Latest Posted Idaho Wolf Trapping Kill total: 1
Latest Posted Montana Wolf Hunt Kill Total: 84
Wyoming Wolf Kill Total: 56
- 19 from the “predator zone” (there were only an estimated 20-30 at the start of the hunt)
- 37 from the “trophy zone” (the quota is 52)
Regional Total Reported Killed This Year: 252
Regional Total Reported Killed Since Delisting: 797
The plan to use vaccination to eradicate brucellosis in Greater Yellowstone wildlife won’t work, can’t work. Vaccines just don’t work that way for anything.
Researcher: Vaccines can’t eliminate brucellosis – The Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Here is very good news for Montana’s wolverine. There are 100-175 of them in the state and 250 to 300 in the entire country.
Judge temporarily halts wolverine trapping. Great Falls Tribune.
North Korea Finds Secret Unicorn Lair Said To Prove Pyongyang Was Capital Of Ancient Korea.
How exciting! 😉
The American Farm Bureau Federation . . . one of the original anti-environment special interest groups and pro-agribusiness lobbies that affects all kinds of attempts at conservation policies for years. Here is an old, but good report on them from Defenders of Wildlife.
Amber Waves of Gain – Defenders of Wildlife.
Some kind of hybrid or mutant sandhill crane?
Mystery bird spotted at NM national refuge – SFGate.
Huge wildfires last summer, but it is the new normal according to Forest Service chief.
U.S. official: Wildfires will get more destructive – Idaho Statesman. Rocky Barker
Nile crocodile on the prowl near Miami. Shoot order issued. This just after record Burmese python taken from Everglades
Wildlife officials issue rare order to kill in hunt for Nile crocodile loose near Miami . AP
The Canadian government has found a gas drilling project so bad for wildlife and the environment even they won’t approve it. The proposed project was in a wildlife reserve in southern Alberta.
Canada rejects Cenovus gas project in Alberta. Reuters.
Utah’s “rich hunters go to the front of the line” approach making average Utah hunters angry. New York Times blows the whistle on Utah’s creeping rich hunters only.
Utah Hunters Criticize Market Approach to Licenses and Conservation. New York Times.
Utah is holding public meetings next week to get public input on hunting wild game with raptors (such as with falcons).
Public invited to regional meetings on hunting with raptors By Brett Prettyman. The Salt Lake Tribune
Comments
In the Montana article about brucellosis in cattle vs elk and bison Dr. Steve Olsen stated “The wild species, bison and elk, can better tolerate infection, probably because they evolved to exist with it.” Didn’t the wild ones become infected from the European cattle?
Yes, but the populations have had brucellosis for decades so they have had some time to adapt to its presence.
Ken – gotta ask, do you see this latest attempt to address brucellosis, now in elk, duh? (a disease that’s been there for decades when first introduced by domesticated cattle) as just another tool by the powers to be, to manage wildlife for the benefit of a few who can’t (and won’t) accept the fact that they share a wilderness landscape with all sorts of wildlife?
Absolutely. If elk and bison are dealing with this disease okay then why else would they be wanting to reduce elk and bison populations?
Since the cattle brought brucellosis to NOrth America in the first place did they not have more time to “adapt” or “evolve” while in their native habitat?
My question is did Steve Olsen imply that the elk and bison evolved with the disease prior to cattle or have evolved (adapted) to be more resistant recently?
In “Utah Hunters Criticize” it is reported that the Mule Deer Foundation and Sportsmen for Wildlife spent a quarter of the procedes from their million dollar auction to increase hunting of wolves before they were even off the endangered species list.
Barb the anti predator groups organized very effectively to help the delisting of wolves and then to push for aggressive hunting and management plans. a very pathological persistence to vilify and eliminate wolves…
Since there are no wolves in Utah I would have thought that those organizations would have spent their money on Utah projects. Wrong again.
C’mon! Let’s talk about the Unicorns! It is groundbreaking! 😉
Didn’t that story first break on the maine jellyfish blog?
Actually it broke on the North Korean News Service site.
Kim Jong Il was an amazing golfer! 11 holes in one on his first game!
He also wrote 1500 books in college!
He will be missed 😉
http://youtu.be/tZsVP2WoE9E
at 1:00 minuet isn’t he saying G@#d^&*! those giant Canadian wolves.
Maybe my Google translater is FUBARED.
I am especially disturbed by the amount of wolf kills in Wyoming’s predatory zone. At the time of delisting, Game and Fish told us there were only 20 to 30 wolves living in the predatory zone. 19 wolves have been killed in the predator zone.
the way this plan works is that all of them will most likely be killed, as the Park itself contains(ed) the number of wolves they will manage for. There won’t be any left outside the park and that was the point of the plan.
And that, Louise, is exactly what they claimed they would do since the idea that a hunt might be part of delisting back when the wolves were first reintroduced. They may have paid lip service to other options in the interim but they have always wanted to re-eliminate them. They are blatantly obvious about it and even the DINOs in MT and elsewhere have played the lip service game… and now they see that it pays off, I don’t expect many gains in the future now.
this plan is just more blatant then the rest, the others keep upping the seasons, methods, whilst pretending its all fair and above board. wolves need to be relisted or protected in a comprehensive predator management act. Its difficult to contain my anger and sadness. Just too terrible for words.
Louise, that’s not how the plan states. It states 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves outside the park. Although the park is mostly in WY, it’s wolves are not included in the WG&F count towards their 100.
I understand that Leslie, the intent is to primarily rid the state of wolves outside the park however.
I updated the post to reflect this.
Sam Parks,
I am disturbed too. The “wolves-are-now-vermin” zone held more wolves than I thought, and since it was the wolves from this area that were most likely to get to Colorado and Utah, the killing of these possible dispersers is doubly irritating to me.
“…and since it was the wolves from this area that were most likely to get to Colorado and Utah, the killing of these possible dispersers is doubly irritating to me.”
And to me.
This is another important reason why wolves should be put back on the endangered species list in Wyoming. I think the chances of wolves being put back on the endangered species list in Wyoming are good.
The 2 lawsuits are all about the predator status, but I think the flex zone is just as insidious–sometimes trophy, mostly predator.
Thanks for the info on 20-30 wolves outside trophy zone. Wondering where you found that? I’ve been amazed at how quickly that count was ticking up compared to the trophy zone.
Still odd the way those 20-30 predator zone wolves tick up every day, yet most of the other zones stay static. I trust it not!
Jon,
They would have to be completely taken out before you see the Fed’s actually put them back on the list. I have heard so many with the USFWS say, they want nothing to do with them any longer.
I sure hope so. How this plan, especially for WY, ever passed under a Democratic administration is beyond me. I give it three years before wolves are extirpated in the West, at this rate.
And incidentally, I feel we have every right to question and criticize and complain any new appointment to DOI – it is our right as American citizens. We need someone who will stand up for our wildlife and environment.
Most of us are extremely “appalled” at the slaughter of wolves in the 21st century going on all over our country. 555 – 555! wolves in a very short amount of time since delisting, and that isn’t even counting those poached and the SSS troopers. All the while, noone bats an eye in DC and it is business as usual. 🙁
Ida,
I’m on your side…
DC has much bigger fish to fry than wolves. Whether perceived as competent or not, the different agencies, and DNR’s etc, are relied upon to do their jobs. As some of us have said, savebears in particular, unless a united front, with money, and an agenda to influence the situation with wolves is established, on a par with NRA, SCI, RMEF, all we are going to doing is pissing in the wind. In my opinion, twenty years ago, DOW had something going, but whether they got too big for their own britches, loss of direction, too many issues, or just went “boutique”, they are now all but worthless.
Thankyou. I agree there are bigger fish to fry – that is why I don’t understand why so much time and effort is being expended on getting rid of them! This delisting without judicial review is undemocratic. It is evil to have just a human-caused “relict” population created to appease the greedy.
Ida Lupine says,
“It is evil to have just a human-caused “relict” population created to appease the greedy.”
Yep…been the history of a lot of ‘populations’ on this continent though.
Ida Lupine,
If you go back to the early days of wolf restoration, you will find few public officials who had a more hostile and dishonest demeanor toward wolves than the then Democratic governor of Wyoming Dave Freudenthal.
His outlandish rhetoric was more out of touch with reality than any tea party politicians that would come later.
He was trying to argue that 30 or so wolves in Wyoming outside Yellowstone Park were devastating Wyoming’s economic, essentially threatening a depression almost single-handedly.
Oh boy. 🙁
We want to know that our iconic American wildlife, unique to our country, are heatlthy and thriving in our National Parks, not a boutique population to please as a superficial tourist attraction. I do think the interests of some are considered more than others on these issues.
Ugh. That sounds awful, doesn’t it? A tourist attraction. We in this country sure know how to take something beautiful and cheapen it. 🙁
http://dnr.wi.gov/news/BreakingNews_Lookup.asp?id=2582
wisconsin closes areas – Ma’ I guess the upshot as you said is that they won’t be killed in their mating seasons. But next year those pairs will be hunted, shot, their families broken apart like the movie ground hog day, a never ending cycle of bitter killing of wolves.
A study…
Protection from harvesting restores the natural social structure of eastern wolf packs Original Research Article
Biological Conservation, Volume 143, Issue 2, February 2010, Pages 332-339
(Linda Y. Rutledge, Brent R. Patterson, Kenneth J. Mills, Karen M. Loveless, Dennis L. Murray, Bradley N. White)
Is an important study that should have been considered when designing the wolf hunts by any and all agencies, but that would be succumbing to scientific data… sacrilege for them apparently.
Sadly, the publication is in a refereed journal and I don’t have permission to post here but for those who can gain access to it, I recommend it and suggest that it should be mandatory reading for any and all agency personnel as well as any political animal having anything to do with wolf management.
Salle,
this is something to counter the scientists who postulate that hunting acts as pressure valve from hatred of them and that hunting them does not hurt them. Its nice to see something addressing the sociailty of the their packs.
Those hunters who hate wolves and are not going to hate wolves less just because they are allowed to kill them. Wolves came off the endangered species list not too long ago and Idaho fish and game are allowing hunters to kill 5 wolves this year and next. Bears and cougars aren’t treated like this. The sportsmen of Idaho if you want to call them that are pressuring the Idaho fish and game and the Idaho fish and game into making the wolf a predator where it could be shot and killed all year round. How much do you want to bet that the Idaho fish and game commission is going to eventually cave into the demands of sportsmen that want wolves dead?
Pretty Presumptive Jon, from someone who have never visited this area lives over 2000 miles away. You get all of your information from News Paper reports and have never been exposed first hand to what goes on out here!
Game Departments are always going to listen to those who pay the bills, when those opposed understand that, then you will be far better off..
Game Departments are FUNDED by hunters and Fisher people, they are funded by consumptive users, until you figure out how to fund these state agencies, you will continue to be disappointed!
I thought the wildlife belongs to ALL of the people savebears, not just the ones who enjoy killing it??
No Jon,
That is where you are wrong, currently, the wildlife belong to the people of the state they reside in, that has been decided in the courts. If you want to change things, then by a license, show up at a meeting, you have nothing to say under our current set up on what happens to wildlife in the state you don’t live in.
Wildlife belongs to those who are willing to by the ticket for admission.
After everything that has happened in the last few years, I would have figured you would know that.
Yeah, the wildlife belongs to all of the people that live in the state.
“Wildlife belongs to those who are willing to by the ticket for admission.”
Wrong, the wildlife in Idaho belongs to ALL of Idaho’s citizens, not just the ones who enjoy killing wildlife savebears. You are wrong on that.
Jon,
This is a simple one to figure out, look what is happening? Have your rants made any difference? Have those non-consumptive users made any difference?
Nope, the hunters who buy licenses are writing the rules, your bitichin, they are killing, you figure it out.
Based on what I am seeing Jon, you are wrong, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana have wolf seasons going on, they are getting ready to go into trapping seasons, has anything you have done, or for that matter has anything that non-hunters done changed that?
There is a road map to attaining what you want, unfortunately anti hunters are not willing to follow that map..
I read here every single day, the bitching, but nothing is changing, why do you think that is Jon.
Based on claims of many on this blog, the anti hunting crew outnumber the hunting crew by a wide margin, why do you think they are continuing to be on the loosing side.
You guys need to find a different strategy..
Fish and game commissions in Montana and Idaho are run by hunters savebears. All of the people that serve on these commissions hunt. That is why the non-hunters are on the losing side. A lot of the politicians in Idaho and Montana are anti-wolf. You don’t have to live in Idaho or Montana to know this now do you?
Of course they are Jon, that is why they are called GAME COMMISSIONS!
You and your kind are loosing because you can’t see the obvious!
Wake up Jon, smell the roses, if you don’t, you know what will happen, you will continue to bitch and there will continue to be hunting seasons!
Again,
Game commissions are run by those willing to spend the money, game commissions are run by those who hunt, they always have been.
When you figure that out, perhaps, you can figure a solution out, so you can actually have a voice.
Bitching has done nothing to change anything. Money talks, bullshit walks, that is they way this country has always worked. You figure it out Jon.
more like ~900
“Game commissions are run by those willing to spend the money, game commissions are run by those who hunt, they always have been.”
Fewer people each year hunt. Kids hunt on computer games. WY G&F is losing money and wants to raise hunting fees.
Savebears, there has got to be a better paradigm in which state agencies can collect support monies yet take into account people like myself who enjoy watching wildlife, esp. predators whom are rare to see.
“Bears and cougars aren’t treated like this. ”
Not so. WY just made a new area in eastern WY with an unlimited quota for cougars due to cattlemen complaints.
Although there is great science out there, even amongst these state agencies, I don’t think they’ve caught up to the 21st century with their policies. Now climate change is throwing in a very large wrench into the picture
Leslie,
Nationwide studies have shown that hunting is on the increase, JB posted a link to those studies about a week ago.
Hunting is not decreasing.
Now as I have mentioned in the past, just because you don’t hunt, does not limit you from purchasing a hunting license, with that small piece of paper in your wallet, you have a voice.
Savebears, wait, I purchase a fishing license yearly so I think that should give me a voice as to wildlife overall.
Then again, I think that the entire system is not working. There’s a lot of wildlife not hunted, yet still needs ‘management’, from herps to mammals. The WG&F feels they just can’t complete their wildlife tasks adequately with the fees collected.
with warming trends and habitat reduction, this will only get more pronounced.
Leslie,
As I have been told by many employees in the game agencies, if you have a fishing license, they are happy to listen to you on issues to do with the fisheries.
I do know that no game agency will admit they give more weight to those who hold licenses, but after my stint with the state game agency, I know for a fact it is true.
I have worked with a lot of people at game depts over the years and it is amazing how they run things at the top.
SB, thank you for the insider’s info
Googling authors usually turns up some free access:
http://www.harkness.ca/PDFs/Contributions%202010-19/Rutledge%20et%20al%20eastern%20wolf%20pack%20social%20structure%20Biol%20Cons.pdf
Webmaster note: see the next several comments for clarification. RM
Uh, this is in reply to Salle’s helpful post about a peer-reviewed article:
Biological Conservation, Volume 143, Issue 2, February 2010, Pages 332-339
(Linda Y. Rutledge, Brent R. Patterson, Kenneth J. Mills, Karen M. Loveless, Dennis L. Murray, Bradley N. White)
SAP,
Quite a few people are sending me copies of the article you linked to. I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but I think it must be significant.
Protection from harvesting restores the natural social structure of Eastern wolf pack. By Linda Y. Rutledge, Brent R. Patterson, Kenneth J. Mills, Karen M. Loveless, Dennis L. Murray, Bradley N. White
Thank you Ralph and SAP.
I think things will change for the better…soon.
Define Better Mark?
Better….as in to the benefit of more parties involved. Use the wolverine as an example.
Better (at least in theory….we’ll see about the practice).