From The Daily Montanan:
The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department says that hunting and trapping wolves is fine. But, it doesn’t have the resources to translocate — or move — them to another state.
In May 2023, Jeff Davis, Colorado’s Director of Parks and Wildlife, sent a request to Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, seeking 30 to 50 wolves during the course of “several years,” because voters there had passed Proposition 114, which created a wolf re-introduction plan for the state.
Click here for the full story.
Inslee grants petitioners’ appeal on wolf killings in Washington
From The Wenatchee World:
OLYMPIA — An appeal by environmental petitioners to Gov. Jay Inslee regarding the use of lethal action against gray wolves in Washington state was granted earlier this month.
The appeal overturned the denial of a petition by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission that aimed to make changes in the current law governing when wolves can be killed during conflict with livestock.
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Study finds Montanans are increasingly OK with wolves
From Montana Free Press:
Montanans are increasingly tolerant of wolves, according to newly released research from the University of Montana’s Human Dimensions Lab and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The study, first conducted in 2012 and repeated in 2017 and 2023, was designed to gauge Montana residents’ attitudes toward wolves and various aspects of wolf management. To conduct it, researchers sent a survey to 10,000 Montana residents who were separated into four categories: the general population, landowners with more than 160 acres of land, wolf hunting license holders, and deer and elk license holders.
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Authorities investigating former conservation warden in wolf killing
From Wisconsin Public Radio:
Federal authorities are investigating a former state conservation warden for killing a wolf last month in northern Wisconsin.
Chief Deputy Andy Runice with the Bayfield County Sheriff’s Office said authorities received a call around 2 a.m. on Dec. 25 from Pat Quaintance, who said he had shot a collared wolf at his home in Bayfield.
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ARE ALASKAN WOLVES TARGETING WOLVERINES?
From The Wildlife Society:
A pack near Anchorage has likely killed three wolverines in the past few years
Click here for the full article.
Indian wolf sighted at NationalChambal Sanctuary after 2 decades
From The Times of India:
Kanpur: Indian Wolf has been sighted after a gap of more than two decades at the National Chambal Sanctuary at Etawah-Agra border. The wolf has been captured in a camera trap.
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Colorado will halt releasing gray wolves until December of this year
From RFD TV:
Colorado ranchers can breathe a short sigh of relief when it comes to protecting their livestock.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced it will not release any more gray wolves until the end of this year in December. This comes as state lawmakers push the governor to address producer concerns over the recent release of ten wolves.
It was the first step in a reintroduction plan approved by voters in 2020.
Click here for the full story.
Montana says it doesn’t have enough resources to help Colorado’s wolf re-introduction
From The Daily Montanan:
The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department says that hunting and trapping wolves is fine. But, it doesn’t have the resources to translocate — or move — them to another state.
In May 2023, Jeff Davis, Colorado’s Director of Parks and Wildlife, sent a request to Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, seeking 30 to 50 wolves during the course of “several years,” because voters there had passed Proposition 114, which created a wolf re-introduction plan for the state.
Click here for the full story.
Undefined 10(j) rule leaves Colorado ranchers in limbo with 20 wolf attacks in 2 years
From CBS News:
f you’ve been keeping up with the coverage on wolf reintroduction in Colorado, you already know Don Gittleson, the rancher near Walden who has been dealing with wolves coming after his livestock even before wolves were dropped in the state late last year.
Now that the new wolves are here, and the new rules too, Gittleson is looking for guidance from Colorado Parks and Wildlife as to how he can follow the rules while utilizing his rights recently published. The 10(j) rule (which we have extensively covered here) allows for lethal control of an experimental population of otherwise endangered animals (this is a simplification, but basically if the wolves make a habit of killing livestock, those wolves can be killed to stop the repeated bad behavior.)
Click here for the full story.
Gray wolf bills take center stage this legislative session
From Washington Policy Center:
Gray wolf management is at the center of two more bills introduced this legislative session. Washington state is home to at least 216 gray wolves in 37 recognized packs – most of which call Northeast Washington home.
House Bill 2423 – relating to gray wolf management – and House Bill 2424 – relating to updating cooperative agreements between the state and federally recognized tribes for the successful collaborative management of Washington’s wildlife resources – emphasize the need for new approaches to gray wolf management. Locals dealing with the gray wolf population say the current management approaches are not working and leave the people most effected by the presence of the predators with little recourse to care for their children and livestock.
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Yellowstone Has Fewer Elk, So Wolves Form Bigger Packs To Hunt Bison
From Cowboy State Daily:
When wolves were first reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s, there were about 20,000 elk in the park’s northern herd. Now there are roughly 8,000.
Meanwhile, the opposite has happened with bison in the area with their numbers ballooning from about 500 to roughly 4,460.
And accordingly, wolves have started to eat more bison. They frequently scavenge carcasses, but also sometimes are daring enough to hunt the huge, lumbering beasts.
Click here for the full story.