By Penny Preston
CODY – Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department is looking for information on a wolf poaching west of Cody. Investigators say the wolf was shot in the Shoshone National Forest during the President’s Day Weekend.
It’s one of several wolves killed illegally in Wyoming since last February.
Wyoming took over wolf management from the federal government in September. Since, the Game and Fish Department managed what they called a successful wolf-hunting season in Northwest Wyoming, and started their own studies through wolf trapping and collaring in January. Then, on President’s day weekend, someone shot and killed a wolf out of season on the North Fork of the Shoshone River, in the national forest. Investigators say they found the animal in the Sweetwater drainage on the far side of the river.
Game and Fish Regional Wildlife Supervisor Alan Osterland said, “We’re looking for any information relating to that poaching incident, or any suspicious activity in that area.” Osterland said this poaching can take away wolf hunting opportunities from law abiding sportsmen.
He went on to say, “We’ll pursue a wolf poaching with the same tenacity as we would the poaching of a big horn ram.” A Board Member of the Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife organization, Joe Tilden said, “No we didn’t want the wolf, but it’s here and it’s here to stay. So all we want is the opportunity to manage the wolf and manage it properly and keep them under control.”
Tilden is a leader in Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, a group that fought to get wolves de-listed for more than a decade. He said there are already lawsuits to put them back on the endangered species list.
Tilden explained, “We do have a management place in plan now, and I sincerely hope this doesn’t give the environmental community some additional ammunition as far as the pending litigation.”
Highway 120 south of Cody is the line of demarcation. On the east side of the highway wolves can be killed now as predators. On the west side, they’re protected under Wyoming’s wolf management plan. And, since they’ve been protected under Wyoming’s wolf management, two have been poached on this side of the state. Exactly a year ago, one was killed, maybe three.
That was when wolves were under federal protection. A citizen found one wolf that was shot in the Shoshone Forest, and was told there would be a federal investigation. In spite of inquiries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service won’t confirm or deny last year’s poaching.
Wyoming authorities have investigated four wolf poachings since the state took over management.