Wolves, Wild Dogs and Foxes: Page 6 Endangered Species Handbook

Persecution and Hunting

Wolves, Wild Dogs and Foxes: Page 6

In the 1990s, the Fish and Wildlife Service began a reintroduction program of wolves into Yellowstone National Park and portions of Idaho and Montana to the north. Historically, wolves were killed to the last individual in Yellowstone National Park by park service personnel under predator-control laws. Their return is a vindication of their importance in the ecosystem. From the start, the project was fraught with difficulties and controversy, with conservationists pitted against one another as to methods and regulations, and many cattle and sheep ranchers opposing the entire project, vowing to kill any wolves that strayed out of the park. Defenders of Wildlife began a fund to repay ranchers for lost livestock, which helped convince some ranchers to accept the project. Of the 14 Canadian wolves released in 1995 in Yellowstone National Park, almost all remained within the park. Two packs produced a total of nine pups, and 17 more wolves from Canada were set free in the park in 1996. The largest of the reintroduced wolves and his mate left the park, and he was gunned down by a drunken man for sport; he skinned this big male and threw the carcass into the brush. Later, the wolf's pregnant mate found the skinless carcass and dug a den beside it. The hunter who, in defiance, sported a shirt reading "Northern Rockies Wolf Reduction Project," spent six months in jail and a year of supervised probation after being found guilty of deliberately killing the wolf.

These Canadian wolves, taken from areas where they were hunted and trapped, experienced a trap- and gun-free environment in Yellowstone National Park. They have adapted well, preying mainly on Elk, which had become overpopulated. Only a few Bison have been taken. Within a few years, the wolves have had major effects on the park's ecosystem. Grizzly Bears have benefited by feeding off the remains of wolf kills, as have ravens, foxes, Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles. The park's aspen trees have also benefited. Researchers from Oregon State University determined that until the late 1920s, young aspens were able to survive and mature within existing groves, but after the last wolves were killed off about 1926, the aspens began to die out because the overpopulated Elk browsed on these trees in the winter, stunting them. Another change that resulted from the absence of wolves was the disappearance of smaller birds, such as the Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) and Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii), from brushy areas that were heavily browsed by the large populations of Elk and other ungulates. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) biologists have been researching the many effects of the return of wolves on the park's ecology (WCS 2000).

By 1996, three packs of wolves occupied the park, and a fourth pack of four wolves lived on the park's northwestern border. Their total population in Yellowstone has risen to about 185, exceeding the expectations of scientists (Murphy 2000). Although detractors remain, wolves have garnered a great deal of support. Scientists have come to Yellowstone National Park to study the wolves, some saying it is the best place in the world to see these animals in an open habitat, exhibiting natural behavior. Tourists, likewise, have flocked to see the Yellowstone wolves, bringing $43 million a year to the area, according to Defenders of Wildlife (Rembert and Motavalli 1998). Visitors have been thrilled to see these wolves streak across the grasslands, meet in affectionate, playful groups and raise their melodious voices in group howls. The wolves are expected to be a major tourist attraction in the future, perhaps rivaling the world-renowned geysers. Television films have been made of the wolves, chronicling their reintroduction and pack behavior, and The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone, a book by Thomas McNamee (1997), recounts their reintroduction.

The wolves were released under a special designation of the US Endangered Species Act known as "non-essential, experimental populations," a category that permits authorities to kill them if they are found preying on livestock, or even if they cause adverse effects on wild ungulates such as deer and Elk. It is not legal to kill them for sport deliberately (FWS 1994). As a result, many wolves straying outside Yellowstone National Park have not fared well. One pack of 13 that roamed the plateaus north of the park declined to a single wolf in one year; all but three, who are now back in captivity, died or were shot (Murphy 2000). Several conservation organizations sued the Fish and Wildlife Service to appeal the non-essential designation, stating that there were already some wolves present that would be killed at will because of the designation. Livestock owners also sued the government, requesting that the program be stopped and the wolves be removed. These lawsuits were not heard in federal court until late 1997, after 66 wolves had been brought from Canada to Yellowstone and Idaho in 1995 and 1996.

In December 1997, the lawsuits from both sides of the wolf issue were finally heard in a US District Court, which came to the stunning decision that the Fish and Wildlife Service had violated the US Endangered Species Act by declaring the wolves an experimental population because wolves that might already be present would be denied full protection of the law. The judge ordered that the reintroduced wolves be removed from the park, but stayed his own decision pending appeal. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt expressed the Department's support for keeping the wolves in the wild. The Fish and Wildlife Service stated that should the decision be upheld on appeal, the wolves would have to be euthanized, as there was no area where they could be released (Chadwick 1998). The decision was appealed and overturned in January 2000, allowing the wolves to remain as part of Yellowstone's ecosystem for the indefinite future.

For the long-term success of the reintroduction of Gray Wolves into this region, the entire Yellowstone ecosystem, which extends well beyond the limits of the national park and other federal lands, should be protected. Already, much prime habitat that was once occupied by wildlife has been converted for agriculture, livestock and homes. Growth of housing and spread of the urban landscape in Jackson, Wyoming, are gobbling up thousands of acres each year. At least one cattle ranch has recently been purchased as a buffer for wolves and bison straying out of Yellowstone National Park. Efforts should be made to acquire more habitat so Yellowstone's wolves and those to the north could be linked through forest corridors to avoid inbreeding and provide space for expanding populations. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition has proposed a program called Y to Y, or Yellowstone to Yukon, that seeks an even more ambitious goal: to link reserves and parks between the two areas, providing a vast wildlife corridor. Much of the land in this linkage area is already federally owned. Grizzly Bears and wolves are among the many wildlife species that require enormous amounts of habitat, and unless action is taken now, populations of these and other wide-ranging animals will become isolated and inbred.

Central Idaho has 12 million acres of national forest land and was chosen as a release site because of the enormous potential habitat. Opposition to the reintroduction in Idaho was strong, and the state legislature blocked the involvement of the state wildlife department (Robbins 1997). The Nez Perce tribe, which has a strong commitment to preserving the wolf, stepped into the void and became the first Indian tribe to manage an endangered species in an entire state (Robbins 1997). The project is headed by a tribal leader, Jaime Pinkham, a forest biologist who returned to his tribal roots and became manager of the Nez Perce Department of Natural Resources (Robbins 1997). Conservation groups, such as the Gray Wolf Education and Research Center in Idaho, are attempting to change the anti-wolf opinions of local ranchers with films, several penned wolves and other programs. Unfortunately, wolves have been released in Idaho and in Montana, where many have been shot, trapped or died from other causes. They lack the protection of a large national park where hunting and trapping are prohibited, and many ranchers graze cows and sheep in and near the national forests.

Most wolves prefer wild prey, but because of the large number of livestock in the region, the success of these releases may depend on whether the wolves can be conditioned to keep away from livestock. Several of the reintroduced wolves have killed calves in Idaho and Montana, resulting in anger from ranchers who have convinced the Governors and many state delegates to legislate against the program. Fears have even become irrational. Some ranch mothers sent letters to Idaho's Congressional delegation demanding that children be guarded from wolf attacks at school bus stops (Corbett 2000). The Republican delegation from Idaho passed a unanimous resolution at their convention, calling for the immediate removal of all reintroduced wolves (Corbett 2000). Signs urging that wolves be killed were placed in store windows in Idaho. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists killed 82 wolves during the first five years of the program, after complaints from livestock owners (Corbett 2000). Several wolves were shot under questionable circumstances. After a calf was killed, for example, the Service ordered three adult males of the pack killed from a helicopter; sharpshooters, unable to kill the adults, ended up shooting three pups (Murphy 2000). After ranchers reported that a pack had backed a group of his horses against a cliff, the alpha male was removed, leaving his mate alone and the pack without a leader (Murphy 2000).

Some environmentalists protested these killings and threatened to interfere before more wolves were shot (Corbett 2000). David Gaillard of the Predator Conservation Alliance questioned the wisdom or purpose of introducing wolves that needed to be controlled and trained (Murphy 2000). Experiments are underway using electric shock collars that shock a wolf when it comes close to a cow or calf wearing a collar that sets it off. This is a crude approach, which inflicts pain on the wolves and may not even succeed in its intent. Some humane organizations that have protested these collars have rightly stated that almost no efforts have been made to teach ranchers to protect their livestock with sheepherding dogs, pen them in at night and before calving and lambing, and use other means of preventing predation.