Defenders of Wildlife Blog

A massive bull elk stands it ground in Yellowstone National Park. Photo courtesy of U.S. National Park Service.

Feds shoot down 14 wolves in the Lolo — Late Wednesday, the Idaho Fish and Game Department announced that 14 wolves in the Lolo zone of the Clearwater National Forest had been killed by federal agents. USDA Wildlife Services carried out the lethal removal in order to boost elk numbers in the region which have been declining since the mid-‘90s for a multitude of reasons. Many Defenders’ members, supporters, and colleagues asked the Obama Administration to stay out of Idaho’s wolf reduction program, but instead Wildlife Services went in and killed these wolves without any public notice. It wasn’t until we saw Idaho Fish and Game’s press release that we learned of the action.

As our wolf expert Suzanne Stone pointed out in the Spokesman Review, the news was yet another indication that Idaho is acting too aggressively to reduce wolf numbers.

“That is our concern and it has been all along, that Idaho is focused entirely on killing wolves rather than preserving the species,” Stone said.

For more details, read our full press release.

Susannah gets up close with a grizzly bear.

Susannah tells all — Susannah Woodruff isn’t just the newest addition to our Rockies team, but she’s also got some great stories to tell about her encounters with wildlife. She was invited to do an interview on an internet radio program called “Sacred Animal Voices” to talk about the important role that wolves play in the ecosystem, the problems with federal predator control programs, as well as all the successful nonlethal tools that we encourage ranchers to use to minimize conflicts between livestock and wolves. In addition, she discussed some of her experiences trapping and collaring wolves (and grizzly bears!) in Wyoming while she was working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Jump to the 5:30-mark to hear what she had to say:

Is OR7 heading home? — Journey’s journey in California may finally be coming to a close, at least for his first visit. Over the past week, OR7, the dispersing male wolf also known as “Journey,” has made his way north into Siskiyou County, near where he entered the state at the end of 2011. Yesterday, he came within five miles of the Oregon border. Will he stay in the Golden State or cross back into Oregon? Follow the latest updates from California Fish and Game to find out where he will go next.

Suzanne Stone was also in California this week serving as an adviser to state and federal wildlife managers on issues ranging from wolf dispersal and behavior to coexistence strategies and public outreach.  Soon, the US Fish and Wildlife Service will decide whether to include northern California and the Pacific Northwest as a new wolf recovery zone.  We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

Nonlethal works – Wally Sykes of Joseph, Oregon speaks the truth. In his letter to the editors of the Wallowa County Chieftain, Sykes counters the paper’s bald assertions with some verifiable results from the field:

Since wolves arrived in Wallowa County, no stock losses have occurred within turbo (electrified) fladry…Last year 11 miles of fladry were deployed, mostly to protect calving areas.

Fladry is the best protection, aside from human presence, for stock in pastures of around 160 acres or less, ideal for calving and temporary holding areas. In Idaho and Montana, some shepherds set up fladry every night, and have nearly stopped wolf predation. For a couple of months at a time, this stuff works. So do RAG boxes, activated by nearby collared wolves and programmable with a slew of sound effects.
…
The Chieftain is wrong about compensation too. Ten minutes’ research shows that all confirmed and probable losses in Oregon have been compensated at market value (half market for probables), not just “occasionally” as the Chieftain has it. Through last August, Defenders of Wildlife paid compensation and also funded much of the nonlethal methods. Now the Oregon taxpayer foots the bill.

Wolves, like this on in the Cascade Mountains, are receiving the ire of the Yakima County Farm Bureau even though only one livestock loss has been attributed to wolves in Washington in more than five years.

Tempers flare in Pacific Northwest – Though there are fewer than 30 wolves in Washington, and the state’s wolf management plan has only recently been approved, wolf opponents are already pushing for more aggressive control actions. Legislators are proposing a significant decrease in the fine for illegally killing wolves from $4,000 to $1,000 and relisting wolves as a “game” animal instead of endangered. The Yakima County Farm Bureau is opposing the state’s wolf plan outright. Some of their members want all wolves to be eliminated, even though there has only been one confirmed livestock loss to wolves since they returned to Washington more than five years ago.

At least some landowners are taking a more measured approach. Dan Studley, quoted in the Yakima Herald, says he’s not too concerned about wolves:

As the story points out, Defenders has already chipped in $15,000 in start-up funds to help Washington get a compensation program off the ground. We are also organizing another series of workshops to help local, state, federal and tribal wildlife managers enhance their skills in field investigations and nonlethal deterrents.

Montana county considers wolf bounty – This week, anti-wolf zealots in Jefferson County, Montana are pushing to reinstate a wolf bounty program that would pay people for killing wolves. Only three cattle were lost to wolves in Jefferson County in 2011 according to state compensation payment records, but rather than taking steps to learn to live with wolves, county commissioners are considering a bounty to encourage all wolves to be killed. But not all residents of Jefferson County are on board with the proposed bounty. One hunter, quoted in the local paper, said that the state should be given a chance to manage wolves responsibly before counties take more aggressive action. Another person suggested that cougars and coyotes are likely taking more elk calves and fawns than wolves are, and another said bounties often amount to legalized fraud. Read more in the Helena Independent Record.

Wood River overseas – This summer we were lucky enough to have Pete Haswell, a young biologist from the UK Wolf Conservation Trust, volunteering on the Wood River Wolf Project. He spent his days and nights with our field team tracking wolves and sheep through the central Idaho wilderness, and when he returned, he had some great stories to tell. One night he came within 60 feet of a wolf in the Phantom Hill pack and exchanged late night howls with other packs as well. More importantly, he got to learn first-hand about the nonlethal tools we use to deter wolf attacks, which he hopes to utilize in his work in Eastern Europe. Pete also created an interactive map to keep track of known wolf locations in relation to grazing bands of sheep. Read more about Pete’s adventures in Idaho in the latest issue of Wolf Print, the quarterly magazine of UKWCT (see pg. 14). Pete also wrote a blog post for Defenders during Wolf Awareness Week.

Video of OR7 in his Oregon days – While OR7 remains in northern California in the shadows of Mt. Lassen, his legend continues to spread. This week a video surfaced of the lone male wolf from his Oregon days. The goal of the group named “Oregon Wolf Education” that sponsored the video is “to educate people on how the recent invasion of the Canadian gray wolf is affecting our lives.” But the video also tells a different story of a lone wolf that repeatedly moved through cattle pastures without causing trouble, due at least in part to the effective use of a range rider. Decide for yourself whether the short video portrays OR7 as a serious threat or just another wild animal sharing the landscape:

OR-7 from Pahsimeroi Pictures on Vimeo.

And in case you missed it, OR7 has also made news in the New York Times and TIME magazine!

What does the data show? – Understanding wolf behavior and their interactions with both wild ungulates and livestock isn’t easy. Wolves share the landscape with other animals that target the same prey, so it takes some careful analysis to determine the impact of any one species on another. That’s why Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is leading an in-depth study of predator-prey interactions in the Bitterroot Valley, where elk herds have declined in recent years. There are two years remaining in the study, but so far state biologists are learning that cougars in the area may be having a bigger impact on elk populations than wolves (last year, cougars killed 13 tagged elk calves and wolves killed three). The results of the study should yield important information about the relative impact of wolves on elk. Read more in this feature story from the Missoula Independent.