Grey wolves, relentlessly hunted to extinction in the United States 70 years ago, have become so numerous following their reintroduction seven years ago that last week it was ruled that they can again be shot legally. Posted on 12/22/2002 10:37:46 AM PST by joesnuffy
Success brings death sentence for US wolves By Oliver Poole in Los Angeles (Filed: 22/12/2002) Grey wolves, relentlessly hunted to extinction in the United States 70 years ago, have become so numerous following their reintroduction seven years ago that last week it was ruled that they can again be shot legally.
More than 700 wolves are now believed to roam the Rockies
Since 31 of the animals were released into Yellowstone Park in Wyoming in 1995 under an environmental programme endorsed by President Clinton, their numbers have grown rapidly as they feasted on the ready supply of elk and other game in the region.
More than 700 are now believed to roam the Northern Rockies, spreading into Idaho and Montana, to the concern of ranchers who claim that the wolves not only feed on the local wildlife but have also been attacking sheep and cattle.
Since the reintroduction of the wolf, the federal authorities had banned their killing, even if they were seen attacking livestock. Farmers could apply for $650 (£400) compensation if they could prove that a wolf had killed one of their animals.
Environmentalists have also expressed concern that so many elks have been eaten that the size of the herds roaming the area have been significantly reduced.
Robert Fanning, the chairman of the Friends of the North Yellowstone Elk Herd, said he had witnessed the detrimental effect on the number of elk migrating every year to the winter range in Montana. "In the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee," he said, "a wolf will run through and kill a dozen elk calves. It's a slaughterfest."
In response to the rising number of complaints from farmers, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week that within Wyoming, Idaho and Montana the status of grey wolves would be reduced from "endangered" to "threatened" and that federal protection of the animals would be ended in the spring.
"Wolves have recovered. Our job is done," said Ed Bangs, the co-ordinator of the service's wolf recovery programme.
Wolves, which once roamed throughout North America from Mexico to the Arctic Circle, were ordered to be hunted down and killed during colonial times to protect ranchers' stocks. Deemed to have been eradicated, save for the odd animal crossing over from Canada, by the mid-1930s, Washington finally withdrew the reward it paid for every wolf pelt in 1950.
Wyoming has announced that a law from frontier days that classifies wolves as predators and allows them to be shot on sight will be reintroduced, except in two federal wilderness areas where hunting will be regulated.
Ranchers will be permitted to protect their livestock in all three states, but Idaho and Montana have yet to decide whether to allow hunters to shoot wolves for pleasure.
Federal statistics show that 80 sheep and 32 cattle were killed by wolves last year, but ranchers say that the real figures are far higher as many of their animals simply disappeared without the cause of death being known.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is to monitor the wellbeing of the wolf population in the western states before deciding whether a similar step should be taken in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the other areas where grey wolves now thrive.
Environmentalist groups complain that the decision to allow the animals to be hunted again has come too soon after their reintroduction and that the wolf population should be allowed to grow further and spread wider.
16 July 2000: Ted Turner uses electric shocks to train wolves
2 January 1998: 'Kills' by imported wolves give Yellowstone new life
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Shoot, shovel, shut-up.
These animals keep the elk and deer herds healthy and under control. Deer do FAR more damage to agriculture than wolves ever have.
They are the sharks of the forest and the ancestor of man's best friend.
Bravo to the Fish and Wildlife service.
Bravo to the Fish and Wildlife service.
Boy are you easily misled. The numbers you saw above are BS. The reflect only those livestock for which carcasses can be found. The real number of livestock predations is FAR higher, not to mention the number of miscarriages and still births resulting from maternal stress. The amount paid is a fraction of the loss and only after a VERY expensive bureaucratic battle. The USFWS has lied repeatedly as part of the agenda to depopulate ranchers from the West.
The elk and deer have been decimated to the point that fuel levels are rising out of control faster than ever. So which do you want? Healthy habitat is a trade-off of competing risks that has evaded bureaucratic control from the beginning. The job is certainly beyond the whims of democratic interest groups who spout their preferences based upon their distracted understanding of obvious propaganda.
The balance of predator, forest health, brush species, and prey is best managed by people on the site, not from Washington. There is a better way.
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