Posted on 12/02/2005 3:57:00 PM PST by crazyhorse691
SALEM -- Despite strong objections from ranchers, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted final amendments Thursday to a management plan for protected gray wolves expected to migrate into Oregon from Idaho.
Currently, the management plan prohibits ranchers from killing wolves that attack livestock and doesn't include compensation for losses from wolf attacks.
The Fish and Wildlife Commission had included compensation and authority for killing wolves in the plan that was adopted in February, pending approval by the Legislature of provisions needed to change state law.
But lawmakers failed to agree on those provisions and bills to make the changes went nowhere during the 2005 legislative session that ended in August.
So the Fish and Wildlife Commission, wanting to have a wolf management plan in place, voted Thursday to "park" those provisions in an appendix of the plan until they can be brought up for discussion again in the 2007 Legislature.
The action drew criticism from the Oregon Cattlemen's Association, which recently approved a resolution urging ranchers around the state to close their land to hunters and anglers to protest the state's new plan for managing wolves.
Mike Colton of Baker City, president of the Baker County Livestock Association, said the management plan violates ranchers' property rights because it offers "no reasonable management of wolves."
Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental group that backs Oregon's wolf reintroduction plan, said it has paid $500,000 to ranchers in other Western states for lost livestock and is offering to do the same in Oregon when wolves arrive in this state.
It's a small price to pay to have wolves back in Oregon, said Amaroq Weiss, the group's spokeswoman who appeared Thursday before the fish and wildlife panel.
"Wolves are part of our wildlife heritage," Weiss said. "We should be rejoicing that they are coming back for future generations to enjoy."
The state's new wolf management plan sets a goal of seven breeding pairs in Eastern Oregon.
There have been no confirmed sightings of gray wolves in Oregon. Between 1999 and 2000, at least three wolves made their way from Idaho into Oregon. One was hit by a car, one was shot and one was captured and returned to Idaho.
Experts say it is just a matter of time before a pack takes up residence in Oregon.
YUp! SSS
The mexican grey wolf was reintroduced in SE AZ in the late 90s and within 9 months they had all been dispatched due to attacks on livestock or pets
Poor Timmy Treadwell! ;)
Do wolves breed in pairs? Thought they bred in packs, with only the Alpha Female bearing cubs. Which may be a hopeful thought--there might just be a few packs breeding, and easier to pick off.
The article isn't quite clear on the unlawful to kill thing. Later on, the article states that provisions could not be agreed upon so revistions were left off.
So it sounds like the ranchers are free to do as they see fit, just don't tell anyone about it. God Bless SSS Laws!
Should see a big decline in then need to place Free Kitten ads in the paper. People will be snapping those things up right and left. (I don't mean the papers either).
They tried to re introduce red wolves in S Carolina several years back. Didn't work. All dead by judges order.
Works good on cars too. But I never saw a cat made of zinc.
"Wolves are part of our wildlife heritage," Weiss said. "We should be rejoicing that they are coming back for future generations to enjoy.
Now what is wrong with this statement,...class anyone?
Yup my grandkids are going to enjoy the wolves... gonna run right up to pet them and play fetch the stick with them!(sarcasm on)
"With ball ammunition,,lock and load...ready on the left...ready on the right...ready on the firing line,,,,COMMENCE FIRING!
Kind of like the tourists who just have to play with the cows in Yellowstone park. (Mommy, what's a bison?) And don't get me started about the idiots that try to pet the baby moose!! Please tell me I didn't say the magic word.
Enjoy your .50 BMG shooting.
Be sure to put the tag in a local PETA members vehicle. Bury the rest.
Animal rights wackos as sacrificial prey also would work.
Some people might be come attached to stray cats. That's not going to be a problem with animal rights wackos.
Ruger makes a mini-30 that might provide some relief
These environmental extremists are like two-year-old children, used to getting their way every time.
They scream, they win.
Introducing wolves into ranch land (as opposed to genuine wilderness) is environmental extremism, harming the people who live in the area, and serving no purpose but to gratify
the utopian vision of the green radicals.
Civil disobedience is the way to go in some of these cases. The system doesn't work -- rather, the green radicals work the system very effectively, making it serve the tiny minority they represent and not the people as a whole.
Unfortunately, this is an issue on which it's hard to break through the MSM.
Yep...a baby moose bit my brother once...!
Roger that ~ Bump!
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