IDFG Memo…War Against Idaho’s Wolves??

 

Is this leaked IDFG memo their mission statement declaring War Against Idaho’s Wolves?

Reading the memo I find nothing that addresses ranchers poor animal husbandry practices, or let’s face it, non existent ones.  Even if wolves killed one livestock per day last year, that’s 365 animals, a virtual blip on the livestock mortality screen.  Over ninety percent of livestock losses are due to disease, weather and reproduction as you all know.  Predators, mainly the coyote, take many more then wolves, heck domestic dogs and vultures kill more livestock then wolves and even that is minuscule.. This obviously has nothing to do with wolf predation and everything to do with kissing  up to ranchers,who love playing the victim card to get wolves killed. It all goes back to the history of wolf persecution. Ranchers, the states and feds were behind the last Western extermination of wolves and it looks like they are leading the way in round 2. 

Will Montana and Idaho be cooperating to kill more wolves? The memo seems to point to that conclusion. 

This is exactly why wolves  need to be re-listed.  Even though it won’t stop WS, it will stop the legal hunts because I can guarantee that next year’s hunts will be increasingly brutal and quota’s will be raised by both states.

Click here to see Memo

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MEMORANDUM

TO: Regional Supervisors

FROM: Cal Groen, Director

SUBJECT: Response to wolf depredations on livestock

C: Fish and Game Commissioners, Jim Unsworth, Virgil Moore, Mark Collinge, Nate Fisher, Bonnie Butler

Despite our increased response to controlling wolves depredating on livestock in recent years, wolf depredation complaints continued to increase. In November 2008 the Idaho Fish and Game Commission directed IDFG “To develop and aggressively utilize all available tools and methods to control wolf caused depredation of domestic livestock.”

Responding to that directive, our control efforts have progressed as follows:

Decentralized decision-making to Regional Supervisors when authorizing removal of depredating wolves. • Extended the effective period for take orders by USDA Wildlife Services (WS) and kill permits (livestock owners) from 45 to 60 days following the most recent depredation incident.

Authorized additional WS wolf removals and extended kill permits based on recurring incidents or chronic history of the wolf pack involved.

Allowed kill permit designees to include all members of a grazing association during their entire grazing season.

 Increased authorization to remove most or all of the members of wolf packs involved in chronic depredations where there has been a history of depredations from previous years.

Developed area-specific harvest objectives for the 2009-2010 wolf hunting season to address livestock conflicts.

Authorized take orders during open hunting season when hunting proved ineffective to remedy chronic depredations.( So basically the hunters aren’t killing wolves fast enough)

Increased coordination between Montana and Idaho WS. IDFG authorized WS control actions in response to 160 confirmed and 43 probable wolf depredations on livestock during federal FY2009. These control actions resulted in removal of 107 wolves including complete, or nearly complete removal of 6 entire packs (Middle Creek, Snake River, Applejack, Falls Creek, Sage Creek, Blue Bunch) as authorized by IDFG. Fish and Game authorized the removal of the Blue Bunch pack but complete removal was not achieved during the federal FY2009 period.

Since the end of the federal FY in September 2009, IDFG has authorized the complete removal of all, or nearly all, members of 3 additional packs (Basin Butte, Steel Mountain, Sweet-Ola) in response to repeated depredations caused by these packs.  (Poor animal husbandry practices are leading to the death of wolves.  Ranchers are not held to any standard to protect their investment.  Do the American people owe ranchers a living?  This is just a welrare subsidy for ranching, using the state and feds as their own private wolf extermination service, while doing little or next to nothing to protect their livestock)

Although the Department has documented nearly 300 wolf mortalities in 2009, livestock losses continue at an unacceptable level. As a result, we need to renew our commitment to meeting the Commission’s directive to reduce livestock depredations. (Exactly what are the numbers of livestock losses? This is  tit for tat management plain and simple.  One cow , one wolf.  What other predator is subjected to this type of persecution?)

With due consideration to maintaining linkage corridors, we will recommend to the Commission increasing harvest limits in 2010 and expanding season dates in wolf zones with chronic depredations. (Here we go wolf advocates, they’re already talking about increasing “harvest limits” and expanding season dates for next years hunts.  Are they just going to make wolf hunting  year round, since the season already lasts for SEVEN MONTHS, into breeding and denning season?)

Further, in high conflict areas where a history of depredations exists, we will respond to a confirmed depredation incident more aggressively by authorizing WS to remove all involved depredating wolves.

Additionally, I am committing staff to work cooperatively with WS to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative methods, such as sterilization or other nonlethal measures, to alleviate wolf damage. We would like to keep all options available to manage wolf depredations in the future.

*italics mine

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PROTEST THESE PROPOSED IDFG POLICIES: 

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Wolf photo: Wikimedia Commons

Posted in: Wolf Wars, howling for justice, Wildlife Services War Against Wildlife

Tags: wolf persecution, wolves in the crossfire, IDFG