Letter to Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Region 3 Supervisor, Marc Deleray

Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Region 3 Supervisor, Marc Deleray

Dear Marc,

It has been brought to our attention that Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks is evaluating if the remaining members of the F926 pack which are predominantly young wolves to be lethally removed due to some fabricated habituation claim.

Marc, being a Native American Founded Organization, Our “Sacred Wolves” that originate from within National Park Borders are protected as sacred species being within the park or outside of its borders, which is the primary reason that we are pushing for public support of our proposed “Sacred Resource Protection Zone”. Protection for our Sacred Resources is clearly outlined within “National Park Policy”. Our petition for Our Proposed “Sacred Resource Protection Zone” has already been entered into the record at Montana meetings by our Montana Volunteer staff, as well as recognized by the Rocky Mountain Department of Justice.

Please know We are extremely concerned that there may be intentional baiting of the remainder of the Lamar Pack in the area. That is the gossip, in order to demand their “removal”. Our concern is that Sommers likely paraded his trophy around town and kept the body of F926 around his gas station for a time to display his “Trophy”. This attracted the wolves who were searching for their pack member. That is likely a given fact. Now We are being told an old dog was attacked and needed to be put down.

Lets assume that If an old dog was taken out by wolves, that is not the wolves fault! That is the fault of an irresponsible Owner!! We live with wolves and cougars surrounding Us, with cougars constantly on the property with regularity. Our dogs are not allowed out at night to do their business until after we have entirely inspected their perimeter. With that being said Marc, It is the owner of the domestic animal who bears the responsibility for the animal in wildlife country. Here Again, the larger question remains, what was it that attracted the wolves to that area? Sommers may have kept F926 at his gas station  to show off his trophy for a time and the wolves tracked her scent to Cooke City.  He may very well have paraded her body through town as a trophy. With our contacts from the local area, we were informed that radios were used during the shooting of “Spitfire”. UYou should be well aware that that is against the law as we are.  Apparently a number of these wolves are young, with the Pack Leader removed, they are figuring out, that they are being left out food, carcasses etc to draw them near, and there are many proper deterrents that can be effective and certainly tried first.  We know a lot about both wolves and bears having raised both from bottle feeding, and what can deter them from problematic human contact. Certainly there are tried and tested methods how to properly and effectively deter them from those two small towns.

If MFWP decides for lethal removal, We as a Native American Organization will be requesting they be trapped and relocated due to their being “Sacred Resources” just as our brother grizzly. Should you decide that lethal removal is the path you choose, you will open a door to a path that we do not wish to see, due to the problems as well as the mentality that has contributed to this issue.

The biggest point to be made is F 926 was roadside for a reason, clearly our first photographs that were sent showed that “Spitfire” was in fact dispatched directly on the road, which adds to the question of being legal along with the use of radios and telephones in the first place. Spitfire had a very small pack, she survived a lot including mange and the death of her pack due to humans and other wolves. She is no different than the roadside grizzly bear sows with cubs that have learned to use humans to allow her to hunt where it was safe from other wolves, aka roadside. That made her smart and not habituated to humans. It is in fact Humans that have created this problem, not the wolves or grizzlies.There is a very large issue here with tolerance and co-existence that spitfire is bringing it to a head, and Killing the rest of her pack is not the answer, I am told that hazing them from town is possible, We also use scenting in areas of grazing to deter attracting them, which has been proven effective by one of our Rancher partners. Please do the right thing for our children’s “sacred resources”.
Please feel free to give me a call if there is any question about this.

Best Regards,

Roger Dobson Protect The Wolves™ Director of Tribal Relations

Patricia Herman Protect The Wolves™ President

530-377-3031