Gray Wolf News "The latest in the Wolf Wars"

[bearpaw]

June 4, 2013
 
How close is close enough for gray wolf recovery? It's Interior's call
 
Phil Taylor, Greenwire: Tuesday, June 4, 2013
 
The Obama administration is expected to decide soon whether to maintain federal protection for wolves in the lower 48 states, a decision it says will be based on science but which depends largely on how much recovery is enough for the iconic species -- a question science is loath to answer.
 
In a draft rule leaked months ago, the Interior Department proposed removing Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves everywhere except a small pocket in New Mexico and Arizona, arguing that wolves have mounted a successful recovery in the northern Rockies and western Great Lakes, where they had been nearly extirpated in the early 1900s.
 
In the past two years, the species was removed from the endangered species list in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, where wolves number nearly 1,700, and Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, where there are more than 4,000 of the animals.
 
But removing protections in the remaining 42 states has sparked a backlash from environmental groups and some biologists, who argue that the carnivore has yet to return to many parts of the country where it still belongs.
 
Amid the blowback, the administration told a federal court in late May that its decision had been indefinitely delayed, a move that raised hope among environmentalists that newly confirmed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell was considering shelving the rule.
 
But that optimism has faded, according to Don Barry, executive vice president at Defenders of Wildlife, who said yesterday he believes the White House has given Interior the green light to officially propose the delisting.
 
Continued:
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059982240
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Billboards around Yellowstone Park urge end to wolf hunts.
 
Predator Defense is using billboards in five locations near Yellowstone National Park entrances in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho to urge people to speak out to end wolf hunts, and Big Game Forever, a sportsmen's group, is planning to put its own message on billboards in Montana and Idaho in support of such hunts.
 
Bozeman Daily Chronicle; June 4, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/ld8tfes
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Ghosts Of the Rockies ~ second trailer
 
Published on Jun 2, 2013 Rockholm66
 
This is another peek into our latest film project. Wolf introduction into the Northern Rockies was/is a criminal enterprise. A handful of rogue Federal employees of the USFWS participated in fraudulent science, corrupting state game agencies along the way, and violated laws implementing their draconian wolf policy. We expose these frauds in this film, and we intend to urge the Legislatures in each state to sue the Federal Government. Once this film is released, you will see many high level state and Federal wildlife employees retire or exit their positions as soon as possible, to avoid possible legal action for participating in the fraud that lead to the destruction of state game populations. We have spent four years investigating this crime, and hundreds of hours filming witness testimony.
 
8:55 minute video:
Ghosts Of the Rockies~second trailer
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June 5, 2013
 
Group submits proposed ballot initiative to ban trapping on public lands in Montana
 
By MATT VOLZ - Associated Press June 05, 2013
 
HELENA, Montana — State officials are reviewing a proposed initiative for the 2014 ballot that would ban animal trapping on public lands in Montana.
 
A similar initiative failed to qualify for the 2010 election, but the issue has since received widespread attention because of the state's decision to allow wolf trapping for the first time during the 2012-13 hunting season.
 
Trappers say it is a necessary wildlife management tool that helps sustain and maintain some animal populations by keeping others, such as wolves, in check.
 
Trappers were responsible for 97 of the 225 wolves killed during the hunting season, and they were instrumental in reducing the predators' population in the state by 4 percent.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/kk5pwn3
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June 7, 2013
 
Plan would lift wolf protections nationwide
 
KTVB and Associated Press June 7, 2013
 
BILLINGS, Mont. -- The Obama administration is proposing to lift most remaining federal protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states almost four decades after they were added to the endangered species list.
 
An official announcement is scheduled Friday. It's unclear how the announcement would affect wolf regulation in Idaho.
 
More than 6,100 wolves roam parts of the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes. That includes wolves in the state of Idaho, whose population is estimated at about 1,000.
 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that those populations are robust enough to stave off extinction.
 
Federal protections would remain only for a fledgling population of Mexican gray wolves in the desert Southwest. Some prominent scientists and dozens of lawmakers in Congress want broader protections to remain in place so wolves can expand, including in the Northeast and along the West Coast.
 
In 1995, a federal wolf recovery program was established in which 35 wolves were released into the State of Idaho, according to the Idaho Governor's Office of Species Concern. According to that same report, 30 more wolves were released into Yellowstone National Park that same year.
 
Wolves were delisted in Idaho in April of 2011. Hunting and trapping seasons for Idaho wolves have been observed in 2011-12 and 2012-13.
 
As of June, 6 2013, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game reports 319 wolves harvested in Idaho through a combination of hunting and trapping during the 2012-13 wolf season.
 
The department reports 379 were harvested during the 2011-12 season.
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APNewsBreak: Government plans to end remaining gray wolf protections across most of Lower 48
 
By MATTHEW BROWN and JOHN FLESHER - Associated Press June 07, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/mwb46j2
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Proposed US wolf rule ends protection for wolves that reach the Northeast
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 07, 2013
 
MONTPELIER, Vermont — A rule being proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove most species of wolves from the endangered species list would end federal protection for any wolves that move into upstate New York or northern New England from Canada or elsewhere.
 
Fish and Wildlife Service officials made the announcement Friday.
 
They said the protection offered by the Endangered Species Act is no longer needed because wolves in the upper Great Lakes and several western states have rebounded over the last several decades.
 
There are no breeding populations of wolves in the Northeast, but occasionally individuals find their way into the region from Canada.
 
Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species expert Mark McCollough says biologists in Maine are investigating a possible wolf sighting in Wilson's Mills from last winter.
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Mexican gray wolves would have more room to roam in Southwest under federal proposal
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 07, 2013 
 
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Endangered Mexican gray wolves would have more room to roam in the Southwest under a proposal unveiled Friday.
 
The provisions regarding the Mexican wolves are part of a plan proposed by the Obama administration that calls for lifting most of the remaining federal protections for gray wolves.
 
Protections would remain only for the fledgling population of Mexican wolves in Arizona and New Mexico. The plan would also allow for captive Mexican wolves to be released in New Mexico and for the wolves to roam outside the current Blue Range recovery area — two changes that independent scientists and environmentalists have been pushing for over the past decade.
 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Benjamin Tuggle said managers in the Southwest need more flexibility.
 
"When you look at our ability to have initial releases within the limited area that we have, it has sort of hamstrung us to a degree," Tuggle said. "If we expand those opportunities, we sort of minimize the potential of conflicts on the landscape."
 
A subspecies of the gray wolf found in the Northern Rockies, the Mexican wolf was added to the federal endangered species list in 1976. The 15-year effort to reintroduce them has stumbled due to legal battles, illegal shootings, politics and other problems.
 
The proposal calls for expanding the area where the wolves could roam to include parts of the Cibola National Forest in central New Mexico and the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. In all, there would be a tenfold increase in the area where biologists are working to rebuild the population.
 
Environmentalists welcomed the prospect of expansion, but they voiced concerns about provisions that could create loopholes that would expand circumstances in which wolves could be killed for attacking livestock or for other reasons.
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House passes bill allowing ranchers to kill wolves attacking livestock
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 06, 2013 
 
SALEM, Oregon — The Oregon House has passed a bill that would put into law some of the terms of a legal settlement that lifts an injunction barring the state from killing wolves that attack livestock.
 
The bill (HB 3452) passed Thursday by a vote of 57-2, and now goes to the Senate.
 
Conservation groups reached the deal with the state and the Oregon Cattlemen's Association last month. It will lift an injunction that has been in force more than a year.
 
The bill would give ranchers authority to shoot wolves seen attacking livestock, but only if the ranchers have taken non-lethal measures to keep wolves away, and wolf attacks have become chronic.
 
On Friday, the state Fish and Wildlife Commission takes up similar regulations covering when the state can kill wolves.
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June 8, 2013
 
Move to end gray wolf recovery efforts would lift protections across most of Lower 48
 
By JOHN FLESHER and MATTHEW BROWN - Associated Press June 08, 2013
 
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan — Federal officials are declaring victory in their four-decade campaign to rescue the gray wolf, a predator the government once considered a nuisance and tried to exterminate.
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday proposed removing the animal's remaining protections as an endangered species across the Lower 48 states. The exception would be in the Southwest, where the recovery effort for the related Mexican gray wolf is lagging.
 
Despite criticism from some scientists and members of Congress who consider the move premature, agency director Dan Ashe said the wolf can thrive and even enlarge its territory without continued federal protection.
 
"Taking this step fulfills the commitment we've made to the American people — to set biologically sound recovery goals and return wolves to state management when those goals have been met and threats to the species' future have been addressed," Ashe said.
 
The proposal will be subject to a 90-day public comment period and a final decision made within a year.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/mm3f3dz
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Ore. Fish and Wildlife Commission adopts rules called for in wolf settlement
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 07, 2013
 
GRANTS PASS, Oregon — The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has adopted temporary rules putting in place terms of a settlement to a lawsuit that had barred state biologists from killing wolves that attack livestock.
 
The commission approved the rules at its regular meeting in Tigard. It will take up permanent rules later this year.
 
Conservation groups negotiated a settlement with the state and the Oregon Cattlemen's Association that makes killing wolves a last resort. Ranchers must first use non-lethal measures to protect their herds. And a pack must attack a herd four times before it can come under a kill order.
 
For the past year, Oregon has been the only state where wolves could not be killed for attacking livestock. During that time, livestock attacks went down while the wolf population went up.
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[bearpaw]

June 9, 2013
 
Gray Wolves Would Be Removed From Endangered Species List Under New Plan
 
June 07, 2013 Indian Country Today Media Network
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed taking the gray wolf off the federal Endangered Species List, saying it is no longer in danger of extinction, and replacing it with the Mexican wolf, a species under siege.
 
The move, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe in a teleconference with reporters, allows the agency to focus on the much more endangered Mexican wolf.
 
Gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains and the western Great Lakes are already out from under federal protection. Today’s announcement lifts the federal restrictions from all lower 48 states. The wolves will still be managed, Ashe said, but the states will do it. Tribes are also important in these efforts, he said.
 
Working with state partners in Arizona and New Mexico, “our goal is to reinvigorate our Mexican wolf recovery program,” Ashe said. “No one is suggesting” that gray wolves require less protection, but the question is whether they still require federal protection, he added.
 
Tribal input will be key during both the gray wolf’s transition away from federal management and the Mexican wolf’s continued regeneration, Ashe said.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/n9fxoqv

[haus]

Good to see Rock is still fighting the socialists 

[villageidiot]

As I understand it, they are Proposing this.  So if I get it right it may take a year to actually get it done?  I suspect they will get sued by the cons. groups again.  They won't be happy till we have as many wolves as houseflies.  They worship wolves!

[bearpaw]

June 10, 2013
 
FWS proposed wolf delisting
 
Mexican wolves would remain protected
 
by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service press release June 9, 2013
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today (June 8, 2013) proposed to remove the gray wolf (Canis lupus) from the list of threatened and endangered species. The proposal comes after a comprehensive review confirmed its successful recovery following management actions undertaken by federal, state and local partners following the wolf’s listing under the Endangered Species Act over three decades ago. The Service is also proposing to maintain protection and expand recovery efforts for the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) in the Southwest, where it remains endangered.
 
Under the proposal, state wildlife management agency professionals would resume responsibility for management and protection of gray wolves in states where wolves occur. The proposed rule is based on the best science available and incorporates new information about the gray wolf’s current and historical distribution in the contiguous United States and Mexico. It focuses the protection on the Mexican wolf, the only remaining entity that warrants protection under the Act, by designating the Mexican wolf as an endangered subspecies.
 
In the Western Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains, the gray wolf has rebounded from the brink of extinction to exceed population targets by as much as 300 percent. Gray wolf populations in the Northern Rocky Mountain Distinct and Western Great Lakes Population Segments were removed from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in 2011 and 2012.
 
"From the moment a species requires the protection of the Endangered Species Act, our goal is to work with our partners to address the threats it faces and ensure its recovery," said Service Director Dan Ashe. "An exhaustive review of the latest scientific and taxonomic information shows that we have accomplished that goal with the gray wolf, allowing us to focus our work under the ESA on recovery of the Mexican wolf subspecies in the Southwest."
 
Continued:
http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2013/06/FWSproposedwolfdelis.htm
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Washington wolf packs producing pups
 
by Rich Landers June 5, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
Half of Washington’s 10 confirmed wolf packs are believed to have had pups this spring, including those in the Lookout territory of western Okanogan County for the first time in three years, according to a report by Andy Walgamott of Northwest Sportsman magazine.
 
Donny Martorello, WDFW’s wolf manager, told Walgamott the Teanaway pack in the Central Cascades, and Huckleberry, Smackout and Diamond packs in northeastern Washington are the other packs that appear to have litters, based on denning activity, GPS telemetry data clustering around one spot in a territory, and, in the case of the Lookout Pack, a photo of a lactating female.
 
That means the state's wolf population is suddenly increased by at least 20-30.
 
The reproductive status of the Salmo, Wenatchee and Wedge wolves and the Colville Tribes’ Nc’icn and Strawberry packs is unknown at this time, Martorello told NW Sportsman.
 
Five successful breeding pairs, including Teanaway, Huckleberry, Smackout, Diamond and Nc’icn, were reported in Washington in December in the 2012 state-tribal report to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
 
Source w/photo:
http://tinyurl.com/p4tx3ap
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Wolf 'massacre' leaves over 20 sheep dead
 
10 Jun 2013 The Local (Sweden)
 
A farmer in southern Sweden awoke on Sunday to find over 20 of his sheep slaughtered in what is believed to be a wolf attack. Experts have warned farmers in the area to be vigilant as the wolf will likely attack again.
 
The attack occurred at a farmyard in Hestra, southern Sweden, with 21 of the farmers 25 sheep either killed or so close to death that they needed to be put down.
 
"It's still shocking, it feels like a nightmare," farm owner Anders Svensson told Sveriges Radio (SR).
 
"There are dead sheep and lambs everywhere. They're floating in the pond... It's a terrible sight, like a massacre."
 
An animal expert at the County Administrative Board (Lansstyrelsen) Linda Andersson has visited the scene and is convinced that a wolf was behind the gruesome attack.
 
"There is no doubt that it's a wolf that has attacked the sheep, you can tell by the powerful bites on the necks and the backs of the sheep," she told SR.
 
"(The farmers) have reason to be concerned now, the wolf is in the area and it is very likely that it will attack again. That's usually how it is with wolves."
 
Andersson warned that farmers in the area should also inspect their fences to ensure no wolves will be able to get access to their sheep.
 
Source:
http://www.thelocal.se/48404/20130610/
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June 11, 2013
 
Study: Yellowstone wolves don't frighten female elk enough to affect their health or pregnancy
 
By MEAD GRUVER - Associated Press June 11, 2013
 
CHEYENNE, Wyoming — Wolves don't appear to startle female elk that range east of Yellowstone National Park sufficiently or frequently enough during the winter to cause them to lose weight and reduce their ability to carry fetuses to birth in the springtime, according to a study released Tuesday.
 
Previous studies offered no consensus on whether Yellowstone's reintroduced wolves have caused "non-consumptive" effects — impacts of predators on prey besides killing them — on the area's elk.
 
Some biologists have theorized that Yellowstone's wolves create an environment of fear sufficient to make elk less able to forage, get enough nutrition and reproduce.
 
But researcher Arthur Middleton and others who monitored wolves and elk in an area about 30 miles east of Yellowstone from January through March of 2008, 2009 and 2010 reached the opposite conclusion: wolves don't harm elk with fright.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/lzaw5rf
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Coalition still campaigning against wolf hunt after state panel OKs season for this fall in UP
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 11, 2013
 
LANSING, Michigan — A coalition that opposes hunting wolves in Michigan is still making its case even though officials have scheduled a hunt for later this year.
 
The Keep Michigan Wolves Protected campaign is holding forums this week in Kalamazoo, Clarkston and Woodhaven. Organizers say they'll focus on the ecological and cultural value of wolves and provide information about the hunt.
 
The coalition includes animal welfare groups, conservationists, Native American tribes and faith leaders. They gathered more than 255,000 signatures seeking a statewide vote on a new law designating the wolf as a game species.
 
But legislators rushed through another measure that would make the referendum meaningless by allowing the Natural Resources Commission to establish a hunt. The commission last month scheduled an Upper Peninsula hunt for Nov. 15 to Dec. 31.
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The Tale of the Non-Endangered Gray Wolf
 
June 10, 2013 by Donna Laframboise -
A few days ago the Wall Street Journal published a charming and amusing story in which the narrator is a wolf. A four-year-old, gray male wolf, to be exact.
 
Fitted with a GPS tracking collar while still a pup, this wolf is known to the wildlife authorities who monitor his movements as OR7.
 
Everyone agrees it had been more than 80 years since any confirmed sighting of a gray wolf in California. Thus, when this particular wolf crossed the Oregon border into the Golden State in late December 2011, he became a minor celebrity.
 
OR7 has since returned to Oregon, but his visit served as a catalyst. It caused four environmental organizations to take leave of their senses.
 
Continued w/links:
http://tinyurl.com/kmb9cwm
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June 12, 2013
 
Our View: Delisting wolves a smart move
 
By Editorial Board - Ogden Standard-Examiner Wed, 06/12/2013
 
The Obama administration’s proposal to lift most of the federal protections for gray wolves is a sensible decision. Federal protection status is not meant to be permanent; the gray wolf is no longer endangered. It’s time for states, including Utah, to be able to manage the wolf population.
 
The gray wolf’s tenure with federal protection has been long, almost 40 years, and many — including national Utah pols Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Rob Bishop — have called for delisting. In fact, 72 members of the U.S. Congress, from both parties, urged for the delisting of the wolves. Whether it’s a bald eagle, a grizzly bear, a wolf, or another species, once the protected species has recovered, the feds should reduce oversight.
 
And that’s the case with gray wolves. There are more than 6,100 roaming the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes. These wolves are currently roaming only a small portion of the lands they have historically used. The wolves — as expected — will expand their roaming area and migrate into other states, including Utah. There’s a lot of territory for the wolves to roam. Packs have formed in Washington and Oregon and Utah is among several states that have seen individual sightings of the gray wolf. Obviously, livestock will need to be protected from wolves.
 
“If wolves make their way to Utah, balancing the number of wolves with the amount of prey that’s available to them needs to be the focus,” said John Shivik, mammals coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. And if many wolves come to Utah, we’re confident that our state officials can manage the population.  The job of the feds in building up the gray wolf population is over. It’s time for the states to capably manage the wild animals. That’s a proper distinction between federal responsibilities and state responsibilities.
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Federal agency says fewer red wolf litters, pups recorded in NC in 2013 than in recent years
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 12, 2013
 
COLUMBIA, North Carolina — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the number of red wolf pups and litters is down slightly this year in eastern North Carolina compared to recent years.
 
The agency says 34 pups in seven litters were found this year, compared to 39 pups in nine litters last year and 40 pups from 10 litters in 2011. In 2010, the agency recorded 43 pups from nine litters.
 
The Red Wolf Recovery Program also reported 23 pups from four litters born in zoos and nature centers participating in the Species Survival Plan captive breeding program.
 
About 100 red wolves live in five northeastern counties. Their habitat includes national wildlife refuges, a Department of Defense bombing range, state-owned lands and private property.

[bearpaw]

June 13, 2013
 
USU wolf expert: State can manage wild animals better than feds can
 
By Nancy Van Valkenburg - Ogden Standard-Examiner Thu, 06/13/2013
 
LOGAN — The proposed delisting of gray wolves from the endangered species list has drawn vocal reactions from conservationists who want the wolves to remain protected, from livestock producers who lose animals to wolves, and from members of the general public, some of whom may have formed views based on romantic, Hollywood depictions of wolves.
 
Dan MacNulty, a Utah State University faculty member involved with the Yellowstone Wolf Project since 1995, sees strong benefits to the delisting, which will allow people to kill unwanted wolves. The Interior Department proposed the delisting last week.
 
“Without question, bringing back gray wolves was a success,” MacNulty said.
 
“What the debate is really about is where we want wolves in the lower 48 states, and where we don’t. That’s an important conversation to have. The question is whether or not the federal government is going to be directing that conversation, or states are.”
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/lfrm4mh
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Fish and Wildlife Endorses Wolf settlement - Spokane, North Idaho ...
 
Jun 07, 2013 KHQ
 
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has adopted temporary rules putting in place terms of a settlement to a lawsuit that had barred state biologists from killing wolves that attack livestock.
 
The commission approved the rules at its regular meeting in Tigard. It will take up permanent rules later this year.
 
Conservation groups negotiated a settlement with the state and the Oregon Cattlemen's Association that makes killing wolves a last resort. Ranchers must first use non-lethal measures to protect their herds. And a pack must attack a herd four times before it can come under a kill order.
 
For the past year, Oregon has been the only state where wolves could not be killed for attacking livestock. During that time, livestock attacks went down while the wolf population went up.
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Feds decide not to release pair of Mexican gray wolves in Apache National Forest
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 12, 2013 
 
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — It's back to captivity for a pair of Mexican gray wolves that federal wildlife managers had planned to release in Arizona's Apache National Forest.
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that the male and female wolves will not be released.
 
The pair had been transported from a captive breeding facility in New Mexico to southeastern Arizona in late April. The wolves have spent the last six weeks in a temporary pen so they could acclimate to their new surroundings.
 
Officials say the female was pregnant at the time of the relocation but the pups did not survive.
 
Another pack of wild wolves also acted aggressively toward the pair, suggesting that the release might prompt a battle over territory.
 
Officials say they will look for another opportunity to release the pair.
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6 Gray wolves born in Mexico
 
June 13, 2013 Global Post
 
Mexico City, Jun 13 (EFE).- Six Mexican gray wolves, a species on the brink of extinction, were born in a nature reserve in the northern state of Sonora, a state environmental official said.
 
"The birth of these pups is a big accomplishment for the conservation of an extinct species in its natural habitat," Sonora Environmental Commission director Oscar Tellez told Efe.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/mrwa28r
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June 14, 2013
 
NCBA, PLC call for full delisting of wolves nationwide
 
High Plains Journal June 14, 2013
 
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Public Lands Council expressed support for proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the gray wolf from the list of threatened and endangered species. The livestock associations added, however, that Mexican wolves in the Southwest should also be delisted. In their announcement, FWS stated the Mexican wolf will remain on the list of endangered species.
 
The wolf, placed on the list of endangered species under the Endangered Species Act over three decades ago, has far surpassed FWS recovery goals across the country, according to NCBA president and Wyoming rancher, Scott George. He added that, unlike most other species listed under the ESA, wolves pose a serious threat to wildlife, humans and private property, especially livestock.
 
“It’s time to turn management over to the states,” George said. “Wolf depredation of livestock is increasing to untenable levels in areas where wolves are still protected. We were given relief in Wyoming when it was finally delisted here. It’s only fair to allow all producers across the country that same relief.”
 
According to FWS, the proposal to delist the gray wolf comes after a “comprehensive review confirmed its successful recovery following management actions undertaken by federal, state and local partners.”
 
However, FWS added that it intends to maintain protection status and expand recovery efforts for the Mexican wolf in the Southwest.
 
PLC President Brice Lee, a rancher from Colorado, said that wolves in the Southwest have also recovered and do not warrant federal protection.
 
“The wolf population in Arizona and New Mexico has almost doubled in the last three years, thanks to the work of the state fish and game departments,” Lee said. “We feel that at a certain point, it’s possible to over-study and over-capture these animals. It’s time to stop with these government studies and allow them be truly wild, while the state departments continue their successful management.”
 
Lee stated that the FWS does not have the resources to continue managing the wolf as endangered, let alone compensate ranchers for their losses. Studies have shown, he said, that for every confirmed kill of livestock there are seven to eight that go unconfirmed.
 
“We appreciate FWS’ recognition that the gray wolf is recovered,” George said. “But it’s also time to end the unwarranted listing of Mexican wolf. Wolf depredation threatens ranchers’ livelihoods and rural communities, as well as the economies relying on a profitable agricultural industry.”
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June 15, 2013
 
Montana Conservationist Accused Of Declaring War On Wolves
 
by Robert Ferris June 15, 2013 Business Insider
 
Many conservationists are furious over a recent proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service to drop the gray wolf from the endangered species list.
 
At least one group of conservationists, however, also supports dropping federal protection for wolves. They are the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, led by hunter David Allen.
 
“The recovery has surpassed the agreed upon recovery goals by 500%,” Allen told Business Insider. “It is time to let the states do their job.”
 
Allen's controversial stance has alienated some former supporters of the Elk Foundation, who accuse him of turning the conservation group into a pro-hunting lobby. The family of famed wildlife biologist Olaus J. Murie pulled money last year for its annual Elk Foundation award on account of the organization's "all-out war against wolves," according to the Montana Pioneer.
 
Allen insists that he really is looking out for the environment.
 
Continued w/links to more info (scroll down):
http://tinyurl.com/lvtukwt

[bearpaw]

June 17, 2013
 
Missoula-based elk foundation donates $50K to Montana to manage wolves.
 
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation donated $50,000 to Montana, Fish, Wildlife and Parks to expand its program of radio-collaring wolves.
 
Billings Gazette; June 17, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/kxv3mh3
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Local Mexican gray wolf population remains low
 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife look to leave subspecies on endangered species list
 
Matthew Smith, Good Morning El Paso Jun 17, 2013
 
EL PASO, Texas - In early June, Federal officials declared a victory following a four-decade campaign to rescue the gray wolf.
 
It has been a long journey for the gray wolf. One considered a dangerous predator by the government there were attempts to exterminate the wolves.
 
This month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed removing the animal’s remaining protections as an endangered species across the Lower 48 states. The exception would be in the Southwest, where the recovery effort for the related Mexican gray wolf is lagging.
 
Dan Ashe, the agency’s director, said the wolf can thrive without further protection.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/luesnby
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June 18, 2013
 
Support delisting of wolves
 
Missoulian Editorial June 18, 2013
 
The U.S. government once sponsored the wholesale eradication of wolves by any means, be it poisoning, trapping or shooting. It was only right, then, that the U.S. government step up to restore the animals they once helped drive to extinction.
 
Now, that work is done. With more than 6,000 wolves at last count, the species is no longer in danger of extinction in the Lower 48. Federal protections have been removed in a handful of states already, with full delisting on the horizon.
 
Draft plans to fully delist gray wolves in the Lower 48 were first discussed back in April. On Thursday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published its proposed rule in the Federal Register, thus opening the 90-day public comment period.
 
If the rule is accepted, individual states will assume full responsibility for managing their wolf populations, much as Montana has already done. One particular subspecies of gray wolves in the Southwest will be the lone exception. This group of about 75 Mexican wolves would still be protected under the Endangered Species Act.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/jwccjjf
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Proposed Removal of Gray Wolves’ Endangered Status a Case Study in the Politicization of Science
 
US Fish and Wildlife Service relies on taxonomical shenanigans to appease wolf haters
 
by James William Gibson – June 17, 2013 Earth Island Journal
 
The US Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent announcement that it is beginning the process for removing gray wolves across the country from the protection of the Endangered Species Act surprised no one. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s mid-1990s reintroduction of gray wolves — a species virtually extirpated in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries — into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho marked a triumph for conservationists and ranks as one of the most striking fulfillments of the Endangered Species Act. But as I have reported here and here, the wolves quickly met enemies.
 
By the early 2000s a loose coalition of hunters’ groups, outfitters, and ranchers — along with the many disaffected men embracing militia groups, local “sovereignty” and states rights, particularly rights to use public lands without federal regulation — coalesced around the idea that wolves represented icons of the hated federal government. The wolves, they all-but-screamed, constituted lethal threats to deer and elk, livestock, and ultimately, people. The long, bitter wolf war reached its climax in the summer of 2011, when Congress took the unprecedented act of removing the wolf populations of the Northern Rockies from the endangered species list. In May 2011, the Fish and Wildlife Service, weary of the many problems involved in wolf management (or, rather, public relations management), delisted gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes states, where some 4,400 wolves resided.   Idaho, Montana and Wyoming subsequently initiated hunts and the use of government marksmen to reduce wolf numbers from around 1,700 to a much lower level.
 
The FWS’s proposed delisting of gray wolves across the country is simply the continuation of the agency’s long retreat in the face of wolf hater intimidation. Still, it’s important to understand how the FWS legitimizes its abandonment of wolves. A close examination of the FWS’ proposed rule change is a case study in the politicization of science. The FWS report excels at cherry picking, choosing certain scientific studies while rejecting others. It’s also an excellent example of bureaucratic hand-waving, simply dismissing long established facts whenever they become inconvenient. The final result is like a weird game of scientific Twister: The FWS bends itself into all sorts of contortions to conform to a political agenda.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/lr34ozv
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June 19, 2013
 
Banff motorcyclist pursued by ‘massive’ grey wolf along stretch of B.C. highway, takes pictures
 
Tristin Hopper 2013/06/14 National Post Canada
 
Last Saturday, Banff mechanic Tim Bartlett was christening a new motorcycle through the Rocky Mountains when he had a rare wildlife encounter that was equal parts terrifying and enchanting. On a stretch of British Columbia’s Highway 93, a massive grey wolf emerged from the trees, lunged at his speeding ride and chased after him at full speed as he pulled away.
 
The story would have become little more than another legend clanging around the roadhouses of Western Canada if Mr. Bartlett had not whipped a camera out of his top pocket to record the event for posterity; capturing a series of rare snapshots that have since been beamed around the world. The Post’s Tristin Hopper reached him by phone on Friday morning.
 
Continued w/photos:
http://tinyurl.com/kg7xnge

[bearpaw]

June 21, 2013
 
4 wolves killed after livestock deaths
 
Kill order remains in place for wolves near Silver Creek
 
By GREG MOORE Idaho Mountain Express Friday, June 21, 2013
 
Four wolves—one near Carey and three in the Sawtooth Valley—have been killed in recent weeks due to depredation on cattle and sheep. All were killed by Idaho Wildlife Services on private land.
 
According to the agency’s director, Todd Grimm, a female wolf was trapped and killed May 29 on the Flat Top Ranch following a complaint by ranch owner John Peavey that he had lost more than two dozen lambs and ewes. Peavey said he protects the bands with people, spotlights and guard dogs, but he was criticized by wolf advocates for allowing his ewes to give birth on the range rather than in sheds.
 
Grimm said the wolf had had pups this spring, but was not lactating at the time she was trapped and killed.
 
“Either the pups were no longer nursing or they had already died,” he said.
 
Continued:
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005147792
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June 22, 2013
 
Man vs. Wolf
 
Loved and hated, the gray wolf finds itself a target for hunters as advocates call for continued protection
 
Jacob Jones June 19, 2013 - Inlander
 
Robert Roman cradles a pale wolf skull in his upturned palm. He does not hate wolves, he says, gripping the hollow eye sockets and turning the bleached bone in his hands. Perhaps God just built the wolf too well.
 
Working along the ragged jawline, Roman runs his thumb against the curved point of each tooth, edged almost like knives.
 
“These are for cutting,” he says. “These are for ripping.”
 
With powerful jaws and sharp instincts, wolves prey upon animals many times their size. Long-legged and swift, they run down moose, elk and deer. They tear flesh and crush bone.
 
Continued:
http://www.inlander.com/spokane/article-19423-man-vs-wolf.html
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Wolf People Center
 
by YOUNG.KWAK Fri, Jun. 21, 2013 - Inlander
 
This week, Jacob Jones examines the controversy over wolf management in Idaho. Wolves were driven to extinction in Idaho by settlers in the early 1900s. The federal government reintroduced wolves, who were on the endangered species list, to the state in the 1990s. The photos below are from Wolf People, a center in Cocolalla, Idaho, where visitors can get close to wolves and learn about them. Photos by Young Kwak.
 
http://www.inlander.com/spokane/blog-8783-photos-wolf-people-c.html
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Pets, livestock dying as wolf delisting debate continues
 
By Scott Sandsberry June 16, 2013 Yakima Herald-Republic
 
When a predator fatally injured her 4-day-old colt one late night two weeks ago, Barb Wolfe was — legally, anyway — helpless to stop it.
 
Even had she reached her horse pen in time to get off a rifle shot at the attacker, she might not have been able to tell whether it was a cougar, as state officials believe, or a wolf, as Wolfe believes.
 
Had it been the latter, Wolfe, who lives up a winding canyon south of Wenatchee, would have come face-to-face with a conundrum unique to the Cascades’ eastern slopes.
 
This is the only area in the United States with a population of resident wolves against which neither landowners nor state wildlife officials can use lethal force to defend a domestic animal.
 
“I couldn’t even shoot in the direction of a wolf, so basically my hands are tied,” Wolfe said, noting her frustration over “not being able to protect our livestock.”
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/lfrnxax
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Northeast Zone Weekly Hunting Report
 
ODFW News Release June 20, 2013
 
Wolves in Northeast Oregon
 
Wolves are protected by state law and it is unlawful to shoot them. Coyote hunters in northeastern Oregon need to take extra care to identify their target as wolves can look like coyotes, especially wolf pups in the mid-summer and fall. ODFW needs hunters’ assistance to establish wolves’ presence in Oregon; please report any wolf sightings or wolf sign to La Grande office (541) 963-2138 or online.
 
Excerpted from:
http://tinyurl.com/mdnv4t6
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June 23, 2013
 
The Red Queen was right: Life must continually evolve to avoid extinction
 
By Robert Sanders, UC Berkley June 20, 2013
 
BERKELEY — The death of individual species shouldn’t be the only concern for biologists worried about animal groups, such as frogs or the “big cats,” going extinct. A University of California, Berkeley, study has found that a lack of new, emerging species also contributes to extinction.
 
“Virtually no biologist thinks about the failure to originate as being a major factor in the long term causes of extinction,” said Charles Marshall, director of the UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology and professor of integrative biology, and co-author of the report. “But we found that a decrease in the origin of new species is just as important as increased extinction rate in driving mammals to extinction.”
 
The effects of such a decrease would play out over millions of years, Marshall said, not rapidly, like the global change Earth is experiencing from human activities. Yet, the findings should help biologists understand the pressures on today’s flora and fauna and what drove evolution and extinction in the past, he added.
 
The results, published June 20 in the journal Science Express, come from a study of 19 groups of mammals that either are extinct or, in the case of horses, elephants, rhinos and others, are in decline from a past peak in diversity. All are richly represented in the fossil record and had their origins sometime in the last 66 million years, during the Cenozoic Era.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/lejxcs2
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Pair of Mexican wolves will not be released into the Apache National Forest at this time
 
JUNE 19, 2013 Sonoran News
 
PHOENIX – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has determined that a pair of wolves will not be released into the wild at this time. The pair, M1051 and F1126, was brought to an acclimation pen at the Corduroy Creek release site in Arizona on April 26, 2013. After spending over six weeks in the acclimation pen, the Service will transfer the pair back to a Service-approved pre-release facility and will seek opportunities for another release in the future.
 
Release sites are selected in unoccupied wolf habitat where prey is available and the potential for conflict with humans, livestock and other packs is reduced. The 15-year history of the Mexican wolf reintroduction project has shown that naïve wolves are most successful when released as pairs with pups. The female of this pair was pregnant at the time of transfer to the acclimation pen, however, the pups born to F1126 did not survive.
 
While the acclimation area had been used in the past by the Rim pack of Mexican wolves, at the time this pair of wolves was transferred to the pen, it was believed that the Rim pack had vacated the area based on the lack of recent production by the pack, and the removal of the alpha female in January in order to harvest valuable genetic material.
 
However, the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team (IFT) has confirmed that the Rim pack alpha male, AM1107, is traveling with a new female identified by the IFT as F1305. The Rim pair has been frequenting the acclimation pen and acting aggressively toward M1051 and F1126, suggesting they will defend their territory against them if the naïve pair were to be released.
 
“After a difficult deliberation during which I weighed the options and evaluated the likelihood that the new pair would succeed in the wild, I have decided not to conduct the release at this time,” said Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, the Service’s Southwest Regional Director. “Initial releases of naïve wolves are always a difficult task. The significant reduction in the pair’s chances for success emphasizes the need to expand the area within which releases of wolves can occur. The Service remains committed to improving this population through initial releases to increase genetic diversity of the population. We will continue to work with partners to identify suitable release opportunities in the future to meet our management and recovery objectives.”
 
“After consideration of the challenges this pair would face if they were released, the Service made a decision that will give the pair a better chance at survival and afford these wolves an opportunity to contribute to the program in the future,” said Director Larry Voyles of the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
 
For further information, please refer to the Decision Memo on the Mexican wolf website at www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/ and click on Mexican Wolf News.

[bearpaw]

June 24, 2013
 
Wolf encounters spark concern in Canada
 
Jun 22, 2013 by Carolyn Dunn - CBC
 
It's not the usual roadside attraction when driving in Kootenay National Park in southeastern British Columbia.
 
At first, Shawn Bond, who happens to be a biologist, thought he was seeing a big dog.
 
"When we got closer, we realized it was a grey wolf. Obviously, it's very unusual to see something that close to the highway and just kind of loping along, minding his own business," Bond recalled.
 
Amazingly it was the second sighting in less than a week. Tim Bartlett was cruising the same highway on his motorcycle when a normally skittish grey wolf gave chase.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/p5wohpw
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June 25, 2013
 
Wolf hunting season set to open on Idaho Panhandle
 
by Rich Landers June 25, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
Idaho's 2013-2014 wolf hunting seasons begin July 1 in the Panhandle Zone, but only on private land.
 
Actually, wolf hunting season is open year-round on private lands in the Panhandle, but seasons in the rest of the state take a hiatus during summer.
 
The wolf hunting seasons that are still open throughout the rest of the state close on June 30 and reopen on Aug. 30.
 
See details and exceptions in the new wolf hunting and trapping seasons and rules posted on the Fish and Game website.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/qamu8bl
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The Wolf Wranglers - Where Are They Now?
 
by Toby Bridges of Lobo Watch June 24, 2013
 
If the Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery Project is to ever receive the credit and accolades it honestly deserves, it's recognition surely won't have anything to do with being a shining new chapter in the annals of wildlife conservation in America. The residents of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, who have had to live with the disastrous introduction of an entirely non-native wolf, in lieu of a ready source of the native sub-species for true "reintroduction", now fully realize that the project had absolutely nothing to do with wildlife conservation. They also fully realize that the forced introduction of those wolves by the federal government has not resulted in one positive benefit to insuring the health of the Northern Rockies and Greater Yellowstone Area ecosystem.
 
The true accreditation of the western wolf "recovery" project will not be one of praise, except for likely being the greatest act of fraud ever against the citizens of the United States - by the United States government. The orchestrator of this crime, which has now cost the residents of the Northern Rockies billions of dollars, has been the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - and along the way it has had many accomplices - quite a few of which have tended to totally disappear once sportsmen, ranchers, rural residents and others who derive a living from the land or recreate outdoors began to push back - and to become very vocal in opposition.
 
It began with the passing of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, and the unprecedented powers that legislation bestowed upon the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In essence, the agency became the Gestapo of wildlife management, with the authority to seize private lands, to close off public access to public lands, to dictate the use of the land, and to shut down any operation they deemed detrimental to perpetuating a species of fauna or foliage. To support the exercise of that federal power, numerous "environmental" groups and movements began to pop up like mushrooms everywhere, opening the door to the greatest bank robbery of federal funds in history. All of the U.S. taxpayer dollars that flowed into the coffers of organizations like the Defenders of Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, and dozens of others gave a whole new meaning to the coined term "The Green Movement".
 
To accomplish the takeover of wildlife and wildlife habitat, the USFWS began weaving alliances with state wildlife agencies, new wave wildlife biologists and managers, universities, and elected officials. They all began to sing from the same hymnal, and in short order the "green movement" reared its ugly head, and began whaling about the loss of wildlife and the destruction of habitat - and the need to "re-balance" the ecosystem. Other than their meddling, the followers of these groups had never supported any of the wildlife conservation efforts already in effect, which had brought big game populations back from the brink of extinction to record numbers, to where upland game numbers were likewise at record levels, and waterfowl populations were flourishing. These conservation efforts had been totally financed by sportsmen - not by environmental theorists and academics.
 
Continued:
http://www.lobowatch.com/adminclient/WolfWar9/go
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Wolf chases motorcyclist
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! June 21, 2013
 
A motorcyclist testing a new bike in Kootenay National Park, Alberta nearly hit a wolf in the roadway, but swerved to avoid the animal. The man turned around and approached that area of the highway with his camera in hand, only to have the wolf jump back onto the highway and began chasing the bike.
 
The wolf crossed a line of traffic to pursue the motorcycle, and the motorcyclist was able to snap pictures of the animal in hot pursuit, ears flattened against its head, running at full speed. The bike eventually outran the animal, and the motorcyclist appeared to have enjoyed the encounter, likening the wolf to his pet dog that liked to chase bikes. Wildlife managers at Parks Canada took a different view, noting that the animal appeared to be habituated, causing concern for wildlife managers.
 
Click on the links below for more information.
 
Banff Crag and Canyon - Read the article here::
http://tinyurl.com/p4vck9r
 
CBC.ca - Read another news account (with more photos) here:
http://tinyurl.com/k4znt2w
 
Wolf Watch - by Cat Urbigkit
http://www.pinedaleonline.com/wolf/
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June 26, 2013
 
Montana FWP extends comment period on wolf hunt changes.
 
The public will have more time to comment on Montana's proposed changes to wolf hunting regulations, because the website through which comments were to be made was down, with comments now due Wednesday.
 
Billings Gazette; June 25, 2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/oodcb7l

[bearpaw]

June 27, 2013
 
States pressed for limits on gray wolves before federal proposal to lift protections
 
By MATTHEW BROWN and JOHN FLESHER - Associated Press June 27, 2013
 
BILLINGS, Montana — Wildlife officials from western states lobbied for strict limits on federal protections for gray wolves before the Obama administration proposed to take the animals off the endangered list across most of the Lower 48 states, documents show.
 
During private meetings with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state officials threatened lawsuits and legislation as they pressed to exclude Colorado and Utah from a small area in the West where protections would remain in place.
 
The documents suggest the animal's fate was decided through political bargaining between state and federal officials, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
 
The nonprofit group obtained the records through a freedom of information lawsuit and provided them to The Associated Press.
 
"In simplest terms, these documents detail how the gray wolf lost a popularity contest among wildlife managers," Ruch said.
 
Fish and Wildlife Service Assistant Director Gary Frazer rejected the assertion. He said science drove the administration's proposal, and the released documents reflect only a small portion of a years-long review of the legal status of gray wolves.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/obf4fwb
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Conflicts Rise Between Idaho Ranchers, Gray Wolves
 
June 26, 2013 By Brian Smith - Magic Valley Times-News
 
TWIN FALLS, Idaho - As the federal government seeks to pull the gray wolf off the endangered species list, conflicts between ranchers and gray wolves in south-central Idaho are on the rise, with record livestock losses last year.
 
Gray wolves killed 34 cattle and 79 sheep last year in the Southern Mountain region of the Sawtooth Range, which includes Camas and Blaine counties.
 
Statewide, they destroyed 90 cattle and 251 sheep, said Todd Grimm, state wildlife services director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
 
In turn, hunters killed 330 wolves in Idaho in 2012, up from 200 the year before.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/neebwjv
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Idaho ranchers still waiting on wolf-kill cash
 
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
 
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho wildlife managers have yet to receive federal funding to compensate ranchers for 2012 livestock losses from wolves, as other Western states are also competing for a share of just $850,000 meant to offset sheep and cattle losses from the predators.
 
The Times-News (http://tinyurl.com/neebwjv ) reports Dustin Miller, who heads Idaho's Office of Species Conservation, said the money will eventually be divided between paying ranchers for losses and funding efforts to avoid wolf-livestock conflicts.
 
In 2011, the program paid Idaho ranchers about $100,000 for livestock losses.
 
"Unfortunately, we usually have the highest level of depredations in the country, and if it's competitive, we may receive more funding than other states. But we can't be sure," Miller said. "We have no idea what we are going to receive, and I can't guarantee producers who lost livestock . will be compensated at market rates."
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/o54xrum
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Will federal delisting impact state’s wolves?
 
WDFW says no, but conservationists concerned
 
Methow Valley News BY ANN McCREARY Jun 25, 2013
 
Removing gray wolves from federal endangered species protection – as proposed earlier this month by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – would have little impact on the way they are managed in Washington state, according to Donny Martorello, carnivore manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).
 
But conservation advocates who have promoted recovery of gray wolves in Washington say removing federal protection could jeopardize the “fragile” population of wolves in the Cascade Mountains – including the Methow Valley’s Lookout Pack.
 
It appears the Lookout Pack may be making a comeback after near extermination by poachers. Wildlife officials have been monitoring two remaining wolves in the Lookout Pack territory, and Martorello said last week that it appears they produced pups this spring.
 
“We believe there are pups in the Lookout Pack,” Martorello said. “We have photographs of the female before she gave birth and after.” A video captured by a trail camera indicates that the female is lactating, he said.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/qjbxgmz
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Nineteen wolves killed in 2013
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! June 27, 2013
 
Nineteen wolves have been killed in Wyoming's predator zone thus far in 2013, according to a report from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The agency updates its wolf harvest summary information as new kills are reported, and the current tally is dated June 11, 2013.
 
For more information on Wyoming wolf management, click on the link below.
 
Wyoming Game & Fish Department
 
http://wgfd.wyo.gov/web2011/HUNTING-1000743.aspx
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Mexican wolf pair will not be released
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! June 27, 2013
 
Federal wildlife officials have decided not to release a pair of Mexican wolves from an acclimation pen in Arizona's Apache National Forest they've been inhabiting the last two months. The wolves were placed there in preparation for release into what was believed to be uninhabited wolf habitat.
 
But as it turns out, another pair of Mexican wolves is using the area, and have approached the pen, behaving aggressively toward its occupants. The penned pair will now be placed back into another captive facility, in hopes they will contribute to the population at a later date.
 
To learn more, click on the link below.
 
Sonoran News
 
http://www.sonorannews.com/archives/2013/130619/comm-wolves.html
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June 28, 2013
 
Update on wolves in Idaho's Panhandle
 
June 28, 2013 (shared by ID For Wildlife)
 
Update on wolves in Idaho's Panhandle that have either collars or transmitters on current wolves and new pups this year. Jack Hamock asked the following questions and IDFG Biologist Jim Hayden provided the answers:
 
How many collars/transmitters placed on wolves in the Panhandle since having pups this year?
 
2 adults
 
How many were placed on pups?
 
11 pups
 
Were all pups located chipped?
 
No chips; 11 implanted transmitters in the pups
 
Do you have more collaring/transmitter work planned for this season?
 
Yep, on-going
 
Were the transmitters installed gps?
 
1 gps collar on an adult
 
How long will these devices installed in these pups transmit with the current power source?
 
Not sure, probably up to 3 years
 
What information do you hope to gather from this program?
 
Survival estimates, territory size for use in population estimates
 
How will these devices be used in order to meet harvest objectives for wolves in areas that elk are not meeting objectives?
 
Wolf survival estimates help us understand our impact on wolves, and that provides insight as to how much more response we might expect from a wolf population given further season changes or extra-season control efforts. That in turn helps us determine what we are logically able to do to help under-performing elk populations meet objectives.
 
Which Packs received transmitters?
 
Boundary, Calder Mountain, and Marble Creek
 
What basis was used to determine which packs would receive transmitters?
 
Availability and prior knowledge (for efficiency)
 
What are the new Panhandle wolf population estimates now that you have added the pups of this spring to the counts?
 
No new estimates yet – need more information, but likely not a lot of change.
 
What method was used to arrive at the number used to answer the previous question?
 
(known packs?)
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Senate passes bill allowing Ore. to resume killing wolves that attack livestock
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 27, 2013
 
SALEM, Oregon — The Oregon Senate has passed a bill that puts into law provisions of a settlement allowing the state to resume killing wolves that make a habit of attacking livestock.
 
The vote Thursday was 30-0.
 
The House has passed it, and Gov. John Kitzhaber is expected to sign it once the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission approves other provisions of the settlement.
 
Oregon has been barred for the past year and a half from killing wolves while the Oregon Court of Appeals considered a lawsuit filed by conservationists.
 
A settlement was reached in May with the conservation groups, the Oregon Cattlemen's Association and the governor's office.
 
It creates a new rulebook that makes killing wolves a last resort, and gives ranchers wider rights to kill wolves they catch attacking their herds.
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Investigation continues of 2012 wolf attack at Swedish wildlife park
 
Radio Sweden June 25, 2013
 
It may take a long time to find out exactly how a pack of eight male wolves could attack and kill a zoo keeper at Sweden’s Kolmården Wildlife Park last summer. A year after the tragic accident, the police investigation into the tragic incident is far from reaching any conclusions.
 
The attack happened just an hour after Kolmården, located in eastern Sweden, opened its gates for the 2012 summer holiday season.
 
The 30-year-old female zoo keeper was alone in the wolf pen when the animals attacked and killed her.
 
This week, the park welcomes visitors for the 2013 summer season, but prosecutor Jan Andersson tells Swedish Radio that the investigation is complicated and could go on for another year.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/qx6orja
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A sheepish wolf
 
June 28, 2013 Yellowstone Gate
 
Mitigating conflicts between wolves and livestock, including sheep, is a big part of the work of managing gray wolves around the greater Yellowstone area.
 
So a viral video from Norway has been making the rounds lately among ranchers in Wyoming and Montana. It shows a wolf making a move against a mother sheep and her lambs, only to get chased off by the mother sheep.
 
Some commenters suspect it’s because the wolf is hunting alone, without support from the pack. Others figure there must be a different reason why the big bad wolf can’t manage to take on a single sheep with a couple of lambs.
 
Continued w/video:
http://www.yellowstonegate.com/2013/06/sheepish-wolf/
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June 29, 2013
 
Wolf that chased motorcycle in B.C. likely human-habituated, official says
 
June 29, 2013 By BRETT BERNTSEN for the Missoulian
 
Every once in a while, a news story comes a long that screams for attention.
 
An espionage case. A human-rights violation. A political scandal. A wolf chasing a motorcycle?
 
Believe it or not, the latter held its own among certain crowds recently.
 
The incident occurred June 8 when Tim Bartlett of Banff, Alberta, took his new Yamaha for a spin along Highway 93 in Canada’s Kootenay National Park.
 
Half an hour from home, a gray blur shot in front of Bartlett.
 
“Initially, I thought it was a coyote,” said Bartlett, who was traveling around 90 kilometers an hour at the time. “Then it took a bit of a deviation and I just about hit it.”
 
Bartlett recovered from the near miss and turned around to find a hulking wolf staring him down. Having photographed a couple of bears earlier, he pulled the camera from his front pocket and started back toward the animal.
 
But rather than strike a pose, the carnivorous canine gave chase. Bartlett was forced to flee, snapping pictures over his shoulder.
 
“He would come pretty close, so I would pull away,” Bartlett said. “It went on for a kilometer.”
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/q3zdmr3

[bearpaw]

June 30, 2013
 
Running a trapline: Pursuing a wolf pack requires patience
 
Thursday, June 27, 2013 By JIM MANN  - Hagadone News
 
KALISPELL - Baited with scent and concealed under forest duff and sticks, the traps are set recently on the likely travel routes surrounding a newly discovered wolf denning area in the Salish Mountains southwest of Lakeside.
 
The goal: getting a radio collar onto an adult wolf.
 
But on this particular day and the day after, the traps were empty and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wolf biologist Kent Laudon will have to return, adjust his tactics and his trapline until there is success.
 
This is the patient, labor-intensive way of chasing wolves, and Laudon is no stranger to it.
 
He estimates he has trapped around 80 wolves in his career, which has mostly been centered in Northwest Montana over the last nine years.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/lw399qc
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Wolves bring tourists, and money, to Montana
 
June 30, 2013 Billings Gazette - Editorial
 
I have just returned from a six-day visit to your lovely state. Excluding airfare, I spent a total of $2,150 for food, lodging, guides, rental car, fuel, clothing and entrance fees for various exhibits. This was an impromptu visit, without my family, for the single purpose of seeing wolves in the wild. I wanted to see wolves before they are gone.
 
Will I return to Montana with friends and family? That depends on you, Montana. Will there be wolves in your future?
 
You see, I'm part of a growing trend of what we call wildlife watchers. There are literally hundreds of thousands of us. We are well-educated, well-informed urbanites with expendable incomes and four to six weeks of vacation, where we long to disengage ourselves from our place of work and seek refuge in the natural world. A portion of us are retired, with expendable incomes to visit your state for extended periods and who delight in watching wild America unfold before our eyes. We are your future, Montana.
 
What are we seeking? Along with countless birds, we seek the big five: wolves, bears, bison, moose and elk.
 
It is the wolf that brings us (and our money) back to your state year after year. Like the migrating herds, many of us will return year after year to seek out our favorite wolf packs, to watch them grow, play, hunt, mate and to see their offspring flourish under their guidance. And with our return, we dump millions of dollars into your state, year after year.
 
To us wildlife watchers, the absence of the wolf is the deal breaker. Viewing a wolf and its family, then knowing those wolves will be hunted and likely killed next winter is a deal breaker.
 
Your call, Montana.
 
Susan Turnipseed
The Villages, Fla.
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Some may howl, but wolves are here to stay
 
on June 30, 2013 Yakima Herald
 
Wolves are on the move in Washington state, but that doesn’t mean they are going away. Three packs already have taken up residence on the east slopes of the Cascades — in the Methow Valley, the Teanaway area of upper Kittitas County and just south of Wenatchee. About a dozen packs reside in Washington, mostly in the mountainous northeastern part of the state.
 
The wolves can move quickly across long distances. A year ago, one collared female from the Teanaway Pack trekked out of Kittitas County, crossed the Methow Valley and continued into Canada. She was shot and killed in the pigsty of a farm near Kootenay, British Columbia, about 100 miles north of Sandpoint, Idaho.
 
The wolf’s far-flung destination and eventual demise point to issues that soon may confront humans and their domesticated animals in areas of Yakima County where people co-exist with the wilds. Wildlife officials say eventually wolves will disperse from packs and seek new turf to the south, and even a barrier like Interstate 90 will do little to slow their movement.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/l3t7mff
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July 1, 2013
 
Tailoring Wolf “Science” to Justify Political Ends
 
January 30, 2013 By Jim Beers
 
Federal government wolf intervention in the Lower 48 United States was and is based on radical federal legislation that abolished historic State authority over all wolves, all grizzly bears and many state black bear populations such as Florida and Louisiana. This 30+ year intervention has established extensive wolf populations in 14 States and begun establishment of wolves through federal protection for wolves in 11 more States. Under current law, wolves can be expected to infest (the correct word) each of the Lower 48 United States in the coming decades. Also under current law, federal legal authority and jurisdiction over wolves (like grizzly bears and black bears in certain states) will never expire: one need only observe how as the federal government “returns management authority” to States like Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Minnesota, Wisconsin, et al lawsuits to block such returns bloom in federal courts and federal agency wolf standards (10 packs, 500 wolves, whatever) prevent State’s from truly managing wolves in densities and distributions as demanded by ranchers, farmers, dog owners, hunters, and rural families in such States or the federal government simply seizes the authority back, thereby letting the states carry the costs as they hold the federal bag.
 
The legal authority for this wolf invasion (again the correct word) is The Endangered Species Act. The two subjects of this Act (i.e. “Endangered” and “Species) no more apply to wolves in fact than they apply to Norway rats or domestic cows.
 
Wolves (like Norway rats) are circumpolar and ubiquitous throughout Asia, Alaska and most of Canada. Wolves also occur in Northern Africa and are currently infesting Europe under a protection and spreading regime imposed by European Union politicians and bureaucrats using tyrannical methods much like those employed in the United States. Labeling them as “Endangered” is a cruel and profane joke.
 
Wolves (like domestic cows) are merely one breed or race of a larger true “species”. Wolves, again like domestic cows, breed with and produce fertile offspring with coyotes, domestic dogs, jackals (Africa) and dingoes (Australia). Offspring of such cross-breeding, again like domestic cows, display characteristics of each parent and will transmit the blended characteristics (from physical characteristics to behavioral traits) to their subsequent offspring. To expand the classification biology of this animal to a “Species” as “Species” has been historically defined (i.e. a unique animal group capable of producing fertile offspring) or as “Species” was defined or intended in an ESA that would “save” bald eagles and elephants is a travesty.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/m8nmfyl
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July 2, 2013
 
Group opposed to wolf hunting will seek petition signatures for second 2014 ballot initiative
 
By JOHN FLESHER - AP Environmental Writer July 02, 2013 
 
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan — Michigan voters may get two chances during the 2014 general election to have their say on hunting wolves.
 
An opposition group announced Tuesday it will begin collecting petition signatures seeking a referendum on a recently enacted law giving the state Natural Resources Commission authority to decide which animals should be designated as game species that can be hunted. Previously only the Legislature had that power.
 
Lawmakers approved that measure in response to a petition drive aimed at overturning a separate law enacted last December that changed the gray wolf's status from protected to game species and authorized the commission to schedule a hunt. Gov. Rick Snyder signed both measures.
 
"It's only fair to allow citizens to weigh in on this important question of wildlife policy," said Jill Fritz, director of Keep Michigan Wolves Protected.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/kvh5nks

[bearpaw]

July 3, 2013
 
Idaho wolf/livestock conflicts rise
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online July 3, 2013
 
Even though more than 400 wolves were killed in Idaho last year (330 by hunters, and 73 in state control efforts), wolf depredations on livestock in that state reached record high levels in 2012, with 90 cattle and 251 sheep confirmed as killed by wolves.
 
To learn more about this story, click on the link below.
 
Magic Valley.com:
http://tinyurl.com/neebwjv
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States pushed for lesser wolf protections
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online July 3, 2013
 
The Associated Press reports that western wildlife officials met privately to request federal officials lessen protections for wolves in western states - specifically in Utah and Colorado.
 
To read the story, click on the link below.
 
Read the Associated Press article:
http://tinyurl.com/obf4fwb
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Litter of Mexican Gray Wolf Pups Brings New Hope
 
Audubon Magazine By Emma Bryce 07/03/2013
 
Six furry little bundles are aiding the conservation of the endangered Mexican gray wolf. Last month, a female Mexican gray emerged from a short disappearance trailing six pups—a cause for celebration, considering that Mexican grays numbered only 75 in the wild at the start of this year.
 
Once populous in New Mexico, Mexico, Texas, and Arizona, they’re a subspecies of the gray wolf that is all but extinct in the wild, following a history of poisoning and shooting at the hands of humans protecting their livestock. Now, they’re one of the rarest wolves on the continent—and one of the most endangered wolf species in the world.
 
The pups were born in Sonora, a northern Mexican state, inside a nature reserve. The state’s Environmental Commission director Oscar Tellez, told Efe, “The birth of these pups is a big accomplishment for the conservation of an extinct species in its natural habitat.”
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/k2jvl4f
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July 4, 2013
 
FWS: Wolves No Longer Need Endangered Species Protection
 
July 3, 2013 Alyssa Carducci - The Heartland Institute
 
The U.S. Interior Department announced it will remove Endangered Species protection for most wolves in the lower 48 states. The decision comes at the suggestion of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in light of the “successful recovery” of wolves after remaining on the list for over three decades. 
 
One subspecies of wolves, the Mexican wolf located in the U.S. Southwest, will remain listed as endangered, the Interior Department noted.
 
“From the moment a species requires the protection of the Endangered Species Act, our goal is to work with our partners to address the threats it faces and ensure its recovery,” FWS Director Dan Ashe told the media in a statement. “An exhaustive review of the latest scientific and taxonomic information shows that we have accomplished that goal with the gray wolf, allowing us to focus our work under the ESA on recovery of the Mexican wolf subspecies in the Southwest.”
 
Grey wolf populations are thriving particularly well in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, where ranchers complain about frequent livestock kills. Jon Rachael, state wildlife game manager at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, said he believes wolves won’t have any trouble maintaining their populations after federal endangered species protections are lifted.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ppn8o7w
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July 5, 2013
 
Anti-wolf group vague on how it spent Utah taxpayer funds
 
After reading report, lawmakers still are wondering where $300K went.
 
By Brian Maffly The Salt Lake Tribune Jul 02 2013
 
A political action group fighting federal wolf management with Utah taxpayers’ money filed a report of its accomplishments this week, but it sheds little light on how Big Game Forever (BGF) spent a $300,000 state appropriation.
 
The 120-page report, liberally padded with magazine articles and government-produced statistics, describes these efforts in general terms and most of the work described actually occurred before the year covered in the contract, renewing questions about exactly how the money was spent.
 
Big Game Forever is expected to reap another $300,000 this year — its fourth award of state money — to carry on the fight to shift wolf management from the feds to the states and block wolf introduction in Utah.
 
For Senate Minority Leader Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City, the report buttresses his call for a legislative audit of BGF’s contracts.
 
"I would like to know what they did to spend the money," said Davis, who says lawmakers should get an accounting before releasing the next $300,000. "There is nothing in here that talks about the current dollars."
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/m8ntwp5
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July 6, 2013
 
Pro-hunting coalition honors biologists whose work helped lead to establishment of wolf season
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS July 06, 2013
 
LANSING, Michigan — The Michigan United Conservation Clubs has honored three biologists with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for work that helped lead to establishment of a wolf hunting season in the Upper Peninsula.
 
The organization is an outspoken supporter of hunting wolves, which some conservation groups oppose and are seeking a statewide vote to stop. The state Natural Resources Commission has scheduled a hunting and trapping season for this fall.
 
MUCC honored Adam Bump, Brian Roell and Dean Beyer as Conservationists of the Year.
 
Bump is the DNR's furbearer specialist in Lansing. Roell is a Marquette-based wolf specialist. Beyer also works out of Marquette and is the state's lead researcher on predator-prey relations.
 
MUCC says all three helped ensure that wolf management decisions would be based on solid science.
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Michigan's Isle Royale wolves disappearing
 
Even as the state debates allowing wolf hunting, pack on island national park are in danger
 
Jim Lynch The Detroit News July 6, 2013
 
Gray wolves are in danger of disappearing from Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park, while these predators in the rest of the Upper Peninsula have experienced a major resurgence.
 
The situation is coming to a head on both the island and the mainland, where the state’s Natural Resources Commission is scheduled to meet Thursday and expected to decide whether a mid-November wolf hunt for the Upper Peninsula, but not Isle Royale, will proceed.
 
Lansing-based Keep Michigan Wolves Protected this week announced a new referendum challenge to the state law passed in May that gave the commission that authority. The latest referendum effort comes too late to halt this year’s possible wolf hunt — aimed at decreasing threats to western U.P. residents and domestic pets — but could bar future hunts.
 
“Michiganders deserve to have their voices heard on the wolf issue, and we hope they’ll have the opportunity to vote on two ballot measures next year to do that,” said Jill Fritz, director of Keep Michigan Wolves Protected.
 
Continued:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130706/METRO06/307060026/
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July 7, 2013
 
Wolf hunt opponents to launch second signature drive
 
Jul. 6, 2013 Battle Creek Enquirer
 
LANSING — A group that opposes a gray wolf hunt says it will launch a second ballot petition drive to stop the proposed hunt after its first effort was thwarted by the Legislature.
 
Keep Michigan Wolves Protected submitted more than 255,000 signatures in March in an effort to overturn a December 2012 state law that allows the hunting and trapping of wolves.
 
But in May, lawmakers and Gov. Rick Snyder approved a new bill that allows the Michigan Natural Resources Commission to add animals to the list of game species.
 
That action meant Keep Michigan Wolves Protected could still go ahead with a vote on the earlier law, but it would not have the effect of stopping the hunt.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/lhon55h
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July 8, 2013
 
Yellowstone wants curbs on Montana wolf harvest, says new rules could hurt park population
 
By MATTHEW BROWN - Associated Press July 08, 2013
 
BILLINGS, Montana — Yellowstone National Park administrators say a tentative plan to relax gray wolf hunting and trapping rules in neighboring Montana appears aimed at substantially reducing the park's population of the predators.
 
Wolves regularly cross from the safe haven of Yellowstone into Montana, where wildlife officials want to drive down pack numbers.
 
Montana wildlife commissioners on Wednesday take final action on proposals to lengthen the wolf season, increase the bag limit and set quotas around the park.
 
Park administrators say some of the changes would make it too easy to target wolves that live primarily in Yellowstone.
 
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim says the agency will recommend revisions to the proposal to address Yellowstone's concerns. But the wolf quota north of Yellowstone still would exceed what the park wants.
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State lawmakers fund compensation for wolf depredation
 
by Rich Landers July 8, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
The Washington Legislature appropriated $250,000 to a fund for compensating ranchers for livestock injured or killed by wolves.
 
Jack Field, executive vice president of the Washington Cattlemen's Association, said the amount “a great first step” for the agency and for the livestock industry, according to the Capital Press.
 
The direction WDFW is going on preventative measures, he said, will hopefully reduce the impacts of wolves. The budget also provides $750,000 for nonlethal deterrence methods.
 
Another important change this year is the removal of a $1,500 cap on the value of an animal. Instead, compensation will be based on the market value of the animal. A steer could be worth $600 and a prize bull would be far more, but the owner would need proof of its value, Capital Press reports.
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Wolf tourism in Eastern Oregon
 
July/August 2013 by Jennifer Margulis - Oregon Business
 
"Hot diggety, that’s fresh,” exclaims 67-year-old Wally Sykes, a longtime Wallowa County resident whose family used to hunt wolves in Alaska. He points to a pile of wolf scat on the disused forest service road in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in Eastern Oregon where we are hiking. Larger than a dog’s, the clumped scat is tapered at the ends and full of reddish elk hair and small bone fragments. Sykes points to the flies buzzing around it. “Can’t be more than 12 hours old, maybe less,” he muses, rubbing the white stubble on his chin and quickening his pace.
 
Though he grew up shooting woodchucks for fun, Sykes has become an advocate for wolves and other wildlife in Eastern Oregon, the heartbreakingly beautiful region far east of the Cascade mountains that comprises about half the state’s land but has a population of only some 100,000 people, depending how you tally it. The backbone of Eastern Oregon’s economy has historically been mining, logging and agriculture. As mining became almost nonexistent and the timber industry has declined, the region has been reinventing itself in recent years, advertising its natural beauty, outdoor recreation and abundant wildlife to attract visitors.
 
Sykes — who volunteers as a guide to college kids from Whitman, graduate students from Oregon State University, documentary filmmakers and journalists who want to learn more about wolf behavior and habitat — believes the presence of wolves is good for Oregon’s ecology and economy. He has also been lending a hand as a volunteer to Oregon Wild, a state-based environmental organization spearheading an initiative to prove to business people — including ranchers, farmers, recreation outfitters, hotel owners and other stakeholders — that wolf tourism is one way to attract even more ecotourism dollars and grow the economy in one of the remotest and hardest-to-access parts of the state.
 
Continued (4 pages):
http://tinyurl.com/ladw83p
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[bearpaw]

July 9, 2013
 
Minnesota's wolf population falls to 2,211, a decline of 710 wolves over past 5 years
 
By STEVE KARNOWSKI - Associated Press July 09, 2013
 
MINNEAPOLIS — Wildlife managers say Minnesota's wolf population has fallen by about 700 animals over the past five years to around 2,200.
 
The Department of Natural Resources released the estimates Tuesday from a comprehensive survey conducted over the winter. The survey puts the state's wolf population at 2,211, compared with the 2008 estimate of 2,921 wolves.
 
DNR officials cite the state's lower population of deer, which are the wolves' main food source, and last season's first hunting and trapping season since the region's wolves came off the endangered species list. Hunters and trappers killed 413 wolves during the season that ended in January.
 
But the DNR says the wolf population remains well above the state's minimum winter goal of at least 1,600 wolves, and that wolves remain firmly entrenched on Minnesota's landscape.
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Endangered red wolves return to South Carolina historic site where they roamed centuries ago
 
By BRUCE SMITH - Associated Press July 09, 2013
 
CHARLESTON, South Carolina — Four endangered red wolves have returned to the birthplace of South Carolina, going on display in a zoo where their species freely roamed more than 300 years ago.
 
The 9,000-square-foot red wolf habitat at the Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site on the Ashley River opened to the public on Tuesday. The wolves came to South Carolina about a month ago from the Trevor Zoo in Millbrook, New York, where they were born last year.
 
It's the first time red wolves will be displayed at Charles Towne Landing, where the Carolina colony was founded in 1670.
 
The park's Animal Forest natural habitat zoo, created in 1970, displays animals that would have lived along the South Carolina coast when the English colony was founded.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/l7y9unl
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Red wolf
 
From Wikipedia
 
The red wolf (Canis rufus, formerly Canis lupus rufus) is a North American canid that once roamed throughout the Southeastern United States. Based on fossil and archaeological evidence, the original red wolf range extended throughout the southeast, from the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, north to the Ohio River Valley and central Pennsylvania, and west to central Texas and southeastern Missouri. Historical habitats included forests, swamps, and coastal prairies, where it was an apex predator. The red wolf is morphologically midway between grey wolves and coyotes, and a 2011 genetic study indicated that it may be a hybrid species between grey wolves and coyotes. Re-analysis of this study coupled with a broader contextual analysis including behavioral, morphological and additional genetic information led to arguments that the red wolf is an independent species but has suffered from significant introgression of coyote genes likely due to decimation of red wolf packs with fragmentation of their social structure from hunting. The most recent comprehensive review (in October 2012) of the genetics studies concluded that the red wolf, eastern wolf and gray wolf were three distinct species.
 
The red wolf was thought to be extinct in the wild by 1980. 1987 saw a reintroduction in northeastern North Carolina through a captive breeding program and the animals are considered to be successfully breeding in the wild.
 
Continued:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_wolf
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Red Wolves: to Conserve or not to Conserve
 
by Bob Wayne Canid News Vol. 3, 1995 International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
 
Genetic evidence suggests that the red wolf is a hybrid form, not a distinct species. Should we continue to preserve it?
 
http://www.canids.org/PUBLICAT/CNDNEWS3/2conserv.htm
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July 10, 2013
 
Montana increases bag limit to 5 for next wolf hunt, except in areas next to national parks
 
By MATT VOLZ - Associated Press July 10, 2013 
 
HELENA, Montana — Montana Fish and Wildlife commissioners have increased the bag limit to five wolves per person for the state's next hunting and trapping season.
 
But the commission Wednesday set a quota of seven wolves and a limit of one wolf per person just north of Yellowstone National Park after park administrators expressed concern about the looser regulations.
 
Commission chairman Dan Vermillion says the limits ensure no long-term threat to Yellowstone's wolf population.
 
A limit of two wolves was set in one area west of Glacier National Park.
 
There is no statewide quota.
 
The commission also approved a longer rifle season that runs from Sept. 15 to March 15.
 
The trapping season will run from Dec. 15 through Feb. 28.
 
Montana's wolf population was estimated at 625 at the end of 2012.
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July 11, 2013
 
Idaho cyclist, witnesses recount frightening encounter with gray wolf on trek to Alaska
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS July 11, 2013
 
SPOKANE, Washington — An Idaho man cycling to Alaska suffered a scare after being chased by a gray wolf.
 
Thirty-five-year-old William "Mac" Hollan of Sandpoint says he also needed the help of friends to thwart a wolf that chased him last week — half-way through his 2,750-mile trip to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
 
Hollan told the Spokesman-Review (http://bit.ly/13R78CU ) the wolf charged out of the forest about 60 miles west of Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory.
 
Hollan — along with his cycling partners and other witnesses — says the wolf made an initial chomp at his pedal. As he peddled faster, the wolf kept pace and nipped several times at his bike packs.
 
He was finally rescued by a passing motorist and watched inside the vehicle as the wolf ripped his tent bag.
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Wolf chases Sandpoint cyclist on Alaska Highway
 
By Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review July 11, 2013
 
Growing up in the Yukon, Melanie Klassen had seen numerous bicycle tourists pedaling the Alaska Highway, but never one with a canine companion running behind him.
 
“I thought it was odd until I saw the panicked look on the biker’s face – as though he was about to be eaten,” she said in a telephone interview.
 
“That wasn’t a dog; it was a wolf.”
 
The cyclist, William “Mac” Hollan, 35, of Sandpoint, verified Klassen’s observation of Saturday’s incident: “At this point I realized I might not be going home, and I began to panic at the thought of how much it was going to hurt.”
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/p22aqhu
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July 12, 2013
 
New Oregon rule makes killing wolves last resort in protecting livestock
 
By JEFF BARNARD - Associated Press July 12, 2013
 
GRANTS PASS, Oregon — The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday adopted provisions of a lawsuit settlement that will make Oregon the only state in the West where killing wolves that attack livestock is a last resort.
 
Added to provisions already enacted by the Legislature, the rules go to Gov. John Kitzhaber for his signature.
 
The rules require ranchers to show they have taken non-lethal steps, such as alarm boxes and low strings of fluttering plastic flags known as fladdery, to protect their herds before the state will send out a hunter to kill a wolf. There must also be hard evidence, such as GPS data showing a radio-collared wolf was in the area when a cow was killed, that wolves have attacked four times.
 
In return, ranchers get new rights to shoot wolves that they see attacking their herd, but only if those non-lethal protections are in place, and attacks have become chronic.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/p29g4vp
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Michigan canvassers panel approves ballot language for second 2014 referendum on wolf hunting
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS July 12, 2013
 
LANSING, Michigan — The Michigan Board of State Canvassers has approved a petition form that a group will circulate in support of having a 2014 statewide vote on whether to allow wolf hunting.
 
Opponents already collected enough signatures to force a referendum on a law enacted in December designating the wolf as a game animal that could be hunted. But legislators then passed another law authorizing the appointed Natural Resources Commission to place wildlife on the game species list.
 
The commission added the gray wolf to the list this week and scheduled a hunt for Nov. 15 through Dec. 31. It said up to 43 wolves in seven U.P. counties could be killed.
 
Following the canvassers' approval of the petition form Friday, opponents also will seek signatures for a vote on that law.
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July 13, 2013
 
Wolf attack
 
The Spokesman-Review July 11, 2013
 
Karla Gitlitz, a rancher of Meeteetse, Wyo., describes a wolf attack on one of her cows.
 
Link to video report:
http://www.spokesman.com/video/2013/jul/11/wolf-attack/
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Feds investigate latest shooting death of Mexican gray wolf in Southwest
 
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN - Associated Press July 13, 2013
 
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — The effort to return the endangered Mexican gray wolf to the American Southwest has hit another stumbling block.
 
Federal and state wildlife officials confirmed Friday that a female wolf that was released into the wild in early May was found dead just one month later in southwestern New Mexico.
 
The animal, dubbed F1108, had been shot. Authorities released no other details and said the investigation was ongoing.
 
Top officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have long pointed to illegal shootings as one of the challenges to reintroducing Mexican gray wolves in New Mexico and Arizona. Since reintroduction efforts began in 1998, there have been 50 illegal killings documented, with four occurring just last year.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ou2r9d7
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Wolf Mauls Another Boy to Death in North Kashmir
 
Free Press Kashmir, Saturday 13 July 2013
 
A nine-year-old boy was killed on Saturday after a wolf attacked him in north Kashmir, the second such incident in the area in past 24 hours.
 
Earlier on Friday two wolves entered village Harshunar, Kreeri, in north Kashmir district of Baramulla from a nearby forest and killed a six-year-old-boy.
 
The attacks by wild animals have sharply increased recently, underlining the Valley's grave man-animal conflict issue.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/nn8yb95
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July 14, 2013
 
Motorist has photos of wolf that chased Sandpoint cyclist
 
by Rich Landers July 14, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
The photos show the wolf that chased the Sandpoint bicyclist in the Yukon last weekend as reported in my outdoors column.
 
The photos (click “continue reading” below to see them all) were snapped by Pennock, Minn., resident Becky Woltjer, who was in the RV that stopped to rescue William “Mac” Hollan from the wolf that had become obsessed with his bike, nipping and tearing at his rear bike packs even after Hollan dropped the bike and took refuge in the RV.
 
Alberta resident Melanie Klassen helped chase the wolf away by beaning it in the head with water bottle.
 
The photos also show Hollan saluting the RVers after the wolf had left and he resumed his Point to Bay bicycle tour from Idaho to Prudhoe Bay with his two cycling companions.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/q6p7vkt
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Alaska Highway cyclists lauded for packing bear spray
 
by Rich Landers July 11, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
“Credit them for having bear spray,” said Nancy Campbell, Environment Yukon spokeswoman in Whitehorse, referring to a Sandpoint bicycle tourist who, while separated from his companions, was chased on the Alaska Highway by a wolf.
 
As today's Outdoors column points out, short bursts of bear spray bought Mac Hollan time to be rescued by motorists even though the relentless wolf kept coming back to nip and rip his paniers and tent bag as they raced down the highway.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ncxu3wc
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Sandpoint cyclist survives tense wolf encounter on Al-Can Highway
 
by Rich Landers July 9, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
http://tinyurl.com/kkn5fef
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In debate over protecting wolves, public opinion runs deep
 
By Becky Kramer July 14, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
LAMAR VALLEY, Wyo. – Seeing wolves for the first time left Jimmy Jones awestruck.
 
Wolves were mythic, larger-than-life creatures to the 59-year-old Los Angeles resident. Yet there they were, two of them, chasing bison at Yellowstone National Park in 2005.
 
Watching wolves run through a meadow is a sight to behold, agrees Karla Gitlitz, a 35-year-old rancher from Meeteetse, Wyo. Beyond that, she has no kind words for wolves, which she considers ruthless killers.
 
Wolves have spent the night howling within 200 feet of the house she shares with her husband and 15-year-old son. She’s watched them hamstring cows, and she was heartbroken and furious the day she saw two wolves tugging on a yearling’s intestines.
 
Two Westerners who cherish the outdoors. Two starkly different views of wolves.
 
Continued:
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/jul/14/divided-we-stand/
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Get your wolf questions answered: Experts from ID, MT, WA uniting for webcast
 
by Rich Landers July 11, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
Big game managers from Washington, Idaho and Montana will discuss their experiences managing game animals in areas populated by wolves during a live webcast, 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., on July 18.
 
View the event on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website  http://wdfw.wa.gov/ . A video of the webcast will remain on the website for later viewing.
 
Questions can be emailed in advance or during the presentations to july18event@dfw.wa.gov .
 
Montana and Idaho have been managing wolves longer than Washington and their experience can provide context to inform the department and citizens on how to confront the challenges that lie ahead for Washington, said Phil Anderson, WDFW director.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/oxjmz4p
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Utah anti-wolf funding to be audited
 
Posted by Rich Landers July 10, 2013 The Spokesman-Review
 
When you take sides on wolves, be wary of the slime that accumulates at both ends of a polarized issue.
 
Even conservative Utah lawmakers are finally taking a look at the questionable decision they made authorizing taxpayer money to be spent by a non-government group in an equally questionable ongoing effort to wrest control of wolf management from the federal government.
 
Big Game Forever, a Utah-based nonprofit that spun off Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife in 2010, has secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in state money during the past four years to evict the gray wolf from the endangered species list. But the group’s founders Don Peay and Ryan Benson have not disclosed where the money goes in their reports to the Legislature and to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/nfl95of
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The Columbia Basin Bulletin
 
July 12, 2013
 
Experts To Discuss Effects Of Wolves On Hunting Opportunities In WDFW Live Webcast
 
Big game managers from Washington, Idaho and Montana will discuss their experiences managing game animals in areas populated by wolves during a live webcast July 18.
 
http://www.cbbulletin.com/427419.aspx
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[bearpaw]

July 15, 2013
 
Experts to talk about wolves' impact to deer, elk
 
by K.C. Mehaffey July 13, 2013 - The Wenatchee World
 
OLYMPIA — Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials invite the public to a live webcast on Thursday for a discussion on how wolves impact deer, elk and other big game hunting opportunities.
 
Talking about the impacts wolves had on big game in their states will be Jon Rachel, wildlife manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and Jim Williams, northwest wildlife manager for the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. They will also discuss strategies that successful hunters have adopted.
 
Their two states have had wolves much longer than Washington, and the webcast is an effort to inform citizens and wolf managers in this state about the challenges ahead, a Fish and Wildlife news release said.
 
Washington’s Fish and Wildlife director Phil Anderson is planning to take part in the discussion.
 
The webcast will be from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Fish and Wildlife website, wdfw.wa.gov. Questions can be sent by email to july18event@dfw.wa.gov
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Experts study wolf skeletons for clues into behavior
 
By Becky Kramer The Spokesman-Review July 14, 2013
 
The wolf’s skull told a painful story. Teeth were broken and missing; the jawbone infected. An injury – probably caused by a kick to the wolf’s face – had also festered.
 
Despite poor health, the gray wolf kept his status as alpha male of the Rose Creek pack until he died, probably of septicemia, said Sue Ware, a paleopathologist who works for Denver’s Museum of Nature and Science. A week before his death, tourists in Yellowstone National Park videoed him “hanging off the rear quarters of an elk,” Ware said.
 
It’s a remarkable story, said Ware, who studies the bones of Yellowstone’s wolves after they die.
 
“Here’s an animal – the entire front part of his face is infected. How much pain was that?” she said. Yet the wolf still managed to clamp its teeth into a fleeing elk.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/pfryolv
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Predators a powerful attraction
 
By Becky Kramer The Spokesman-Review July 14, 2013
 
LAMAR VALLEY, Wyo. - Yellowstone tourists are riveted to their spotting scopes, watching a life-and-death scene unfold.
 
Bison are plunging into the swift-flowing Lamar River to widen the distance between the herd and a lurking wolf. Tensions heighten when a ginger-colored calf balks at getting into the water.
 
Breathless commentary from the crowd narrates the movements of predator and prey.
 
“The baby is like, ‘Mom, where are you? Don’t leave me!’ ” “A bunch of bison just chased the wolf away!” “The wolf is back. It’s standing in the way of where the buffalo want to go!”
 
The standoff ends with two adult bison escorting the calf across the river and the wolf strolling off. A few bystanders applaud the bison, but there’s also sympathy for the black wolf, an alpha female with hungry pups to feed.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/pk59k5s
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Petition language approved for wolf hunting ban
 
Monday, July 15, 2013 (WKZO)
 
LANSING -- Organizers of a petition drive to put a ban on wolf hunting on the Michigan ballot in 2014 have the green-light to move forward with collecting signatures.
 
The Board of State Canvassers has approved the petition language.  The group Keep Michigan Wolves Protected has just over 60 days to collect 255-thousand valid signatures to put the issue to a vote.
 
State lawmakers approved wolf hunting in the Upper Peninsula after the animals came off the endangered species list.
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July 16, 2013

Man vs. Wolf
 
Loved and hated, the gray wolf finds itself a target for hunters as advocates call for continued protection
 
by Jacob Jones July 10, 2013 The Boise Weekly
 
Robert Roman cradles a pale wolf skull in his upturned palm. He does not hate wolves, he says, gripping the hollow eye sockets and turning the bleached bone in his hands. Perhaps God just built the wolf too well.
 
Working along the ragged jawline, Roman runs his thumb against the curved point of each tooth, edged almost like knives.
 
"These are for cutting," he says. "These are for ripping."
 
With powerful jaws and sharp instincts, wolves prey upon animals many times their size. Long-legged and swift, they run down moose, elk and deer. They tear flesh and crush bone.
 
"That's a pretty good machine," he says to the skull. "With the teeth and the strength and the size, they're good at what they do."
 
Continued:
http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/man-vs-wolf/Content?oid=2894004
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Editorial: Yellowstone officials must face reality of wolves in Montana
 
Monday, July 15, 2013 Bozeman Dily Chronicle
 
Yellowstone National Park officials are understandably concerned about expanded wolf hunts in Montana. Last winter, several well-known park wolves were killed by hunters or trappers just outside the park’s boundaries.
 
But they also need to face some realities – both biological and political.
 
Wolf reintroduction has far exceeded everyone’s expectations. It was intended to reestablish the predators in the park – part of their historic range. But, as expected, it has impacted a large area in three states. Initially, federal biologists set a goal of establishing 30 breeding pairs and 150 wolves in each of the three states surrounding the park. Today we have well in excess of 1,600 specimens in the region.
 
Do the math.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/nr9wug7
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Wolf forum set for Thursday
 
July 16, 2013 By Scott Sandsberry - Yakima Herald-Republic
 
YAKIMA, Wash. — On Thursday evening, state residents will have an opportunity to feed their seemingly boundless interest in Washington’s slowly expanding population of wolves.
 
That night from 6:30 to 9:30, state wildlife officials from Washington will discuss wolf management with their counterparts from Idaho and Montana — two states who had been dealing with wolves for several years before Washington had any to worry about.
 
What figures to make Thursday’s panel discussion of interest to Washingtonians is that they can listen in and watch live on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website (wdfw.wa.gov), and even provide questions via email (july18event@dfw.wa.gov).
 
And, based on recent events, it’s likely some of those pointed questions may come from viewers from Stevens County in the northeast corner of the state.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/pwslr65
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Oregon Wildlife Commissioners Revise State Wolf Plan
 
By Aaron Kunz Mon July 15, 2013 Northwest Public Radio
 
Oregon’s wildlife commissioners revised the state's wolf management plan. It allows Fish and Wildlife officers to resume killing wolves that are a danger to livestock. Ranchers could kill wolves caught in the act of preying on cattle or sheep.
 
The agreement reflects a year’s worth of compromise from ranchers to environmental groups like Oregon Wild. Steve Pedery is Oregon Wild’s conservation director.
 
Pedery: “Everyone from the conservation community to the livestock producers to the state wildlife managers are really on the same page right now. And there is really not other state in the country that is in that position on wolves.”
 
The revisions to the wolf management plan will allow game officers to kill wolves but only as a last resort. The new provisions also require the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to report its actions to the public.
 
This plan is very similar to Washington’s. In Idaho, ranchers and wildlife managers don’t have as many requirements in order to kill wolves.
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Who killed the Mexican gray wolf? Feds investigate
 
By Julie Cart July 15, 2013 LA Times
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the killing of a female Mexican gray wolf that had been denning with pups in New Mexico.
 
The animal, known as F1108, was found in late June shot to death, authorities said. Her pups were assumed to be dead.
 
The 6-year-old female was born in the wild, captured with her pack and placed in New Mexico's Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge.
 
She and a male were released in May and placed in a temporary pen in the Gila National Forest. The male, known as M1133, left the den site and appeared to be returning to Sevilleta, where he was born, when he was recaptured by wildlife authorities.
 
The female whelped her pups, but signals from her radio collar indicated that she, too, was on the move. F1108 was found dead some distance from the Gila Wilderness.
 
Federal authorities provided no further information except to say the case is under investigation.
 
Endangered species protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes were removed last month, but Mexican wolves were recognized as a sub-species and retain federal protections.
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July 17, 2013
 
Montana’s wolf harvest proposal approved
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! July 16, 2013
 
Montana hunters and trappers who target wolves will face a longer season and more liberal restrictions in the next harvest, including being able to take up to five wolves. The proposed regulations generated a great deal of controversy at a recent Montana Fish & Wildlife Commission meeting.
 
Click on the link below for the story.
 
Helena Independent Record 
http://tinyurl.com/mccaokc
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Wolf chases bicyclist
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! July 16, 2013
 
A man on a long-distance bicycle trek along the Alaska Highway was chased and attacked by a wolf earlier this week, despite his attempts to halt the attack by shooting bursts of bear spray in the animal’s face. The man was finally rescued by passing motorists. His harrowing encounter was the subject of several news accounts.
 
Click on the links below for more information.
 
Billings Gazette
http://tinyurl.com/luvktb2
 
Facebook – Point to Bay 
https://www.facebook.com/PointToBay
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Yellowstone wants curbs on MT wolf harvest
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! July 16, 2013
 
The Associated Press reports that Yellowstone National Park officials view Montana’s wolf hunting and trapping efforts as an attempt to reduce the wolf population in the national park. To read the story, click on the link below.
 
Salt Lake Tribune
http://tinyurl.com/n7vy4ug
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Utah audits anti-wolf campaign
 
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! July 16, 2013
 
State lawmakers in Utah are calling for an audit of how Big Game Forever spent a $300,000 state appropriation aimed at getting gray wolves removed from the U.S. list of threatened and endangered species.
 
For the scoop, click on the link below.
 
Salt Lake Tribune
http://tinyurl.com/lrhkz9x
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Democrats Turn Their Sights on Controversial Wolf Funding
 
Some Democratic leaders in the Utah Legislature are licking their chops over Republicans spending upwards of $800,000 of taxpayers’ money in a questionable effort to delist the gray wolf from the federal endangered species act.
 
by Bob Bernick - Utah Policy 07/16/2013
 
http://tinyurl.com/kglanac
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[bearpaw]

July 18, 2013
 
2 more wolf pups killed at Flat Top
 
About 60 sheep reported killed at ranch
 
By GREG MOORE Idaho Mountain Express July 17, 2013
 
Two more juvenile wolves were trapped and killed by Idaho Wildlife Services on the Flat Top Ranch last week.
 
The control action on July 10 brought the number of wolves killed at the ranch near Carey to a total of six, including three juveniles, on four occasions since late May. The actions came in response to four incidents of depredation on sheep flocks that occurred between mid-May and late June.
 
According to ranch owner John Peavey, the wolves have killed a total of about 50 sheep. However, he said additional lambs have died as the result of their mothers’ being killed.
 
“We’ve been picking up lambs in the process of starving,” Peavey said.
 
Continued:
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005148128
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Idaho commission funds predator control
 
Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review July 17, 2013
 
Programs to control wolves and ravens were funded by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission on Thursday.
 
The commission approved animal damage control funds with $50,000 going to control wolves in elk management zones at or below objective.
 
The panel also designated $12,000 to a Fish and Game raven control project for specified areas as part of an overall effort to keep sage grouse off the endangered species list.  Ravens can zero in on the eggs and chicks of the prairie grouse in some cases.
 
Commissioners set nonresident tag quotas and outfitter nonresident set-aside quotas. They set nonresident quotas of 12,815 elk tags, 14,000 regular deer tags, 1,500 white-tailed deer tags; and nonresident deer and elk tag outfitters set-asides of 1,985 deer tags and 2,400 elk tags.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/me7ryho
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Wolf presentation focuses on gray areas
 
Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review July 18, 2013
 
State agencies charged with managing wolves that are naturally repopulating their range in Washington are poked like dead meat in every direction by sportsmen, ranchers, wolf-loving zealots and rural district politicians.
 
Sometimes the wildlife managers are more gun shy than the wolves, which don’t have to suffer the phone calls from legislators, county commissioners or journalists.
 
Tonight, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials are stepping out of the pressure cooker to serve the appetite one faction has for information.
 
Tapping experts from other agencies that have been peeled, pared and grilled, they will address sportsmen’s concerns about wolves and their impact on big-game herds and hunting.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/mmlxdao
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Wolf captured in Pend Oreille County
 
by Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review July 16, 2013
 
A gray wolf — this one black with a tiny bit of white on its chest — was captured in Pend Oreille County Monday morning by Washington Fish and Wildlife Department technicians so the animal could be fitted with a GPS collar and released.
 
Is the 68-pound yearling female still attached to an existing pack or is it a member of a suspected but unconfirmed new group that would be labeled the Ruby Creek pack?
 
No one knows.  Time will tell.
 
I've been in contact with Wildlife Department personnel since mid May regarding wolf captures and just happened to be along for one of the few successful captures of the year involving trapping.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/kyxnpml
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July 20, 2013
 
States' Status Update On Wolf-Elk Relationship: It's Complicated
 
By Jessica Robinson Fri July 19, 2013 Northwest Public Radio
 
The presence of wolves may mean hunters can't count on finding elk in favorite hunting spots, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there are fewer elk. That was the message from wildlife managers in three Northwest states Thursday in an online public meeting.
 
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife asked managers from Montana and Idaho to dish out some advice from their experience trying to find a balance among prey like deer and elk, wolves, and hunters.
 
Jon Rachael in Idaho says his state has found wolves make elk move around more. “You can expect that you're not going to find elk holding tight the way you had in the past as wolves move into Washington.”
 
Rachael says wolves are taking a toll on the elk population in some parts of Idaho. But over in Montana, wildlife managers say hunters often face bigger competition from cougars, grizzly bears and even black bears.
 
Washington game manager Dave Ware says so far, his state’s 12 wolf packs haven’t caused any measurable decline in elk and deer populations.
 
In Idaho and Montana wildlife officials say hunting wolves has been an effective tool in halting the rise of the predator’s population.
 
Source:
http://tinyurl.com/n7rdxy9
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Wolf Pups Killed Near Carey Ranch Following Sheep Depredation
 
by George Prentice on Thu, Jul 18, 2013 Boise Weekly
 
Officials with Idaho Wildlife Services say they've had to kill a total of six wolves at Flat Top Ranch in the Blaine County community of Carey. Three of the wolves were pups. The killings came in response to four separate incidents of depredation of sheep flocks between mid-May and late June.
 
The Idaho Mountain Express reports that ranch owner John Peavey said wolves have killed about 50 of his sheep and additional lambs have died because their mothers were killed.
 
"We've been picking up lambs in the process of starving," Peavey told the Mountain Express.
 
An official with Idaho Wildlife Services said wolves were still "present and active near the livestock in the area" of the ranch.
 
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Defenders of Wildlife contends that the wolves are drawn to the ranch primarily because ewes are allowed to give birth on the range, rather than in enclosed pastures or sheds.
 
"We would like to help them avoid going through the same situation next year," Suzanne Stone, Northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife told the Mountain Express. "But if nothing changes, they will."
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Oregon governor signs bill allowing state to resume killing wolves as last resort
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS July 19, 2013
 
SALEM, Oregon — Gov. John Kitzhaber has signed a bill allowing the state to resume killing wolves that make a habit of attacking livestock.
 
The governor signed the measure Friday, making Oregon the only state in the West where killing wolves that attack livestock is a last resort.
 
The measure puts into law provisions of a settlement between conservation groups and ranchers. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted other provisions of the settlement a week ago.
 
Ranchers will get new rights to shoot wolves that they see attacking their herd, but only if the attacks have become chronic and the ranchers can show they've taken nonlethal steps to try and stop them.
 
The Oregon Court of Appeals has blocked the state from killing wolves for more than a year.
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Wolf tourism comes to Eastern Oregon
 
Result is typical split between those who benefit from tourists versus agricultural traditions-
 
Jul 19th, 2013 Ralph Maughan Wildlife News
 
With wolf sightings on the decline in Yellowstone, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana as their populations are decimated as a matter of policy, it is hardly a surprise that those who want to see wolves are now beginning to seek out Eastern Oregon where wolf numbers are growing pretty fast.  Wolves are also now more accessible to folks who live in Portland, Bend, Eugene, etc.
 
It appears that many of those who are not in agriculture, especially not in livestock, are enjoying the growing number of wolf tourists. Those who hold to “traditional” agricultural values, find the presence of wolves alarming.  This is the same pattern as played out around Yellowstone Park, etc.  The livestock industry strives to maintain a stranglehold over the rural and small town economy.
 
Yes, the livestock folks can be quite aggressive toward those locals who disagree with them. Folks may recall our Eastern Oregon story from 2011. Social conflict disguised as conflict over wolves heats up in NE Oregon.
 
The details of wolf tourism in Eastern Oregon are discussed in this Oregon Business article.
 
Source w/links and comments:
http://tinyurl.com/lnzofwb
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