Bison Relocation

So far 60 buffalo have been killed in Montana's "hunt".  Inaddition, 31 bison have been captured INSIDE Yellowstone National Park and put into the Stephens Creek Trap Facility for an undetermined length of time (photo below).

NPS File Photo

Tomorrow Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks is having a public meeting on relocating the bison who've been in quarantine at the Corwin Springs facility and moving them to the Spotted Dog Wildlife Management Area or Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. The buffalo would be fenced in and "hunted."

I'm going to go to this cowboy meeting with a couple other people. There need to be people there who support buffalo.

Judge Molloy Supports the States

After days of waiting, Judge Molloy finally reached a decision on September 9th. The judge said FWS violated the Endangered Species Act when it kept wolves protected under it in Wyoming while delisting the wolves elsewhere. In addition, FWS numbers for a viable wolf population are political and not based on science. Therefore, the wolves should be hunted. The wolves will bounce back even if over 30% of their population was killed! (Typical Montana)

That's the judge's decision--Exterminate the gray wolves.

Target: Gray Wolves

With no decision made yet by Judge Molloy regarding the Northern Rocky gray wolves, the hunt in Idaho began yesterday. So far, 3 wolves have been killed. Molloy could still approve an injunction which would stop the current hunt in Idaho and prevent the hunt in Montana which is set to begin September 15th.

In Idaho alone over 9,000 tags have been sold. In Montana over 3,000 tags.

It's hard to tell what Molloy will decide. Just last week in Dillion, Montana, gray wolves killed 120 sheep in one raid! The ranch was left to one person, the owner's son, to supervise. The owner boasted that his ranch has been there for 50 years and the wolves were "intruders." (WOW! A whole 50 years. The wolves have been there for how many thousands? The ranch is the intrusion.)

In Montana, Ed Bangs, the Helena-based U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regional wolf recovery coordinator said that the wolves are already being culled. With 23 percent of gray wolves in Montana being killed each year by the following:

10% By "agency control"
10% Illegally
3% Accidentally, such as by vehicles

Back in Idaho the stupid hunters are now boasting about their kills with photos of themselves with a dead wolf. Here are a couple news sites with photos.
KOMO
LA Times

Idaho to Kill 50% Wolf Population

Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) wants to kill 518 gray wolves in the state out of the 1,000 that live there. This is 8 times the recovery goal and the wolves are increasing in population by 20% annually (too bad we don't have the same rules about invasive species). Hunters will be used to "manage" wolves (just like the buffalo). The focus areas for hunting will be where invasive livestock have taken over and in the Lolo Elk Zone where the number of elk is decreasing by 13% each year. IDFG puts a good portion of the blame on the wolves (what a surprise), saying that other predators such as, black bears and mountain lions kill elk too, but when the wolves are "managed" the elk numbers will increase. This decrease in elk has caused a decrease in hunting ($$$)

So, the mindset of the European settlers lives on in Idaho.

U.S. Wolf History & Present Day

In Europe wolves were almost extinct by the time settlers arrived on this continent. At this time there were an estimated 250,000 wolves in the now lower 48 states alone. The settlers brought the same mindset as they had in Europe, wolves are evil. Manifest destiny led the way and the rest is history and present.

Just 10 years after the Mayflower landed the Massachusetts Bay Colony began offering rewards for killing wolves. The wolf was the enemy just like all Native peoples and wildlife. The wolf was made into a scape goat for the uncontrolled, power hungry settlers. (sounds like today) The settlers over-hunted deer. So, they blamed the wolf for low deer populations. (just like today)

In the 19th century the good ol' ranchers came to the west for cheap, abundant land they could destroy with their invasive cows (again with the cattle) Things didn't go so well. This non-native species (the cows. not ranchers. too bad it wasn't both.) began dying of diseases. Again the wolf was falsely blamed. Now for killing livestock. It wasn't long before livestock began replacing the wildlife wolves eat; buffalo and deer. So, fearing wolves would kill the livestock a campaign went out to exterminate the wolf. Professionals working for the livestock industry (no not FWP this time) would use various methods to kill wolves including laying strychnine-poisoned meat in up to 150 mile lines!! When wolves began to be hard to find, they were searched out and killed in various ways: set on fire, shot, poisoned, clubbed, trapped, and inoculated with mange! Good ol' Montana takes credit for killing over 80,000 wolves in 25 years.

In the 1970's less than 1,000 wolves remained in the lower 48. Today there are only 50 Mexican wolves, 100 Red wolves in the wild and between 7,000-11,000 gray wolves in Alaska as well as more than 5,000 in the lower 48 (no where near 250,000) with about 15,000 of these in the Greater Yellowstone Area

Now once again history repeats itself with a rancher, the Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar removing the gray wolves from the endangered species list. So, the killing of wolves continues for the same reason as the past--power hungry, immature, people.

Contact Obama and tell him to put the gray wolf back on the endangered species list.

More wolf history

Montana is Brucellosis Free, So What Happens to Buffalo?

Now that MT is "class free" there should be no reason to have a buffalo hunt. Right? Not so. FWP is still going ahead with the hunt. Why? Brucellosis. So the claim remains.

According to the '2009 Bison Hunting Information Summary'

"Brucellosis in Yellowstone National Park bison is one of the primary reasons that attempts are being made to control bison in Montana."

"The disease causing bacteria can be transmitted from bison to cattle. If domestic cattle are infected, there are negative effects to individual cattle producers in the form of a loss of production, loss of markets, and costly preventative measures, including vaccination. "

What? They have to vaccinate! The poor cattle industry :P
It must be tough having to take responsibility. After all they've been on that land for 100 years. They basically own it, as their mind set is. Rather they stole it and destroyed it. Forget the native people who were there before them or the wildlife. Who both still try to survive an oppressive government.

Send FWP a comment

Montana Sets Wolf Quota

The number is set at 75.

“Today, we can celebrate the fact that Montana manages elk, deer, bears, mountain lions, ducks, bighorn sheep, and wolves in balance with their habitats, other species, and in balance with the people who live here,”said FWP Director Joe Maurier. What a bunch of BS! Send him an email and let him know it is.

What Montanans think about this.
Most of the 180 public comments submitted to the commission said the proposed range for the wolf quota of 26-165 was too low. (what a surprise)

For more info. Check out the HelenaIR

Bison Hunt Quota Set

FWP has once again determined there are tooo many buffalo in Montana,or rather, there ARE buffalo in Montana. So once again there will be a "hunt" just outside the border of Yellowstone Park. The quota is the same as last year, 144. FWP is claiming there are 3,000 buffalo in Yellowstone, which is probably an inflated number. So as the buffalo migrate out of Yellowstone this winter, they'll be subject to a "hunt" which is nothing more than some hunter standing and waiting on the outside of the park boundary line.


Send FWP your comment and tell them why this "hunt" is ridiculous. Click here.

MT Wolf Hunt This Fall

FWP has set the wolf quota to (get this) 26-165 !! FWP representatives had wanted it to be 0-207. (that zero is NOT a misprint)
Why 207? They were afraid the wolves would become listed again!
But, FWP commission said no to 207 and wanted the lower number because although the commission believes it’s biologically defensible, they weren’t sure it sends the right message — that Montana intends to maintain healthy wolf populations.

Something to take into consideration..

Federal standards require Montana to maintain 100 wolves in 10 breeding pairs. The state prefers a minimum of 150 wolves in 15 breeding pairs to ensure they don't fall under federal management again.

(They're like kids whose parents took away a toy for misbehaving then later gave it back. So, now they try to get away with as much as they can without going too far.)

Comments on the quotas will be taken until June 19th email FWP

Quotes are from an article in the HelenaIR