Wolves strike Madison Valley ranch
By NICK GEVOCK Chronicle Staff Writer
A federal official said Friday that whoever illegally killed a collared wolf in the Madison Valley scuttled trackers’ efforts to find the wolves that had attacked a dog hours earlier.
Ed Bangs, wolf recovery leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said a wolf that had been collared on Thursday was spotted from an airplane Friday afternoon bloodied and lying in a snowbank.
Officials had been using that wolf to track down and kill members of the Sentinel pack, which is suspected of four attacks on livestock in the Madison Valley over the past week.
“If somebody did illegally kill this one radio-collared wolf, they have just totally messed up their neighbors,” Bangs said.
The latest ranch-wolf conflict began Friday at 5:30 a.m. when rancher Todd Durham was checking his cattle on his ranch along Bear Creek east of Cameron.
He spotted four wolves running pregnant heifers, his wife Barbie Durham said. The Durham’s red Australian shepherd, Squirt, ran into the mix to protect the cattle.
“They killed him instead of the cows,” Barbie Durham said of Squirt. “If he hadn’t have went out there, they would have taken a calf.”
The attack had Madison County commissioners furious Friday. They said federal officials were dragging their feet while wolves wreaked havoc on ranchers during calving season.
“We lose four animals, and then we lose a dog, which I consider a member of that family,” County Commissioner Dave Schulz said. “All of a sudden the Fish and Wildlife Service is saying, ‘maybe we should do something?'”
Commissioner Ted Coffman added that, even if federal officials kill the pack, the stress on pregnant cows could be disastrous.
“Any rancher knows you don’t go out there and run your pregnant cows, because half of your calves will abort,” he said.
The Sentinel pack has grown increasingly brazen. Barbie Durham said the wolves have roamed through their yard at night and last month urinated in a snow bank in which her children play.
The recent attacks also prompted U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., to send a representative from his office to meet with the Durhams and commissioners. And the Montana Stockgrowers Association issued a press release calling for immediate removal of wolves from the endangered species list.
Wolves cannot be removed from the endangered species list until Montana, Idaho and Wyoming submit management plans acceptable to FWS. Montana’s and Idaho’s plans have been accepted, but Wyoming’s plan treats wolves like vermin and allows them to be shot on sight outside of national parks.
Bangs defended his agency’s response to the attack on the Durham’s ranch, saying he had a helicopter en route within half an hour to kill all seven wolves in the pack.
He also called the loss of the radio-collared wolf a major setback.
“If wolves cause problems, we have no problem instituting lethal control,” he said. “We’ll keep working on it until we resolve the situation. But it’s going to drag on for awhile, I’m afraid.”
Bangs added that Madison Valley ranchers have the right to shoot wolves caught attacking livestock.
But Barbie Durham disputed Bangs’ assertion that ranchers can kill wolves caught attacking livestock. She said they asked for shoot-to-kill permits and were denied. As a result, she and her husband are afraid a lawsuit would follow if they killed problem wolves.
“We’re not wealthy people,” she said. “We can’t afford to lose a stock dog, let alone face federal prosecution for killing a protected animal.”