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Wolfwatcher

4 hours ago

Colorado wolfpack no longer has working collars, causing concern among officialsbit.ly/3NdRLfhColorado's closely watched North Park wolfpack no longer has a working radio collar among its members, causing growing concern among ranchers, some wolf experts and the state wildlife agency.Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed to the Coloradoan the remaining working collar among the three fitted on pack members failed May 13. That collar was attached to the breeding adult male of the pack, which last year helped produce the state's fist pups in 80 years."Collars were the only way CPW could keep track of the wolves, so without the collars they are blind,'' said Gittleson, whose 11,000-acre ranch he leases northeast of Walden has been home to four of the state's five confirmed wolf kills of cattle.Carter Niemeyer spent three decades studying, killing and trapping gray wolves for the federal government before retiring. He now works with ranchers on how to coexist with wolves and sits on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife's Gray Wolf.He believes this is an ideal time to trap wolves for two reasons. He said using leghold traps would serve as a "spank and release'' to scare wolves away from cattle while allowing the capture of a wolf to be fitted with a collar.Leghold traps were banned by voters in 1996.Ed Bangs, who oversaw the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's gray wolf recovery program in the Northern Rocky Mountains before retiring in 2011, said using helicopters to capture and collar wolves this time of year is not ideal. He said the heat of summer stresses the animals, and vegetation makes it difficult to find wolves.The need to radio collar is because people get nervous not knowing where the animals are,'' said Bangs, who in the latter part of his career voiced concerns about using radio collars on wolves.Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which is partnering with lead agency U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in managing wolves, said it does not plan to capture and collar wolves at this time.Photo: Colorado Parks and Wildlife ... See MoreSee Less

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Wolfwatcher

16 hours ago

State and livestock industry depredations on wolves must endtinyurl.com/2h285e69We’re glad that the state-sponsored depredations on wolves are at a seven-year low, but that number needs to be reduced to zero, and that requirement should be formalized by either regulation by the state Fish and Game Commission or by state statute, whichever one it takes.When the word “depredations” is invoked, it’s usually describing wolf depredations on cattle and sheep. It’s kind of a dirty word, especially in rural circles, and describing wolves as doing the depredating is a slick and crafty way to make ranchers look like the victims. But more often than not, it’s when the ranchers push their cattle out onto public wildlands – which are the wolves’ homes – that these conflicts occur. So, really, aren’t the ranchers creating the problem by moving tasty treats into wolf habitats, at times even unloading the cattle truck right next to known wolf den sites?Let’s talk instead about the depredations of the livestock industry, and state and federal agencies, on native wildlife. It’s not just state agencies gunning down wolves. It’s entire U.S. Department of Agriculture programs dedicated to killing or poisoning wild species for the benefit of farmers and ranchers. It’s about county extension agents poisoning native rodents that are a key role in native ecosystems or trapping beavers to disrupt healthy rivers and streams. It’s about individual ranchers carrying rifles in their pickup trucks to gun down anything large enough to notice. This is a result of a failure of these groups – and by extension, our broader society – to coexist and live harmoniously with the natural world, because they are too busy laboring to dominate or destroy it.Humanity needs to retool its approach to the natural world, to transform its relationship from consumers and parasites to one of responsible members of the natural community. The Washington state government has a responsibility to do its part. At Western Watersheds Project, we call on them to lead, by ending the depredations on wolves and other native wildlife. We can and must do better in our relationship to nature.photo: John E. Marriott Wildlife and Nature Photography ... See MoreSee Less

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