Jul. 14, 2013
|
Russ Morgan, state Department of Fish and Wildlife wolf
coordinator, waits while a wolf recovers from anesthesia during a
radio-collaring effort in Northeastern Oregon in 2009. / AP
Written by
JEFF BARNARD
Associated Press
GRANTS
PASS — The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday adopted
provisions of a lawsuit settlement that will make Oregon the only state
in the West where killing wolves that attack livestock is a last resort.
The
rules adopted by the commission amend Oregon's Wolf Management Plan,
along with statutory provisions enacted by the Legislature that will be
signed by Gov. John Kitzhaber.
The rules require ranchers
to show they have taken non-lethal steps, such as alarm boxes and low
strings of fluttering plastic flags known as fladdery, to protect their
herds before the state will send out a hunter to kill a wolf. There must
also be hard evidence, such as GPS data showing a radio-collared wolf
was in the area when a cow was killed, that wolves have attacked four
times.
In return, ranchers get new rights to shoot wolves
that they see attacking their herd, but only if those non-lethal
protections are in place, and attacks have become chronic.
The
settlement represents a new level of cooperation between conservation
groups and ranchers, who have long fought over restoring wolves in the
West, where they were wiped out by bounty hunters in the early part of
the 20th century.
Ranchers downplayed the significance of the settlement.
"I
don't think it's a whole lot different from the wolf plan already being
implemented," said Kate Teisl, executive director of the Oregon
Cattlemen's Association. "Now there's just more documentation. Ranchers
are out there doing all they can to keep their animals alive, including
the non-lethal measures."
However, wolf advocates said it was that documentation of nonlethal steps that was groundbreaking.
Rob
Klavins of Oregon Wild said the old plan talked about conservation of
wolves being a priority, but it was so ambiguous that it was
ineffective.
"It's now up to the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife, the livestock industry, and the conservation community to
honor the agreements that we have made," he said. "If we do so, I am
optimistic we will continue to see conflicts between wolves and
livestock continue to be rare, and the need to kill wolves even rarer
still."
Brett Brownscombe, natural resources adviser to the governor, said
making the rules clear was important as Oregon's wolf population
continues to grow, and the Obama administration moves toward lifting
federal protections for wolves in areas they have yet to repopulate.
Oregon
Wild and other conservation groups had sued the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife, claiming that a kill order on the Imnaha pack, the
first to establish in Oregon as well as the first to attack livestock,
threatened to wipe out the pack. Conservation groups claimed the actions
violated the Oregon Endangered Species Act, which still protects wolves
in the eastern two thirds of the state, where federal protections have
been lifted.
The Imnaha pack only has one more strike
against it before a kill order can be imposed, but so far, it has not
been linked to an attack.
The Oregon Court of Appeals
barred the state from killing wolves for more than a year before the
settlement was reached between conservation groups, the Oregon
Cattlemen's Association, and the governor's office. During that time,
the number of wolves in Oregon went up, while the lethal attacks on
livestock went down. In Idaho, where the Oregon packs had migrated from,
the numbers of lethal livestock attacks went up, along with the numbers
of wolves killed, primarily by trophy hunters and trappers.
source
The affection of wolves
