Wolf killing season continues even though the “legal hunts” are over.
Wildlife Services and Montana FWP are gunning for four wolf packs. The Trapper Peak Pack, Miner Lakes Pack, Bender Pack and any remaining wolves from the Battlefield Pack.
Do any of these packs have pups? It’s pup season and babies are just weeks old, totally dependent on their mothers to survive. Is this how Montana FWP intends to further reduce the wolf population by wiping out wolf pups when they kill their parents? The situation is disgusting to say the least. What happens to these pups when their parents are killed. They are BABIES! Do they leave them for dead, kill them along with the other members of the pack? When is this going to end?
The Montana Wildlife Services wolf extermination squad continue to go after wolves for livestock depredation even though wolf predation is a tiny figure in overall cattle deaths. Let’s ask ranchers how many cows they lose to disease, weather, theft and reproductive issues? They don’t want to talk about that because they don’t get reimbursed for cows killed by lighting.
People are outraged by the continued wolf killing. And the ranchers just sit back and let the feds take care of “the problem” for them. Why do Montanans owe the ranchers anything? It’s their cattle. Hire range riders, use electrified flagery, herders, guard dogs, what ever you have to do but why are federal tax dollars being used to kill wolves for agribusiness? It’s a subsidy for ranching pure and simple.
Yes, Montana Wildlife Services has been very busy and it’s only four months into the 2010. Read it and weep.
Stats From Montana FWP Weekly Wolf Reports:
Candy Mountain Pack 4/1 Authorized to kill two wolves (breeding pair end of 2009)
Dry Forks Pack 4/6 Removing wolves and collaring wolves, 4/7 one wolf killed, possibly two. (breeding pair end of 2009)
Ninemile Pack 3/23 one wolf shot from helicopter (breeding pair end of 2009)
Silcox Pack 3/ 5 one pup killed (breeding pair end of 2009)
Superior Pack 4/20 two wolves killed, 4/21 alpha male killed which removed the entire pack ( six wolves killed in total) (was breeding pair end of 2009)
Cedar Creek Pack 4/22 WS services given permission to kill five wolves from this pack, WS has killed three of those wolves
Trapper Peak Pack: alpha male and another wolf killed 2009, 4/13 (aprox date) yearling wolf shot by rancher, 4/23 WS authorized to kill entire pack
3/8 one wolf killed
3/23 three wolves killed
4/9 Gunning for entire wolf pack near Wisdom
=======
From Ralph Maughin’s Website: From April 22, 2010
March Idaho Wolf Management Progress Report released
The Idaho Wolf Management Progress Report has been released by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. So far the report says there have been 28 wolves killed for 14 livestock animals taken. This doesn’t make sense when you consider that last month’s depredation numbers were the same as this month’s yet they report that 8 calves were taken and 10 wolves killed this month. Something didn’t get updated properly.
It also notes that “Additional capture efforts are planned through April.” This is noteworthy since wolves den in April. Does this mean that they have been capturing pregnant females just before denning? Usually ground trapping doesn’t occur when there is a chance of freezing temperatures due to the possibility of injury to the wolves’ feet so presumably capturing refers to aerial darting of wolves.
=-======
This was not the purpose of the reintroduction.
Nobody envisioned wolves would be continually killed by the state for agribusiness. Why would you reintroduce wolves in the West only to to send them down the road to extinction, once again? This is slaughter pure and simple and it’s WRONG.
And again, what about the newly born pups? They are doomed along with their parents!
This is the heartbreak wolf advocates are faced with right before MOTHERS DAY!! Wolves are continuing to be slaughtered!
Wildlife officials target 3 wolf packs for attacks on stock in Big Hole Valley
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_2fb6262e-4f54-11df-85a6-001cc4c03286.html
=======
State decides to kill Trapper Peak wolf pack
Ravalli Republic | Posted: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 12:00 am
http://ravallirepublic.com/news/local/article_436e6a62-57df-11df-8321-001cc4c03286.html
=======
Bitteroot Wolf Pack To Be Eliminated
Posted: Apr 28, 2010 4:09 PM
By Mark Holyoak
http://www.kpax.com/news/bitterroot-wolf-pack-to-be-eliminated/
=======
Montana, Idaho and Wyoming Wolf Policies Foreshadow Extinction
The federal authorization for each state to reduce wolves to 100-150 animals puts northern Rockies wolves on a spiral toward extinction.
By Michael J. Robinson, Guest Writer, 4-21-10
=======
Please write to Carolyn Sime and the rest of the wolf team to express your outrage over the continued killing of wolves for agribusiness:
Carolyn Sime, Helena
Montana Statewide Wolf Coordinator
(406) 444-3242 (work)
(406) 461-0587 (cell)
Click Here To Email Her:
Click Here To Contact Montana Wolf Team:
=======
Write to Montana’s Office of Tourism and tell them you want Montana to stop killing wolves or you won’t spend tourist dollars in the state:
Montana Office of Tourism
Mailing Address
Montana Office of Tourism
PO Box 200533
Helena MT 59620-0501
Email
mt-webmaster@visitmt.com
Phone/FAX
Phone: 406.841.2870
Fax: 406.841.2871
=======
Lastly, please stop eating beef!! It’s a cruel industry and will help save wolves. Watch Earthlings and Food, Inc. to see how much ranchers care about their cows and sheep. It will make you sick!
=======
Boulder White Clouds Council
Exposing The Big Game
Footloose Montana
Friends of the Clearwater
Lockwood Animal Rescue Center
Louise du Toit
LUPUSLAETUS
Mercy For Animals
Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA)
Predator Friendly®- Because Wildlife Matters
Project Coyote
Project: Wolf
The Nature Conservancy
The Ravensong Group
WildEarth Guardians
Wisconsin Wildlife Ethic-Vote Our Wildlife
Wolf And Wildlife Studies: Jay Mallonee (Independent Wolf Biologist)
Wolf Song of Alaska
Wolves in english ! Les loups en anglais !
WWP's Gray Wolf Page
Yellowstone To Yukon Conservation Initiative
Howling For Justice 
Oh this is grand isn’t it?
Has the hunt changed anything? 500+ wolves are now donning some moron’s wall/floor – and what’s the word from the ones responsible? Kill more!
I’m for killing when there is no other alternative and it should be the last resort.
LikeLike
“I’m for killing when there is no other alternative and it should be the last resort.”
I would like to withdraw this statement.
LikeLike
Duly noted John!!
N.
LikeLike
i believe that’s a coyote the guys draggin back to the chopper. am i wrong?
LikeLike
Hi Terry,
It doesn’t really matter. It’s hard to tell from that angle. But I used it to show the callousness of WS. I think it’s unlikely they are out aerial gunning coyotes in winter but who knows? They kill so much of our wildlife as it is. I can change the pic to the aerial gunning shot.
N.
LikeLike
hi N. i wouldn’t worry about changin the pic. actually aerial gunning is most effective in late winter prior to denning season for coyote control. i take it you don’t believe that the predator control methods currently being used by the w.s. is based on scientific data and established wildlife management methods?
LikeLike
Hi Terry,
I changed it to the aerial gunning shot, which is more powerful anyway. As for Wildlife Services, if you want to know how I feel about them here are two links:
GOVERNMENT KILLING SPREE AGAINST WILDLIFE
http://www.bigwildlife.org/threats2.php
Wildlife Services Exterminates 125% More Animals in 2008
http://www.wildearthguardians.org/library/paper.asp?nMode=1&nLibraryID=765
“i take it you don’t believe that the predator control methods currently being used by the w.s. is based on scientific data and established wildlife management methods?”
Absolutely not. Coyotes only increase their numbers when stressed by hunting or gunning pressure. If wolves were allowed to playout their true role in the ecosystem, instead of marginalizing them, then coyotes would fall back into their role, as Nancy said, by controlling rodent populations. It’s only when apex predator numbers are reduced that mesopredators fill the vacumn, to the detriment of the ecosystem.
Loss Of Top Predators Causing Surge In Smaller Predators, Ecosystem Collapse
ScienceDaily (Oct. 4, 2009)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001164102.htm
Decline in big predators wreaking havoc on ecosystems, OSU researchers say
By Scott Learn, The Oregonian
October 01, 2009, 7:00PM
Click to access OregonianOct1_09.pdf
N.
LikeLike
BULL SHIT,BARBAROUS,TERRIBLE WILDLIFE SERVICES !!! THIS BASTARDS, ANIMALS KILLERS-MECHANISM WILL BE DISCONTINUE SOON! THIS WILDLIFE KILLERS AGENCY MUST,NEED TO BE DEFUNDED!THIS HORRIFYING WILDLIFE SERVICES IS THE BLACK SHEEP OF AMERICA!
LikeLike
The wildlife services needs to be abolished,plain and simple. It is going to be very rough time for the wolves,even if the judge restores protection.If it isn’t the wildlife services,it will be the people taking matters into their own hands if the ruling doesn’t go their way.For those who care for them,we keep fighting. I am very thankful that Nabeki keeps me informed what is happening since I live in Indiana.
LikeLike
Terry, I believe there is more than one study out there that shows that when coyotes are gunned down by WS (usually just before calving & lambing season) they triple their birthrate the following year. If ranchers were more responsible for their livestock, the coyote could live to play out its role in the big picture – which is to keep rodent populations in check (and they also do a good job of cleaning up roadkills)
LikeLike
coyotes are of little or no threat to livestock. they do have a tremendous impact on antelope and deer fawns as i have personally witnessed and documented. coyotes do play a major role in rodent control and carcass cleanups which is their role in the ecosystem. there isn’t a problem with coyotes in the wild country at the moment. the problem coyotes are the ones that have adapted to urban environments where they are having an impact on the pet population. phoenix and los angeles are perfect examples.
LikeLike
Hi Terry,
Coyotes are a bigger threat to livestock then wolves, although predation encompasses just a tiny 0.18% of all cattle deaths. In 2005, coyotes were responsble for killing 97,000 cows compared to wolves killing only 4400. Domestic dogs were next killing 21,900 cows. Vultures actually killed more cattle then wolves. The new NASS numbers should be out next month.
Cattle Losses:
Every year the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reports on the U.S. cattle production inventory. In 2005, U.S. producers raised 104.5 million head of cattle (USDA, 2005a). Approximately every five years, NASS reports on unintentional cattle deaths as a result of predation, weather issues, disease etc. The latest cattle death report was released in May 2006 (USDA, 2006). The government’s own figures again show that mammalian carnivores kill very few livestock (0.18%) when compared with annual production levels (see bibliography below for citations for NASS’s 1997 and 2001 cattle death and corresponding production reports).
Of the 104.5 million cattle that were produced in 2005, 190,000 (or 0.18%) died as the result of predation from coyotes, domestic dogs, and other carnivores (USDA, 2006). In comparison, livestock producers lost 3.9 million head of cattle (3.69%) to all sorts of maladies, weather, or theft (USDA, 2006) [Figure 1].
Coyotes were the primary cattle predators — they killed 97,000 cattle in 2005, followed by domestic dogs — which killed 21,900 cattle. Wolves killed remarkably few cattle, 4,400 head, as did the felids (USDA, 2006) [Figure 2].
http://www.goagro.org/
Cattle Production & Deaths for 2005
Data From:
USDA NASS (2006) Cattle Death Loss & USDA NASS (2005) Cattle Inventory
Click to access 06_9_5_cattle_loss_comparison.pdf
Mammalian Carnivores that Killed Cattle
Data From USDA NASS (2006) Cattle Death Loss
In 2005, 104,500,000 Cattle Produced in U.S.
Mammalian Carnivores killed
0.18% or 190,000 cattle
Click to access 06_9_5_species.pdf
N.
LikeLike
You summed it all up when you said “[i] This was not the purpose of the reintroduction.
Nobody envisioned wolves would be continually killed by the state for agribusiness. Why would you reintroduce wolves in the West only to to send them down the road to extinction, once again? This is slaughter pure and simple and it’s WRONG.[i/]
After all, all this hullabaloo isn’t either scientifically right, ethical nor a smart decision
It is pretty much the ranchers fault. They are hard workers and everything, but they mustn’t get confident on the feds to kill the wolves and the cougars and the coyotes for them. I recommend them to read “[i] Livestock and Wolves: A guide to non-lethal tolls and methods to reduce conflicts[i/]”
Just look out at the future, instead of looking back into the past.
LikeLike
eDit: Oops! The italics didn’t work
LikeLike
2 damn eDIT: Forgot the link:
Click to access livestock_and_wolves.pdf
LikeLike
Loua thanks for posting the link. If only the people that need to read it would only do so. They seem to be completely tone deaf when it comes to wolves.
N.
LikeLike
LOL Loua..
N.
LikeLike
Loua, this is a blood thirsty group that we have in power. They are killing wolves constantly for predation, which is so minor, yet they act like wolves are maurading everywhere . Even though the hunts have stopped they are hunting down entire packs and wiping them out, I’m sure pups have been killed along with their families. They stated they will kill the pups and then their parents. It makes my blood run cold.
N.
LikeLike
Oooooooh, yes! It is just horrible to imagine a dead pup alongside it’s mother! The people working in this bloodthirsty agencie will most likely end up in hell…Really! How would God stand to see his creations beng slaughtered for no real important purpose!
LikeLike