Wolves’ Big, Bad Image Hampers Restoration Effort in Northern Rockies : Wildlife: Ranchers are wary of predators who might turn their livestock into dinner. But environmentalists say the problem is overblown.
SALMON, Idaho — When Kevin Rice found the well-gnawed remains of a calf on his dairy farm one morning last month, his first thought was that a wolf must have done it.
His second thought was to call the sheriff, and soon there was quite a crowd in his pasture: Rice and his wife, a sheriff’s deputy, a veterinarian, two biologists from the federal government, three reporters and a photographer.
The biologists peered at the calf carcass, sniffed animal droppings and prowled the pasture for paw prints. They concluded the newborn calf had been attacked not by a wolf but by a coyote.
Rice shrugged and said it didn’t matter to him.
“If I see anything,†he said, “I’m going to shoot it.â€
It’s been five months since 15 gray wolves captured in Alberta were released into the wilds of central Idaho, three months since 14 wolves were let out of holding pens in Yellowstone National Park.
The wolves--the first wave of a federal effort to restore the endangered species to the Northern Rockies--are thriving, and not everyone is pleased about it.
While Yellowstone tourists delight at wolves cavorting within view of the park road, the restoration effort also has resurrected fears that led to the predator’s eradication in the region 60 years ago.
What some consider a soul-stirring symbol of wilderness, many ranchers and farmers see as a threat to their economic survival.
Two wolves have already been killed, and authorities predict more of what rural Westerners know as the “three-S†style of wildlife management: shoot, shovel and shut up.
Ranchers around Salmon are understandably nervous about having an old predator back on the block, said Lemhi County Sheriff Brett Barsalou. “I’m going to be surprised if a year from now any of those animals are alive.â€
But Ted Koch, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s wolf recovery leader for Idaho, says wolves don’t deserve their bad reputation. He points to an established population of nearly 100 wolves in northwestern Montana, where he says only 21 cows and 12 sheep have been killed in 10 years.
Ranchers’ suspicions notwithstanding, there’s no evidence that any of the recently released wolves in Yellowstone and Idaho have killed livestock, Koch said. He said they prefer the abundant wild prey.
“They’re basically in wolf heaven,†Koch said. “There are no other wolf-pack territories they need to avoid, at least that we know of, and there are more elk and deer than they can probably believe.â€
Biologists have been pleasantly surprised by how quickly the transplanted wolves have adapted.
In Yellowstone, wolves have been seen bringing down elk, and one pack killed a moose. In Idaho, the wolves are eating elk, snowshoe hare and red squirrel.
Other animals, meanwhile, are adapting to the presence of a new predator.
Yellowstone’s bold coyotes, no longer top dog in the park, are starting to run for cover. Grizzly bears have been seen moving in on wolf-killed carcasses, and ravens are quick to clean up leftovers.
Some of this wildlife drama occurs within sight of the road through Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley. Park rangers report “wolf jams†caused by motorists stopping to watch wolves roaming the hills.
“They have quite a following,†park spokeswoman Cheryl Matthews said.
The recovery, however, has had some setbacks.
One Idaho wolf headed straight for trouble after its release in January, traveling 60 miles to a ranch near Salmon, where it was shot dead while eating a calf carcass. A necropsy showed the calf was already dead when the wolf came upon it, Koch said. The shooter has not been found.
In Yellowstone, biologists watched nervously this spring as all but one wolf left the park to check out surrounding national forests and private rangeland.
One wolf was shot dead near Red Lodge, Mont., about 40 miles northeast of the park. A Montana hunter has been charged in the shooting, a misdemeanor under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The dead wolf’s mate then gave birth to eight pups on a private ranch near Red Lodge. Mother and pups were removed from their poorly chosen denning site and returned to a one-acre pen in Yellowstone, where road-killed elk will substitute this summer for food the male would have brought in.
All the other Yellowstone wolves have since returned on their own to the park or to the adjoining Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Matthews said.
As the wolves settle in, the political furor over their arrival continues.
The Wyoming Legislature approved a $1,000 bounty on wolves killed while preying on livestock outside the park. The measure was vetoed by Gov. Jim Geringer, who said he appreciated the sentiment but didn’t want to contradict federal law.
The congressional delegations of Montana and Wyoming are proposing to reduce or eliminate federal funding for the wolf-restoration program, projected to cost $6.7 million over 10 years.
All the fuss frustrates Koch, who says restoring wolves should be simple.
“Biologically speaking, recovering an endangered species doesn’t get any easier than with wolves,†Koch said. “There’s tons of wolf habitat, tons of wolf prey. All we have to do to recover wolves is not shoot them.â€
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