to restore the Mexican wolf in Arizona.
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Wisconsin governor's budget would end night wolf hunting; Chippewa see it as legal maneuver
 
By TODD RICHMOND - Associated Press March 20, 2013 
 
MADISON, Wisconsin — Language tucked into Republican Gov. Scott Walker's executive budget would bar hunters from killing wolves at night, eliminating one of the most contentious elements in Wisconsin's wolf hunt regulations.
 
The provision comes as Wisconsin's Chippewa tribes are fighting in federal court for permission to set up a night deer hunt in northern Wisconsin. State wildlife officials contend night deer hunting is far too dangerous, but the tribes maintain they're entitled to a night hunt since nontribal hunters can now kill wolves after dark. They believe eliminating the night wolf hunt is designed to nullify one of their strongest legal arguments.
 
"It appears to be an attempt to influence this federal court litigation that's ongoing between the state and tribes," said Charlie Rasmussen, a spokesman for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, which oversees the Chippewa bands' off-reservation rights. He declined further comment.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/d87o43c
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Mo. Conservation Department says hunter's 'coyote' was actually a gray wolf
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 21, 2013
 
JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri — The state Conservation Department says a canine shot by a hunter in central Missouri last fall turned out to be a wolf.
 
The hunter who shot the animal in Howard County in October thought it was a coyote, but the Conservation Department said Wednesday the remains are actually those of a gray wolf.
 
Gray wolves have not lived in Missouri since the late 1800s, but some have wandered in from northern states.
 
Conservation officials said a DNA test on the Howard County wolf confirms it came from Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan.
 
Officials say there's no evidence that the gray wolf is repopulating in Missouri.

[bearpaw]

March 22, 2013
 
Local YP Wolf Report
 
March 22, 2013
 
Wolf tracks on Johnson Creek road in the fresh snow headed for Yellow Pine some time early this morning. Looked like a pair, traveling right down the road. A little bit of fresh snow on top of the tracks from the light snow this morning.
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NE WASHINGTON - Wolf news update
 
March 21, 2013 (via email)
 
A pretty busy day, so this issue of the wolf news update is receiving expanded distribution (forgive me if you get it more than once).  Please forward to anyone who you think might be interested in today’s information.
 
The thing I’d really like to ask you to take a look at (if you aren’t one of the ones actively involved) is the press release and an article from The Capitol Record that I’ve added below the article links.  It’s about the public hearing held this morning (March 20th) in the Washington House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on two wolf bills that have already passed the Senate, SSB 5187, Protecting domestic animals against gray wolf attacks, and E2SSB 5193, Concerning gray wolf conflict management.
 
(Disclosure — I prepared written testimony for each of these bills last evening and placed them into the public record for the legislation.)
 
What I’d really like to ask you to do is to go to the TVW archive for the hearings and settle in to a very interesting event, which includes county commissioners from the four counties in northeastern Washington (Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille) known as the Northern Tier Counties.  When asked what the counties would do if the Legislature fails to act on SSB 5187, the commissioner testifying at the time said they have agreed that if the situation continues, the counties have agreed that they will simultaneously and collectively file a state of emergency and take care of the problem.
 
We need to understand that counties have the power to declare an emergency when there is a threat to public health, safety, and welfare.  This is an issue we should all be watching very closely.
 
You can find the archived video at:
 
http://tinyurl.com/b82keb5
 
The hearing on the wolf bills starts 26 minutes 30 seconds into the video.
 
To put this hearing into context, both bills have already passed the Washington Senate.  Since Senate passage, a woman has reportedly been attacked by a wolf a few hundred miles north of Winnipeg, Manitoba (two article links below, with photos of the injuries to her neck) and last week a dog was attacked on the porch of its home by a wolf in Twisp, which happens to be located in Okanogan County.
 
That dog accompanied its owners to Olympia and was in the committee hearing room when the owner testified about the attack for the hearing.
 
- Norm
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Wolf attacks on domestic animals subject of public hearing in state House
 
Smith legislation would allow citizens to defend pets, livestock in event of a gray wolf attack
 
March 20, 2013 Press Release
 
Bobbi Cussins, Public Information Officer, Rep. Kretz – (360) 786-7252
Amanda Web, Public Information Officer, Sen. Smith: (360) 786-7869
Brendon Wold, Senior Information Officer, Rep. Short: (360) 786-7698
 
Today, Senate Bill 5187, a measure which would give people the right to protect their property and their pets from a gray wolf attack, received a public hearing before the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. The bill was sponsored by 7th District Sen. John Smith.
 
John Stevie, who witnessed the near-fatal attack of his 60-pound dog Shelby by a gray wolf March 10, came from Twisp, Wash. to testify in favor of the bill and brought Shelby along to show the severity of the dog’s wounds from of the wolf attack.
 
County commissioners and their representative from Pend Oreille, Ferry, Stevens and Okanogan counties, or the Northern Tier group, also made the trip to Olympia to testify as a united front in favor of Senate Bill 5187.
 
“I appreciate the citizens who came from all across our state to testify on this important issue,” said Smith, R-Colville. “The state’s wolf conservation and management plan did not anticipate the extreme concentration of wolves that we see today in northeastern Washington and the resulting catastrophic damage it would render to family farms and rural residents. This bill restores the right to defend one’s home and property against a wolf attack – a natural human instinct and God-given right.”
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/a4frylp
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House panel hears debate over wolf conflict legislation
 
By Chris West March 20, 2013 The Capitol Record
 
The debate continued Wednesday over a measure allowing livestock and pet owners to kill endangered gray wolves without a permit when the wolves are attacking their animals.
 
A coalition of commissioners from Okanogan, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties traveled to Olympia to deliver a stern message in front of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
 
“Will we act as county commissioners if you fail to? I will make that choice to act because we can’t wait any longer,” said Stevens County Commissioner Wes McCart. “The ability to protect your life, your family, your food, your pets – to me this is one of the Constitutional rights that we have and under the law. If you shoot a wolf without a permit right now, you will go to jail or pay a fine or both. This is wrong.”
 
Under current law, the penalty for killing a wolf without a permit is a gross misdemeanor for the first offense and a Class C felony for the second offense, which could result in a $5,000 fine or a year in jail.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/a757skq
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Montana wolf numbers drop slightly in 2012; next hunting season will have fewer restrictions
 
By MATTHEW BROWN - Associated Press March 21, 2013
 
BILLINGS, Montana — Montana's gray wolf population declined slightly for the first time in almost a decade in 2012, amid stepped-up efforts to curb the predator's numbers through increased hunting and trapping, state officials said Thursday.
 
At least 625 wolves from 147 packs roamed Montana at the end of last year. That's down about 4 percent from the 653 animals tallied in 2011, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said.
 
The decline came after trapping was introduced and hunting quotas were lifted across most of the state last year in an attempt to reduce wolf attacks on livestock and wildlife. A new state law means even fewer restrictions for next winter's wolf season, when hunters will be allowed to use electronic calls and take up to three wolves apiece.
 
State officials say roughly 400 to 500 wolves are needed to maintain a stable population, However, that's considered a rough target and not a definitive goal.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/alotmbz
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See also:
 
Montana's annual wolf survey finds lower numbers but more packs
 
For the first time since 2004, Montana's wolf population has decreased, with the 2012 survey indicating there are at least 625 wolves in 147 packs in the state, with 59 wolves in 13 packs in the Bitterroot Valley.
 
Ravalli Republic; March 22, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/a659wbu
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See also:
 
Montana Releases Latest Wolf Numbers, RMEF Maintains Call for Proper Management
 
March 22, 2013 by Tom Remington
 
http://tinyurl.com/bywmmuh
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Experts Question Wildlife Experts Questioning Account of Wolf Attack
 
March 22, 2013 by Tom Remington
 
The story goes that Dawn Hepp was traveling in Manitoba, Canada, on Highway 6 north of Winnepeg, when she stopped to help another motorist. After stopping, she claims she was attack by a wolf. And now so-called “experts” are doubting the details of this woman’s account of what happened.
 
You can read the story and see photos of the bite and scratch marks on her neck by clicking this link.
 
From a different perspective on this, after reading this account, it is just as easy to doubt that the so-called “wildlife experts” know which end is up when it comes to wolves, even if you have written a book about it.
 
I’ve read the account and find the woman’s details a bit odd, casting some doubt about what really happened. However, reading what the experts had to say about wolf behavior only shows their ignorance of wolf behavior and casts just as many doubts as to the reliability of their information. Whether the accounts, as described by Dawn Hepp, are totally accurate may not matter in the long run. If the wolf had rabies, it could explain the seemingly odd behavior of the wild dog, if that’s what it was.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/b7l89hu
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Groups sue to end trapping in 15 Montana counties, citing threatened lynx habitat
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 21, 2013
 
HELENA, Montana — Three conservation groups are suing Montana in an attempt to force wildlife regulators to halt trapping in much of northwestern and southwestern Montana
 
They are seeking to end the trapping of wolves and fur-bearing animals in areas of Montana that have been designated as critical lynx habitat. That includes portions of five trapping districts and 17 wolf-management units.
 
The plaintiffs say trapping and snaring activities have resulted in at least nine lynx being caught.
 
Canada lynx is a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The federal law prohibits the taking of any endangered or threatened species.
 
The lawsuit filed Thursday by Friends of the Wild Swan, WildEarth Guardians and the Alliance for the Wild Rockies names as defendants each state Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioner and the agency's director.