Title: Lock and Load; Wolves in the Rockies

Articles against wolves delisting

Title: Lock and load; Wolves in the Rockies

Source: The Economist. 400.8746 (Aug. 13, 2011): p30(US).

Document Type: Article

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Idaho's ranchers fight back against a federally-assisted lupine recovery

IDAHO is crying wolf. In April a state law blamed wolves for a "disaster emergency", accusing them of disrupting business, imperilling private property and "dramatically inhibiting" Idahoans from going on picnics.

Under the Endangered Species Act, the federal government reintroduced wolves to the Rocky Mountain West in the mid-1990s, reversing the efforts of ranchers and farmers who had spent decades killing them with guns, traps and poison. Wolf numbers have since increased far beyond the original goals, to an estimated 1,700 in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. In the process, returning wolves have become more than just an unwelcome varmint. To many, they are a snaggletoothed symbol of big government gone mad.

No state is more riled than Idaho, a conservative stronghold where Republicans have overwhelming control of the legislature and hold every statewide elective office. At a hearing in late July, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission took decisive action. It authoriseda hunting and trapping season that could kill up to 85% of the 1,000 wolves believed to be sniffing around the state. In Montana, hunters will be allowed to kill 220 out of the state's estimated 566 wolves.

For all the hoo-ha, evidence to justify Idaho's lupine anxiety is underwhelming. America's Fish and Wildlife Service says there have been no wolf attacks on people in Idaho, nor anywhere in the continental United States, since the grey wolf was reintroduced. The number of wolf attacks on Idaho's 2.2m cattle has been low. According to the Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Service, there were 75 confirmed kills in 2010, giving a typical Idaho cow a .0034% chance per year of being eaten by a wolf. (Idaho ranchers claim that last year that wolves killed about 2,600 cattle, though experts doubt this.) Nor, with a couple of exceptions, have elk herds been threatened. "There is no wolf disaster," says Carter Niemeyer, a biologist who for six years was in charge of the federal wolf-recovery effort in Idaho. "The only disaster is the overreacting politicians."

Yet it is state politicians, not federal biologists, who now control the fate of wolves. This is because earlier this year Congress intervened directly in the enforcement of the Endangered Species Act. In a rider to a budget bill championed by a Republican representative from Idaho and a Democratic senator from Montana, Congress decided that wolves in the two states no longer needed federal protection. Congress also ordered that no court could review its decision. Environmental groups are challenging this in the courts; a federal judge found in favour of Congress on August 5th, though his decision is now being appealed. Nervous times for the toothy ones.

Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)

"Lock and load; Wolves in the Rockies." The Economist 13 Aug. 2011: 30(US). General Reference Center GOLD.Web. 30 Apr. 2013.

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Title: Crying wolf, very loudly; Endangered species

Source: The Economist. (Sept. 8, 2001):

Document Type: Brief article

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Coyotes give us a bad name

New weapons in the war between wolves and ranchers: poison and noise

THIS summer, wolves in the Rocky Mountains have had a new and noisy set of protectors. A group of Wolf Guardians has been camping near livestock flocks in Idaho and Montana. At the first sign of wolves they start screaming, shouting, and banging pots. The guardians have been recruited by the Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group, to assuage the fears of farmers that their sheep and calves will be gobbled up by the grey peril.

Meanwhile, the federal government's Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) is making its own contribution to the hullabaloo. It is installing new stationary devices which start blasting out noises terrifying to lupines--from sirens and helicopters to running horses--whenever a wolf strolls dangerously close to sheep. The device can detect some of the wolves because they have radio collars.

And so continues the bizarre long-running case of Ranchers & Sheep v Wolves & Greens. In 1995-96, the FWS reintroduced about 35 grey wolves, which are classified as an endangered species, in central Idaho. Ranchers, who have lost about 150 sheep and 50 calves to wolves over the past few years, do not like them much. Hunters also fume that the wolves prey on deer, elk and other targets.

Over the past few months, several wolves have been found poisoned, and despite the hefty $20,000 reward the investigation has gone nowhere. The Defenders of Wildlife have a trust fund which compensates (at full market value) any rancher who loses livestock. The FWS, which has encouraged the use of guard dogs, temporary electric fences and non-lethal ammunition such as bean-bag rounds, is getting on better with the ranchers, though relations with the hunters are still frosty.

Now that wolf numbers have swelled to around 250, they may be downgraded from an "endangered" species to a "threatened" one next year. That would place them under the care of the state authorities, rather than federal ones. Ominously, Idaho's state legislature recently demanded the removal of wolves from the state by any means necessary. The Idaho Grey Wolf Coalition, which includes hunters and outfitters, claims that there are more wolves doing more damage than the FWS admits.

In fact the wolves do less damage than other more numerous predators. Margaret Soulen Hinson, a rancher based in Weiser, Idaho, estimates that coyotes alone claim up to 14% of her livestock. Bob Ruesink, an FWS supervisor in Boise, points out that poachers kill far more elks and deer than grey wolves do. And the wolves are also attracting some tourists; though, for many hunters, that might be just another reason to reach for their rifles.

Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)

"Crying wolf, very loudly; Endangered species." The Economist 8 Sept. 2001. General Reference Center GOLD.Web. 30 Apr. 2013.

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Title: Will the wolves win?

Author(s): Kezia Saunders

Source: Earth Focus One Planet-One Community. .36 (Fall 2009): p8.

Document Type: Article

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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The wolf is an endangered species in many of the countries where it has its natural habitat. One way that people have tried to save the wolf is by making laws to ban hunting of wolves. These laws are sometimes unpopular. This article is about how a hunting ban in the Rocky Mountains of America has saved the wolf population and what lessons Switzerland can learn from it about wolf conservation.

Wolves used to be found everywhere in the western parts of America, but settlers and ranchers hunted them near to extinction. The last one went from the Yellowstone region in 1926. In [973, the endangered species act became a law to protect the wolves. After a long debate the government re-introduced the wolves back into Yellowstone in 1995. The greater Yellowstone area now contains 1,500 wolves. Mr Bangs, the government's chief wolf recovery coordinator, says that the grey wolf has now reached a sustainable level.

Of course American farmers say they are worried about the wolves killing their livestock. However, research has shown that wolves are responsible for less than 2.5% of sheep deaths, and, in fact, coyotes kill 20 times more cattle then wolves do.

Wolves are misunderstood greatly all over the world, but especially by farmers whose livestock are in danger. Wolves don't kill for the sake of it, they kill livestock because they are opportunist hunters which means they will eat whenever possible because, in the wild, they will not know when their next meal will come. Unfortunately, sheep and other livestock do not run at first sight of a wolf and when they do run they are not as swift and agile as the wolves' normal prey. Many wolf attack reports are false and are actually a dog's doing.

Years ago the wolves could roam freely in the alpine areas, but the human population grew and we needed room for new houses, industrialization and also space for agriculture. We chopped down trees for timber. All these needs for the human population have destroyed the wolves' habitat and their natural prey started to disappear. Wolves are an important part of the ecosystem, because they kill some of the deer, wild boar and chamois which destroy the forest and trees. Trees are avalanche protectors and taking them away can be dangerous for the lands below the mountain or hillside. We all know that we need a lot of room to live, but is it fair that we destroy wolves' homes to save ours? In the end the wolves have almost disappeared completely from Switzerland. Now there are only three or four living just inside the border of Italy and Switzerland.

However, two years in a row, the Swiss authorities have asked for the wolf to be moved down from 'strictly protected' to 'protected'. If this happened, the hunting of wolves would be allowed, and maybe there would never be wild wolves in Switzerland again! Earlier this year, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and others did a big campaign to keep the wolves 'strictly protected' in Switzerland. They were successful and the law will not be changed for at least one year. However, there is another chance to change the law next year, so wolf lovers will have to campaign again to keep wolves safe. WWF will keep up the pressure over the next few years to keep the wolves a 'strictly protected' animal throughout Europe.

Back in America, now that the wolf numbers are high and sustainable, hunting will be allowed again. However, the wildlife service will be monitoring the population of wolves closely for the next five years. It has a set minimum of 300 wolves, and 30 breeding pairs, split equally around the Yellowstone area. Mr Bangs says if wolf numbers drop too far, then hunting will be banned again. This shows that wolf numbers can be kept at a good level if hunting is banned and allowed at the right times. Hopefully, this can also happen in Switzerland, and humans and wolves can live together.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Sources."

"Fair Game Now." The Economist 29 Mar. 2008: 52.

Kezia Saunders, II, British, International School of Geneva, Switzerland.

Saunders, Kezia

Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)

Saunders, Kezia. "Will the wolves win?" Earth Focus One Planet-One Community Fall 2009: 8+. General Reference Center GOLD.Web. 30 Apr. 2013.

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