Gray Wolf News "The latest in the Wolf Wars"

[bearpaw]

April 24, 2013
 
Dr. David Mech, the man who invented “balance of nature”, refutes his own claim. Says “Balance of Nature” a Myth.
 
Top Wolf Scientist Charges Wolf Researchers Have Become Advocates Rather Than Scientists
 
by George Dovel The Outdoorsman – Bulletin Number 51 – Page 8
 
Republished on this website with permission from editor/author.
 
During a May 7, 2010 Boise State University Radio interview, Idaho Fish and Game Predator Biologist Dr. Hilary Cooley stated emphatically that wolves – not hunters – are necessary to manage elk herds.
 
Speaking with authority, as if she were part of a team of scientists whose research prompted her statements, Cooley stated:
 
“We saw this in Yellowstone – when we had tons and tons of elk they could change the entire landscape. We saw songbird densities changing, we saw beaver populations changing – everything responds to that and so while some people like to have high, high densities of ungulates, it’s not always good for the rest of the ecosystem.”
 
What Cooley was referring to are the alleged “trophic cascades” that many ecologists and most conservation biologists now claim are the stabilizing benefits provided to ecosystems by wolves and other top predators. The basic theory is that the top predator (wolf) reduces the number and/or alters the habits of its prey (elk), which provides more habitat for other species such as beaver, song birds and smaller predators.
 
This revival of the “Balance of Nature” myth promoted by Durward Allen and his graduate student David Mech in their 1963 National Geographic article, began when Robert Payne coined “keystone species” in 1969 and “trophic cascades” in 1980.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/c5nkbhn
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The Challenge of Wolf Recovery
 
An Ongoing Dilemma for State Managers
 
By L. David Mech March 22, 2013 posted in the Wildlife Society News
 
“Dave, would you do another legal declaration on the wolf for us?” The weary voice on the phone belonged to Mike Jimenez, Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf Management and Science Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). He was calling from Wyoming to ask me to prepare a document to address a legal challenge to the FWS’s August 2012 delisting of the wolf (Canis lupus) in Wyoming, a highly controversial move. Mike’s tone reflected the reality that — as so many wildlife biologists know and live each day — wildlife management is mainly people management. This contention could not be truer for managing any wildlife species than for managing the wolf.
 
Dubbed “the beast of waste and desolation” by Teddy Roosevelt (The Wilderness Hunter 1893/1900), wolves had been universally hated as prolific predators of valuable livestock and game. Around the turn of the 20th century, members of the U.S. Biological Survey and various state agents, ranchers, cowboys, and other frontiersmen poisoned and persecuted wolves, extirpating them from most of the contiguous United States (Young and Goldman 1944). By 1967, Minnesota and nearby Isle Royale National Park in Michigan held the only remaining wolves in the Lower 48 states, prompting the FWS to place the wolf on the Endangered Species List (established by the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966). The wolf then became the list’s poster species, and the timing was ideal: Silent Spring (Carson 1962) had just seeded and fertilized the environmental movement, which blossomed on Earth Day (April 22, 1970) into the environmental revolution. “Save the wolf!” became one of the movement’s rallying cries. And save the wolf we did.
 
It seemed to matter to no one that a thriving population of 60,000 wolves remained next door in Canada and Alaska: Because they were gone from the western wilderness — including Yellowstone National Park and other wild lands in the contiguous states — wolves were officially endangered and considered worthy of salvation. I was an early proponent of that philosophy. My book The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species ended by saying, “The wolf haters must be outnumbered. They must be outshouted, outfinanced and outvoted” (Mech 1970). To save the species, federal agencies put protections in place. Soon the ranks of wolf supporters began to rise, making it easier to outvote the anti-wolf factions.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/d36r3l6
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Court rules dual lawsuits will proceed over ending federal protection for Wyoming wolves
 
By BEN NEARY - Associated Press April 23, 2013
 
CHEYENNE, Wyoming — A recent ruling by a federal judge means that two parallel lawsuits will continue to run in Cheyenne and Washington, D.C., over environmental groups' challenges to the federal government's transfer of wolf management to the state of Wyoming, lawyers say.
 
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington this month denied a request from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state of Wyoming to transfer one lawsuit to federal court in Cheyenne, where a similar case already is pending.
 
Environmental groups in both lawsuits claim Wyoming's management plan classifying wolves as predators that can be shot on sight in most of the state is inadequate. They want the courts to restore federal protections.
 
Wyoming's wolf management plan allows trophy hunting in a flexible zone along the border of Yellowstone National Park. The state game department recently reported that hunters killed 68 wolves in the state from Oct. 1, when federal management stopped, through Dec. 31. Of those, 42 were killed in a trophy hunting zone bordering Yellowstone National Park, while 26 were killed as unprotected predators elsewhere in the state.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cs5zlo3
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Trapper kills rabid wolf; Alaska health officials issue warnings for Mat-Su, Chandalar Lakes
 
By DAN JOLING - Associated Press April 23, 2013 
 
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A rabid wolf killed near Chandalar Lakes and transported to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough has state health and wildlife officials warning Alaskans to be on the lookout for other animals that may be infected.
 
The rabid wolf was the first infected animal to be documented around Chandalar Lakes, an area south of the Brooks Range about 185 miles north of Fairbanks.
 
The trapper discarded the skinned, beheaded carcass of the sick wolf in a forested area near Palmer and state wildlife officials warned that contact by other animals could spread the disease.
 
Department of Fish and Game spokeswoman Cathie Harms said its presence in the Mat-Su is not grounds for panic. After tests on the head confirmed rabies, the rest of the carcass was retrieved. The rabies virus is found in an infected animal's nervous system, and nervous system tissue on the carcass such as the spinal cord had not been scavenged.
 
"The chances for transmittal are low, but they exist," Harms said by phone from Fairbanks.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cmhelz7
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Wolf council meeting to discuss proposed hunt
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS April 24, 2013
 
ST. IGNACE, Michigan — Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials will discuss their proposal for a wolf hunting season in the Upper Peninsula during a meeting Wednesday in St. Ignace.
 
The state's Wolf Management Advisory Council is meeting from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Little Bear Arena. It's open to the public. The council has representatives from a variety of interests, including hunting and trapping, conservation and native tribes.
 
DNR wildlife biologists this month asked the Natural Resources Commission to schedule a two-month season this fall. Up to 43 wolves could be killed in three areas of the Upper Peninsula where officials say they've repeatedly attacked livestock and pets. The commission could vote on the plan in May.
 
The DNR estimates the U.P. wolf population at 658.
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RMEF Files to Intervene in Great Lakes Wolf Suit
 
April 24, 2013 by Tom Remington
 
MISSOULA, Mont. – The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit by several animal rights groups seeking to return gray wolves in the Great Lakes region to the Endangered Species List. If granted, Judge Beryl A. Howell will consider RMEF positions in her U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.
 
“It is of paramount importance that everyone recognizes that states, not the federal government, are best qualified to manage a recovered species like the wolf,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. “This suit, like so many previous frivolous filings, will frustrate science-based management and cause conservation damage into the future.”
 
Gray wolves recovered to more than 4,000 in the Great Lakes prior to delisting in January 2012.
 
Minnesota had an estimated population of 3,000, while Wisconsin and Michigan had about 850 and 700 respectively. The removal of wolves from federal protection happened after several years of litigation and returned responsibility for managing wolf populations to the states.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ckp2tg7
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April 25, 2013
 
Rancher loses calf to wolves?
 
Posted April 24, 2013 to Hunt Fish NW
 
This morning a rancher in the Methow Valley discovered one of his calves had been killed and mostly eaten. We scouted the area and found where the new calf had been killed and a pile of what looks like wolf scat. The sheriff and WDFW were called, Scott Fitkin was one of the bios that investigated the kill.
 
Continued with disturbing photos:
http://tinyurl.com/bprjthf
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Mystery calf killing up Twisp, Wa
 
Posted April 25, 2013 to Hunting Washington Forum
 
A cattleman near the Lookout Pack adjacent to Twisp, Washington found a newborn calf killed this morning.  He suspicioned wolves since he had gotten a medium sized wolf picture on a trail camera a week ago not 500 yds. from where this calf was killed. 
 
His neighbor just to the west also got a large wolf picture on his trail camera last Saturday.  The cattleman also found 5 inch wolf tracks approximately two weeks ago at the cattle watering trough and took pictures as proof. 
 
Then just a few days ago a neighbor heard and saw three wolves one which was very large and two smaller ones howling up on the ranchers property.  The neighbor only noticed them because they were howling at 8:30 in the morning and got his attention.  He looked at them through his spotting scope to have a better look and was absolutely certain it was wolves. 
 
Since the rancher knew the wolves were in the area he patrolled his cattle frequently to make sure the one remaining cow he had that was due to calve any day would not get eaten by the wolves.  Unfortunately, the rancher does not patrol at night  because he can't see at night and went up this morning (Wed. April 24, 2013) to check the cow. 
 
The cow was all by herself at least a half mile from the other 50 head of cattle.  He suspicioned something went wrong when he spotted some red and black on the ground with a scavenger bird on it.  He immediately went up to the cow which was only about 100 yds. from the road and discovered the newly born calf over half eaten.
 
Continued with disturbing photos:
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,124045.0.html
 
[Hat tip to TM for both links.]
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Feds confirm Wildlife Services employee killed Mexican gray wolf
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS April 24, 2013
 
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Officials confirmed Wednesday that an animal killed by a federal employee in southwestern New Mexico in January was a Mexican gray wolf.
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said genetic tests confirmed it was a small, uncollared female. More tests are under way to determine which pack the wolf was associated with.
 
In January, an employee with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services shot what officials described at the time as a "canine." The employee reported the shooting because the animal looked like a Mexican wolf after closer inspection.
 
The wolf was shot from about 250 yards away, officials said.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/c6ddc8f

[bearpaw]

April 26, 2013
 
U.S. plans to drop gray wolves from endangered list
 
The planned ruling would eliminate protection for the top predators, but scientists and conservationists say the proposal is flawed.
 
By Julie Cart, Los Angeles Times April 25, 2013
 
Federal authorities intend to remove endangered species protections for all gray wolves in the Lower 48 states, carving out an a exception for a small pocket of about 75 Mexican wolves in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico, according to a draft document obtained by The Times.
 
The sweeping rule by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would eliminate protection for wolves 18 years after the government reestablished the predators in the West, where they had been hunted to extinction. Their reintroduction was a success, with the population growing to the thousands.
 
But their presence has always drawn protests across the Intermountain West from state officials, hunters and ranchers who lost livestock to the wolves. They have lobbied to remove the gray wolf from the endangered list.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cco6q6p
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Delisting wolves will shift cost from feds to states
 
by Rich Landers April 26, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
As reports surfaced today that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to remove the gray wolf from endangered species protections, the costs of the recovery are being totaled:
 
Between 1991 and 2011, the federal government spent $102 million on gray wolf recovery programs and state agencies chipped in $15.6 million. Federal spending likely would drop if the proposal to lift protections goes through, while state spending would increase.
 
And the management job's not done. Scanning the news I see that in the past week:
 
Source with links to more info:
http://tinyurl.com/c532q2t
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In Spite of Directors’ Claims, Idaho Fish and Game Refuses to Control Wolves Decimating Elk Herds
 
Hosted by Tom Remington April 25, 2013
 
Republished on this website with permission from the editor/author.
 
The Outdoorsman – Bulletin Number 51, Dec. 2012 – April 17, 2013 Pgs. 1-3.
 
In Spite of Directors’ Claims, Idaho Fish and Game Refuses to Control Wolves Decimating Elk Herds
 
by George Dovel
 
In January 1999 I attended a predator symposium in Boise co-sponsored by the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Assn., Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game and eight other groups. Like many of the 17 panel members whose unsupported testimony claimed wolves would have limited impact on deer, elk and moose numbers, Wolf Education Center’s David Langhorst claimed poachers kill 10 times as much game as wolves do.
 
But Wildlife Ecologist Dr. Charles Kay provided facts to support his testimony – that the wolves transplanted from Canada would eventually drive Idaho’s already declining big game populations into a predator pit.
 
Beginning with his August 1993 Petersen’s Hunting article titled, “Wolves in the West – what the government does not want you to know about wolf recovery,” Dr. Kay had published extensive research exposing federal and many state biologists’ false claim that protecting wolves would create healthy game populations.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cxxdtxp
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Oregon Senate Hearing on Wolf Management
 
Video posted by Tom Remington April 26, 2013
 
12:57 minute video:
http://tinyurl.com/d5gwu5a
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Wolf control rules expected Friday
 
by Jim Camden April 25, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
OLYMPIA – New rules for dealing with wolf attacks on livestock and domestic animals, which seemed stalled in the Legislature, may be announced as early as today a result of action by key legislators and a state commission.
 
Today, the House gave final approval to a bill that adds $10 to the cost of certain specialty license plates to provide money for non-lethal methods to control the growing gray wolf populations in Eastern Washington. After being pulled out of committee by a special parliamentary maneuver, it passed unanimously.
 
Friday, the state Fish and Wildlife Commission will consider rules that would allow residents to kill a wolf that is attacking livestock or pets. The rules are expected to be similar to the provisions of a separate bill that generated hot debate between rural Republican legislators from Eastern Washington and their urban Democratic counterparts. It narrowly passed the Senate but stalled in the House.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/dxhhphm
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New focus on wolves that attack livestock
 
Backer says kill permit would be unnecessary
 
By Jim Camden The Spokesman-Review April 26, 2013
 
OLYMPIA – New rules for dealing with wolf attacks on livestock and domestic animals, which seemed stalled in the Legislature, may be announced as early as today as a result of action by key legislators and a state commission.
 
On Thursday, the House gave final approval to a bill that adds $10 to the cost of certain specialty license plates to provide money for nonlethal methods to control the growing gray wolf populations in Eastern Washington. After being pulled out of committee by a special parliamentary maneuver, it passed unanimously.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/bsfz5u4
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Panel OKs rule allowing livestock-attacking wolves to be shot
 
by Rich Landers April 26, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission has voted unanimously to allow people without a special permit to shoot a wolf caught in the act of attacking a pet or livestock.
 
The emergency rule was enacted in an urgently called teleconference meeting that started at 1 p.m.
 
source with links to more info:
http://tinyurl.com/cgesmns
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Mexican wolves released into wild in Arizona and New Mexico
 
Apr 26, 2013 KVOA
 
PHOENIX - A pair of Mexican wolves has been released into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery area in Arizona by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
 
In a separate action, the Service will also release a second pair of Mexican wolves into the wolf recovery area in New Mexico. Both pairs, selected to increase genetic diversity of the wild wolf population, were previously held at the Service's Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility where they have undergone an acclimation process to determine that they are suitable release candidates.
 
"We continue to be committed to strategic releases that improve genetic diversity, increase the number of breeding wolves, and offset illegal mortalities in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area," said Benjamin Tuggle, the Service's Southwest regional director.
 
"We're excited to be working with our partners on this simultaneous release of Mexican wolves in Arizona and New Mexico. This dual release is another step that helps us reach our goal of a self-sustaining wild wolf population."
 
"The strategically-planned release of the wolf pair into Arizona is to improve the genetic integrity of the wolf population. The release approaches being used are tailored to encourage these wolves to acclimate and behave as wild wolves. Our experience shows that wild-born, wild-raised wolves have a much better chance at success," says Director Larry Voyles, AGFD.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cnhxlx6

[bearpaw]

April 27, 2013
 
Winter wolf attack left scientists debunking pop culture and pack of lies
 
By Alexandra Paul Winnipeg Free Press April 27, 2013
 
Farley Mowat's classic Never Cry Wolf isn't bedtime reading for Canada's wolf experts. Some even call the book a brilliant literary prank by a talented Canadian humorist.
 
But as wolf numbers declined through the decades, the popular perception mirrored Mowat's benevolent fiction. Today, as packs come back, we're not so sanguine.
 
This winter, when Dawn Hepp garnered international attention for a wolf attack on a lonely stretch of Highway 6 in northern Manitoba, wildlife biologists with a realistic view of our place and theirs in North America paid attention.
 
An unprovoked attack made no sense scientifically, even if wolves are dangerous, wild animals.
 
So, they fielded queries about the encounter and shared published and unpublished research and anecdotes about wolf behaviour.
 
"Her decision NOT to struggle almost certainly saved her life," noted Valerius Geist, professor emeritus of environmental science at the University of Calgary, suggesting the incident was more exploratory than predatory.
 
"By holding still, Dawn Hepp mimicked a dominant wolf, causing the wolf to pause and let go. Had she struggled, she would have been bitten severely. The behaviour of the wolf before and after the attack also fit with a wolf exploring a prey."
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ca8fnfs
 
[Note: if you cannot access this story, let me know and I can send the full text.]
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Feds Preparing to Lift Gray Wolf Protections
 
by George Prentice April 27, 2013 Boise Weekly
 
Saying that the approximate 6,000 gray wolves now living in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes regions are enough to prevent the species's extinction, the U.S. Department of Interior is inching closer to lifting federal protections of the animals across the nation's Lower 48 states.
 
The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that a new rule is already under review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which, if approved, would cede federal authority over wolves to individual states, similar to Idaho's model.
 
"It ends up being a political question more than a biological one," wolf specialist John Vucetich told the Associated Press. "It's very unlikely the wolves will make it to places like the Dakotas and the Northeast unless the federal government provides some kind of leadership."
 
The Fish and Wildlife Service, in an emailed statement, wrote that "robust" populations of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes remain as evidence that the animals' recovery "is one of the world's great conservation successes."
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Wolves kill 13 sheep in Montana.
 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services verified that two wolves killed five ewes and eight lambs on a ranch in Montana near Gardiner, and the rancher has been given a shoot-on-sight permit to remove the wolves should they return.
 
Missoulian; April 26, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/c4nercj
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Rancher takes precautions after wolves kill nearly 20 of his sheep
 
By Katherine Mozzone, KTVM April 26, 2013
 
GARDINER, Mont. - Rancher Bill Hoppe nails wire to his wooden fence. He wants to move his sheep closer to the house so he can keep an eye on them at night. He hopes the wire will keep wolves out, to avoid a what he awoke to Tuesday morning.
 
http://tinyurl.com/cvtlatb
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Wolves act to help bighorn sheep near Yellowstone National Park
 
by Ken Cole - The Wildlife News April 26, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/d9ltngx
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Federal court ruling allows separate lawsuits on wolves in Wyoming to proceed.
 
A ruling issued this month by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C. that denied the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's request that the D.C. lawsuit be transferred to Cheyenne, where another lawsuit is challenging the federal government's transfer of wolf management to Wyoming, will allow the two parallel lawsuits to continue separately.
 
Denver Post; April 24, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/dyme9tn
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Commission Approves Wolf Killing
 
Saturday, April 27, 2013 KMAS
 
A state commission has approved the killing of gray wolves that are caught in the act of attacking livestock or pets.
 
The state Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday approved a temporary emergency rule allowing pet and livestock owners to immediately kill one wolf if it is attacking their property.
 
Commissioners voted unanimously for the rule, noting there have been recent and escalating reports of wolf attacks on pets and livestock.
 
Wolf numbers have grown rapidly in Washington in recent years as the animals migrate into the state from other states.
 
The commission's emergency rule can remain in effect for up to eight months. The commission also decided it will pursue a permanent rule allowing the killing of a wolf caught in the act of attacking livestock or pets.
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Wash. moves toward compensation for wolf attacks
 
April 27, 2013 The Daily News
 
Washington lawmakers are approving a plan that would compensate the owners of livestock who suffer losses due to wolf attacks.
 
The state Senate widely approved a bill Saturday that would increase the cost of some specialized license plates to pay for the program. Those fees are projected to eventually raise some $200,000 per year.
 
Lawmakers say it is one step in a broader strategy to manage concerns about wolves preying on cattle. Separately, the state Fish and Wildlife Commission announced this week that property owners in parts of the state can immediately kill a wolf caught in the act of attacking livestock or pets.
 
The compensation plan now goes to the governor for his approval.
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Feds release wolf pairs in NM, Arizona
 
Associated Press Apr 27, 2013
 
SILVER CITY, N.M. (AP) - The wild population of endangered Mexican gray wolves in the Southwest is getting a boost.
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department have partnered to release a pair of wolves in the Apache National Forest.
 
The male and female wolves were transported this week from a wildlife refuge in New Mexico to a holding pen in the Alpine Ranger District.
 
Another pair of wolves is being released in southwestern New Mexico.
 
Federal officials say the wolves were packed on the backs of specially trained mules into the Gila Wilderness on Saturday so they could be placed into a temporary holding pen. The wolves will be able to chew through the pen to leave the site.
 
There are at least 75 Mexican gray wolves in the wild in the two states.

[bearpaw]

April 28, 2013
 
Rule allows killing of wolves
 
Lethal force permissible if predators caught attacking domestic animals
 
By Jim Camden The Spokesman-Review April 27, 2013
 
OLYMPIA – A wolf attacking livestock or pets in Eastern Washington can be killed immediately under an emergency rule adopted Friday by a state board.
 
The Fish and Wildlife Commission allowed Wildlife Director Phil Anderson to issue an emergency rule that lets owners, family members or employees kill one wolf “caught in the act” of attacking domestic animals.
 
The owner will have to notify the Department of Fish and Wildlife within 24 hours of the incident; the department will investigate the circumstances and take the wolf carcass. If wildlife agents determine the owner had a legitimate reason to kill the wolf, he or she will be issued a permit to kill another wolf under similar circumstances.
 
The commission was responding to concerns over a rapid increase in the number of wolves and wolf packs in Eastern Washington, and a request by legislators to provide emergency relief after a bill with similar provisions stalled.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cb5w3rl
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Michigan campaign finance: See who's funding ballot proposal to block wolf hunt, political PACs
 
By Jonathan Oosting April 26, 2013 Michigan Live
 
LANSING, MI -- National animal advocacy groups have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a ballot measure to stop a potential wolf hunt in three areas of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but legislation approved by the Senate this week could thwart their efforts long before 2014.
 
Campaign finance reports released this week indicate that the "Keep Michigan Wolves Protected" committee -- which bills itself as a broad coalition that includes Michigan residents, conservationists and animal welfare groups -- has raised nearly $500,000 since forming earlier this year.
 
Some of that money came from individual donors who live here or other parts of the country, but nearly half of the donations came from the Humane Society of the United States. The Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, through its namesake organization and legislative fund, has donated more than $240,000 to the committee and recently released a television ad. The Doris Day Animal League, another Washington D.C. based advocacy group, donated $200,000 in January.
 
The committee paid a California-based firm approximately $360,000 to help collect the 253,705 signatures -- far more than required to make the ballot -- submitted to the state for review in March. But the group also used volunteers to collect signatures, which kept their expenses relatively low.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cg5e8f9
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April 29, 2013
 
Wolf data deserves scrutiny
 
by Idaho Farm Bureau Federation April 28, 2013
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's annual wolf population report released in mid-April, shows "at least" 321 confirmed packs and 1,674 individuals in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
 
Overall numbers are down by about 100 animals compared to last year. Highlighted in the report are confirmation of breeding pairs and growing subpopulations in Oregon and Washington. Further, the report claims there are no wolves in Utah. In addition, the report is riddled with inconsistencies and other strangeness that leads us to believe we aren't getting the full story here folks.
 
For instance, as far back as 2002, wolves were confirmed in northern Utah, when a pack killed 15 sheep and lambs near Hardware Ranch in Cache County. Livestock depredations have occurred throughout southeast Idaho and northern Utah since that time. In 2002, wolf number 253, a two-year-old male and member of Yellowstone Park's Druid Pack, was caught in a coyote snare in Morgan County, Utah, east of Ogden. This wolf, doing nothing more than following his wild instincts, crossed a political boundary. He was transported back to Yellowstone Park, on the taxpayers' dime, and was later killed by a hunter near Daniel, Wyoming.
 
In March of 2008, a pilot with experience flying in Alaska spotted five wolves, three blacks and two greys near Dutch John, Utah. KSL News reported that tracks were later found and the wolves answered a howl call. Yet these wolves weren't evicted from Utah. Did the political boundary vanish in those six years?
 
Continued:
http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2013/04/Wolfdatadeservesscru.htm
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RMEF moves to intervene in wolf delisting lawsuit
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! April 28, 2013
 
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has filed a motion to intervene in the Wildearth Guardians et al., lawsuit over wolf delisting in Wyoming. This is the case that will be argued in federal court in Wyoming.
 
The motion noted:
 
"The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation seeks to intervene in this action to protect its specific interest in defending the USFWS’s decision to remove protection of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act ("ESA"), the decision to create two zones of gray wolf management in the State of Wyoming, and in preserving populations of elk, deer, moose, wild sheep, and other big game species that are being impacted by wolf predation."
 
If the court allows RMEF to intervene in the case on the side of federal officials, this wildlife non-profit will join a growing list of intervenors, including the State of Wyoming, Wyoming Wolf Coalition 2013, Safari Club International, and the National Rifle Association.
 
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
http://www.rmef.org/
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Feds plan US wolf delisting
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! April 28, 2013
 
The Los Angeles Times obtained a draft U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service document indicating the federal wildlife agency plans to remove endangered species protections for all gray wolves in the Lower 48 states, with the exception of wild Mexican wolves in Arizona and New Mexico.
 
To read the LA Times story, click on the link below.
 
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/25/local/la-me-wolves-20130426
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Reaction Mixed To Federal Government Blanket Delisting Of Gray Wolf
 
Aby Aaron Kunz Boise State Public Radio April 29, 2013
 
A plan by the federal government to end protection for gray wolves received mixed reactions from environmental groups to ranchers.
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has drafted a plan to remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states. That would leave the states in charge of wolf management.
 
Ramona Phillips, a rancher in Joseph, Oregon, says even if the federal government ends protections for wolves, she’s not optimistic that things will get any better for her and other ranchers if states take over management of wolf populations.
 
“I absolutely don’t think it will impact us at all and I think it is a way for the federal government to not have to spend any more money or time on the wolves here,” she says.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/bs4ywr8
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Biodiversity: Wildlife advocates howling mad about draft federal plan to take wolves off the Endangered Species List
 
April 29, 2013 by Bob Berwyn -  Summit County Voice
 
Wolves may not be in danger of extinction, but are they recovered?
 
http://tinyurl.com/cd6x2om
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Local lawmakers support rule change on wolf killing
 
April 29, 2013 Yakima Herald
 
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Central Washington lawmakers are pleased with the state Fish and Wildlife Commission’s new emergency rule allowing the killing of wolves caught in the act of killing livestock.
 
Previously, livestock owners were required to obtain a state permit to kill gray wolves attacking their animals.
 
“I have heard repeatedly from my constituents about their concerns with a great expansion of wolves,” Rep. Charles Ross, R-Naches, said in a news release. “People should have the right to protect their livestock and pets on their own property.”
 
The new rule, approved Friday, requires property owners to report the incident within 24 hours, surrender the wolf carcass to the Department of Fish and Wildlife and provide investigators access to the property where the wolf was killed. If the killing was not justified, the killer of the wolf may be prosecuted for unlawful taking of endangered wildlife, the rule said.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ctjqx9g
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Watered down wolf bill
 
Written by Baker City Herald Editorial Board April 29, 2013
 
As we expected, the Oregon Legislature has watered down a bill that would give landowners much more authority to kill wolves on their property.
 
The amended version of House Bill 3452 is a slight improvement over the current situation, but it’s not likely to benefit ranchers in Northeastern Oregon, where all of the state’s known wolf packs live and where all confirmed wolf attacks on livestock have happened.
 
The original version of the bill would have allowed landowners, on their property, to kill any wolf that is “reasonably believed by the person to have attacked or harassed, livestock or working dogs.”
 
Continued:
http://www.bakercityherald.com/Editorials/Waterered-down-wolf-bill
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Feds plan wolf releases in NM, AZ
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! April 28, 2013
 
Federal wildlife officials will soon be releasing two pairs of Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico. One pair is being held in a holding pen in Arizona while they acclimate to the area. The other pair is being held in a backcountry pen in the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico and "will be able to chew their way out of the enclosure," according to a Seattle Post Intelligence.
 
Click on the link below for more information.
 
http://tinyurl.com/d65ekba
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[bearpaw]

April 30, 2013
 
Wolves vs Lion Hounds: Attacks Rising in Montana and Idaho
 
April 30, 2013 by Jeff Hull - Field and Stream
 
On the morning of February 23, Hamilton, Montana, outfitter Tom Henderson and Dan Morris, one of his guides, were trudging north and downslope through a glade of ponderosa pines and Douglas fir trees. About 100 yards ahead of them they saw Morris’s bluetick hound Sadie baying up a tree.
 
“At that point, it looked like we were going to kill a big tom lion,” Henderson said.
 
Henderson and Morris walked down toward the treed lion. When they’d closed about half the distance, they saw seven wolves—five black and two grey—rush the tree from the west. Sadie was so intent on the treed cougar that she never noticed the wolves until one charged in, grabbed her by the neck and shook her for about five seconds.
 
“All we had with us was pistols,” Henderson said. “When you lion hunt seriously, sometimes a bottle of water is too much to have in your backpack, much less a scoped rifle.”
 
Continued with disturbing photos:
http://tinyurl.com/d9uhecx
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Sixteen Wyoming wolves harvested in 2013
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! April 30, 2013
 
Sixteen wolves have been killed in Wyoming's predator zone as of April 26, 2013, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Hunting within the trophy game area is currently closed, and the 2013 hunting seasons will be set by the WG&F Commission in July 2013.
 
Last year there were 42 wolves killed in the trophy game season, and an additional 25 wolves killed in the predator zone. There were also two wolves illegally killed after the hunt areas were closed in 2012.
 
Wyoming wolf packs map:
 
http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2013/04/Wolfpackmap.htm
 
Wyoming Game and Fish Department - Wolf hunt quota/harvest info
 
http://wgfd.wyo.gov/web2011/HUNTING-1000743.aspx
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Oregon Wolf Education Organization
 
by KayDee Gilkey Ag Info April 30, 2013
 
In 2011 a group of Oregon’s Wallowa County ranching women created an organization to help educate the public about the impact of the Canadian Gray Wolves on the Pacific Northwest livestock industry.
 
Kerry Tienhaara is one of the founders of the Oregon Wolf Education. She also does a weekly wolf radio show on one of AgInfo’s radio stations, KWVR in Enterprise, Oregon.
 
Tienhaara: “We attend meetings, make our position heard in those meetings. We have put on symposiums where we show a video and we just talk to a group. If a group invites us we go, we speak, put out our information and usually have a very lively question and answer period. We feel we can reach a lot of people just by telling them the truth.”
 
The organization has given presentations to groups in Oregon and Central and Eastern Washington as well. She stresses that it is important to share with information and science with elected officials too.
 
Tienhaara: “Another avenue is reaching the politicians as they are ones who hold the key to a lot of what goes on. We need to be able to give them the scientific evidence of the Canadian Gray wolf not being a native wolf to Oregon.”
 
The organization has both a Face book page and website as Tienhaara shares.
 
Tienhaara: “It is wolfed -- http://www.wolfed.org/ .”
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Lawmakers hold hearing on bill that could circumvent wolf hunt vote
 
By Rick Pluta Tue April 30, 2013 Michigan Radio
 
A state House committee is holding a hearing on a measure that would change how hunting is managed in Michigan, and bypass a referendum on wolf hunting if it’s on the ballot next year.
 
... State Representative Ed McBroom (R-Escanaba) is from the western UP.
 
He says pets and livestock are endangered in pockets of the UP and how to manage that problem should not be a question that’s voted on by the entire state.
 
“This issue is isolated to the Upper Peninsula and the people of the UP are at great risk of being totally disenfranchised by the rest of the state of Michigan on an issue that’s critical on the future of our well-being,” said McBroom.
 
Full story:
http://tinyurl.com/bqcen27
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150 pound dog killed in wolf attack
 
by Steve Asplund 04.30.2013 Upper Michigan's Source
 
ATLANTIC MINE -- There's been a wolf attack in the Keweenaw and a large dog is the victim, according to officials.
 
The attack happened Sunday morning outside Atlantic Mine on the hobby farm of Rich Johnson. D.N.R. Biologist Brian Roell has confirmed the attack. He says a 150 pound, five year old female Newfoundland was killed by at least one wolf.
 
Roell says a wildlife technician was at the farm on Monday. They found with the melting snow, it was difficult to tell if more than one animal was involved in the attack. It happened in a field, about 150 yards away from any buildings on the farm.
 
"There's no way to tell what brought on the attack, it could have been a territorial issue between the animals," said Roell.
 
There have been no other conflicts with wolves in the area, but wolves are present, Roell added. He says there were older tracks in the sand in the area of the attack.
 
Roell also said that Johnson had no problems with wolves before, but did notice some chickens and ducks had gone missing earlier. Johnson was unsure as to why.
 
The D.N.R. has issued a lethal control permit to Johnson if there is another wolf encounter. Roell hopes this is an isolated case, in which the dog was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Johnson reported the incident to the Report All Poaching hotline.

[bearpaw]

May 1, 2013
 
Movie Trailer: Ghosts of the Rockies by Rockholm Media Group
 
May 1, 2013 by Tom Remington
 
This movie trailer introduces a movie that is scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2013. We are told it will contain information to prove that the effort, from the beginning, to introduce Canadian wolves to Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho, was a criminal enterprise – criminal based on fraud, deception, theft and illegal acts. This should be good.
 
Video hosted here:
http://tinyurl.com/cy8e2ce

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4Sl6NVXelb0#at=36
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Sister of famous California wolf trapped, killed
 
By Peter Fimrite Apr 30, 2013 SF Gate
 
The sister of California’s famous wandering wolf was killed by trappers in Idaho.
 
The three-year-old gray wolf, known as OR-5, left the Imnaha pack in Oregon just like her brother, OR-7, who roamed more than 2,000 miles through California before crossing back into Oregon on March 13. The sister went the other way, crossing into Idaho, where she got caught in a foothold trap March 30 on the next-to-last day of the Idaho trapping season.
 
“Crossing the border into Idaho was a death sentence for this wolf,” said Amaroq Weiss, the west coast wolf organizer for the Center for Biological Diversity. “What a heartbreaking paradox — one wolf from this pack, OR-7, is world-renowned and beloved, while his sister OR-5 died a lonely, terribly painful death in a steel-jawed leghold trap.”
 
Federal Endangered Species Act protections were rescinded for wolves in the northern Rockies in 2011, prompting what Weiss characterized as a hunting frenzy. More than 800 wolves have been killed in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming since then, reducing the wolf population 7 percent.
 
The brother of the California wolf, OR-9, was killed last year by an Idaho hunter, one of several radio-collared wolves that, instead of providing valuable research, became hunting trophies.
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to remove protections for gray wolves over the rest of  the United States, including Oregon and California, according to a draft rule obtained by the Chronicle last week.
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May 3, 2013
 
Hidden Costs/Consequences of Wolves
 
by KayDee Gilkey Open Range May 03, 13
 
Although there are state programs throughout the Northwest to compensate ranchers for cattle verified killed by wolves. That is only the most obvious loss ranchers have when their livestock are stalked by wolves.
 
Oregon Wolf Education Kerry Tienhaara shares some of are hidden costs to having cattle pasturing near wolf packs.
 
Tienhaara: “Well, I can speak from personal experience, we had a calf lost in a Canadian Gray wolf depredation then we also had another calf that was attacked but not killed. That calf’s mother -- her brain was gone. You couldn’t get within 600 feet of her. She’d see you enter the field and she’d take off. She was very difficult to be around. When we finally did get her up to the corral -- the decision being made that we couldn’t keep her. She is a danger. Shipping was hard.”
 
Addition to losing a productive but flighty cow, Tiehaara shares some of the other negative costs for ranchers.
 
Teinhaara: “Another thing that happens is low conception rates. When these cattle are harrassed by Canadian Gray wolves they get run to near exhaustion. If they are bred, they can very well abort their calf making them produce no calf that year or a very late calf if they do rebreed. They have significant weight loss -- not only to the cows but the calves that are on the ground that are suppose to be gaining weight to come in and be weaned in the fall.”
 
Source:
http://www.aginfo.net/index.cfm/event/report/id/Open-Range-24804
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Montana wildlife commission to consider changes to wolf hunting rules.
 
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks personnel have recommended that the state's wolf hunting season start a month earlier, and that those with wolf permits be allowed to take a total of five wolves. The state Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission will take up those proposals next week.
 
Helena Independent Record; May 2, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/ccchhwp
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Book Review: Wolfer – a Memoir
 
Posted on May 3, 2013 by Tom Remington
 
For trappers, hunters, outdoor enthusiasts, animal lovers and anyone with any interest in the process of gray wolf introduction in the Yellowstone National Park and Center Idaho, I believe this book is a must read. I enjoyed it immensely and gained a different perspective about the author.
 
To be completely transparent about this book review, I have never met Mr. Niemeyer, the author, nor have I ever communicated with him, at least that I am aware of. I believe once I received an email from his wife suggesting I read this book. That was some time ago and it has taken me a couple of years to get around to reading it, mostly because of the recommendation of a friend.
 
When I first began reading the book, which sets the stage of a young boy growing up in rural Iowa, it didn’t take long to see that there were many similarities between Carter Niemeyer’s upbringing and young past in rural Iowa and mine in rural Maine, including the early deaths of our fathers.
 
Continued:
http://tomremington.com/2013/05/03/book-review-wolfer-a-memoir/
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Sisters author children’s book based on study of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park
 
By Mark Wineka Friday, May 3, 2013 Salisbury Post
 
SALISBURY — Some sisters like to run or walk together. Maybe they go shopping or antiquing. Or they might use their time to visit other family members.
 
When Gail McDiarmid and Marilyn McGee get together, they often dance with the wolves — more specifically, the gray wolves of Yellowstone National Park.
 
Over the past nine years, the sisters’ affection for and research into the wolves of the Northern Rockies blossomed into a children’s book, “Running for Home,” and their personal efforts to educate others on the ecological importance of bringing back and maintaining wolf populations.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/d2yz97d
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May 4, 2013
 
Two pairs of Mexican wolves released
 
Saturday, 04 May 2013 by Arizona Game and Fish
 
White Mountains, Arizona - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) released a pair of Mexican wolves last week into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area of Arizona.
 
In a separate action, the Service also released a second pair of Mexican wolves into the wolf recovery area in New Mexico. Both pairs, selected to increase genetic diversity of the wild wolf population, were previously held at the Service’s Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility where they had undergone an acclimation process to determine their suitability for release.
 
“We continue to be committed to strategic releases that improve genetic diversity, increase the number of breeding wolves, and offset illegal mortalities in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area,” said Benjamin Tuggle, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Southwest Regional Director.
 
“The strategically-planned release of the wolf pair into Arizona is to improve the genetic integrity of the wolf population. The release approaches being used are tailored to encourage these wolves to acclimate and behave as wild wolves. Our experience shows that wild- born, wild-raised wolves have a much better chance at success,” says Director Larry Voyles, AGFD.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ch2x4k8
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Humane Society of the United States Meddling in Michigan
 
Saturday, May 04, 2013 Glen Wunderlich Ammoland
 
Lansing, Michigan -- When it comes to wildlife management, common sense dictates that such matters are best left to states’ control as opposed to that of federal agencies.
 
But, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) doesn’t agree and will stop at nothing to further its agenda against hunting and has filed a federal lawsuit to drag us all into the mud, once again.
 
This time around, its focus is on Michigan’s wolves.
 
Wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan were removed from the Endangered Species List because they had far exceeded their recovery goals in the region and, by definition, are no longer “endangered.” Gray wolves number more than 4,000 in the Great Lakes prior to delisting in January 2012. Minnesota had an estimated population of 3,000, while Wisconsin and Michigan had about 850 and 700 respectively. The removal of wolves from federal protection followed several years of litigation and returned responsibility for managing wolf populations to the states.
 
However, Jonathan Lovvorn, chief counsel for animal protection litigation at HSUS, said the decision to turn management over to the states, “…paves the way for the same state-sponsored eradication policies that pushed this species to the brink of extinction in the first place.”
 
Really? Then why did Michigan abolish its bounty system in 1960 and grant wolves protection in 1965, well before the enactment of the Endangered Species Act of 1973? In fact, the only type of hunt even being considered now is a regulated management hunt with a quota of 47 wolves commensurate with the level of nuisance complaints and depredation events – a far cry from eradication.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/d99tw9q
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Protect gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act
 
Alex Marks 05/04/2013 Daily Camera
 
The Obama administration has recently announced plans to abandon the recovery plan for the gray wolf and remove it from the endangered species listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). I cannot tell you how troubled this makes me feel, as it is not only a fundamental shift in the protection of imperiled species in the U.S., but it completely undermines the very spirit of the ESA and deprives the gray wolf of any chance it has to develop a sustainable population right here in Colorado.
 
The goal of the ESA is to conserve endangered and threatened species to ensure their long-term survival in the wild. One of those species placed under protection in 1973 was the gray wolf upon the Act's inaugural declaration. The restoration of wolves has been hailed as one of the biggest successes of the ESA since it was passed in 1973.
 
But the important work of wolf recovery is unfinished. Delisting the gray wolf will halt decades of progress in its tracks and expose America's wolves to unwarranted and unsustainable killing, and put it on a fast track to a path of complete obliteration. Delisting would close the door on an historic opportunity to revitalize some of America's best remaining wildlife habitat by bringing back these important animals. Not only that, delisting also could derail efforts to restore wolves to more of their historic range that has huge areas of suitable wolf habitat, including Colorado.
 
Please contact the Obama Administration to tell them we cannot afford to remove the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act, as it needs to give it more time to fight on its own.
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[bearpaw]

May 5, 2013 The Critter News
 
River of No Return
 
PBS Nature series shows the habitat and inhabitants of the Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho.
 
The River of No Return is an interesting documentary by and about a young married couple who set out to spend an entire year in the wilderness. The Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness is a rugged area larger than Yellowstone National Park. Its 2.5 million acres are inhabited by a variety of animals that year after year experience the four seasons in all their glory.
 
50 minute video on PBS:
http://tinyurl.com/cqr7xlt
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May 3, 2013
 
WDFW Enacts Emergency Rule To Permit Killing A Wolf Attacking Domestic Animals
 
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife last week enacted an emergency rule to permit ranchers, farmers, and other pet and livestock owners in the eastern third of the state to kill a wolf that is attacking their animals.
 
http://www.cbbulletin.com/426415.aspx
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May 6, 2013
 
Jackson hunt guides don't want wolves back under fed protection and so endorse fewer permits
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 06, 2013
 
JACKSON, Wyoming — The Jackson Hole Outfitters and Guides Association has endorsed Wyoming's proposal to cut the number of wolf hunting permits in half this fall.
 
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has proposed reducing the wolf hunting permits from 52 to 26.
 
Alpine guide Cartlon Loewer says Jackson Hole outfitters would prefer higher harvest quotas.
 
But he tells the Jackson Hole News & Guide (http://bit.ly/18vVZVr ) that they don't want wolves back on the Endangered Species List.
 
Biologists estimate that the statewide wolf population fell by 16 percent in 2012, the first year of regulated wolf hunting in Wyoming history.
 
Under its Endangered Species Act delisting agreement, Wyoming must maintain 150 wolves and 15 breeding pairs in the state.
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Wis. DNR: Wolf population still stable after hunt
 
By TODD RICHMOND - Associated Press May 06, 2013 
 
MADISON, Wisconsin — Wisconsin's first wolf hunt didn't make much of a dent in the overall population, according to estimates state wildlife officials released Wednesday.
 
The Department of Natural Resources' late-winter count shows the state's wolf population may have slightly declined but remains relatively stable. The numbers could lead to higher kill limits this year as debate stretches on over whether wolves should be hunted at all.
 
"The management objectives remain to put downward pressure on the population," DNR carnivore specialist David MacFarland said. "The mortality levels experienced in 2012 didn't achieve that objective or only made slight progress toward the goal."
 
The DNR's wolf management plan calls for an off-reservation population of 350. The agency's count found as many as 834 animals roamed the state as of March. That compares with as many as 880 wolves around the same time last year. The 2013 count marked only the fourth time since 1985 the DNR hasn't detected an increase in the wolf population.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/crtwvl7
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May 7, 2013
 
Correction: Rabid Wolves story
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 07, 2013
 
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — In a story May 2 about the Department of Fish and Game detecting rabies in a second interior Alaska wolf, The Associated Press, relying on information provided by the agency, reported erroneously the nature of echinococcus. Echinococcus is a parasite, not a bacterial infection.
 
A corrected version of the story is below:
 
Second wolf confirmed rabid in interior Alaska
 
Wildlife officials say second rabid wolf found in interior Alaska; trapper fed carcass to dogs
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cogfmqc
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May 8, 2013
 
Feds propose wolf delisting
 
Conservationists blast potential action
 
The Idaho Mountain Express Wednesday, May 8, 2013
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has drafted a rule that would strip gray wolves across the country of federal protection.
 
The draft U.S. Department of Interior rule obtained by The Associated Press contends the roughly 6,000 wolves now living in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes are enough to prevent the species’ extinction. The agency says having gray wolves elsewhere — such as the West Coast, parts of New England and elsewhere in the Rockies—is unnecessary for their long-term survival.
 
A small population of Mexican wolves in the Southwest would continue to receive federal protections, as a distinct subspecies of the gray wolf.
 
The loss of federal protections would likely be welcomed by ranchers and others in the agriculture industry, whose stock at times become prey for hungry wolf packs. Yet wildlife advocates say the proposal threatens to cut short the gray wolf’s dramatic recovery from widespread extermination.
 
Continued:
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005147232
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Wildlife activists say Gardiner man who killed wolf may be intentionally baiting the animals
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 08, 2013
 
BOZEMAN, Montana — A big game outfitter who shot and killed a collared wolf from Yellowstone National Park is intentionally luring the animals by leaving dead sheep carcasses in a pile, leaders of a wolf advocacy group said.
 
"Make no mistake about that, it's definitely intentional baiting," Marc Cooke, president of Wolves of the Rockies, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
 
William Hoppe shot and killed a 2-year old, female wolf Sunday near where 13 sheep were killed in April. He notified Fish, Wildlife and Parks warden Chris Kerin that he killed the wolf using one of his two shoot-on-sight permits the agency issued after the sheep were killed, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle (http://bit.ly/17LAEJ5) reported Wednesday. The permits are valid for 45 days and only allow wolves to be shot on the property where the sheep were killed.
 
In mid-April, Hoppe, an outspoken opponent of wolves, bought about 30 sheep and started raising them on his property along the Yellowstone River near Gardiner.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/bl7e9p8
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Changes to Montana's wolf hunting season on FWP agenda Thursday.
 
At Thursday's meeting of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission, the board will vote on changes to the state's wolf hunting regulations, a proposed land acquisition along Big Spring Creek and a negotiated easement to allow access to the Marias River Wildlife Management Area access.
 
Great Falls Tribune; May 8, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/ctkgzu2
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Snyder signs bill that could lead to gray wolf hunting season in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
 
By JOHN FLESHER - AP Environmental Writer May 08, 2013
 
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan — Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill Wednesday that clears the way to schedule Michigan's first gray wolf hunting season since the resurgent predator was driven to the brink of extinction in the lower 48 states a half-century ago.
 
The measure lets the state Natural Resources Commission decide which types of animals can be hunted - authority that previously rested entirely with the Legislature. The seven-member commission could vote Thursday on a proposal by state wildlife regulators for a season this fall in which up to 43 wolves could be killed - about 7 percent of the 658 believed to roam the Upper Peninsula.
 
"This action helps ensure sound scientific and biological principles guide decisions about management of game in Michigan," Snyder said. "Scientifically managed hunts are essential to successful wildlife management and bolstering abundant, healthy and thriving populations."
 
The new law is a blow to opponents, who have gathered more than 250,000 petition signatures seeking a statewide referendum on a measure approved in December that designated the wolf as a game species. If officials determine that enough of them are valid, the issue will be placed on the 2014 election ballot.
 
Now, the vote would be only a symbolic gesture. Regardless of the outcome, the commission will have the power to allow wolf hunting.
 
The panel was discussing the matter Wednesday during its monthly meeting in Roscommon and could make a decision Thursday. An opposition coalition called Keep Michigan Wolves Protected urged commissioners to wait until voters have had their say next year.
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Wolf vs moose: Mother fights tooth and nail to save newborn from killer's clutches in the Alaskan wilderness
 
By Damien Gayle - 7 May 2013 Daily Mail
 
These incredible pictures show the scene as a titanic life-and-death battle unfolded between a mother moose defending her calf and a ravenous pack of wolves.
 
The enormous moose dwarfs her attackers in this thrilling sequence of images taken in the Alaskan wilderness as they attempt to kill her newborn.
 
As she makes her stand in a small pond in the chilly tundra the mother fights ferociously to save her youngster from the hungry predators.
 
Continued with very DISTURBING photos:
http://tinyurl.com/cowwb5b

[bearpaw]

May 9, 2013
 
After roiling Cody community, wolf billboard removed
 
Written by CJ Baker - Powell Tribune May 6, 2013
 
A provocative billboard opposing hunting and trapping of the region’s wolves was abruptly removed last week after an outcry from the Cody community.
 
Lamar Outdoor Advertising, the owner of the billboard — but not the message — chose to remove the graphic billboard Friday morning, less than 72 hours after the sign went up.
 
The sign was sponsored by an unknown number of anonymous individuals and groups who refer to themselves as “Project: WOLF” and have the stated aim to stop the hunting — specifically the trapping — of wolves; the group’s site refers to the practice as “murder.”
 
The primary feature of the billboard, erected near the South Fork turn-off on Cody’s west strip, was a photograph of four dead wolves with some blood on the snow beneath them. Tribune research of the photo indicates the image is an altered version of a hunting photo reportedly taken in Alberta, Canada at least a year and a half ago. The image appears to have been manipulated to be slightly more bloody. Illustrated blood also dripped down from the top of the sign. It was accompanied by the text, “This is what is happening to your Yellowstone wolves. Do you care? projectwolf.org.”
 
The sign went up Tuesday afternoon, and by Wednesday morning, Lamar’s regional manager in Casper, Korbe Palmer, was getting phone calls from irate citizens.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cpm9yl5
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May 10, 2013
 
Wolf attacks on humans in North America
 
by Jonathan DuHamel on May. 09, 2013 Tucson Citizen
 
I have often heard the claim by some environmentalists that there has never been a documented attack on humans by wolves in North America. That claim is untrue as I will demonstrate. Wolf attacks on humans are rare as are attacks by mountain lions and bears, but they do occur. Somewhat more common are apparent “stalkings” by wolves, especially of children in rural areas (see here and the Catron County Wolf Hotline for incidents involving the Mexican Gray Wolf in New Mexico).
 
Quite common, however, are incidents of predation by wolves on sheep and cattle. For more information, see: Wolf Crossing, Life With Wolves, and Gray Wolf News.
 
I begin with Alaska Department of Fish & Game Technical Bulletin 13 (2002) entitled “A Case History of Wolf-Human Encounters in Alaska and Canada.” That study was precipitated by a wolf attack on a 6-year-old boy near Icy Bay, Alaska, in April, 2000. The study documents 80 wolf-human “encounters.” “Thirty-nine cases contain elements of aggression among healthy wolves, 12 cases involve known or suspected rabid wolves, and 29 cases document fearless behavior among non-aggressive wolves. In 6 cases in which healthy wolves acted aggressively, the people were accompanied by dogs. Aggressive, non rabid wolves bit people in 16 cases; none of those bites was life-threatening, but in 6 cases the bites were severe.”
 
Continued with links to sources:
http://tinyurl.com/bndobve
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Wildlife panel gives initial OK to expanding wolf hunt, proposal now goes to public comment
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 10, 2013
 
HELENA, Montana — Wildlife officials have given tentative approval to a proposal to lengthen the hunting season for wolves and increase the limit from one to five animals.
 
After making the decision on Thursday, Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioners will take public comment before finalizing the changes.
 
FWP is proposing a rifle season from Sept 15 to March 31, compared to the current season that runs from Oct. 15 to Feb. 15.
 
Last season, hunters and trappers could take only one wolf, but a new law allowed the agency to increase that limit.
 
Sportsmen's groups and ranchers supported the proposal, while backers of wolf re-introduction said the plan goes too far and threatens wolf numbers, the Independent Record (http://bit.ly/13KoEGb ) reported.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/bu5zv6q
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Montana FWP commission takes testimony on changes to wolf hunt rules.
 
At the meeting Thursday of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission, sportsmen's groups spoke in support of an extended hunting season for wolves, as well as allowing hunters and trappers to take up to five wolves per hunting season, and wildlife advocates argued that the changes are too liberal and will give the state a black eye.
 
Helena Independent Record; May 10, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/d9fo7qy
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Outfitter who killed wolf disputes claims he baited animal with sheep carcasses
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 09, 2013
 
BOZEMAN, Montana — An outfitter who killed a wolf after several of his sheep were killed is disputing claims that he baited the wolf by leaving the sheep carcasses in a pile.
 
William Hoppe (HOP'-ee) said Thursday that he buried all the carcasses within days.
 
On Sunday, he killed a radio-collared wolf from Yellowstone National Park using a state-issued permit he had to kill two wolves if they entered his land near Gardiner where his sheep died. Park biologist Doug Smith says information from the wolf's radio collar indicated she wasn't involved in killing Hoppe's sheep.
 
Nevertheless, Hoppe says he followed conditions of his permit.
 
He disputes statements by leaders of Wolves of the Rockies that he lured the wolves. Hoppe says he bought the sheep as a project for his grandkids.
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Wyoming Game and Fish wolf hunting proposal out
 
by Gib Mathers May 09, 2013 Powell Tribune
 
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department will host public meetings this month to discuss proposed changes to wolf management and the 2013 wolf hunting season.
 
In Cody, the meeting takes place at 7 p.m. May 23 at the Holiday Inn.
 
As proposed, this year’s wolf quota in Wyoming’s trophy areas would be 26 rather than the 52 wolves it was last year.
 
Because the department reached its reduced population goal in 2012, population reductions efforts will be more conservative this year, said the Game and Fish.
 
In each of the 12 trophy game areas, including the seasonal trophy game zone, quota numbers are more or less half of what they were last year.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/c76n5ll
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Game and Fish to begin trapping wolves for research purposes in Gros Ventre Mountains
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 10, 2013 
 
JACKSON, Wyoming — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department plans to begin trapping wolves for scientific purposes in the Gros Ventre Mountains next week.
 
Game and Fish officials say the trapping is set to begin Tuesday and continue through June 15.
 
All major access points where wolves will be trapped will be marked with warning signs. Game and Fish says it's important that hikers don't venture into these areas.
 
The trapped wolves will be immobilized, studied and released on site.
 
Trapping is required to monitor the state's wolf population under the terms for removing the animals from endangered species protection.
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Michigan commission OKs wolf hunt.
 
After a vote on Thursday, Michigan joins five other states with an authorized wolf hunt.
 
Denver Post; May 10, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/crnwlgs
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Interior rabid wolves prompts vaccination clinic in Fairbanks
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 10, 2013
 
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The recent discovery of two rabid wolves has prompted Fairbanks North Star Borough animal control officials to offer nightly rabies vaccines next week at the shelter.
 
The $5 vaccines will be available 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://is.gd/WrAY9H ) reported Friday.
 
The shelter has received calls from pet owners asking if they should be concerned since the discovery of rabid wolves killed by trappers in the Chandalar Lake area about 185 miles north of Fairbanks, animal control manager Sandy Besser said.
 
"I believe this is an appropriate response and hope we are able to reach folks whose animals have not been vaccinated," Besser wrote in an email announcing the clinics.
 
It's the first time the disease has been detected in interior wild animals.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/bvug3r9
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Wolves or Alaskan husky dogs? South Dakota animal owner, neighbors at odds over pet canines
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 10, 2013
 
LEAD, South Dakota — Residents of a neighborhood in the western South Dakota city of Lead say they're fed up with a man's pet wolves. The owner of the canines says they aren't wolves but registered Alaskan husky dogs, and Mark Valdez doesn't understand why anyone would be afraid of them.
 
State and local authorities are now involved in the dispute, after residents say one of Valdez's animals attacked and nearly killed a small dog during the weekend.
 
Julie Cease said her daughter, McKenzie, is afraid to go outside and her dog, Sadie, is so traumatized by the Sunday incident that she won't got outside even to go to the bathroom.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cazns7t
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May 11, 2013
 
Montana Outfitter Kills Sheep-Eating Wolf
 
May 9, 2013 East Idaho News
 
(WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT) – A Montana man has shot and killed a collared wolf that wandered out of Yellowstone National Park. William Hoppe, an outspoken wolf opponent, legally shot a wolf on his property near Gardiner on Sunday. Hoppe says wolves killed nearly two dozen of his sheep late last month. He used one of two shoot-on-sight permits issued to him by state fish and wildlife officials following the initial attack. Biologists say the wolf was likely drawn to Hoppe’s property because the dead sheep were placed in a bone pile and left unburied.
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NRC OKs limited late-year wolf hunt in selected U.P. locations
 
May 10, 2013 By JOHN PEPIN - The Mining Journal
 
MARQUETTE - The Michigan Natural Resources Commission voted Thursday to approve a limited two-month gray wolf hunt in three wolf management areas in the Upper Peninsula.
 
Last month, Michigan Department of Natural Resources division chiefs recommended several regulations for a wolf hunt to the NRC. Those regulations establish a harvest of 43 wolves in three areas where wolf-human conflicts - including depredation of livestock and pets and human safety concerns - have been persistent despite employing a number of non-lethal control measures.
 
DNR officials said Michigan's wolf population has grown significantly since 2000, with the current minimum population estimate of 658, down slightly from last winter. The DNR said the target harvest is not expected to impact the overall wolf population trajectory, based on published scientific research.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cr29ukr

[bearpaw]

May 12, 2013
 
FWP's expanded wolf hunt plans stir range of debate in Montana
 
May 11, 2013 By Eve Byron of The Independent Record
 
HELENA — Proposals to liberalize the 2013-2014 wolf hunting and trapping season in Montana drew a wide range of comments this week from both supporters and opponents of the plan put forth by the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
 
The usual sportsmen’s groups in favor of increased hunting and trapping activities noted that they’re still looking for the proper predator-prey balance on the landscape, and the majority endorsed the proposal. Among other items, it calls for a six and a half month wolf hunting season and a bag limit of five wolves per person, up from one per person. Electronic calls also would be allowed.
 
“We think the department has done an excellent job putting together this proposal and it is incremental,” said Blake Henning, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
 
Jay Bodner, director of natural resources for the Montana Stockgrowers Association, added that they believe FWP is on the right track.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cfw5h77
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Wolf population drops slightly
 
By Sam Cook, Forum News Service May 11, 2013
 
HAYWARD, Wis. — After Wisconsin’s inaugural season of wolf hunting and trapping last fall, the state’s wolf population has declined only slightly.
 
The 2013 Wisconsin wolf count indicates there are a minimum of 809 to 834 wolves in the state, including 215 packs and 15 lone wolves, according to Department of Natural Resources officials. The count compares to the 2012 estimate that ranged from 815 to 880 wolves, including 213 packs and 20 lone wolves.
 
“The thing people were concerned about was whether the recent hunting and trapping seasons would have a depressing effect on the wolf population, and I don’t see that in the numbers and the number of packs,” said Ken Jonas, DNR area wildlife supervisor in Hayward.
 
Last fall, hunters and trappers took 117 wolves statewide.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/c7yxfuu
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Several reasons why Michigan will now have a wolf hunt
 
New season can be part of the solution to several wolf issues
 
May 11, 2013 by Darren Warner Battle Creek Enquirer
 
Retired farmer Larry Fogel, from Ahmeek, has a suggestion for those who think Upper Peninsula residents are exaggerating just how big of a problem wolves have become North of the Bridge.
 
“Let’s trap some of the wolves, move them down to southern Michigan and see how residents there suggest dealing with them.”
 
Now in his 80s, Fogel has had disastrous conflicts with wolves while bear hunting. The first conflict occurred a couple years ago when Fogel was hunting alone in Keweenaw County near Mohawk. Three of his best dogs were barking treed on a black bear when suddenly, things went deathly quiet.
 
“Wolves attacked and killed all three of my female dogs and tore up the hind quarters of my male dog pretty badly,” explained Fogel. “I’ve been breeding and raising bear dogs for 40 years, and in one fell swoop I lost an entire blood line.”
 
Continued (2 pages):
http://tinyurl.com/c7vvnnw
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May 13, 2013
 
Why everything you know about wolf packs is wrong
 
The alpha wolf is a figure that looms large in our imagination. The notion of a supreme pack leader who fought his way to dominance and reigns superior to the other wolves in his pack informs both our fiction and is how many people understand wolf behavior. But the alpha wolf doesn't exist—at least not in the wild.
 
by Lauren Davis May 12, 2013 - io9
 
Although the notions of "alpha wolf" and "alpha dog" seem thoroughly ingrained in our language, the idea of the alpha comes from Rudolph Schenkel, an animal behaviorist who, in 1947, published the then-groundbreaking paper "Expressions Studies on Wolves." During the 1930s and 1940s, Schenkel studied captive wolves in Switzerland's Zoo Basel, attempting to identify a "sociology of the wolf."
 
In his research, Schenkel identified two primary wolves in a pack: a male "lead wolf" and a female "bitch." He described them as "first in the pack group." He also noted "violent rivalries" between individual members of the packs:
 
--  "A bitch and a dog as top animals carry through their rank order and as single individuals of the society, they form a pair. Between them there is no question of status and argument concerning rank, even though small fictions of another type (jealousy) are not uncommon. By incessant control and repression of all types of competition (within the same sex), both of these "a animals" defend their social position."
 
Thus, the alpha wolf was born. Throughout his paper, Schenkel also draws frequent parallels between wolves and domestic dogs, often following his conclusions with anecdotes about our household canines. The implication is clear: wolves live in packs in which individual members vie for dominance and dogs, their domestic brethren, must be very similar indeed.
 
A key problem with Schenkel's wolf studies is that, while they represented the first close study of wolves, they didn't involve any study of wolves in the wild. Schenkel studied two packs of wolves living in captivity, but his studies remained the primary resource on wolf behavior for decades. Later researchers, would perform their own studies on captive wolves, and published similar findings on dominance-subordinate and leader-follower relationships within captive wolf packs. And the notion of the "alpha wolf" was reinforced, in large part, by wildlife biologist L. David Mech's 1970 book The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species (I'm linking it here, but please note that while the book has historical interest, some of its research is outmoded).
 
Mech spent several years during the 1960s studying wolves in Michigan's Isle Royale National Park as part of his PhD thesis work. Mech's book echoed Schenkel's notions of "alpha wolves" and competition-based pack hierarchies. Readers of Mech's book were led to believe that dominance played a key role in the lupine social order, and that wolves were naturally inclined to dominate one another. And Mech's book became a hit; it was republished in paperback in 1981 and remains in print (much to Mech's chagrin) to this day. It popularized a lot of our modern ideas about wolves, including competition-based hierarchies. Although Mech has since renounced the notion of the "alpha wolf," he admits that if you've heard the term, it's likely thanks to his book.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/czcnmfp
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Wyoming to trap wolves in Gros Ventre Mountains.
 
On Tuesday, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department will launch a month-long campaign to trap and study wolves in the Gros Ventre Mountains.
 
Casper Star-Tribune; May 13, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/d6zq6dd
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2 endangered Mexican wolf pups born in NY to be raised in Ind. wildlife refuge
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 13, 2013
 
SOUTH SALEM, New York — Two Mexican wolf pups born less than a week ago at a preserve in the New York City suburbs have been flown to their new home in Indiana.
 
Newsday reports (http://bit.ly/10GCgDq ) Sunday that the pups named F749 and M804 have been flown by private jet to the Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden in Evansville, Indiana
 
The two pups born Wednesday at the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem will be raised by other Mexican wolves. They're an extremely rare breed with only about 300 left in captivity and about 75 in the wild.
 
Wild wolves are kept along the New Mexico-Arizona state line under a federal program that reintroduced them to the wild in 1998.
 
The paper says these two pups' offspring may someday be released into the wild.
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May 14, 2013
 
Washington takes action to reduce wolf attacks
 
by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife May 10, 2013
 
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) enacted an emergency rule to permit ranchers, farmers, and other pet and livestock owners in the eastern third of the state to kill a wolf that is attacking their animals.
 
The action followed a special meeting of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, during which the commission members instructed WDFW Director Phil Anderson to put the rule into effect. WDFW also is initiating a public rule-making process for the commission to consider whether to adopt permanent rules to address these issues, with a decision expected this fall.
 
Commission Chair Miranda Wecker of Naselle said the commission is striving to address the legitimate need of residents to protect their domestic animals without undermining the state’s long-term goal of supporting the recovery of gray wolves. Without the emergency rule, animal owners would have had to obtain a "caught in the act" permit from the WDFW director before lethally removing a wolf.
 
Today’s action followed a request from 10 state legislators, who urged the commission and the department to use their rulemaking authority to address the concerns of residents whose communities are most affected by wolf recovery.
 
Continued:
http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2013/05/WAtakesactiontoreduc.htm
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Wolves migrating to central Cascades in Wash.
 
by Gary Chittim - KING 5 News May 14, 2013
 
WENATCHEE, Wash. -- The state of Washington had a plan. It asked ranchers where a new pack of wolves showed up this year to keep their cows in protective pens longer than usual.
 
The hope was that the wolves would follow the deer and elk as they moved to the high country when the weather warmed.
 
It may have worked just like it was supposed to. Sightings of the pack have dried up over the last week and the ranch family is about turn the cows out to pasture. But in the world of wolves, nothing is certain. Rancher Doug Hurd worries the wolves will find cattle on the range irresistible.
 
But biologists say this plan can work and it may have to become the norm in expanding Washington state wolf country.
 
The newest pack and one other, the Teanaway pack, are the first to venture west to the central part of the state and may signify a much larger western migration. That's good news for wildlife managers who are hoping well dispersed wolves will create a healthy and manageable population.
 
In the mountains above Wenatchee the pack is also doing something the state biologists like. They are, so far, preying on deer and elk, not protected cattle.
 
Source w/video:
http://tinyurl.com/c6lawom
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Elk Foundation intervenes in wolf case
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! May 10, 2013
 
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has been granted intervenor status in the federal lawsuit over delisting wolves in Wyoming that is currently pending in a federal court in Washington, D.C. The National Rifle Association and Safari Club International are also intervenors in that case.
 
The RMEF is also intervening in the federal lawsuit over wolf delisting in the Great Lakes area, and is awaiting word from the federal court in Wyoming whether it will be permitted to intervene in a wolf lawsuit here as well.
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WG&F starts wolf trapping
 
Gros Ventre wolves targeted for monitoring
 
by Wyoming Game and Fish Department May 10, 2013
 
As part of ongoing efforts to monitor the population of gray wolves in northwest Wyoming, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department will conduct scientific trapping operations in the Gros Ventre mountain range southeast of Jackson. Trapping will begin May 14, 2013 and may continue through June 15, 2013.
 
All major access points where trapping is being conducted for monitoring purposes will be marked with warning signs. It is critical that members of the public heed these signs and do not venture into posted areas.
 
Monitoring the number, distribution, and other activities of gray wolves is vital to the ongoing recovery of gray wolves in the Yellowstone ecosystem and is required under the terms of delisting. Trapped animals are immobilized, processed, released on-site, and monitored in accordance with standard wolf capture and handling techniques.
 
For more information regarding gray wolf trapping efforts, call the Game and Fish Cody regional office at 307-527-7125 or your local Game and Fish biologist or game warden.
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Montana proposes expanded wolf hunt
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! May 10, 2013
 
While Wyoming works to reduce the number of wolves allowed for harvest by hunters this fall, Montana is working to increase the limit from one to five animals in that state's hunt.
 
For details, click on the link below.
 
Associated Press article - Read the details here:
http://tinyurl.com/ccchhwp
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Montana man kills sheep-killing Yellowstone wolf
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! May 10, 2013
 
A Gardiner, Montana man has killed a wolf that came out of Yellowstone National Park and onto his private property. The killing was in the wake of about a dozen of his sheep being killed by wolves two weeks ago.
 
For more, click on the link below.
 
Bozeman Daily Chronicle - Read the article here:
http://tinyurl.com/d8a88c4
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Baiting claims dismissed by Montana officials after Yellowstone wolf killed by outfitter
 
By KATHRYN HAAKE and MATTHEW BROWN - Associated Press May 14, 2013
 
HELENA, Montana — Claims that a Montana outfitter illegally baited wolves by leaving animal carcasses in a pile on his property near Yellowstone National Park were rejected Tuesday by Montana wildlife officials, who said an investigation determined the dead sheep had been buried.
 
Wildlife advocates had accused outfitter William Hoppe of intentionally luring in the predators and shooting one after wolves killed at least 13 of his sheep. Hoppe is a long-time critic of the reintroduction of wolves to the Yellowstone region two decades ago.
 
But Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks officials said an investigation determined Hoppe buried all but one of the sheep that were killed by wolves on April 24. The remaining animal was dragged away by a grizzly bear.
 
Hoppe obtained two shoot-on-site kill permits from the state following the sheep attack. He used one to kill a wolf from Yellowstone National Park last week.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/cs9hlrd
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Wolf researchers advocate intervention
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! May 10, 2013
 
The New York Times has published an editorial by three researchers whose work has focused on the wolves of Isle Royale National Park, documenting the inbreeding and decline of that wolf population that was originally established by wolves traversing ice from the mainland. Now that the population is in decline, the researchers are advocating that action be taken to "reintroduce" wolves onto the island where a known population already exists – an island that also happens to be a wilderness area, where nature is supposed to take its course.
 
Rather than documenting what happens next in this natural drama, researchers want to actively manipulate the situation.
 
New York Times - Link to editorial
http://tinyurl.com/cu5wq8e

[bearpaw]

May 15, 2013

Wolves to be trapped in Absaroka Mountains

Billings Gazette May 14, 2013

As part of ongoing efforts to monitor the population of gray wolves in northwest Wyoming, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department will conduct trapping operations in the Absaroka Mountains west of Cody. Trapping will begin Sunday and may continue through July 15.

All major access points where trapping is being conducted for monitoring purposes will be marked with warning signs.

Monitoring the number, distribution, and other activities of gray wolves is vital to the ongoing recovery of gray wolves in the Yellowstone ecosystem and is required under the terms of delisting. Trapped animals are immobilized, processed, released on-site, and monitored in accordance with standard wolf capture and handling techniques.

For more information regarding gray wolf capture efforts, call the Game and Fish Cody regional office at 307-527-7125 or your local Game and Fish biologist or game warden.
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Second dog killed in wolf attack

May 15, 2013 By STEPHEN ANDERSON - The Daily Mining Gazette

ATLANTIC MINE - A wolf fatally attacked a sled dog in Atlantic Mine, the second such attack within a month in the vicinity, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources confirmed Tuesday.

"We got this reported to us yesterday, sent an officer to the site, and he did confirm he felt it was a wolf that killed this animal," Brian Roell, DNR biologist, said today.

The 18-year-old, 60-pound retired sled dog was allowed to walk freely, and according to tracks in the area, the DNR believes it was a single wolf that made the attack. The rural property owner's name was not released as of press time.

"In this case we didn't have a carcass to look at, so we simply make the identification by wolf tracks," Roell said.

Another dog was killed by a wolf in Atlantic Mine on April 28, and according to Roell, farmer Rich Johnson was awarded a 30-day permit to kill wolves on his property. He successfully killed one wolf, and his permit is still active.

No other reports of wolf problems have been reported in the area.

The DNR encourages people to call only when wolves create a problem in an area, but because of the second attack in Atlantic Mine, Roell advises people to report even just sightings of wolves in that area.
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May 16, 2013
 
Wolf killing ban sought
 
By Angus M. Thuermer Jr., Jackson Hole, Wyoming May 16, 2013
 
A conservation group is asking the National Park Service to eliminate potential wolf hunting in the 24,000-acre Rockefeller Parkway between Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks.
 
The National Parks Conservation Association is petitioning the agency to launch a “rulemaking process” to review which species could be hunted in the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, the group’s Jackson representative said Wednesday. The Park Service has the authority, and duty, Sharon Mader said, to conduct such a review.
 
“The Park Service to this point has been negligent,” Mader said. “This fills that gap.”
 
The state of Wyoming has not issued licenses for wolf hunting in the parkway but has claimed authority to do so. Hunting is allowed in the parkway for elk and waterfowl, according to state seasons and license restrictions.
 
Continued:
http://jhnewsandguide.com/print.php?art_id=9866&pid=news
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May 17, 2013
 
Rancher: Wolves killed 31 sheep
 
Agency issues kill order for predators near Carey
 
By KATHERINE WUTZ - Idaho Mountain Express Friday, May 17, 2013
 
The owner of the Flat Top Ranch near Carey said Wednesday that he recently lost more than two dozen sheep to wolves over a two-day period.
 
John Peavey said numerous lambs and ewes were killed by wolves on Friday, May 10, and Sunday, May 12.
 
Idaho Wildlife Services State Director Todd Grimm said Thursday that the final mortality count was at 31—18 lambs and 13 ewes.
 
Peavey said a Fish and Game representative determined that wolves were to blame, rather than another type of predator. As a result, Grimm said, Idaho Wildlife Services is carrying out a kill order on “at least” two wolves in the area.
 
Peavey said the sheep are currently vulnerable because they are in lambing season, when young lambs and birthing ewes can become easy prey. One of the ewes killed was in the process of birthing triplets, he said, and one of the lambs killed was the first—and only—one of the triplets to be born.
 
Continued:
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005147366
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Environmentalists drop 1 of 2 lawsuits challenging end of federal protections for Wyo. wolves
 
By BEN NEARY - Associated Press May 17, 2013 
 
CHEYENNE, Wyoming — A coalition of environmental groups has dropped one of two lawsuits challenging last year's decision by federal officials to turn over management of Wyoming wolves to the state.
 
A notice dismissing the lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Cheyenne by lawyers for WildEarth Guardians and eight other groups. That leaves a similar suit filed by a different coalition of groups pending in federal court in Washington, D.C.
 
Both lawsuits generally claim that the state's wolf management plan doesn't provide adequate protection for the animals. The plan classifies wolves as predators that can be shot on sight in most of the state and allows regulated hunting elsewhere.
 
"My clients made a decision that there are two lawsuits over the exact same thing going on in two different places, and this was not an efficient use of their resources, said attorney Jay Tutchton, who represents WildEarth Guardians. "The way for us to fix that under our own control, is what we did."
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/awxmkud
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Petition Pushes Park Service on Wolf Hunting Decision
 
by Deb Courson Smith - Public News Service - WY May 16, 2013
 
JACKSON, Wyo. - The National Park Service is being nudged on setting rules about wolf hunting. A petition has been filed by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). It asks that regulations be set to protect gray wolves from being hunted inside the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, which connects Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
 
Sharon Mader, NPCA Grand Teton program manager, said although the state chose not to allow hunting in the parkway last fall, it did claim authority to do so and will review the decision each year, so the rules need to be clear.
 
"We very much respect the State of Wyoming and their authority to hunt outside of park boundaries," she said. "We do not believe that that right extends to within park boundaries."
 
Last season's wolf hunt outside the parks did affect park wolves, she added, with Yellowstone losing radio-collared animals.
 
The Park Service expressed serious concerns about wolf hunting in the Parkway because it is a wildlife corridor, she explained, but it has been eight months since then and nothing has happened.
 
"This is an important step that the park service needs to take to protect their wildlife management authority and to safeguard and protect wolves on park lands in the future," she said.
 
The petition claims that rule-making should have been triggered with delisting in Wyoming, and it pushes for formal action.
 
The petition is available online at www.npca.org
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Calf’s wounds caused by wolf attack
 
by Katy Nesbitt - The La Grand Observer May 13, 2013
 
A wounded calf found on the Imnaha Highway Thursday night was determined to have been wounded by the Imnaha wolf pack.
 
County Commissioner Susan Roberts said a range rider employed to look for signs of wolf-caused livestock kills reported a calf that “looked like it had been chewed on,” prompting an investigation. The dead calf had been fed on, but showed no signs of being killed by wolves. However, another calf walking along the highway with its mother was seen limping and had an open sore on its hip.
 
The next day the calf’s owner saw its injury and called for an investigation. Neither the rancher nor a Wildlife Service’s agent were able to catch it, so Fred Steen, Wallowa County Sheriff Office’s chief deputy, brought his horse down to the ranch along Little Sheep Creek and roped it as it headed up Three Buck Canyon.
 
“It had a pretty good sore with small maggots on it,” Roberts said.
 
Pat Matthews, the acting district biologist for the state, investigated the injury and determined it was wolf caused. The 125-pound calf was treated with antibiotics for the infection, Roberts said.
 
This area of Wallowa County has been regularly used by the Imnaha pack for the past four years. According to GPS collar information, members of the pack had been in the vicinity of the injured calf prior to the attack.
 
This past winter a young, female member of the pack was caught in a trap set for coyotes on the same ranch. She was collared by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and released unharmed.
 
In March 2012, a bred heifer was discovered on the Little Sheep Creek ranch with bite marks and had to be euthanized. It, too, was determined to have been attacked by a wolf. Two other cows, according to Rod Childers, Oregon Cattlemen’s wolf committee chairman, were also confirmed to have had wolf-caused injuries, but survived.
 
Source:
http://tinyurl.com/a3lphor
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Wandering wolf captured again
 
By Rene Romo - Abq Journal Thu, May 16, 2013
 
LAS CRUCES — Federal officials have captured a recently released male Mexican gray wolf for the second time in four months after the lobo wandered away from his mate and a designated recovery area.
 
The wolf, designated M1133, had been in the wild only two weeks when he was captured Saturday and returned to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wolf Management Facility at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge.
 
The wolf was among two pairs that Fish and Wildlife released in late April, after a four-year period in which the agency had released only one captive wolf. The releases, which wolf advocates had repeatedly called for, were aimed at bolstering the genetic diversity of the wild population, increasing the number of breeding wolves, and offsetting the illegal killing of endangered wolves.
 
According to the most recent monthly report on the wolf recovery effort and a Fish and Wildlife spokesman, law enforcement is investigating the recent deaths of two wolves, while the status of another pair will be considered “fate unknown” if they are not located by the end of May.
 
Federal officials put the male wolf and his mate, a pregnant female designated F1108, into a temporary enclosure in McKenna Park, a remote area in the Gila Wilderness, on April 27. The enclosure is designed to allow wolves to chew through and “self-release,” which the pair did May 3.
 
But while the pregnant female appears to be denning near McKenna Park to raise pups, her mate headed east, covering more than 75 miles before he was captured east of the San Mateo Mountains in the Cibola National Forest southwest of Socorro.
 
Because the wolf was outside the boundaries of the 4 million-acre Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, and is considered part of a “nonessential, experimental population,” the Fish and Wildlife Service said program rules required the capture of the wandering lobo.
 
Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity disagreed, saying Fish and Wildlife was only required to capture the wolf if it established a territory outside the recovery area. Still, Robinson said he did not fault the decision to capture the wolf because it was headed toward a hazard — Interstate 25 — and was not likely to find another mate or pack. “It’s disturbing that there weren’t other wolves en route that might have captured his fancy or slowed him down,” Robinson said, adding, “A lot more wolves need to be released, so these situations don’t keep happening.”
 
Seventy-five Mexican gray wolves were counted in the wild at the end of 2012.
 
The wandering lobo had been released in Arizona on Jan. 8, with the hope he would mate with the Bluestem pack’s alpha female. The two did not pair. M1133 headed to where he was not likely to find other wolves, so he was captured.
 
Source:
http://tinyurl.com/b3rd3rb
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May 18, 2013
 
Will red ribbons help save wolves and cows?
 
by GARY CHITTIM - KING 5 News May 14, 2013
 
NEAR CLE ELUM, Wash. -- If you drive up North Fork Teanaway Road near Cle Elum, you will see miles of red ribbons - 13,000 ribbons flapping the breeze along the side of the road and then off into the pasture and forest lands. DO NOT TOUCH  IT! The ribbons are part of a wolf deterrent project and they are attached to an electrified cable.
 
Biologists explain the ribbons, or fladry as they are called, have been scaring wolves for centuries.
 
”They have some kind of phobia tied to these flags,” said Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Biologist Anthony Novak. “They just don’t want to cross it.”
 
And if they do, they get zapped with a painful but harmless dose of electricity.
 
Volunteers from the Conservation Northwest group are helping WDF&W wrap the fladry around a pasture where cattle will soon be turned out.
 
It’s hoped it will keep the wolves away long enough for them to follow deer and elk who head for the high country during the hot weather.
 
It’s just one tool wildlife managers and groups are hoping ranchers adopt as the wolves struggle to repopulate the state.
 
Source w/video report:
http://tinyurl.com/a7hquv6
[Note: We have found that deer and elk get tangled in the wire and pull the fladry down.]
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MT issues statement about rancher who shot wolf
 
by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks May 17, 2013
 
The Gardiner area landowner who lost thirteen of his sheep to wolves late last month has asked Fish, Wildlife and Parks to amend his shoot on sight permit granting permission to take a second wolf. The landowner says he will be shipping his cow/calf pairs which were grazing in the area of the depredation to summer pasture in another location at the end of the week, while his remaining live sheep were moved immediately following the depredation event. Therefore, the landowner says there will no longer be a need for the permit.
 
In response to the landowner’s request, FWP has revised the shoot on sight permit issued on April 24 to expire on May 18, 2013 rather than June 8, 2013 in support of this good-faith gesture. Consistent with this action, cattle producers issued a shoot on sight permit always have the option not to use a kill permit issued to them.
 
The landowner legally shot and killed a wolf on May 6, 2013. This wolf (a collared female) had returned to the site where the landowner’s sheep were killed. FWP believes the wolf killed by the landowner was likely one of the two animals responsible for the depredation event. FWP investigated claims that this landowner baited the wolves and determined them to be unfounded. Further, despite some false reports, the carcasses of the dead sheep were all moved off-site to avoid conflict, except for one that was mostly consumed by a bear a few days after the depredation.
 
Montana routinely issues shoot on sight permits to assist livestock owners in removing depredating or offending wolves that return to the localized area associated with a confirmed depredation. This assists FWP in preventing further conflicts where risk of depredation continues.
 
FWP is charged with managing a fully recovered, robust wolf population that thrives on multiple-use landscapes outside of protected areas. Since gray wolves were reintroduced in the Northern Rockies, lethal removal of problem individual wolves has been recognized as necessary means to promote conservation of non-depredating wolves while accounting for wolf effects on local livelihoods. A single wolf associated with a depredation, and removed from a population, does not biologically threaten the local or regional wolf population.
 
According to FWP’s annual wolf conservation and management report, there was a minimum of 625 wolves at the end of 2012 statewide in 147 packs and 37 breeding pairs.
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Group wants wolf protection in parkway
 
by National Parks Conservation Association May 17, 2013
 
The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) today (May 17, 2013) filed a petition that asks the National Park Service (NPS) to start a rulemaking process that will eliminate the possibility of a hunt of gray wolves inside the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. The Parkway, a unit of the National Park System, connects Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, providing what Congress called the "spiritual and physical connection" between them. It also serves as the connection for the wolf packs inhabiting those parks. The petition was filed for NPCA by Robert D. Rosenbaum and others at the law firm of Arnold & Porter LLP.
 
"Wolves in Wyoming were recently removed from the endangered species list, and the state of Wyoming controls wolf management outside our national parks,"� said NPCA Grand Teton Program Manager Sharon Mader. "The state of Wyoming has claimed, however, that it also has that authority in the Parkway and has stated that it has ‘assumed control’ of such hunting there."
 
While the state has not yet attempted to permit such hunting, it says it will review that issue annually.
 
Continued:
http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2013/05/Groupwantswolfprotec.htm
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Wolf and grizzly trapping in Pinedale region
 
by Wyoming Game and Fish Department May 17, 2013
 
As part of ongoing efforts to monitor the population of gray wolves in northwest Wyoming, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department will conduct scientific trapping operations in the northern Wind River Mountains and Gros Ventre Mountains north of Pinedale and east of Bondurant. Trapping will begin after May 19, 2013 and may continue through August 31, 2013.
 
Also, as part of ongoing efforts to monitor the population of grizzly bears in the Yellowstone Ecosystem, WG&F will conduct research trapping operations north and west of Pinedale beginning after May 19 and may continue through September 31, 2013.
 
All major access points where trapping is being conducted for monitoring purposes will be marked with warning signs. It is critical that all members of the public heed these signs and not venture into posted areas.
 
Monitoring the number, distribution and other activities of gray wolves and grizzly bears are vital to the ongoing recovery of these large carnivores in the Yellowstone ecosystem and is required under the terms of delisting. Trapped animals are immobilized, processed, released on site, and monitored in accordance with standard capture and handling techniques.

[bearpaw]

May 19, 2013
 
Aerial survey finds increase in elk numbers in Bitterroot Valley
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 19, 2013
 
HAMILTON, Montana — An aerial survey by Montana officials has found an increase in the number of elk in the Bitterroot Valley.
 
The Ravalli Republic reports (http://bit.ly/12ESDiD) that this year's spring count found 7,373 elk in the five hunting districts surrounding the Bitterroot Valley.
 
Mike Thompson of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said it's the fourth highest number of elk counted in the 48-year history of the annual survey. It follows a series of disappointing surveys, including last year's that found 6,238 elk.
 
"We've had a pulse this year," he said. "It's a hopeful sign. We've seen that kind of variation in elk populations before. You achieve that kind of bump in population numbers with higher calf production and survival."
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/aretue3
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May 21, 2013
 
Government indefinitely delays decision on wolf protections in Lower 48, but reason uncertain
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 20, 2013
 
BILLINGS, Montana — Federal wildlife officials are postponing a much-anticipated decision on whether to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states.
 
In a court filing Monday, government attorneys say "a recent unexpected delay" is indefinitely holding up action on the predators. No further explanation was offered.
 
Gray wolves are under protection as an endangered species and have recovered dramatically from widespread extermination in recent decades.
 
More than 6,000 of the animals now roam the continental U.S. Most live in the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes, where protections already have been lifted.
 
A draft proposal to lift protections elsewhere drew strong objections when it was revealed last month.
 
Wildlife advocates and some members of Congress argue that the wolf's recovery is incomplete because the animal occupies just a fraction of its historical range.
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Scientists Call on Obama Administration to Keep Gray Wolves Protected Under Endangered Species Act
 
Biologists Say Proposal to Remove Protections Fails to Follow Best Science
 
May 21, 2013 Center for Biological Diversity
 
WASHINGTON — In two sharply worded letters sent to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell today, prominent scientists argued for continued protections for gray wolves across the lower 48 states and criticized a draft federal proposal to remove those protections for being premature and failing to follow the best available science. One of the letters came from the American Society of Mammalogists, the other from 16 prominent biologists.
 
http://tinyurl.com/kn8ftq7
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Enthusiasts celebrate the anniversary of wolf reintroduction
 
By Benjamin Fisher, Sun-News 05/19/2013
 
SILVER CITY — More than 30 Mexican gray wolf enthusiasts and interested residents stepped into the shade at the Little Walnut Creek Picnic area for the 15th Anniversary Lobo Birthday Party on Sunday.
 
Featuring guest speaker Dave Parsons, carnivore conservation biologist and former US Fish and Wildlife Service Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator, and live music by the Silver City String Beans, the event was held by the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.
 
According to the group's website, the Alliance is a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection, restoration, and continued enjoyment of New Mexico's wild lands and wilderness areas.
 
Continued:
http://www.scsun-news.com/silver_city-news/ci_23278918
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May 22, 2013
 
Scientists urge federal officials not to remove gray wolf protections across Lower 48 states
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 21, 2013
 
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan — Groups of scientists are urging federal officials not to remove protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states.
 
In letters to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week, carnivore specialists say the wolf population has only begun to recover and is absent from most of its historical territory after being driven to near-extinction in the past century.
 
They say there's enough habitat and prey to support wolves in other parts of the country.
 
The wolf remains on the endangered species list except in the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes, where the combined population is about 6,000.
 
A draft proposal to drop remaining protections except in the Southwest surfaced last month. Government attorneys said in court papers Monday a final decision has been postponed. They provided no explanation.
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Public Employees Sue Over ‘Political Deals’ Behind Wolf Delisting
 
Environment News Service May 22, 2013
 
WASHINGTON, DC, May 22, 2013 (ENS) – The Obama Administration’s plan to remove the gray wolf from the protections of the Endangered Species Act, as detailed in a draft Federal Register notice released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER, is temporarily on hold.
 
The reasons for the indefinite delay announced this week were not revealed nor were the records of closed-door meetings to craft this plan that began in August 2010.
 
Today a federal Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to obtain the records from those meetings was filed by PEER, a nonprofit national alliance of local, state and federal resource professionals.
 
The draft Federal Register notice would strike the gray wolf from the federal list of threatened or endangered species but would keep endangered status for the Mexican wolf. No protected habitat would be delineated for the Mexican wolf, of which fewer than 100 remain in the wild.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/nwcjusg
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Game and Fish mulls lowering wolf harvest quotas in Dubois area
 
May 21, 2013 - By Eric Blom, The Ranger
 
Wyoming Game and Fish proposes to lower the gray wolf harvest quota for the hunt area around Dubois to three animals from the five allowed in 2012. The hunt season would remain the same, from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.
 
Regional wildlife manager Jason Hunter, large carnivore biologist Bob Trebelcock and carnivore conflict supervisor Brian Debolt met with the Fremont County Commission on May 7 to discuss the proposed wolf season.
 
"We're hoping to reduce the population slightly in 2013," Trebelcock said, referring to the wolves.
 
The hunt area covers all of Fremont County west of the Wind River Indian Reservation. The tribal game and fish agency manages wolves on the reservation, and wolves are considered predators east of the reservation and can be shot without a license.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/om5wyok
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Gov. Inslee signs bill for WA personal license plate $10 fee to help pay for wolf kills
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 22, 2013
 
OLYMPIA, Washington — Legislation signed Tuesday by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee adds $10 to the cost of a personalized Washington license plate with the money going to help compensate livestock owners for wolf kills.
 
The legislation was requested by the state Fish and Wildlife Department to reimburse farmers and ranchers who lose animals to the recovering wolf population.
 
State wildlife managers say the wolf population doubled in Washington last year and they now estimate there are 50 to 100 gray wolves in at least 10 packs. Most of the wolves are in the northeast corner of the state in Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille (pahn-duh-RAY') counties.
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Wolf management legislation signed into law, expands compensation 
 
by David Haviland May 21, 2013 KBKW
 
OLYMPIA - Gov. Jay Inslee today signed legislation that will provide state wildlife managers more resources to prevent wolf-livestock conflict and expand criteria for compensation to livestock owners for wolf-related losses.
 
Senate Bill 5193, requested by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and prime-sponsored by Sen. John Smith, R-Colville, was supported by a broad cross-section of interest groups.
 
"The gray wolf population is recovering quickly in Washington," said Inslee.  "This bill received bipartisan support from legislators across the state because it represents a practical, realistic approach to minimizing wolf-livestock conflict while recognizing the need for fair compensation to ranchers and farmers."
 
WDFW Director Phil Anderson said the department appreciates the Governor's support for the bill and the efforts of both Republican and Democratic legislators to get it passed.  "Washington state is committed to wolf recovery, but sustainable recovery requires that we address the legitimate needs of farmers, ranchers and other residents of the communities that are on the front line of wolf recovery," he said.  "This bill does that."
 
Continued (scroll down past ad):
http://kbkw.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=5518
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Hunting of gray wolves in Michigan's U.P. put on hold
 
Chad Livengood - Detroit News May 22, 2013
 
Lansing — A planned hunt of gray wolves in the Upper Peninsula has been put on hold — for now — after the law authorizing the harvest was suspended Wednesday pending a statewide referendum vote in November 2014.
 
The Board of State Canvassers determined Wednesday the group Keep Michigan Wolves Protected turned in more than the minimum 161,305 signatures required to get the issue on the ballot.
 
The referendum on whether Michigan should allow wolf hunting will be placed before voters in the November 2014 general election, suspending the current statute, state elections director Chris Thomas said.
 
Anticipating the wolf hunting law would be suspended, the Legislature recently passed a separate law authorizing the Natural Resources Commission to designate animals as hunting game, including wolves.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/obd2rlu
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May 23, 2013
 
Whatever Happened to the Big Bad Wolf?
 
‘Red Riding Hood and the Sweet Little Wolf,’ and More
 
New York Times - by Pamela Paul May 22, 2013 - Children's books
 
Once upon a time, the Big Bad Wolf was a mighty fearsome fellow. In the folkloric tales of Aesop and the Grimms, he terrorized small children and other helpless critters. He blew down houses in Disney’s “Three Little Pigs,” and in “The Three Little Wolves,” a somewhat sinister Silly Symphony cartoon from 1936, after the Nazi ascent to power, he is saddled with a German accent.
 
Perhaps he was due for a makeover. Four new picture books this year brush aside his surly past and sweeten him up for warmer and fuzzier tales, while still retaining a bit of bite. In “The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf,” the prolific author-illustrator Mark Teague (“Dear Mrs. La Rue,” the “How Do Dinosaurs…?” series), sets his story in motion when three small pigs are abandoned by their farmer. (He decides to move to Florida with his wife.) They’ll just have to set up camp elsewhere.
 
The story proceeds as expected, with a few comic touches. Two of the pigs are not only lazy, they’re inveterate junk food gobblers; the third plants a vegetable patch. Matters depart from the routine when the “somewhat bad” wolf comes in, hungry and in a “VERY bad mood.” Still, he isn’t the professional destroyer of pigs from the stories of yore. “I can’t believe that worked!” he marvels after blowing down the first pig’s house. “He had never blown down a house before.”
 
He’s also, it happens, out of shape. The pigs feel sorry for him, and soon enough, he’s lounging with his porcine friends in the third pig’s swimming pool. Instead of happily ever after, "he was hardly ever bad again.” Breezily entertaining and full of food references, this  humorous fractured fairy tale won’t send any children peering fretfully up the chimney.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ojnfwc3
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Idaho’s wolf soap opera begins a new season
 
May 23, 2013 by Rocky Barker - Idaho Statesman
 
The killing of 31 sheep by wolves near Carey earlier this month at first look, appears to be the classic Idaho story.
 
Wolves kill sheep. State issues kill order on wolves. Wolf lovers criticize rancher, wolf haters say I told you so.
 
The 23-year Northern Rockies soap opera continues. But this time the story is different.
 
John Peavey, the former Democratic state senator who owns the Flat Top Ranch, has been a part of a cooperative project between ranchers, local officials and the Defenders of Wildlife aimed at protecting sheep and wolves. The five-year program has pushed non-lethal methods of controlling wolves over traditional trapping and aerial gunning by federal agents.
 
Last year, there were 27,000 sheep in the project area around the Wood River Valley and two to three packs of wolves on landscape. They lived in harmony with only one late incident when the bands of sheep came upon wolves no one knew were there and they killed sheep.
 
That was only after the lambing season when Peavey chose instead of the others to use a method called range lambing. Most ranchers lamb in sheds in Idaho, which get it over with earlier in the spring and also fattens their lambs earlier.
 
The advantage for Peavey of range lambing is he doesn’t have to buy hay to feed his ewes. Idaho‘s growing dairy industry, along with high demand from China for exported hay, has driven its price of sky high.
 
Peavey estimates he would pay $100 a ewe for hay during lambing compared with a dollar on the public range. That cost differential makes a few losses to wolves and other predators acceptable to him.
 
But this spring his heart broke as he found a ewe and three triplets killed by wolves along with 27 other dead sheep. His reaction is a universal response that comes from the overriding ethical imperative of shepherds to protect their flocks.
 
Suzanne Stone has the same feelings for the wolves that run wild throughout Idaho and the northern Rockies. The Boise representative of Defenders of Wildlife fought hard to bring back wolves to the region and she has shed tears over the deaths of many wolves since 1995.
 
The kill order issued by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is, to her, an attack not only on her precious wolves but also on the project she has championed to show that wolves and ranchers can co-exist with fewer killings. Peavey’s range lambing does not fit into the non-lethal management model that seeks to keep the sheep together and protected with guard dogs, volunteers, noisemakers and colored flags that keep the wolves away from the sheep.
 
The Wood River Valley is one of the few places in Idaho where wolves are actively embraced. The Phantom Pack several years turned thousands of observers into wolf lovers.
 
Who can forget the wolf pup who was discovered last spring and embraced by people throughout the nation? The valley also loves is sheep herding history, which it celebrates with an annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival.
 
When lambing is over Peavey will bring his sheep in with the others under the protection of the non-lethal management cone. Look at a map of wolf depredations statewide and this area stands out for its empty space before this spring.
 
If the wolf issue was not so polarized and if even major livestock or wolf killing was not elevated to national news, I suspect the players would get over it and move on just like neighbors usually do after a spat. But today this is not just a local argument.
 
It will be fought out on social media and in blogs with comments including mine. The biology of wolf recovery is far easier than the cultural and political aspects.
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Groups join Wyoming in asking judge not to allow environmental groups to end wolf suit
 
By BEN NEARY - Associated Press May 23, 2013
 
CHEYENNE, Wyoming — Lawyers for the federal government and several pro-hunting organizations have joined the state of Wyoming in urging a federal judge not to allow a coalition of environmental groups to drop a lawsuit challenging recent federal action turning wolf management over to Wyoming.
 
The coalition, led by WildEarth Guardians, last week moved to dismiss its lawsuit pending before U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne. A lawyer for the coalition said recently it's putting its support behind a similar lawsuit that other environmental groups are pushing in Washington, D.C. Wyoming officials accused the environmentalists of forum shopping.
 
Environmental groups in both the Wyoming and Washington lawsuits have challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's move last year to turn over Wyoming wolf management to the state government. The groups say the state's management plan, which classifies wolves as unprotected predators that can be shot on sight in most of the state, fails to afford them adequate protection.
 
Hunters have killed scores of wolves in Wyoming since the state took over management in October. State officials now say they intend to reduce regulated trophy hunting quotas for wolves this fall to prevent populations from possibly falling low enough to trigger a return to federal management.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ptv3vpg
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Michigan election board OKs wolf hunt referendum for 2014, but result could be meaningless
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 22, 2013
 
LANSING, Michigan — Michigan's election board on Wednesday certified the signatures of a group seeking to ban wolf hunting and a referendum will be placed on the November 2014 ballot, but the outcome of the vote could be meaningless.
 
The Board of State Canvassers agreed that Keep Michigan Wolves Protected gathered the more than 250,000 signatures needed to seek a vote on a measure lawmakers approved in December that designated the wolf as a game species.
 
But a new law makes the referendum a toothless gesture regardless of the outcome.
 
A separate measure signed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder earlier this month lets the Natural Resources Commission decide which types of animals can be hunted. That authority previously rested entirely with the Legislature. Despite what happens with a vote, the commission will have the power to allow wolf hunting.
 
Earlier this month, the commission approved a limited wolf hunting and trapping season in three areas in the Upper Peninsula in November and December.
 
Jill Fritz, director of Keep Michigan Wolves Protected, said they are still pushing forward with the ballot initiative to "demonstrate the overwhelming response from Michigan voters who oppose the hunting and trapping of wolves in our state." Fritz said the group is still considering its options for how to continue fighting against wolf hunting, including possible legal challenges and another referendum campaign to place the new law on the ballot.

[bearpaw]

May 24, 2013
 
Wolves taking toll on Northeastern Oregon cattle, sheep
 
By Richard Cockle, The Oregonian May 23, 2013
 
LA GRANDE – Domestic sheep and cattle have been taking hits from gray wolves this month in northeastern Oregon, and at least one young wolf has died, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
 
Four sheep were confirmed killed, another was injured and still another is missing north of Pendleton, the department confirmed this week.  Wolf tracks were found at the scene, and radio-collar data showed at least one wolf from the Umatilla River pack was in that area the night of the attacks, said biologists.
 
Meanwhile, a rancher's yearling cow was killed by Imnaha Pack wolves in Wallowa County on May 15, the department reported. Evidence of at least two wolves was discovered at the scene, according to biologists.
 
Five days earlier, ODFW biologists confirmed a rancher's calf was bitten on a hind leg by a wolf, but was expected to survive.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/oe7vbfq
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DNR Committee Recommends Higher Wolf Hunt Quotas
 
A Department of Natural Resources (DNR) committee wants to let hunters and trappers kill a lot more gray wolves this fall.
 
By Chuck Quirmbach Fri May 24, 2013 WPR
 
At a meeting in Wausau Thursday, a 26-member committee voted to raise the wolf kill quota to 275 this fall. That would be an increase from a quota of 201 last year, though only 117 wolves were actually killed: Ojibwe tribes didn't harvest any wolves set aside for native American hunters. It remains unclear how many of the 275 wolves this fall would be reserved for tribal hunters. Hunting opponents fear the answer is none. The DNR's David McFarland says by setting an overall higher kill target, the committee hopes to put a bigger dent in the Wisconsin wolf population.
 
“The hunt that we had last year was successful in stabilizing the population, but did not result in population reduction. We believe, in this quota recommendation, will begin to result in population decline.”
 
There are still about 800 wolves in the state. A current management plan has a goal of 350 wolves, but McFarland says that goal could be changed over the next year. Howard Goldman, of the Humane Society of the United States, says the wolf kill recommendation made Thursday is indefensible.
 
“This hunt is purely recreational killing: killing wolves for trophies, sport and fun. We don’t think the public will support that. We think it's a reckless number.”
 
Goldman says he's also disappointed that the DNR has removed wolf hunting opponents from the panel that made Thursday's recommendation. The new proposal now goes to other committees, DNR administrators and to the DNR board in about a month.
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Another U.P. dog killed by wolves
 
3rd in a month
 
May 23, 2013 The Daily News
 
ATLANTIC MINE - A wolf fatally attacked another dog in Houghton County's Atlantic Mine, the third such attack within a month in the vicinity, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources reported today.
 
The dog in this morning's attack was chained up in a fenced yard at the time of the attack.
 
The first confirmed kill in this area was on April 28.
 
"Wolf attacks on dogs around residences are usually uncommon," said DNR wildlife biologist Brian Roell. "The landowner was working to provide fencing and better boundaries but unfortunately another dog was killed on this property in a short amount of time."
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/owx5fnt
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May 25, 2013
 
Settlement makes killing wolves that prey on livestock in Oregon a last resort
 
By JEFF BARNARD - Associated Press May 24, 2013
 
GRANTS PASS, Oregon — Conservation groups and cattle ranchers have agreed to a landmark settlement in a lawsuit that, for the past year and a half, has kept the state of Oregon from killing wolves that prey on livestock.
 
The agreement announced Friday by the governor's office creates a new rulebook for wolf management in Oregon that makes killing the ones that prey on cattle and sheep a last resort after nonlethal protections have been tried and livestock attacks have become chronic. It also gives ranchers greater authority to kill wolves that attack or chase their herds as long as certain conditions are met.
 
Brett Brownscombe, the governor's natural resources adviser, said the agreement will help bring peace to a longstanding and bitter conflict.
 
"Before, there had always been a lot of rhetoric about, 'We can't tolerate wolves here, and all this nonlethal stuff won't work,'" Brownscombe said. "Now the reality is wolves are here, and we have to be able to protect our property through reasonable means. Nonlethal techniques are going to be part of the expected approach forward. People are going to have assurances that if there are problems, they will have some recourse and things won't be stuck in the courts."
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/pt92qra
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Inslee signs wolf management bill
 
by Rich Landers May 21, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
Gov. Jay Inslee today signed legislation that will provide state wildlife managers more resources to prevent wolf-livestock conflict and expand criteria for compensation to livestock owners for wolf-related losses.
 
Senate Bill 5193, requested by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and prime-sponsored by Sen. John Smith, R-Colville, was supported by a cross-section of interest groups.
 
“Washington state is committed to wolf recovery, but sustainable recovery requires that we address the legitimate needs of farmers, ranchers and other residents of the communities that are on the front line of wolf recovery,” said Phil Anderson, WDFW director. “This bill does that.”
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/nlx3u9a
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Apache County cites states' rights with Mexican Gray Wolf ordinance
 
By Steve Shadley 05/24/2013 KJZZ
 
Apache County Supervisors have passed an ordinance that prohibits state and federal government from releasing Mexican Gray Wolves in the county.  But the measure is drawing criticism from environmentalists who want to protect the threatened wolf species.
 
The Apache County Board passed the ordinance this week after listening to hours of testimony from ranchers who complained the wolves are killing  their livestock. The county said it has the authority to ban reintroduction of the Mexican Gray Wolf under the 10th amendment of the constitution that addresses the rights of states and local government. 
 
But, Michael Robinson with the Tucson-based environmental group The Center for Biological Diversity said the county ordinance can’t supersede the federal wolf reintroduction program.
 
“This is another livestock industry attempt to attack the very vulnerable Mexican Wolves that are out there and to challenge the broad authority and responsibility of our federal government to conserve and eventually recover this endangered animal," Robinson said.
 
Robinson said 75 Mexican Gray wolves currently live in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico.  Apache County Supervisors have sent copies of their 11-page ordinance to Governor Jan Brewer, the state legislature and Congress.
 
Source:
http://tinyurl.com/odhhdue
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May 26, 2013
 
Who do you pay to manage your big-game herds?
 
By Mike Popp - Clearwater Progress May 23, 2013
 
Open up any Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) regulation booklet and the first text you will find is the Idaho Wildlife Policy which states: “All wildlife, including all wild animals, wild birds, and fish, within the state of Idaho, is hereby declared to be the property of the state of Idaho.” 
 
It’s a one paragraph law that claims our wildlife will be managed in such a manner that “will preserve, protect, and perpetuate such wildlife, and provide for the citizens of this state and, as by law permitted by others, continued supplies of such wildlife for hunting, fishing and trapping.” Idaho Code Section 36-103
 
Are IDFG wildlife managers required to obey this law to ensure that they have to properly manage our wildlife resources?
 
The availability of game herds has a very positive impact economically and socially within the local communities. Idaho historically had always earned its fair share of the more than a $76 billion economic force that hunting and fishing generates throughout the United States. That all changed in 1995 with the importation of Canadian Gray Wolves.
 
North Idaho’s forests and communities changed forever when wildlife managers denied claims by locals of the negative impacts from the Canadian Gray Wolf. Locally, game management zones such as the Lolo Zone became stale environments. The elk, deer and moose populations were plummeting. IDFG officials and game managers were not doing their job.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/nzvasa8
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Proposed Wyoming wolf quotas attract little public comment
 
May 25, 2013 By CHRISTINE PETERSON Star-Tribune
 
SHERIDAN — A proposed plan to cut the Wyoming wolf hunting quota in half has generated little public comment during the first of several statewide meetings.
 
Two people went to a wolf meeting held by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department on Wednesday night in Sheridan. Dozens of people went to the Sheridan meeting last year to discuss the first wolf hunting season, said Mark Bruscino, large-carnivore section supervisor for Game and Fish.
 
The Pinedale meeting in early May had two attendees. Eleven people went to Dubois and four to Laramie. The upcoming meetings in Cody and Jackson may see larger crowds, said Dan Thompson, large-carnivore biologist with Game and Fish.
 
“Maybe people think [Game and Fish] has it under control,” said Ron Crispin, one of the two Sheridan meeting attendees.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/npu76y4
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Now is not the time to cut back on wolf hunting
 
May 24, 2013 - Ron Collins, Riverton WY - The Ranger
 
Editor:
 
Mr. Peck makes the statement, "hunters had a good season, bagging every one of the available wolves licensed in the first hunt," and, "as it is, with the full allotment of wolves having been taken, the state is wise to cut back on the number of licenses later this year." Those statements are not true.
 
It is much easier to purchase a Black Footed Ferret Flask or a Maynard Moose Coin Bank off the Wyoming Game and Fish Department web site than to find harvest information. However, if one is willing to drill down deep enough, all the information is there. Wyoming had 12 wolf trophy hunting areas with a conservative quota of animals to be harvested in each area. At season's end; the quota was only reached in half of these hunt areas.
 
Wyoming sold 4,492 Resident wolf licenses and another 198 wolf tags to Non-Residents to bag 52 wolves in these 12 trophy areas and couldn't pull it off. At season's end, only 42 wolves were harvested out of the trophy areas.
 
Wyoming agreed to maintain 100 wolves with 10 breeding pairs in order for the Federal protection to be lifted. At the end of 2011, there were estimated to be a minimum of 328 wolves in Wyoming, including 48 packs and 27 breeding pairs. Outside of Yellowstone Park, there were a minimum estimated 224 wolves, 36 packs, and 19 breeding pairs. That's not counting this year's offspring.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/o8l7pdu
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Residents react to wolf attacks
 
by Sarah Blakely 05.24.2013 Upper Michigan
 
ATLANTIC MINE -- Wallace Koski lives on a shrubby piece of land just off the highway in Atlantic Mine.
 
He is a sportsman and loves to take his dogs rabbit hunting.
 
Lately he hasn’t been able to take his dogs out for fear they’ll be attacked by a wolf.
 
“I had them come right behind the dogs within 30 feet,” said Koski. “I got to come out at nighttime and shoot with a 40-caliber glock at three in the morning. They’re yipping and nipping.”
 
The DNR says they plan to take more lethal action in controlling the wolves in Atlantic Mine.
 
Continued:
http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=902028
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Government mandate more unpopular than wolves
 
By Brandon Loomis The Republic Sat May 25, 2013
 
RESERVE, N.M. “Beware — Danger.
 
“Free Roaming Wolves. Protect Your Children & Your Pets.”
 
This is Mexican gray wolf country, but it doesn’t mean people have to like it. Around Catron County, opponents of the government’s 15-year wolf-reintroduction program have set up roadside signs announcing the predators and showing photos of mangled dogs and elk.
 
North of town, a school-bus stop stands caged, one of several ostensibly built to protect children from the animals. Several residents said they’ve never seen kids inside the shelters, but the message is clear.
 
“They don’t belong here,” rancher Duke Stephenson said of the wolves. “That’s just what the conservationists have decided is best for us.”
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ntagqow

[bearpaw]

May 27, 2013
 
Regs for ’13 wolf hunt to face public scrutiny
 
By Mike Koshmrl, Jackson Hole, Wyoming May 27, 2013
 
Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials will review proposed changes to wolf hunt regs at a meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Virginian Lodge.
 
Managers propose to halve the number of licenses, from 52 to 26, in the regulated 2013 wolf hunt, confined to about 15 percent of Wyoming land, including Jackson Hole. No changes are proposed to the “predator zone,” an area that encompasses the balance of the state, where wolves are not regulated and can be killed like pests.
 
During Wyoming’s inaugural regulated wolf hunt in 2012, the statewide population of wolves — including in Yellowstone National Park and the Wind River Indian Reservation — fell 16 percent. The number of wolves dropped from a known minimum of 328 to 277.
 
Forty-one wolves were killed during 2012 in the “trophy game” hunt area, and another 25 in the predator zone. Thus far in 2013, another 17 have been killed in the predator zone.
 
Continued:
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/print.php?art_id=9899&pid=news
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Arizona endangered wolves still on the brink
 
The Arizona wolf-relocation project struggles as endangered lobos fall prey to guns and cars.
 
Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic May 26, 2013
 
ALPINE, Ariz. -- A brown-streaked wolf — named Ernesta by her admiring captors — bounded from a crate and onto Arizona soil. She carries in her womb the newest hopes for a rare native species that is struggling to regain a footing in the Southwest.
 
Her government-sponsored April 25 relocation with her mate, from New Mexico's Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge to a mountain south of Alpine, was the first in the state for a captive-bred pair of Mexican gray wolves in more than four years.
 
The last time a new canine couple sniffed freedom in these mountains, in fall 2008, they didn't last the winter. Someone shot the female almost immediately, and the male disappeared by February.
 
"It's a tough life for wolves in the wild," Endangered Wolf Center animal-care director Regina Mossotti said after watching the latest pair bolt from their crates last month in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. The Missouri non-profit center is part of a breeding program and has nurtured both of the transplanted wolves at times. Mossotti felt a special kinship with the female she helped raise, and she was a little anxious.
 
Continued with video:
 
http://tinyurl.com/o9ds6vh
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Some U.P. residents say wolf hunt badly needed
 
May 26, 2013 Detroit Free Press
 
IRONWOOD, Mich. — John Koski grips the old blanket in knobby hands weathered from a lifetime of farming. He pulls it back to reveal the carcasses of two cows, or what's left of them. More than half of each is picked clean, the spine and rib bones almost a polished white, with no traces of flesh. Some of the rib bones are snapped and show evidence of being gnawed upon.
 
The mutilated cattle, found this spring on Koski's 1,000-acre farm in the tiny community of Matchwood in Ontonogan County, are the latest casualties in his ongoing war with wolves. The 68-year-old farmer has had more cattle killed or injured by wolves than any farmer in the state, 119 in the past three years, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Government-paid sharpshooters and trappers for years have killed dozens of the wolves who've taken a liking to Koski's cattle.
 
"I think this is the last year I'm going to keep cattle here because I'm losing so many," Koski said, adding that he may move them to his other farmland in Bessemer, about 35 miles away.
 
There are no records of a human ever being killed by a wolf in the wild in Michigan. But Koski thinks that could change.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/o9kyf3o
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Wolf attack
 
By Jeff Labine, tbnewswatch.com May 27, 2013 [Canada]
 
A seven-year-old boxer is expected to make a full recovery after being attacked by several wolves outside city limits.
 
Tyler Allen took his boxer, Marshal, out for a walk in the field behind his house, which is near Kakabeka and Stanley, on Sunday.  The 16-year-old took Marshal off leash and let him run off ahead. He lay down to enjoy the sunny day when he said he heard a noise.
 
“I came over the hill and there were five wolves surrounding him and other three or four up on the hill,” he said.
 
“I grabbed a nearby stick. The biggest one was maybe 20 feet away from me and he started walking towards me. He got pretty close to me and I swung at him. He then decided to turn around. I didn’t really think much at first. I just kind of did it. After it happened, it kind of set in and started to sink in. I’m a little uneasy.”
 
Source:
http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/281789/Wolf-attack
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May 28, 2013
 
Feds Postpone Plans to Delist Wolves Indefinitely
 
by Alicia Graef May 27, 2013 Care2
 
In a surprising turn of events, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced a delay in its plan to strip federal protection from nearly all gray wolves throughout the U.S. this week, but the plan could still move forward at any time.
 
Since losing protection in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes regions hundreds of wolves have been brutally slaughtered by hunters and trappers – both wolves who lived anonymously in the wild and collared wolves whose stories we followed.  Michigan, the only state in the Great Lakes that didn’t have a wolf hunt last year, recently reclassified wolves as a game species, while other states are now working towards allowing hunting with dogs and baiting.
 
It’s a success story turned war zone for wolves, who unfortunately don’t understand state boundary lines and continue to pay for their ignorance with their lives.
 
At the end of April, the FWS was intent on moving forward with its plan to remove Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection from wolves throughout the lower 48 states, with the exception of Mexican gray wolves, which sparked a lot of controversy and outrage from conservationists, wolf advocates, members of Congress and the public. Letters were written, phone calls were made, petitions were signed and lawsuits were filed with one common goal: to ensure that wolves remained federally protected and that management authority was not turned over to states.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/psbndry
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Game and Fish presents 2013 wolf management
 
by Gib Mathers May 28, 2013 Powell Tribune
 
Hunters may be upset because the Wyoming wolf hunt quota got cut in half for this fall, but they can celebrate the fact that wolf genetic interchange is happening.
 
In 2012 the quota was 52. This year the proposal is 26.
 
Wyoming’s gray wolves swapping genes with out-of-state colleagues is part of the recovery requirement to keep the animals off the Endangered Species List.
 
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department have documentation proving Idaho and Montana wolves are breeding with Wyoming wolves.
 
“We’re already seeing that (genetic exchange) guys,” said Mark Bruscino, Wyoming Game and Fish Department statewide supervisor of the large carnivore management section.
 
Bruscino was addressing about 25 people Thursday evening at a meeting in Cody to discuss proposed changes to the 2013 wolf hunting season, most of which were minor except the quota cut.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/o358e37
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State and conservation groups reach settlement on wolf kills
 
Tuesday, 28 May 2013 by Steve Law Portland Tribune
 
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has reached a settlement agreement over a legal challenge to its wolf-killing program with Oregon Wild, other conservationists and the livestock industry.
 
A coalition of environmental groups sued in October 2011, charging that the state’s actions against endangered gray wolves were violating the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the state’s Wolf Plan adopted in 2005.
 
"This settlement will put in place, for the first time, clear standards and public accountability for what must happen before ODFW or livestock interests can kill an endangered wolf, and measures that should reduce conflict between wolves and livestock,” says Dan Kruse, an attorney for Oregon Wild and Cascadia Wildlands.
 
The deal comes after 17 months of negotiations involving Gov. John Kitzhaber, ODFW, environmental and ranching industry leaders.
 
"This agreement gets us back to the wolf plan we thought we had in 2005," says Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands legal director. "Under this agreement, killing wolves should be an option of last resort,” Cady says. “Ranchers need to do their part to improve animal husbandry and coexist with native wildlife, and ODFW needs to live up to its mission to ensure abundant populations of native wildlife for all Oregonians."
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Groups opposed to Minn. wolf hunt lose in state Court of Appeals over lack of legal standing
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 28, 2013
 
ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Groups challenging Minnesota rules for a wolf hunting and trapping season were dealt another blow Wednesday in their effort to stop the practices.
 
Minnesota's Court of Appeals dismissed a petition aiming to undo rules that allowed for a wolf hunting season, the first of which was held starting in November.
 
The appeals judges decided that the two groups, the Center for Biological Diversity and Howling for Wolves, lacked sufficient legal standing to challenge the Department of Natural Resources rules.
 
"It's hard to put into words our disappointment and sense of injustice over this decision," said Dr. Maureen Hackett, founder of Howling For Wolves.
 
The group contended the DNR set its rules in a way that minimized public input. The organization is now evaluating its options for further court action after this second setback, said Hackett, a forensic psychiatrist and former Air Force officer.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/o93hwcv
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Safari Club International’s Arguments Win Minnesota Wolf Case
 
Tuesday, May 28, 2013 Ammo Land
 
Washington, D.C. –- Based on arguments presented by Safari Club International (SCI) the Minnesota Court of Appeals today dismissed a legal challenge to Minnesota’s wolf harvest.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/o8d3p2l
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May 29, 2013
 
Wildlife Officials Delay Decision on Wolf Protections in Lower 48
 
May 20, 2013 Associated Press
 
BILLINGS, Mont. — Federal wildlife officials are postponing a much-anticipated decision on whether to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states.
 
In a court filing Monday, government attorneys say "a recent unexpected delay'' is indefinitely holding up action on the predators. No further explanation was offered.
 
Gray wolves are under protection as an endangered species and have recovered dramatically from widespread extermination in recent decades.
 
More than 6,000 of the animals now roam the continental U.S. Most live in the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes, where protections already have been lifted.
 
A draft proposal to lift protections elsewhere drew strong objections when it was revealed last month.
 
Wildlife advocates and some members of Congress argue that the wolf's recovery is incomplete because the animal occupies just a fraction of its historical range.
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Healthy range, sheep and John Peavey
 
Wed. May 29, 2013 - Letters - Idaho Mtn. Express
 
This letter is in response to your article on the Flat Top Sheep Co. [Rancher: Wolves killed 31 sheep - http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005147366 ] I am worried that so many of your readers come from urban backgrounds and they will not understand the significance of what John Peavey is trying to do. In order to highlight his efforts, I need to quote from a recent issue of the Colorado State University Extension Bulletin:
 
“A plant that is grazed intensely during early spring and given deferment during the remainder of the growing season may produce additional growth and be more vigorous than a plant that receives less intense defoliation throughout the growing season.”
 
Grasses are plants that reproduce by two methods. One is by producing seeds; the other is by vegetative propagation. This latter method is far more productive. Underground shoots (rhizomes) and above-ground shoots (stolens) plus various kinds of leaf propagation can greatly increase grass vegetation compared to the seed method. Think of grazing by Peavey's sheep and compare it to the cutting of a golf green. The cutting of the bent grass leaves stimulates vegetative growth and no greenskeeper would think of letting a reserve patch of his bent grass mature and produce seeds. In a recent greenskeeper’s bulletin, two researchers noted that “[with] creeping bent we discovered that a single plant, under favorable conditions, would make a mass of turf six feet in diameter in a single year.”
 
My point is that I have heard people from an urban background say that when they see a band of sheep on the side of a mountain, “There goes another bunch of range maggots.” My hope is that this letter will encourage them to rethink their prejudice and say, “Wow, look what that sheepman is doing to invigorate that mountain grassland.”
 
Bill Smallwood
Sun Valley
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One wolf lawsuit dropped, one remains
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! May 24, 2013
 
The Associated Press reports that activist organizations have filed a motion to drop their lawsuit over wolf delisting in Wyoming that had been filed in federal court in Wyoming.
 
In response, the Wyoming Attorney General filed a motion to continue the lawsuit over wolf management in Wyoming. Last week the plaintiffs filed a "Notice of Voluntary Dismissal." This, if not challenged, would leave only the Court in Washington, DC to hear the challenge over Wyoming’s wolves.
 
"This is a matter of considerable local interest and I believe that the suit should be heard here, closest to the Wyoming citizens," Governor Mead said. "Sometimes the party that files a lawsuit must finish what they started. This is one of those times."
 
The State of Wyoming is asking the Court to set aside the "Notice of Voluntary Dismissal" and give all of the parties in the suit a chance to respond.
 
With this lawsuit not going forward, that means there is one lawsuit remaining - one that will be heard by a federal court in Washington, D.C.
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FWP seeks comment on wolf hunting, trapping proposals
 
5/29/2013 By Daniel Martynowicz - Valley Journal
 
MISSION VALLEY — Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks recently held a commission meeting regarding proposed changes for the upcoming 2013-14 wolf hunting and trapping seasons.
 
The proposed changes are numerous and far reaching, “but not final by any means,” said FWP communication and education coordinator Ron Aasheim.
 
The proposed changes include a new bag limit of five wolves per individual hunter, up from three last year. These wolves could be taken by any combination of hunting and trapping. The general hunting season would be extended one month, running through the end of March and totaling six and a half months.
 
While not an official proposal, Aasheim said FWP officials are seeking public comment on hunter bag limits in the two wolf management units south of glacier. Each have a quota of two wolves.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/p6ohoww
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WA turns to conflict prevention
 
by Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife May 24, 2013
 
Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed legislation that will provide state wildlife managers more resources to prevent wolf-livestock conflict and expand criteria for compensation to livestock owners for wolf-related losses.
 
Senate Bill 5193, requested by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and prime-sponsored by Sen. John Smith, R-Colville, was supported by a broad cross-section of interest groups.
 
"The gray wolf population is recovering quickly in Washington," said Inslee. "This bill received bipartisan support from legislators across the state because it represents a practical, realistic approach to minimizing wolf-livestock conflict while recognizing the need for fair compensation to ranchers and farmers."
 
WDFW Director Phil Anderson said the department appreciates the Governor's support for the bill and the efforts of both Republican and Democratic legislators to get it passed. "Washington state is committed to wolf recovery, but sustainable recovery requires that we address the legitimate needs of farmers, ranchers and other residents of the communities that are on the front line of wolf recovery," he said. "This bill does that."
 
Continued:
http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2013/05/WAturnstoconflictpre.htm
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Minnesota wolf hunting: Court rejects challenge
 
By Dave Orrick 05/28/2013 Twin Cities Pioneer Press
 
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has dismissed a challenge to the state's wolf hunting and trapping seasons, the latest setback for those hoping to ban the practice.
 
In an opinion released Tuesday, the court found that wolf hunting opponents -- Howling for Wolves and the Center for Biological Diversity -- lacked standing to challenge the Department of Natural Resources' decision to move forward with the state's inaugural wolf hunt last fall. The federal government stripped the animal of Federal Endangered Species Act protections in 2012, ending a four-decade ban on hunting and trapping.
 
The groups sued, alleging the DNR ignored its own rule-making process. But they failed to show the state's decision harmed them, the judges ruled, saying their beef should have been with state lawmakers who paved the way for a hunt by removing a moratorium two years ago.
 
"Rather, it is apparent that petitioners' disagreement is with the legislature's policy decision to permit wolf hunting," Judge Louise Dovre Bjorkman wrote in the opinion, which dismissed the suit. "In sum, petitioners do not assert that the wolf rules cause unique harm to their aesthetic interest in wolves ... ." In a friend-of-the-court brief, the Safari Club had challenged the groups' standing.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ptzszgq
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[bearpaw]

May 30, 2013
 
Suit to uncover political deals behind gray wolf de-listing
 
Closed-door meetings honed plan to strip gray wolf Endangered Species status
 
MAY 29, 2013 Sonoran News
 
WASHINGTON, DC — The federal government’s plan to remove the gray wolf from the protections of the Endangered Species Act, as detailed by a draft Federal Register notice posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), is temporarily on hold. The reasons for the indefinite delay announced this week were not revealed and neither were the records of meetings beginning in 2010 to hammer out this plan.  Today PEER filed a federal lawsuit to obtain the records from those meetings.
 
The draft Federal Register notice would strike the gray wolf from the federal list of threatened or endangered species but would keep endangered status for the Mexican wolf.  Yet, no protected habitat would be delineated for the Mexican wolf, of which far fewer than 100 remain in the wild. This long-planned step is the culmination of what officials call their National Wolf Strategy, developed in a series of closed-door federal-state meetings called “Structured Decision Making” or SDM, beginning in August 2010.
 
On April 30, 2012, PEER submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for all SDM meeting notes, handouts and decision documents.  More than a year later, the agency has not produced a single responsive record, despite a statutory requirement that the records be produced within 20 working days.  Today, PEER filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to obtain all of the SDM documents.
 
“By law, Endangered Species Act decisions are supposed to be governed by the best available science, not the best available deal,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, pointing to a letter from the nation’s leading wolf researchers challenging the scientific basis for the de-listing plan. “The politics surrounding this predator’s legal status have been as fearsome as the reputation of the gray wolf itself.” 
 
Continued:
http://www.sonorannews.com/archives/2013/130529/news-gray-wolf.html
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Game and Fish monitoring wolf populations in NW Wyo.
 
The Sheridan Press May 30, 2013
 
Under the terms of U.S. Fish and Wildlife delisting of gray wolves, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is required to monitor the population of wolves in northwest Wyoming.
 
As part of its ongoing efforts, Game and Fish will conduct scientific trapping operations in several locations during the next few months.”
 
Trapped wolves are immobilized, processed, and released on-site, in accordance with standard capture and handling techniques. Trapping will take place in the Absaroka Range north of Dubois and west of Cody, the Wind River Range near Dubois, and the Gros Ventre Range north of Pinedale and east of Bondurant.
 
Near Dubois, trapping locations will include the East Fork, Wiggins Fork, Horse Creek, Warm Springs Creek, Geyser Creek, and Little Warm Springs drainages and their tributaries. Trapping may continue through Aug. 31.
 
All major access points where Game and Fish is conducting trapping for monitoring purposes will be marked with warning signs. It is critical that the public heeds these signs and does not venture into posted areas.
 
Monitoring the number, distribution, and other activities of gray wolves is vital to the ongoing recovery effort in the Yellowstone ecosystem.
 
For more information regarding gray wolf trapping efforts, call the Game and Fish Cody regional office at 307-527-7125 or a local Game and Fish biologist or game warden.
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Ruling puts Minnesota's wolf seasons beyond public challenge — by anyone

By Ron Meador May 30, 2013 Minn Post
 
Whether you're for or against the killing of wolves for sport, you might think the public has a right to be heard on a matter so enduringly contentious and emotional.
 
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) thinks otherwise and so, apparently, does the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
 
News reports on Tuesday's perfunctory dismissal of a challenge to the new trapping and hunting seasons have cited the court's conclusion that the plaintiffs lacked "standing" to raise objections, but didn't explain the legal reasoning behind it.
 
And I was frankly scratching my head, because questions of standing usually seem to turn on such factors as having a demonstrable stake in the issues (no injury, no standing) or whether a lawsuit was filed in the correct jurisdiction, etc.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/m9zs3c4
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Our View: Legislature lets DNR officials do their jobs
 
Thursday, May 30, 2013 Post Bulletin
 
Among the encouraging trends we observed during the 2013 session of the Minnesota Legislature is this: Our elected officials are choosing to let the state's wildlife managers do their jobs.
 
On Tuesday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals dismissed a petition from two groups who were suing the Department of Natural Resources in an effort to block wolf hunting and trapping. Last fall and winter, 413 wolves were killed in Minnesota during the state's first official wolf hunt since the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973.
 
The plan calls for the DNR to evaluate the wolf population this summer and then decide whether another hunt will take place this fall — but before that could happen, the 2013 Legislature had to resist the temptation to jump back into the fray.
 
It did. Much-publicized attempts to impose a five-year moratorium on wolf hunting failed, as legislators deferred to wildlife professionals who know a lot more about wolves than they do. This means that whether Minnesota has a wolf hunt this fall will depend on science and data, not emotion and guesswork.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ln3uon4
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May 31, 2013
 
Which Wolves Breed... Which Don't?
 
by Toby Bridges of Lobo Watch May 30, 2013
 
In Montana, six regional "Wolf Specialists", with the help of a handful of state wildlife biologists, have been able to accomplish something that 18,889 wolf license holders apparently had a difficult time doing - and that's locating wolves. At the end of 2012, those wolf specialists and wildlife biologists readily announced that there were "at least" 625 wolves still roaming the state, while all of those 2012 wolf tag holding hunters and trappers only managed to find and take 225 wolves during the season that was open for basically six months - from September 1 to February 28, 2012.
 
In all fairness, it should be pointed out that those six wolf specialists and the state wildlife biologists that lend them a hand are stretched pretty thin, trying to keep up with wolf numbers across a state that covers nearly 146,000 square miles. They also keep tabs on the degree of damage wolves continue to deal populations of elk, moose, deer and other big game, plus the impact that wolves are having on livestock production.
 
Physically counting wolves with any degree of accuracy is impossible, especially in a state as huge as Montana. It's safe to say that close to 90-percent of the recognized wolf population is found in the western one-third of the state, where the terrain is most rugged and inaccessible, not to mention the thick and heavy forestation of the steep slopes and deep valleys. Spotting wolves from an airplane or helicopter at any time of the year is poor at best, particularly in Northwest Montana where both the canopy overgrowth and wolf populations are the most dense. Without physically seeing wolves, populations figures have become something of a not so hi-tech guessing game - no one knows for sure just how many wolves there really are in Montana, or for that matter how many wolves are currently in the Northern Rockies.
 
Thus, the qualifier "at least" is used any and every time that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks references a computer model determined minimum number of wolves in the state. Those numbers are extremely misleading, since there is no way that Montana's wolf specialists and biologists actually observed anywhere near the "at least" 625 wolf count at the end of 2012, nor have they physically established the 146 packs and 37 breeding pairs also claimed. Those numbers are all determined by computer modeling - based on data, good or bad, that's programmed into the model.
 
Continued:
http://www.lobowatch.com/adminclient/WolfLies5/go
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Wolf dies in NE Oregon of canine parvovirus; first case of the disease in Oregon wolves
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 31, 2013
 
SALEM, Oregon — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says a wolf found dead May 19 in northeastern Oregon died from canine parvovirus.
 
The department says it's the first case of the virus found in Oregon wolves. Wildlife agents are monitoring wolves for the disease.
 
The Oregonian reports (http://is.gd/l5M368 ) the highly contagious disease is common among dogs and wild canines — wolves, coyotes and foxes.
 
The young female gray wolf identified as OR-19 was part of the Wenaha pack in Wallowa County. It was trapped on May 11 and released with a radio collar in apparent good health, but it died within a week.
 
Parvovirus has caused brief dips in wolf populations in other states, but outbreaks aren't expected to be a long-term threat to the species.
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Road kill bill would help keep wolves away
 
By MITCH LIES - Capital Press May 29, 2013
 
SALEM -- At first, House Speaker Tina Kotek thought a bill introduced in May that required transportation workers to properly dispose of road kill in wolf country was a joke.
 
"I told her it's not a place holder or a joke," Rep. Bob Jenson, R-Pendleton, said. "For ranchers in wolf country, this is a real concern."
 
The Portland Democrat got the message and assigned House Bill 3529 to the House Rules Committee, where a hearing was held on it May 20.
 
No other hearing is scheduled, but Jenson, chief sponsor of the bill, said the Oregon Department of Transportation also seems to have gotten the message.
 
Transportation workers in Wallowa County today are taking large animal carcasses found on roadways to the county landfill outside of Enterprise.
 
They previously would simply move carcasses out-of-sight to ODOT land where it would continue to rot and attract wolves, Jenson said.
 
Continued:
http://www.capitalpress.com/content/ml-road-kill-wolves-052913

[bearpaw]

June 1, 2013
 
Two more wolf attacks confirmed
 
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 Wallowa County Chieftain
 
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has confirmed that wolves from the Imnaha pack have killed a yearling cow and injured a calf.
 
The department in a press release said radio collar evidence shows wolves from the pack were present at the site of both attacks.
 
According to ODFW, the injury of the calf was reported May 9 in the Little Sheep Creek area. The carcass of the cow confirmed as killed by wolves was found in grassland pasture the morning of May 15 in the Hayden Creek area.
 
Both incidents occurred on private land. They are the third and fourth confirmed wolf depredations by the Imnaha pack in 2013.
 
The northeast Oregon pack has been involved in more than two dozen depredations in recent years.
 
The pack is one of six known packs in Oregon, and one of only two Oregon packs known to be involved in depredations.
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Grey wolf found dead in Wallowa County died of disease, lab tests show
 
By Everton Bailey Jr., The Oregonian May 30, 2013
 
A young female gray wolf found dead May 19 in northeastern Oregon died from a highly contagious disease among dogs and wild canines, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Thursday.
 
Lab results found that OR-19 died from complications of canine parvovirus, an often fatal disease among wild animals such as wolves, coyotes and foxes because they aren't vaccinated against it, the department said. This is the first case of the virus found among wolves in Oregon and it’s not known if others in the state are affected.
 
The body of the Wenaha pack wolf was found in the Sled Springs game management unit of Wallowa County. State biologists had trapped the wolf on May 11 and released it in apparent good health with a GPS radio collar, the department said. The collar alerted biologists of a possible problem on May 17 and its body was found two days later.
 
Canine parvovirus outbreaks are more common among wolf populations in other western areas of the country, the department said. The disease is often found among pups.
 
The virus has caused brief dips in wolf populations in other states, but outbreaks aren’t expected to be a long-term threat to the species, the department said.
 
Oregon wolves will be monitored for any more signs of the disease.
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'Landmark' wolf deal long time in the making, backers say
 
By MITCH LIES Capital Press Thursday, May 30, 2013
 
SALEM -- Legislators, a governor's policy adviser and state agency representatives on May 29 explained the workings of a recently reached wolf settlement agreement to a House committee and shared background on how the agreement came together.
 
Rep. Bob Jenson, R-Pendleton, said the agreement "is a product of ... about a decade, on the part of a lot of people, a lot of different interest groups."
 
Brett Brownscombe, natural resources policy adviser for Gov. John Kitzhaber, characterized the agreement as a "landmark historic moment where a lot of parties who typically have not been able to come to agreement on this issue, did."
 
And Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Pendleton, characterized the settlement as "bipartisan, bicameral: All the different good things that we in Oregon are known to do as far as getting good public policy."
 
Continued:
http://www.capitalpress.com/content/ml-wolf-hearing-053013
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Wolves moving, keeping biologists on alert
 
by Rich Landers May 29, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
Wolves are roaming, forming new packs, popping pups and generally keeping Washington and Oregon wildlife managers on full alert this spring.
 
A black male wolf caught last year from the Smackout Pack and collared in far northeastern Washington was reported recently 300 miles to the west, across the Cascades and into Western Washington. (“Spread the wealth!” some folks are saying.)
 
This roamer known as WA-O17M is causing a rustle among DNA researchers who are having to bite their tongues a bit on the conventional theory that there's a distinct population of coastal gray wolves in British Columbia. The discussion is chronicled in this analysis by Andy Walgamott of Northwest Sportsman.
 
Meanwhile, Washington is beefing up its crew of wolf specialists who are trying to locate and put radio collars on members of wolf packs they currently have no way of monitoring, including the new Wenatchee Pack.  They have not been successful at last report. And there's still no confirmation of a pack on the Washington side of the Blue Mountains.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/lhskwes
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The Daily Howler: The Travels Of WA-017M and OR7
 
By Andy Walgamott, on May 23rd, 2013 Northwest Sportsman
 
A young Washington wolf is on its way to upsetting conventional wisdom about the mixing — err, lack thereof — of inland and coastal wolves in British Columbia.
 
The black-coated Smackout male known as WA-017M, which left its pack in the Evergreen State’s upper right-hand corner earlier this year, is reported as being 300 miles northwest of Oroville, Wash., at last check.
 
That’s a round figure and a rough description of its location based on the GPS collar that hangs around its neck, but it puts the animal roughly in the middle of the coastal mountains.
 
And dangerously close to fouling up the DNA of the “genetically distinct” salmon-eating, red-coated Canadian wolves thereabouts.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/mymtstt
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FWP seeks comment on wolf hunting and trapping proposals
 
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 Clark Fork Valley Press
 
The Montana’s Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission is seeking public comment on changes for the 2013-14 wolf hunting and trapping seasons.
 
For the upcoming seasons, archery only hunting would run from Sept. 7 through Sept. 14. The general hunting season would follow and run Sept. 15 through March 31, 2014. The trapping season would run Dec. 15 through Feb. 28, 2014 and those new to wolf trapping would have to complete an education course to participate.
 
Hunting and trapping of wolves is provided for in Montana’s wolf conservation and management plan. Over the course of Montana’s 2012-13 wolf seasons, hunters harvested 128 wolves and trappers took 97 wolves.
 
The overall bag limit for the upcoming seasons would be five wolves per person in any combination of wolves taken by hunting or trapping.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/mzmy86j
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Wolf hunt proposal draws mixed response in Bitterroot Valley
 
May 23, Ravalli Republic (Billings Gazette)
 
http://tinyurl.com/mv6rktp
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Wolf plan draws interest in Jackson
 
By Rebecca Huntington May 29, 2013 Wyoming Public Media
 
A Jackson meeting last night drew 70 people, who showed up to comment on the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's latest plan to manage wolves.
 
It was the biggest turnout so far for eight meetings being held across the state to take comment on plans to cut wolf-hunting quotas. Rancher Glenn Taylor echoed the feelings of many ranchers and hunters in the room.   
 
"My message is, we need to manage the wolves.
 
Game and Fish is on the right track. Quota is not enough, but management is the key," said Taylor.
 
State officials are proposing cutting the quota in half, dropping it from 52 wolves, down to 26 in the trophy game area.   
 
Unlimited killing will still be allowed across the state.  But officials want to make sure they maintain enough wolves to avoid the federal government stepping back in and taking control.
 
Conservationists supported dropping the quota, but wanted to see numbers cut even more near national parks and places popular with wildlife watchers. They said the state needs to value visitors, who come spend money to view wildlife, especially wolves.
 
Game and Fish is accepting public comment on the proposal June 12.
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June 2, 2013
 
Lower wolf hunt quota right idea temporarily
 
May 31, 2013 - Anthony F. Duarte, Riverton Daily Ranger
 
Editor:
 
I would like to comment about the newspaper editorial from earlier this month about hunting quotas for wolves, and the responding letter from Mr. Ron Collins.
 
Mr. Collins pointed out an error in the editorial, but I expect that the writer was responding to news coverage which touched on hunting results in specific zones, rather than the entire licensed area.
 
In some areas, the wolf quotas were met fully and very quickly. This is what the state's wolf managers are concerned about, which I took to be the point of the editorial as well.
 
The point is not a Trivial Pursuit question about which quotas were filled where, but actually about how many wolves should be hunted this year. I have shot some deer during my life, but I don't expect I'll ever hunt a wolf. I thought about what I read, and I concluded that I agreed with the editorial's position that's the second time around this year should not be an all-out, gung-ho, hunting season.
 
As the editorial pointed out, we are supposed be in this for the long haul. The idea is to hunt just enough wolves to keep the numbers down, and just few enough to make sure that they don't go down far enough to have to be relisted again as endangered. This, I believe, is a wise move for Wyoming, and probably will be next year, too.
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Washington state wrestles with wolf resurgence
 
May 25, 2013 By Rich Landers - The Spokesman-Review
 
“Wolves are the most challenging wildlife issue on the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department’s plate this year, bar none,” says Nate Pamplin, assistant director. “And we don’t want to be alone in it.”
 
Wolves also pose the most divisive wildlife issues, he said in a presentation to sportsmen in Spokane recently.
 
Moose also are a species of concern this year, as states to the east through Minnesota are devoting millions of dollars to study declines in the largest member of the deer family, said Rich Harris, the agency’s special species specialist.
 
“We haven’t documented a decline in Washington moose,” he said. “But we we’re working to get a better picture.”
 
Understaffed and underfunded Washington Fish and Wildlife Department biologists are asking the public to help monitor both of these marquee species.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/lpm2tja
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June 3, 2013
 
American Indian Tribes To Challenge Michigan Wolf Hunt
 
By Rick Pluta June 3, 2013 WKAR
 
Five Michigan Indian tribes have decided to challenge the state’s decision to hold a wolf hunt in the western UP this coming fall.
 
As we hear from The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta, they say the wolf hunt violates a treaty.
 
Specifically, the tribes of the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority say the state did not consult with them in a meaningful way before establishing a gray wolf season, and that’s required by a 2007 consent decree.       
 
Aaron Payment leads the Sault Sainte Marie Tribe of Chippewas. He says the wolf is sacred in tribal culture and the hunting season disrespects that.
 
“The five tribes that are a party to the consent decree are unified that we are going to take some steps, and we’re not exactly sure what that is at this point, but we’re not happy with the outcome,” he says.
 
Payment says the treaty gives the tribes options including mediating a resolution or going to court.
 
The state says the tribes were consulted as part of the process that set up a wolf season in the western UP.