Wolf News Roundup 10/12/2019
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
October 12, 2019
Wyoming Wolf Hunt
With the Sept. 1 opening of the wolf hunting season in many of western Wyoming’s trophy wolf hunt areas, quotas have been reached in four hunt areas, so those areas are now closed.
This includes: the quota of four wolves has been reached in the Clarks Fork Hunt Area 1; the quota of two wolves has been reached in Area 3, the South Fork; the Wind River Hunt Area 5 quota of one wolf has been reached; and the two-wolf quota at The Rim (Hunt Area 10) has also been reached.
Of the total quota of 35 wolves available for legal harvest in the state’s wolf trophy zone, 18 wolves have been killed by hunters as of Friday, Oct. 11. An additional 20 wolves have been killed so far this year in the remainder of Wyoming, where wolves are classified as predators.
Wolf Cull Successful
The population of three mountain caribou herds in northeastern British Columbia has increased by 49 percent in four years due to an experimental wolf cull program, according to a new report from the British Columbia government. "These caribou herds have declined drastically in response to landscape changes that altered predator-prey dynamics and led to high rates of predation by wolves. The decrease in wolf abundance across the South Peace treatment area has shown conclusive evidence that intensive wolf reduction has halted and reversed the declining trends of the Klinse-Za, Kennedy Siding, and Quintette caribou populations."
"Aerial wolf reduction has been shown to be the most targeted and effective method of intensively reducing wolf populations over large geographic areas to elicit strong population responses in caribou herds. Both the efficacy and efficiency of the South Peace wolf reduction program has increased over time. The success of the program is contingent on utilizing experienced and proficient removal crews, operating during optimal weather conditions, and maintaining a high level of operational oversight by provincial Ministry staff. Wolf reduction is a management tool that must be used responsibly and ethically, and implemented with the highest standards for humaneness and scientific rigour. Wolf reduction programs should be considered as an effective interim management tool for halting and reversing caribou declines, while the ultimate causes (i.e. habitat alteration) of such declines are addressed. Based on the findings of the five-year wolf reduction program in the South Peace, it is highly recommended that wolf reduction continue to be implemented to support these particular caribou herds towards meeting the ultimate management objective of self-sustaining populations."
WA Cattlemen
After Washington Governor Jay Inslee told his state wildlife agency to reduce the number of lethal control actions for cattle-killing wolves (earning praise from the Center for Biological Diversity), the Stevens County Cattlemen’s Association responded that his association and the governor agree on one thing: that current management of wolves isn’t working. For more, see the Statesman Examiner article linked below.
Check out the links below for details on these stories.
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