Wolves attack cattle in Madison Valley
By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer
Two wolf packs attacked cattle in four incidents in four days in the Madison Valley and now a federal gunner has orders to kill half of one pack and try to put radio collars on the other pack.
It they attack livestock again, they’ll all be shot, said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Helena.
“They killed a yearling for us this morning about daylight,” rancher Gary Clark said Tuesday afternoon. The attacks started on Friday.
Clark said the wolves brought down the steer, which weighed several hundred pounds, about 250 yards from three ranch houses.
“That’s pretty close,” he said.
He spotted six wolves on the steer when he left home for the day’s work. He immediately called federal officials.
Other recent attacks by that pack include the killing of a calf and the chasing of a herd of cattle on separate ranches, Bangs said.
The Sentinel pack, which resides in the Madison Range, is the culprit, he said.
A helicopter carrying an agent from FWS — the federal agency that controls predators — was already in the area, so it was able to fly over the ranch shortly after daylight, Bangs said.
The pack could not be located immediately because the three members that had been wearing radio collars had been illegally shot between September and December, Bangs said.
He instructed the shooter to dart one wolf so it could be collared. He also ordered him to kill two more, if possible.
However, the wolves made it into the timber and only the darting could be accomplished.
That animal now wears a collar that can lead a shooter to the pack. Bangs said he has ordered that two or three wolves be killed. If another depredation occurs, they’ll all die.
Clark said he’s frustrated with the situation because he heard conflicting stories. He said he was told in the morning that all the wolves would be killed, only to hear in the afternoon that half would be allowed to live.
“I was satisfied in the morning, but this afternoon I was not,” he said.
He said he believes he’s lost cattle to wolves in the past but could not confirm the cause of death.
Clark lives in the Bear Creek area east of Cameron.
The Sentinel pack has been the subject of a long-term study in that area, but Bangs said that livestock concerns have to take priority.
As of the end of December, officials had killed 208 wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming for preying on livestock.
A rancher living about 12 miles north of Clark’s place also reported wolves killing two young calves over the weekend, Bangs said, and the helicopter gunner spotted a pack of four wolves near the site of that killing, but couldn’t get close enough to dart one, Bangs said.
He said he understands the anger of ranchers, many of whom are now working 24-hour days during calving season.
“When it’s your cattle being killed, it’s a very emotional issue,” he said.
But he defended his agency’s quick response.
A helicopter was hunting wolves within an hour after the report of the attack on Clark’s steer.
“You can’t get much more on top of it than an hour later,” he said.
Clark said he works with Madison Valley Ranchlands, a group that is trying to find ways for ranchers and wolves to get along.
“I don’t want to sound like a rabble rouser,” he said. “But sometimes, you’ve got to take a stand.”