We're getting overrun with deer, and need a natural predator to keep them in check.

It would make the Idaho hunters happy, (to have fewer wolves in Northeastern Idaho), and it would help keep the deer population down in areas where there are too many of them.
Obama could make this decision himself, without having to go to Congress for approval.
Plus, it would be good P.R. for the White House, showing true innovation in problem solving.

This complete disconnect from the notion that all life is sacred
has got to STOP.
BHN

Fuck 'em.

Are the lives of some wolves worth more than the lives of the human game wardens tasked with bringing the wolf population back to a manageable level?

but this is not about bringing the wolf population to a manageable level.

but it's all about bringing the wolf pop to a manageable level. Our elk herd has been trashed.

The article says they want to bring the elk numbers up so they can harvest them

They want the elk dead , they just don't want the wolves to kill them , they want the hunters to be able to shoot them for fun

Fuck those assholes

Just like Governor "Quitter" from Alaska and her wolf kill program. For her, it was the Caribou herds.
Her big-game hunting guide cronies didn't want any competition from any wolves. It's always follow the money.
Assholes indeed.

continues to disappear.

"Our elk herd has been trashed." It's not your herd.

The wolf lives are more valuable to me than a human who would do this for a job. I really don't value humans at any undeserved higher lever than any other creature. Humans have fucked up this world pretty badly.

Fuck 'em.

Thank you for posting this. Would also like to recommend taking a pass on the new Liam Neeson movie "Grey", which as I've read will engender another round of "evil wolves must be killed" rhetoric.

Ugly stuff.

They were just re-introduced ten or so years ago for the purpose of restoring the balance of elk and deer. Why do they want to kill them now? We have some real assholes running our depts. of fish and game, not only in Idaho but elsewhere. Since the Lolo is pretty remote, why not just ban the hunters?

If Obama approves the use of federal sharpshooters to kill wolves in a National Forest, far from any livestock, solely to make Elk hunters happy, then he doesn't deserve to be re-elected!

Imagine what they would do to our wilderness.

....These wolves are on on federal land, in the Clearwater National Forest.....

I would never vote for a Republican, Gingrich, Romney or anyone else,
but the President has to do the right thing here and just save these wolves from being slaughtered, ....Executive Action is needed here.

the hunters happy. It's to put something in my freezer.

I have camped in the Lolo wilderness. This should not be one of the places overrun with hunters and tourists. It's still pretty natural as Mother Nature intended.

Are you implying that if the elk disappear your freezer would be empty ?

Fact is most hunters kill the animals for fun , even if they do it their kill

Unlike food hunting, sport hunting has no compelling benefits to the human. And does ANYONE at the fish/game departments have a degree in zoology or biology or know a damn thing about evolution?

... someone at the fish/game/forestry departments has a degree in zoology or biology.

Want to give me odds?

Keeping things "in balance". It's a wonder there would be any living creatures at all without our "intervention".

I find that terrifically comforting, indeed.

No, I don't think he's just inept or bad, I hate him. He's fine with this and he'll say something and the slaughter will happen....fucking incredible.

K&R

attack the whole lot of them.

Rarely does a human-sponsored slaughter have such a just ending though. This one will end as they always do, with the less powerful being killed in cold blood by the dead-at-heart.

wilderness reducing the habitat with clear cuts.

...to find the actual reason.

If the population is so low, neither elk nor wolves should be hunted.

As far as the livestock attacks go, the ranchers are compensated for their loss. In fact there are indeed some ranchers who make a tidy little side business of faking wolf attacks on livestock.

Oh, and let's not forget other human forces that are lowering elk and wolf populations, habitat destruction, barbed wire, dogs, etc. etc.

But hey, let's blame it all on the wolves instead

From your "Sun Journal" article by V. Paul Reynolds

Mr. Reynolds writes that "In 1989, according to Idaho wildlife officials, there was an elk population of 17,000"..
..According to WHICH Idaho officials?
Why doesn't he name them?

Mr Reynolds goes on to say:
"Biologist David Cadwallader, who manages wildlife for the Lolo region, estimates today's elk population at just 2200."
Who does David Cadwallader work for?
Is he a biologist for the state of Idaho?
Is he a biologist working for the federal government?
Is he estimating the elk population for the Clearwater National Forest?

There is no way to verify any of this...go up on Google and all you get are references back to this "Sun Journal" article....No Other Sources!

Also, you seem to forget that this isn't just some large remote area in Idaho, with cattle & sheep ranches etc, this is a National Forest, and whatever the elk population is there. it does not come under the regulations and purview of the state of Idaho anyway.

You might want to get yourself more informed.

Also, you might want to go to:
http://www.defenders.org/take_action/index.php?utm_source=B_Version_
and scroll down to "Save the Lolo 75"
(Stop aerial gunning of wolves in northern Idaho)

one of your questions:

http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/media/viewNewsRelease.cfm?newsID=3834

"David Cadwallader, 52, of Lewiston, has been named as regional supervisor for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game's Clearwater Region."

I am sure that if you search that site further you will find information that will support or refute your comments

Wolf predation is a cost of doing business. If you can't run a ranch properly and make a profit, you should go out of business like anyone else. What other industry gets to kill their competitors?

Look, anyone who chooses to live in wolf country should live with the consequences of their choice. That involves some humans and livestock being killed.

The deer herds have never recovered

Are the ranchers having another anti-wolf hate-fest?

Got it. Morons must fucking drink for free there, cuz the place is overrun with them.

I respect people who hunt with respect. It's an old human tradition and I don't begrudge people who do it. We wouldn't be here without it.

That being said, I don't understand why this wolf-kill is going on. I oppose it 100 percent. Let the wolves and humans both do their thing in Idaho. There's plenty of space for both in big sky country.

Because if you've ever eaten beef, chicken, fish, or pork that comes from gigantic factory farms, you're not granting the animal anywhere near the respect a hunter does. A respectful hunter encounters the animal in its natural habitat and the two have a Darwinian contest. A feed lot is just a bunch of animals bred for slaughter who meet their fate whenever the owners decide.

For the record, I've never hunted. I don't plan to either. But I have respect for people who go out and earn their meat unlike those like me who buy it already slaughtered and cut in a grocery store.

I thought that the 'l' was an 'i' and that the username something to do with the number 5. It happens I guess

"you're not granting the animal anywhere near the respect a hunter does..."

Don't really think that people going on canned hunts care much for respect or natural habitats-- unless of course one attempts to divine an ethical difference between hunting and canned hunting.

And if one can find an ethical difference in that, one must also allow for the possibility of an ethical difference between purchasing meat and the act of hunting itself.

I'll agree with that.

You're going to think I'm COMPLETELY full of shit, but this is the God's honest truth.

People hunt from ATVs up here.

The hunters in the North Idaho Fucking Idiot Preserve will go out in the woods with two ATVs and two rifles. They hit the ground an hour before sunrise (which is the legal start of hunting time in Idaho), roar up and down the hills until an hour after sunset (the legal end of hunting time) looking for a deer or an elk to kill, don't find either one, come back to town and send a letter to the editor about how the wolves have decimated the deer and elk populations in North Idaho.



These are elk. Please to notice the things under the antlers on each side of their heads. These things are called "ATV detectors." Deer have them too. Elk are genetically programmed to head for Canada when they sense ATVs within five miles of them.

Yes, the elk harvest numbers and elk population numbers are down, and yes there is wolf predation...but hunter stupidity has a lot to do with it too.

The herd is seriously decimated, ATV hunting not withstanding.

Not like humans really NEED elk antlers, but since we've got the guns, if we decide we WANT elk antlers, you wolves better back off.

If we were smart, we'd just pick up the antlers after the wolves kill the elk if we want them so bad, but unlike shooting wolves from airplanes, that's just not very sportsmanlike.

I know a number of people who in the more rural areas that count on at least one or two deer/elk to feed the family.