Idaho Fish and Game will kill wolves to make Ranchers happy, then kill Elk to keep them happy.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game killed seven wolves in the state’s Lolo Elk Zone last month in an effort to aid struggling elk herds in the remote area, according to a news release from the agency.
The operation, carried out by a private contractor, was paid for with money raised by the sale of hunting, fishing and trapping licenses and transferred to the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board. Department spokesman Roger Phillips in Boise said the department is still tallying the costs.
The department has used helicopters and sharpshooters to reduce wolf numbers in the Lolo Zone for seven of the past eight years. Last year, 10 wolves were killed there. The nearly annual operation was not conducted in 2017.
Since the program began, an average of 14 wolves has been killed in the zone each year. In some years, the total has been higher. For example, 21 were killed in 2016, 19 in 2015 and 23 in 2014.
Jim Hayden, the department’s wolf manager in Coeur d’Alene, said the reduction in numbers killed in the past two years likely does not represent a decline in wolf numbers there. The agency is in the middle of a study that uses DNA samples in scat and hair to determine how many wolves are in the zone. Results are pending, but Hayden said wildlife biologists believe the zone still supports a healthy population of wolves.
“We really have not seen a decline in the number of wolves in the Lolo from anecdotal information,” he said. “So the number killed is related more to opportunity than it is to wolf numbers.”
For example, foul weather grounded the operation or made finding wolves difficult this year, he said.
The department authorizes wolf culling in areas where wolves are causing conflicts with livestock, people or are determined to be a significant factor in elk and deer populations not meeting objectives.
In a survey conducted in 2017, the department estimated about 1,900 elk were living in the zone that has a population objective of 6,100 to 9,100 cow elk and 1,300 to 1,900 bulls. In 1992, the department estimated the Lolo elk population at more than 10,000 animals. Since then, elk numbers have dropped because of habitat degradation, the harsh winter of 1996-97 and predation by wolves, black bears and mountain lions.
Where possible, the department uses hunting and trapping to manage wolf numbers. The rough terrain and snowy conditions of the Lolo Zone make access difficult during the winter, when wolves are most vulnerable to hunters and trappers.
This fall and winter, hunters and trappers have killed 18 wolves in the Lolo Zone. Trapping season runs through this month, and hunting season closes June 30.
Source: Idaho agency kills seven wolves in Lolo Elk Zone | Northwest | lmtribune.com
Comments
Any excuse to kill seems to be the mantra of Idaho Fish and Game. Evidently they are not aware that wolf kills help improve habitat for elk and deer. Increasing harsh winters have caused huge kills of elk and deer. Did Fish and Game ever think of letting nature do its thing and see what happens. Instead money from ranchers and hunters is determining the fate of the beautiful wilds of Idaho.
Stop the war on wolves and other wildlife and the environment.
Wolves don’t wipe out elk and other species. They take the weak and injured and strengthen the herd. They don’t slaughter the healthiest specimens. Hunters however do just that – killing “trophy animals” – by doing so, weaken the gene pool. As was demonstrated in Yellowstone, the reintroduction of wolves brought the ecosystem there back from the brink of human caused collapse. Wolves even help combat chronic wasting disease. Wealthy corporate ranchers graze their their cattle on public land allowing them to strip the land and destroy the biodiversity needed for a healthy ecosystem while poisoning bees and other beneficial species with insecticides. Ranchers even sometimes purposefully graze their cattle near wolf dens, so they can kill the wolves including pups when they are lured to kill or threaten a cow or calf.
Grazing allotments on public land, welfare ranching and the ensuing environmental damage should not be allowed.
Wolves appear to be the best defense against Chronic Wasting disease. Additionally, evidence shows that often killing wolves and destroying the cohesiveness of a pack actually increases predation on ranch and farm animals. This is especially true when the younger inexperienced animals lose their teachers that help them learn about bringing down wild prey and resort to domesticated “easier prey”.
It’s a shame that wolves have more “humanity” than many or most people. Boycott Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Michigan and Alaska as long as they allow or condone wolf killing. Stop eating beef. Ranchers are the prime impetus on the war on wolves. We also must vote the federal, state and local politicians out of office that support this slaughter. Let’s make these cruel politicians endangered species (be they republicans or democrats).
The only humane way to shoot wildlife is with a camera. A humane “trophy hunter” only collects a picture. “Sport hunting’ is a sickness, a perversion and a danger and should be recognized as such. People who get their amusement from hunting and killing defenseless animals can only be suffering from a mental disorder. In a world with boundless opportunities for amusement, it’s detestable that anyone would choose to get thrills from killing others who ask for nothing from life but the chance to remain alive.” – Sir Roger Moore (seven times James Bond).
Regarding animal killing contests and trophy hunting: Humans are the species that is drastically overpopulating and destroying the planet. How about a killing contest of hunters and saving the innocent animals. Hunting each other would offer more challenging prey. It would be a win-win-win, getting rid of some evil monsters, helping the planet, reducing the population a little, and saving innocent animals, and maybe even preventing some of these bloodthirsty monsters from killing innocent people also. Animals exhibit more humanity than many or most people. They don’t murder for pleasure and trophies, and don’t set cruel snares, often baited, which cause painful deaths to wildlife and pets alike. The lead ammunition does further environmental damage often poisoning endangered species such as condors and eagles, and entering the water and food chain.
Funding conservation from hunting is a sick insane paradox, not unlike paying for women’s health with donations from rapists and sex abusers.