Category Archives: Contest Hunt

Phelps 5th Annual Predator Hunt for 2014

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http://www.phelpswi.us/phelps-5th-annual-predator-hunt-for-2014

PHELPS 5TH ANNUAL PREDATOR HUNT

January 3rd, 2014 – January 12th, 2014

Meeting at Great Escape, Friday January 3rd, 2014, 7:00 PM
Hunting starts immediately after meeting and ends at noon on Sunday January 12th, 2014. Entry forms can be picked up at Great Escape.
Entry fee is $40.00 per 1 man or 2 man teams, plus 3 non-­‐perishable items. Please bring non-­‐perishable items to the meeting.

Entry forms can be mailed to:
Rick Brown, PO Box 133, Phelps, WI 54554

There will be a big dog contest; each team entering will pay $10.00.

Prizes awarded on Sunday, January 12th, 2014 at Great Escape with a lunch provided. Winners will be determined by total number of points.
Coyote: 20 points Fox: 15 points

Open to Wisconsin and Michigan hunters. 
Calling and stalking is allowed.
Baiting and running with dogs is not allowed.

All predators will be taken to Great Escape for weighing.
Bring all predators shot during the contest to Great Escape on Sunday.

Any questions call: Rick Brown 715-­617-­0196
or Ralph Spurgeon 715-891-2906

Photo Copyright Jim Robertson

Photo Copyright Jim Robertson

Salmon Idaho Derby “Winners” Announced

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The photo is one sent by someone that was at the Derby. It is not from the Salmon Recorder-Herald weekly newspaper, which is not on line, and which has ranted against wolves since 1995. A friend summarized what the article said in today’s paper.
 from left to right (according to the Recorder-Herald)
Jeremiah Jones, Terry Cummings, Cody Morgan, Casey Thompson, Chip Johnson, Ray Whittier
Caption in paper reads:
“WINNERS IN THE coyote and wolf derby stand together with their winnings and trophies.  Left to right are Jeremiah Jones, Terry Cummings, Cody Morgan, Casey Thompson, Chip Johnson and Ray Whittier.  The pots were divided between the winners and trophies awarded.”
according to the article – $1,000 and trophies for most coyotes (5) went to Ray and Chip.
Largest female pot of cash went to Cody Morgan – 26.5 lbs
Largest male pot of cash went to Terry Cummings – 31 lbs
Chip Johnson had the most females
Mark Anderson won a camo suit (door prize??)
film crew from Montana Public TV shot video and Eric Stuart of London, England shot still photos for “Shooting Times”
billi jo beck quoted in article saying that the $1,000 wolf prize would carry over until the second annual derby.
Also see:

Advertising for videos of “coyote dogs”
 And:
Upcoming JMK Coyote Hunt this weekend out of Crane Oregon. $100 fee for 2-man teams.

Controversial Idaho hunting contest ends with no wolves killed

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/31/us-usa-hunt-idaho-idUSBRE9BU02J20131231

By Laura Zuckerman

SALMON, Idaho Tue Dec 31, 2013

(Reuters) – A controversial hunting contest in Idaho targeting wolves and coyotes has ended with nearly two dozen coyotes killed but no wolves shot, though rancor over the event remains undiminished.

The coyote and wolf derby was promoted by ranchers and hunting enthusiasts as a form of family recreation aimed at reducing the number of predators threatening livestock and big-game animals like elk prized by hunters. It was condemned by conservationists as cruel and unsportsmanlike.

The weekend hunt on national forest land ringing the Idaho mountain town of Salmon drew 250 contestants seeking cash and trophies in categories ranging from bagging the largest wolf to shooting the most female coyotes. Children as young as 10 were invited to compete in a youth division.

The event was sponsored by Idaho for Wildlife, which fights “all radical anti-hunting and anti-gun environmentalists,” according to its executive3b. Fur buyer dumps coyote in rig director Steve Alder.

Adler said none of the teams managed to kill a wolf, but 23 coyotes were killed, making it a far cry from the “wolf killing spree” predicted by opponents.

“It shows hunting is not an effective tool to eliminate wolves. We’re going to have to take more aggressive action,” Alder said.

Hunters brought coyote carcasses to Salmon to be measured and counted and potentially sold to fur buyers. Several carcasses were piled in the back of pickup trucks.

Some contestants said they were disappointed at not bagging any wolves, and expressed frustration with opponents of the event.

“We’ll only have agreement with environmentalists when we kill all the wolves here,” said Jeremiah Martin, a hunter from Salmon.

Jim Robertson-wolf-copyrightOnline petitions criticizing the contest garnered tens of thousands of signatures and opponents have threatened a boycott of Idaho’s famous potatoes.

The derby is thought to have been the first statewide competitive wolf shoot in the continental United States since 1974, when gray wolves in the Lower 48 came under the federal Endangered Species Act protections after being hunted, trapped and poisoned to near extinction.

Wolves in the Northern Rockies, including Idaho, and in the western Great Lakes, lost the protection of the act in recent years as states pushed for hunting and trapping rights. The Obama administration is now proposing to strip wolves of federal safeguards nationwide.

Coyotes are considered pests and are allowed to be shot on sight in much of the U.S. West.

On Friday, a U.S. judge rejected a request by conservation groups to block the Idaho hunt, which was staged on a national forest near where federal wildlife managers reintroduced wolves to the Rocky Mountain West in the mid-1990s.

WildEarth Guardians and others had argued that the U.S. Forest Service did not issue proper permits for the event, but the judge said the contest was similar to activities like picnicking that do not require such special permits.

Bethany Cotton, wildlife program manager for WildEarth Guardians, said the legal battle will go on.

“A killing contest has no place on public lands,” she said.

(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman; Editing by Steve Gorman and David Brunnstrom)

Aftermath of Idaho Wolf Derby For Residents

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http://www.kmvt.com/news/latest/Two-Day-Idaho-Wolf-Derby-Concludes-237916091.html

By Rachel Holt

Dec 29, 2013

Salmon, Idaho ( KMVT-TV / KTWT-TV )

The town of Salmon is a quiet community.

However, that seemingly changed overnight as the Idaho Wolf Derby thrust the area into the national spotlight.

Protesters angered by the killing of wolves, using drastic measures to try to stop the event.

Resident Theresa Butt states, “my friend got threatened. When we are getting people threatening to come into town and kill people, there is a problem. My friend Jen Larson, someone called and said they would like to hang their entire family up by a noose. Because they own the Savage Grill and sponsored a legal hunt. What’s wrong with that?”

Dave Larson, Jen’s husband, adds, “some extremists can say some things… do we have our guard up? Absolutely. They threatened my family, our business, our employees, our way of life. A guy stands up to that. You keep your guard up and you’re aware of it.”

Jen adds, “we’re just here to make a living and support the community. We don’t want all the wolf lovers to hate us. It’s just crazy– in the last two weeks we have found out there are some crazy people out there, on both sides of it.”

At the conclusion of the two day event, no wolves were actually killed but 21 coyotes were harvested.

Tom Curet, regional supervisor at Idaho Fish and Game, says, “people raised their concerns and from a biological perspective this derby is very closely managed and it’s something that can be supported by the wolves and coyotes and it will have minimal impact.”

While the impact on the wildlife was minimal, some residents feel for the town of Salmon, the damage has been done.

Butt says, “one of the things we’re really concerned about is how we’re being represented in the press. We’re not a bunch of hillbillies running around shooting guns for fun. We are concerned that our animals that we live on, that we have to eat to survive, are being killed by these wolves. We have a legal right to hunt them.”

[So do the wolves. It seems to me that if there were so many wolves out there taking elk, one of them would have been shot during their contest hunt.]

Idaho Wolf Hunting Contest Highlights Ongoing Divide Between Hunters And Advocates

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coyote contest kill

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A group of hunters in Salmon, Idaho is being criticized for a two-day “coyote and wolf derby” its sponsoring next week.

Idaho for Wildlife’s organized hunt is December 28 and 29. The event is focused on young hunters. Sponsors have put up two $1,000 prizes for teams that kill the biggest wolf and the most coyotes.

The contest has once again highlighted the divide between wolf hunters and wolf advocates.

Christine Gertschen is a wildlife advocate in Sun Valley. She says she’s been a critic of hunting derbies in the past.

“Then when this one came up, I just kind of lost it,” she says. “I started writing Fish and Game, and the commissioners. It sends such a poor message of how we feel about wildlife. That we just throw their carcasses in a pile and count them?”

The event has drawn sharp criticism from all across the country. A Change.org petition to stop the derby had 12,500 signatures as of Friday morning.

The statewide director of Idaho for Wildlife, Steve Alder, says the hunt won’t yield stacks of dead wolves. He says he’s not sure hunters will kill any of the animals. But he does regret the way his group has marketed the derby.

Hear our conversation with Steve Alder of Idaho for Wildlife.

“I would have removed the wolf’s name out of it and just called it a ‘predator youth derby’,” he says. “That would have hopefully circumvented some of the radical [environmentalists’] emotional rubbish about the killing of all these wolves that [they claim] we’re gonna do.”

On Thursday, the Humane Society of the United States issued one of the strongest rebukes of the event so far. It called the contest a “wolf massacre” and labeled organizers as “ruthless”. It urged those who feel the same to write Idaho’s Fish and Game commissioners.

….
“Hunting is the tool that Idaho Fish and Game uses to manage, and this is a tool for management,” he says.

Copyright 2013 Boise State Public Radio

Full Story: http://boisestatepublicradio.org/post/idaho-wolf-hunting-contest-highlights-ongoing-divide-between-hunters-and-advocates

21 Coyotes, No Wolves Killed in Idaho Death Derby

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copyrighted wolf in river

21 coyotes, no wolves shot in disputed Idaho derby

by Associated Press

KTVB.COM

December 30, 2013

BOISE — Organizers of a predator derby in Idaho say 21 coyotes but no wolves were shot by about 60 hunters.

Steve Alder of Idaho for Wildlife, the weekend event’s promoter, said the low tally helps prove sport hunting isn’t a very effective tool in managing Idaho’s wolves.

The derby near Salmon in Idaho’s mountains proceeded after a fight between its organizers and environmentalists in U.S. District Court.

A judge Friday ruled against event foes including WildEarth Guardians who wanted the derby scotched on grounds the U.S. Forest Service hadn’t issued a permit.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Candy Wagahoff Dale decided no permit was needed.

Alder’s group offered two separate, $1,000 prizes — one for the hunter who killed the biggest wolf, the other for the hunter who bagged the most coyotes.

_______________________________

No wolves shot on 1st day of Salmon, Idaho, hunting derby

December 29, 2013 7:45 am  •  Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho — Organizers of a wolf- and coyote-shooting derby in central Idaho say about 200 people signed up but only about 50 or 60 are hunters and the rest are just offering support for the event.

Steve Alder says no wolves had been reported shot late Saturday, the first day of the event that ends late Sunday afternoon.

He says one hunter’s vehicle was vandalized with paint and scraping, and that authorities are investigating.

A federal judge Friday allowed the derby to proceed on public land after ruling its organizers aren’t required to get a special permit from the U.S. Forest Service.

WildEarth Guardians and other environmental groups had sought to stop the derby, arguing the Forest Service was ignoring its own rules that require permits for competitive events.

Two-Day Holiday Killing ‘Derby’ in Idaho Targets Wolves and Coyotes

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/camilla-fox/twoday-holiday-killing-de_b_4471553.html

by Camilla Fox 12/23/2013

This holiday, a killing contest takes aim at two of the most persecuted predators in North America: wolves and coyotes. The contest, scheduled in the Salmon-Challis area and hosted by the anti-predator organization Idaho For Wildlife, is billed as fun and wholesome entertainment for the entire family. Children as young as 10 can participate in the kill-fest and entrants who bag the largest wolf and the most female coyotes will win trophies and cash prizes.

The “1st Annual 2 Day Coyote & Wolf Derby,” is scheduled to begin December 28 — ironically on the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), our nation’s safety net for wildlife, that brought wolves back from the brink of extinction. On this very day, teams of hunters will enter public lands to kill as many wolves and coyotes as they can. They will use bait, calling devices and high-tech rifles. Is this fair chase? Or is it wanton blood-sport?

Idaho is not alone in this carnage. More than 15 other predator-killing contests are scheduled throughout the country in January and February 2014. Species targeted include coyotes, foxes and bobcats. Many of these species are classified as “non-game” by state wildlife agencies; this means they can be killed 24-7 by almost any method imaginable. Moreover, the populations of the targeted species and the scheduled mass killings are often not even monitored by the state wildlife agencies.

Regarding the Idaho “Coyote and Wolf Derby,” Blaine County, Idaho, Commissioner Larry Shoen said, “Shooting contests conducted in the name of killing animals for fun, money and prizes is just not consistent with the values of most people in the modern world,” as reported in the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

Agreeing with Schoen’s position, Ted Chu, an Idaho Fish and Game supervisor, wrote on his Facebook page:

“I have hunted all of my adult life. Hunting is not a contest and it should never be a competitive activity about who can kill the most or the biggest animals. The supporters of these sorts of activities would no doubt claim to be great defenders of hunting, yet they go out of their way to publicly present the worst possible image of hunting. If we hunters don’t clean up our own act, someone else will do it for us and we won’t like the results, but when that time comes, and it surely will, these ‘hunters’ will have only themselves to blame.”

Let’s start with wolves. Economically, a killing contest strips money away from Idaho. A wolf tag can be purchased for as little as $11.75, permitting each hunter to shoot four to 10 wolves, depending on region. Wolf watching generates approximately $30 million annually to the towns around Yellowstone. This does not include the ecological benefits that accrue as wolves help restore balance and biodiversity to the to the ecosystem — services unaccounted for by state and federal wildlife agencies. What is the value of a wolf alive — over the course of his or her lifetime — compared to one shot dead for a $11.75 wolf-hunting license? The ethics of recreational killing of wolves aside, the economics does not justify this insanity.

Coyotes are the other target species included in this killing contest. Too often, the justification used for mass killing of coyotes is that their populations need to be reduced and controlled to help ranchers and game hunters. However, science has shown indiscriminate coyote killing is not effective at reducing their populations; they quickly rebound and fill any vacancies. Coyotes, like other predators, self-regulate their population based on the biological carrying capacity of an area. Unexploited, coyote family groups establish territories which they defend from transient coyotes seeking new territories and mates, and will thus keep the local population stable. Lethal coyote removal, including killing contests, disrupts this stable social structure, allowing for vacant territories to be filled by outside coyotes.

The importance of wolves, coyotes and other predators in maintaining stability and productivity in ecosystems has been well-documented in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Coyotes provide many ecosystem services that benefit people including their control of smaller predators, disease-carrying rodents and jackrabbits, which compete with domestic livestock for available forage. As apex predators, wolves increase biodiversity and ecological integrity.

Even the contest sponsors are unwilling to defend their contest. When contacted by Reuters, “organizer and Idaho big-game outfitter Shane McAfee said media inquiries were not welcome.” Reuters reports that the sponsor, Idaho for Wildlife, according to the group’s website is “a nonprofit whose aim is ‘to fight against all legal and legislative attempts by the animal rights and anti-gun organizations’ to impose restrictions on hunting or guns.” An examination into the charitable status of Idaho for Wildlife, Inc. found no listing of the organization as a tax-exempt entity with the IRS.

What are we teaching our children by allowing killing sprees like this — and inviting children to participate? Wildlife killing contests desensitize children, sending dangerous messages that killing for fun is acceptable, that an entire species is disposable, and that life is cheap.

And what about the public safety hazards for the many families and their dogs who will be out in the Salmon-Challis region during the two-day predator blitz? Earlier this month USA Today reported that a pet malamute was shot dead by a wolf hunter in Lolo National Forest’s Lee Creek campground in Montana. According to the report: “Spence said he looked up just as Little Dave’s hind leg was struck by a bullet… Spence said a man, dressed mostly in camouflage, was standing on the road approximately 30 yards ahead of him and was aiming a semiautomatic assault rifle in his direction.”

It is time we decide as a nation that gratuitously slaughtering wildlife as part of killing contests or “derbies” is not acceptable in the 21st century. “A society that condones unlimited killing of any species for fun and prizes is morally bankrupt,” stated Dave Parsons, a Project Coyote Science Advisory Board Member who led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s effort to reintroduce the endangered Mexican gray wolf to portions of its former range in Arizona and New Mexico.

Please help Project Coyote and allies stop this barbarity. Take action here and here.

Project Coyote is a national non-profit organization based in Larkspur, California that promotes compassionate conservation and coexistence between people and wildlife. More info. here.

Follow Camilla Fox on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/projectcoyote

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Action Alert for Idaho Wolf/Coyote Contest

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iStock_000008330410XSmall.jpg

Forty wolves and an untold number of coyotes need a few minutes of your time, now. After days of researching Idaho statues, codes, and regulations, Green Vegans has sent a seven-page letter to Idaho’s Dallas Burkhalter – Deputy Attorney General, Kathleen Trever – Lead Deputy Attorney General, Virgil Moore, Director of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), and Rick Jackson, Chair of the Idaho State Tax Commission. We are demanding they enforce Idaho rules and regulations already in place that should stop the “First Annual 2-Day Coyote and Wolf Hunting Derby” in its tracks—if the political will is there.

The contest organizer, “Idaho for Wildlife” (really), the sponsors, and the fee-paying participants are acting outside of regulatory control. The State of Idaho appears ready to do nothing to stop this slaughter. Refer to ALERT #1 for details.

Yes, your time is precious just before the official holiday season. But the hunt is scheduled to begin December 28 and 29, 2013 in Salmon, Idaho.

Please send your email now (just cut and paste the talking points below) and then call and ask them to read it:

1)

a)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kathleen Trever – Lead Deputy Attorney General (208) 334-2400 / <a href=”mailto:ktrever@idfg.idaho.gov” data-mce-href=”mailto:ktrever@idfg.idaho.gov”>ktrever@idfg.idaho.gov </a>

b)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; W. Dallas Burkhalter – Deputy Attorney General (208) 334-3715 / &nbsp;<a href=”mailto:dallas.burkhalter@idfg.idaho.gov” data-mce-href=”mailto:dallas.burkhalter@idfg.idaho.gov”>dallas.burkhalter@idfg.idaho.gov</a>&nbsp; (Trevor and Burkhalter represent and &nbsp;interpret IDFG regulations)

c)      Virgil Moore, Director, Idaho Department of Fish and Game (208) 334-3771 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (208) 334-3771 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting / virgil.moore@idfg.idaho.gov

Tell them:

  • The “First Annual 2-Day Coyote and Wolf Hunting Derby” is a commercial hunt prohibited by Idaho regulations;
  • It violates the 15–hunter maximum participation rule;
  • It violates the IDFG Commission thirteen year wildlife policy: “However, the Department will not support any contests or similar activities involving the taking of predators which may portray hunting in an unethical fashion, devalue the predator, and which may be offensive to the general public. The Department opposes use of bounties as a predator control measure.”
  • They have effectively passed off their legal responsibilities to a vigilante organization that is paying a bounty for the killing.
  • The concentration of so many hunters competing for two days to shoot as many coyotes as possible and up to 40 wolves is dangerous and a tragedy waiting to be headlines. The contest and prizes are open to children as young as ten years of age.
  • The organization, “Hope for Wildlife”, is deceiving the public with its statements claiming the slaughter is to teach hunters the dangers of parasites that are found naturally in a wide array of wildlife species.

2)  Rich Jackson, Chair, Idaho State Tax Commission. (208) 334-7500 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (208) 334-7500 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting / c/o liz.rodossovich@tax.idaho.gov

The person receiving the email will be collecting them as she is covering for another staff person on vacation. Please, no harsh words. Just ask them to investigate the tax status of “Hope for Wildlife”:

  • “Hope for Wildlife” is the organization organizing the slaughter. They are registered as a nonprofit in Idaho but are not a federally-recognized tax-exempt organization by the IRS.  They are abusing the purpose of nonprofit organizations. Tell Rick Jackson that bounty hunting does not meet the definition of allowed purposes for nonprofits.
  • Ask Rick Jackson if he believes “Idaho for Wildlife” has the right to collect and then distribute money and prizes to bounty hunters without paying taxes and fees required of for-profit corporations.

3)  Sign this petition at Change.org: https://www.change.org/petitions/2-day-holiday-idaho-killing-derby-targets-wolves-coyotes-federal-agencies-ignore-laws-re-killing-contests-on-federal-lands

4) Share this Alert on your social media. Remember, Christmas is a holiday so we have Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday only to save 40 wolves and for coyotes, there is no limit.

Thank you,

Green Vegans

Conservationists Sue to Stop Wolf and Coyote Killing Contest on Public Lands

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copyrighted Hayden wolf walking

By Ken Cole On December 23, 2013 · 19 Comments · In Coyotes, Forest Service, Idaho, Idaho Wolves, Press Release, Public Lands, Western Watersheds Project, Wolf Hunt, Wolves
… .

For Immediate Release: December 23, 2013

Conservationists Sue to Stop Wolf and Coyote Killing Contest on Public Lands

Groups Challenge Federal Agency’s Failure to Regulate Highly Controversial Contest

Pocatello, ID – Today a coalition of conservation organizations sued the U.S. Forest Service for failure to require permits and environmental impacts analysis for the advertised “Coyote and Wolf Derby” in Salmon, Idaho, December 28 and 29. The lawsuit seeks an order requiring the agency inform the killing contest sponsors and participants that shooting wolves and coyotes on public lands as part of the contest is illegal without the required environmental analyses and permits.

“Killing contests that perpetuate false stereotypes about key species like wolves and coyotes that play essential roles in healthy ecosystems have no place on public lands.” Said Bethany Cotton, wildlife program director at WildEarth Guardians. “The Forest Service is abdicating its responsibilities as steward of our public lands. We are asking the agency to comply with the law: require a permit application and do the necessary environmental analysis, including providing a public comment process, to ensure our public lands and wildlife are protected.”

The killing contest is charging an entry fee, advertising prizes for the largest wolf and the most coyote carcasses, among other award categories, and specifically offering opportunities for children as young as 10 to kill for prizes. Commercial activities like the killing contest are prohibited on public lands without a special use permit. An application for a special use permit triggers application of the National Environmental Policy Act. Highly controversial activities are exempted from fast track permitting. In contrast to the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) informed the killing contest sponsors that a special use permit is required. To date, BLM has not received an application. Hunting on BLM administered public lands as part of the killing contest is therefore illegal.

“Predator killing contests have no place in the 21st Century,” said Camilla Fox, founder and executive director of Project Coyote. “Killing coyotes and wolves for fun and prizes is ethically repugnant, morally bankrupt, and ecologically indefensible. Such contests demean the immense ecological and economic value of predators, perpetuating a culture of violence and sending a message to children that life has little value.”

Lynne Stone, director of the Boulder-White Clouds Council, who has lived and worked in central Idaho for over three decades, said, “killing contests like this have no place in a civilized society and are an embarrassment to our state. Shame on the agencies for allowing these events on our public lands. It’s no wonder so many people view Idaho as like something out of Deliverance.”

Since 2011 when Congress stripped Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves in Idaho, the state has allowed nearly half of Idaho’s wolf population to be hunted and trapped each year. Since 2011, nearly 1,000 wolves have died at the hands of hunters and trappers. Science shows that wolves play a key role as apex carnivores, providing ecological benefits that cascade through an ecosystem. Wolves bring elk and deer populations into balance, allowing riparian vegetation to regrow, in turn creating habitat for songbirds and beavers and shade for fish.

“That the US Forest Service allows a commercial event that glorifies the killing of wildlife for killing’s sake without a special use permit on public lands is unconscionable.” Said Ken Cole, NEPA coordinator for the Western Watersheds Project.

Coyotes, like wolves, serve a valuable ecological function by helping to control rodent populations and to maintain ecological integrity and species diversity. Unlike wolves, coyotes quickly rebound when they are killed indiscriminately. Coyotes have no protection under Idaho state law.

“Such killing contests reveal a larger flaw in our nation’s wildlife management strategies where predators continue to be treated as vermin, including by those very state agencies responsible for their management,” explains DJ Schubert, wildlife biologist at the Animal Welfare Institute. “The scientific reality is that predators are immensely important members of any healthy ecosystem and their ecological role should be celebrated, not condemned.”

The organizations are represented by WildEarth Guardians Senior Attorney Sarah McMillan and the Law Office of Dana Johnson.

WildEarth Guardians envisions a world where wildlife and wild places are respected and valued and our world is sustainable for all beings. We work to protect and restore wildlife, wild places, and wild rivers in the American West. Visit http://www.wildearthguardians.org to learn more.

Project Coyote (ProjectCoyote.org) is a national non-profit organization promoting compassionate conservation and coexistence between people and wildlife through education, science, and advocacy. Join our community on Facebook and Twitter.

Boulder-White Clouds Council has worked for over two decades to protect and defend wild lands and wildlife in Idaho’s upper Salmon River Country. Our website has extensive information and rare photos of Idaho’s gray wolves: http://www.wildwhiteclouds.org.

Animal Welfare Institute is a national non-profit charitable organization founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. AWI engages policymakers, scientists, industry, and the public to achieve better treatment of animals everywhere—in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild. For more information, visit http://www.awionline.org.

Western Watersheds Project is a regional non-profit conservation group that works to influence and improve public lands and wildlife management throughout the West with a primary focus on the negative impacts of livestock grazing on 250,000,000 acres of western public lands. http://www.westernwatersheds.org

Idaho hunter pushes for wolf derby; opponents say it’s inhumane

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by Seattle Times staff
By JOHN MILLER
Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho outfitter is organizing a post-Christmas contest where two-person teams of hunters will be awarded $2,000 in cash prizes and trophies for shooting wolves and coyotes, angering animal advocates who brand it as a “wolf slaughter.”

Shane McAfee, who guides clients on hunts around Salmon, Idaho, downplays the bloodlust angle of this hunting derby, which encourages kids to participate. He expects relatively few predators to be shot during the event Dec. 28-29.

McAfee contends he’s mostly aiming to boost local business — 300 hunters might participate, he said — and raise awareness about a parasite he believes could be transmitted from wolf feces to domestic dogs and possibly humans.

By contrast, the Humane Society of the United States labels the derby as inhumane. Lisa Kauffman, its Idaho director, said the tapeworm angle is a red-herring, too, as foes “use every excuse they can come up with” as they seek to reduce predator numbers and turn public opinion against wolves reintroduced to the state in 1995.

“This is a wolf massacre,” wrote Wayne Pacelle, the Washington, D.C.-based animal-rights group’s president, in a letter to members Thursday. “Rewarding shooters (including young children) with prizes takes us back to an earlier era of wanton killing that so many of us thought was an ugly, ignorant and closed chapter in our history.”

McAfee counters that Pacelle’s group is blowing his event out of proportion to appeal to deep-pocketed donors. “We might harvest two or three wolves in the derby. It’s mainly for coyote control,” McAfee said.
He also hopes the derby succeeds in publicizing Echinococcus granulosis, a tapeworm whose hosts include elk, wolves and domesticated dogs. He worries dogs infected by sniffing or eating wolf feces could transmit the tapeworm to humans, where they could cause cysts.

“The people of our town are tired of the threat of the disease,” McAfee contends.

In fact, human infections are rarely reported in Idaho. A firm link between humans and wolves isn’t established.

A 2011 report produced by Mark Drew, a wildlife veterinarian with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, found just a few documented human cases that may have originated in Idaho. All were reported before wolves were re-introduced 18 years ago.

In 2011, state epidemiologist Dr. Christine Hahn issued a call to Idaho’s medical community for possible cases as concerns surfaced about the parasite being transmitted to humans.

In an interview Thursday, however, Hahn said that effort uncovered no evidence of such cases. People concerned about the parasite should take appropriate precautions, she said: Treat their dogs and cats for tapeworm, practice good hygiene, avoid harvesting sick animals, and wear rubber gloves when field dressing wild game, among other things.

“Echinococcus granulosis is one of many naturally occurring parasites that occur in wildlife,” she said. “Precautions for Echinococcus are really no different than for a host of other diseases that occur naturally in the environment and can infect humans.”

Wolves are game animals in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming after federal Endangered Species Act protections were lifted starting in 2011. There are annual hunting and trapping seasons.
Idaho has about 680 wolves, according to 2012 estimates.

The Department of Fish and Game isn’t promoting McAfee’s predator derby. But its wildlife managers also won’t intervene to stop it, provided participants follow state regulations and secure the requisite tags to hunt wolves. “That’s the key,” said spokesman Mike Keckler.

Contests where hunters target predators aren’t unusual in the West. In northeastern Washington last year, derby hunters shot nearly 300 coyotes over a two-month span in three counties. Similarly, an Idaho group held a “Predator Derby” coyote shoot in 2007.

But Keckler can’t recall the West’s last wolf derby.

“I’ve not heard of one — outside of this one,” he said.

copyrighted Hayden wolf in lodgepoles