Once again, Casper Star Tribune 04-02-05

Jackson, Wyoming - Saturday, April 02, 2005


Feds kill five wolves

By CAT URBIGKIT
Star-Tribune correspondent Saturday, April 02, 2005




PINEDALE -- Federal wildlife officials killed five wolves in Sublette County earlier this week in response to chronic livestock depredations.

Mike Jimenez of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the wolves were members of the Daniel wolf pack, which has been implicated in the killing of at least 21 head of livestock in the last few years. Five members of the pack were killed last year as well, and federal officials do not know how many members of the pack are still roaming.

One night last week, the wolf pack entered a Daniel-area ranch pasture where pregnant cows were located, bringing two of the animals down. One of the cows was alive but severely wounded when found early the next morning and was destroyed by the ranch owners. Both of the cows were due to give birth, as calving in the herd had already begun, doubling the losses for the ranch.

The wolves then moved to another ranch, killing a yearling cow there.

Federal wildlife officials investigated and determined that wolves were responsible for the cattle deaths, all of which occurred in private lands, Jimenez said. The Fish and Wildlife Service granted authority for the entire pack to be eliminated.

Jimenez said that on Monday, a USDA Wildlife Services crew flew the area of the last confirmed kill, spotted a pack of five wolves and was able to shoot and kill all five.

Although the Daniel pack has been in the news recently because of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's concerns with the pack harassing elk on elk feedgrounds, control actions were undertaken based solely on the pack's livestock depredations, Jimenez said.

Rancher Stella Taylor said she and other local ranchers believe there are more wolves in the area.

"They are hanging in here," Taylor said. "There could still be more in here."

Bar W Bar Ranch Manager Merrill Dana agreed: "They only got about a third of them. We all know there are more than five wolves in the Daniel pack."

Dana said last week was the third occasion in which elk from a nearby feedground arrived on the ranch with a pack of wolves in tow.

"Every time the elk leave the feedground and come down here -- every time -- the next night, you're going to get the wolves in on you," Dana said.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department elk feedground manager Gary Hornberger said, "That particular pack was working the (nearby) Jewett elk feedground pretty hard in late February and March."

The wolves would harass the elk so much that all 678 head of elk repeatedly fled the feedground, Hornberger said.

"They were hitting them nightly," Hornberger said.

If the elk fled to the north, there wasn't much problem, according to Hornberger. But if the elk ran to the south, they ran to the private lands of Bar W Bar, increasing the possibility of elk transmitting brucellosis to cattle, in addition to bringing a pack of wolves to the cattle herd.

Aggressive action by the ranch kept the cattle and elk separated, and Hornberger added that the Game and Fish Department pushed the elk back to the feedground on several occasions.

Wolves have made their presence known on at least five other elk feedgrounds in Sublette County this winter as well, he said.