Feds ending wolf protection in Wyoming.

[powderman]

Federal government ending wolf protections in Wyoming  Published September 01, 2012
Associated Press     

•    This image provided by Yellowstone National Park shows a wolf walking through the snow in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. (AP/Yellowstone National Park)

  CHEYENNE, Wyo. –  Visitors to Yellowstone National Park on almost any given day can glimpse packs of wolves and hear their iconic howls, thanks to a yearslong effort to revive the species that once neared extinction in the United States.
 
It's an effort the federal government has determined to be so successful that wolves no longer need special protections to ensure their survival in Wyoming -- the state officials chose in the mid-1990s for reintroducing the predator to the Northern Rocky Mountains.
"The wolf population in Wyoming is recovered, and it is appropriate that the responsibility for wolf management be returned to the state," Gov. Matt Mead said Friday after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will end the protections in most of Wyoming and entrust the state with managing their numbers.
 
The move allows wolves to be shot on sight in most parts of Wyoming while keeping them permanently protected in designated areas like Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, and the Wind River Indian Reservation. The decision quickly sparked promises of legal challenges from environmental groups that argue wolves still need protection to maintain their successful recovery.
 
"Today's removal of wolves in Wyoming from the endangered species list is a tragic ending to what has otherwise been one of America's greatest wildlife conservation success stories," Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife, said in a statement. "Now we are left with no choice but to pursue legal action to ensure that a healthy, sustainable wolf population remains in Wyoming and across the Northern Rockies for many generations to come."
 
In announcing the decision, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe acknowledged the opposition it would face and the "emotional reaction to wolf hunting," but said hunting would not be "detrimental to long-term conservation of wolves."
"Quite the contrary, it will support long-term conservation of wolves as it has other predators like mountain lion and grizzly bear and black bear," Ashe said.
 
North America was once home to as many as 2 million gray wolves, but by the 1930s, fur traders, bounty hunters and government agents had poisoned, trapped and shot them to near extinction in the continental United States. An effort to revive their numbers rose up and centered on starting the recovery in Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming.
Overcoming protests from Wyoming farmers and ranchers who feared wolves would prey on their livestock, wildlife managers transplanted 14 wolves from Canada into Yellowstone in the mid-1990s. The effort exceeded all expectations as wolf numbers quickly multiplied, and Friday's action means Wyoming can now take measures to control their population outside the Greater Yellowstone vicinity.
 
There are about 270 wolves in Wyoming outside Yellowstone. There are about another 1,100 or so in Montana and Idaho where wolves were delisted earlier and still more in Washington and Oregon.
Wyoming has been chaffing under federal wolf protections for years, with ranchers and hunters complaining that wolves kill too many cattle and other wildlife.
 
Wyoming's management plan was agreed upon last year by Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. It calls for the state to maintain at least 10 breeding pairs of wolves and at least 100 individual animals.
The state will classify wolves in the remaining 90 percent of Wyoming as predators, subject to being killed anytime by anyone.
 
The state will take over management of the wolves under its purview effective Sept. 30. The Wyoming Game Commission has approved wolf hunts starting Oct. 1. The state is prepared to issue unlimited hunting licenses but will call a halt after hunters kill 52 wolves.
 
Bryce Reece, executive vice president of the Wyoming Wool Growers Association, said ranchers for too long had their hands tied in trying to stop wolves attacking their livestock.
"The reality is my folks aren't in any big rush to get there to try to kill a wolf. They just want the ability to protect their livestock," Reece said. "We are hopeful, by putting some pressure on them, they'll move back into areas where it's less habited and there's less livestock."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/09/01/federal-government-ending-wolf-protections-in-wyoming/#ixzz25GNbagEh

[hillbill]

i heard something about this on the radio yesterday. them wolf varmints must really be making a pest of themselves up there? im glad the cattlemen finally have sum chance to protect their herds.with the price of live beef, even 1 or 2 calves lost can be a great reduction in yearly income.2  otherwise healthy calves eaten by wolves would mean at least 1500$ to 2000$ dollar loss.depending on how big they are when you sell them.you take a guy running maybe 20 head and thats goin to be a real big problem!

[Conan The Librarian]

Just out of curiosity, how many years elapsed between it being clear that wolves were not threatened and were becoming a nuisance, and the removal of the protection?

[sidewinder319]

This is welcome news to those of us living in Wyoming. It is not just the ranchers and livestock. I have seen our moose population being wiped out over the past few years. The wolf population is much greater than the Feds want to make public. The Fed as always lied to the western states. The orginal deal was if they left the Yellowstone we would shoot them as we do coyotes. The Feds agreed to these rules. After the wolves were introduced they changed the rules. The Feds know that Wyoming people follow the SSS rule when it comes to wolves anyway. The rule is Shoot Shovel Shutup.

[DDZ]

Today's removal of wolves in Wyoming from the endangered species list is a tragic ending to what has otherwise been one of America's greatest wildlife conservation success stories,"

This cracks me up, They put a protection on wolfs, then when the wolfs decimate the elk and moose herds, and kill livestock, the promoters of "lets protect the wolfs" call it a success. This is what happens when you have a government entity calling the shots, that don't have a clue what they are doing.  I see they are stopping the hunting after 52 wolfs are shot. I doubt lowering the number of wolfs in the state of Wyoming by 52 is going to make much difference. The SSS plan works every time all the time.     

[Sourdough]

The people in US Fish & Wildlife are Bunny Huggers, they will never report the true numbers.  their goal is to stop all hunting on government lands.  They want a totally uncontrolled eco-system, where predators are king.  They also want restrictions so only they are allowed to enter those lands and watch.

OK now that I have said my rant, the numbers of wolves are much higher than is being reported.  The large success of the wolf hunters is because the wolves have never been hunted till now.  Once hunting pressure is put on them they will start being more secretive.  They will still be there, and the numbers will continue to grow, but they will go to being unseen.  When the Moose, Elk, and Deer populations plumment, they will move exclusively to Cattle, Sheep. and Horses.  As they move closer to towns they will start on Dogs, Cats, and Kids.  Kids and women will be first, but if a lone man is out there unarmed he will become dinner as well.  That's the way it is up here.  That is why we have aerial wolf hunting, trappers and hunters alone can not keep the numbers down.  Poison is no longer allowed.  People thnik Coyotes are survivers, Wolves can be just as cunning.  It's coming folks, mark my words.  Oh the environmental groups will say Wolves don't attack humans, Yea tell that to the old man cross country skiing from Nenana to Fairbanks, or that teacher at Chignik.  Both killed and eaten by Wolves.  Four years ago my neighbor and I got four out of five that was trying to drag his dog out of her dog house.  I shot two from my bedroom window. 

You are now feeding predators with your Elk and Deer, not people any more.  I'll use our 40 Mile Caribou herd as an example.  The biologist have been studying this herd for 40 years closely.  Mortality rate of the herd is roughly 92% Predators, 2% Hunters, 6% Unknown.  When there is a dip in the herd numbers, the environmentalist at US Fish & Wild Life blame the hunters.  They claim hunting pressure is too high and try and close federal lands to hunting.  At 2%, I don't think hunters make a dent in the herd numbers.  But we sure are feeding a lot of Grizzlies and Wolves.

[sidewinder319]

The U.S. Army patroled the Yellowstone well into the 20th century. The Grizz and wolves were killed by the hundreds by army troops. It was the 1903 Spfld 06 that really made killing easy. Wolves have always been in Wyoming they were never all killed off.
The Greens imported Grey Wolves from Canada to Wyoming. These were nonnative animals introduced into the Yellowstone Eco-system, what BS. The 52 wolf limit is a joke, but it may stall the law suits. Ranchers and others protecting property will not be limited to this quota, The 52 will most likely be sold as "Trophy" hunts by the G&F Dept.
 

[DDZ]

I have often thought there were other agendas behind the wolf protection plan. In fact protecting wolfs might not be the issue at all. When a branch of government grows like all branches of government do. They have a need to consume more power and money, and their purpose moves from the serving the best interests of people, to serving their interests. To accomplish their radical agenda they cover up the real agenda with a false agenda to gain support from the public. Like in this case its saving wolfs. Then when people raise to much of a fuss. They appease them by saying "Ok you hunters can kill 52 wolfs, then you have to stop" Like eliminating 52 wolfs over that vast area will put a dent in the wolf problem, but it even has hunters fooled. They are just happy they can hunt wolfs, and forget about the deer that are no longer there to hunt. As the article hints toward the end the real agenda may be to drive hunters and ranchers off rural lands. 
The wolfs killing deer and livestock are not the only problem. The article mentions a tapeworm many wolfs carry and spread, that can even infect humans.     

http://lobowatch.wordpress.com/tag/wolf-project-wildlands-network-and-agenda-21-driven/