Oregon to protect wolves
By CHARLES E. BEGGS
The Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. The final plan for managing protected gray wolves that migrate into Oregon will prohibit ranchers from killing wolves that attack livestock and will not include compensation for losses to wolf attacks.
The state Fish and Wildlife Commission had included compensation and authority for killing wolves in the management plan adopted in February, pending approval by the Legislature needed to change state law.
But lawmakers failed to agree on those two provisions, and bills to make the changes went nowhere. So the commission intends to remove them from the plan at a Nov. 4 meeting.
Wildlife officials say what remains is a solid plan, while cattle ranchers say it does nothing for them when the federal government has the final say, anyway.
The gray wolf is protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, as well as under the state’s equivalent law. The wolf-management plan sets a goal of seven breeding pairs in Eastern Oregon.
There have been no confirmed recent sightings of gray wolves in Oregon, said Craig Ely, wolf-plan coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Between 1999 and 2000, at least three wolves made their way from Idaho into Oregon. One was hit by a car, one was shot, and one was captured and returned to Idaho. Experts say it is just a matter of time before a pack takes up residence in Oregon.
The proposed compensation fund and right-to-kill provisions of the plan “were about getting some additional tools into landowners’ hands,” Ely said.
The rest of the wolf plan stands, he said, because it did not require legislative endorsement.
Under present law, wolves cannot be killed except in self-defense or by wildlife managers. Ranchers must contact federal authorities if their livestock is attacked and wait for an agent to decide if wolves were responsible.
Even if state law had been changed to give ranchers authority to kill wolves, federal law would have banned it until the animals’ protected status was downgraded from “endangered” to “threatened.”
Without the change in state law, Ely said, livestock owners will be prohibited from killing wolves even if federal protection is reduced. Such a downgrade could occur once enough breeding wolf pairs are established in the state.
Sharon Beck, a past president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and La Grande-area rancher, said the organization opposed the right-to-kill provision because it put too many restrictions on livestock owners.
The measure would have allowed ranchers to kill wolves only when caught “in the act” of killing livestock. It would have been meaningless for ranchers whose herds can be scattered over hundreds or thousands of acres, she said.
Beck said many ranchers believe the state’s general wildlife laws allow them to kill any species damaging their livestock, including wolves. But she said she expected a legal battle over the issue because of the federal protection for wolves.