Reintroduction foes want wolves out of Idaho
By Dan Gallagher
Associated Press Writer
Opposing views on wolf introduction
Here are some claims by Ron Gillett of the Central Idaho
Anti-Wolf Coalition and responses by federal wolf recovery coordinator Ed
Bangs:
* Species distinction
Gillett — The wolves introduced into Idaho, Wyoming and
Montana
are exotic Canadian gray wolves. Idaho’s gray wolves are extinct. The
Canadian strain is larger and more aggressive.
Bangs — Wolves travel across the border all the time.
Canadian
and American gray wolves are the same creature.
* Killing instinct
Gillett — Each wolf kills up to 24 game animals a year, kills
twice that many for the sport of it, and also follows elk herds, killing
calves immediately after birth.
Bangs — Each wolf kills the equivalent of 12 cow elk a year.
In
Idaho, that would be about 16 ungulates — elk and deer. Wolves very
occasionally kill more than they eat, but sport killing is a popular myth.
Some wolves are killed each year by being kicked by elk.
* Eating habits
Gillett — Wolves kill the big-game animals in an area, then
other predators and finally cannibalize other wolves.
Bangs — Wolves kill enough to eat. They limit their
concentrations to about 10 wolves in 300 square miles. They move to new
areas rather than crowd one place. They are not cannibals.
STANLEY — Seven years ago next month, a male wolf burst out of its opened
travel crate and bounded into the snowy wilderness along the Salmon River,
the first of 35 released in Idaho through a federal reintroduction
process.
The gray wolf remains on the endangered species list to this day, and the
Central Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition wants the estimated 260 descendants from
the 1995-96 releases out of the state immediately, calling them “land
piranhas and wildlife terrorists.”
“The feds had no plan. They just dumped them off, and they’ve taken off
like rabbits in Australia,” said Stanley hunting outfitter Ron Gillett, an
impatient coalition founder. “Let’s say this drags on for another 10
years. Do you know how many wolves we’re going to have in 10 years?”
Organizations in the other Rocky Mountain reintroduction states of Montana
and Wyoming share that sentiment, and opposition is emerging in Utah and
Wyoming as wolves disperse there. The Idaho group is gathering money,
running anti-wolf newspaper ads and cornering political leaders to talk.
Such activity is going on across the West.
Wyoming officials propose allowing wolves to be shot as predators, except
for national parks and wilderness areas where they would be trophy game
animals.
Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd want wolves’ federal
protection lifted, claiming they threaten elk in Montana’s Paradise
Valley.
A wolf was caught 22 miles from Salt Lake City last month, the first proof
they have returned since being eradicated 70 years ago. The Utah Farm
Bureau Federation says there is no space in the state where wolves will
not clash with agriculture.
The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, Oregon Farm Bureau Federation and
Oregon State Grange have petitioned the state to remove wolves from the
state’s list of endangered species.
Gillett outfits for elk hunters and wildlife watchers. He contends wolves
are hurting mom-and-pop businesses across central Idaho, including his
own.
“Once you put them in there, they kill everything that moves. They kill
all of the prey first, whether that be squirrels, deer, elk or mountain
sheep,” he said. “Then they kill the other predators, and when they get
down to wolves, they are cannibals.”
He said his hunting clients report seeing a lot of wolf tracks and few
elk.
Wolf supporters hold that the return of the packs restores a natural
balance after the species was hunted to near-extinction in the 20th
century.
But Jack Oyler of the coalition cites the research done by Val Geist, a
professor emeritus of environmental science at the University of Calgary.
Geist contends the West’s plentiful big-game animals are the result of
careful wildlife management, and wolves on the loose undo those efforts.
“When Lewis and Clark went through Idaho, they didn’t eat elk steak. They
ate horse meat,” Gillett said. “The last 50, 60, 70 years have been pretty
good game management.”
Idaho’s rugged topography and the federal bureaucratic process mean the
coalition will likely never get its wish to rid the state of wolves.
Under current rules, once the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determines
there are 30 or more breeding pairs of wolves for three consecutive years
in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, it can move to delist them. Those
requirements have been satisfied, and delisting will begin soon, said Ed
Bangs, federal wolf recovery coordinator in Helena, Mont.
Idaho has written a necessary management plan, while Montana and Wyoming
are working on their own.
The latest estimate holds that Idaho has about 260 wolves, while
Yellowstone holds 218 and northwestern Montana 84, he said.
Gillett attended the Idaho Fish and Game Commission’s Dec. 12 discussion
of its role in wolf management. It showed just how long the delisting
process will take to complete in the state.
Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s Office of Species Conservation advised the board to
start preparing for managing the wolves following delisting. The Nez Perce
Tribe currently has oversight.
The commissioners dread getting involved with the wolf process, viewing it
as a potential black hole for funds and liability.
Commissioner Alex Irby of Orofino sees the effort extending years into the
future, while the growing wolf packs further decimate his region’s
once-plentiful elk herds.
“If you think you’re going to get this thing through without federal
lawsuits, you’re crazy,” Commissioner Fred Woods of Burley told the
gathering.
Gillett is an impatient man, and such predictions are exasperating.
“We figure that if we live here, we should have some kind of control over
our destiny,” he said. “Why can’t Idaho manage its own wolves?”