Martz calls for immediate action to stop sheep-eating wolves
By RON TSCHIDA, Chronicle Staff Writer
Gov. Judy Martz has asked federal biologists to take “immediate and
aggressive action” to stop wolves preying on livestock in the Paradise
Valley.
Jim Melin, whose family ranch is about three miles east of Pray on Mill
Creek, said wolves have killed more than 20 sheep since late October.
“They need to rub this pack out,” Melin said Tuesday. “This pack is a
trouble maker and it’s going to continue to do so.”
Martz wrote last week to Ed Bangs, wolf recovery team leader for the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
“Recent losses to the Melin family operation are unacceptable to me and I
am confident these losses are unacceptable to you as well,” Martz wrote.
Montana ranchers feared wolf reintroduction would cause additional
hardships, Martz said, and that the federal government would be either
incapable or unmotivated to address wolf problems.
“I know you and the USFWS do not want those fears to become reality,”
Martz wrote.
Bangs could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Wolves are being seen more often in the Paradise Valley. One calf was
confirmed killed by wolves in the Emigrant area in September. In November
a coyote trapper caught two wolf pups in the Eight Mile drainage north of
Emigrant. And wolves have been reported near Wineglass Mountain, about
three miles south of Livingston.
Melin said he’s seen as many as eight wolves in one pack, and he now has a
permit that allows him to kill two wolves on his land.
“The wolves’ve been in about six different times,” Melin said. “The first
time they hit, my llama left the country. We found him about nine miles
away.”
One night wolves killed 15 sheep. Melin said the sheep deaths were
confirmed as wolf kills by a government trapper and a representative of
the Turner Endangered Species Fund.
Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental group that reimburses ranchers for
livestock killed by grizzlies or wolves, has paid Melin for some of the
sheep, he said.
Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995 and 1996. Bangs in
December pronounced wolf recovery complete, with roughly 40 packs, or
breeding pairs, living in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.
There are probably 650 to 700 wolves living in the three states, he said.
The USFWS is ready to propose removing wolves from the endangered species
list, but several hurdles remain.
Wyoming has not developed a wolf management plan acceptable to the feds
and delisting can’t occur until that state, Montana and Idaho each have
approved management plans. And some environmental groups argue there’s not
scientific proof that enough wolves live in the region to provide a
sustainable population.