Posted on 11/24/2007 6:50:43 PM PST by george76
PRAY - For rancher Randy Petrich, the removal of gray wolves from the endangered-species list - a move that would open up the animals to hunting in the Northern Rockies for the first time in decades - couldn't come soon enough.
Petrich has seen fresh wolf tracks almost every morning this fall - close enough to threaten his cattle.
"I believe that any wolf on any given night, if there happens to be a calf there, they will kill it," ...
Just 12 years since the wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park ... federal officials say the sharp rise in the wolf population in the region justifies removing them from the endangered species list.
It took $24 million of federal funds and more than two decades to bring wolves back ...
After years of debate, an initial 66 wolves were transplanted into the park from Canada beginning in 1995. Now, an estimated 1,545 roam Idaho, Montana and Wyoming - more than enough, federal official say, to justify removing them from the endangered-species list.
"The more of something you have, the less valuable each individual piece becomes," said Ed Bangs, the Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf recovery project leader. "If you have more wolves than you have now, it's really going to start causing a lot of problems."
David Mech, a University of Minnesota researcher considered one of the world's leading experts on wolf behavior, predicted populations in the Northern Rockies could hold steady or keep expanding, even with hunting permitted...
Since reintroduction, wolf numbers have increased 20 percent to 30 percent a year as the animals thrived in a habitat flush with elk, moose and other prey. Even where entire packs were taken out to curb livestock kills, new packs have quickly filled the gap.
(Excerpt) Read more at billingsgazette.net ...
This is nothing like leaving a couple of fifties sitting on the front seat in a car in Chicago.
The US Fish & Wildlife Service released these Canadian wolves in Yellowstone NP, tied all their money to Yellowstone...knowing that the wolves would harass several other states.
Sounds like the beaurocrazies do their management from their desks.
#14 must be a picture of female pups with one young male. I doubt any of them weigh close to 100.
Right on, George, but to the clueless it seems it is.
Boo Hoo, they might have to spend some of that 90 Billion dollars in subsidizes they get on a few Irish wolf hounds to guard their cows that are grazing on federal land the taxpayer are paying for.
Eight, ten or twelve to one. Must be quite the killer dog you have.
There are various breeds of large dogs:Kuvas, Maremma, Pyrennes sheep dogs,that are raised with the sheep, consider them their pack, and run off predators [the dogs are generally white, or cream colored. Spanish mastiffs do the same thing, although they look nothing like sheep.
As for the wolves, there’s a large population in Michigan and Minnesota, largely in and among farms in the latter. And while there is stock predation, it is surprisingly low, considering the number of wolves estimated to be in the area. Must be something about that western air that causes them to kill all those cattle....
“If you have more wolves than you have now, it’s really going to start causing a lot of problems.”
They are already killing off the herds of elk in Yellowstone and National Teton area.
Defenders of Wildlife has been paying ranchers for lost livestock, when proven to be a wolf kill for years. And as I recall, wolves that kill livestock are subject to execution.
HERE is a picture... the Irish Wolfhound on all fours has a head that is almost even with the lady handler’s shoulder!
http://www.windhundwelt.de/images/!!irish-wolfhound-095.jpg
Borzoi, or Russian Wolfhounds, hunted in packs. They would run a wolf down, grab it by it’s neck and shake it. They usually worked in teams of two when taking out a wolf.
Wow! What a gorgeous Irish Wolfhound.
For the life of me, I don’t understand why ranchers ranch cattle instead of Buffalo. I only buy and eat buffalo meat. It tastes better than beef, is lower in cholesterol and saturated fats, and buffalo can protect their own against wolves, as well as being better able to withstand climatic conditions in the west.
Wolves that I have seen from the air in Northern Canada were in packs of 8, 10 and 12.
The Russians used wolf hounds in organized hunts while on horseback. I’m not sure whether the ferocity of Borzoi is even still intact. But a book written in the past five years by a German dog expert said quite bluntly that a Borzoi in kill mode was terrifying to watch, and that this breed wasn’t recommended for people with small children, cats, or dogs smaller than itself.
And Borzoi, bred from Greyhounds, can out run wolves.
Good. I have no romantic ideals when it comes to competing predators. Folks that want wolves can import them into their city parks, and deal with them.
Do you always make stupid comments or is it just on Saturdays?
For the life of me, I don’t understand why ranchers ranch cattle instead of Buffalo.
Your comments are spot on. Buffalo, though, is pricey. We bought buffalo roast instead of turkey this year. The cost was about $7.50 per pound. For that reason it can never compete with beef, even though the taste is better than beef.
If you know of a supplier that sells it for less than that, let me know.
Six Wolves kill 650 pound yearling steer
By PERRY BACKUS
Montana Standard
ENNIS – Jim Nelson nearly had wolves at his doorstep Tuesday morning.
When feeding cattle in a nearby pasture in the Bear Creek area of the Madison Valley, Nelson was surprised to see six gray wolves feeding on a 650-pound yearling steer.
“He was so close that he could have thrown a baseball at them,” said his stepdaughter, Bennie Clark.
Clark said three houses are located within about 200 yards of the kill site.
“The kill was right in the center of all three,” she said.
That marked the fourth confirmed wolf kill in the Madison Valley in less than a week .
“We’re not moneyed people who can just absorb this kind of loss,” said Clark. She and her husband, Gary, owned the yearling that was killed. “This has a huge impact on us ... we’ve told Ed (Bangs) that we have to live here and want to make this work. Now we’re begging for help.”
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