Feds shoot 2 wolves near Dubois
Associated Press
DUBOIS, Wyo. (AP) – Federal wildlife managers recently killed two
troublesome wolves and are attempting to destroy two others that continue
to menace livestock.
The wolves belong to the Washakie Pack in the Dunoir Creek drainage just
west of Dubois.
“It’s been a chronic problem pack,” said Mike Jiminez, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service wolf coordinator for Wyoming. “We’re trying to reduce
numbers.”
The pack includes about a dozen adults, plus this year’s pups, he said.
Last year the pack killed at least two calves and a dog. Several calves
that turned up missing were likely targets of the pack.
So far this year, one calf has been confirmed killed by wolves.
The wolves have remained in the area for some time, feasting on livestock
in the valley where landowner Stephen Gordon is locked in a lawsuit with
the federal government over the problems the wolves create for him.
Jiminez said obtaining helicopters to shoot the wolves is difficult
because most aircraft that would be available are busy fighting fires.
Wolves are listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered
Species Act, but officials say their numbers are growing in Montana,
Idaho, Wyoming and they could soon be removed from the list.
Before that happens, the three states must satisfy the federal government
that each has a management plan designed to ensure wolves will endure in
self-sustaining numbers.
Wolves were reintroduced to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in 1995 and
1996. The wolf populations of the tri-state region had grown to 534 by the
end of last year, with 189 in Wyoming, 261 in central Idaho and 84 in
northwest Montana.