Ranchers have complained bitterly about this to the point where some animal rights groups have set up funds to mitigate livestock losses in the hopes that this will keep people from killing their precious wolves.
Talk about a nightmare. Wolves are Poster-Boy Animals : Wolves are spectacular and they are beautiful, making them an easy choice as a poster child for the animal rights wackos. I've actually had officers from some prominent animal rights' groups tell me that when they need to raise some quick cash, all they have to do is send out a mailer with the picture of a wolf on it that begs their donors for a few bucks to keep the evil hunters from killing these poor, innocent creatures.
They do not care a whit about biology or modern game management practices, they just care about collecting some cash and firing up their base to try and stop hunting. It's a win-win for the ARWs. I hate that.
Continued Litigation : Wolves have been, and will continue to be, the focus of litigation brought on by the ARWs, who want to end all hunting and let the animals run wild and free, like something out of an old Disney movie like "Bambi.
It is this kind of shortsighted thinking and self-absorbed attitude that makes me wonder what color the sky is on the planet these "environmental" groups inhabit. They will say or do anything to get what they want. I'm sure some of the members of these very small organizations have noble intentions, but come on. You can, and should, check them out on their websites — wildearthguardians. For more information in the ongoing wolf wars, visit the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's website.
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The state initially planned to wait for the fall of to hold a harvest. But the lawsuit forced its hand, and between February 22 and 24, hunters killed wolves, according to the Wisconsin DNR. When it announced the harvest quota for the February hunt, the Wisconsin DNR said its goal was to neither increase nor decrease the gray wolf population.
Now the wolves are set to face hunters a second time this year. On August 11 the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board, which sets natural resources policy for the state, approved a quota of up to additional wolves to be hunted in the fall season, starting on November 6. The two hunts in Wisconsin could have a devastating long-term impact on gray wolves in the Great Lakes region and the ecosystem in which they live, some experts say.
Rapidly removing a large portion of the animals will likely harm their natural reproduction process and ensure that new births cannot restore the population to its size, according to scientists. And a swift removal of wolves from the land twice in one year could have unseen effects that would ripple through the ecosystem for years to come.
But DNR data show that of the wolves killed, 38 were breeding-age females. Wolves reproduce only once a year, usually between January and March, and scientists say pregnant or nursing females were likely killed in the February hunt.
This, they say, would limit the number of spring births. In November , M was killed legally by a hunter outside the park in Wyoming.
The Lamar Canyon pack was left without an experienced leader. However, upon his return, he found that things had changed in his absence. Two of his daughters had found mates themselves, and these new males turned on M and his new mate, killing F and chasing M away. Two years later, one of these pups left the pack under pressure from her siblings and dispersed outside of the park. Eventually she was caught raiding chicken coops for food in Jardine, Montana, and was killed as a result by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.
Read more about the Lamar Canyon pack and more details of this story, here. Eisenberg, Cristina. Island Press Field Notes. A research paper published in the Journal of Animal Ecology in , similarly demonstrated that the death of a single wolf can impact the entire pack. Using data from a long-term study of wolves in Denali National Park, wildlife biologist Bridget Borg, with Scott Brainerd, Thomas Meier and Laura Prugh, studied what happens to packs when one of the alphas are killed.
They found that although loss of a single breeding wolf may not adversely affect the overall wolf population, it can cause the dissolution of the pack, given the right context small pack size and mortality occurring during breeding season. In most cases where a pack broke apart, the dissolution was preceded by a loss of an alpha especially when the pack was small to begin with.
The state has long been championed as a leader in conservation, but many hunters say a raft of new laws push ethical boundaries. Montana is making it easier to kill wildlife in the state, with a suite of bills and new laws that threatens to undermine 30 years of wolf recovery and establish new hunting standards that even many hunters say is too permissive. New laws would allow the state to permit hunters to kill an unlimited number of wolves , to bait them and hunt them at night , and to set neck snare traps ; and will expand the wolf trapping season by 30 days and allow hound hunting of black bears.
Some of the bills already have been signed into law by Governor Greg Gianforte while others await his signature. In April, Gianforte violated state regulations by trapping a Yellowstone wolf without completing required training.
The loosening of hunting restrictions—particularly for predators such as wolves—has many long-time hunters in Montana concerned that the action crosses a line from ethical, conservation-minded hunting to indiscriminate killing. Montana had about 60 wolves in the state in the s. Well-regulated hunting can be an effective and responsible wildlife management tool, meant to control the numbers of certain species and their distributions to ensure a balanced ecosystem,says Gevock, a lifelong hunter.
The state has long been known for its collaborative conservation efforts with hunters, trappers, and anglers, whose license fees and gun taxes cover some 85 percent of the budget of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks FWP department —including conservation initiatives.
The new law that allows unlimited wolf kills, and is likely to go into effect later this year, requires only that enough wolves remain in the state to support at least 15 breeding pairs defined as a male, female, and two pups.
But that notion is disputed. Under pending legislation and new laws in Montana, the ways in which wolves can be killed are equally as controversial as the number of wolves that would be allowed to be hunted. Every time I get an elk, I say a prayer. I share it with my family.
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