Posted on 02/28/2010 11:57:50 PM PST by OneVike
Go to http://www.lobowatch.com/WolvesNearYou.html to read the full story of this adult mountain lion killed by wolves in Idaho. The wrecking ball is out and wiping out everything in its path. Time to wake up to what uncontrolled wolf populations are doing in the lower 48 people.
Ear Tag identifies Lion as an adult relocated by Idaho Fish and Game earlier in the year.
Look in the background and you will see the residential community of Parker Idaho. Only 1/4 mile from the cougar kill site.
Audience members at a meeting called by Sun Valley Mayor Wayne Willich saw many pictures of wildlife in the city, including this cougar that was killed by wolves. Willich is concerned about predators within city limits.(ARIEL HANSEN/Times-News)
SUN VALLEY — A large audience Wednesday heard Sun Valley Mayor Wayne Willich do some howling about community concerns of wildlife within city limits.
Willich called for the Wood River Elk Trust II to quickly come up with a plan to feed elk on a ridge above the Elkhorn neighborhood of Sun Valley next winter, hoping they won’t then attract predators into the city.
The elk have not been fed by an organized group in three years, and last year wolves hunted them as they wandered through town. The wolves have not been present in the city this winter, which is attributed to the wolf hunting season launched last year.
Following a self-described “lecture” about the wildlife situation in Sun Valley, Willich took questions, but refused to take comments, on his proposal to have the elk trust present its plan to the Sun Valley City Council in two weeks.
“I’m finished with these town hall meetings, we’re moving to a solution,” Willich said. “The time for discussion is over.”
He said if the elk trust can’t resume feeding, or if the council fails to approve a resolution in support of their feeding, he will demand that Idaho Department of Fish and Game be more proactive. Several Fish and Game agents were in the audience.
“We’ll put you on notice that whenever there’s a predator around, you need to use whatever techniques to get the predators out of town,” Willich said, calling Sun Valley a “no-predator zone.”
Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Jerome Hansen said that’s already the department’s policy.
“We’ve got a document specifically developed to deal with urban large-animal conflicts. This is all about public safety,” he said. “Our guys are Johnny-on-the-spot.”
The department’s policy is to avoid feeding programs whenever possible, although they maintain feeding sites in other areas of the state, including nearby Warm Springs.
“Their plan to start up a feeding program (in Elkhorn) is an easy short-term solution, maybe, but I don’t think it’s the long-term solution,” Hansen said. “It takes a while (for the elk) to develop new patterns. It takes longer than we’ve had.”
He said he would prefer to find other solutions to keep the elk out of town, such as reducing the size of the herd and enhancing habitat in areas to attract the elk to areas not as close to homes, such as Parker and Independence gulches.
Willich said the City Council will take comments on March 11 on the elk trust’s plan. He said the council would likely offer moral, not monetary, support for a feeding plan.
The Great White Hunter's site to read more about what he is doing and how you can help to stop the madness.
This is another article the Great White Hunter sent me. This time there was a mountain Lion killed by wolves. Notice in the article that the killing was only 1/4 mile from a community. Imagine if a child decided to wonder off and play with his friends. Like I said in the last ping we need to take action, and this November is the time to do so. We need unification of conservatives, we do not need to allow the liberals to split and divide us.
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Release the wolves in San Francisco and other liberal havens - they too were once wolf habitat.
I was in Idaho back in 1993 (maybe ‘94?) and they had just introduced 2 pairs of wolves to the area. A rancher killed one and hung it on a telephone with a sign that said “Ranchers 1, Wolves 0”.
It didn’t take long for that score to change drastically.
I got it. Wolves are dangerous to man and beasts.
But somehow I cannot get upset that wolves killed a MOUNTAIN LION! MY GOODNESS! Pumas are dangerous to man and beast also. Let them go at each other!
Preview of the 2012 Democrat presidential primaries???
Wolves are a very sensitive subject for many, the reason is mainly based on myths.
Humans are normally not prey to wolves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_attacks_on_humans
Wolves serve an important role, weeding out older and sick prey thereby strengthening the overall condition of that prey. They also feed other types of animals with their “leftovers”, bits of carcass they leave behind after a hunt. The role of this efficient predator, when given the its natural habitat, is essential.
The great majority of fatal attacks on humans were by rabid wolves. There were few fatal predatory attacks on humans and none in North America. No one was killed when wolves attacked defensively. Moreover, examining records of the last 50 years the researchers could only find cases of 17 people killed in Europe and Russia and none in North America.
http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/a-wkp5-linnell-results.html
How do they know the wolves killed the Mountain Lion and it didn’t die of natural causes before being scavenged by the wolf pack.
I tend to take this viewpoint as well. But I am far removed from the experience and I will let others more involved lead the discussion.
I once had a dog which, according to the vet, was part border collie and wolf. That was the most loyal and smartest dog I ever owned. I would implicitly trust him.
“How do they know the wolves killed the Mountain Lion and it didn’t die of natural causes before being scavenged by the wolf pack.”
Good question. A healthy cougar that size would have probably killed at least one of the wolves and probably several of them before the pack could bring it down. These mountain lions are extremely powerful animals and will fight ferociously is attacked.
I speculate the lion was sick or injured and the wolves just finished it off. Otherwise, there would certainly be some wolf remains at the scene.
FWIW, pumas kill and maul hikers near suburban communities in So California on a regular basis. I think where ranching is involved that the ranchers should have the right to decide, with their guns, what kind of wildlife to tolerate in the vicinity.
Don’t animals in a territorial dispute chase off the intruder rather then attack and kill it? Animals, unlike people don’t suffer from a loss of face but follow their instincts for survival when confronted with a superior enemy. The instinct for survival is the strongest one in an animal(a wild one).
Hmmm a dog that could herd sheep and eat them at the same time...LOL..just kidding. Sounds like he was a very good dog!
Just west of Sebastian, Florida is a place called the Stick Marsh.
It is the headwaters of the St. Johns River.
A few years ago the head of Florida’s Wildlife cops was to tour the area with a bunch of press and mucky mucks in airboats.
As they came around a bend someone had killed and hung a 12 foot gator from a tree and had stolen a FWC cops jacket and put it on the gator.
Gators are on the endangerred list even though there are millions throughout the south.
You know, I had that dog about 30 years ago and I have never thought of it in that obvious way. LOL! He was a VERY good dog. He died of cancer at the age of only 4 or 5.
I somehow fail to embrace the belief that wolves, unlike bears or any other predatory animal would find it within themselves to bypass a human for a meal should the opportunity occur. I'd submit that there simply weren't any survivors of such incidents to report them. With wolf populations growing to this extent, I can easily believe that such myths will be dispelled in short order. It's already happening. The reason it was more wide spread is due to the dramatic reduction of the population along with their usual prey.
There aren’t many, if any conservatives on my part of the Rockies (Colorado). Even at least most of the Republicans lean to the left on issues of nature. Considering their earth-worshipping inclinations and sources of income, we need longer winters and a real economic crash.
‘Wolves serve an important role, weeding out older and sick prey thereby strengthening the overall condition of that prey”
I think you’re the one that has fallen for myth. The reality is they’ll eat whatever they can catch be it human, dog, cow, sheep, elk, deer, or cougar. And if they aren’t hungry they’ll just rip the guts out without killing it.
They breed at a very high rate and are decimating the elk populations.
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