Posted on 04/14/2007 7:32:16 PM PDT by george76
There are now at least 1,300 wolves prowling Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, far more than anyone imagined when the species was reintroduced in the Northern Rockies 12 years ago.
The wolf population has, on average, grown by about 26 percent a year for the past decade. The latest estimates, which summarize counts completed at the end of 2006, show they aren't slowing down.
"I keep thinking we're at the top end of the bubble," said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "I can't see that there's room for any more, but we'll see."
As the wolf population has grown, so have the reports of cattle, sheep and other livestock being killed...
It's no surprise that wolves are thriving following reintroduction in 1995 and 1996 in Yellowstone National Park and in central Idaho. Wolves are skilled predators, fast breeders and able to live in different environments.
The fastest-growing area for wolves last year was in Wyoming outside Yellowstone National Park. The number of wolves jumped by 31 percent...
With that increase, 123 cattle were reportedly killed by wolves, more than has ever been recorded in Wyoming since the reintroduction...
In Montana, the number of wolves grew by 19 percent...
The number of elk, which are wolves' primary winter prey, has declined 50 percent in the area since 1995...
The Fish and Wildlife Service said the wolf population has, for seven years, met basic recovery goals of 30 breeding pairs distributed across Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.
The agency has recommended removing wolves from the endangered species list. But the process has become mired in a conflict between the federal government and the state of Wyoming.
(Excerpt) Read more at casperstartribune.net ...
“the wolves were trucked in to satisfy some inner need of enviros to control other people’s lives. We were told we had to have 30 packs/300 wolves, well of course it turns out that there was no intention of honoring that.
The whole idea is enough wolves to chase folks off their ranches...”
for you shyla
“....And the sheepherder said,’Son, you don’t seem to understand. The wolves ain’t screwing our sheep, they’re eating them.’”
That is a great joke.
Thanks.
Huh, so man tampering with nature hasn’t turned out so well. Gee. What were the odds.
Trust envirowienies to screw up the balance of nature. I'd much rather have an over polulation of elk than an over population of wolves. Elk are much more useful and worthwhile to hunt. A good sized elk fills a good sized freezer for a year. Time to open up wolf hunting.
When will "THEY" start a program to reintroduce Elk into the region...
Too true, but the enviro whackos are vegans, so they don’t mind the decrease in elk.
‘They’ would love to spend our tax money on another program.
No problem … global warming is about to wipe all life on earth out anyway.
I don’t know if it was the same area, or how reliable the information was, but I heard a report that there was an overpopulation of elk which was causing overgrazing along streams and damage to water quality and fishing or something like that. Does anyone know more about that story. The bottom line was that reducing the elk population and discouraging eating along the streams was good for the overall ecosystem, according to the story.
Sounds like another Sierra Club created urban myth ?
This has happened because the envirowhackos have not allowed hunters to thin the herd.
Maybe it will take one of the whackos children to be bit or eaten before sanity returns.
S.S.S.
Even Ed Bangs admits that the federal government met their 30 pack goal years ago.
The USFWS gets paid to ‘manage’ the Canadian wolf introduction mess.
and spend more of our tax dollars...
I was raised by a pack of wolves. Sheep are tasty.
The weather is improving. There may be some opportunities to visit some prairie dog towns as well. It's varmint season.
I'm not worried about "global warming". That cycle has repeated many times over millions of years. It happens just fine without any intervention. It even happens without SUV's or "carbon credits".
The only vaguely interesting development recently is the honeybee colony collapse observation. There isn't a good explanation yet. The best prospect so far is extreme sensitivity to "neo nicotinoid" pesticides. I'm less impressed with the Ed Dames theory of blindness due to high levels of UVB. Whatever the explanation, it is a phenomenon that threatens our agricultural industry.
Some of the elk problem is lack of feed because of the drought.
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