Wyoming asks feds for more leeway in shooting wolves
Associated Press
CHEYENNE – Wyoming on Friday asked federal wildlife managers to be more proactive in managing wolves by allowing ranchers to shoot problem wolves and reimbursing producers for damage caused by the predators.
The petition filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the latest move in an ongoing legal and bureaucratic struggle between Wyoming and the federal government over management of wolves since they were reintroduced into the Northern Rockies 10 years ago.
The animals are flourishing, with an estimated population of more than 800 in the region, raising concerns from agriculture interests, landowners, outfitters and state officials of a growing threat to wildlife, livestock and domestic pets.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for wolf reintroduction, but it hasn’t taken responsibility for the way that program has played out on the ground in Wyoming,” Gov. Dave Freudenthal said in a release.
“The rule changes we’re petitioning for would require the service to take steps to protect Wyoming wildlife and livestock from wolf attacks – before, not after, the fact – and to reimburse producers for lost livestock.”
The state is proposing that the Fish and Wildlife Service issue permits to landowners and ranchers to kill wolves when an attack on livestock is imminent; allow the state to respond quickly to wolves that harass elk at or near state feedgrounds; and reimburse ranchers for livestock lost in wolf attacks.
Ed Bangs, the federal wolf recovery project leader for the region, said he hadn’t received a copy of the petition. When a reporter read him portions of the governor’s news release, he said the suggestions sounded much like methods the agency is already employing.
“The thing that stings me a little bit is the idea that we don’t somehow proactively manage wolves,” Bangs said.
He listed a number of measures the service has taken, including issuing “shoot-on-sight” permits to ranchers, firing rubber bullets to spook wolves away from herds, using radio-tracking collars, notifying ranchers if wolves show up on grazing allotments, providing alternative pastures and offering herders to protect livestock.
“There’s a ton of proactive things we’ve been doing for a long time,” Bangs said. “The idea that our hands are tied and we’re helpless until we’ve got some dead livestock simply isn’t true.”
However, he said, “we’re always up for learning new things and getting good ideas.”
Freudenthal said the federal government reintroduced wolves “knowing full well that a wolf population would have a negative impact on the livestock industry.
“By paying producers for lost livestock, the cost of wolf reintroduction will be shared by all, and not just those producers who are already shouldering a disproportionate share of the program’s cost.”
A fourth part of the state’s proposal is for uniform, science-based standards of “unacceptable” impact by wolves on livestock rather than individual state standards that must be approved by the service.
The proposal by the state is to change existing Fish and Wildlife Service rules and is not directly related to ongoing litigation.
Wyoming and other groups are appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit over the federal government’s rejection of Wyoming’s wolf-management plan.
Under the plan, wolves could be shot with few restrictions if they leave the Yellowstone region. The Fish and Wildlife Service said the state’s plan would hinder efforts to preserve the minimum number of packs needed to ensure the predator’s survival.
Montana and Idaho’s wolf-management plans have already been approved, but Wyoming’s court battle has delayed efforts to remove the wolf from federal protection and transfer management to the three states.