This July 16, 2004 file photo shows a gray wolf at the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake, Minn.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) | The number of
livestock killed by wolves has declined in Idaho this year, officials
say, but the Cascade area defied the trend.
Idaho
Wildlife Services investigated 91 wolf livestock killings during fiscal
year 2015, down from 107 the year before and 129 in 2013, reported The
Capital Press. The number of investigations peaked at 219 in 2009. "They've been trending down for a while, and this trend continued this year," said Wildlife Services Director Todd Grimm.
The
number of confirmed and probably wolf-cause deaths to cattle and sheep
have also been dropping. Ranching industry leaders said Idaho's more
liberal hunting and trapping regulations and the end of federal
protection for wolves have contributed to the decrease. "We've
got a hunting season going," said Stan Boyd, executive director of
Idaho Wool Growers. "Finally, the state is managing its wolf
population."
But the Cascade area was an exception to the
trend, according to Grimm. Wolves there killed nine cattle this summer,
he said, including seven owned by rancher Phil Davis. They didn't
bother to feed on the carcasses of Davis' cattle.
Davis said he worries that ranchers don't always realize it's a wolf attack that killed their livestock. "Most often, animals are intact, and they look like they could have died from 100 different things," he said.
Grimm said he plans to use a helicopter to put radio
collars on the Cascade-area wolves as soon as there's a blue sky and
snow, allowing them to track footprints.
Emmett rancher
John Peterson said he lost 54 sheep during an Aug. 6 wolf attack, more
than any other rancher this year. He hadn't lost an animal since
Wildlife Services removed a troublesome wolf pack in 2013.
Despite the attack, Peterson said he's encouraged that there are no longer wolf dens near his grazing territory.
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