Wolf Weekly Wrap-up

All’s (relatively) quiet on the western front…for now.

With the official delisting of wolves in the Northern Rockies still pending and state legislatures on break, the wolf frenzy seems to have quieted to a dull roar. Idaho and Montana are still gearing up for future wolf hunts, but those may not begin before the fall.

A collared gray wolf in Yellowstone. Photo courtesy of William C. Campbell/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In the meantime, as our friend Jeff Welsch with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition points out: America will be watching. Western states have been clamoring for a chance to manage wolves, and soon they will have the chance to prove they can do so responsibly.

“The battles over gray wolves have been among the most controversial in this region in years. The public, on both sides of the issue, is fully engaged. Americans who cherish wildlife will be watching closely to see how both states choose to manage wolves over the next decade.”

Read Jeff’s full column in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

Gillett – NOT the best a man can get

Earlier this week, the LA Times talked to anti-wolf zealot Ron Gillett (famous for his tirades on the statehouse steps) about the return of wolf management to the states. Not surprisingly, Gillett is out for blood and makes clear that he wants no wolves at all in Idaho. Times readers did not take kindly to Gillett’s anti-conservation attitude, however, and replied with some choice words of their own in follow-up Letters to the Editor:

• “Gillett’s characterization of the wolves as ‘Canadian’ is laughable in its attempt to make this debate about some kind of invasion of wolves across geographic boundaries.” – Lawrence Abel, San Diego

• “Gillett seems to miss the point that wolves are hunters and predators by nature. Unlike Gillett, wolves must hunt to survive; they have no choice.” – Suzanne Feighery, Fullerton

• “I can only laugh painfully at Gillett calling wolves ‘the most cruel, vicious predators in North America’ without seemingly the slightest recognition at the irony of such a statement made as he eagerly anticipates slaughtering them.” – Will Campbell, Silver Lake

Calm prevails in Oregon

While Gillett and other anti-wolf extremists are getting itchy trigger fingers over in Idaho, Oregon appears to be taking a much more reasoned approach. Richard Cockle gives the lay of the land in this story for the Oregonian. All but one of the bad wolf bills were defeated, and the one bill that did survive merely codifies what was already legal: shooting a wolf in self-defense.

In this guest column for the Oregonian, Ron Varekamp wonders what all the fuss is about:

“Why is there so much hatred for wolves in this country? Do they kill people? No. I can find no record of human fatalities from an attack by wild wolves in more than a century of record keeping. Do they kill our livestock? Yes, a little bit. What’s a little bit? According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, annual loss of livestock to wolves is less than 1 percent of all annual losses. Health and weather problems account for the overwhelming majority of livestock losses. Attacks by domestic dogs actually take twice as many livestock as wolves do.”