Wow, the ranchers will actually have to watch their livestock? What a burden.
It would be harsh wouldn't it.
Six Wolves kill 650 pound yearling steer
By PERRY BACKUS
Montana Standard
ENNIS – Jim Nelson nearly had wolves at his doorstep Tuesday morning.
When feeding cattle in a nearby pasture in the Bear Creek area of the Madison Valley, Nelson was surprised to see six gray wolves feeding on a 650-pound yearling steer.
“He was so close that he could have thrown a baseball at them,” said his stepdaughter, Bennie Clark.
Clark said three houses are located within about 200 yards of the kill site.
“The kill was right in the center of all three,” she said.
That marked the fourth confirmed wolf kill in the Madison Valley in less than a week .
“We’re not moneyed people who can just absorb this kind of loss,” said Clark. She and her husband, Gary, owned the yearling that was killed.
“This has a huge impact on us ... we’ve told Ed (Bangs) that we have to live here and want to make this work.
Now we’re begging for help.”
Crowd protests wolf policy
By CAROLE CLOUDWALKER
A Hot Springs County rancher believes four gray wolves released near Meeteetse on Feb. 14 may have been illegally captured on his land.
The rancher, Frank Robbins, was among more than 40 people attending a March 2 Hot Springs County Commission meeting to lodge objections to the way federal agencies have managed wolves in the area.
The group extracted a promise from the commissioners to write to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state and federal legislators and the governor "to tell the feds that monitoring wolves on private property would be considered trespass," Robbins said Friday.
Robbins, who owns the 150,000-acre HD High Island Ranch on Owl Creek near Thermopolis, said he was told by a state predator control officer that eight gray wolves were ..."We think they split the pack," Robbins said, adding F&WS "absolutely" planted the wolves in Meeteetse.
"There is no doubt about it," he added.
Ed Bangs of Helena, Mont., wolf recovery coordinator for the F&WS... said "because legal action is threatened, we cannot talk about that situation."
Kruger, who also attended the Hot Springs Commission meeting, provided information about the incident to Park County Attorney Bryan Skoric, who has requested a Division of Criminal Investigation inquiry that might lead to charges of trespass.
Robbins, who has lived near Thermopolis about 10 years, said he runs about 3,000 head of Angus cattle.
He said one 3-5 year old cow weighing 1,200 pounds is valued at about $1,000.
"We're missing 10-15 head," Robbins said. His neighbor, who runs 300 head, is missing five.
He said his neighbor "has an airplane - he's flown the area" and cannot locate any of the missing animals...
Robbins' land is "five minutes by helicopter, up to two days by horse" via rough terrain from the Larsen Ranch near Meeteetse.
He says the federal government "turned my ranch into a recovery zone for the wolf," adding they "are willing to sacrifice us to get (wolves) delisted."
In 10 years Robbins says he has never received any payment for loss of cattle to predators.
In one case he said a predator control officer observed a wolf eating a dead cow, but could not say what killed it.
"They can't verify it, so they don't pay you.