{22.06.18} Another grey wolf in Oregon is in the cross hairs of an irate rancher. The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife will grant a Wallowa County rancher a kill permit after
three calves were preyed upon by wolves in the area over a three day period. Depredation was
confirmed by investigating officials, and is within the Chesnimnus
Wolf Activity Area according to their announcement.
[map] ODWF says it uses the same classification criteria as the federal agency with an infamous and egregious record of killing wildlife, USDA Wildlife Services.
[see below] In announcing the decision, the Department puts heavy emphasis on private land ownership, as if wolves understand man's artificial boundary drawing. The private pasture in question is also adjacent to public land. Officials stressed the efforts the rancher put forth to use non-lethal means to protect his livestock, which according to the press release primarily consisted of increased human surveillance of hise herd and removal of carcasses. Under the current management plan agriculturalists must document efforts to first use non-lethal means of controlling predation before a permit to kill can be granted. The agency will give the rancher until July 10th to kill one more wolf. The agency did not state whether the rancher will receive public funds as compensation for his lost calves.
More: A federal judge in Idaho issued a stinging rebuke to the federal Wildlife Services agency last Friday. He said the agency failed to properly assess the environmental impact of killing thousands of native wildlife such as mountain lion, coyotes, and foxes. Like their ranching overseers, the Wildlife Service agents consider such native predators to be "vermin" which should only be removed from the landscape. The judge held the agency ignored science showing that killing predators does not decrease conflicts with livestock. Wildlife advocates hailed the opinion as requiring a fair evaluation of the impact of killing off thousands of carnivores each year. The decision goes into damning detail about the unreliability of
Wildlife Service’s own data, and the lack of convincing evidence that the
agency took into account important feedback when it finalized its
killing proposals. The prominent Center for Biological Diversity called the federal agency, "trigger happy", and praised the decision as a victory for Idaho's native wild creatures.
three calves were preyed upon by wolves in the area over a three day period. Depredation was confirmed by investigating officials, and is within the Chesnimnus
Wolf Activity Area according to their announcement. [map] ODWF says it uses the same classification criteria as the federal agency with an infamous and egregious record of killing wildlife, USDA Wildlife Services. [see below] In announcing the decision, the Department puts heavy emphasis on private land ownership, as if wolves understand man's artificial boundary drawing. The private pasture in question is also adjacent to public land. Officials stressed the efforts the rancher put forth to use non-lethal means to protect his livestock, which according to the press release primarily consisted of increased human surveillance of hise herd and removal of carcasses. Under the current management plan agriculturalists must document efforts to first use non-lethal means of controlling predation before a permit to kill can be granted. The agency will give the rancher until July 10th to kill one more wolf. The agency did not state whether the rancher will receive public funds as compensation for his lost calves.