Wyoming wolves delisted

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TheGreatwhitehunter
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Wyoming wolves delisted

Post by TheGreatwhitehunter » Sat Sep 01, 2012 12:55 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/federal-governmen ... 05646.html

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Visitors to Yellowstone National Park on almost any given day can glimpse packs of wolves and hear their iconic howls, thanks to a yearslong effort to revive the species that once neared extinction in the United States.

It's an effort the federal government has determined to be so successful that wolves no longer need special protections to ensure their survival in Wyoming — the state officials chose in the mid-1990s for reintroducing the predator to the Northern Rocky Mountains.

"The wolf population in Wyoming is recovered, and it is appropriate that the responsibility for wolf management be returned to the state," Gov. Matt Mead said Friday after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will end the protections in most of Wyoming and entrust the state with managing their numbers.

The move allows wolves to be shot on sight in most parts of Wyoming while keeping them permanently protected in designated areas like Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, and the Wind River Indian Reservation. The decision quickly sparked promises of legal challenges from environmental groups that argue wolves still need protection to maintain their successful recovery.

"Today's removal of wolves in Wyoming from the endangered species list is a tragic ending to what has otherwise been one of America's greatest wildlife conservation success stories," Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife, said in a statement. "Now we are left with no choice but to pursue legal action to ensure that a healthy, sustainable wolf population remains in Wyoming and across the Northern Rockies for many generations to come."

In announcing the decision, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe acknowledged the opposition it would face and the "emotional reaction to wolf hunting," but said hunting would not be "detrimental to long-term conservation of wolves."

"Quite the contrary, it will support long-term conservation of wolves as it has other predators like mountain lion and grizzly bear and black bear," Ashe said.

North America was once home to as many as 2 million gray wolves, but by the 1930s, fur traders, bounty hunters and government agents had poisoned, trapped and shot them to near extinction in the continental United States. An effort to revive their numbers rose up and centered on starting the recovery in Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming.

Overcoming protests from Wyoming farmers and ranchers who feared wolves would prey on their livestock, wildlife managers transplanted 14 wolves from Canada into Yellowstone in the mid-1990s. The effort exceeded all expectations as wolf numbers quickly multiplied, and Friday's action means Wyoming can now take measures to control their population outside the Greater Yellowstone vicinity.

There are about 270 wolves in Wyoming outside Yellowstone. There are about another 1,100 or so in Montana and Idaho where wolves were delisted earlier and still more in Washington and Oregon.

Wyoming has been chaffing under federal wolf protections for years, with ranchers and hunters complaining that wolves kill too many cattle and other wildlife.

Wyoming's management plan was agreed upon last year by Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. It calls for the state to maintain at least 10 breeding pairs of wolves and at least 100 individual animals.

The state will classify wolves in the remaining 90 percent of Wyoming as predators, subject to being killed anytime by anyone.

The state will take over management of the wolves under its purview effective Sept. 30. The Wyoming Game Commission has approved wolf hunts starting Oct. 1. The state is prepared to issue unlimited hunting licenses but will call a halt after hunters kill 52 wolves.

Bryce Reece, executive vice president of the Wyoming Wool Growers Association, said ranchers for too long had their hands tied in trying to stop wolves attacking their livestock.

"The reality is my folks aren't in any big rush to get there to try to kill a wolf. They just want the ability to protect their livestock," Reece said. "We are hopeful, by putting some pressure on them, they'll move back into areas where it's less habited and there's less livestock."
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MuleyMadness
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Re: Wyoming wolves delisted

Post by MuleyMadness » Sat Sep 01, 2012 12:58 pm

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Re: Wyoming wolves delisted

Post by Mularcher » Sat Sep 01, 2012 2:15 pm

About time!
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Re: Wyoming wolves delisted

Post by bobtank » Thu Sep 06, 2012 9:31 am

It really is about time. I am a service member originally from Wyoming and I can remember talking to a game and fish guy in Jackson and he said he watch the same two wolves kill three elk a week for the duration of that winter, ridiculous. We have always packed in on horses around the Dubois area for 28 years and opening day was always great as you could hear bulls bugleing in every drainage but now for about the last six years all we hear is wolves as they have nearly ran or eaten all the elk out of that country. If I had the power I would eradicate them all or ship them all to the white lawn or california so the hippies can deal with them. The wolves have not only greatly effected the wildlife population but have taken a toll on the Wyoming rancher as well. One rancher near Dubois was given federal permission to kill a wolf that was eating his calves and when the hippies caught wind of it they threated not only the rancher but his family as well. If these animal rights groups love the wolves so much then maybe they should put them in their backyards and stay out of Wyoming's business.

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Re: Wyoming wolves delisted

Post by Mularcher » Sun Sep 09, 2012 9:05 pm

If the original goal of 100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs in each of the three primary recovery states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming would have been enforced then maybe the problems we see today with wildlife populations wouldn't be but when you have The anti-hunting and environmental groups well funded and organized for years before the ranching & sporting citizens it's no wonder wildlife populations in some areas are down 80%.
“If you are not working to protect hunting, then you are working to destroy it.” Fred Bear

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Re: Wyoming wolves delisted

Post by AGCHAWK » Tue Sep 11, 2012 10:11 pm

Some of the best news I've heard in a LONG time!!!!
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Re: Wyoming wolves delisted

Post by TScott27 » Mon Oct 01, 2012 6:53 pm

This is great news! Now I can teach my son in the most ideal manner how to hunt wolves. Of course, we don't want them to go extinct, we would just like a bit more freedom when hunting, right?

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Re: Wyoming wolves delisted

Post by stillhunterman » Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:10 pm

Good news indeed. This also helps Utah as well since the southern portions of Wy the wolves can shot as varmints, so to speak. That reduces the likelihood of wolves moving down to northern Utah a bit. The pro wolf groups are gearing up for the final delisting of wolves in the lower 48, which should have already happened but was postponed as I recall. The Service has stated they have no desire to "reintroduce" wolves to areas of Utah where they are not currently delisted, but they are still shunning any attempts to communicate with the State on any issue that relates to this. It will be interesting to see how things progress over the next few months into next summer. (???)

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