Tag Archives: wolves

Feds propose lifting most wolf protections in Lower 48

It’s now official. The federal government wants to lift Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves within the Continental U.S. . . .

The Obama administration on Friday proposed lifting most remaining federal protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move that would end four decades of recovery efforts but that some scientists said was premature.

State and federal agencies have spent more than $117 million restoring the predators since they were added to the endangered species list in 1974. Today more than 6,100 wolves roam portions of the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes.

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Proposed rule would end federal wolf protections in Lower 48

The U.S. Department of Interior has posted a draft rule proposing to remove federal wolf protections . . .

Federal wildlife officials have drafted plans to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move that could end a decades-long recovery effort that has restored the animals but only in parts of their historic range.

The draft U.S. Department of Interior rule obtained by The Associated Press contends the roughly 6,000 wolves now living in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes are enough to prevent the species’ extinction. The agency says having gray wolves elsewhere — such as the West Coast, parts of New England and elsewhere in the Rockies — is unnecessary for their long-term survival. A small population of Mexican wolves in the Southwest would continue to receive federal protections, as a distinct subspecies of the gray wolf.

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Wolf populations drop in Alaska and Northern Rockies

Today’s news has information on drops in the wolf population in two areas of the U.S. Both declines are attributed to hunting pressures . . .

Northern Rockies See Sharp Drop in Wolves – Aggressive gray wolf hunting and trapping took a toll in much of the Northern Rockies last year as the predator’s population saw its most significant decline since being reintroduced to the region two decades ago. Yet state and federal wildlife officials said Friday that the population remains healthy overall, despite worries among some wildlife advocates over high harvest rates. Its range is even expanding in some areas as packs take hold in new portions of eastern Washington state and Oregon. Continue reading . . .

Number of wolves in Alaska’s Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve drops by more than 50 percent – Wolves in Alaska are known to have healthy population numbers. Yet now, it turns out that Alaska’s predator control program has resulted in the number of wolves in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve to drop by more than half. The National Park service counted 80 wolves over nine packs in November 2012. This spring, though, the numbers have dropped drastically. Biologists have only been able to account for 28 to 39 wolves in six different packs–it’s the highest drop in numbers since the park service began tracking wolves 19 years ago. Continue reading . . .

Battle lines forming over blanket delisting of wolves

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering a blanket delisting of wolves from the Endangered species List in all the lower 48 states . . .

Western environmental groups say they’re alarmed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering a plan to end federal protections for gray wolves in vast areas where the animals no longer exist.

The groups say ending federal protections would keep wolves from expanding their range back into states that could support them, including Colorado and California.

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Oregon ‘wolf safe’ zone gets mixed reviews

Oregon has had a ban on killing wolves since September 2011 . . .

As long as wolves have been making their comeback, biologists and ranchers have had a decidedly Old West option for dealing with those that develop a taste for beef: Shoot to kill. But for the past year, Oregon has been a “wolf-safe” zone, with ranchers turning to more modern, nonlethal ways to protect livestock.

While the number of wolves roaming the state has gone up, livestock kills haven’t — and now conservation groups are hoping Oregon can serve as a model for other Western states working to return the predator to the wild.

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Wolves vs. Moose

A couple of articles have surfaced over the last few days discussing wolves killing moose. You’d think wolves would choose an easier target, but apparently not. Here are the two write-ups . . .

Moose study begins in Northwest Montana

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has begun a moose study in three areas across the state, with one area focused near Libby.

The agency is conducting the study in light of decreasing moose populations and declining hunter opportunity, according to a news release from Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Last week, 12 cow moose were darted, captured and fitted with radio collars in the East Cabinet study area south of Libby.

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Research shows Grand Teton wolves have taste for moose

Research shows wolves in the northern part of Grand Teton National Park have an appetite for moose during the wintertime.

Park and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researchers documented some 55 moose killed by wolves over the past three winters.

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Brian Peck: Wolves and unintended consequences

Brian Peck just submitted the following excellent op-ed to the Daily Inter Lake. It should appear in the paper later this week . . .

Recently, the Montana Legislature, in its seemingly infinite lack of wisdom, passed HB 73, a measure to allow more people to kill more wolves more easily, cheaply, and in more places — even right up to the doorsteps of Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

As the 2012-2013 wolf season nears its conclusion it’s accounted for almost 200 wolves, while kills by Wildlife Services and private citizens takes the kill number past 300. It seems to me that Montana hunters generally, and the wolf haters in the legislature specifically, may well have overlooked some unintended consequences in their unrestrained zeal for wolf slaughter.

First, is the possibility that an excessive wolf kill will provide the ammunition for a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to relist wolves as a Threatened species. Montana says it has no quota for its hunt, but with perhaps 700 wolves initially, and a stated desire for a population of 425, it seems clear that the unstated “quota” is 275 wolves — a number now exceeded.

Add to that the 2011 Idaho kill of 379 wolves (50% of its population), and the recently approved Wyoming plan that allows wolves to be killed anywhere, anytime, for any reason in 82% of the state, and you can see where the body count is headed. While this may have the hater crowd cheering, there aren’t a lot of Americans or federal courts – “activist” or otherwise – that will look favorably on this kind of overkill.

Second, the most recent figures indicate that only about 5% of the U.S. population still hunts, and even in Montana, with the highest number of hunters per capita, the number is only around 33%. So, what does that have to do with wolves?

Well, polls of Americans consistently show that while 82% support hunting for meat, that number plummets to 20% for trophy hunting, and if trapping is involved, support drops off a cliff. Clearly, wolf hunting is the very definition of Trophy Hunting, and by including trapping in the mix, Montana FWP and Montana hunters give themselves a black eye with those 292 million Americans who no longer hunt — the same Americans who control the public lands on which you and I hunt and fish.

Having hunting guaranteed in the Montana Constitution will do us little good if our irresponsible actions and attitudes toward wolves turn those millions of non-hunters into anti-hunters, who decide we can’t be trusted to responsibly and ethically hunt on federal public lands.

Third, wolves are highly social animals that hunt in family groups. There’s considerable evidence that hunting, by removing larger adult animals, tends to create a younger, less experienced population — and younger, less experienced wolves are more likely to be involved in livestock depredations. So, those who advocate ever larger wolf kills as a way to lessen livestock losses may well be causing the exact opposite result.

More than 70 years ago, hunter, conservationist, and biologist Aldo Leopold said, “Conservation is a state of harmony between men and the land. By land is meant all of the things on, over, or in the earth. Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left. That is to say, you cannot love game and hate predators; you cannot conserve the waters and waste the ranges; you cannot build the forest and mine the farm. The land is one organism.”

Montana hunters and legislators would do well to heed those words and consider the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Expanded wolf hunt flies through Montana legislature

The headline pretty much says it all . . .

A proposal to expand the state’s wolf hunt is being fast-tracked through the Legislature and shortly will be sent to the governor’s desk for his signature.

The Montana Senate on Thursday suspended its rules so it could take initial and final votes on the same day on the measure that already had overwhelmingly cleared the House. The Senate backed it 45-4.

House Bill 73 lets the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks increase the number of wolves one hunter can take, allows for electronic calls, and removes a requirement to wear hunter orange outside general deer and elk season.

The measure also prohibits the state wildlife agency from banning wolf hunts in areas around national parks. Its swift passage would allow the changes to take effect during the hunting season that’s currently under way.

Continue reading . . .

Montana may restrict wolf trapping near Yellowstone

Montana is considering limits on wolf trapping near Yellowstone National Park . . .

Restrictions on gray wolf harvests around Yellowstone National Park are under consideration as the state prepares to kick off its inaugural wolf trapping season Dec. 15…

Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commissioner Shane Colton says closing some areas to trapping or setting strict quotas will be on the table during a Monday commission meeting.

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Wolf impact on northwest deer populations small

Field and Stream magazine has an articel up on the impact wolves are having on deer populations in this corner of the country. Short version: Mountain lions and coyotes take far more deer than wolves, but the effects of all three are dwarfed by the impact of the weather. The North Fork gets a specific mention in the discussion . . .

In 2011, for the first time ever in Idaho, hunters harvested fewer mule deer than whitetails–big news for a state with a deer harvest that has long been dominated by muleys, and whose recent-big game headlines have been dominated by wolves and stories of their impacts (some exaggerated, some true). Wolf kills, scat, howls, and tracks… are frequent reminders of wolves’ presence in the Western whitetail woods.

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