Large carnivore management evolving
From Powell Tribune:
With Wyoming’s bear, wolf and mountain lion populations on the minds of many in the state as adventurers and tourists head to the hills for the summer season, Game and Fish Large Carnivore Biologist Luke Ellsbury took the mic at the Coe Auditorium in traditional red shirt, wool vest and a full salt and pepper beard that would make Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) proud.
Ellsbury is part of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s elite Large Carnivore Management team based in Cody. He’s one of only 10 wildlife biologists tasked with conservation decisions and conflict mitigation, non-stop work that has them on the run throughout the year. He was invited to speak at the Draper Museum of Natural History at a time when the department has been under attack — mostly by those who don’t live in the state. The recent Sublette County wolf abuse case has weighed heavily on the entire department as those outraged by the case took out their frustrations on the red shirts. Game and Fish employees have faced harsh criticism after the incident, even receiving threats to their safety and sadly their pets, and been on the phones and answering a large volume of emails, according to an official.
