Wolf News Roundup 11/07/2019
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
November 7, 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 six 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; Hunt Area 2’s six-wolf quota has been reached’ 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; the three-wolf quota in Hunt Area 6 & 7 Pacific Creek/Targhee; and the two-wolf quota at The Rim (Hunt Area 10); have also been reached.
Of the total quota of 35 wolves available for legal harvest in the state’s wolf trophy zone, 25 wolves have been killed by hunters as of Nov. 6th. An additional 22 wolves have been killed so far this year in the remainder of Wyoming, where wolves are classified as predators.
Colorado fights back
Colorado Farm Bureau (CFB), Colorado Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), and Colorado Wool Growers’ Association (CWGA) announced the formation of Coloradans Protecting Wildlife, an issue committee against a proposed 2020 ballot measure that would require the introduction of wolves into Colorado. The organizations have over 345 years of combined experience working on wildlife and land management issues.
"Organizations across the state are joining forces and encouraging Coloradans to rethink introducing the wolf," says Chad Vorthmann, Executive Vice President of the Colorado Farm Bureau. "The decision about whether or not to introduce wolves to Colorado should be guided by science and left in the hands of experts, not the ballot box."
The proposed 2020 initiative would ignore long-standing scientific processes, research and expert guidance by forcing the introduction of the wolf into Colorado without any analysis of the potential negative impacts on Colorado’s environment and ecosystems, or its citizens.
The idea of introducing wolves to the state is not a new one. CCA, CFB and CWGA have previously worked with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to develop a "free-ranging" wolf plan, including necessary management strategies to ensure gray wolves that enter Colorado from other states are protected yet do not endanger animals or people that they may come in contact with.
Coloradans Protecting Wildlife will educate voters about the pitfalls of wolves introduced to Colorado’s landscapes and urge them to leave species management up to wildlife biologists and the relevant state and federal agencies. In related news, Garfield County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution opposing the reintroduction of wolves to Colorado.
Wolf advocates lose one round
The Capital Press reports that wolf advocates lost a legal claim in Washington state in a court ruling that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s policy of lethal control of wolves that repeatedly kill livestock does not have to undergo state environmental analysis (the state version of the National Environmental Policy Act).
According to the news site, although this claim by the Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands was dismissed, the groups will pursue an Administrative Procedures Act claim against the agency in attempt to halt lethal control activities targeting problem wolves.
Check out the links below for details on these stories.
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