Wolves kill three bear hounds in northern Idaho
By JOHN MILLER
Associated Press Writer Thursday, May 05, 2005
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Wolves from a north Idaho pack have killed three bear hounds in the latest clash between hunters in this rural state and four-legged predators reintroduced into Idaho in the mid 1990s.
The number of wolves in the state is expected to exceed 450 with this year’s litter of new pups.
Travis Reggear, a professional hunter in Orofino, Idaho, said he and nine Walker hounds were with clients Tuesday on the third day of the black bear season north of the Dworshak Reservoir.
All nine dogs set off after a bear but only six re-emerged from a steep, heavily wooded slope on land managed by the Idaho Department of Lands, Reggear said Wednesday.
“The signal on the three dogs’ tracking collars hadn’t changed in 15 minutes, so I knew they were dead,” he said, describing finding the hounds he said were worth thousands of dollars. “They were bit all over, from head to toe. Their ribs were broken, and one dog’s neck was busted.”
Since the federal reintroduction of 35 wolves into the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in 1995 and 1996, wolves have multiplied more than 10-fold. In 2004, federal Wildlife Service agents killed 17 Idaho wolves, the most in any year since they were reintroduced to the region.
The area where Reggear’s dogs were killed is home to the so-called “Chesimia” pack, six wolves including two breeding adults and four offspring born last year, federal wolf officials said.
They speculated the dogs encountered the wolves, some of which wear radio tracking collars, near what was probably a den full of this season’s pups.
“They made short work of three of the dogs,” said Carter Niemeyer, the Idaho wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “If you run a pack of dogs on top of a pack of wolves with pups, they’re going to be deadly.”
Reggear, who said he never saw the wolves, wants federal and state officials to either relocate the wolves or kill them.
He believes members of the Chesimia pack killed three of his dogs earlier this year as they were used by another Reggear Outfitters employee to pursue mountain lion in the same area.
Disputes over wolves have galvanized ranchers and hunters across Idaho — and across the West. The battle is often framed as a fight over property rights.
“If my livestock or animals get off of my property and endanger anybody, hurt anybody, or destroy any private property, I’m liable for it,” Reggear said. “I’d like them (state and federal officials) to be responsible for their animals’ actions.”
The Idaho Legislature passed a resolution in March to ask Congress to change wolf protection laws to allow hunters to shoot wolves to protect their sporting dogs.
Still, it was only a recommendation.
And officials say federal rules governing the predators, still listed under the Endangered Species Act, don’t allow agents or Reggear to retaliate by shooting the animals — even after the rules were broadened this February to give more control to states.
“There’s really no way to kill a wolf in the act of killing a dog if you’re hunting on public land, unless it’s for self defense,” Niemeyer said.
Calls to Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials on Wednesday, seeking comment on how they’ll respond to the attack, weren’t immediately returned.
Wolf advocates say hunters and other recreationists should use caution when venturing with dogs into Idaho’s remote areas that are known to be home to wolf packs.
“Anyone taking hunting dogs out on public lands should be aware that wolves are very territorial and will protect their young this time of year,” said Suzanne Stone, the Northern Rockies Field Representative for Defenders of Wildlife in Boise. “They are especially aggressive toward strange dogs because they view them a threat to their pups.”