Wolves!
- Thread starter CCRider
- Start date
Yep! Good times!
D
DOO DAWG
Well-known member
Received this yesterday..........................
They need these bastiges in their OWN backyards!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save America's Wolves
UT state senator:
Help Stop Utah’s
Anti-Wolf Bill
Wolf Face in Woods (Copyright Larry Allen 2009)
Donate now to help stop the Utah anti-wolf bill
Donate now to help stop anti-wolf extremists in Utah from shooting wolves on sight.
Dear George,
Hysterical anti-wolf hatred has hit a new high in Utah.
Spurred on by the so-called “Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife,” anti-wolf legislators are expected to pass a bill as early as this week that would allow state officials to remove any wolves that migrate back to their historic range in Utah.
Defenders of Wildlife’s resources are stretched thin with the increasing human threats to these long persecuted animals, but we’re fighting hard to block this outrageous anti-wolf bill.
We need your emergency donation of $15.00, $30.00, or whatever you can afford today to stop the Utah anti-wolf bill from becoming law.
Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife is the very same group whose Idaho chapter has been holding wolf-killing derbies to raise funds for anti-wolf litigation.
We can’t let these extremists win. Please help us stop this bill, save the lives of our wolves and other imperiled animals in the wild.
Working with our allies on the ground, Defenders of Wildlife is fighting hard to block this anti-wolf bill in Utah and to restore federal protections for these magnificent animals.
Wolves once roamed freely in Utah, playing an important part in balanced ecosystems in the state. But aggressive hunting, trapping and poisoning exterminated these important animals from the state during the last century.
Now there is hope as more wolves migrate from the Greater Yellowstone region into states like Utah. We won’t allow these wolves to be met by a hail of bullets.
Can you help us fight for the lives of these wolves? Please donate now.
Defenders supporters in Utah have already sent nearly 1,000 messages to state legislators, and we’re gearing up for an intensive effort to stop this bill over the next week.
Your caring contribution today will help us fight Utah’s anti-wolf extremists and win our court fight to restore life-saving federal protections for wolves in the northern Rockies -- including and especially in states like Utah, where anti-wolf hatred is running at a fever pitch.
We can’t win for wolves without your help. Please help support these vital efforts with your caring donation today.
For the Wild Ones,
Rodger Schlickeisen Rodger Schlickeisen, President Signature
Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife
P.S. We can’t allow the anti-wolf group like Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife to dictate the future of wolves in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. Please make an emergency donation on our secure website today or call 1-800-385-9712 to donate by phone.
Making a Difference for Wildlife
Winter wolf (Photo: National Park Service)
“I emailed Cabela's and told them they had lost my business for good. So did many of my friends.” -- Cindy R. (via Facebook)
Since Friday morning, more than 50,000 dedicated Defenders activists have called on outdoor retailers Cabela’s and Sportsman’s Warehouse to stop supporting “pre
They need these bastiges in their OWN backyards!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save America's Wolves
UT state senator:
Help Stop Utah’s
Anti-Wolf Bill
Wolf Face in Woods (Copyright Larry Allen 2009)
Donate now to help stop the Utah anti-wolf bill
Donate now to help stop anti-wolf extremists in Utah from shooting wolves on sight.
Dear George,
Hysterical anti-wolf hatred has hit a new high in Utah.
Spurred on by the so-called “Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife,” anti-wolf legislators are expected to pass a bill as early as this week that would allow state officials to remove any wolves that migrate back to their historic range in Utah.
Defenders of Wildlife’s resources are stretched thin with the increasing human threats to these long persecuted animals, but we’re fighting hard to block this outrageous anti-wolf bill.
We need your emergency donation of $15.00, $30.00, or whatever you can afford today to stop the Utah anti-wolf bill from becoming law.
Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife is the very same group whose Idaho chapter has been holding wolf-killing derbies to raise funds for anti-wolf litigation.
We can’t let these extremists win. Please help us stop this bill, save the lives of our wolves and other imperiled animals in the wild.
Working with our allies on the ground, Defenders of Wildlife is fighting hard to block this anti-wolf bill in Utah and to restore federal protections for these magnificent animals.
Wolves once roamed freely in Utah, playing an important part in balanced ecosystems in the state. But aggressive hunting, trapping and poisoning exterminated these important animals from the state during the last century.
Now there is hope as more wolves migrate from the Greater Yellowstone region into states like Utah. We won’t allow these wolves to be met by a hail of bullets.
Can you help us fight for the lives of these wolves? Please donate now.
Defenders supporters in Utah have already sent nearly 1,000 messages to state legislators, and we’re gearing up for an intensive effort to stop this bill over the next week.
Your caring contribution today will help us fight Utah’s anti-wolf extremists and win our court fight to restore life-saving federal protections for wolves in the northern Rockies -- including and especially in states like Utah, where anti-wolf hatred is running at a fever pitch.
We can’t win for wolves without your help. Please help support these vital efforts with your caring donation today.
For the Wild Ones,
Rodger Schlickeisen Rodger Schlickeisen, President Signature
Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife
P.S. We can’t allow the anti-wolf group like Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife to dictate the future of wolves in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. Please make an emergency donation on our secure website today or call 1-800-385-9712 to donate by phone.
Making a Difference for Wildlife
Winter wolf (Photo: National Park Service)
“I emailed Cabela's and told them they had lost my business for good. So did many of my friends.” -- Cindy R. (via Facebook)
Since Friday morning, more than 50,000 dedicated Defenders activists have called on outdoor retailers Cabela’s and Sportsman’s Warehouse to stop supporting “pre
D
DOO DAWG
Well-known member
More from the dark side.....
USFWS Wolf Chief Blames Moose Loss In Yellowstone On Climate Disruption
January 27, 2010
Is this a first? Climate disruption? Because the theory behind man-made global warming has been proven a fraud, has our liberal press created a new buzz word to explain away the errors, fraud, conspiracy and manipulations of “We the People”? Climate disruption? We’ve gone from global warming to climate change and now it’s climate disruption. Is that a catch-all phrase that we can use for any excuse to place blame and pass off responsibility?
I can certainly understand how an individual, who stakes his entire life and reputation on bringing wolves back into the Yellowstone National Park area and Central Idaho, would react so emotionally when he hears that a legislator in Utah wants to kill all his wolves trying to enter the state of Utah.
Bangs is supposed to be a professional, a salaried employee of the Department of Interior/United States Fish and Wildlife Service, one whose salary is paid by the taxpayers of this country. You would expect a better response from a professional scientist.
“People who don’t like them [wolves] give them supernatural powers. It’s that way all over the world,” Bangs says. “In reality, they’re no big deal.”
The tone of the article leads a reader to think that the presence of wolves is no big deal. He seems to blow off and almost ridicule anyone who doesn’t subscribe to his outdated information on wolves. His reference to people “giv[ing] them supernatural powers” is almost a Farley Mowatt followers response. I wonder if he also believes wolves only eat mice and tiny rodents?
But in reality, did Bangs refer to the loss of moose in the Yellowstone area to “climate disruption” or did the author of the article do it? You decide.
Wolves have contributed to a decline of elk in and around Yellowstone, but moose loss is probably more due to climate disruption. “Moose can’t handle heat at all,” Bangs says. “They just lie around and don’t store body fat.”
Notice the quotations mark don’t come in until after the use of “climate disruption” and the quiet admission by the author (I wonder where that information came from?) that wolves have contributed to elk reduction. It does however seem to fit with the quoted response by Bangs saying moose can’t handle the heat – assuming he is referring to global warming. He is also saying that moose do nothing but lie around in this “climate disruption” and die. And, according to the same article, Bangs said that wolves are only a problem with some livestock.
Bangs’ comments are not sitting well with many wildlife and outdoor sporting organizations. It has been slow coming but state wildlife officials in Idaho and Montana are now coming around to admit that wolves are destroying their elk, deer and moose herds far more than they thought they would. In some places, the effect is serious, posing a real threat to elk, deer and moose herds.
Don Peay of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife in Utah asked Bangs:
I would like some scientist to explain to me how Utah – which has a hotter climate than Wyoming, Idaho and Montana whether there is global warming, climate disruption, etc – is seeing a totally different trend in Moose, than is being experienced in the wolf inhabited areas of WY, MT, and ID.
If Climate disruption is the reason that moose are declining in the Yellowstone region – it is so hot the moose populations just lie around and don’t put on fat reserves – then why are Utah moose populations increasing significantly during this same climate change phenomenon ? it would seem to me that if heat was the problem, then Utah’s moose populations should be even in greater decline than the greater Yellowstone area.
Toby Bridges, a hunter and activist who administers Lobo Watch, had a much more emotional response to Bangs’ comments. I won’t share all of them here but here’s some of what Bridges had to say:
Sportsmen here fully realize that growing wolf numbers have destroyed Yellowstone’s great elk herd, not Global Warming. Likewise, elk herds all along the mountains of western Montana and northern Idaho are being decimated by out of control wolf numbers. And when addressing this issue, the best you can do is is to toss out an “Oh well” attitude in the linked article, trying to use smoke and mirrors and a list of other factors to try covering up the real problem – your parasite carrying kill crazy wolves.
So while many sportsman’s groups in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon and Washington have united together to work in a proactive way to convince the courts to allow the states to manage wolves at a level that will provide a better balance between predator and prey, Bangs is still preaching the “wolves aren’t the problem” mantra. Our tax dollars at work I suppose.
Tom Remington
http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/category/idaho-hunting-news/
USFWS Wolf Chief Blames Moose Loss In Yellowstone On Climate Disruption
January 27, 2010
Is this a first? Climate disruption? Because the theory behind man-made global warming has been proven a fraud, has our liberal press created a new buzz word to explain away the errors, fraud, conspiracy and manipulations of “We the People”? Climate disruption? We’ve gone from global warming to climate change and now it’s climate disruption. Is that a catch-all phrase that we can use for any excuse to place blame and pass off responsibility?
I can certainly understand how an individual, who stakes his entire life and reputation on bringing wolves back into the Yellowstone National Park area and Central Idaho, would react so emotionally when he hears that a legislator in Utah wants to kill all his wolves trying to enter the state of Utah.
Bangs is supposed to be a professional, a salaried employee of the Department of Interior/United States Fish and Wildlife Service, one whose salary is paid by the taxpayers of this country. You would expect a better response from a professional scientist.
“People who don’t like them [wolves] give them supernatural powers. It’s that way all over the world,” Bangs says. “In reality, they’re no big deal.”
The tone of the article leads a reader to think that the presence of wolves is no big deal. He seems to blow off and almost ridicule anyone who doesn’t subscribe to his outdated information on wolves. His reference to people “giv[ing] them supernatural powers” is almost a Farley Mowatt followers response. I wonder if he also believes wolves only eat mice and tiny rodents?
But in reality, did Bangs refer to the loss of moose in the Yellowstone area to “climate disruption” or did the author of the article do it? You decide.
Wolves have contributed to a decline of elk in and around Yellowstone, but moose loss is probably more due to climate disruption. “Moose can’t handle heat at all,” Bangs says. “They just lie around and don’t store body fat.”
Notice the quotations mark don’t come in until after the use of “climate disruption” and the quiet admission by the author (I wonder where that information came from?) that wolves have contributed to elk reduction. It does however seem to fit with the quoted response by Bangs saying moose can’t handle the heat – assuming he is referring to global warming. He is also saying that moose do nothing but lie around in this “climate disruption” and die. And, according to the same article, Bangs said that wolves are only a problem with some livestock.
Bangs’ comments are not sitting well with many wildlife and outdoor sporting organizations. It has been slow coming but state wildlife officials in Idaho and Montana are now coming around to admit that wolves are destroying their elk, deer and moose herds far more than they thought they would. In some places, the effect is serious, posing a real threat to elk, deer and moose herds.
Don Peay of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife in Utah asked Bangs:
I would like some scientist to explain to me how Utah – which has a hotter climate than Wyoming, Idaho and Montana whether there is global warming, climate disruption, etc – is seeing a totally different trend in Moose, than is being experienced in the wolf inhabited areas of WY, MT, and ID.
If Climate disruption is the reason that moose are declining in the Yellowstone region – it is so hot the moose populations just lie around and don’t put on fat reserves – then why are Utah moose populations increasing significantly during this same climate change phenomenon ? it would seem to me that if heat was the problem, then Utah’s moose populations should be even in greater decline than the greater Yellowstone area.
Toby Bridges, a hunter and activist who administers Lobo Watch, had a much more emotional response to Bangs’ comments. I won’t share all of them here but here’s some of what Bridges had to say:
Sportsmen here fully realize that growing wolf numbers have destroyed Yellowstone’s great elk herd, not Global Warming. Likewise, elk herds all along the mountains of western Montana and northern Idaho are being decimated by out of control wolf numbers. And when addressing this issue, the best you can do is is to toss out an “Oh well” attitude in the linked article, trying to use smoke and mirrors and a list of other factors to try covering up the real problem – your parasite carrying kill crazy wolves.
So while many sportsman’s groups in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon and Washington have united together to work in a proactive way to convince the courts to allow the states to manage wolves at a level that will provide a better balance between predator and prey, Bangs is still preaching the “wolves aren’t the problem” mantra. Our tax dollars at work I suppose.
Tom Remington
http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/category/idaho-hunting-news/
I just found these two stories about a 32 yr old teacher getting killed in Alaska in early March!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ned-by-plane-and-on-foot-for-deadly-pack.html
this one is from vancouver
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/De...+mauled+wolves+remote+road/2696641/story.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ned-by-plane-and-on-foot-for-deadly-pack.html
this one is from vancouver
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/De...+mauled+wolves+remote+road/2696641/story.html
Last edited:
A
AMSOILR
Well-known member
We saw 2 wolves up the Greys River in Wyoming
We saw two grey wolves when we were riding up the Greys River. They were about 5 miles north of the elk refuge.
We saw two grey wolves when we were riding up the Greys River. They were about 5 miles north of the elk refuge.
D
DOO DAWG
Well-known member
Another wolf poll from Northeast Oregon.
The La Grande Observer is conducting a "yes" "no" poll..."should wolves be killed for harrassing livestock". Please vote.
http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/
The La Grande Observer is conducting a "yes" "no" poll..."should wolves be killed for harrassing livestock". Please vote.
http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/
D
DOO DAWG
Well-known member
Guest Editorial: Decline of elk and elk depredation by wolves
By Gene Eastman
There are several factors that have contributed to the elk population crash. There has been a steady decline from the early 1950’s due to a loss of habitat. Large wildfires in the early 1900’s created hundreds of thousands of acres of prime elk winter range by changing the vegetation from conifers to shrub-fields. The result was a large increase in elk that peaked in the mid 1900’s.
Since the 1950’s the elk has been declining for several reasons. A primary one being the decrease in caring capacity brought about by plant successional changes from shrubs to conifer trees. Through the 1980’s the cows were still producing enough calves to maintain a healthy herd of 25 plus calves per 100 cows. The harvest in the 1970s averaged 1200 elk for Unit 10 of the Lolo Zone, (About 600 bulls and 600 cows). Then the Fish and Game Department went to bulls only in 1976 with a modest cow permit harvest.
By hunting bulls only during the open season, the harvest switched from 600 cows and 600 bulls to about 1200 bulls being harvested in Unit 10. The bull cow ratio dropped every year from around 50 bulls per 100 cows to around nine bulls per hundred cows by 1993 for this unit. The reduction in bulls allowed for more browse being available to the cows and calves. The elk herd in the Lolo zone (Units 10 and 12) increased. The elk numbers from 1976 to the 80s increased to around 16,000 elk. From the 1980’s peak the elk numbers declined along with a decline in calf production.
The 2008 census for the Lolo zone was 5112 elk which declined to 2,178 elk by 2010. At this rate of more than a 50 percent reduction we can expect the 2112 count to be around 1000 elk or if the loss is another 2934 elk then the count will be zero minus; its anybodies guess.
The second reason for elk decline is a decline in cow numbers and the loss of calf production due to predation. A healthy herd can withstand bear and cougar predation. A stressed elk heard can be impacted by predation. Add a “non-essential” non-native pack-hunting extra large “buffalo wolf” from the Woods Buffalo Range in northern Alberta, then the decline in elk numbers can be rapid.
The small wolf I call the “native Idaho wolf” started showing up in 1976 after the 1080 poisoning program was halted. About the same year I saw the first set of wolf tracks on the North Fork river road. Bear hunters started seeing a pair of wolves in the late 70s in upper Kelly Creek. In the 1980s wolf sighting increased with wolves being seen near Woodland, around Pierce, Weippe and in the back country. Most sightings were singles or pairs.
A local hound hunter reported a pack of wolves (1980s) near Smith Ridge. I witnessed them howling in 1992. A grey and black wolf pair was seen by many folks around Weippe in the fields in the late 80s. I was able to video the black wolf on the Weippe Prairie hunting mice. Much of this information gathered on sightings and documented wolf tracks was shared with the Federal Fish and Wildlife and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The wolf video was also sent to the Federal Fish and Wildlife. The smaller “Idaho wolf” was not creating a problem with the public, wildlife or domestic stock.
After the wolf introduction program was implemented a federal wolf biologist told me that there is no difference in sizes of wolves, all are Canis lupus species. However the rule of body size is “further north, the bigger the body” of animals such as the Alaska moose compared to the Idaho moose. Same for wolves: the re-introduced red wolf and the Mexican wolf are much smaller than the “Idaho native wolf” which in turn is smaller than the Alberta “buffalo wolf”. It is a matter of a larger body mass retaining more heat in a colder climate.
So we had documented wolves and breeding pairs, why was the non-native “non-essential” much larger pack wolf introduced? What went wrong? What were the Governor and the Direction of the Fish and Game thinking about? Now we have a problem. Personally I liked the small Idaho timber wolf and enjoyed seeing the black wolf hunt mice near my ranch. Since 2000 the Lolo Creek “buffalo wolf” pack has made regular visits to my ranch and leave their tape worm Echinococcus granulosus infested droppings topped with whitetail deer rump hair along the driveway. The latest visit was a month ago at 10 am, fifteen feet from the front door. His track measured 5 ½ inches by 6½ inches. Meeting this large predator at the front door close-up is a fearsome and a chilling experience. I have faced a charging grizzly bear in Alaska, and I can tell you that when the yellow eyes of a 100 pound plus wolf stare at you from a few feet away, it is like facing a charging bear; maybe worse, a bear doesn’t look you in the eye.
Another change from the “Idaho Wolf” is the sightings are frequently wolf packs of eight to 12 wolves especially along the Lolo Motor Road where dried wolf scat can be seen in abundance. Perhaps four-wheeling could be hazardous by inhaling airborne tapeworm spores? I wish some folks in the city that are much kinder to this large predator could experience them as we country folks do. I am sure that they would love their children, dogs, horses, cats (cows, sheep, goats and chickens) the same as us.
What problems do wolves pose to man and animals?
The following are quotes from Wolves in Russia, Anxiety Through the Ages, by Will N. Graves, Detselig Enterprises, LTD, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2007.
Wolf-human encounters: “In the late 1990s wolves in Russia were still terrorizing villages and occasionally killing humans. The most famous man-easting wolves lived in the region of Turku 1880-81 where they killed 22 children. They (wolves) were an old female and a young male.
Wolf-wildlife encounters in Russia: “All of my Research indicates that wolves kill wantonly in heavy snow and in periods of crusted snow. Wolves do much damage to the hunting economy in every part of the USSR and to the northern livestock industry. A Soviet wildlife specialist wrote in 1975 that people who write articles that state that wolves cull (kill) only sick and weak animals are writing fantasy. He stated that wolves often kill healthy elk, deer and other animals. Caucaus Wildlife Preserve: 20 wolves in 1966 increased to 300 wolves by 1972 and the number of red deer and wild boar decreased to one seventh of their former abundance.”
Parasites and Diseases:
“Soviet research indicated that wolves carry over 50 types of parasites. Wolves help establish maintain and spread so-called hot spots’ of viral diseases. Some are potentially fatal to humans including rabies. Wolves are the main carriers of dangerous helminthes (parasitic worms) spreading echinococcosis, cysticercosis, coenurosis, thrichinosis and ascariasis.
In the Nenetskiz Automomous Okrug, all wolves examined were severely infected with tapeworms. The tiny eggs of these tapeworms pass out of the feces sometimes stick to berries and mushrooms gathered by people. Once inside a person these tapeworm eggs cause large cysts in the liver, the lungs, and occasionally the brain. Stepping on dried feces can cause a person to inhale the airborne spores or eggs. The eggs of parasites are picked up on grass by grazing animals. In one day the wolf can travel many kilometers and can quickly spread anthrax and the foot and mouth disease and they are immune to these diseases. The wolves are able to spread infections of tsustitserkoz and echinococcus to cattle.”
Wolf population rate of increase: “Under usual circumstances wolf populations will increase from about 10% to as high as perhaps 30 percent in a given year. During the approximate 70 year period of the USSR more than 1,5000,000 wolves were culled (killed) and many times their population was greatly reduced. Nevertheless, the number of wolves in the Russian federation countries is greater now than at the beginning of the century. Wolves are resilient and have a high reproductive rate. There were 22,500 wolves in the Russian Federation in 1990. A ban on hunting was imposed in 1991 and the wolf population grew to 44,500 in 2001.”
I am not implying that wolves in America will cause the same human mortality problems as they have in Russia as long as we can hunt them. However our introduced wolves show no fear of man at this time. Hound hunters, deer and elk hunters, horseman, cattlemen, sheep men and citizens have had very threatening close encounters where they witnessed their horses, cattle, sheep and dogs being threatened or killed by wolves. Archers have told me of being faced by a pack of wolves boldly coming towards them.
Some of the transplanted wolves may have come from ranch lands in Alberta. A retired local Idaho outfitter I have known for 37 years told me of stopping for breakfast in a small town in north central Alberta where he met a local rancher. The rancher said,” I see you are from Idaho, let me buy your breakfast.” The rancher then related to the ex-outfitter that he was paid by the U.S. Federal Fish and Wildlife for cattle killing wolves live trapped on his ranch so that the wolves could be transplanted into Idaho.
In a final note I will treasure my spring horse trips up Weitas Creek in the early 1980s where the elk in the meadows and on the hillsides numbered up to 300 elk. Idaho was one of the leading elk producing states in the nation. Region two is experiencing a decline in elk numbers. Region one, the panhandle elk herds are also in trouble. The Fish and Game is going in the right direction in more liberal wolf hunting and trapping seasons in an effort to reducing and controlling the “non-essential” non-native wolf. Maybe my grandson will be able to elk hunt and enjoy the thrill of hearing bulging bulls in the future?
Gene Eastman, Graduate of the University of Idaho, School of Forestry, majoring in wildlife management; Certified Wildlife biologist, The Wildlife Society; Retired Conservation Officer, Idaho Department of Fish and Game (1970-1993); Retired Air Force Master Sergeant, USAF and Air National Guard (1955-1997); Resident of Weippe area since J
By Gene Eastman
There are several factors that have contributed to the elk population crash. There has been a steady decline from the early 1950’s due to a loss of habitat. Large wildfires in the early 1900’s created hundreds of thousands of acres of prime elk winter range by changing the vegetation from conifers to shrub-fields. The result was a large increase in elk that peaked in the mid 1900’s.
Since the 1950’s the elk has been declining for several reasons. A primary one being the decrease in caring capacity brought about by plant successional changes from shrubs to conifer trees. Through the 1980’s the cows were still producing enough calves to maintain a healthy herd of 25 plus calves per 100 cows. The harvest in the 1970s averaged 1200 elk for Unit 10 of the Lolo Zone, (About 600 bulls and 600 cows). Then the Fish and Game Department went to bulls only in 1976 with a modest cow permit harvest.
By hunting bulls only during the open season, the harvest switched from 600 cows and 600 bulls to about 1200 bulls being harvested in Unit 10. The bull cow ratio dropped every year from around 50 bulls per 100 cows to around nine bulls per hundred cows by 1993 for this unit. The reduction in bulls allowed for more browse being available to the cows and calves. The elk herd in the Lolo zone (Units 10 and 12) increased. The elk numbers from 1976 to the 80s increased to around 16,000 elk. From the 1980’s peak the elk numbers declined along with a decline in calf production.
The 2008 census for the Lolo zone was 5112 elk which declined to 2,178 elk by 2010. At this rate of more than a 50 percent reduction we can expect the 2112 count to be around 1000 elk or if the loss is another 2934 elk then the count will be zero minus; its anybodies guess.
The second reason for elk decline is a decline in cow numbers and the loss of calf production due to predation. A healthy herd can withstand bear and cougar predation. A stressed elk heard can be impacted by predation. Add a “non-essential” non-native pack-hunting extra large “buffalo wolf” from the Woods Buffalo Range in northern Alberta, then the decline in elk numbers can be rapid.
The small wolf I call the “native Idaho wolf” started showing up in 1976 after the 1080 poisoning program was halted. About the same year I saw the first set of wolf tracks on the North Fork river road. Bear hunters started seeing a pair of wolves in the late 70s in upper Kelly Creek. In the 1980s wolf sighting increased with wolves being seen near Woodland, around Pierce, Weippe and in the back country. Most sightings were singles or pairs.
A local hound hunter reported a pack of wolves (1980s) near Smith Ridge. I witnessed them howling in 1992. A grey and black wolf pair was seen by many folks around Weippe in the fields in the late 80s. I was able to video the black wolf on the Weippe Prairie hunting mice. Much of this information gathered on sightings and documented wolf tracks was shared with the Federal Fish and Wildlife and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The wolf video was also sent to the Federal Fish and Wildlife. The smaller “Idaho wolf” was not creating a problem with the public, wildlife or domestic stock.
After the wolf introduction program was implemented a federal wolf biologist told me that there is no difference in sizes of wolves, all are Canis lupus species. However the rule of body size is “further north, the bigger the body” of animals such as the Alaska moose compared to the Idaho moose. Same for wolves: the re-introduced red wolf and the Mexican wolf are much smaller than the “Idaho native wolf” which in turn is smaller than the Alberta “buffalo wolf”. It is a matter of a larger body mass retaining more heat in a colder climate.
So we had documented wolves and breeding pairs, why was the non-native “non-essential” much larger pack wolf introduced? What went wrong? What were the Governor and the Direction of the Fish and Game thinking about? Now we have a problem. Personally I liked the small Idaho timber wolf and enjoyed seeing the black wolf hunt mice near my ranch. Since 2000 the Lolo Creek “buffalo wolf” pack has made regular visits to my ranch and leave their tape worm Echinococcus granulosus infested droppings topped with whitetail deer rump hair along the driveway. The latest visit was a month ago at 10 am, fifteen feet from the front door. His track measured 5 ½ inches by 6½ inches. Meeting this large predator at the front door close-up is a fearsome and a chilling experience. I have faced a charging grizzly bear in Alaska, and I can tell you that when the yellow eyes of a 100 pound plus wolf stare at you from a few feet away, it is like facing a charging bear; maybe worse, a bear doesn’t look you in the eye.
Another change from the “Idaho Wolf” is the sightings are frequently wolf packs of eight to 12 wolves especially along the Lolo Motor Road where dried wolf scat can be seen in abundance. Perhaps four-wheeling could be hazardous by inhaling airborne tapeworm spores? I wish some folks in the city that are much kinder to this large predator could experience them as we country folks do. I am sure that they would love their children, dogs, horses, cats (cows, sheep, goats and chickens) the same as us.
What problems do wolves pose to man and animals?
The following are quotes from Wolves in Russia, Anxiety Through the Ages, by Will N. Graves, Detselig Enterprises, LTD, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2007.
Wolf-human encounters: “In the late 1990s wolves in Russia were still terrorizing villages and occasionally killing humans. The most famous man-easting wolves lived in the region of Turku 1880-81 where they killed 22 children. They (wolves) were an old female and a young male.
Wolf-wildlife encounters in Russia: “All of my Research indicates that wolves kill wantonly in heavy snow and in periods of crusted snow. Wolves do much damage to the hunting economy in every part of the USSR and to the northern livestock industry. A Soviet wildlife specialist wrote in 1975 that people who write articles that state that wolves cull (kill) only sick and weak animals are writing fantasy. He stated that wolves often kill healthy elk, deer and other animals. Caucaus Wildlife Preserve: 20 wolves in 1966 increased to 300 wolves by 1972 and the number of red deer and wild boar decreased to one seventh of their former abundance.”
Parasites and Diseases:
“Soviet research indicated that wolves carry over 50 types of parasites. Wolves help establish maintain and spread so-called hot spots’ of viral diseases. Some are potentially fatal to humans including rabies. Wolves are the main carriers of dangerous helminthes (parasitic worms) spreading echinococcosis, cysticercosis, coenurosis, thrichinosis and ascariasis.
In the Nenetskiz Automomous Okrug, all wolves examined were severely infected with tapeworms. The tiny eggs of these tapeworms pass out of the feces sometimes stick to berries and mushrooms gathered by people. Once inside a person these tapeworm eggs cause large cysts in the liver, the lungs, and occasionally the brain. Stepping on dried feces can cause a person to inhale the airborne spores or eggs. The eggs of parasites are picked up on grass by grazing animals. In one day the wolf can travel many kilometers and can quickly spread anthrax and the foot and mouth disease and they are immune to these diseases. The wolves are able to spread infections of tsustitserkoz and echinococcus to cattle.”
Wolf population rate of increase: “Under usual circumstances wolf populations will increase from about 10% to as high as perhaps 30 percent in a given year. During the approximate 70 year period of the USSR more than 1,5000,000 wolves were culled (killed) and many times their population was greatly reduced. Nevertheless, the number of wolves in the Russian federation countries is greater now than at the beginning of the century. Wolves are resilient and have a high reproductive rate. There were 22,500 wolves in the Russian Federation in 1990. A ban on hunting was imposed in 1991 and the wolf population grew to 44,500 in 2001.”
I am not implying that wolves in America will cause the same human mortality problems as they have in Russia as long as we can hunt them. However our introduced wolves show no fear of man at this time. Hound hunters, deer and elk hunters, horseman, cattlemen, sheep men and citizens have had very threatening close encounters where they witnessed their horses, cattle, sheep and dogs being threatened or killed by wolves. Archers have told me of being faced by a pack of wolves boldly coming towards them.
Some of the transplanted wolves may have come from ranch lands in Alberta. A retired local Idaho outfitter I have known for 37 years told me of stopping for breakfast in a small town in north central Alberta where he met a local rancher. The rancher said,” I see you are from Idaho, let me buy your breakfast.” The rancher then related to the ex-outfitter that he was paid by the U.S. Federal Fish and Wildlife for cattle killing wolves live trapped on his ranch so that the wolves could be transplanted into Idaho.
In a final note I will treasure my spring horse trips up Weitas Creek in the early 1980s where the elk in the meadows and on the hillsides numbered up to 300 elk. Idaho was one of the leading elk producing states in the nation. Region two is experiencing a decline in elk numbers. Region one, the panhandle elk herds are also in trouble. The Fish and Game is going in the right direction in more liberal wolf hunting and trapping seasons in an effort to reducing and controlling the “non-essential” non-native wolf. Maybe my grandson will be able to elk hunt and enjoy the thrill of hearing bulging bulls in the future?
Gene Eastman, Graduate of the University of Idaho, School of Forestry, majoring in wildlife management; Certified Wildlife biologist, The Wildlife Society; Retired Conservation Officer, Idaho Department of Fish and Game (1970-1993); Retired Air Force Master Sergeant, USAF and Air National Guard (1955-1997); Resident of Weippe area since J
