Inhumanity of Wolf Management

7/29/2019 Inhumanity of Wolf Management

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13 Feds oAmals Spring 2013

The InhumanityOf Wolf

ManagementBY JAY MALLONEE

photo by Joh Hyde


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Spring 2013 Feds oAmals 14

It seems that wol ngn gnci v

circld wgon o produc nw govrnn

docun ri o juiy killing o wolv

in Monn, ovr probl brly xi. Tir

Environnl An (EA) i nild Gry Wol

Dg Mngn in Monn or Procion

o Livock, Or Doic Anil, Hun Sy,

nd Or Rourc. T il ipli wolv v

crd noug propry dg nd y r o

juiy ngn uniy o dl wi probl.

Although local tribes and theDepartment o Agriculture gavetheir input, the main architectso the EA are the two agenciesmost responsible or wol man-agement. Montana Fish, Wildlieand Parks (MFWP) creates andcarries out state managementpolicies, and the ederal agencyWildlie Services (WS) does thekilling. Tis organization hasbeen criticized recently or their

excessive slaughter o wildliethroughout the country. Te EAprovides the public with severalpotential alternatives or uturewol management, all involving

varying degrees o WS involve-ment. As stated in the EA, thepreerred option is Alternative 1,which is to continue with currentmanagement practices: kill manywolves in response to damagecaused by only a ew. Tis includes

a 6-month public hunting seasonthat involves trapping.

L yr I publid cinic ppr rviwd govrnn d on wolngn in Monn ndir ron or uning wolv:rduc livock dprdion, ndconcrn bou wolv c

on pry populion, pcillylk (www.wolndwildliudi.co/rrcppr.pp). Tir

juicion wr provn o biiclly inignicn nd wrno conin wi ir cli cinc w ud o rcngn dciion. T EA inor vrion o ing,nd dcrib y in wicwolv r crop o b rvdor rvnu nd killd or por.

Ti ind i cor o wolngn. I u lil cincnd by ignoring o currninorion bou nurl pro-c, wol ngn il oproo conrvion o inccoy. Sudi on niloion nd inllignc r loignord nd wol ngnproduc n incoprnibloun o uring in our or.Uing EA, l xin wy

i i ru.

Who Are The Better Killers? hosewo oppo wol ngn vofen used morality as the basis otheir arguments. hey believe itis inhumane to kill wolves unlessboluly ncry, i ll. Givnthat hunting and trapping seasons

are now in place, apparently MFWPand WS are not concerned about themorality of killing wolves. However,in the EA, they comment aboutwolv bing kn inunly.

T EA ll

wol ngn would occurrgrdl o wr WS iinvolvd. Alrniv 2 wouldrquir WS u nd providdvic on only nonll od,loug MFWP, rib ndpriv propry ownr couldill kill wolv. Wildli Srviclo public couldu l un od du oir rurion owrd wolvnd inxprinc. Tror prrrd od i o cngnoing, ning kp Alrniv1. A rul, WS would coninuo rov probl wolv uing ollowing od: oooldrp, nr, ground ooing,dnning (roving pup ro dn by uing pprovd od),cicl iobilizion wiuni, nd ril gunning.

Apprnly WS bliv y

r br killr n bigodpublic. Ti coing ro ngncy kp rck o wolv y kill wi ybol on id o ir pln. I wouldconidr ll o od ob inun. Evn unizdwolv d o b cug, irby ooold rp, nr, orcd down by ircr. Andi i no only pyicl uring wolv u connd wi.

My rrc own nl ngui ro bing cdby ircr nd o produci own uniqu uring, uc po ruic r (www.wolndwildliudi.co/rrcppr.pp).

Rgrdl o wo do killing, il o EA ipli


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15 Feds oAmals Spring 2013

wolv r public y zrd.Howvr, EA xplin ii no ro wolv lv.Ind, ngn cniquo cpur nd kill wolv, uc rpping, nr, ril gunning

nd ooing r y iu.So in our o kill wolv, wndngr ourlv.

Livestock Loss T EA provid bl li nubr orqu or inc by livockownr (rncr nd o woown r nil in gnrl)nd vlu o dg cudby wolv in Monn. Tiinorion w rpord o

or vrid by WS pronnl.Tror, n unknown poriono i d w unvrid ndiply old o WS by popl wodo no ncrily lik wolv. Forxpl, in 2011, r wr 2,743rqu or inc in rgrd ocl, nd rncr clid olo $298,165 in dg. Howvr,MFWP nnul rpor or yr d only 74 conrdcl wr lo o wolv.

T EA lo dg rpord i only rciono cul dg cudby wolv in Monn bcuWS do no r bou lldprdion nd ny livockr ju iing nd no ound.Apprnly WS i uing unrpord dprdion

nd iinglivock rcud by wolv.T bl i lldwi unvridnubr nd

concluion bdon upion.Tr r lo norrnc poin,uc w

prcn o rncr incow rpord dg. W ill or i r cully problbcu o wolv? How do lvl o wol dg copr o lo o cl ro or cu,

uc wr, di, ccidn,or vn coyo? Ar rncrrind nd copn noug oknow dirnc bwn woldprdion nd o cud byor prdor?

L pu i ino prpciv.In 2005, Nionl AgriculurlSiic Srvic conducd urvy in wic Monn clproducr rpord y d lo66,000 cl, including clv,

o ll cu. Prdor wrrponibl or 3,000 o lo,or 4.5 prcn. O 3,000 cl,2,400 wr clv. According o cl producr, coyo d killd54 prcn o clv. Trindr wr killd by ll orprdor pci cobind, win unknown nubr by wolv.Evn wn givn opporuniyo xpr lv, rncr group o know lil bou

ow wolv c ir livock,nd pprnly y r ngry wrong pci.

According o EAnubr, i prn pprnly coninud ino 2011. Nowll wolv u ur bcu 74cow wr killd, ou o lol illion cl in wrn

Monn. T i only 0.01 prcno cl populion. Evn i wolv killd 1,000 cow, iwould ill only b 0.2 prcn. Y EA i bing ud o juiy killing o Monn wolv

ovr probl do noiiclly xi.

Prey Populations In rgrd owol nubr, EA

currn populion lvl i concrn o porn wo rly onurplu ul dr, wi-ilddr, nd lk or uning, ndlivock producr wo u publicnd djcn priv lnd or

livock grzing. Ti nuriz rl ronwolv r killd in Monn ndor : o iy unrnd rncr.

Ling popl blow o by killing wolv bringin rvnu or , wicbliv i cn inin blncdwol nd pry populion uing rining wolv. Howvr,r bn no rlvn rrc

conducd in norw Monno drin c wolvv on wild pry populion. Elkpopulion, owvr, v bnudid in ouw Monn ndYllowon Nionl Prk. Tirrc concludd wolv b d ixd ipc on rd: o dclind, oincrd, nd or owdlil or no c ro wolv. Sowr i probl? Bling

wy wildli n xpcingir populion o b in blncwi on nor i unrliicnd irrponibl.

A d in EA, ddiionlrrc own lkprgnncy r r uncdby wolv, nd cl urvivl rbor nd r wol rorion

photo by S. Mchael Bscele


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Spring 2013 Feds oAmals 16

r biclly . Sudi v lookd lk diribuion in winr indic wolv vonly ll-cl c, nd lrg-cl c r ill unknown. Ino r, lik Birroo o

wrn Monn, coninuingMFWP lk udy rcnly owd ounin lion r inprdor o lk, pcilly clv.So MFWP own d ow ir ron or killing wolvi wrong. In rpon o unxpcd rul, ciniwill bgin udying lion in r. Howvr, MFWP lrdy rpondd by incring

uning quo or cougrin Birroo. Now ciniwill onior nipuldlion populion wil rying odrin nurl inrcionbwn cougr nd lk. Souldn lion b udid r beforekilling ?

The Future of Wolves in Montana

A rcn ricl in our loclnwppr dcribd ow

MFWP i ping o urrincr ul on wolv.Kn McDonld, Buru Ci oMonn Fi, Wildli nd Prk

d, Our gol i o ggrivlyng wol populionwil kping ngn undr uoriy. Ty pln onccopliing i by cnging lw o llow unr nd

rppr o buy ulipl g ndu lcronic wol cll, o rduc pric o non-ridn wol g,nd liin rquirn unr wr fuorcn orngouid o dr nd lk on.

T ricl xplin inpr i cng i in rpono lowr k o wolv cyr by public, dpi incrd quo by MFWP.

Svrl ron or i prncould b xind or clolyby wol ngr bor yrc by killing vn or wolv.For xpl, ir own urvyo public iud ro l yrdonrd o poplwn rig o kill wolvbu w o cully do o.Agin, MFP ignor ir owninorion. And r i oug,prp r r wr wolv

living in Monn n MFWPcli. My publid rviw oir wol nubr donr wol ngr do no know

ol nubr o wolv inMonn. Ind, y u irrpord iniu wol couno rriv rronou concluionbou wol populion n u o k policy.

T EA or no lrnivo lv wolv lon nd onlydl wi iold dprdionincidn, bcu by lw yr pci in nd o ng-n. In c, MFWP ingl yr in norw Monn, prviou rgionl dircor d,

W ng wolv bcu yxi, ju lik ny or pci.In rliy, EA i vin p

o juiy polici cnno bjuid. By nur, wol ng-n i inun. According o rgionl dircor, MFWP killwolv bcu y cn. Unil public wol ll wolngr o op, i procwill coninu indnily.

Note: Beoe ths atcle was ublshed,t was set to the goveo o Motaa,ad to ocals at Wldle Sevces adMotaa Fsh, Wldle ad paks. They

wee ve tme to ovde commetsbut decled. Ths cotues the atteestablshed the ast seveal yeas whch MFWp has eused to aswe myquestos ead the qualty o thewol oulato data ad ts ablty towthstad scetc scuty. Theeoe,they cotue to make maaemetdecsos us omato that otecaot be veed o cotadcts theow ad othe studes.

Fom ost-taumatcstess a catve wol tobeach whales the

Be Sea, Jay Malloeehas studed the behavoo umeous amals.

Thouh hs busess oWol ad Wldle Studes,

he has eseached the Fshta ack othwest Motaa o a decade ad haswtte seveal scetfc ublcatos. Jayalso wote . . .TimberA Perfect Life, aaccout o hs sxtee-yea elatoshwth a ooud cae comao.

photo by S. Mchael Bscele

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Inhumanity of Wolf Management