Wolf hate on the rise in the West, with ranchers often in driver’s seat

From Oregon Capital Chronicle:

The wolf issue continues to heat up across the West, with states like Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and now Colorado, all getting a chance to show their preferred flavor of wolf management.

Here in “progressive” Oregon, wolves are continuously being slaughtered by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, often with the help of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services. This state-sponsored killing (plus private poaching) has resulted in suppressed wolf numbers and a hampered recovery effort.

 

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Colorado releases first 5 wolves in reintroduction plan approved by voters to chagrin of ranchers

From ABC News:

GRAND COUNTY, Colorado — Somewhere on a remote mountainside in Colorado’s Rockies, a latch flipped on a crate and a wolf bounded out, heading toward the tree line. Then it stopped short.

For a moment, the young female looked back at it’s audience of roughly 45 people who stared on in reverential silence. Then she disappeared into the forest.

 

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Wolf a part of Europe’s natural heritage, write 300 groups in open letter to Ursula von der Leyen

From Down to Earth:

Some 300 environmental and animal protection organisations have written to the president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, demanding that existing legal protections for wolves in Europe be upheld and enforced consistently across the European Union’s member states.

The organisations made the demand in an open letter issued on December 18, 2023. Calling the wolf a part of the Continent’s natural heritage, the organisations further demanded the EC to “promote uptake of coexistence measures between wolves and local communities since many of those opportunities are under-utilised by the Member States”.

 

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For some Oregonians, losing 10 wolves to Colorado is complicated

From OPB:

Northeastern Oregon’s rocky mountains and arid, shrub-steppe valleys might seem like unforgiving terrain for most creatures. But wolves thrive here.

Most of Oregon’s 38 known wolf packs roam this region, where the relative isolation compared to the state’s western half gives them more freedom to travel, and to hunt. They prey on mule deer and elk, and when those are tough to come by, rabbits and grouse. Sometimes that’s not enough, especially for growing pups, so they turn to cattle pastures.

 

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Wolves will eat just about anything, including sea otters

From EarthTouch News Network:

You might presume a sea otter mainly lives in fear of a lethal bolt from the blue in the form of an orca or white shark. Turns out, though, that some threats come on four legs.

A recent paper in Ecology underscores the dietary (and strategic) versatility of the gray wolf – historically among the most widely distributed large carnivores on Earth – and, more specifically, just how marine-oriented the menus of coastal wolves along the Pacific margin of northwestern North America can be.

 

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WATCH: Colorado releases five gray wolves in Grand County

From Colorado Politics:

Wildlife experts on Monday released five gray wolves in Colorado’s Western Slope, the culmination of years of planning for a program that has stoked political tensions and is likely to lead to conflicts as the predators make the valleys, lakes and peaks of the north-central Rocky Mountains their new home.

Colorado officers released the wolves in Grand County after a last-ditch effort by cattlemen and livestock growers on Friday failed to persuade a federal judge to halt their reintroduction.

 

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Colorado releases first 5 wolves in reintroduction plan approved by voters to chagrin of ranchers

From Western Slope Now:

GRAND COUNTY, Colorado (AP) — Somewhere on a remote mountainside in Colorado’s Rockies, a latch flipped on a crate and a wolf bounded out, heading toward the tree line. Then it stopped short.

For a moment, the young female looked back at it’s audience of roughly 45 people who stared on in reverential silence. Then she disappeared into the forest.

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Idaho officials rescind approval of flawed plan to hunt wolves from helicopters

From Cache Valley Daily:

BOISE, ID – Under mounting pressure from wildlife conservation advocates, the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board here has rescinded plans to allow private contractors to hunt wolves shooting from helicopters.

That announcement was made on Dec. 14, with members of that panel admitting that they had failed to make “due diligence” prior to approving a proposal on Oct. 26 to spend more than $140,000 to hire a private contractor to use aerial gunning and other methods to kill wolves on private property and federal lands across much of Idaho’s wolf range.

 

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Colorado wolf releases may happen within days after federal judge rejects ranchers’ lawsuit

From The Colorado Sun:

A federal judge has denied a last-ditch effort by ranchers to block wolf reintroduction in Colorado.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife plans to begin capturing gray wolves in Oregon as soon as Sunday and could release the predators as soon as Monday following a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Regina Rodriguez on Friday.

 

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ODFW makes no changes to state’s Wolf Plan after 5-year review; two recent Crook County livestock kills reported

From KTVZ News:

MCMINNVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) —The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission held a workshop on Thursday to discuss the department’s five-year review of the state Wolf Plan and consider next steps, deciding to focus on issues such as wolf-livestock conflicts but deciding no plan changes are needed at present.

 

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