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Coyotes-Wolves-Cougars.blogspot.com

Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars/ mountain lions,bobcats, wolverines, lynx, foxes, fishers and martens are the suite of carnivores that originally inhabited North America after the Pleistocene extinctions. This site invites research, commentary, point/counterpoint on that suite of native animals (predator and prey) that inhabited The Americas circa 1500-at the initial point of European exploration and subsequent colonization. Landscape ecology, journal accounts of explorers and frontiersmen, genetic evaluations of museum animals, peer reviewed 20th and 21st century research on various aspects of our "Wild America" as well as subjective commentary from expert and layman alike. All of the above being revealed and discussed with the underlying goal of one day seeing our Continent rewilded.....Where big enough swaths of open space exist with connective corridors to other large forest, meadow, mountain, valley, prairie, desert and chaparral wildlands.....Thereby enabling all of our historic fauna, including man, to live in a sustainable and healthy environment. - Blogger Rick

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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Ecologist George Wuerthner is second to none when it come to explaining in undeniably clear prose why the hunting and killing of carnivores is "dead wrong!"...........His op ed piece in the OREGONIAN newspaper tells us in no uncertain terms why the Wolf Delisting decision by the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife is wrought with aberrant science and political monkey-wrenching by livestock groups in the state..............As George states: "Out of 1.3 million cattle and 195,000 sheep in the state, only 114 domestic livestock have been confirmed killed by wolves since the first wolves appeared in the early 2000s"................ "Comparisons between Montana and Oregon are often made by ODFW"............."Using Montana, in 2014, the state's 600 or so wolves killed 35 cattle and six sheep out of a total of 2.5 million cattle and 220,000 sheep respectively"..............., "By comparison, non-wolf losses accounted for 89,000 deaths"........... "And though six sheep were killed by wolves, some 7,800 sheep died from other causes, like weather" .........."Wolves are simply not a threat, or even barely a factor in the economic viability of the livestock industry"........."If, hypothetically, elk were the species under consideration and were protected under the state's Endangered Species Act, I can almost guarantee you ODFW would want way more than 100 individuals(estimated maximum number of wolves in Oregon today) before they would recommend delisting". .............."They would want to see elk restored across the state"


http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/11/delisting_wolves_was_a_mistake.html


Delisting wolves 

was a mistake 

(OPINION)

Follow on Twitter
on November 24, 2015 at 3:00 PM, updated November
 24, 2015 at 3:02 PM
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By George Wuerthner
The recent decision by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife
 Commission to delist wolves from the state's
Endangered Species Act protection was based
 on faulty science and political expediency. The
 biggest problem is with the department's criteria
 for delisting — more than four breeding pairs of
 wolves for three years in a row— is that it fails to
ensure full restoration of the wolf across the state.
 Many outside scientists, including myself, feel the
 small population of 80 to perhaps as many as 100
 wolves statewide is hardily sufficient to guarantee
a robust and speedy restoration of the species

A hundred or fewer wolves may preclude the 
extinction of the species, but it does not restore 
the ecological function of the wolf. And restoring
 the ecological function of the species should be 
the prime goal of any conservation effort. Precluding 
extinction is a very low bar and does not serve the 
people of Oregon, the wolf or our ecosystems.
I did an analysis of the potential for wolf restoration
in Oregon back in the 1990s and concluded that the
 state could easily support 1,500 to 2,000 wolves.
 Others have reached similar conclusions. Restoring
 wolves across the state so that they are functional
 members of the wildlife community should be the
 goal of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
If, hypothetically, elk were the species under
 consideration and were protected under the
 state's Endangered Species Act, I can almost
guarantee you ODFW would want way more than
100 individuals before they would recommend
 delisting. They would want to see elk restored
 across the state.

Wolves are in a sense a "keystone" species that
 influences ecosystem health. Having a token 
population of wolves is not the same as having a
 functioning ecosystem member. Wolves not only 
eliminate weaker prey individuals but can shift
 habitat 
use; for instance they can reduce elk and deer 
foraging 
on aspen, willows and other browse species in
 riparian 
areas. Wolves can also affect the distribution and
 numbers of other species. Where wolves are
 present,
 there are often fewer coyotes. Coyotes kill the 
smaller
 Sierra Nevada red fox that is just hanging on 
in the
 Cascades. Restoration of wolves could thus 
assist the
 recovery of the red fox.
The rush to delist wolves is driven by false perceptions
 of wolf impacts on livestock and big game populations.
 Out of 1.3 million cattle and 195,000 sheep in the state,
 only 114 domestic livestock have been confirmed killed
by wolves since the first wolves appeared in the early
2000s. Comparisons between Montana and Oregon
 are often made by ODFW. Using Montana, in 2014,
 the state's 600 or so wolves killed 35 cattle and six
sheep out of a total of 2.5 million cattle and 220,000
 sheep respectively, By comparison, non-wolf losses
 accounted for 89,000 deaths. And though six sheep
 were killed by wolves, some 7,800 sheep died from
other causes, like weather.

Why do so many Ranchers demonize Wolves?

Wolves are simply not a threat, or even barely a factor,
 in the economic viability of the livestock industry.
The idea that hunting will be negatively affected across
 any significant portion of the state is also unlikely.
Between 2009 and 2014, all wildlife management
 units (WMUs) of northeastern Oregon with established
wolf packs had increasing elk populations, and two of
the four (Imnaha and Snake River) were above the
established management objectives for elk since
 wolves became established (ODFW data).
A similar situation exists in Montana, where elk
numbers grew from an estimated 89,000 animals
 in 1992 (Montana Elk Plan) to 167,000 elk today
 (Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks,
 2015). If this is what you get with wolf predation,
 I think most reasonable hunters would agree we
 could use more wolves in Oregon!

In the end, ODFW capitulated to mythology and
 false fears of hunters and ranchers without
 providing context and did not meet its wildlife
 responsibilities under the public trust doctrine
 to work diligently for full restoration of the
 ecological function of the wolf.
-----------------------------------------------------------
George Wuerthner bio:

Education


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