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Wolf
Uproar Creates a False Impression
10/02/2001
The
sensationalism and exaggeration of the plight of the introduced experimental
population of wolves in and around Yellowstone National Park has created a
false impression that they are the only wolves in the lower 48 states.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Agencies kill more wolves in the
lower 48 states every year than are in the experimental Yellowstone
populations. Take the case of the gray wolf in Minnesota, which USFWS may
downlist soon. There are at least 2,200 of these wolves and at least 200 per
year are euthanized by authorities. According to USFWS, the released Mexican
wolves in the national forests of eastern Arizona are multiplying, and other
wolf populations in Montana and Wyoming are healthy and expanding. The
abundance of other wolves in Montana and Wyoming is best demonstrated by the
recent draft reassessment of the USFWS Wolf Control Plan for the Northern
Rocky Mountains for review and comment, noticed document availability at
63FR20212, April 23, 1998. The Wolf Control Plan has existed since 1988 in
the Rocky Mountain areas. Its purpose is to “reduce the probability of
wolf-livestock conflict which would allow people to tolerate wolves, thus
enhancing the survival and propagation of wolves.” According to USFWS,
“...the naturally occurring wolf population in northwest Montana has grown
from about 26 wolves in 1987 to over 75 today.” This does not include the
introduced Yellowstone population. There are so many naturally occurring
wolves in the northwest Montana recovery area that the wolf packs have not
increased in that area in the past five years. Instead, they are dispersing
into other areas at a rapid rate. Since 1987, the northwest Montana wolves
have killed 42 sheep, 51 cattle and five dogs on private property outside of
the recovery area they are dispersing from. When they kill sheep or cattle
they are captured and removed and in two instances they have been killed by
the USFWS. No account whatsoever is taken when they kill natural prey such
as game animals. That is not considered a “conflict.” The USFWS reports that
“no problem wolf relocated to Glacier National Park has stayed in the Park.”
The wolves in that park have actually declined as they kill one another and
compete for space and prey. It has proven useless to relocate problem
wolves, yet if problem wolves that have killed sheep and cattle are not
relocated or killed, they tend to increase their sheep and cattle killing.
Wolves, including reintroduced experimental wolves in the central Idaho and
Yellowstone experimental areas, have killed a total of 175 sheep and 61
cattle in the northern Rocky Mountains. Only a few of the wolves are the
problem. Most of the cattle and sheep, 56 percent and 60 percent
respectively, were killed by wolves that had killed before and been left or
relocated. It should be made clear that the number of sheep and cattle they
kill are inconsequential because they primarily feed on wild prey. It is
interesting to note that when they do strike domestic animals it is a
massacre. “During four depredations on sheep an average of 10.2 sheep were
killed per depredation. The most sheep killed during one attack by wolves
was 28, the most cattle seven.” The USFWS reports that in northwest Montana,
“...wolf populations can sustain human-caused losses of up to 35 percent
annually without declining (Fritts, et al. 1992).... The wolf population
estimate over the past four years, including the 1997 estimate of 74 wolves,
has underestimated the number of wolves and wolf packs.”