GRAY WOLF RECOVERY WEEKLY
PROGRESS REPORT
Status of Gray Wolf Recovery, Week 8/6- 8/13, 1999
Monitoring
Packs in the Yellowstone,
central Idaho, and NW Montana areas are in their
normal home ranges and continue to be localized but
are starting to move a little more with their
pups.
The Teton pack female has found the road-kill
ungulates left for her and has been feeding at the
site. Her 5 pups also appear to be doing well.
Soda Butte is generally in the area along the south
boundary of Yellowstone National Park.
Work by Tribal crews continues to determine which
packs have reproduced and the number of pups.
However, they couldn't verify whether the Kelly
Creek, Selway and Snow Peak Packs have produced pups
this year.
Trapping efforts for members of the Graves Creek pack
in NW Montana have stopped because the pack could not
be found. Trapping will begin again if they are
located in a favorable spot. Meier began
searching for the Little Wolf pack so members could
be radio collared. He will begin trapping
sometime next week.
Control
In central Idaho 3 depredations
have been reported. Several sheep were killed
north of McCall, A calf was killed near Stanely, and
calves were killed west of Salmon. Another calf
was found by the livestock producer in the cattle
mortality study and control on the Jureano Mountain
pack is ongoing. To date no wolves have been
trapped. Heavy rains washed out several
attempts to set traps in the location of the
livestock losses.
Three of the Bass Creek pups being held in captivity
with their mother because of livestock depredations
this summer were found dead in the pen. Disease is
strongly suspected (parvo) and a veterinarian is
working on vaccinating the remaining 5 pups.
Research
The Diamond Moose Calf Mortality study is an effort
by many Cooperators to determine what is happening to
the calves that do not return from the Diamond Moose
Grazing allotment at the end of the summer
season. The Nez Perce Tribe wanted to use
scientific methods to determine what is happening
to the calves and to identify potential ways to
reduce the losses once the causes are
determined. The Cooperators came together and
through a series of meetings, agreed on the outline
of the investigation and began the search for the
funds needed to support the project. While the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Salmon-Challis
National Forest were large, early, financial
contributors to this effort the Nez Perce Tribe was
still unable to secure all the funds needed to finish
the first year of the investigation. Then, in
response to requests by the Nez Perce Tribe, several
smaller, private donations were made by the Wolf
Education and Research Center, the Lemhi County
Cattleman's! Association, the National Wildlife
Federation and the Defenders of Wildlife. The
Idaho Congressional delegation, at the urging of
several Cooperators, and with the support of Governor
Kempthorne urged the Director of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to find the funds needed to fund the
remainder this year's effort. Director
Clark informed the Congressional
delegation that there were no new funds available in
FY99 to dedicate to the investigation. At the
urging of the Idaho Cattleman's Association and the
Nez Perce Tribe, Senators Larry Craig and Mike Crapo
and Representative Mike Simpson requested the
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation consider
getting involved in supporting the Diamond Moose Calf
Mortality Study. The National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation, based on a request by the Nez Perce Tribe
has awarded the ,000 needed to complete this year's
work on the
mortality investigation.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funds are
only available if matched by private funds.
Thus, the private funds contributed to date have, in
essence, been doubled. Without the
financial support of the
investigation Cooperators and other supporters
contributing private funds to this effort, the Nez
Perce Tribe couldn't accept the funds from the
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
Information and education and
law enforcement
Wolf Project Personnel from NPS, FWS, and WS met the
10th and 11th in Yellowstone National Park to attend
a safety and training course on animal capture from
a helicopter. About a dozen people
attended the course. The training was excellent
and included darting and netgunning from a helicopter
in simulated animal capture drills. Mike
Coffey, NPS, and Gary Brennan of Hawkins and Powers
Helicopters did a great job. A wolf staff
meeting was also held to discuss upcoming issues,
schedules, and program
direction.
Justice Department attorneys where on a Conference
call with Federal District Judge Downes of Wyoming to
update him on wolf recovery and control activities
regarding the Diamond G Ranch case. Attorneys
representing the Diamond G Ranch were also on the
August 12th call. The judge ordered Bangs
to meet with Diamond G Ranch manager Jon Robinette
next week to try and figure out a solution.
There have been several meetings with cooperators of
the calf mortality study to review the progress of
John Oakleaf's efforts. John, in a very short
time, has established close communication with
members of the Diamond Moose Grazing Association
regarding his efforts and findings. Effective,
clear communication and hard work, have been a
key to his success to date.
Boyd-Heger gave a presentation at the Glacier
Institute on the 4th and to a field ecology camp at
the Institute on the 6th.
The Service's weekly wolf report can now be viewed at
the Service's Region 6 web site at http://www.r6.fws.gov/wolf besides the regular
distribution.
August
10, 1999 - Fed plan would
allow shooting wolves - Change in Wisconsin
classification means damage-causing wolves could be
killed ~Associated Press ~
MADISON
-- Wildlife officials would be able to kill gray
wolves that damage farmers' property under a federal
plan to reclassify the animal from ``endangered´´
to ``threatened´´ in Wisconsin, a state biologist
said Monday.
The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will propose changing
the wolf's status in Wisconsin, Michigan, North
Dakota and South Dakota. The change would give the
state greater flexibility in dealing with
problem wolves, said Adrian Wydeven, a biologist with
the state Department of Natural Resources.
``The change would allow the killing or euthanasia of
wolves,´´ Wydevensaid.
Right now,
wildlife officials only can trap wolves who kill
livestock and relocate them, and those wolves
sometimes create problems in a new area, Wydeven
said. The fish and wildlife service expects the
proposed change to begin by October. However, up to a
year will be allowed for public comment prior to
final approval of any changed by the service.
The Eastern
Timber Wolf Recovery Team, an advisory panel to the
U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service, recommended delisting
the wolf in the five Midwestern states if possible.
``They recommended that the service recognize that
the species has reached a sustainable population,´´
said Paul Burke, a biologist with the fish and
wildlife service
If
federal officials determine that the time isn't right
to take the wolf off the endangered species list, the
team recommended reclassifying the wolves to
``threatened´´ instead of ``endangered´´ in
Wisconsin and the other states. Classification of
wolves has already changed from endangered to
threatened in Minnesota. There are about 200 wolves
in Wisconsin. Later this month, the DNR is to release
a wolf management plan recommending the removal of
the wolf from the threatened list once its population
reaches 250, Wydeven said.
August
6, 1999
- Endangered red wolf dies
from heat stress after being trapped ~Associated Press~
CAPE
ST. GEORGE - An endangered female red wolf has died
from heat stress after researchers trapped the animal
in an attempt to remove it from this remote
barrier island.
The species is considered one of the most critically
endangered mammals in the nation because fewer than
300 red wolves exist.
"She died Sunday morning when we were getting
her out of the trap," said Lee Edmiston of
the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
on Wednesday.
Edmiston said handlers used no tranquilizers and a
soft-leg trap in catching the wolf on the island off
the Florida Panhandle about 75 miles southwest of
Tallahassee.
She was one of two wolves raised in captivity and
placed on Cape St. George last year. Wolves also have
been released on nearby St. Vincent Island since
1990, as part of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
program to regenerate the species.
The main wild population is in the North Carolina
mountains.
The wolves were put on Cape St. George to study their
habits in the wild and to see if they could control
the raccoon population. Raccoons have flourished
without natural predators, and have been blamed for
destroying turtle nests.
The wolves succeeded in reducing the number of
raccoons, keeping them out of the turtle nests,
Edmiston said. The wolves, however, also developed a
taste for turtle eggs and that's why biologists have
been trying to remove them.
They trapped a male in April and sent it to the
Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science,
but the female proved more elusive.
So, they brought the male back and put him in a
holding pen in hopes of luring the female, before she
eventually was caught along the beach.
That male red wolf has since been returned to
Tallahassee and is in good health, Edmiston said.
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