Health Editor’s Note: What a travesty! No restrictions put on the way the wolves are hunted. Livestock owners complaints and hunters who want to be the ones to kill the elk are the driving force for this. The wolves will be “hunted” by human animals who can use night-vision equipment, snowmobiles, ATVs, baiting, hunting from helicopters, and trapping and snaring of wolves, including new born pups. How can this be allowed to happen?……Carol
New Idaho Law Allows Killing of 90 Percent of State’s Wolves
by Theresa Machemer/Smithsonianmag.com
Last week, Idaho governor Brad Little signed a bill into law that allows hunters to kill about 90 percent of the state’s wolves.
The new law, SB1211, was supported by ranchers who say that wolves threaten their livestock and hunters who say that the wolves have reduced elk populations. Both of those claims are disputed by opponents of the new rules, who include scientists, conservation groups and other hunting groups, Douglas Main reports for National Geographic. The new law allows anyone with a wolf hunting tag to kill an unlimited number of wolves and lifts restrictions about how those animals can be killed. It also increases the state’s budget for hiring private contractors to kill wolves.
“Today marks a low point for gray wolf recovery in the U.S.,” says Zoe Hanley, a carnivore ecologist and representative of the Defenders of Wildlife, per the Associated Press’ Keith Ridler. “For years Idaho wolves have been intensely persecuted through the nation’s most permissive hunting and trapping seasons, and this bill all but pushes the species back to the brink of federal relisting.”
Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.
She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.
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Sure, wolfs are fine until they land up in your back yard. Same as bears. The rest is bull shit. Women with apex predators. Yea right!
EPA’s purview… ?? thats reduced to the ridiculus.. Purview entails Environmental assessment and Environmental Impact statments as they apply to navigation.. EA and EIS.. a wolf pooping on the watershed ot the southfork of the clearwater is not EPA.. wolfs were interior; very well could hav drafted the above — which is sitting in a closet waiting to B wieghed…
This is the EPA’s mission statement… https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/our-mission-and-what-we-do
Yes, the Endangered Species Act is primarily managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so you are right about that.
EPA…
CFR40 is EPA… DOD 724 Act – Nixon signed it into law 1972.. covers drinkking water – groundwwater ans surface or discharge to ground water under NPDES… it is not ESA
ESA is: Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service covers mutts..
and sorry ! its bedlam and they destroy entire herds of sheep in 20 minutes – cattle same way – elk not quiet so fast.. and no ! the muts do not eat these kills – they are not coyotes.. they rip throats – legs – spines – eyes and then jum the animal as a pak = dead — as to bare land… BLM canceled all of the grazing permits from john day oregon to the nevada border.. the feds put all of the wranglers – small buizz out of buizz.. the feds are a meance worse than the wolfs…
They have the same issue in Australia, New Zealand, and even Europe and use a combination of guard dogs, donkeys, fencing, and even strobe lights. Maybe one or more of these solutions totally such, don’t know but it’s worth looking at how others have solved this problem.
It reminds me of Covid, all the talking heads and even our CDC kept arguing about masks, HCQ, and studies in the EU but didn’t even talk about SE Asia where their death rate was basically non-existent. Being generous, I’ll attribute that to the NIH syndrome rather than racism (kung flu jokes notwithstanding)
Part of the EPA’s mission statement is to ensure that, “Federal laws protecting human health and the environment are administered and enforced fairly, effectively and as Congress intended.” This includes the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. What leads you to think that it isn’t in the EPA’s purview to deal with endangered species like wolves in Idaho?
Easy solution.
I currently live in Idaho, and as a Student (ISU), I have a lot of “face time” with others that live here that have opinions on both sides of this issue. My opinion is that the whole Country was once inhabited by lots of Wolves, Bears, Indigenous tribes, etc. To use the argument “they were here first, so leave them alone” or “give it back” is somewhat assnine. Are we to discount the relative “good” that has resulted in those of European ancestry displacing some of the warring tribes that were here before? How would this Country be had the Chinese, Sub Saharan Africans, Hordes of nomadic Horsemen from the Russian Steppes “conquered” it? Now onto the Wolves: How far back should we go? Perhaps building up the Wolf Packs to their former glory in the Ohio Valley, New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington DC, Boston, etc. How about this: Wolves are humanely trapped by Idaho Ranchers and other people in Idaho, Montana, Alaska, All of Canada – basically ALL of the North AND West. then shipped East? That way it’s not only OUR pets and livestock who are to experience the utopian dream of biological diversity – but YOURS too?
Seafrog, What makes you think that humans are more important than animals?
That would be an “easy solution” to fantasize about, seafrog… Wait, I thought you were seapatch. Whoever you are, your “solution” is just as crazy as your chronology of how Turtle Island came to be what it is today. Europeans have been interlopers here for centuries. The Hopi have a good word for this, koyaanisqatsi, that is, life out of balance. Their plan is to wait us out and eventually take back the continent after we destroy ourselves with our crazy ideas.
Well Carol, be sure to remind yourself of that if you ever happen to be pushing a stroller and a Mountain Lion runs up and snatches whatever is inside it out.
seafrog, Taking a stroller or yourself for that matter onto a trail that leads through wilderness areas inhabited by mountain lions, bears, wolves, etc. is asking for something bad to happen. But hey, hiking the Appalachian Trail which goes through mostly non-wilderness areas is a crap shoot also. There you will most likely be harmed/killed by a human. Many have lost their lives on the Appalachian Trail to human predators. I vote for humans as being the worst predator we will ever encounter. Yes, they have even been known to take people’s babies and children.
Tommy,
I don’t know WTF you are writing about “Turtle Island”. I did look it up, and looks interesting. As far as Europeans being “interlopers” for centuries – you’re mistaken. “Europeans” (including Scandinavians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, and the like) have been “interloping” here for THOUSANDS of years. The oldest human remains on the North American Continent have been PROVEN to be of “European” origin (Kennewick Man, Spirit Cave Mummy, etc.) Oh – I know the knee jerk regurgitations of those who deny the truth, but it is still nevertheless true. No amount of kvetching from the usual suspects will change that.
A big improvement would be to reintroduce the Grizzly Bear to California, too.
After all, it’s on our flag.
EPA is clean water act..
its a stinkin mess.. when wolfs were introuced.. there were ~ 360,000 elk in Idaho.. today they number around 40,000.. a wolf does not eat the prey.. the pak kills one – then the next – then the next; rips throats and spinal… N idaho was guided hunts on horsebak – or stream drinkers (take a rifle and thats it drink from a stream N hunt by foot – including paking it out)… the livestok loses are huge.. the feds quit paying wolf rep’s 10 years ago.. they hav been hunting 4 a couple years now – but the hunters cannot find them// traps hav 2B liscensed and checked daily.. many times several miles hike 2 the interior.. the feds (interior did this) came into idaho and had one of those reagents white glove dinners and them wolves go here..
problem is ! the traking collars were worthless after a couple litters… and the paks spread like a bad mud slide… the feds threatened the ranchers w 300,000$ fines for every wolf they shot protecting their livestok..
the wolfs are going to be culled… idaho took the wolf program over from the feds and now issue the marching orders…
there is simply nothing cute about these animals.. the feds are the problem and the wolfs are about as protected as a coyote on agg-ranch-lands…
Sorry, Seapatch, the EPA is much more than the Clean Water Act. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 protects endangered plants and animals and the habitats wherever they are found, especially on federal land which as I noted below is almost two thirds of Idaho.
Seapatch, Wolves are pack animals, thus they do everything together, including of course getting food. To describe them as ruthless and savage killers who kill and kill and kill just for the pleasure of killing is quite outlandish. They hunt for food…..unlike humans who hunt or rather kill for the pure pleasure of killing and often recovering the head or other parts of the dead animal to place on their wall to show how special they are. Give me a royal break. Of course the slaughter of elk, deer, moose, already goes on in those ‘hunting’ preserves. Raising elk, deer, moose for human consumption….WHY? Already humans raise pigs, cattle, chickens, turkeys, etc. in deplorable conditions to serve the need for protein in the ‘human’ diet. Now we are to believe that humans need to raise wild animals for a food source? If the farmer/rancher wants to put out sheep, cattle, domestic livestock on lands that are far better suited to the original inhabitants, then they are willing to sacrifice said animals. Humans want to be responsible for ‘taking care’ of animals only as long as their is a monetary profit for them. Domestic animals are mostly incapable of protecting themselves.
Doesn’t the EPA have a say in this travesty? The federal government owns 61.65 percent of Idaho’s total land. No way are they going to let this killing spree happen.
them elk pens @ glens are for comercial harvest.. they are not for canned hunts.. these are elk ranches makinf elk steaks; we buy them here in the west @ the store..
an no ! you are talking about wiping out entire industries for a blood crazed pak of muttsNmutt… these animals do not keep elk and muskrats in check.. they come in and destroy entire herds of cattle – sheep (especuiially sheep)..
we do not want them.. here in the west we hunt elk and eat cows… these muts wreck entire villages and are impossibel to contain whence they infect an area – and that most of the state,,,,
Short Life
these wolfs were originally releasede into the river of no return.. they immediately paked rite into the lower treasure valley.. clear thru into Jellystone and eastern wash
i glens ferry – they jumped a private elk farm fence.. the elk broke the fenc and 150 scattered.. they had to hunt down the elk and destroy them down to the last antler…
in norther idaho.. they will drive 200 elk onto a frozen lake bed – the lake beds break; and them elk drown to the last drop.. these are predators..
in idaho nevada.. if i see a coyote – i can legally shoot the yote’ thru a fenc line.. i do not need a hunting permit… i carry a 30-30 going into salmon idaho / steelheads… pisse U off when U see a yote circle a sik cow…
the elk hunting industry has been wiped off the map @ the clearwater
seapatch, Ah yes, those acres of land that have multiple feet tall fences around them to keep the animals inside so man can “hunt’ and bag a trophy to have a picture taken with. Animals, be they deer, elk, moose, wolves, etc. are trapped and cannot get away. What kind of ‘hunt’ is that. Taking guns into an area where animals are trapped. That is not ‘hunting,’ that is slaughter. Cowardice. Only when they actually start putting humans inside these enclosures and hunt them will these places be eradicated. I am serious about this comment. No one thinks that wolves are house dogs nor do we expect them to act like dogs. There is room for them to be allowed to live. Farmers/rangers can move out of the lands where the wolves have lived. Give the land back to them. Land which should have never be taken. No one needs to raise thousands upon thousands of animals who will be slaughtered for meat for the tables of humans. Why is it okay for humans to raise these animals who are destined to be slaughtered by humans. Why the outcry when you place domesticated animals, who cannot defend themselves, in areas where wild animals have lived. Find some other way to make a living. As for Disneyland, what happened to Bambi’s mom? Packs of wolves and herds of elk keep each other numbers in check.
Now Carol, I’m with you on the senseless killing of these magnificent creatures. But please be realistic. How long do you think a roving ravenous pack of these wolves would last in your backyard?
They have as much right as us to live. This is murder for profit. Pure evil. Typical for Murka.
Elk Herds N spudland that were 100K are now reduced to 15K-20K..
them’ 90,000 wild horses here in the west is a nother fake sham..
Nevada has fenced just about everyting; ely north to american falls.. the horses are GONE !
one wolf pak in king hill smoked over 60 sheep in one nite / dead..
we hav been hunting these lone pak wolfs w McMillian Nited & traks ..
these are not house dogs or a lazy bobcat stretching out on the carport at nite..
these western states are NOT DISNEYLAND
What do you expect as more and more Sean Hannity’s move into the Western states because of the oil boom. I know that’s in the Dakota’s but it’s part of the great rocky mountain states. My dream is to retire and move into Montana but I plan on being civilized, fish, I might consider hunting wild Turkey’s but absolutely nothing bigger than that. If it has four legs, let it be.
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