Wolfseeker News 5/7/07 Date: Mon, 7 May 2007 16:36:19 -0500 (CDT) ------ Forwarded Message From: patmorris123 Reply-To: Date: Mon, 07 May 2007 05:21:43 -0000 To: Subject: [WolfseekerNews] Wolfseeker News 5/7/07 * Wolf deadline looms (WY) * Wolf killed following livestock attack (MT) * NM county wants wolf removed from the wild (AZ) * Conservation Groups Oppose Catron County Action Against Wolves (NM) * Wolf, trap-check bill die (OR) * FWP begins discussions on wolf hunts (MT) * Alaska falls short of kills in wolf control program (WA) * First litter of polar wolves born in Spain (Spain) __________________________________________ Wolf deadline looms - By Richard Reeder The deadline to submit comments about delisting the gray wolf is May 9. The 60-day comment period expires next Wednesday and will be the last chance for residents to tell the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service their feelings about the wolf plan. FWS has proposed delisting wolves in the Rocky Mountain region. But disputes about the State of Wyoming's management plan have slowed the process. FWS has rejected the state's plan, and the state has filed a lawsuit about that rejection. The dispute includes the boundary for classifying the wolf as a predator or trophy game animal. The federal plan calls for a boundary along WYO 120 from the state line to Cody and Meeteetse and south in which the wolf would be classified as a trophy animal and could not be killed without a license. The state wants that boundary placed to the west, closer to Yellowstone Park, along the Shoshone Forest boundary, classifying the wolf as a predator east of that line and giving landowners the right to shoot wolves harming livestock. The state also wants to be able to control wolves that are preying on big game herds. State leaders are pushing for the right to control the predators' effects on elk and deer. bWe don't understand why Fish and Wildlife won't allow us to save the big game herds,b state Rep. Colin Simpson, R-Cody, told 600 people who attended a public meeting about wolves in Cody on April 19. bWe have to protect our herds before they are gone,b he added. bThis is a critical part of the plan.b State Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody, is on the negotiating team working with the FWS to bridge the gap between the two plans. bOur original plan in 2002 passed peer review,b he said. bOur bill in the last legislative session set our stance on the way we want to manage the wolves.b About 80 percent of the speakers at the Cody hearing favored wolf delisting, according to longtime anti-wolf activist Arlene Hanson of Wapiti. Mitch King, regional director of Fish and Wildlife, has said they will move ahead with delisting in Montana and Idaho, but leave the wolf protected in Wyoming. Montana and Idaho plans have been accepted and include guidelines and regulations. FWS asked the State of Wyoming to submit a new plan for consideration by May 1. But Gov. Dave Freudenthal has said the state could not have a plan ready by that date, and insists the new law he signed about wolf management is final. http://www.codyenterprise.com/articles/2007/04/30/news/news1.txt _________________________________________ Wolf killed following livestock attack By The Gazette Staff A rancher west of Springdale shot and killed a gray wolf on Monday, about two weeks after wolves fatally injured one of the rancher's cows. The year-old male wolf was shot under a federal permit issued last week to the rancher, whose name was not released. One of the rancher's heifers had been attacked April 17 and was later put down due to its injuries, said Jon Trapp, a wolf management specialist with the Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks. It was unknown if the wolf shot Monday was involved in the attack. The state's policy is to remove wolves "as close in time and space as possible" to such an attack, Trapp said. Trapp said the rancher's permit was for one wolf only, although federal rules allow the taking of additional wolves if caught in the act of harassing or injuring livestock. "If the rancher comes out now and sees a wolf crossing his property he cannot shoot it. If he comes out and sees one chasing livestock he can shoot," Trapp said. Wolf-rancher conflicts have been on the upswing in recent years as packs expand their territories in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. In 2006, a record 142 wolves were killed by ranchers or federal wildlife agents in response to livestock attacks. Wolves were reintroduced to the Northern Rockies beginning in 1995. With their overall population now up to an estimated 1,300 animals, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in January proposed removing them from protection under the Endangered Species Act. http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/01/news/state/70-wolf.txt __________________________________________ NM county wants wolf removed from the wild SILVER CITY, N.M. A New Mexico county wants a Mexican gray wolf removed from the wild because it has killed two cows. Catron County officials say that if the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service doesn't remove the wolf, the county might take action. The wolf was released in southwestern New Mexico last week. Catron County commissioners decided last week to demand the federal agency act. County officials say they might use an ordinance adopted in February that asserts the right to trap and remove wolves deemed dangerous and accustomed to humans. Wolf program coordinator John Morgart says people can kill a wolf to defend a human life, but he says it's against the law to harm a wolf just because it's near your property. The Fish and Wildlife Service began releasing the wolves on the Arizona-New Mexico border in 1998 to re-establish the species in part of its historic range. Wolves had been hunted to the brink of extinction in the region in the early 1900s. http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=6451186&nav=HMO6 _________________________________________ Conservation Groups Oppose Catron County Action Against Wolves POSTED: 1:00 pm MDT May 2, 2007 SANTA FE, N.M. -- Conservation groups are asking federal law enforcement agents to stop Catron County from removing a wolf from where the animal was released in southwestern New Mexico. County officials said the female Mexican gray wolf has a history of cattle depredations, and they want it removed. They also said that if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not act, they could turn to an ordinance enacted in February. That ordinance assets that the county has the right to trap and remove wolves deemed dangerous and accustomed to humans. A coalition of conservation groups said, however, that the ordinance is not legal. Mexican gray wolves are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. http://www.koat.com/news/13244571/detail.html ___________________________________________ Wolf, trap-check bill die Mitch Lies Capital Press Staff Writer SALEM - Among many bills that failed to clear legislative committees April 30 - and subsequently are finished for the Oregon Legislature's current session - is a wolf bill that could have benefited Eastern Oregon ranchers. The bill, which was opposed by ranchers in a committee hearing earlier last month, was amended to be more palatable to ranchers and apparently had the votes to clear the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. Committee chairman Rep. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, however, failed to get it on the agenda in time to move the bill. Under a new expedited schedule, with a few exceptions, bills had to clear at least one committee by April 30 to stay alive. Among other bills that failed to clear a committee and have subsequently died was a bill restricting applications of pesticides near schools, a bill removing the sunset on the state's pesticide use reporting system, and a bill shrinking the trap-check interval for private individuals and wildlife service officers involved in predator trapping. A bill to increase summer month water withdrawals from the Columbia River - called the Oasis Bill - was moved April 27 to the joint Ways and Means Committee and is still alive. Roblan in a previous hearing said he was "very concerned about re-introduction of wolves" to Oregon. He added that wolf interactions with humans have not been positive experiences. The amended version of the bill, which reportedly was backed by ranchers and others in the natural resources community, would have given ranchers the option to "take," or kill, wolves after federal delisting if wolves were caught in the act of harassing, chasing or attacking livestock. Under the previously proposed bill, ranchers couldn't take wolves unless they caught the predators actually biting livestock. "It would have been helpful for the Eastern Oregon rancher," Oregon Farm Bureau lobbyist Katie Fast said of the amended bill. As a compromise, to secure the relaxed take provisions in the bill, the natural resources industry agreed to support the elimination of a compensation plan for livestock losses to wolves advanced in the original House Bill 2295. The amended bill provided ranchers the most leeway they had seen in two sessions. Take provisions in bills advanced last session and earlier this session were so limited ranchers withheld their support - objections that ultimately contributed to the defeat of the bills. The Fish and Wildlife Department for the past two sessions has been trying to pass a bill that would allow the department to implement provisions of its Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, which the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted in 2005. The department needs legislative approval to implement provisions in the plan changing the status of the gray wolf to a game mammal, authorizing incidental take of wolves and allowing landowners to kill wolves in certain situations. Wolves are listed as endangered under state and federal laws. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, however, has proposed delisting the wolves in parts of the West, including a large section of Eastern Oregon. State officials have been working with interest groups, including ranchers, to try to develop a strategy to prepare for the migration of wolves to Oregon from Idaho, where large populations are known to exist. http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=619&ArticleI D=32094&TM=48183.9 ___________________________________________ FWP begins discussions on wolf hunts By EVE BYRON IR Special Projects Editor - 05/05/07 The process for instituting a hunting season for wolves will be discussed during a work session in Helena May 17 by the Fish, Wildlife and Parks commission. Any wolf hunting season in Montana is contingent on the gray wolf being taken off of the list of threatened or endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hopes the delisting will take place in Montana and Idaho early in 2008, but expect that controversial action to end up in court. But whenever the wolves are delisted, FWP wants to be ready to manage them as it does other wildlife, notes Tom Palmer, FWP spokesperson. He added that Senate Bill 372 created the authority for FWP to create wolf licenses and authorize a wolf lottery or auction. bThis was something that was important to the legislature b& but more importantly, this is part of Montanabs wildlife conservation plan,b Palmer said. bIt has always been a part of the idea, to have wolves receive no more and no less management than other Montana wildlife.b No action on a wolf season will be taken at the May 17 meeting, and this isnbt the time for the public to comment on the statebs plan or whether wolves should be delisted, Palmer said. bThis is all informational n no action is taken, nothing is voted on. Itbs just a heads up for whatbs going on,b Palmer said. * He anticipates that during the next few months, FWP representatives will meet with the public in a variety of venues to gather input. bIn September, FWP will summarize those discussions and seek additional advisement from before setting procedures,b Palmer said. bBut a final decision probably wouldnbt be made by the commission until 2008, maybe in late February.b In Montana and Idaho, state agencies have been managing wolves since 2005 under a cooperative agreement between those states and the USFWS. Under those plans, hunting could be allowed, as long as the wolves meet minimum population requirements of 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves. At this point, Montana has 316 wolves that roam in 60 packs, with 21 breeding pairs. Palmer said numerous decisions need to be made before any plan is finalized. Those include what type of wolf management tactics would be implemented n whether to create management units and hunting districts, whether to establish quotas, and what the criteria would be on deciding how many tags to issue. bSo this is kind of the first step to see what the seasons would look like,b Palmer said. The reintroduction of wolves to the Northern Rockies began in 1995. Their numbers in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming now total at least 1,243 wolves with 89 breeding pair, far exceeding the recovery goal of having 300 wolves and 30 breeding pairs and leading to the plan to remove them from protection under the Endangered Species Act. The proposal from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls for the continuation of full protection for wolves in Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier national parks. In Montana and Idaho, state agencies have been managing wolves since 2005 under a cooperative agreement between those states and the USFWS. But in Wyoming, the debate over wolf management is ongoing, leading the delisting question up in the air. http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/05/05/montana_top/a01050507_01.txt ____________________________________________________ Alaska falls short of kills in wolf control program By The Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska b" The state is far from meeting its goal in its aerial wolf-kill program that ended April 30. In the effort, 175 wolves were reported killed, a fraction of up to 664 animals targeted by wildlife managers. Total numbers could rise because trappers and hunters have until May 30 to report kills, but officials don't expect a big increase. Thin snow in many areas made tracking wolves difficult and high fuel prices kept some pilots and aerial gunners grounded. "It's a big deal," said Cliff Judkins, chairman of the Alaska Board of Game. "We ought to increase the (killing) methods to meet our goals, and we keep playing around when we need to get the job done." But advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife contends the low numbers are due to a lack of wolves. Conservation groups say the state has overestimated wolf numbers and so many have been killed in past years that they're more difficult to find. The game board launched the predator-control effort five years ago to boost moose populations. The program is run in five areas of the state. This winter, the goal was met in one area. The program accounts for a fraction of the total annual kill of about 1,000 wolves in state. Alaska trappers take most of the animals for the hides. Conservation groups and others have protested against the predator-control program because state-issued permits allow private gunners to shoot wolves from planes. To accelerate the number of kills this year, the state Department of Fish and Game decided to offer a $150 bounty for the left front leg of every dead wolf. Advocacy groups sued and a state Superior Court judge ordered the bounty stopped before a payment had been made, saying the department lacked the authority to offer a bounty. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003696245_webwolves06.html ______________________________________________ First litter of polar wolves born in Spain May 6, 2007 - 8:31 PM The Lobo Park b" Wolf Park b" in Antequera has seen the first birth in captivity in Spain of a litter of polar wolves, the rare white Alaska-Tundra wolf which is in serious danger of extinction. Only an estimated 300 of the animals remain living in the wild, with another 20 in captivity. The four wolf pups, who have now opened their eyes, were separated from their mother at two weeks old and are being bottle-fed to allow them to become accustomed to humans. They will not be returned to the pack for approximately four months. It is the second polar wolf birth at the park: the same pair of wolves produced just one pup in May 2005, which is blind and lives apart from the rest of the pack. http://www.lobopark.com/ http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_10318.shtml ____________________________________________