Monthly Archives: July 2014

Looking Back: Remembering The Sage Creek Pack..

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Nabeki's avatarHowling For Justice

July 23, 2014

This week I’m re-posting tributes to fallen wolves and wolf packs, some killed before the 2009 delisting, like the 27 member strong Hog Heaven Pack, slaughtered in 2008 by Wildlife Services, outside of Kalispell, Montana.  It makes no difference to me whether they are famous park wolves or wolves who remain faceless and nameless, they are all equal in my eyes and I love them. To think of the thousands who’ve died  breaks my heart. I can’t help them now but I can honor them through remembrance. Sleep well beautiful souls.

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The Sage Creek Pack was eliminated by aerial gunners in 2009.  It was a huge loss. Yellowstone wolves are genetically isolated, the  Sage Creek Pack could have provided them with important genetics but that means nothing to the wolf killers. Wildlife Services was aerial gunning wolves even as the first wolf hunt was taking place…

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War on wolves has reached new a low

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By LYNNE STONE

Since early July, Idaho’s war on wolves has another chapter—once again in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA). This time, it involves the Casino Pack in the Sawtooth Valley near Fisher Creek.
It works like this: A rancher has a hurt or dead calf or sheep, calls the misnamed federal agency Wildlife Services, who will say it’s a wolf kill. Wildlife Services calls the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and Fish and Game rubber-stamps whatever Wildlife Services wants—usually to “kill all offending wolves.” In the summer months, there are thousands of sheep and cattle on the SNRA. Some are going to be sick or hurt every day. If wolves come around, they are blamed.
The Casino Pack alpha male was B450. I had first seen him as a yearling in 2009 with his three younger sisters and brothers in the Stanley Basin. His family, the Basin Butte wolves, were killed on Thanksgiving week 2009 because cattle ranchers would not adapt to living with wolves.
B450 survived five more years and had his own family before he was trapped on July 9 near Fisher Creek. Although Fish and Game had told Wildlife Services to release any collared wolves, B450 was so mortally injured from being in the leg-hold trap in hot weather that he was shot. The same with his yearling son, B647—caught in a trap on July 1, and in such bad shape when the Wildlife Services agent finally checked the trap, the wolf would not live if released. This is not the first time wolves have suffered in the SNRA due to trapping. A collared yearling died in a trap on Decker Flat last May.
Another Casino Pack wolf, a subadult female, has also been killed by Wildlife Services, leaving only the pack’s mother, pups and one other sibling. The kill order is out for them, too. All because one rancher lost one calf, maybe to wolves.

The town of Stanley struggles in winter to survive. Wildlife viewing, especially for wolves, could change that.

Fish and Game in Salmon told me this week that they were sorry that the collared wolves were killed. Fish and Game seems to have no control over the actions of Wildlife Services, nor do they seem to care in a state where our cowboy governor Butch Otter has made it clear he doesn’t want wolves here.
On the SNRA since 2000, the Stanley Pack, Whitehawk Pack, Galena Pack and Basin Butte Pack have been eradicated because of a handful of cattle and sheepmen. When people claim that the SNRA protects wildlife, it’s simply not true when it comes to wolves and other animals that ranchers don’t like. They call the shots, literally.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Ranchers could be proactive and learn about nonlethal methods of deterrence. A few are doing this in the Wood River Valley. Landowners who lease pasture to cattlemen could stop—that would help wolves. The SNRA could be a place like Yellowstone Park’s Lamar Valley—where people come from all over the world to see wolves and nearby communities benefit—receiving millions of dollars from tourists. The town of Stanley struggles in winter to survive. Wildlife viewing, especially for wolves could change that.

    Lynne Stone is the director of the Boulder-White Clouds Council, an environmental group. She has been a longtime advocate for wolves in central Idaho.

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2007152960#.U8_dOGdOVy0

First Known Litter Of Mexican Gray Wolves Born in The Wild

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http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/26065039/mexican-grey-wolves

Jul 20, 2014t;em class=”wnDate”>Sunday, July 20, 2014 9:33 PM EDT</em>

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Mexico- Officials in Mexico have released video of the first known litter of Mexican gray wolves to be born in the wild.

The births are part of a three-year program to reintroduce the subspecies to a habitat from which they disappeared three decades ago.

The country’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas says the wolf pups were spotted last month by a team of researchers in the Western Sierra Madre Mountains in northern Mexico.

The above footage shows the wolf cubs playing.

Mexico began reintroducing the wolves three years ago. The parents of this litter were released in December with hopes they would breed.

Authorities seldom reveal the exact location of breeding pairs in recovery programs in order to protect endangered species.

The Mexican gray wolf was almost wiped out in the southwestern United States by the same factors that eliminated the animal in Mexico, such as hunting, trapping and poisoning.

The Mexican gray wolf is still an endangered species in the United States and Mexico.

45 cows killed by single lightning strike near Darby

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By Perry Backus

DARBY – A single lightning bolt killed 45 cattle on a Darby-area ranch last week.

The cows, calves and a prize bull were crowded together under some small crabapple trees when the lightning struck, said rancher Jean Taylor.

The incident happened Monday, July 14.

“It was exactly at 10:28 p.m.,” Taylor said. “The clap of thunder woke me up. Some friends told me they felt the shock in their house.”

The Taylors live south of Tin Cup Road.

The family had spent years building their herd of Black Angus cattle.

“They were beautiful cattle,” she said. “It killed cows and their calves and a bull that we had just bought last spring. It’s very sad.”

Local ranchers helped the family dispose of the dead animals.

No one had ever heard of so many cattle being killed by lightning l”

http://missoulian.com/news/local/cows-killed-by-single-lightning-strike-near-darby/article_1ef2f048-113c-11e4-835c-0019bb2963f4.html

 

 

 

Jail time awaits Baudette hunting guide for years of bear and deer poaching

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Photo Copyright Jim Robertson

Photo Copyright Jim Robertson

http://www.startribune.com/local/268118152.html

by: PAUL WALSH , Star Tribune

  • Updated: July 22, 2014 – 10:22 AM

Keith Slick also was sentenced for fleeing in a motor vehicle and second-degree drunken driving for briefly trying to elude a conservation officer.

A longtime big game guide in far northern Minnesota is facing jail time after admitting to years of poaching bears and deer, acts that also have cost him his hunting privileges for three years, state conservation officials said Monday.

Keith R. Slick, 33, of Baudette, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Lake of the Woods County District Court to 90 days in jail for various misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors, including: transporting a big game animal, lending/borrowing a bear license, two counts of taking/possessing an over-limit of bear and failing to register a bear.

Along with his jail time, Slick also was sentenced to 120 hours of community service and must pay $2,090 in fines and restitution. Once out of jail, he will be on probation for two years with conditions that he surrender his weapons and agree to random searches.

Slick also was sentenced for felony fleeing in a motor vehicle and gross-misdemeanor second-degree drunken driving for briefly trying to elude a conservation officer. Slick will serve 30 days of electronic home monitoring for fleeing, with that time starting once his incarceration ends.

Ac­cord­ing to the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which investigated the case:

Dur­ing last fall’s bear hunt­ing sea­son, state con­ser­va­tion of­fi­cer Robert Gorecki spotted an ac­tive bear bait sta­tion be­long­ing to Slick. A search of his home un­cov­ered nu­mer­ous bear capes and skulls, as well as sets of deer ant­lers.

“There were no pos­ses­sion or reg­is­tra­tion tags found with any of the bears,” Gorecki said in a state­ment re­leased by the DNR. “The bears did not have any cuts in their ears that would in­di­cate that a site tag was at­tached at any time in the past,” Gorecki said.

A check of DNR re­cords in­di­cat­ed that Slick nev­er reg­is­tered a buck or bear tak­en in the past 10 years, which is as far back as a­gen­cy re­cords go.

A cellphone seized in the in­ves­ti­ga­tion con­tained pic­tures of Slick with a dead bear. Nu­mer­ous text mes­sages were also found with Slick tell­ing peo­ple a­bout the bear he had shot. Oth­er text mes­sages from Slick stat­ed that he had shot seven bears in his life.

Only two of the six ant­ler sets re­cov­ered had site tags on them, but they were from in­di­vidu­als oth­er than Slick.

A rifle and bow that Slick used for poaching will be auctioned by the state.

Please come to fill the courtroom with elephant advocates

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Please come to fill the courtroom with elephant advocates

Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants has filed numerous public disclosure requests to the Zoo. The Zoo has been frequently unresponsive claiming it isn’t subject to Washington State’s Public Records Act.  In order to hold the Zoo accountable and to learn more about the elephants’ plight, we filed a lawsuit on March 12th, 2014: Fortgang v. Woodland Park Zoo.  The request for summary judgment will be heard this Friday, July 25th at 1:30pm.

We need you there to show the judge WE ARE WATCHING
History could be made!  Please there!

What:    Request for summary judgment for Fortgang v. Woodland Park Zoo
When:   Friday, July 25th, 2014 at 1:30pm
Where:  King County Superior Court. 516 Third Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
Honorable Judge Jean Rietschel’s courtroom.

What is the zoo hiding?
The Zoo has taken over $108 million dollars from tax payers since 2002.  The Zoo has use of city parkland and city buildings RENT FREE.  The Zoo acquired their “product”, the animals, from the city for FREE.  Yet the Zoo has refused to answer the most basic financial information and details about the welfare of Bamboo, Chai and Watoto, the three elephants confined in the Zoo.  When it did respond, some information was not accurate—such as how many times Chai was artificially inseminated or where the water sources are located in the yard.

   Photo credit: The Seattle Times

More recently, the Zoo has refused to provide records on the imminent transfer of Watoto to another Zoo.  Despite acknowledging that the Zoo is communicating with other zoos, it says it has no records.

It’s time for secrecy to end.  Taxpayers deserve to know what’s going on inside the walls of Woodland Park Zoo.  Please come and show your support against the Zoo’s arrogance.

We will all wear an orange tag that says in big letters:  TRANSPARENCY

Thanks so much,
Nancy Pennington and Alyne Fortgang
Copyright © 2014 Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this because you have opted in.

Our mailing address is:

Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants

10011 Vinton Ct NW

Seattle, WA 98177

Remembering the Basin Butte Pack Thanksgiving Week Massacre….

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Nabeki's avatarHowling For Justice

Basin Butte wolf “Little Sis”

July 22, 2014

It’s been almost five years since the Basin Butte pack was gunned down, during Thanksgiving week, in Stanley, Idaho.

I hope you will remember these wolves and the cruel, disgusting agency that took their lives. Wildlife Services must be abolished and defunded. They’re an extermination arm of the Department of Agriculture, killing millions of animals annually for agribusiness. They do horrific damage to gray wolves and other native wildlife.

I will be paying tribute this week to the wolves and wolf packs who’ve have been slaughtered in wolf hunts, by Wildlife Services, poachers and ranchers.

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Thanksgiving Week Massacre of The Basin Butte Wolves

basin butte wolf pup 1

A Basin Butte wolf pup, 6 months old.

December 6, 2009

All Photos by Idaho WildWolf Images Copyright 2008.

This is an account of Idaho’s popular Basin Butte wolves and their tragic end, as told to me by…

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