Tag Archives: wolf hunt

If You Love Wolves, Love Elk and Hate Hunting

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Wolf advocates have known for a long time now that ranching is the nemesis of all things natural and wild, and that if you want to help the wolves, boycott beef, leather, wool, lamb and mutton. But lately hunters like those in the Idaho trophy elk hunting industry have been out to prove that they are a wolf’s gravest threat.

Not only do certain Idahoans want to run wolves out of lands cleared for ranching, they want to eliminate them from the wilderness as well.

They see public lands, such as the Lolo National Forest and the Frank Church wilderness area, as private breeding grounds for elk specimens they love to kill, and they’re not willing to share those specimens with the likes of wolves.

Some wolf lovers respond with hatred for the cows and sheep themselves, and disregard for deer and elk. But wolves need elk and deer to survive, therefore wolf lovers should also be elk and deer lovers and wilderness advocates. Ultimately, a true wolf lover is not only anti-cattle and sheep ranching, but also anti-deer, moose, caribou and elk hunting.

Wolf advocates who are indifferent to ungulates and accepting of hunting and ranching will never see an end to wolf hunting or “control.”

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

Idaho kills 23 wolves from helicopter this month in Lolo Zone

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copyrighted Hayden wolf in lodgepoles

This article was sent to me with the comment:

“Bastards aerial gunned down 23 wolves those fuckers 
How is this going to end Jim
I feel so sad
And hateful.”
…To which I answered: It will end when the human race or finally grows a conscience or goes extinct , whichever comes first.

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2014/feb/28/idaho-kills-23-wolves-month-lolo-zone/

by Rich

Feb. 28, 2014 3:36 p.m.                             •  12 comments

PREDATORS — Idaho Fish and Game, in cooperation with the USDA Wildlife Services, killed 23 gray wolves from a helicopter near the Idaho-Montana border during February in an effort to relieve predation on the struggling elk herds in the remote Lolo Zone.

The agency said in a just-issued media release that the wolf-control effort has been completed.

“The action is consistent with Idaho’s predation management plan for the Lolo elk zone, where predation is the major reason elk population numbers are considerably below management objectives,” the agency said in the release.

In addition to the animals killed in this control action, 17 wolves have been taken by hunters and trappers in the Lolo zone during the 2013-14 season – 7 by hunting and 10 by trapping, officials said.

The trapping season ends March 31, the hunting season ends June 30.

Fish and Game estimates there were 75 -100 wolves in the Lolo zone at the start of the 2013 hunting season with additional animals crossing back and forth between Idaho and Montana and from other Idaho elk zones.  Officials said their goal is to reduce that Lolo zone wolf population by 70 percent.

The Lolo elk population has declined from 16,000 elk in 1989 to roughly 2,100 elk in 2010, when Fish and Game last surveyed the zone.

The Lolo predation management plan is posted on the Fish and Game website.

This is the sixth agency control action taken in Lolo zone during the last four years.  A total of 25 wolves were taken in the previous five actions.

Fish and Game officials say they authorize control actions where wolves are causing conflicts with people or domestic animals, or are a significant factor in prey population declines.  Such control actions are consistent with Idaho’s 2002 Wolf Conservation and Management Plan approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Idaho Legislature, they say.

More from IFG:

Fish and Game prefers to manage wolf populations using hunters and trappers and only authorizes control actions where harvest has been insufficient to meet management goals.  The Lolo zone is steep, rugged country that is difficult to access, especially in winter.

Restoring the Lolo elk population will require liberal bear, mountain lion, and wolf harvest through hunting and trapping (in the case of wolves), and control actions in addition to improving elk habitat.  The short-term goals in Fish and Game’s 2014 Elk Plan are to stabilize the elk population and begin to help it grow.

Helicopter crews are now capturing and placing radio collars on elk, moose, and wolves in the Lolo zone in order to continue monitoring to see whether prey populations increase in response to regulated wolf hunting, trapping and control actions.

The Animals Support Gun Control

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On the way up to the mountains to ski some of the seven plus feet of snow which fell during the past week, I passed a car with a bumper sticker that read: “The Animals Support Gun Control.” That brings up an issue you almost never hear about, ironically enough, after someone brings a hunting rifle to school and tries to peck off every kid or teacher they can get a bead on.elk-000-home17300

Oh, you hear about gun control, that’s a given, but almost never in the context of how they’re used against non-human animals—for sport or savagery—in contest kills, often geared especially for young people, as if to tempt the next mass-murderer out of hiding and onto the playground for some real fun and games.

You can’t expect grade-schoolers to understand the subtle difference between a sacred human life and those of other animals they’ve been trained to kill—before they could even develop a conscience—by their proud parents, who use their kids’ eagerness to please and to play follow the leader against them, in hopes of recruiting a life-time hunting partner.

The disturbing trend among states to lower the legal hunting age, practically to infancy, suggests the word “Columbine” evokes only the image of a pretty flower to them. Meanwhile, hunters in states like Idaho are actively luring young children to try their luck in coyote or wolf killing derbies to further degrade the value of life that movies and video games have already taught them to disregard a thousand times over. The town of Holley, New York, just held another appalling example of state-sanctioned sadism in the form of an animal-kill contest they dubbed the “squirrel slam.” “Sporting” events like the so-called “squirrel slam” are an embarrassment that only adds to the global perception that this is an inherently violent country.

Not to be outdone, the Oklahoma “game” department just announced that the senior class of Sasakwa High is sponsoring a crow-killing contest, set for the end of this month—complete with prize money for whoever murders the most crows. It’s a spectacle sure to inspire the next killer-in-waiting to turn their semi-automatic on their fellow classmates.

These kinds of hunting events beg the obvious question: how can kids be expected to know the difference between officially sanctioned animal cruelty and acts of cruelty they come up with on their own?

So if you feel your Second Amendment rights are withering away at the mere mention of gun control, relax that death-grip on your rifle for a moment and consider what the animals would have to say about the issue, if only we allowed them a voice.

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How Wolves “Change Rivers”

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You may have seen this already. I decided to go ahead and post this video, even though I don’t agree with everything it suggests. For instance, it states that wolves kill coyotes, implying that, as a result, there are now lots of rabbits in Yellowstone. I’ve seen many cases of wolves getting along famously with coyotes there, and yet I haven’t noticed any real increase in rabbits (which wolves would prey on themselves, if rabbits were becoming so numerous). In many ways this is an important and effective video; I’m just saying at times it’s kind of overstated .

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/02/16/this-will-shatter-your-view-of-apex-predators-how-wolves-change-rivers/

copyrighted-wolf-argument-settled

Idaho House panel backs $2 million plan to kill wolves that prey on elk, livestock

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http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/b0d0c545a3e9408e8e7b7352300d4e08/ID-XGR–Wolf-Panel

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 17, 2014 – 6:08 pm EST

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s House will get to consider a measure seeking to shift $2 million in taxpayer money toward a panel that will oversee the killing of wolves that prey on livestock and elk herds. [Wolves eat elk, get over it.]

Republicans on the House Resources Committee voted Monday 14-4 for the disputed bill.

It’s being pushed by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter [the man is an insult to the entire weasel family], over objections labeling this a “funding mechanism for a war on wolves.”

With this cash infusion, Otter wants to target wolf packs blamed for killing too many cattle, sheep and elk. [When did elk become a domesticated species?]

Backers including the cattle and sheep industry pledged not to reduce Idaho’s wolf population, now roughly 680 animals, to levels triggering a renewed federal Endangered Species Act listing.

But foes branded it a “thinly veiled proposal aimed at the second extirpation of wolves in Idaho.”

copyrighted Hayden wolf walking

USFWS Grants Landowner Permit to Kill Critically Endangered Red Wolf

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USFWS Grants Landowner Permit to Kill Critically Endangered Red Wolf

Landowners who own property in the vicinity of the Red Wolf Recovery  Program, a 27-year federal project aimed at restoring to the far-eastern  edge of North Carolina one of nature’s most fragile species, claim red  wolves are invading their private property and impacting their  longstanding cultural tradition of deer hunting.   Although the deer  population has dropped somewhat, NC Wildlife Resources Commission  representatives believe the decline is more likely the result of  increased doe hunting than impacts by red wolves.

USFWS Red Wolf Recovery Coordinator, Dave Rabon, said opposition to  red wolves isn’t pervasive. Cultural differences in Eastern North  Carolina make it difficult for people to support a government-funded  predator program. “A lot of them will work with us,” he said. “But  they’re not going to advertise it. They’re not going to put a bumper  sticker on their car.”

Fourteen red wolves died in 2013 that the coalition knows about,  including nine dead by suspected or confirmed gunshot wounds. Another  wolf was found killed, apparently shot, on Jan. 7.  “Because of the  similarity of appearance between red wolves and coyotes, it is nearly  impossible for individual hunters to avoid shooting red wolves,” said  the recent lawsuit that the Red Wolf Coalition and other wildlife groups  filed against the state in its claim that it is not doing enough to  protect.

To date, there are no known red wolf attacks on humans and few  documented livestock kills. Still, resentment started building early on.  Though red wolves are protected under the Endangered Species Act,  locals were promised that they would be classified as “nonessential and  experimental,” giving landowners more leeway in dealing with them.

Farm owner Jett Ferebee has recently been granted by the USFWS the  first (and only) known permit to kill one of the red wolves that they  had not been able to trap and remove it from his Tyrell County  property,  as long as the taking was done while trying to legally kill  coyotes on his farm.

Relief for landowners depends on what they expect,” said USFWS Red  Wolf Recovery Coordinator, Dave Rabon.”  Canids of some kind, whether  wolves or coyotes, will always be in the area.  With Mr. Ferebee,” he  said, “we’ve been very successful removing animals from his property  when he’s called us. But it’s temporary. They’re going to come back.  Something is going to come back.”   Rabon added that opposition isn’t  pervasive. Cultural differences in Eastern North Carolina make it  difficult for people to support a government-funded predator program. “A  lot of them will work with us,” he said. “But they’re not going to  advertise it. They’re not going to put a bumper sticker on their car.”

Fourteen red wolves died in 2013 that the Red Wolf Coalition knows  about, including nine dead by suspected or confirmed gunshot wounds.  Another wolf was found killed, apparently shot, on Jan. 7.   “Because of  the similarity of appearance between red wolves and coyotes, it is  nearly impossible for individual hunters to avoid shooting red wolves,”  said the lawsuit that the Red Wolf Coalition and other wildlife groups  filed against the state.

If successful, the suit could stop coyote hunting altogether in the  five eastern counties. If it does, one can expect continued conflict  between pro-recovery efforts and landowners.

The red wolf (Canis rufus) is one of the world’s most endangered  canids.  Once common throughout the eastern and southcentral United  States, red wolf populations were decimated by the early part of the  20th century as a result of intensive predator control programs and  habitat loss.  We oppose USFWS’ action to allow this landowner to  lethally remove a red wolf. Thus, we ask that you express your  opposition with a respectful email to the parties below:

By email:

cynthia_dohner@fws.gov (Regional Director, Southeast Region)

leopoldo_miranda@fws.gov (Assistant Regional Director, Southeast Region)

d_m_ashe@fws.gov (Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

End all use of dogs on wildlife.

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Petition to The Wisconsin legislature and Natural Resources Board of Wisconsin: End all use of dogs on wildlife.

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_Wisconsin_legislature_and_Natural_Resources_Board_of_Wisconsin_End_all_use_of_dogs_on_wildlife/?fbdm

Posted February 13, 2014

Why this is important

Wisconsin coyotes, wolves, bears, bobcats, raccoons, foxes and all wildlife are being run by packs of dogs and mobs of armed men for killing recreation year-round. Since coyotes can be killed without reporting, any time day or night, statewide, year-round, all wildlife is on the move, terrorized and killed randomly. Dogs used as weapons is cruel to the dogs, wildlife, and to children taught this is fun. Please help us get dogs out of hunting. They are set against trapped animals who cannot defend themselves. No one can defend themselves against armed men and dogs and traps in combination.

Sign the petition here:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_Wisconsin_legislature_and_Natural_Resources_Board_of_Wisconsin_End_all_use_of_dogs_on_wildlife/?fbdm

photo Jim Robertson

photo Jim Robertson

New Wolf Film in Production

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Check out Medicine of the Wolf– a film by Julia Huffman.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/645287247/medicine-of-the-wolf

Needs funding to get off the ground; 25 Days to go..for the Pledge of $50.000…

Medicine of the Wolf pursues the deep intrinsic value of brother wolf and our forgotten promise to him.

“To look into the eyes of a wolf is to see your own soul.”

~ Aldo Leopold

Director of Photogaphy Lawrence Schweich with Director Julia Huffman and Chris Hunter, Sound.
Director of Photogaphy Lawrence Schweich with Director Julia Huffman and Chris Hunter, Sound.

Filmmaker Julia Huffman travels to Minnesota and into wolf country to pursue the deep intrinsic value of brother wolf and our forgotten promise to him.

Medicine of the Wolf will take viewers on a journey to understand the powerful relationship that we have with the wolf by interviewing prominent people who represent the different levels of connection to this ancient and iconic species – from Anishinaabe creation stories that reflect our interconnectivity to all things, to a lifetime of observations of a complex and dynamic family unit, to a wolf scientist expressing his layered findings in an over 50 year study of the delicate web that wolves weave into our ecosystem.

Wolf Pup Ravenwood - Photo by Jim Brandenburg
Wolf Pup Ravenwood – Photo by Jim Brandenburg

We are very honored to share that Medicine of the Wolf, our documentary examining the treatment of America’s gray wolves, has won the eighth annual Animal Content in Entertainment documentary grant offered by The Humane Society of the United States. 

“This feature-length documentary from filmmaker Julia Huffman follows the work of renowned environmentalist and National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg, who has studied wolves in the field for 44 years. The film explores the role wolves have played through American history, including their esteemed place in Minnesota’s Ojibwe tribe.”

~ The Humane Society of the United States

TESTIMONIALS

“Medicine of the wolf will inspire us to take another look at our most important connection to the wolf and ultimately to our own souls.”

~ Brooks Fahy, Predator Defense

“A film like this could really not have come along at a more vital time for wolf conservation. Anti-wolf sentiments nearly led to the extermination of America’s wolves, and just when populations are starting to bounce back, wolves are being hunted and trapped at an alarming rate in several states as we speak, placing this iconic species in jeopardy once again.”

~ Colin McCormack, Manager of The Humane Society of the United State’s ACE program

“Julia’s film is profoundly moving. This is an important film that may help galvanize the hearts of many to protect this beautiful animal.”

~ Mark Coleman, Author, AWAKE in the WILD

“Thanks for sharing the trailer, it was Beautiful.”

~ Mike Phillips, Executive Director, Turner Species Fund

A HISTORY – WOLF AND MAN 

“Canis lupus, the wolf of my imagination and of the northern forest, did indeed roam Minnesota. Once the most abundant large predator on the continent, the wolf had virtually been eliminated from most places. Minnesota remained the only state among the lower 48 where a truly viable population existed.”

~ Jim Brandenburg, Author, BROTHER WOLF 

Weekly Wolf News

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I hope all these links work for you…

Latest Posted Idaho Wolf Hunt             Kill total (current season):169
Latest Posted Idaho Wolf Trapping             Kill total: 78              Latest Posted Montana Wolf Hunt Kill Total (current season): 137              Latest Posted Montana Wolf Trapping             Kill total: 77 Wyoming Wolf Kill Total             (2014):0
Regional Total Reported Killed Since             Delisting: 1683
Pacific West
Op-ed/Letter to the Editors
National
Op-ed/Letter to Editors

Northern Rockies

Op-ed/Letter to Editors

Elsewhere and other

——- Subscription Only

By George Plaven                  EO Media Group | 0 comments
A possible new wolf pack is roaming Eastern Oregon                 after wildlife biologists confirmed finding tracks from                 five animals near Medical Springs in Union County.
The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife first                 documented tracks in late December, based on reports                 from a landowner in the area. Tracks were found again                 three more times last month, stretching into northern                 Baker County.
While little is known about the exact location of the                 pack, a designated Area of Known Wolf Activity was                 mapped in the southern Catherine Creek and northern                 Keating wildlife management units. Size was estimated by                 looking at the range and behavior of other packs across                 the region.
Wolf packs are typically defined as consisting of a                 male, female and their offspring. For purposes of                 monitoring, a pack can also mean four or more wolves                 traveling together over winter, and this group of wolves                 meets that definition.
ODFW will attempt to collar one of the new wolves to                 learn more about their territory and breeding status,                 said spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy. It is still too early                 to know if there is a breeding pair or pups within the                 group of five.
“There is evidence that they have used this area over                 several weeks, so we know they’re not just dispersing,”                 Dennehy said. “We don’t know much more about them yet.”
The as yet unnamed pack would be Oregon’s eighth. The                 Imnaha, Umatilla River, Wenaha, Snake River, Walla                 Walla, Minam and Mount Emily packs also inhabit the                 state’s northeast corner. Total wolf figures in 2013 are                 not yet available, though 46 were counted at the end of                 2012.
Wolves remain listed under the state Endangered Species                 Act, and are federally protected west of highways 395,                 78 and 95. Management is done by ODFW to conserve                 populations, while mitigating damage from livestock                 depredation.
No incidents of depredation have been reported with the                 new group. ODFW will work with ranchers in the area to                 let them know about rules and different preventative                 measures for minimizing wolf-livestock conflicts.
Non-lethal measures are required before ODFW will use                 lethal control against wolves. In order to count as a                 “qualifying incident,” a pack must prey on livestock                 four times within a six-month period. These incidents                 must be investigated by ODFW and be confirmed                 depredations by the agency.
Confirmed depredations only qualify toward lethal                 control if livestock producers had preventative measures                 already in place.
Once a wolf kills livestock for the first time, an Area                 of Depredating Wolves is established. At that point,                 livestock producers must use preventative measures for a                 depredation to qualify.
It is up to producers to remove, treat or dispose of                 all known and reasonably accessible attractants on the                 property, such as bone piles. Finally, ranchers must                 have in place one additional deterrent — such as fladry                 fencing or range riders — to protect livestock.
No packs have met all the lethal control criteria. Most                 recently, there was confirmed depredation of a ewe Jan.                 30 by the Imnaha Pack on Upper Prairie Creek in Wallowa                 County. A report on whether this is a “qualifying                 incident” is still pending.
Before delisting wolves, wildlife managers need to                 observe four breeding pairs for three consecutive years,                 each with two pups that survive through the end of the                 year. Oregon met that requirement for the first time in                 2012, and 2013 could mark the second time depending on                 final year-end survey results.
Additional information about wolves is available on                 ODFW’s website at www.dfw.state.or.us/wolves.
copyrighted Hayden wolf in lodgepoles

Why Wolves Need ESA Protection

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The sad story of OR9 is a prime example of why wolves need to remain on the federal Endangered Species list…

Sibling of famous OR-7 wolf killed by hunter in Idaho

Published: Friday, February 10, 2012

JOSEPH — A sibling of Oregon’s world-famous wolf OR-7 has been shot and killed in Idaho by a hunter whose wolf tag was no longer valid.

“What an amazing difference between how this wolf’s story evolved compared to his brother, OR-7, who is now in California and is an international celebrity,” said Suzanne Stone of Boise, spokeswoman for the 530,000-member Defenders of Wildlife environmental group.

The radio-collared male wolf identified as OR-9 was killed Feb. 2 near a cattle feedlot and winter calving area north of Emmett, between Boise and the Snake River, said Mike Keckler, spokesman for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Like his famous brother, OR-9 was born into the Imnaha pack near the northeastern Oregon town of Joseph. He was collared Feb. 26, 2011, in the Grouse Creek area east of Joseph when he was about 1 1/2 years old and weighed 90 pounds then.

OR-9 departed Oregon in July two months before OR-7 began his epic 730-mile trek to Crater Lake and south into California earlier this winter. OR-9 headed east, swam the Snake River into Idaho at Brownlee Reservoir and traveled south toward Emmett.

His travel destination turned out to be dangerous. Unlike the Joseph area, where gray wolves are protected under Oregon’s Endangered Species Act, Idaho’s wolves are classified as big game animals and subject to regulated hunting rules.
More…http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/02/sibling_of_famous_or-7_wolf_ki.html

From Defenders of Wildlife:
You didn’t support it. We didn’t support it. Now it’s been shown that the best available science doesn’t support the plan to delist nearly all gray wolves in the Lower 48 either.

ACT NOW: Demand that Secretary Jewell abandon this reckless delisting proposal and allow for the full recovery of gray wolves!

An independent peer review board, commissioned to assess the quality and adequacy of the science underlying the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s (FWS) delisting plan for gray wolves, just released their unanimous decision: that the proposal to strip gray wolves of Endangered Species Act Protection is not based on the best available science and contains numerous omissions and errors.

This is a major development in our efforts to stop this irresponsible proposal from going through.

Please speak out! Urge Secretary Jewell to direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to withdraw this proposal immediately!

Now that it’s been confirmed that this proposed delisting is clearly not based on the best available science, we are left wondering why FWS wants to turn its back on wolves.

In states like Idaho, we continue to see what happens when wolves are prematurely stripped of federal protection and left to be managed by states with deadly anti-wolf agenda’s – just recently they announced a proposal to kill off as many as 450 wolves statewide!

Wolves now serve as a scapegoat for anti-government extremists with a political agenda – and these groups will spare no expense to try and derail wolf conservation in America. We simply can’t allow politics and private interests to trump science – it’s irresponsible and unacceptable.