U.S. House of Reps bill prohibits killing predators with snowmobile

From Buckrail:

UNITED STATES — National outcry after Daniel, Wyoming resident Cody Roberts ran over and possessed an injured female wolf on Feb. 29, has led to federal lawmakers pursuing new legislation that would prohibit the intentional killing of wolves, coyotes and other wildlife with a snowmobile on federal lands.

The Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons (SAW) Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Don Davis, D-N.C., Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. and Troy Carter, D-La on Thursday, Sept. 12.

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The Biden administration is taking steps to eliminate protections for gray wolves

From AP News:

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday asked an appeals court to revive a Trump-era rule that lifted remaining Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the U.S.

If successful, the move would put the predators under state oversight nationwide and open the door for hunting to resume in the Great Lakes region after it was halted two years ago under court order.

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Colorado’s new source for gray wolves is outside the U.S.

From 9News:

DENVER — Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) went outside the United States to secure a new source for gray wolves in its second year of reintroduction efforts, the agency said on Friday.

Colorado will get up to 15 wolves from the B.C. Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship in British Columbia, Canada. The wolves will be captured and released in Colorado between December and March, CPW said in a news release.

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Tribal wildlife grants awarded

From Char-koosta News:

POLSON – The Department of the Interior recently announced the recipients of Tribal Wildlife Grants. The Tribal Wildlife Grants Program is administered by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the program annually solicits project proposals from tribal fish and wildlife programs for funding consideration. The proposals are competitively reviewed by the Service, and funding is allocated based on the reviews.

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Colorado wolf dies in Grand County, the 2nd mortality in one week from reintroduced species

From Sky-Hi News:

Another of the male wolves reintroduced to Colorado has died in Grand County.

This marks the third wolf death since Colorado Parks and Wildlife released 10 gray wolves in December 2023 and the second mortality this month.

The wildlife agency received a mortality signal from the GPS collar on wolf 2307 on Monday, Sept. 9, and confirmed the death on Tuesday.

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Western Watersheds Project on conserving public lands

From The Sopris Sun:

Advocating for healthy public lands and wildlife is at the heart of the Western Watersheds Project (WWP). The organization started in 1993, then the Idaho Watersheds Project, as a form of citizen protest to ranching practices in Lake Creek, Idaho. WWP’s work is done through a lens of maintaining and restoring ecosystem balance in places where humans and livestock overlap with wildlife.

Now 30 years into this work, WWP does much more than just compete at land-leasing auctions. With field offices in six states and addressing 250 million acres of public land, WWP is involved in initiatives from pollinator protection to wolf reintroduction, and from litigations and negotiations to public information campaigns.

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Activists Push For National Ban On Running Down Wolves With Snowmobiles

From Cowboy State Daily:

While Wyoming ponders a legislative response to the abuse and killing of a wolf in Daniel that sparked nationwide outrage, an animal welfare group is pushing a bi-partisan bill for a federal ban chasing predators on snowmobiles.

In a case of a hot-button issue making strange political bedfellows, conservative firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, is joining with Congressional Democrats to introduce the Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons (SAW) Act.

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Is Colorado’s Only Hope For Saving Disastrous Wolf Program To Follow Wyoming?

From Cowboy State Daily:

Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program has so far been a disaster, but some believe there’s a chance it could still work if Wyoming’s southern neighbor would follow the Cowboy State’s lead.

“How do you make it (wolf reintroduction) work for hunters, how do you make it work for ranchers? How do you make it work for everybody?” said Jerry Whited, an experienced outdoorsman who’s lived in both states. “Follow that Wyoming model, and you’ll have a shot at making it work.”

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Wolf pack blamed in Colorado livestock attacks is captured and will be relocated

From NBC News:

Colorado wildlife officials said Monday that they captured and plan to relocate five members of the first pack of wolves to form under the state’s ambitious wolf reintroduction program.

A sixth wolf — the pack’s adult male — was captured but died in captivity due to injuries unrelated to its capture, officials said. That wolf had been involved in repeated attacks on livestock and officials said it would have been kept in captivity if it survived.

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Colorado wildlife advocates ‘devastated’ by death of reintroduced wolf in captured pack

From Montrose Press:

Wildlife advocates said Monday that they were “devastated” by the death of a reintroduced wolf that was captured late last month following a series of livestock depredations in the Middle Park area, and continued to place blame for the situation on a lack of effective conflict management and nonlethal control measures.

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