Yellowstone wolves fall in rifle sights

She was a tough, wary wolf. A genius at tactics. Cruel when she had to be, and when you're a wolf, that's pretty often. Wolf 527, a huge, black female, was the alpha female of Yellowstone National Park's Cottonwood pack, until she died earlier this month in Montana's first modern wolf hunt.

Yellowstone's wolves are familiar to viewers of National Geographic and BBC documentaries, so there was more than a little mourning for the four Cottonwood wolves who died.

Yet in the gorgeous valleys around Yellowstone, there were few tears shed. Many residents there believe the 60% drop in the northern Yellowstone elk herd can be attributed to the reintroduced predators.

Read the full story here.

-- Kim Murphy

Photo: Wolf 527, killed on Buffalo Plateau on Oct. 3. Credit: Dan Stahler / National Parks Service

Comments

[Cynthia Minde]

PATHETIC, PATHETIC, Anything for greed and money. This hunt should have never been allowed in Yellowstone. This isn't about getting rid of wolves because they are a nuisance this is about money. Seeing just how much the state can bring in from out of towner's to hunt wolves. This is so wrong. Especially when a pack dies that hasn't done anything. The ranchers should have been the only ones to buy permits and shoot the wolves that are killing their livestock which I don't like either but killing a pack that in well know is PATHETIC. Do they all have to pay the price of the bad ones. Is that what we do?

[Cynthia Minde]

100,000 Montana hunters ready to stalk deer, elk and wolves Sunday.
http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_e2fc18fa-c0c1-11de-bd99-001cc4c03286.html

Who is really responsible for the depletion of the Elk? 100,000 permits is a lot, and then figure in your poachers. Who is really the predator Man or Wolf.

[Susan D. Teixeira]

Dear Kim:

Because I am emailing, you all ready know I care about the animal population and all the famous statements about how we (should) care for them, etc.

This is one of the most heartbreaking stories I have read in a long time. Talk
about against all odds and once again, man has to muck it up! Maybe that is why we are self destructing???

Complaining without a suggestion is a waste so in hopes of making a tiny
difference.......Why not have the "hunters" have some type of way to know which animals are being tracked and therefore protected?

There are exceptions to all rules. We almost wiped out the buffalo and wolves,
don't we realize WE also are in this hierarchy? I believe the more we wipe out
the closer we are to wiping out ourselves (regardless of where one stands on
killing animals). The truth is we ALL know that the animals will loose to a man,
with bullets!

A fair hunt is not by making them think there is another mating animal. It is
not by putting up salt licks, feed stands and waiting for the animal which has
fed for a while in a "safe" place. It is not by putting the urine to attract
another animal.

THE ANIMALS IN THE WILD WILL ALWAYS LOOSE. Let's not forget WE are animals. After all, what animal would kill for a pair of designer shoes???

Respectfully submitted in hopes of protecting the wolves who lost their leader
and a great leader 527 was. May the Gods protect her offspring,

Susan Dwork Teixeira

Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from
view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And
in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so
fundamental that all others stem from it.
Milan Kundera

Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man
will not himself find peace.
Albert Schweitzer

=

[Rick]

After a decade of work and no doubt a great deal of money spent, the wolves have just made it of of the endangered list. Why on earth do they then go allow these sickos to go out there and kill them and presumably send them back to the endangered species list? What exactly do they do with these wolves anyway? I can't imagine they're edible so why do they feel the need to hunt them?

[Vincent N.]

while articles and news information about the abuse & killings of animals would have made me upset or sad, nowadays i look at humane action a little different. from my 32 years in this world i have learned a huge and intelligent lesson..nature will take care of itself. no action does not go unnoticed by life. when i read of humans slaughtering animals for food, hunting animals for "game", and just plane old abusing them because their bored makes me only feel for the poor uneducated human species who will have to deal with the repercussions of their actions. imagine the intelligence and heart of a man or a women being able to hurt something that was intended for this life? poor human.
-vincent n.

[Andrew O]

This story was really depressing, yet another example of humans applying our own ideas to nature, as if we had any idea how a truly natural system should work. It sounds like some of these people complaining about the decrease in elk are complaining because they're being beaten by superior hunters and now their sport isn't so easy.
I find modern hunting to be a pathetic sport anyway. Humans have evolved, come join us!

[Mario Todd]

First of all contact your legislators and insist that they go rescue the wolves and bring them to California. Idaho tried to give any state 200 of them this spring, you need to talk to your legislators for not taking them.
Those 3 states do not deserve to have the wolves, insist they be brought to folks who can appreciate them. Those folks do not even appreciate the fact that they were supposed to share 300 between the 3 states and are now lucky to have many times that many, so I say just take them where folks appreciate them.

[Robert]

I see a lot of simplification going on here. Wildlife is a complex issue and compromises must be made to achieve long term goals. Ironic as it seems, without the promise of an eventual wolf hunt, reintroduction would likely never have got past the idea stage fifteen years ago. By having some give and take on both sides (wolf advocates and hunters), having a long-term view of wildlife populations and using excellent science to manage the hunt (it was shut down this morning, on day two of the season after quotas were reached) wildlife managers might just make it possible to have wolves around for the long haul.

Wolves reintroduction has been and continues to be a huge success story in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. If you recall there were no wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Region just fifteen years ago. Wolves are now thriving. A limited and controlled hunt is a small price to pay for this success. If you really care about wolves I would suggest putting your energy into expanding populations into places with few or no wolves such as Colorado, Washington, Oregon and beyond rather than opposing this perfectly sustainable hunt.

BTW, let's not confuse the issue. Wolves were not hunted inside Yellowstone NP but on public and private land outside the park.

[muezzin]

It's the epitome of cowardice: these beergut types with high-powered rifles lying in wait for wildlife. I watched them on TV once, high-fiving after they killed a particularly spectacular elk. Despicable, really.

There is no meat on a wolf - the hillbillies are going for the trophy. If they tried it with a bow & arrow, or bare hands, I'd say OK. But this - is pure murder, by cowards.

[Whatever in LA]

There are 8 billion humans and a few thousand wolves on this planet. The humans will probably not internalize what "endangered species" are until after they hunt them to extinction. Hurray, Montana and other hunting states!

[Michael Behrns-Miller]

muezzin said it best - cowards, all of them - from the "sport" (sic) hunters to the "wildlife managers" (sic). We don't have much longer to get this stuff right. Looks like the human race doesn't have the requisite intelligence or compassion.

[mario todd]

Again, you guys go get some, you can always feed them your pets if there is not enough deer and elk in
California. Show 'em how easy it is. Don't worry about sending them to other states, you show by example how easy they are to live with.

[maria elena gonzalez]

HICKS, HICKS, they need to learn how to read, write and count to understand elk hunters kill elks, and they can learn that there´s actually other things beyond shootin´and eating flesh, that the animals were there before they were, and that it´s their own fault for their own misery. Maybe stop getting oblivious with their booze, too. I´d love to stop them the same way they want to stop nature.

[Cynthia Minde]

The way Montana runs their Wildlife department and the reputation they are getting is really sad. They chase and haze our Buffalo, They run our Wild horses with low flying helicopters over 5,000 foot cliffs and now they are hunting our wolves. They are not Wildlife protectors they are more like hired killers for the Government. Do you realize how much money they brought into that state by selling tags? Thousands and Thousands of dollars just so sport hunters can have their thrill in the backwoods. They are nothing more that slick city folk who have no clue to what our environment or our ecosystem needs and how the wolves are needed to keep it all in tact. Everyone should write letters to the Governor of Montana and to the Fish and game. I have all the addresses and emails if anyone would like them.

[Connie Thompson]

I was sick after reading about the killing of the wolves. We have all watched them on TV and marvel at this wonderful animal.

A law needs to be made that NO ONE can shoot a collard animal. Also, the boundary around the park needs to be enlarged. How does a wolf know when he leaves the park? He can't read the sign that states: You are now leaving Yellowstone National Park.
Help!!
Connie

[ssi]

Why can't we bring some of the wolves to the Crystal River Reservoir...it is a protected area, clean water, and human access is restricted...if they wander off the area...we can just keep enlarging the boundary...when they reach San Francisco the dining would be wonderful along the T.L. and Mission Districts and it wouldn't upset the balance...we prefer canines to people anyway...we can even let them use one of our "Human Companion" leash-less parks with fenced defication areas...we could charge tourists for photo-ops and add a viewing tax...the activists would be in utopia, our lawyers would have unlimited legal issues to address and healthy financial gains...we could hire dozens of consultant firms for impact evaluations...and think of all the opportunities we would have to demonstrate to others how advanced we are at dealing with any issue of society...

[anonymous]

Here are some facts -
I posted this on the other article...hopefully it will be posted here as well...

Idaho and Montana together are 363,770 SQ MILES
Current wolf population in Idaho and Montana: 1,343
Projected post-hunting season wolf population: 1,123

That is one wolf per 3,262 square miles - to put that into perspective Los Angeles County is 4,061 square miles - based on these numbers we would have one wolf in our ENTIRE county.

As for the comment about the wolves not being killed in Yellowstone - that is correct, they were killed LESS THAN A MILE from the yellowstone border in the BACKCOUNTRY on the FIRST day of open season.

What that tells me is this: that guide took that hunter to hunt that specific wolf from that specific pack. They must have gone out there early. My guess is that they baited them and then when it was the right day - killed them.
The next time you are on a freeway (...not in traffic)you will have traveled a mile in about a minute, if you are travelling at the legal speed limit...that is how far those wolves were from the yellowstone border.

It is shameful that this occured under the Obama administration - that Secretary of the Interior Salazar made made a decision based on what the Ranching and Hunting industry wanted rather than preserving the natural resources of our country for all americans to appreciate. I thought that with all his touting the environment something like this would have never happened under his administration...to say that I am disappointed in President Obama is a understatement. I drank the Kool-Aid and regret it now.

What is even more pathetic is that Montana and Idaho did not choose to follow Wyoming's lead and allow the Department of Fish and Wildlife to manage the wolf population...instead they took this as an opportunity to make money...

Please take the time to write the president - even if is just an email on the white house website - write Diane Feinstein, she is a member of the environmental commitee in congress...we do not have to allow this to happen without protest.

[George Elledge]

While I do not know enough about the subject wolf situation to comment on what should or should not be done, I do know that Kim's article was loaded with inflamatory phrases and words. I assume this article was intended as reporting and not editorlizing. Example she reports one of the wolves daughter was killed. Human's have daughters not wolves. ... the wolves were cut down.

It seems that newspapers are in financial trouble all over the country. Most of us would like to see people report and not try and influence our opinions.