Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Two Wolves Migrate to Central Oregon
First Local Confirmed Tracking in 70 Years
October 24, 2011
LA GRANDE, Ore. -- Two wolves from the Imnaha pack of northeast Oregon's Wallowa County have dispersed to Central Oregon, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials confirmed.
Monday,Meanwhile, they said, new wolf pack is using the Snake River wildlife management unit of northeast Oregon, which borders Idaho and includes the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and Wilderness.ODFW surveyed the area last week, after receiving reports and trail camera photographs from hunters indicating wolves were in the area. Tracks from at least five different wolves were documented on Thursday. Though the photographs provided to ODFW indicate that at least one pup was produced in this area, the new pack will not be considered a “breeding pair” unless two or more pups are documented in December.ODFW encourages hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts to report wolf sightings using the online reporting system or by phone.
“These public wolf reports from Oregon’s outdoor enthusiasts really help us target our survey efforts and make the best use of limited resources.” said Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf program coordinator.The confirmation of the Snake River pack marks the fourth wolf pack confirmed in Oregon since the mid-2000s, when wolves began returning to the state from Idaho.Last Friday, ODFW radio-collared its first wolf from the Walla Walla pack in Umatilla County (OR-10, or the tenth wolf collared in the state).
This pack was first documented in January and is near the Washington border. The female pup collared weighed 48 pounds and appeared to be in excellent health. She was released unharmed.While ODFW wolf program staff out of ODFW’s La Grande office assisted with the immobilization and radio-collaring of the wolf, district staff from the Pendleton field office were responsible for the wolf’s capture.“We’ve known about the Walla Walla pack since January and at least two pups since summer, but the collar will make it much easier to document the pack’s size and get a sense of its movements,” said Mark Kirsch, ODFW district wildlife biologist in Pendleton.“As wolves expand their range in Oregon, more work will be handled by our district staff,” noted Russ Morgan. “Livestock producers and others are encouraged to work directly with district staff, as they do for other wildlife in their area.”OR-7 was last documented in northern Lake County.
He was born in northeast Oregon (Imnaha pack) and was collared on Feb. 25. GPS collar data shows that this wolf left the Imnaha pack territory on Sept. 10. Since then he has visited six counties (Baker, Grant, Harney, Crook, Deschutes and now Lake).ODFW and USFWS will continue to monitor OR-7’s location data. At this point, biologists said, it is unknown if he will continue to disperse or settle down in Central Oregon.OR-3 was also last located in Central Oregon. OR-3 was born in northeast Oregon (Imnaha pack) and radio collared on Feb. 12. He is a 3-year-old male and dispersed from the pack in May. He has a VHF radio collar which does not allow for continuous tracking.OR-3 has been monitored by ODFW and USFWS using periodic aerial flights. He was discovered in Wheeler County in July and was later located in the Ochoco Mountains on Sept. 29.
Since that time, he has not been found. The USFWS and ODFW will continue to attempt to locate this wolf, officials said Monday.It's the first two known wolves to be confirmed to be traveling in Central Oregon in about seven decades, since state-sponsored hunts wiped them out in the 1940s. There have been wolf sightings in recent years, including a photo apparently of a wolf near Suttle Lake in January 2009.It is very natural for wolves to disperse away from their birth area.
Counting the two wolves in Central Oregon, a total of four radio-collared wolves from northeast Oregon have dispersed away from their home pack (the Imnaha). One traveled to Washington last winter and has not been located since. Another dispersed to Idaho and continues to be in that state.Wolves throughout Oregon are protected by the state Endangered Species Act. West of Hwys. 395-78-95, they are also protected by the federal ESA. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the lead management agency for wolves west of this boundary.
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Monday, October 24, 2011
W.O.L.F. Sanctuary
Learn about the good in wolves at W.O.L.F. Sanctuary
Oct. 22, 2011 |
Tate peers down from his perch at the W.O.L.F. Sanctuary northwest of Fort Collins. Tate is believed to be pure wolf. He was moved to W.O.L.F. from New Mexico as a puppy where the breeder was not taking proper care of him. / Courtesy of Dawn Wilson
In reality, wolves prefer to avoid humans. They are instinctual creatures that believe running away in most cases will keep them safe.
W.O.L.F. Sanctuary, located west of Fort Collins, strives to eliminate these myths and teach people about the beauty and wonder of Canis lupus.
"One of the biggest challenges we face at W.O.L.F. Sanctuary is getting people to overcome the stereotypes about wolves," said Michelle Proulx, educational program manager for W.O.L.F. Sanctuary. "We want to help people gain an understanding of the wolf species."
This 180-acre wooded sanctuary provides homes for 10 purebred wolves and 19 wolf hybrids. Each enclosure is a half acre, providing a comfortable space for two to three wolves. Because of the social nature of wolves, the animals live in groups to mimic a pack.
"Wolves are used to long, extended runs to outrun prey, and their range can be 50 to 1,000 square miles in the wild," Proulx said. "Keeping the wolves in groups of two or three helps the animals to be social without too much conflict."
The caring staff of veterinarians, volunteers and animal handlers provides not only a life-long home suited for the physical needs of wolves but they also provide for the emotional needs of the wolves.
"There is an amazing reward when you can make eye contact with a wolf," said Frank Wendland, co-founder of W.O.L.F. Sanctuary with his wife Patricia. "Developing that emotional bond creates a connection between two sentient beings that is unexplainable."
Of the 29 wolves at W.O.L.F. Sanctuary, there is a wide variety of mixes and purebreds. Three Mexican gray wolves live there as well as a wolf-collie mix, an Arctic wolf and several timber wolves.
Since its founding in 1995, W.O.L.F. Sanctuary has helped more than 7,500 wolves and wolf hybrids by finding new homes, connecting the wolves to veterinary care and providing sanctuary for more than 100 animals at the facility.
W.O.L.F. Sanctuary currently is not open to the public but is in need of volunteers to help care for the animals and the property. The staff also offers free public educational programs to teach about wolves and the issues they face in captivity.
Contact W.O.L.F. Sanctuary to arrange either of these opportunities at (970) 416-9531. Visit www.wolf sanctuary.net for more information about W.O.L.F. Sanctuary and the wolves they help.
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Sunday, October 23, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
More on the 5 Rare Gray Wolves Released to Boost Population
5 Rare Gray Wolves Released to Boost Population
October 21, 2011
Three females - aged 11, four and three - and two three-year-old males, all members of the endangered Mexican Wolf subspecies of the Gray Wolf, "were transferred to a Mexican desert ecosystem, in which they were historically endemic, and given their freedom," the secretariat said.
The wolves had undergone a behavioral rehabilitation process at the Rancho La Mesa Wildlife Management Unit in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon.
"These types of programs allow the population of species in danger of extinction to gradually expand, enabling successful reproduction," the secretariat said.
For the wolves' safety, a satellite radio collar was placed around each animal's neck so they can be promptly located.
Mexican wolves "play an important role in controlling species such as coyotes, hares, small rodents and reptiles, as well as their natural prey, deer and boar. This will permit the recovery of vegetation," the secretariat said.
The Mexican Wolf once roamed across a vast region, including parts of the present-day northern states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Durango; the central states of Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and San Luis Potosi; and the southern state of Oaxaca.
The subspecies had been categorized in recent years as "probably extinct in the wild," the secretariat said.
source
Wolf Weekly Wrap-up
From the Defenders of Wildlife Blog
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21 Oct 2011
Happy Wolf Awareness Week!
A collared gray wolf in Yellowstone. Photo courtesy of William C. Campbell/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Thanks to all our outstanding contributors for all their hard work and for providing valuable insights into wolf conservation nationwide. More praise for Wood River Wolf ProjectWe reported last week on the wrap-up meeting for the fourth successful season of our Wood River Wolf Project, but we weren’t the only ones. The project also got a mention in the Idaho Mountain Express (scroll past the first story) and radio coverage from Public News Servicein Idaho.Wolf hunt injunction deniedThree conservation groups filed a request for an injunction early this week in an attempt to halt the ongoing wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho. The injunction was denied in court a few days later, but the groups continue their appeal of a lower court ruling denying their request to overturn Congress’ bill removing wolves from the ESA in April. Their case is waiting to be heard in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Watch this report from KAJ-18 in Kalispell, Montana: |
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Boots On The Ground: Managing Wolves In Oregon
Posted: 21 Oct 2011
For Wolf Awareness Week
this year, Defenders has invited guest bloggers to offer their
perspectives on the importance of wolf conservation. Michelle Dennehy is
wildlife communications coordinator for Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
I’m not a wildlife biologist but in my position I still have a front row seat on wolves’ return to Oregon. 
ODFW wolf biologist Russ Morgan takes measurements of a wolf in the Imnaha Pack.
To give you a taste of what they do: Between January and August of this year, wildlife biologists spent 135 days surveying for new and lesser-known wolves and wolf packs in Oregon, combing the woods for tracks, scat and other signs of wolves. They use this information to determine new pack activity, home ranges and reproduction. A new pack just discovered in January 2011, the Walla Walla of Umatilla County, had pups this year. Two new wolves were found in the county over the summer. Two wolves from the well-known Imnaha Pack of northeast Oregon have made their way to central Oregon. Surveys may yet turn up new pups for the Wenaha pack wolves, which would mark three years of reproduction for this pack. That’s the biology part of the job they trained for in college. But with wolves, sociology is as important as biology. Much wolf management involves people, not wolves. Biologists have also spent hours on the phone talking with livestock producers, conservationists, government officials and others. In that same time period mentioned above, they personally contacted livestock producers 263 times to let them know about wolf activity in their area or preventive measures to avoid wolf-livestock conflict. They have sent more than 2,500 text messages to ranchers about recent wolf activity. (Ranchers have used this information to change their husbandry practices, turning cattle out at different times and places to avoid wolves.) Defenders of Wildlife has funded a range rider for some time, to help keep tabs on wolf activity and even haze them away from livestock operations. Carcass piles have been buried, fladry hung and radio-activated guard boxes installed. 
The alpha male of the Imnaha pack sits up after being fitted with a working GPS collar in May.
Emotions run high when producers lose an animal they have cared for and count on for their livelihood. Discerning what actually happened can be difficult, especially if the animal has been dead several days, or when weather or another disturbance effects evidence. Here the job turns into a scene from CSI, with biologists carefully looking for evidence (wolf tracks, signs of struggle). Their previous knowledge of other predators in the area is useful here. To be thorough and make sure the animal wasn’t just scavenged, the dead animal is usually skinned, even if it’s been dead for several days. (Oregon’s livestock loss investigations are summarized online at http://www.dfw.state.or.us/ When repeated depredations occur, our wildlife biologists are also called to remove the wolves they have been tracking. The decision to kill wolves, an endangered animal in Oregon, is never made lightly. But the hope is that by removing problem wolves, the rest will be able to thrive. Each year, we learn more about Oregon’s wolves that will help us reach our goal. The state has a wolf management plan with an initial conservation objective of four breeding pairs on each side of the Cascades. Oregon’s wildlife biologists will continue working hard to make that plan a reality. –Michelle Dennehy Follow Oregon’s wolf news at www.dfw.state.or.us/wolves, and visit our photo archive here |
Speaking Out: The Next Generation Of Wolf Advocates
Posted: 21 Oct 2011 06:30 AM PDT
For Wolf Awareness Week
This
wolf was spotted earlier this year in the Cascade Mountains, about 100
miles east of Seattle. The state is currently finalizing its
comprehensive wolf conservation plan.
I want to represent young people in saying that I believe it is very important that we keep wolves in Washington for my generation; my generation is going to have to live with – or without – whatever your generation does to the world. My personal opinion is that the Wolf Management and Conservation Plan that we are all here today to discuss is not perfect for any party, but I am here to support it because it seems to be reasonable.
So I ask you to please adopt this Wolf Recovery plan. Thank you for your time.
–Story Warren
Friday, October 21, 2011
Radioactive Wolves - Watch Full Episode Online
Click HERE to see the full episode
The Real Value Of Wolf Coexistence
Posted: 20 Oct 2011
The Wood River Wolf Project, operating wholly within Blaine County, Idaho, has just finished its fourth season. It began as a demonstration project concerned with reducing or eliminating wolf predation on numerous sheep bands grazing in US Forest Service allotments north of Ketchum and Sun Valley. The three-year ‘demonstration’ phase was a success. Sheep losses were just minimal and, where they occurred, the reasons were easily identified and addressed.
As a County Commissioner, I became involved because of my interest in the nature of relationships between humans and wildlife, particularly game animals and predators. At the time, my Board had also authorized $1,800 to be paid to Wildlife Services exclusively for use in assisting the project. Each year this federal agency requests money of counties to help them carry on their normal duties of nuisance animal removal or elimination. Some Blaine County residents may have called upon Wildlife Services for help, but others vehemently opposed such practices as aerial control and poisoning. Blaine County government thus refused to contribute to it for many years as a matter of policy, even with minimal funding. The Wolf Project represented a new approach, and the Wildlife Services officer at the time, Rick Williamson, was interested in supporting it actively.
Participants
gathered for a wolf coexistence workshop this summer in Carey, Idaho.
From left to right: Brad Purcell, Australian dingo biologist; Matt
Furber, Defenders' wolf project field team member; Peter Haswell,
British wolf biologist and field team volunteer; Carter Niemeyer, former
USFWS Idaho wolf recovery coordinator; Brian Bean, owner of Lava Lake
Lamb; Susannah Woodruff, Defenders' Wyoming wolf biologist; Patrick
Graham, Defenders' wolf project field team leader; Suzanne Asha Stone,
Defenders' Northern Rockies wolf conservationist; Larry Schoen, Blaine
County Commissioner; Kathleen Bean, owner of Lava Lake Lamb; "Bear,"
Lava Lake Lamb's livestock guard dog puppy; and Phoebe Bean, daughter of
Brian and Kathleen Bean.
One of the more interesting and important steps taken during 2011 was an August workshop at the Blaine County Fairgrounds. Deterrence tools were on display, implementation methods were discussed, and plenty of ‘room for debate’ was provided among interested parties. Some folks showed up who were unfamiliar with this concept and highly skeptical, including two ranchers who had lost three calves to wolves earlier in the season. They wanted to express their feelings and concerns, but they also asked questions to learn more about possible deterrents and how to prevent future losses. To my mind, this willingness to visit and engage represents enormous and meaningful progress.
Two big questions, among others, are prompted directly by the work of this project that I wish to address here:
- Does co-existence with wolves and other predators matter?
- Will ranchers ever be able to afford non-lethal deterrence and management practices on their own, without some kind of assistance?
What I have observed, though, is that the peoples’ relationships to these wild animals—especially the dangerous ones–is a great part of their culture and what defines them, their communities, their heritage. The presence of these animals is keenly felt, tremendously exciting, ennobling and humbling. Experiences with them are often the subject of everyday dialogue and stories.
What I would pose to my neighbors and other Idahoans is that this richness, the sheer excitement and keen awareness that comes with living with predators like wolves in our midst may be worth an acceptable and manageable level of risk. We, as a people, must decide the intrinsic value of wildlife, what is acceptable to us and whether we are willing to adapt to it; but, the ‘reward’ is worth considering. This reward for us, and species survival for its own sake, are two reasons why co-existence does matter.
To the second question, “Will ranchers ever be able to afford non-lethal deterrence and management practices on their own without some kind of assistance?” I say in some respects clearly yes and in others, it may take time. It is yes, in the sense that some common sense practices can greatly reduce conflicts. For example, removing or burying livestock carcasses immediately from the range or from enclosures means these attractants do not draw predators in among standing livestock. From our experience, this greatly reduces the probability of predation.
Retired federal wildlife manager Rick Williamson demonstrates how to set up fladry.
Where is the money for all these things to come from? The answer is that it must come from multiple sources and from cooperative effort. The removal of wolves from the lower 48 was a matter of public policy and so was their re-introduction. In either case, when public policy is made and carried out by our government, which represents us, certain expectations and obligations are created. People settled the land when predators were cleared from it. At least in the near term, it is entirely appropriate that compensation be offered to those bearing the brunt of a policy change like reintroduction. In Idaho, that is now happening through a federally-funded, state-administered compensation program, kick-started by Defenders.
Today and for the foreseeable future, Defenders offers livestock producers in Blaine County direct assistance in non-lethal deterrence training and implementation. This can only be possible through financial donations and volunteer support.
Of course, everyone would prefer markets to bear all of these costs through higher prices for beef and lamb spread to all consumers. It may take some time until markets and pricing catch up to these policy changes. On the other hand, let’s examine whether non-lethal deterrence management practices are more cost-effective, practical and economical for at-risk ranchers than the alternative. On the surface, a government plane and a bullet may seem cheaper and easier to the rancher than taking all of the above measures. By the time lethal control occurs, however, the rancher has lost his livestock. In higher-risk situations, is it not better to employ deterrence and avoid the losses in the first place? In that sense, won’t non-lethal deterrence and the avoidance of predation save at least a significant portion of what it costs? And in today’s world, might ranchers be forced to re-evaluate their reliance on taxpayer-funded predator control, or compensation?
Issues of co-existence, non-lethal versus lethal deterrence, ranch economics or acceptable risk will not be resolved soon or simply or by anyone alone. The only road to solutions will be built with dialogue, the sharing of ideas and information garnered by experience and the slow building of trust. Changes to the practices of generations do not come easily, nor should they, but they are inevitable and can benefit the generations to come.
–Larry Schoen
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