Wolves kill 11 sheep at ranch

The Billings Gazette ^ | 2/28/2009

[george76]

Wolves killed 11 sheep and injured five more Thursday south of Two Dot, USDA Wildlife Services officials confirmed Friday.

"It's quite gruesome," said Tonya Martin, the sheep rancher whose stock was raided.

A wolf killed five sheep and injured another five last March on the Martin ranch on Big Elk Creek. Efforts to capture the wolf were unsuccessful.

The Martins told officials that four wolves were seen in the area. An adjacent landowner also reported that their cattle had been run through a fence Thursday...

Wolves in Montana are federally protected...

[george76]

The ranch across the fence from our place in Stillwater County lost 22 sheep and they don't know how many were never found.

The wolves are a much larger can of worms than any greenie ever anticipated.

Compensation is a joke, doesn't happen. Our neighbor was told they were out of funding.

Right. ..

ht comments

[Paved Paradise]

This is ridiculous. Wolves kill sheep - nothing new. Is your point that you can’t go out and kill the wolves b/c they are protected?

If true, this is crazy.

[george76]

The country is going broke while we spend millions on these protected wolves .

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

Parable of the Sheep

By Charles Riggs

http://www.abhijeetsingh.com/arms/india/sheep/

Not so long ago and in a pasture too uncomfortably close to here, a flock of sheep lived and grazed. They were protected by a dog, who answered to the master, but despite his best efforts from time to time a nearby pack of wolves would prey upon the flock.

One day a group of sheep, more bold than the rest, met to discuss their dilemma. “Our dog is good, and vigilant, but he is one dog and the wolves are many. The wolves he catches are not always killed, and the master judges and releases many to prey again upon us, for no reason we can understand. What can we do? We are sheep, but we do not wish to be food, too!”

One sheep spoke up, saying “It is his teeth and claws that make the wolf so terrible to us. It is his nature to prey, and he would find any way to do it, but it is the tools he wields that make it possible. If we had such teeth, we could fight back, and stop this savagery.” The other sheep clamored in agreement, and they went together to the old bones of the dead wolves heaped in the corner of the pasture, and gathered fang and claw and made them into weapons.

That night, when the wolves came, the newly armed sheep sprang up with their weapons and struck at them and cried “Begone! We are not food!” and drove off the wolves, who were astonished. When did sheep become so bold and so dangerous to wolves? When did sheep grow teeth? It was unthinkable!

The next day, flush with victory and waving their weapons, they approached the flock to pronounce their discovery. But as they drew nigh, the flock huddled together and cried out “Baaaaaaaadddd! Baaaaaddd things! You have bad things! We are afraid! You are not sheep!”

The brave sheep stopped, amazed. “But we are your brethren!” they cried, “We are still sheep, but we do not wish to be food. See, our new teeth and claws protect us and have saved us from slaughter. They do not make us into wolves, they make us equal to the wolves, and safe from their viciousness!”

“Baaaaaaaddd!”, cried the flock,”the things are bad and will pervert you, and we fear them. You cannot bring them into the flock. They scare us!”. So the armed sheep resolved to conceal their weapons, for although they had no desire to panic the flock, they wished to remain in the fold. But they would not return to those nights of terror, waiting for the wolves to come.

In time, the wolves attacked less often and sought easier prey, for they had no stomach for fighting sheep who possessed tooth and claw even as they did. Not knowing which sheep had fangs and which did not, they came to leave sheep out of their diet almost completely except for the occasional raid, from which more than one wolf did not return. Then came the day when, as the flock grazed beside the stream, one sheep’s weapon slipped from the folds of her fleece, and the flock cried out in terror again, “Baaaaaaddddd! You still possess these evil things! We must ban you from our presence!”.

And so they did. The great chief sheep and his court and council, encouraged by the words of their moneylenders and advisors, placed signs and totems at the edges of the pasture forbidding the presence of hidden weapons there. The armed sheep protested before the council, saying “It is our pasture, too, and we have never harmed you! When can you say we have caused you hurt? It is the wolves, not we, who prey upon you. We are still sheep, but we are not food!”. But the flock would not hear, and drowned them out with cries of “Baaaaaaddd! We will not hear your clever words! You and your things are evil and will harm us!”.

Saddened by this rejection, the armed sheep moved off and spent their days on the edges of the flock, trying from time to time to speak with their brethren to convince them of the wisdom of having such teeth, but meeting with little success. They found it hard to talk to those who, upon hearing their words, would roll back their eyes and flee, crying “Baaaaddd! Bad things!”.

That night, the wolves happened upon the sheep’s totems and signs, and said, “Truly, these sheep are fools! They have told us they have no teeth! Brothers, let us feed!”. And they set upon the flock, and horrible was the carnage in the midst of the fold. The dog fought like a demon, and often seemed to be in two places at once, but even he could not halt the slaughter. It was only when the other sheep arrived with their weapons that the wolves fled, vowing to each other to remain on the edge of the pasture and wait for the next time they could prey, for if the sheep were so foolish once, they would be so again. This they did, and do still.

In the morning, the armed sheep spoke to the flock, and said, “See? If the wolves know you have no teeth, they will fall upon you. Why be prey? To be a sheep does not mean to be food for wolves!”. But the flock cried out, more feebly for their voices were fewer, though with no less terror, “Baaaaaaaadddd! These things are bad! If they were banished, the wolves would not harm us! Baaaaaaaddd!”. The other sheep could only hang their heads and sigh. The flock had forgotten that even they possessed teeth; how else could they graze the grasses of the pasture? It was only those who preyed, like the wolves and jackals, who turned their teeth to evil ends. If you pulled their own fangs those beasts would take another’s teeth and claws, perhaps even the broad flat teeth of sheep, and turn them to evil purposes.

The bold sheep knew that the fangs and claws they possessed had not changed them. They still grazed like other sheep, and raised their lambs in the spring, and greeted their friend the dog as he walked among them. But they could not quell the terror of the flock, which rose in them like some ancient dark smoky spirit and could not be damped by reason, nor dispelled by the light of day.

So they resolved to retain their weapons, but to conceal them from the flock; to endure their fear and loathing, and even to protect their brethren if the need arose, until the day the flock learned to understand that as long as there were wolves in the night, sheep would need teeth to repel them.

They would still be sheep, but they would not be food!

[Sir Clancelot]

I don’t think the greenies really care about some rancher and his livestock. The greenies seem to be oblivious to the results of their actions, advocacy and policies.

This is the upside down kingdom.

[popdonnelly]

We’ll send Ashley Judd out to defend the wolves.

[mamelukesabre]

Sheep dogs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangal_Dog

Two or three of these ole boys, and buh-bye wolves.

[popdonnelly]

“I don’t think the greenies really care about some rancher and his livestock.”

That’s true, the greenies only care about their absurd fantasies about nature.

[george76]

The wolf is protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Ranchers must contact federal authorities if their livestock is attacked and wait for a federal agent . Could take days; by then the wolves are long gone.

The federal agent has to see the wolves “in the act” of killing livestock.

It is also meaningless for ranchers whose herds can be scattered over hundreds of acres.

The live stock do not eat when they are under constant attack.

The mothers lose their babies...

[mamelukesabre]

AWESOME!

[popdonnelly]

A perfect example of how allowing “environmentalists” to run the country creates bad policy.

[george76]

The greenies want to destroy the family farmers and family ranchers.

Their dream is to make western USA a zoo with no people.

[proud_yank]

They were probably very sick and/or weak sheep, near death to begin with. The wolves were actually doing the rancher a favor.

They need more federal $$ for programs to live trap them and re-locate 25 miles away.... /reality check

[MileHi]

S-S-S

[TurtleUp]

The wolf is protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Let's see how well that act works against proven technology. My guess? Proven technology wins

Ranchers must contact federal authorities if their livestock is attacked and wait for a federal agent . Could take days; by then the wolves are long gone. The federal agent has to see the wolves “in the act” of killing livestock.

Yep. The wolves can be ... long gone.

I'm okay with reintroducing wolves, but I expect those who live with wolves to make sensible decisions. I don't see why they should allow those in Washington DC and San Francisco to make those decisions for them.

[rellimpank]

-—transplant ‘em to NYC’s Central Park, along with a few grizzlies and mountain lions—

[Eye of Unk]

That is an expertly done revelation of what we have become.

The few of us armed sheep must continue to wage battles and yet still be sheep amongst our friends and neighbors that chastise us for being radicals and evil-doers.

We are the sheep with a Glock.

Wea re the sheep with an assault rifle.

We are the Black Sheep of Freedom!

[jazusamo]

The AR nutjobs could care less that the economy is in the tank and the RATS have just added billions in debts that our grandchildren won’t even be able to pay off as long as wldlife managemnet people are stopped from managing wildlife and farmers and ranchers are eliminated.

Animal rights nuts, radical enviros and greenies are a clear and present danger.

[nomad]

And, hypothetically speaking, if the ranchers all agreed to keep their dogs out of the areas where the wolves den, then rode out near there at night with balls of hamburger or roast heavily laced with rat poison,I think the wolf menace could be reduced,quietly too.

[dfwgator]

Somebody alert PETA.