Crying Wolf

States, Feds Feuding Over How to Handle Resurgent Wolf Population

By Dean Schabner

June 9, 2004 ý The unexpectedly strong comeback of the wolf in the northern Rockies has created a great snarling and gnashing of teeth, but it’s not the sound of the mighty predators bringing down elk or the occasional cow.

It’s the wrangling over what to do now that wolves have re-established themselves.

Since the gray wolf was reintroduced to Wyoming and Idaho in 1995 ý eight years after it was brought back to northwestern Montana ý the population has grown twice as fast as anyone believed possible. Last summer the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided that the process of removing the wolf from the endangered species list could begin, once the three states came up with acceptable management plans to control the population.

Both Idaho and Montana drew up plans that were approved by the FWS, but Wyoming’s plan was rejected. State law classifies the wolf as a predator, meaning wolves could be killed on sight anywhere in Wyoming outside of Yellowstone National Park and the adjoining wilderness area.

The state has announced it is suing the federal government over the rejection, but for federal wildlife officials, the proposal remains unacceptable.

“It would be legal [under Wyoming’s proposed plan] to have me get in a helicopter, search out wolf packs, kill them all, then search out the cubs in their dens and kill them,” said Ed Bangs, coordinator of the FWS gray wolf recovery program.

The state, though, says the wolf deserves to retain its predator status, because the rising population has caused “severe damage” to other wildlife species, such as elk, deer, buffalo, bighorn sheep and antelope, as well as to livestock, according to the letter from Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Attorney General Patrick Crank to officials at the U.S. Department of the Interior announcing the intention to file suit.

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Crying wolf

By TERRY DORDAN

It was New Year’s Day, 2003, around 2 p.m. when my shop phone rang.
“Terry, what’s it going to cost me to get a wolf mounted?” One of my
clients from over Henry way was doing a little predator hunting that day
and shot what he thought was a coyote. Upon closer inspection he saw
different, and so the saga began on the Marshall County wolf. You may have
heard of the matter as it was covered by most news outlets from Rockford
to Carbondale. Stories abound still about its presence and demise. It’s
rather humorous to hear some of the second- and third-hand stories
surrounding the event. Allow me to now set the record straight on the
matter as I was one of the principal subjects involved in the matter as
the taxidermist who processed the critter.

I just knew there weren’t any wild timber wolves in Illinois. Scientists
with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources state wolves haven’t
been recorded existing in our state since the 1860s. Their range is not
listed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as extending into Illinois.
With it having been shot south of Henry, I figured my legalities centering
around my taxidermy license with the USFWS were cleared concerning taking
in protected species. While wolves are hunted in Alaska and number to the
point of being considered vermin by many, they are protected in the lower
48. Besides, I just knew it was a big coyote, someone’s dog, pet wolf or
wolf/dog hybrid. One would be amazed at the number of folks who own exotic
pets such as mountain lions and tigers and wolves, oh my, as well as other
dangerous critters. Some owned legally, some not, and if one doesn’t have
the proper permits and the critter escapes its confines, do you think the
owner would report it missing?

When they pulled up to my shop and dropped the tailgate my jaw dropped as
far. There was no doubt in my mind I was looking at a wolf. Coyotes don’t
cover the tailgate of a full-sized pickup. I’ve seen many mounted
specimens during travels to Alaska, watched the pack at Wildlife Prairie
Park in Peoria, paid attention to and studied attitudes and anatomy in
many a picture because that’s what taxidermists do. I didn’t say I was
looking at a wild timber wolf, but I was looking at a wolf. Veterinarians
and IDNR personnel my clients had conferred with stated otherwise, that it
was a coy-dog or some other dog type. One of the crew from my client’s
hunting buddies wanted a few more answers as to what the critter was, as
did I as I refused to believe it was a coy-dog. Folks from the Illinois
Natural History Survey as well as biologists that took care of the wolf
pack at Wildlife Prairie Park were contacted as well. In the meantime, I
set to photographing, skinning, measuring and salting the hide in
preparation for the tannery for what would ultimately be a very
interesting mount at the very least.

A few days later came a knock on the shop door and enter two agents of the
IDNR and USFWS. After much discussion, photographing, conferring and
writing it was decided it may well be a timber wolf, and the carcass was
in fact on the way out to Oregon to the USFWS forensic laboratory for
positive identification. If it were indeed a wild timber wolf from one of
the packs that roam Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, those packs are
studied so much they should be able to tell who its parents were. Alas,
this is where the saga ends as I heard nothing back for months until July.
It was confirmed, the animal was indeed a wild timber wolf, migrated down
from one of those states. The hide was taken from the tannery by the
USFWS, no foul, no harm, no tickets, just don’t let it happen again.

First let me dispel a few rumors: it weighed in at 82 pounds on my very
accurate shop deer scale, I’ve heard reports anywhere from 96 to 130
pounds; it wasn’t attacking my client when he shot it; it wasn’t killing
sheep and cows in the area; it wasn’t traveling with another, bigger wolf;
it didn’t have a radio collar; and it wasn’t stocked by the IDNR.

So there you have it. Yes, there was and more than likely still are wild
timber wolves in Illinois. I rolled my eyes at accounts of wolves seen or
heard over the past 10 years as much as anyone, but I now will agree with
anyone who says they had a wolf experience in our state. As of early 2004,
the USFWS will include Illinois into the range of the timber wolf and it
will be listed as an Illinois endangered mammal.

I was amazed to find out that there are an estimated 335 wolves living in
Wisconsin now. Biologists have figured they separate out to 81 packs. This
is amazing in that it is figured the first wolf showed up around the mid
1970s from Minnesota. In 1993, their populations really began multiplying
to today’s numbers. It’s amazing considering the state has no shortage of
urban sprawl and destruction of large blocks of forest habitat to housing
developments, summer homes, etc. Wolves normally won’t tolerate human
intrusion. My taxidermy mentor use to run a caribou camp in the Northwest
Territories for a dozen years and had only seen wolves three times, at a
far distance, running away. He stated as soon as caribou hunters moved
into a new area, the wolves moved out. My brother has hunted Alaska for 21
years over numerous spots in the Chugach and Alaskan ranges for sheep,
mountain goat, bear and moose, and never has seen a wolf.

As in all things in nature, they have adapted to survive. The lower 48
wolves have learned to adjust to man and in fact some packs in Wisconsin
have taken to prowling roads in search of road kill. I’m sure they’re not
adverse to taking of livestock as well. As these packs expand, migration
will occur. In 2001, a wolf was shot in central Missouri while harassing
some farm animals that was traced to the Michigan wolves. June 2003, a
dead, radio-tagged Wisconsin wolf was found in eastern Indiana. Hunters in
my shop have brought forth more accounts of things seen and heard locally.

Officials state the social carrying capacity has been reached in Wisconsin
on wolf numbers. Watch for a giant battle to emerge as conservationists
call for a reduction on numbers through hunting or trapping of select
problem packs. There won’t be any getting along with wolves. Remember how
scared folks get just because they see a coyote or two or had a coyote
make a dinner out of Fifi tied up in the back yard. Imagine the howls of
despair if a wolf pack takes up residence down the creek or at the back
end of that new, wooded subdivision.

Alaska is in the middle of a similar problem right now as hunters and
biologists call for increased wolf hunting and trapping as a proper
game-management policy, and the anti-hunting crowd files injunction after
injunction to stop it. Studies have shown increased wolf numbers are
negatively impacting moose and caribou numbers. Big game hunting is one of
the top economic engines for the state of Alaska. Plenty of guide and
outfitting services, air taxis, dry and sporting goods dealers, have
watched their income fall as hunting permits to specific game units are
reduced due to lower game populations due to increased wolf predation.

In any event, we’ll never have to worry about too many wolves in Illinois.
There’s just too many people and not enough wild land. We will have an
occasional migrant passing through, and that’s where you predator hunters
need to be aware. The USFWS will not be as benevolent the next time now
that Illinois is listed as being part of the range of timber wolves.
Hunters need to pay attention before pulling that trigger, because they
will be ticketed if that coyote they thought was in the crosshairs turns
out to be a wolf.

Best way I can see to tell the difference is size. Take it from someone
who has now seen and handled an 82-pound Illinois wolf, coyotes do not
come near them in size. A coyote rarely gets over 50 pounds, average is 25
to 45 pounds. Wolves start out by this time of year at 50 pounds and range
up to 100 or so. Wolves are 5-6 feet in length, nose to tail; coyotes
3-1/2 to 4-1/2 feet. At the shoulder wolves stand 27-33 inches and coyotes
20-22.

Oh, and just for the record, there has never been one documented case of a
wolf attacking a human in North America.

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