Wolf News Roundup 12/08/2019
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
December 8, 2019
Wyoming Wolf Hunt
With the Sept. 1 opening of the wolf hunting season in many of western Wyoming’s trophy wolf hunt areas, quotas have been reached in six hunt areas, so those areas are now closed.
This includes: the quota of four wolves has been reached in the Clarks Fork Hunt Area 1; Hunt Area 2’s six-wolf quota has been reached’ the quota of two wolves has been reached in Area 3, the South Fork; the Wind River Hunt Area 5 quota of one wolf has been reached; the three-wolf quota in Hunt Area 6 & 7 Pacific Creek/Targhee; and the two-wolf quota at The Rim (Hunt Area 10); have also been reached.
Of the total quota of 35 wolves available for legal harvest in the state’s wolf trophy zone, 26 wolves have been killed by hunters as of Dec. 6. An additional 22 wolves have been killed so far this year in the remainder of Wyoming, where wolves are classified as predators.
Washington
Earlier this fall, Washington Governor Jay Inslee sent a letter to Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife Director (WDFW) Kelly Susewind requesting that the wildlife department "significantly reduce" the number of wolves killed in control actions in response to livestock depredations.
Susewind recently replied to Inslee’s letter, detailing efforts to implement proactive, non-lethal tools to prevent wolf-livestock conflicts. The letter noted: "Your request was to increase our reliance on non-lethal tools and significantly reduce the need for lethal removal of wolves, and we sincerely believe the best way to do that is to develop willing, collaborative, and lasting partnerships at the community level with livestock producers in the heart of what is now core wolf habitat. Plans recommended at any level of government are only true solutions if they are perceived to be beneficial to the recipients, and if they are based on our shared, common goals intended to bring Washington together around wolf issues."
It’s not the first time the governor and the wildlife department director have differed on wolves. After WDFW Director Susewind sent a letter of support for the federal delisting of wolves, Inslee sent a follow-up letter clarifying that the state’s position was opposed to the removal of wolf protections.
Washington has been embroiled in controversy over wolves, with many wolf advocates from the western side of the state (where there are few wolves) decrying lethal control of wolves in the eastern region (where the majority of the wolf population resides). Things got so heated that WDFW cancelled a series of public meetings to discuss revisions to the state wolf management plan because of fears of violence. Reporting by the Inlander reveal that the "multiple violent social media threats" came from wolf supporters, not anti-wolf extremists.
Germany
Germany now has more than 100 wolf packs, 25 wolf pairs, and more than a dozen lone wolves. In addition to increasing in numbers, the wolf population has expanded its range in the European nation.
Check out the links below for details on these stories.
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