Killing Wolves: A Hunter-Led War Against Science and Wildlife

[G_j]

http://www.endangered.org/killing-wolves-a-hunter-led-war-against-science-and-willdife/

APR 8

Killing Wolves: A Hunter-Led War Against Science and Wildlife

Posted by: Mitch Merry, Online Organizer Endangered Species Coalition

In this post from his blog, From the Wild Side, long-time backcountry hunter and western outdoor writer David Stalling strongly criticizes recent state-sponsored wolf-killing programs in Idaho.

“We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then and have known ever since that there was something new to me in those eyes, something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.” — Aldo Leopold, 1949

We Americans, in most states at least, have not yet experienced a bear-less, eagle-less, cat- less, wolf-less woods. Germany strove for maximum yields of both timber and game and got neither.” — Aldo Leopold, 1935

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”– Aldo Leopold, 1949

2014: Idaho Fish and Game recently hired a bounty hunter to try and eliminate two packs of wolves in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, one of the largest wilderness areas in the United States. Idaho hunters have organized wolf-killing competitions and killer co-ops to pay trappers to kill wolves. The state legislature and governor declared wolves a “disaster emergency” and have allocated $2 million to killing wolves. More recently the department conducted secretive aerial shootings of wolves from helicopters with no public knowledge or input and spent $30,000 to kill 23 wolves. Idaho Fish and Game is doing this and more in an ongoing effort to appease many ranchers and hunters to protect livestock and maintain artificially high and unhealthy numbers of elk for hunters to shoot at.

One of the cornerstones of our “North American Model of Wildlife Conservation” — which hunters and hunting-based organizations love to tout and claim to support — is that wildlife, all wildlife, be managed based on good, sound science. That good, sound science shows that the return of wolves to much of the western United States has resulted in significant overall, long-term benefits to wildlife and the habitat that sustains them — including the species we love to hunt. Check out: “How Wolves Change Rivers.”

Elk populations are increasing in most of the West. In Idaho, the fish and game department is expanding elk hunting to reduce elk populations while simultaneously killing wolves under the guise of protecting and boosting elk numbers. Where elk populations do appear on the decline there are plenty of factors to consider in addition to wolves: Changes in habitat; the previous existence of artificially high elk populations at levels beyond the viable carrying capacity of the land; lack of mature bulls and low bull-to-cow ratios in herds (often resulting from early season hunting and too much hunting pressure on bull elk) which influences the timing of the rut and breeding behavior, the timing of spring calving, and often results in increased vulnerability of elk calves to predation; influence of other predators including mountain lions, black bears and grizzlies; unanticipated impacts of various hunting regulations and hunting pressure, and changes in behavior and habitat use by elk in the presence of wolves. And more.

Where I hunt, the growing presence of wolves has changed the behavior and habits of elk. Elk bunch up more for safety, and move around more to evade and avoid wolves. They are a lot more wary. I have adapted and adjusted to these changes and have no problem finding elk.This is part of the beauty and value of hunting within wilderness — to adjust, adapt and be part of the landscape; to be, as my friend David Petersen put its, part of the “bedrock workings of nature.” We render the wilds a diminished abstract when we alter it to suit our own needs and desires and, in the process, make it less healthy and whole. There are those who espouse the virtues of backcountry hunting and yet seem apathetic or supportive towards the destruction of backcountry integrity. Those who understand the wilds know how critically important predators are to the health of the land; to remain silent about the nonscientific, politically-based killing of wolves in the wildest of places is to be complacent towards the degradation of what we claim to cherish.Yet hunters, in general, hate and blame wolves for pretty near anything and everything including their own lack of skill, knowledge and effort in hunting elk. Science is shunned and ignored. David Allen, the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, a national hunter-based conservation organization, claims wolves are “decimating” elk herds and calls wolves the “worst ecological disaster since the decimation of bison” despite research funded by the organization that shows otherwise. Most of what many hunters claim to know and understand about wolves and wolf and elk interactions is based on myths, lies and half-truths; they rapidly and angrily dismiss logic, facts and science as coming from “anti-hunters,” “wolf-lovers” and “tree-huggers” from “back East.” Most hunter-based conservation organizations and state agencies avoid the topic for fear of being pegged “one of them.” Many actually help perpetuate the lies and half-truths to boost and maintain membership. Some try to come across as reasonable by stating that they think wolves should be managed just like other wildlife, such as elk.

But wolves are not elk; being a top predator they have altogether different, and self-regulating, reproductive and survival behaviors and strategies. “Other” wildlife, such as elk, are managed based on science — based on what we know about behavior, ecology, breeding behavior, habitat use and selection and other factors. Wolves are being managed purely based on politics driven by ignorance and hate. Many hunters and others in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho long advocated for the delisting of wolves from the Endangered Species Act and turning management over to the states. It happened. And now these states — particularly Idaho — are doing what they can to kill as many wolves as possible, science be damned.

Idaho is proving over and over that their state cannot handle the scientific, sustainable management of wolves. No public agency should have the power to decide such things as Idaho Fish and Game is doing with so little public accountability and oversight. They are acting on behalf of a small, but politically-influential segment of our population based on pure politics, lies, myths, misconceptions and half truths about wolves and ignoring what we do know about wolf biology, ecology, behavior and interactions with and impacts to elk.

As an avid and passionate hunter in Montana (who has killed and eaten 26 elk over the years) I am absolutely disgusted that no hunter-based conservation organization — most of which claim to support and defend sound, science-based management of wildlife — are speaking out against this slaughter which is a clear violation of the North American model of wildlife management these organizations claim to uphold. At best, many hunters and hunting-based organizations are remaining silent for fear of being ostracized; at worst, most hunters and hunting organizations are supporting this. More and more I feel like an anti-hunter who hunts. It’s embarrassing, appalling and outrageous.

Even groups I support and respect, including Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and National Wildlife Federation are ignoring and avoiding this clear violation of science-based wildlife management and our North American Model of Wildlife Conservation they claim to uphold and defend — I can only assume as to not upset their membership base.As Aldo Leopold so aptly put it more than 50 years ago: “The sportsman has no leaders to tell him what is wrong. The sporting press no longer represents sport; it has turned billboard for the gadgeteer. Wildlife administrators are too busy producing something to shoot at to worry much about the cultural value of the shooting.”

I am growing increasingly disgusted and angry towards my so-called fellow hunters, and most hunter-based organization, for continually talking “Aldo Leopold” and the “North American Model” out of one side of their mouths while ignoring or even supporting this sort of political, nonscientific “management” of a critical keystone, umbrella wildlife species that plays a critical role in shaping, maintaining and influencing healthy wildlife and wildlife habitat for all species — including the species we love to hunt and the habitat that sustains them.

This is one of the flaws of our current and mostly good system of wildlife management in which states generally have full authority over managing their wildlife. State fish and game departments, such as Idaho Fish and Game, are overseen and controlled by state politicians and game commissioners (who are often ranchers and hunters) appointed by politicians — and the hunting and ranching industries have more influence over state decisions than others. Aldo Leopold, widely considered the “father” of modern wildlife management, warned against such things more than 50 years ago.A recent report about the flaws of the North American Model summed it up this way: “The scientists also express concern that the interests of recreational hunters sometimes conflict with conservation principles. For example, they say, wildlife management conducted in the interest of hunters can lead to an overabundance of animals that people like to hunt, such as deer, and the extermination of predators that also provide a vital balance to the ecosystem.”

It needs to change.

More than half a century ago Leopold wrote: “I personally believed, at least in 1914 when predator control began, that there could not be too much horned game, and that the extirpation of predators was a reasonable price to pay for better big game hunting. Some of us have learned since the tragic error of such a view, and acknowledged our mistake.”

We still haven’t caught up to Leopold.

If we hunters truly believe in sound, science-based wildlife management, the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, and the ideas and principles preached and promoted by the likes of Aldo Leopold, then it is time to speak up.

[2naSalit]

1. K&R!!!

Thanks for posting.

Remember, tourism is one of Idaho's major revenue generators, boycott Idaho. Over 60% of the state is PUBLIC LAND which means it and the wildlife belong to all of us.

Butch Otter is running for a third or fourth term as governor, he needs a challenger really badly, one who can win and act more like Cecil Andrus, who was governor when the state was more sane.

[G_j]

2. you have probably seen this, I've signed so many by now..

Petitioning Idaho Governor
Stop the Outrageous Killing of Idaho's Gray Wolves

http://www.change.org/petitions/idaho-governor-stop-the-outrageous-killing-of-idaho-s-gray-wolves?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_mobile&recruiter=9662356

[MoonRiver]

3. My fingers have been worn to the bone signing petitions to stop the Idaho wolf massacres.

It is so damn depressing and just WRONG!

[Blanks]

4. I'm originally from Idaho.

The last time I was home (2008) I was walking along some of the roads that we drove so frequently in my youth.

There is a particularly interesting road (the 'cove' road) that you can walk for just a couple of miles and you are overlooking the south fork of the Clearwater river. We used to ride the rapids in the south fork during the summer months when I was in high school - so it brings back a lot of memories.

At any rate, after I'd finished my walk - I stopped by my little brothers house hoping that I could get a ride back to town (about 3 miles). He launched into me about how careless and reckless I was for walking around out there (within 5 miles of his house) because the wolves are such a threat. I asked him if he knew of any humans that had ever been attacked by wolves. He explained to me that he was not aware of any human attacks, but he had heard of wolves backing folks away from their game.

I explained to him that statistically I was probably more in danger of being attacked by a rabid skunk than being attacked by wolves. Surprisingly, he wasn't lulled into a sense of security from this and he even seemed annoyed and quickly jumped into his pickup - peeled out of his driveway and left me at his house to walk to town (my little brother is kind of a moronic dick).

I forgot why I was telling this story....

Oh, yeah. My brother - he isn't a big time hunter and he BELIEVES that these wolves are a danger and gets angry at the mere mention of the word "wolf" (I have some nieces and nephews who have also been poisoned by this misinformation campaign). This is just another glaring example of getting people to set aside their confidence in science to let their emotions rule.

There are a lot of anti-government folk in Idaho, to them: this is just another example of how the government has screwed them over.

It's ironic really - the lifestyle that so many of them enjoy is protected by the government's extensive ownership of land.

I was recalling this delightful exchange with my younger brother a few months ago and stumbled across a web site that has been tracking these wolves for years with maps and lists of the wolf progeny and wolf names. He could have googled it and figured out within a few minutes that the nearest wolves were a few mountain ranges away.

I often wonder if campaigns like this (the anti-wolf campaign) are perpetuated by some really clever folks just to see how far they can manipulate people beyond reasonable. My brother has no stake in whether the wolves stay or go, but he will fight tooth and nail to make sure that they go.

It's sad really.

[MoonRiver]

5. All I can "say" is

[2naSalit]

6. Ayuh.

And sadly, these are also the folks who how up and start bitching about how their freedumb is threatened and their way-o-life of killing things that aren't human... and when they show up at public hearings and such they use their comment time by telling us, "..next thing you're gonna tell us is the BLM's been taken over by the fedril gubbamint!"

It is sad, they have very little sense about civics in general yet they pretend that they know what the Constitution is about becuz bubba down the road told 'em what it was.

(Lived in ID for a decade and a half, took part in wolf advocacy early on and have had more death threats and state officials hating me than I care to count. Although I did kind of get a kick out of when Sen. wide-stance got caught.)

For those who are interested, there's an informative form happening Wed., 4/9...

Predators, Prey, Habitats Symposium April 9, Pocatello, ID at ISU

Four experts on wolves, cougars, grizzly bears, and other predators will present and discuss-

The “Predators, Prey, Habitats” symposium will feature presentation on wolves, cougars, grizzly bears, and other predators and how they effect prey species and habitats at Idaho State University Wed., April 9th at 6:30 p.m. on campus in the Gale Life Science Bldg., Lecture Hall 10. The event is sponsored by the South East Idaho Environmental Network and the ISU Department of Biological Sciences.

The presentations will be:

• “Habitat, Large Herbivores, and Predators: Conceptual Flaws and Conspicuous Myths,” by Terry Bowyer, PhD; ISU professor of biological sciences;

• “Cascading cougars ? The contingencies of cougar effects on prey,” by Dr. David Mattson, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Biological Resources Division, stationed at the Colorado Plateau Field Station in Flagstaff , Ariz. ;

• “The Wolves of Yellowstone – and other Controversial Topics,” by Dr. Doug Smith, National Park Service senior wildlife biologist; Yellowstone Center for Resources; and

• “Yellowstone’s grizzly bears: New science, old hostilities, and a way forward,” by Louisa Willcox; National Resources Defense Council senior wildlife advocate, based in Livingston , Mont.

Dr. Keene Hueftle, chair of the South East Idaho Environmental Network (SEIEN), said “This is a chance to learn how these predators, like wolves and grizzly bears, that are often in media headlines, really affect their prey species and habitats.

http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2014/04/03/predators-prey-habitats-symposium-april-9-pocatello-id-at-isu/

The Pocatello Public Access T V station is set to video the event.

A recording should be available at the station’s cost. Their phone is [phone], M – F. 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.

[MoonRiver]

8. (((Ayud))) thank you for being a voice for the voiceless!

It's hard, so hard, because the irrational cruelty of humans is vast. We just do what we can.

[G_j]

9. I too thank you

it is a tough and trying fight against the most dangerous kind of ignorance, but the wolves need us!

[2naSalit]

10. An understatement

if ever there was one!

I may have a new venue for helping to educate about them soon, I'll PM you when I know for sure. Meanwhile, I plan to get a copy of that symposium in Pocatello this evening, since there's no way I could afford to get there and attend though I wish I could.

[G_j]

7. you're right, all you have to do is tell some people it's the government

and that's enough. And in this case we have guns and hunting. It's a crying shame, because this kind of hunting is not about subsistence. It's not really hunting at all.

It's refreshing to hear someone from Idaho, or anywhere, who knows that, as a rule, wolves DON'T attack humans.

[clandestiny]

11. Thank you for this well thought out, well written piece of educational material.

I hope others will do their part and at the very least forward this.

[G_j]

12. "I Was There"

15 APRIL 2014

I Was There

Posted by: Suzanne Asha Stone

It was a bitterly cold winter morning when the convoy departed down the remote Forest Service road near Salmon, Idaho. Decades after scientists first called for the restoration of wolves in the region, the first four wolves arrived in Idaho on January 14, 1995, thanks to the Endangered Species Act.

After stopping at the Idaho border for a blessing ceremony from Nez Perce tribal elders, the wolves arrived in a moving van and spent the night under armed guard in an airplane hangar on the outskirts of town amid threats of violence. The next morning we set out in a caravan of heavy duty trucks following behind a large snowplow that cleared our road to the edge of the Frank Church – River of No Return Wilderness, the largest forested wilderness area in the continental USA.

The journey into “the Frank” that day was perilous. The road was covered in a thick sheet of ice as it edged above the ice-choked but deep Salmon River. We removed our seat belts to reduce the time it would take to swim out of the river if any of our vehicles slid into its freezing waters. The slow crawl down the road took hours of white knuckle driving before we reached our destination: the campground at Corn Creek.

Gray wolf in Denali, © Didier Lindsey
It was peacefully quiet as we got out of the truck. Surprisingly, walking on the road turned out to be harder than driving on it. We all slipped around in walk-skate fashion trying to lift and unload the crates with the four frightened wolves cowering inside their shipping kennels. Before we knew it, it was time to open the doors to history.

In minutes, the first wolf — with her radio collar vividly decorated with the name “Moonstar Shadow” by the students in Idaho’s Blaine County — was bounding her way through the snow. I still remember the look in her eyes as she stopped and turned back to stare at us before disappearing into the woods.

The next wolf, a large silver male, ran about 15 yards before stopping to make his mark on his new world. The students at Lapwai Nez Perce School had decorated his collar with the name “Chat Chaht” meaning “older brother” in their native language.

Then I heard my name called out by the lead biologists on the team. “Suzanne, this one is yours…” he said. I was surprised and then choked up that they were granting me the honor of releasing the third wolf. Her name was spelled out in a colorful design on her radio collar: Akiata. She was a young, black wolf with green eyes, and very reluctant to leave the safety of her travel kennel. But after a few fleeting moments she descended from her kennel and gracefully sprinted through the snow without once looking back. The students of McCall Donnelly junior high had chosen her name and would track her wide roaming adventures through our Track-A-Wolf program.

The last wolf released that day was simply named Kelly, as dubbed by the students of St. Marie’s School in northern Idaho; named after the Kelly Creek area.

After the release we finally had a moment for reflection. Wolves were back in Idaho after being absent for most of the last century. The Frank Church Wilderness was wild again and the forests would soon echo with their ancient, soulful song. It was a very profound and emotional moment, one I will always be grateful to have witnessed. We cried, hugged each other, opened champagne and gave our toasts to the wolves.

Of these four released wolves, three would survive to mate and begin new packs. One would die in a fight with a mountain lion, and one would become the oldest known wolf to live in Idaho, beating the average life span of a wild wolf by almost a decade.

But this release wouldn’t be the last.

There were two more releases over the next year, totaling a founding population of 35 wolves; packs formed and by the first spring, pups were born in Idaho’s mountain regions. Wolf reintroduction in the Frank was an overwhelming success. Over the next decade, the population grew and expanded their range.

Wolf, © Mike Wheeler
Wolves can often become targets for predator control programs.

But while tourists flooded to neighboring Yellowstone to see wolves, increasing revenue to local economies by millions annually, in Idaho anti-wolf sentiment grew like a popular new hobby in rural communities. Soon, this sentiment was being reinforced by local media as news channels began to broadcast every single known wolf/ livestock conflict. And instead of putting these conflicts into perspective (more livestock are killed by disease, bad weather and even domestic dogs than by wolves), these reports became the basis for publicly damning wolves, undermining their recovery. Sadly, this anti-wolf sentiment began breeding like a virus. It wasn’t long after that the state legislature declared that all wolves should be removed from Idaho “by any means necessary,” even though statewide polling repeatedly demonstrated that most Idahoans wanted wolves restored here.

More than a decade later, despite this animosity toward wolves, the USFWS proposed to remove federal protection from the species and allow Idaho and other states to take over their management. This deal also enabled Idaho to green light the first hunting of wolves in the continental U.S. In 2009, when Idaho Governor “Butch” Otter stated that he wanted to be the first person to legally shoot a wolf in Idaho, the writing was on the wall. The state of Idaho was not willing to manage wolves based on science, and they were not committed to wolf recovery. They wanted to kill them, not manage them.

And kill them they did. Since Congress delisted wolves in Idaho in 2011, more than 1,000 wolves have been hunted, trapped, snared and even gunned down from helicopters. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop any time soon. Idaho is determined to drive the wolf population as low as possible.

Just recently, Governor Otter signed a new anti-wolf bill that green-lights unsustainable wolf killing throughout the state. The law establishes a new wolf control board—funded annually by $400,000 from the taxpayers with the sole purpose of killing as many wolves as possible. It is part of a broader effort to reduce Idaho’s wolf population to 150 animals, thrusting the species perilously close to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s threshold for consideration of relisting under the Endangered Species Act. No other species has been purposefully driven down so unsustainably low after delisting. Only wolves.

I’m filled with such deep sadness that these beautiful animals are going to be persecuted to near eradication once again, but I refuse to give into these crippling emotions. It’s not just wolf advocates that have grown increasingly concerned with Idaho’s mismanagement of wolves. Hunters, farmers, and ranchers are coming forward and speaking out on this issue in record numbers. A few weeks ago, I witnessed a young hunter tell the Idaho Fish and Game Commission that he did not support the state’s increasingly aggressive attacks on wolves. A fifth-generation rancher is sending me messages of encouragement and working behind the scenes to create new pressure on ranchers to rethink the stigma placed on wolves and build tolerance for the species. Another woman flew all the way from California, traveling for hours to testify at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s recent hearing to make state officials aware that people across the country won’t stand by and watch this population of wolves be destroyed again. And, just a few weeks ago, I met with the Nez Perce tribal leaders who pledged they would stand beside the wolves and seek to regain protection for a healthy population statewide.

Wolf pack, © Doug McLaughlinIdaho plans to kill 60 percent of the wolves living in the heart of the Frank Church Wilderness, an area designated by Congress to be set aside as a sanctuary for nature to be “untrammeled by man.” Defenders is in court to try to stop this plan from moving forward, and to make sure that this sort of outrageous abuse never happens again. We are also asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to do an immediate status review on the wolf to analyze the threats to the population.

As I write these words, I know others will step forward and help us find a way to stop this madness – to save these wolves from the ignorance, fear and hatred that the state of Idaho has so deeply embraced. And I am reminded of the words from the wonderful writer Terry Tempest Williams: “We can try to kill all that is native, string it by its hind legs for all to see, but spirit howls and wildness endures.”

– Suzanne Stone, Northern Rockies Representative