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The Following Is A LOBO WATCH Editorial/News Release That Was Circulated In February 2010. It Is A Reminder Of Why The Sportsmen Of This Country Need To Band Together To Fight The Anti-Hunting Groups And Organizations That Are Now Using The Wolf To Destroy Hunting Opportunities. It Is Also A Look At Why The Shooting & Hunting Industry Needs To Do More...Much More...To Win The Wolf War. Toby Bridges, LOBO WATCH)
LOBO WATCH Editorial/News Release - February 2010
By Toby Bridges
With names like
"Defenders of Wildlife" or the
"Humane Society of the United States", one would think that these organizations were established to protect animals. What if that was just a phony front to bilk Americans out of donations? Do you think that animal lovers in this country would continue to donate $100-million...$200-million...or even as much as $300-million annually to each such organization if they learned these animal rights groups were actually using much of that money to support wasteful wildlife killings on a grand scale?
It's happening.
These two organizations, along with ten other environmental groups, have combined their efforts to become the leading pro-wolf force in the U.S. - maybe in the world. And that has been good for the wolves, but not necessarily good for other wildlife.
Except for a small population in northern Minnesota, and an even smaller pocket in the Northern Rockies, wolves had been eradicated from the lower 48 states by the early 1970s. That extermination began pretty much almost as soon as settlers began their westward movement during the early 1800s, and continued non-stop until there simply were no more wolves, except for the 1,000 or so that hung on in the wilds of the north woods, and maybe fifty or so wolves that had supposedly migrated down from Canada into wilderness areas of Idaho and Montana. Then, in 1973, the Endangered Species Act was passed, to control the trafficking of threatened wildlife, or their parts. And in 1974 the gray wolf in the lower 48 states and Mexico was added to the list of endangered animals.
However, wolves north of the U.S. border, where an estimated 50,000 plus still roamed, were anything but endangered, and in 1995 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released 14 Canadian gray wolves back into the Yellowstone ecosystem, followed by 17 more the following year. And from that small nucleus, the Northern Rocky Mountain wolf population has grown to, depending on who you ask, from a minimum of about 1,700 to as many as 3,500. And the actual count is just one of the controversies that haunt the so-called
"Wolf Recovery Project".
The original goal, proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was to establish a minimum of 300 wolves back into all of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, insuring that there were 10 breeding pairs in each of those states. Once that was accomplished, managing the wolf populations was to be turned over to the wildlife agencies in each of these states. And just 7 years after the first wolves were released into the Greater Yellowstone Area, the project met that criteria - but managing those wolves did not get underway until 2009, thanks to continuous legal intervention from the coalition of environmental and animal rights groups that had made it their goal to see wolf numbers spread into the thousands. When the first management hunts were held in Montana and Idaho, the wolf population already exceeded the original goal many times - and wolves were already proving why they were probably eliminated in the first place.
"The northern gray wolf introduced in the mid 1990's has far surpassed the stated introduction goals. Recovery goals for wolves in the Rocky Mountains were attained in 2002. Both population size and breeding pair estimates now exceed these goals by 500 percent and 333 percent, respectively. Those who support this 'wolf project' continue to move the goal line as it is now obvious that they never intended to deal in good faith. It was the 'let's get our foot in the door and then knock the door down' style of political maneuvering," states David Allen, who is the C.E.O. of one of today's leading conservation organizations - the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
He adds,
"The elk herds in the northern Yellowstone region numbered nearly 19,000 in the mid 1990's, and in 2008 the herd was estimated to be at some 6,500 head of elk. Such dramatic drops in elk population are not coincidental or 'climate change' related. An over population of wolves is wreaking havoc and elk are suffering."
Montana and Idaho big game hunters have likewise watched as elk, deer, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goat and other wildlife populations took a nose dive as wolf numbers increased, and so did the size of their range. One of those who had to watch the rapid decline of wildlife, while environmental groups kept wolf management tied up in U.S. District Court (in Missoula), was Steve Alder, of Idaho For Wildlife.
He recalls,
"I'll never forget when the wolves first moved into our hunting area in 2003, and the feeling we all experienced when we heard the first howl."
Alder's 70-year-old father remarked,
"It's over! This makes me want to stop hunting...because it will all be over soon for the elk."
And his prediction was, unfortunately, all too accurate.
"One honest USFWS agent indicated to us we wouldn't recognize the country in three years - and he was correct. By 2006, we had lost 80-percent of our elk herd. At the peak of the wolf activity and predation, an outfitter witnessed a monster pack of 19 wolves trot by in single file one afternoon. Later, this massive pack of wolves surrounded a pack string (mules and horses), and shots had to be fired to run the wolves off. They had no fear of man or beast!" exclaims Steve Alder.
The Canadian gray wolf that now roams the Northern Rockies is a significantly larger wolf than the so-called
"timber wolf" that originally inhabited this region. The native wolf of the area commonly maxed out at about 90-pounds in weight, while the larger Canadian cousin that was shipped in to replace them can top 140 pounds. There have been claims of these wolves even surpassing 150 pounds. And it takes a lot more wildlife to keep them fed. Estimates are, that the wolves now found in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, plus the few that are now spreading into Oregon and Washington, will each kill an average of 3 elk or deer (or other big game) every month for food. That's 36 big game animals each - every year. The smaller wolves now found in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan require 20 to 25 wild ungulates (deer, moose, elk) per year for food.
If there are just 1,700 wolves in the Northern Rockies, and 5,000 now across the upper Midwest, and each now consumes an average of 25 big game animals every year for nourishment, that means it takes annually 167,500 deer, elk, moose and other big game animals just to keep them fed. Unfortunately, being the apex predator that they are, wolves also kill for the mere pleasure of killing. Wolf researchers now acknowledge that wolves may kill, without eating anything, just as much game for sport. That brings the death toll of wildlife up significantly. If there are twice as many wolves in the Northern Rockies than claimed by state and federal wildlife agencies, the loss of big game to wolves is reaching close to 400,000 animals - to keep them well fed, and their blood lust satisfied.
What makes wolf impact on big game numbers so devastating is that a high percentage of what they do kill is made up of the young of the year - the calves and fawns. Where wolves are prevalent, the average age of game is getting older. In Yellowstone's northern elk herd, the average age back in the mid 1990s was 4 years. Due to the near total loss of calf recruitment in spring and summer, the average age of the herd is now 8 years. This herd is headed for a disastrous crash. Many of the residents in southern Montana, where these elk winter, feel that unless something is done to drastically reduce wolf numbers in that area, this elk herd could be totally lost. Just 15 years ago, it numbered close to 19,000.
The same thing is happening with deer and moose populations across the northern Midwest. In many areas that were once considered some of the best deer hunting in America, harvest by hunters was down 40 to 60 percent during the 2009 seasons. And the number one reason was wolf depredation.
In the West, those who have made a living, or a good part of it anyway, from outfitting and guiding hunters are now being forced out of that business - due to the dramatic loss of wildlife resources. One was Rick Dunkerley, of Lincoln, Montana.
The former owner and operator of Mineral Creek Outfitters shares,
"Having worked in the guiding and outfitting business since 1987, it has always amazed me how Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and its biologists ignore the people who have the most field experience. Now, they continue to tell us that wolves are having a minimal impact on big game herds, when anyone who spends time outdoors knows better. For the past twenty years, we have averaged taking a dozen elk on our ranch. This past season (2009) one cow elk was killed...and wolf sign was everywhere. Coincidence? It seems that the only thing our game department wants to manage is us."
With the escalated loss of larger game, wolves are now turning more and more to another ready source of meat - livestock. And that impact is becoming more and more severe. Wolf experts are now learning how little they really knew about wolves. And one myth that has been completely shattered is the old belief that
"wolves only kill what they need to eat, and take primarily the weak and injured". Wolves will kill anything, and in some cases, everything - like the one wolf that killed 130 domestic sheep near Dillon, MT last fall - eating nothing.
Montana State Senator Debby Barrett points out,
"It is no secret that the survival of wolves and the success of their management in Montana depends on how swiftly and efficiently Fish, Wildlife and Parks responds to those 'directly' affected by wolves. Thus far, I would have to give that agency a failing grade. Today, by a most conservative count, this state is supporting five times the number of wolves we agreed to legally manage."
She points out that many livestock producers in southwest Montana have accumulated losses to wolves in the 100s of thousands of dollars. Barrett feels that, while the wolves are doing the killing, it is the state wildlife agency that is responsible, for knowingly and intentionally allowing this killing of livestock to increase annually. You see, this impacts her and her family directly, since they operate a cattle ranch near Dillon.
"In 2009, the Montana Legislature passed a law (SB 228), that would have not only assisted FWP in addressing wolf livestock depredation swiftly and effectively, but would have saved time, money and livestock. To this day, the Montana Wolf Coordinator has ignored
that state law, and continues to adhere to the 2003 wolf management plan. That plan is not only obsolete, it is rife with absurd and false assumptions regarding wolf behaviors...Unfortunately, it appears that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is focused more on enabling the wolves than managing them," remarks Senator Debby Barrett.
Just this month, Utah has also passed legislation aimed not at just reducing wolves, but to insure they are never established back in that state. And that's exactly how the sportsmen and ranchers there want it.
According to Don Peay, founder of the conservation group known as Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife,
"For the last twenty years, SFW along with our Division of Wildlife Resources partners have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into habitat and wildlife transplant restoration efforts...and aggressive predator management. Utah, in the absence of wolves, has seen populations of deer increase by 50%, elk by 500%, moose 500%, bighorn sheep and mountain goats and bison by 500% as well. Most people now recognize Utah as a western states big game paradise."
Peay points out how things are going in the direct opposite direction in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, where wolves are now destroying elk and deer herds. He says if not managed aggressively, within just five more years, wolves will destroy the once wildlife rich Northern Rockies. And that sportsmen need to heed the S.O.S. that's now going out, and to demand that Congress change the Endangered Species Act, which has been hijacked from its original intent by self serving environmental and animal rights groups.
"As a kid, we used to go to Yellowstone to see different wildlife. Today, because of this ecological disaster, you can find more wildlife in the Salt Lake Valley, that has over 1-million people, than you can find in Yellowstone. And that is a very sad commentary," adds Don Peay.
August 8, 2011 -
Since this was written more than a year and a half ago, we have learned that the damage has been even worse than shared in this LOBO WATCH release, much worse. This year, the Northern Yellowstone elk herd, which once numbered right at 19,000 is now down to 4,400 remaining animals...and while that herd averaged 4 to 5 years of age before Canadian wolves were dumped in the area, those elk are now averaging 9 to 10 years of age...and growing older with each and every year. More is also now known about the spread of the Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm by wolves, which deposit thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of the tapeworm eggs every time a wolf leaves a pile of scat - and 60+ percent of the wolves tested have been carriers of this parasite. Those microscopic eggs can be widely dispersed by stiff breezes, and when elk, moose, deer or livestock ingest those eggs which have landed on the grass and forage they graze, the eggs can result in liquid and tapeworm filled cysts on the lungs and liver of those animals. This reduces the stamina of game, making it easier for the wolves to run down and kill - whether for food, or for sport.
As hunters in Idaho and Montana prepare for hunts to control wolf numbers this fall and winter, the chances of wolf numbers being significantly reduced are unlikely - especailly in Montana where a truly out of touch with reality Fish, Wildlife and Parks has established a non-effectual harvest quota of just 220 wolves. The agency has absolutely no idea of how many wolves are in the state - yet they boast that the quota would represent 25% of the wolf population. One leading wolf biologist has established that the number of wolves in Montana is more likely in the 1,500 to 1,600 range. A reduction of just 220 wolves will have no effect on the high degree of wolf depredation of game and livestock. In fact, when one factors in a 25% reproduciton rate by this time next summer, there will be between 1,655 and 1,780 wolves in this state - AFTER THE 220 HARVEST. Likewise, the loss of game and livestock will continue to increase accordingly. - Toby Bridges
