Gray Wolf News "The latest in the Wolf Wars"

[bearpaw]

Gray Wolf Hunter Area 2 Closes
 
By Ron Richter on Thu 12/06/2012 Sheridan Media
 
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department issued a media release stating that hunters should be alerted that Gray Wolf Hunt Area 2, the Sunlight Management Unit northwest of Cody, closed December 6th at 9:10 a.m. The area closed because the mortality quota of eight wolves was reached.
 
more:  http://www.sheridanmedia.com/news/gray-wolf-hunter-area-2-closes61260

[bearpaw]

Oregon wolf OR-7 moves to lower ground in Northern California search for mate
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS December 07, 2012
 
PORTLAND, Oregon — The Oregon-born wolf looking for a mate in the wilds of Northern California has moved to lower ground as winter approaches.
 
California Department of Fish and Game program manager Karen Kovacs told The Oregonian (http://bit.ly/XA8mPt) that winter storms lashing the high country south of Lassen Peak have forced deer to lower elevations, and the wolf known as OR-7 has followed.
 
His satellite-tracking collar has shown him in oak-chaparral woodlands east of Red Bluff, California Kovacs said this is his first foray into that kind of habitat.
 
The wolf gained celebrity after leaving its home ground in northeastern Oregon more than a year ago and journeying hundreds of miles across eastern Oregon, down the Cascade Range to Northern California in search of a mate. Shortly after he left, the state put a death sentence on two members of his pack for killing cattle, but that has been held up by a lawsuit brought by conservation groups.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/b7kkzrm

[bearpaw]

Court strikes down lawsuit challenging trapping in wolf country
 
December 4, 2012 posted at Wolf Crossing
 
ALBUQUERQUE – A U.S. District Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit alleging the director of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and the chairman of the State Game Commission violated the federal Endangered Species Act by allowing trapping in the recovery area of the Mexican gray wolf.
 
U.S. Magistrate Lorenzo Garcia ruled that the environmental activist organization WildEarth Guardians failed to present facts showing the defendants’ actions directly or indirectly caused trappings or taking of wolves. The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.
 
Department Director Jim Lane, who was named in the lawsuit with State Game Commission Chairman Jim McClintic, hailed the decision as a sportsmen’s victory for “real conservationists,” state authority over wildlife management, and the integrity of the Endangered Species Act.
 
“We fought aggressively to defeat this frivolous lawsuit,” Lane said. “We are happy with the outcome. It’s unfortunate we had to spend hunters’, anglers’ and trappers’ dollars to win it rather than leveraging those same dollars toward on-the-ground conservation of New Mexico’s wildlife.”
 
Continued:
http://wolfcrossing.org/?p=663

[bearpaw]

Too Many Predators... Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks... And Radical Environmental/Political Agendas Destroy Montana's Wildlife Resources
 
December 7, 2012 by Toby Bridges - Lobo Watch
 
Big game hunters in the western one-third of Montana just finished what may have been the absolute worst hunting season of their lives. During the late 1950s and 1960s, some of the better hunting districts in the Bitterroot, Sapphire, Garnet, Cabinet, Mission, Absaroka, Pioneer, Madison and other mountain ranges up and down the Rocky Mountains of Western Montana commonly saw hunter success rates of 30- to 50-percent. Often the percentage of elk, deer, moose and other big game hunters taking home game for the table even exceeded those success rates. Well, things have certainly changed, and not for the better. Depending on the specific geographical area, 2012 hunter success rates were more like 6- to 10-percent.
 
Why such a nose dive in the wild game harvest? That's the easy question to answer - there's no game to be hunted! The difficult question to answer is, why did Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks allow big game populations to crash by as much as 80-percent - without taking the necessary actions to stop the loss?
 
It's not because the agency lacks the professional wildlife managers and biologists to tackle and reverse such a downward trend in game numbers. The problem lies with a drastic change in the political agendas of those who direct, steer and literally dictate the direction that wildlife management now takes in this state. Unfortunately, it does not favor the sportsmen who have financially supported FWP since it was founded way back in 1901, originally as the Montana Fish and Game Department.
 
This wildlife agency is directly controlled by the Governor's office. Limited to two terms in office, current Governor Brian Schweitzer vacates that office next month, to be replaced by fellow Democrat Steve Bullock - who is currently serving as Montana's Attorney General. While an ever growing number of this state's sportsmen are proud to see Schweitzer leave office, they also now fear that they can expect the same agenda driven leadership from Bullock.
 
Continued:
http://www.lobowatch.com/adminclient/WolfPolitics8/go

[bearpaw]

Groups file third lawsuit over federal government's delisting of Wyoming wolves
 
By BEN NEARY - Associated Press December 07, 2012
 
CHEYENNE, Wyoming — Environmental groups on Friday filed a third federal lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's recent move to end federal protections for wolves in Wyoming.
 
The Humane Society of the United States and the Fund for Animals filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The groups say Wyoming's management plan classifying wolves as predators that can be shot on sight in most of the state is inadequate. They want the court to reinstate federal protections.
 
Two other similar lawsuits filed by environmental groups are pending, one in the same federal court in Washington and another in federal court in Denver.
 
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead has said state management is adequate to maintain set minimum wolf populations. He wants all three lawsuits moved to Wyoming.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/ac6yvyx

[Bean Counter]

Too Many Predators... Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks... And Radical Environmental/Political Agendas Destroy Montana's Wildlife Resources
 
December 7, 2012 by Toby Bridges - Lobo Watch

Did I miss something? I thought in one of the earlier news posts it said that Montana charges $350 to non residents for a wolf tag. Now they're complaining about wolf numbers (?).  Shouldn't they sell the tag for like $5 if they want to bring the wolf numbers down?

[KFhunter]

they need a bounty

[Kola16]

they need a bounty

We need a bounty....wait, wait, wait....$5 for every WA wolf...I will pay 

[fair-chase]

they need a bounty

Bounty + Arial Gunning + Poisoning = Problem solved.

[Bean Counter]

Seems like basic stuff...

Maybe they figure that there are.now more wolves than ungulates and are trying to recoup lost revenue. 

[bearpaw]

DNR proposes wolf-dog hunting rules

Sunday, 09 Dec 2012 Associated Press
 
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin wildlife officials have proposed new regulations governing when wolf hunters can train their dogs as they grapple with a lawsuit alleging their current wolf hunt policies will create bloody wolf-on-dog brawls.
     
It's unclear what impact the new rules will have in court, though. Department of Natural Resources officials don't expect to implement them for another year and a half, after they've studied data from the state's first two wolf seasons.
     
"All of these items are related," DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp wrote in a memo to the DNR's board. "This timeline will allow for the valuable experience from two hunting and trapping seasons and adequate opportunity for engaging the public and stakeholder groups on wolf management direction."
     
State lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year establishing an annual wolf season from Oct. 15 to the end of February or whenever hunters reach a DNR-imposed kill quota. The bill allows hunters to trap wolves as well as hunt at night and hunt with up to six dogs after the gun deer season ends.
 
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/a8zmuu7

[bearpaw]

A hunting season on wolves was the right and ethical choice

December 7, 2012 By Jacob Crim MPR News
 
As the hunting season for deer and elk is drawing down across the country, the hunt for wolves in three states continues. While the population of wolves in Idaho has been effectively managed over the first two and a half hunting seasons, arguments remain as to whether hunting seasons should continue.
 
This argument may seem like old news to those in the Northwest, but the same controversy remains fresh in another part of the country. Minnesota and Wisconsin, in the midst of their first sanctioned wolf hunt in decades, face the same outrage from environmentalists and animal-rights activists. Contradicting the message of such protests, Idaho's successful management of its wolf hunts is a perfect illustration as to why they should continue.
 
The reintroduction of wolves to the lower 48 states, while opposed by many, was the ethical choice. Human activity had eradicated the species from nearly every state but Minnesota by the mid-1900s, making it our responsibility to bring them back.
 
While it may seem counterproductive to spend millions of dollars reintroducing a species only to end up hunting it, in this situation it is actually the ethical decision. From a utilitarian standpoint (the greatest good for the greatest number), having sanctioned wolf hunts is ethically acceptable. By keeping wolf numbers at a manageable level, the state will protect ranchers, wildlife and the wolves themselves.
 
Continued:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/12/07/crim/

[bearpaw]

Colville tribe hunting wolves to protect deer, elk, chairman says
 
by Lynda V. Mapes Seattle Times December 7, 2012
 
After eight months of deliberation, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation decided earlier this month to open a hunt on wolves living within the boundaries of its reservation, John Sirois, chairman of the Colville Business Council said in a telephone interview Friday.
 
The tribe made the decision after surveying its membership, and discerning through the work of its biologists that the wolves on its reservation are denting the local population of deer and elk, which tribal members hunt for subsistence. The tribe elected to allow a wolf hunt in order protect the tribe's food supply, Sirois said.
 
"Wolves are starting to have an impact," Sirois said. "We decided it was much better to manage the population so we can keep the numbers down a little bit. We would rather do that than what the state Fish and Wildlife did and take a whole pack. We didn't want a helicopter coming through."
 
Sirois was referring to the decision by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in September to kill an entire pack of wolves in the northeastern part of the state, called the Wedge pack, after a rancher complained of cattle killed by the pack.
 
Continued:  http://tinyurl.com/b7r8f2n

[bearpaw]

Yellowstone wolf shootings draw scrutiny as Montana trapping season set to begin
 
By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press December 09, 2012
 
BILLINGS, Montana — The shooting of collared gray wolves from Yellowstone National Park is prompting Montana wildlife commissioners to consider new restrictions against killing the predators in areas near the park.
 
Wolf trapping in Montana kicks off Dec. 15. It's the state's first such trapping season since the animals lost their federal protections last year after almost four decades on the endangered species list.
 
But hunting already is under way for the predators in Montana and neighboring Idaho and Wyoming, and at least seven of Yellowstone's roughly 88 wolves have been shot in recent weeks while travelling outside the park.
 
That includes five wolves fitted with tracking collars for scientific research, said Dan Stahler, a biologist with the park's wolf program. The most recent to be shot, the collared alpha female from the well-known Lamar Canyon pack, was killed last week in Wyoming.
 
Continued:  http://tinyurl.com/aewo7gm

[bearpaw]

Lawsuit Filed to Protect Mexican Gray Wolf as Endangered Subspecies
 
Bureaucratic Limbo Threatens 58 Wolves Left in Arizona, New Mexico
 
Monday, 10 December 2012 ENews Park Forest
 
SILVER CITY, N.M.--(ENEWSPF)--December 10 - The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today over the agency’s rejection of a 2009 scientific petition from the Center that sought classification of the Mexican gray wolf as an endangered subspecies or population of gray wolves. Mexican wolves are currently protected as endangered along with all other wolves in the lower 48 states, with the exception of those in the northern Rocky Mountains and Great Lakes region. In filing today’s suit, the Center said specific protection for Mexican wolves is needed to ensure their recovery.
 
“Mexican wolves are the smallest, most genetically distinct of all gray wolves in North America, uniquely adapted to the dry lands of the Southwest,” said Michael Robinson, the Center’s wolf specialist. “We’re filing our second lawsuit in three weeks on their behalf because these very rare animals are on the razor edge of extinction due to federal mismanagement, persecution and neglect. We don’t want to look back in 10 years and wonder if there was anything else we could have done to save them.”
 
Both lawsuits aim to help Mexican wolves recover. In November the Center sued the Fish and Wildlife Service to compel it to reform its ongoing wolf-reintroduction program in accordance with recommendations made by its own scientific panel in 2001. More than 10 years ago the agency promised to consider the reforms, and then, in 2007, it renewed this promise to a court; but it has never followed through. In seeking separate recognition of Mexican wolves through today’s lawsuit, the Center hopes to force the agency to implement the reforms and complete a new recovery plan, in the works since as far back as 1995.
 
“Fish and Wildlife has consistently failed to take action to ensure the survival and recovery of the Southwest’s one-of-a-kind wolves,” said Robinson. “The government’s stubborn refusal to follow the best science on wolf recovery is pushing the last Mexican gray wolves we have left way too close to the cliff of extinction.”
 
more:  http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2012/12/10-3