Ranchers can kill wolves harassing livestock

Next week, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton are expected to sign an agreement that would place management of an estimated 500 grey wolves into state, rather than federal, hands.

The agreement would give ranchers permission to eliminate wolves that harass livestock.

It also would empower state wildlife managers to pick off wolf packs that make a dent in the state's deer and elk populations.

The wolf's revival in Idaho started a decade ago when officials released 35 wolves into central Idaho. Their numbers have grown steadily since then.

Federal rules have carefully prescribed when ranchers could act against wolves, requiring ranchers to catch wolves attacking or eating livestock before they could kill them.

The new Idaho rules will give locals more latitude, but some residents would like see an even greater offensive against the animal.

Ron Gillett, head of the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition, wants to "immediately remove them by whatever means are necessary."

"They kill everything, all of the game first, then the predators, then each other," he said, adding that they are outsiders.

Ron Gillett, head of the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition, wants to "immediately remove them by whatever means are necessary."
"They kill everything, all of the game first, then the predators, then each other," he said, adding that they are outsiders.
"These are Canadian wolves," Gillett said.

"The only place they belong in Idaho is in a zoo, neutered."

He is absolutely correct...our forefathers spend decades ridding their farms from such predators...so what do the 'enlightened'among us do....bring them back to begin raiding the farms and ranches all over again..

Damn coyotes are bad enough...

Their numbers need to be kept to a minimum and that is man's domain...

Liberals love predators...and favor them...both the four and two legged variety because they destroy what men work hard for.

Liberals love death...and hate God

imo

Interestingly enough this article seem to have been pulled from the Press Democrat's web site www.pressdemo.com, but I had a copy

Mendocino County kills most mountain lions Legal shootings on rise as state permits increase along with sightings
By KERRY BENEFIELD
THE PRESS DEMOCRATMendocino County leads California in state-sanctioned mountain lion killings, with more than double the number of the next highest county.

Between 1990 and 2004, 235 lions have been legally killed in Mendocino County. Siskiyou County on the Oregon border ranks second, with 115 lions killed, according to the state Department of Fish and Game.
The numbers do not surprise state and local officials, who say lion sightings are on the rise.

"Without a doubt, I have been here on the coast for over 30 years, and within the last five or six years, the population has increased," said Mendocino County Sheriff's Lt. D.L. Miller, who two years ago shot and killed an attacking lion.

State estimates put California's mountain lion population at roughly 6,000, but officials say there is no scientific procedure for accurately tracking the secretive animals' numbers.

State-approved killings are climbing dramatically. In 1970, four depredation permits were issued resulting in the killing of one lion. In 2004, 231 permits were issued and 115 animals were killed, down from a peak in 2000 when 148 lions were taken.

In order to receive a depredation permit, applicants must prove a mountain lion is responsible for any loss of life or property. Typically, once a permit is issued, a federal agent is contracted to kill the animal.

It is illegal to kill a mountain lion unless a person or property is immediately threatened.

"Under law, we shall issue a depredation permit if you can prove that there is damage to your property or livestock," said Troy Swauger, Fish and Game spokesman. "But you have to take reasonable steps to remove whatever is inviting that animal in."

Deer are a main target of mountain lions, but the cats are also drawn to chickens and some domestic animals.

Mountain lions rarely attack humans. Only 15 attacks, six of them fatal, have been verified since 1890, according to state records. Two of those attacks occurred in Mendocino County, when a pair of campers were injured by a rabid cat in 1994.

In the past year, at least eight mountain lion sightings have been reported in Sonoma County. The latest encounter occurred in October just outside Santa Rosa city limits, when a man watched a lion chase a deer near his Rincon Valley home.

Since 1990, 56 mountain lions have been legally killed in Sonoma County.

Over the same period, 34 lions have been taken in Lake County and 49 killed in Napa County.

Although violent encounters between mountain lions and humans are uncommon, Miller had a face-to-face run-in with an attacking cat two years ago near Fort Bragg.

Responding to a mountain lion sighting on private property but near an elementary school and residences, Miller twice circled a chicken coop where the cat had been seen before a mountain lion leaped at him.

"He jumped out of the tree towards me and was probably 15 to 20 yards away from me," he said. "He moved so quick."

Miller said he shot the cat once and killed it.

The Mountain Lion Foundation, a Sacramento-based advocacy group, contends urban sprawl and human population growth are major factors in more interaction between humans and the typically shy cats.

The group tries to educate people on ways to keep their property protected while not harming the lions. Animal pens with roofs, electric fences and completely closed barns will typically keep the cats out, according to Karen Cotton, director of outreach for the foundation.

Some landowners contend they have been successful in keeping cats out by playing loud music, and even spooking the cats with roaming donkeys and llamas, Cotton said.

"We would rather see an animal that has been shocked than one that has been shot," she said.

Experts say mountain lions are not likely to attack humans. But if hikers or bikers do meet up with a lion, the best strategy is to be still, be big and be loud.

"If you are a deer, they are aggressive, but we are something that they don't want or need," Swauger said. "But even if you have never seen a mountain lion, there is probably a chance that a mountain lion has seen you."

MOUNTAIN LION TALLY Top counties in legal mountain lion killings, 1990-2004; plus other North Coast counties:

1. Mendocino 235

2. Siskiyou 115

3. Humboldt 98

4. El Dorado 85

5. Shasta 77

8. Sonoma 56

13. Napa (tied with Nevada) 49

20. Lake 34

Statewide 1,554

Source: State Department of Fish and Game

The Times of London provides advice:

WHEN 35 Greenpeace protesters stormed the International Petroleum Exchange...they had planned the operation in great detail.

What they were not prepared for was the post-prandial aggression of oil traders who kicked and punched them back on to the pavement.

“We bit off more than we could chew. They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs,” one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull.

“I’ve never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view.”

Another said: “I took on a Texan Swat team at Esso last year and they were angels compared with this lot.”

Behind him, on the balcony of the pub opposite the IPE, a bleary-eyed trader, pint in hand, yelled: “Sod off, Swampy.”

All we need is to put a bunch of drunken cockney's in close proximity to whatever environmentalist group is causing the most current annoyance...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1487741,00.html

Do wild wolves kill people?

Wolves have potential to kill people because they are large animals who prey on big, speedy, weighty creatures like bison and musk oxen. So will Highland residents and hill walkers be safe among wolves?

The first comprehensive and detailed report of attacks by wild wolves on humans in Europe, Asia and North America has now been published (Linnell et al 2002). The report's eighteen researchers reviewed the most reliable records they could find, written in 13 languages and dating from the 16th century to the present.

They identified three kinds of wolf attack:

* Rabid - where wolves have gone mad because the rabies virus has infected their brains.
* Predatory - unprovoked attacks where wolves appear to regard humans as prey.
* Defensive - where wolves are provoked by people to attack, such as when trapped or cornered.

They found that:

* Most fatal attacks were by rabid wolves.
* There were few fatal predatory attacks and none in North America.
* There were no fatalities when wolves attacked defensively.

Many records are fragmentary so cannot provide the total number of people killed by wolves, but do show that wolves have killed hundreds of people - and we can expect as many wounded people. However, given these attacks were over a period of 400 years and throughout the northern hemisphere, attacks by wolves are rare.

Most fatalities were pre-20th century. In the last fifty years the researchers could only find records of something over seventeen people killed in Europe and Russia, and none in North America - coinciding with the decrease of the spread of rabies in these regions.

Factors predisposing wolves to attack people were identified as:

* Rabies - the main factor.
* Habituation - when wolves lose their fear of humans and approach too close.
* Highly modified environments - this includes few natural wolf prey, human poverty and large numbers of unattended small children, characteristic of pre-20th century Europe and India today (see below).
* Provocation - when humans molest or try to kill wolves.

The researchers conclude that the risk of wolf attack in Europe and North America today is very low because the factors associated with wolf attack are now rare.

People in the Highlands, therefore, have little or nothing to fear from wolves: rabies does not exist in Britain and conditions are not typical of highly modified environments as described above.

Also see

McNay M E (2002): A Case History of wolf-human encounters in Alaska and Canada. This is comprehensive review of wolf attacks on people in Canada, the country with the largest wolf population in the world.

Mech L D (1998): Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? - Revisited. First published in Audubon 92 (2), 82-85. This article, by one of the world's foremost wolf experts, is about wolf-caused human mortality in North America.

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