Idaho can’t seem to stop killing wolves. In early February, according to an IDFG press release, Idaho Wildlife Services swept down in their aerial gunships and slaughtered 14 innocent Lolo wolves. Their excuse? What else? Blaming wolves for elk declines in the Lolo, even though elk have been declining in the Lolo long before wolves were reintroduced.
This is the height of wolf breeding season. How many of those fourteen wolves were pregnant? Killing two birds with one stone? Did they wait until breeding season to wipe out the next generation of Lolo wolves along with their mothers?
From The Wildlife News
Idaho Department of Fish and Game Spends $22,500 to Kill 14 Wolves in the Lolo Zone
By Ken Cole On February 22, 2012
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game issued a press release this afternoon stating that in early February, USDA Wildlife Services killed 14 wolves from helicopters in the Lolo Zone.
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Is this killing spree ever going to end? Just yesterday the Idaho Senate Resources and Environment Committee voted to send Siddoway’s “Wolf Killing Live Bait” bill to the full Senate for a vote.
“The bill would let livestock owners whose animals are molested by wolves shoot the wolves from motorized vehicles, powered parachutes, helicopters or fixed-wing planes, by night or day, using rifles, pistols, shotguns, or crossbows, night scopes, electronic calls, and traps with live bait.
On top of that we have the latest horror of 14 dead Lolo wolves. 321 wolves have been killed in the hunt, which doesn’t end until March 31, 2012 and stretches until June 2012 in the Lolo and Selway zones.
Idaho is a killing zone for wolves. The persecuted animals need their federal protections back and the way Idaho is killing wolves, it won’t be long before wolves are relisted. The state is proving it CANNOT and SHOULD not be allowed to “manage” wolves.
February 23, 2012 in Outdoors, Idaho
Aerial gunners kill 14 wolves in North Idaho
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/feb/23/aerial-gunners-kill-14-wolves-north-idaho/
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Senate Resources Committee endorses night, aerial wolf kills, live bait use for ranchers
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Photo: Courtesy the Missoulian
Posted in: Wolf Wars, Idaho wolves, Aerial Gunning of Wolves
Tags: Lolo wolves, Aerial gunning, 14 Lolo wolves dead, Wolf Wars, wolf scapegoating
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Wolf And Wildlife Studies: Jay Mallonee (Independent Wolf Biologist)
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Wolves in english ! Les loups en anglais !
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Howling For Justice 
wwhy do these people so intent on killing have so much power????????????????
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Hey, Helen: They’re men. Understand I do not dislike men, provided they can curb their baser instincts. But look at your history books. Romans tossed each other to lions for public amusement. Pope Clement loved to torture. Hitler did too. Dick Cheney built his own financial empire manufacturing war machinery to kill his fellow humans (and will that war ever end?). Mitt Romney tortured his own dog, then laughed about it to reporters.
It’s a tiny brain thing.
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they will not be happy til all the wolves are dead.
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Maybe the guys with all the guns are wiping out the elk too. Hardly a scientific suggestion, but they seem to be running out of living creatures to hunt down.
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Be sure they kill anything that moves.
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To whom at the Damn USDA Wildlife MURDERING Services can we address letters/petitions to get them removed from office and replaced by someone whose real concern is protecting wildlife and not doing the bidding of hunters (trophy/game hunting is sick and should be outlawed anyway…we certainly don’t want taxpayer money going to support wolf murders or enabling trophy hunting).
WE NEED TO OCCUPY IDAHO FISH & GAME AND THE USDA!!!
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Maybe its TIME FOR US TO RALLY A MILLION MAN “HOWLING FOR JUSTICE MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR THE WOLVES”….LETS LET THE ADMINISTRATION KNOW WE ARE STANDING ON OUR HIND LEGS IN ANGER.. WE CAN ARM OURSELVES WITH THE PICTURES OF THE WOLVES WHO HAVE SUFFERED SUCH TERRIBLE HATE CRIMES AGAINST THEM! I BELIEVE IT WOULD GET SOME MEDIA ATTENTION! THESE DAYS THERE IS NO MORE COMMON SENSE ONLY COMMON STUPIDITY! WE MUST BE THE VOICE FOR THE WOLVES IN A BIG WAY BEFORE THEY ARE ALL WIPED OUT FOREVER! IT MAKES ME SICK TO KNOW THEY ARE IN SUCH PERIL! ANYONE ELSE HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON THIS IDEA?.
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Do it. Possibly arrange for a near by camp site that people can drive to. Are there muscians who’d back this? What about a pow wow? You need a place on line where you can exchange and post details.
coriolis
Good Luck
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may be you can try to enlist pilots against it? like some airlines refuse to shift monkeys for vivisection
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Well, I hope our wonderful leaders in DC are happy. How could they have not seen this coming – and how does this manage to pass for wildlife management, and how do they get away with it. A couple of guys in Washington who are in the hip pocket of special interests, and the rest of us forgotten. Absolutely disgusting. I can’t wait to vote out all of them in November!
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And vote in who? Romney tortured his own dog and laughed about it to reporters from TIME Magazine. Palin? She and Santorum seem to believe the extremist Tea Party theory that man was put on earth to dominate (i.e., eliminate) all other species. Too many other politicians are in league with the infamous 1%
The problem is that in hard financial times, environmental movements are often the first to go. Too many people are just too hungry to care about such things. (For example, look at fracking! Huge tracts of land are being destroyed, and the gas profits are not going to the people living in those regions. Instead, the land holders are given chump change, then they loose their mortgages, because the toxic chemicals being pumped into their land are making their kids and livestock ill. …All machinery is provided by republican Dick Cheney’s Haliburton Corp., by the way… Then, Wall Street investors are taking the big money, and donating much of it to their favorite candidates, which keeps the circle of evil going.)
Our poor wolves are just another species that will vanish unless people like all of you keep trying to help! Let’s make it a real campaign issue, publicize it, as typical of the selfish attitudes of the power mongers in both political parties! This site is a great voice! Thank you!
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I wish there was an emergency measure that could be pushed through Congress to call a moratorium on this killing spree, seeing that the delisting of wolves has become such a disaster. Heavy sigh. I just watched the protest video again and feel a bit better for a few minutes. 😦
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Those poor Lolo wolves; they did not deserve to die such cruel deaths! I don’t understand how Idaho thinks that the Lolo wolves are overpopulated; the death toll there by hunters and trappers has been relatively low compared to other regions of the state. Wouldn’t you think that, if they were overpopulated, the death toll would be much higher? I can understand that perhaps they are more wary because they are often targeted for lethal control and are probably poached more often, but still, that death toll is way too low to indicate overpopulation, especially since the hunters and trappers are probably doing whatever they can to kill a wolf in the Lolo. This just comes to show that the Lolo wolves are not overpopulated; if anything, the existance of that population is threatened as HALF of it was destroyed by hunters, trappers, and Wildlife Services.
In Montana, the Science and Conservation Center has created a fertility vaccine that was just recently approved by the EPA for use on the feral horse. If Idaho is so determined to lower the Lolo wolf population, why can’t they just use this vaccine on the wolves? According to Dr. Jay F. Kirkpatrick, “If you remove them — if that’s your major management approach — you’re not addressing the problem, you’re addressing the symptom. If you attack reproduction, you get to the source of the problem.”
Here’s an article about this miracle vaccine: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20120218/NEWS01/202180310/EPA-approves-new-horse-contraceptive-vaccine
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Watchout. What goes in with the vaccine? Not a radio frequency transponder by chance? Every American citizen who applies for ‘Affordable Health Care’, every prisoner and wolves? No need for aerial gunners. Send clones. As good as a collar. Yours is a kind thought. Let’s hope in the case of the feral horse it’s a good thought. Personally I’m not sure why it’s a problem to have lots of feral horses. Horses don’t shoot people. Ofcourse there’s sharing. Sharing is a problem. Sharing has always been a problem. All the bison had to go. The Dawes Act. Wolves systematically on and off for a century have been destroyed. Often tortured.
Click to access AB_502_testimony_1_12.pdf
“Wolves are a species of great significance to the Anishinaabe. We understand wolves to be educators, teaching us about hunting and working together in extended family units. Wolves exemplify perseverance, guardianship, intelligence and wisdom. Moreover, in the Anishinaabe creation story we are taught that Ma’iingan (wolf) is a brother to Original man. The two traveled together throughout the earth naming everything. Once this task was completed, the Creator said that the two had to take separate paths, but indicated that whatever happened to one would happen to the other. Each would be feared, respected, and misunderstood by the people that would later join them on earth. Thus, the health and survival of Anishinaabe people is tied to that of Ma’iingan. We can do no less than to fully support efforts to protect, promote acceptance, and ensure healthy and abundant populations of wolves for it is our own future that we are also considering.”
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I know that strong, healthy wolf populations are needed in all suitable habitat throughout their entire range, and I never said that wolves needed to be controlled (at this time, anyway). I’m just saying that, IF they ever become overpopulated, then they should use this vaccine instead of killing them.
Radio frequency transponders? What are you talking about? The managers do not catch the animals to vaccinate them; rather, they shoot them with a dart gun (and the dart, obviously, has the vaccine in it). And don’t worry, dart guns are not as bad as they sound; biologists use them all the time when studying the populations of big mammals.
The reason why it is a problem to have so many feral horses is that the horses are a non-native species. Horses, like all exotic species, have a negative impact on ecosystems and the native species that inhabit them. Don’t get me wrong, I love horses, but, simply put, they are an invasive species, and the fact that they are majestic creatures doesn’t change that. Now, with that said, I do not support killing the animals, nor do I support the roundups that they are using to this day.
That’s why I have high hopes in this vaccine; hopefully it will become the main “weapon” in the battle to eliminate introduced species in the regions where they are not native to. It can also be used to control overpopulated native species, such as deer. After all, what is the use of killing them if they are still reproducing? That would just create a horrifying, endless killing cycle. But if reproduction is attacked, then the population can be either controlled (native species) or eliminated (non-native species) in any particular ecosystem. And the best part is, animals won’t have to be killed! It’s a win-win solution: populations will be controlled, but individuals won’t be killed!
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Questions for you biologists and land managers out there:
(1) What are the statistics regarding the various species in the Rocky Mountain states versus the actual number of acres of land they occupy?
My point is that, based on time I’ve spent in those regions my guess is that there is quite enough grazing land and water to go around, except in areas where man has destroyed the natural resources by fracking, stealing water to send to Las Vegas, and generally messing with the natural order.
(2) Is it still true that wolves and grazing animals naturally reduce their birthrates when food is scarce?
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As a wanna-be biologist, I’ll try to answer your questions:
1) What are the statistics regarding the various species in the Rocky Mountain states versus the actual number of acres of land they occupy?
I don’t know how to answer this question for other species, but here’s what I know about wolves. In the Northern Rocky Mountains, there are considered to be three subpopulations of wolves: one in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one in central Idaho, and one in northwest Montana. There is concern that these subpopulations – the Yellowstone subpopulation in particular – are isolated and as such are not exchanging enough genetic infomation to keep the Rocky Mountain population healthy. So, basically, they are not occupying all suitable habitat in the region. In their scientific article “The Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf is Not Yet Recovered,” Bradley J. Bergstrom, Sacha Vignieri, Steven R. Sheffield, Wes Sechrest, and Anne A. Carlson discuss the issue of genetic connectivity among the subpopulations: http://www.cfr.washington.edu/classes.esrm.458/bergstrometal.pdf
2) Is it still true that wolves and grazing animals naturally reduce their birthrates when food is scarce?
Many species self-regulate their populations. If there are too many individuals in a population, then they will compete against each other for resources, and the less fit individuals will die, as they will not be able to access those needed resources. Species also self-regulate their populations through dispersion/emigration, and through a reduction of birthrates. Other factors control the population, of course, including competition with other species, predation, reduction in prey populations, and disease. In Yellowstone National Park, the wolf population has been regulated through natural causes, and is now (probably) at its Carrying Capacity (have you noticed that the wolf population in Yellowstone is less than what it was a few years ago?) But as we all know by now, the lack of predation can cause ungulates and other prey species to overpopulate and overgraze the vegetation. That’s why predators such as wolves are needed for healthy ecosystems.
I hope that helps!
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I think the problem is with our idea of control. Who are we?
coriolis
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Sick bastards. They should get an education. They don’t have a clue of what goes on in the wild.
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They don’t want education. They want to look ‘in the know’. Low self esteem and low self efficacy.. informs the inner world of bullies. And they want to vent their once justified rage anywhere, everywhere. Unchecked and somewhat schooled you’ve got a Mitt Romney five days ago, google images fondling a machine gun.. or a senator that baits wolves with dogs.The harm an adult does to another can be understood in terms of the harm that man or woman suffered in childhood at the hands of authority. We have new insight we say. Family dynamics. And we do. John Bowlby said what happens to you (especially as a child) matters, Alice Miller said book after book.. the authoritarian model destroys lives and makes children into sick adults, our psychotics.. Robert Firestone writes about children who identify with and become like an aggressive adult in order to reduce the fear they experience day to day and to save their lives. Scientific insight as well..trophic cascades, the dynamic relationship between flora and fauna in ecosystems. Where European man goes, there results the much disputed ‘tragedy of the commons’.. Garrett Hardin. “The social arrangements that produce responsibility are arrangements that create coercion.” Managing the commons is in no way subtle as is living in harmony with nature. ‘The commons’ results from the enslavement of animals. No more the glorious bison or the give and take of the wild. We have instead meanly managed and miserable cows, world hunger, overpopulation. Conquering Europeans with some possible exceptions among the Celts, I like to romanticize there, have a back story of torture, brutal exploitation and punishments, inquisitions.. the destruction of forests. Now look at America.. the bison,. gone.. First Nations.. genocide, beautiful Hetch Hetchy, every living creature in that valley drowned, the killing of wolves everywhere and lynch fire. This debate has been going on for millenia, natural versus authoritarian order. Yes sick, Soul sick. Sick. Sick at heart. Sick.
coriolis
for lost and stray dogs everywhere
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Very cool! Please don’t reverse yourself south of the equator. 🙂
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I FEEL SICK….
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I don’t think anyone of those people, includes the people making the rules, have ever sat in the wilds to view happenings between wolves and Nature, Elk and Nature. They only want to assure the outfitters a good choice for trophy hunting. They should stick to what they know and let Nature take it’s course.
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The live bait they are using, are dogs. These people show no reponsibility for any living creatures. Their killing of the wolves however they do it is only a game so they can say how many they wiped out in one night, one day or one week. I personally hope they exterminate each other and let the wolves get their revenge.
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There’ s leverage there. Using dogs for live bait would bring in a huge, as yet uninvolved number of American citizens, potentially world citizens. Not that I wish it. The earthquake hits. The ocean retreats then returns, a tsunami.
coriolis
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Using live dogs is just sick. I predict PETA and the Humane Society will be in on this one.
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Bobette, I agree. I’ll bet there’s something in the news soon from HSUS and PETA. But what I wish is that an Amish style demonstration would be organized at Siddoway’s sheep ranch and at the homes of others who voted for the bill.. hundreds of people quietly assembled demonstrating their disapproval who won’t go away until the situation is redressed. People have jobs to go to. Maybe for weekends.
coriolis.
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Let’s get PETA on this while the shock effect is still new. I have my doubts that wolves would always attack other canines. Coyotes, maybe. Wolves have been known to establish families with dogs. So adverse publicity should go into effect ASAP.
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Dana….PETA will not get involved in this, I read a letter that they sent to one of their supporters basically saying so. Sadly they are leaving it to other organizations.
Start calling every environmental organization you know, tell them to do something about this. Combined they receive millions of dollars in donations and lots of those donations are targeted at wolves. Well, we want them to use their clout but not to make deals with ranchers.
Good examples of pro active organizations: Friends of the Clearwater, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, Buffalo Field Campaign, Center for Biological Diversity, Oregon Wild. Great activist groups: Portland Animal Defense League, Seattle Animal Defense League, Cascadia Earth First.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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Can folks there in Idaho OCCUPY THE IDAHO SENATE AND JEFF SIDDOWAYS RANCH/HOME? That would definitely help the cause! Did you all know that Siddoway (the senator from Hell who made this bill) also has a canned hunt ranch?!? And furthermore, on his sheep ranch he has received over $900,000.00 in federal subsidies of taxpayers money?!? HE NEEDS TO BE RECALLED, TOO!!!
What do you think of the Occupy idea?
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They’re wasting money as well as the environment. Someone needs to kick their sorry asses into the beginning of the next century so they can see a wolfless future and say “FUCK!”
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WTF! This is compleatly unethical! (Big words for me)
Realy? Over 20,000 dollars to kill 14 wolves that didn’t even need to die! I mean, how much damage can 14 wolves do? If anything, the teapartiers should be protesting wolf hunts! I bet that was tax dallors. Added salt in the wound!
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QUESTION??? ARE WE GETTING THE WORD OUT FAR AND WIDE? PERHAPS WE NEED TO DO JUST THAT!! I”M RIPPED A NEW ONE TONIGHT …. SICK BASTARDS!
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WHY????????????? I JUST WOULD LIKE TO KNOW EXACTLY WHY??? FOR WHAT?????????
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Reading this new post tonight breaks my heart and has saddened me. WHERE IS THE MEDIA? NO CNN REPORT NOTHING???? I believe most Americans do not know this is happening . ARE THEY KEEPING THIS UNDER WRAPS ON PURPOSE? I FOR ONE WOULD NOT KNOW ABOUT THE WOLF KILLINGS WITHOUT NABEKI”S BLOG HERE! BECAUSE THERE ARE NO WOLVES IN LOUISIANA YOU NEVER HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT THEM!! I for one will never spend one penny or set foot in Idaho ever and I am boycotting any product coming out of there state.. GOOD-BYE Idaho Potatoes and the like.
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http://www.facebook.com/wolvesofidaho.net
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As long as there is one Lolo wolf left, these bastards consider it “overpopulation”! I feel sick!
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You got it Gitte, their hearts are as black as coal.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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This is so sad that they KILL these wolfs for no dam reason at all.THE goverment can let illegal aliens come in free off charge.Give them everything money, home and job.We pay all. Then kill these wolfs for overpopulation. What the hell is all these people doing.
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What is wrong with these people? Can’t they read? Guess not..how silly of me.
If they could read they would know that the elk population has been declining for years because there is an infestation of bovine spongiform encephalopathy or “mad cow disease” in the Rocky mountain states. (PS: humans can get it too, from eating carelessly slaughtered meat of any kind.) The illness is spread in soil or animal feed by a prion that cannot be destroyed through cooking. The incubation period is long, several years in many cases. Symptoms are painful and debilitating. There is no cure. Check it out on the internet and post info to wolf hunters and ranchers.
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Dana…they’re not interested in facts or the truth. They hate wolves and want them gone. Now the government has given them the chance to destroy wolves so many people worked so hard to bring back. They are doing a terrible thing and the wolves are suffering for it. BUT wolf advocates are mighty and we can turn this around, I know we can. Stay strong Dana.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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I wish that WE ALL could meet in D.C in the Spring or Summer & have a HUGE PowWow. Occupy the Wolf. F these bastards. Strength in numbers ……. they don’t believe in sound science, good science.
They want ALL the predators gone.
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I think we should coordinate Occupy Wolf everywhere we can in the spring/summer…..in all of the states with their faux management plans that are just a killing/torturing spree…and in DC, too….unfortunately it won’t be soon enough as we’re going into breeding season and these sob’s keep killing females and pups, too…but you’re absolutely right we need to culminate in DC because these sob’s are using federal aircraft and taxpayer moneys to murder wolves….LET’S DO THIS….LET’S OCCUPY WOLF!!!
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[…] 14 Wolves Aerial Gunned In The Lolo…. (howlingforjustice.wordpress.com) […]
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I remember this. I feel so bad for those poor Lolo wolves, being shot at from the skies, suffering horrible pain before they died. Certainly one of the more inhumane methods of killing a wolf.
I wonder how long it will be before wolves are aerial gunned throughout the Northern Rockies?
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