|
Wildlife agents shoot wolf in Ninemile
By SHERRY DEVLIN of the Missoulian
Jerry Gilbert figures the lower Ninemile Valley is
overpopulated.
“We are way overdone for the population of people
compared to the population
of
wolves,” said Gilbert, on whose property two sheep
were killed this week –
and,
in retribution, a female wolf was killed on Wednesday.
“I’m all for taking wolves out of the Ninemile,” he
said. “Their nature is,
they will kill. And as it is starting to prove,
domestic animals are way
easier
to put on their menu.”
Agents from the federal government’s Wildlife Services
shot and killed the
wolf
after daybreak on Wednesday, when they found it caught
in a trap set alongside
the carcass of one of Gilbert’s sheep. With the wolf’s
death, the Ninemile
pack
dropped to five animals.
But Gilbert wants the government to go further and
eliminate all the wolves
roaming the valley northwest of Missoula. “Down here
at my place, we’re just
at
a standstill,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do.”
Last January, Gilbert had 16 sheep on his land near
Ellis Creek. Wolves killed
three of his animals on Jan. 10, then two more on Jan.
20, then two more ewes
and two lambs earlier this week.
Hoping to lure the wolves back, federal agents set
several traps and left the
carcass on the property. “Once the kill is over, their
fear is gone,” Gilbert
said. “This one was a rebel, doing its own thing.”
Federal officials did not return telephone calls on
Wednesday. But Gilbert
said
the carcass and traps remain in his yard, in case
other wolves come to feed on
the sheep.
On Tuesday, wolf recovery coordinator Ed Bangs
conceded that all the remaining
Ninemile wolves may have to be killed unless livestock
depredations end. In
recent weeks, the wolves have killed four llamas and,
now, two sheep – and
have
attacked a number of other animals.
Source
| 