Wolves not subject to lethal control
The Associated Press
JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided
against automatically killing wolves that prey upon livestock in the Gros
Ventre drainage, says the agency’s wolf recovery coordinator.
Instead, ranchers will be given a “shoot on site” permit to kill any wolf
caught attacking cattle, Ed Bangs said.
“People shouldn’t expect us to remove wolves if there’s depredation right
now,” Bangs said. “Putting these young calves in this type of situation
means we’ll all have to work hard to make this fair for wildlife and
livestock.”
Rudy Stanko’s Creek Cattle Company is running cattle on the Bacon Creek
allotment near Union Pass after buying the grazing permit from Riverton
rancher Dan Ingalls.
Stanko called the Fish and Wildlife stance a “cop-out.”
“If you’re a rancher, you’re a cow-calf rancher,” he said. “It’s their job
to keep carnivorous animals away from livestock whether it’s 2 weeks old
or 2 years old. Now they’re trying to cop out because they don’t like the
way we ranch.”
Stanko said he moved about 550 calves to the range June 11. All were born
this spring.
“You don’t have a choice in the ranching business,” he said. “You have to
raise calves.”
Bangs said he told Stanko about the management policy so he can know what
to expect. “We want to let people know up front what we will do before we
start doing lethal control,” he said.
Bangs said Fish and Wildlife has dealt with similar situations in the
past.
“I don’t know many ranchers who put newborn calves in a range with grizzly
bears,” he said. “Under these circumstances the service is willing to go
90 percent of the way, but there has to be some self-help involved.”
Bangs said ranchers could wait until elk and deer have fawns each spring,
which would offset the wolves’ supply of potential prey.
Stanko said a shoot-on-site permit would be a help.
Bangs said the agency considers each situation on a case-by-case basis and
the Bacon Creek allotment could be re-examined in a month or so.
“It’s not that we’re not going to do control,” he said. “We’re just not
doing lethal control as quickly.”
Mike Jimenez, wolf recovery manager for Wyoming, said the situation is a
balancing act between public and private interests.
“When you bring in very young cattle, you’re trying to balance both those
interests and not come in with guns blazing when there is a problem,”
Jimenez said.
“So far it’s been very cooperative. We’re trying to balance it all out,
how we respond and allowing them to protect livestock by issuing those
(shooting) permits.”
Stanko runs about 1,800 cattle on the 66,000-acre allotment.