The Wolf Preservation Blog

“This week in Montana, hunters are allowed to shoot wolf puppies. Yes, puppies.

And tthey can shoot them in the most agonizingly cruel way of all, using bow and arrow.

And it’s all ‘legal’.

Whether you agree with arguments that support hunting for sport or not, most so-called ‘ethical’ hunters would agree a clean, fast kill is the goal – no matter what species is in the cross-hairs, and only in a ‘sportsmanlike way’ that gives the hunted animal a fair chance of escape.

While we won’t discuss the ethics of hunting per se, I do offer this video to consider – especially for those of strong Christian faith.

Whatever your personal take on hunting, what is ‘sportsmanlike’ in arrowing puppies?

Is it OK to kill babies using one of the slowest and most painful of hunting methods?

Dying from an archery wound can take – up to two WEEKS, according to Benke, and then only as a result of massive infection.

Watch the video. Please watch it now.

Does a puppy deserve to die this way? For that matter, does a deer, elk or any animal deserve to be sentenced to a long, agonizing death for the purposes of human ‘sport’?

Since the controversial politically-motivated delisting of endangered grey wolves resulted in open-season on wolves in several US states, including bow-hunting season beginning Sept. 3 in Montana, wolves have intentionally – and legally – been shot and killed – Although the actual statistcs and the numbers reported keep changing.

Bowhunting season is considered legal and is permitted – although perhaps not for much longer now that this video has been released.

And yes, unfortunately, certain backwards states are legalizing – even encouraging – the hunting of newborn wolf puppies as ‘Trophies’.

Even if you think it’s OK to hunt and kill truly helpless baby animals -puppies- for sport, is it OK to torture them first?

For some reason the general public seems to feel that bow-hunting is somehow more noble, more challenging, fair or more humane than hunting with firearms.

In this video a veteranarian describes the actual, prolonged and agonizing death these bow-shot animals actually experience.

Warning – This is graphic video. It was taken over the shoulder of a hunter – documenting his legal kill using a bow and arrow.

How many feel this kind of death is justifiable in the pursuit of ‘pleasure’? And what about for baby animals?

Should bow hunting remain legal?”

**Special thanks to Cathy Taibbi is based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, and is Anchor for Allvoices for providing this information.

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“LA GRANDE, Ore. — Two young wolves from the Imnaha pack have struck out for new territory, and the pack’s alpha female gave birth to at least one pup this year, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said Monday.

No pups have been spotted in the Wenaha pack.

“Wolf packs are dynamic and rarely stay the same size over time,” noted Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf coordinator. “A pack can be healthy despite these natural fluctuations in numbers, as long as a breeding pair of wolves, the alpha male and female, is maintained.” 

Wolf pups are born in mid-April, with litters typically averaging four to six pups. The pups go outside the den and become more active beginning in June.

A state employee spotted the Imnaha pup July 16. No other pups have been seen this year, but wildlife managers said there could be more pups.

Biologists have also confirmed that two more young wolfs left the pack and moved to new areas.

A three-year-old male wearing a radio-tracking collar was located by biologists southeast of Fossil in Wheeler County at the end of July.

ODFW searched the area after a member of the public captured the image of a wolf on his trail camera in the west Blue Mountains. That particular had last been located north of Wallowa on May 10 in Wallowa County.

A second collared wolf, two-year-old male, swam across the Brownlee Reservoir on the Snake River into Idaho on July 18.

This brings to three the number of wolves known to have dispersed from the Imnaha pack. A female wolf went to Washington State last winter when she was 1 1/2 years old.

ODFW does not have evidence that any of these three collared wolves (OR-3, OR-5, OR-9) have joined a new wolf pack yet.

Other uncollared members of the Imnaha pack may have dispersed with the radio-collared wolves or gone their own way, wildlife managers said. The latest observations and data suggest the Imnaha pack now has four adult wolves (three of them with tracking collars), plus the new pup.

Trail cameras have captured images of four adult wolves from Oregon’s other established wolf population, the Wenaha pack, in the northern Blue Mountains area this summer. No pups were seen on the footage.

State biologists plan to monitor the pack for pups and to try and collar members from this pack.”

*Special thanks to KVAL News for providing this information!

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“HELENA- Licenses for this year’s Montana wolf hunt are going up on sale on Monday, August 8th and they will be valid within 14 specifically defined wolf management units. It should be noted that hunters must obtain permission to hunt on private lands.

Hunters can purchase a wolf license online or from any FWP regional office or license provider. Hunters must have, or also purchase, a 2011 conservation license in order to take part in the upcoming wold hunt.

Wolf hunting licenses cost $19 for residents and $350 for nonresidents (If wolf opponents want outsiders to stay out of their business, then why do they offer outsiders an opportunity to hunt Montana Wolves?) The hunting season will close in a specific WMU when the quota is reached and Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks reports that if a WMU’s quota isn’t met, the wolf-hunting season will be extended in that area through December 31st. 

Hunters cannot use any motorized vehicle-including OHVs and snowmobiles-to hunt wolves and the use of dogs, bait, sent, lures, traps, lights, electronic tracking devices or any recorded or electrically amplified bird or animal calls to hunt or attract wolves is prohibited.

The total harvest quota is 220 wolves across 14 WMUs Two management units-WMUs 290 and 390 have subquotas. Montana is divided into 14 WMU and each has its own quota. FWP wildlife management areas are open to hunting during the fall wolf season and legally accessible State School Trust Land is also open to wolf hunting.

FWP advises that hunters by law must obtain permission to hunt private land and only tribal members may be allowed to hunt wolves on Indian Reservations. State Game Preserves, National Parks, and National Wildlife Refuges are closed to wolf hunting.

Hunters are required to call     1.877.FWP.WILD   (1.877.397.9453) to report harvests within 12 hours and to maintain possession of the hide and skull, hunters must by law personally present the tagged wolf hide and skull to a designated FWP employee within 10 days of the harvest for inspection. Evidence of the animal’s sex must remain naturally attached to the hide.

Hunters can call 1-800-385-7826  beginning September 3rd for the latest wolf-harvest status and closure information. Wolf hunting regulations are available via the FWP website at , and from most FWP license providers.”

*Information provided by:  KPAX/KAJ Media Center, 08/05/2011.

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“SALMON, Idaho, July 28 (Reuters) – Idaho will open its wolf
population, now estimated at about 1,000 animals, to extensive hunting and trapping to reduce their numbers to no fewer than
150 under a plan approved on Thursday by the state Fish and
Game Commission.

The move came after a heated public hearing Wednesday night
in Salmon, where wolf foes declared war on the iconic predators
with rhetoric describing Idaho as locked in a “wolf crisis” and
as one of three “wolf-occupied states” in the Northern Rockies,
along with Montana and Wyoming.

Wolves have been at the center of a bitter debate since
they were reintroduced to the region in the mid-1990s over the
objections of ranchers and commercial outfitters who said
wolves would prey on cattle and compete with hunters for elk.

The plan to cut the wolf population in Idaho comes just
three months after wolves in Idaho and Montana were stripped of
federal protections under the Endangered Species Act through an
unprecedented act of Congress.

Removal from the U.S. endangered species list turned
control of those wolves over to state wildlife agencies, now
free to set hunting seasons as a way of reducing wolf numbers
to levels they see as better balanced with human interests.

In Montana, wildlife managers earlier this month set a
statewide quota of 220 wolves — out of an estimated population
of 566 — for its wolf hunts, which will generally run from
September to November.

Idaho’s commissioners, by comparison, approved a plan that
sets no quota for a combination of hunting and trapping that
will be allowed for most of the year in most of the state,
beginning next month.

However, Idaho would bar wolf numbers statewide from
falling in any given year below the 150 minimum necessary to
prevent federal re-listing of them.

The action in Idaho comes as a federal judge in Montana is
poised to rule on a lawsuit by environmental groups challenging
the de-listing of wolves in both states earlier this year.

DUELING NUMBERS

The commissioners said their aim is to lower the number of
conflicts between wolves and livestock in the state and to end
wolf-caused declines of elk in some parts of Idaho where
outfitters have complained they are losing clients because of
unsuccessful hunts for elk and other big game.

Still, a recent survey by state wildlife managers shows elk
populations exceed or meet biologists’ objectives in the vast
majority of Idaho’s hunting areas. Another study by wildlife
managers shows Idaho wolves killed 148 cows in 2010, out of a
total 2.2 million head of cattle in the state.

Idaho game commissioners characterized their plan as a good
starting point, with future plans to include wolf trapping and
killing by designated state agents and by landowners.

“We will increase the tools in the toolbox and use all
legal mechanisms to solve the problem,” commission chairman
Tony McDermott told wolf opponents on Wednesday night. “We’re
on the same page and we’ll get it done.”

At the meeting Thursday in Salmon, commissioners also cut
the price of non-resident wolf hunting tags statewide from
about $186 to $31.75 as an incentive to out-of-state hunters.

Wildlife advocates on Thursday vowed to launch a boycott of
Idaho, its potatoes and its outfitters.

“The word is getting out that this is basically a wolf-hate
state,” Idaho wolf activist Lynne Stone said. “I think this is
going to be a big hit to the image of Idaho and further hurt
our economy.”

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)

**Thanks to Laura Zuckerman, Reuters, for providing this information!

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“WASHINGTON (July 27th, 2011)— In a victory for imperiled species, the U.S. House of Representatives today voted not to include the “extinction rider” in an appropriations bill that would have stopped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from spending any money to protect new species under the Endangered Species Act or to designate “critical habitat” for their survival. The House voted 224-202 in favor of an amendment from Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) to strip the “extinction rider” from the Interior department’s appropriation bill. “The extinction rider would have been a disaster for hundreds of animals and plants across the country that desperately need the help of the Endangered Species Act to survive,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “Today’s vote is a promising sign for wolverines, walruses and species in all 50 states that, without help, face the very real prospect of extinction.” The vote comes as plants and animals across the country are at heightened risk of extinction due to habitat destruction, global climate change, extreme weather events and other factors. Earlier this month the Center and the Fish and Wildlife Service reached a landmark agreement to speed protection for 757 imperiled U.S. species, including the wolverine, Pacific walrus, Rio Grand cutthroat trout and Mexican gray wolf. The passage of today’s bill would have delayed protection for those species and made their recovery more difficult. “While the vote on the extinction rider shows that the Endangered Species Act enjoys support from both sides of the aisle, the House is still threatening wide-spread environmental damage with other amendments to this spending bill,” Greenwald said. “We can’t allow these measures to move ahead that will pollute our air and water, threaten public health and destroy pristine landscapes.” Among the measures still under consideration in the House are those that would: * Stop more than 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon from being protected from new uranium mines; * Force the Environmental Protection Agency to stop all work limiting carbon dioxide pollution from power plants, refineries and other large pollution sources; * Halt efforts under the Clean Water Act from protecting human health and endangered species from pesticides; * Block EPA oversight of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia; * Interfere with the Environmental Protect Agency’s work to protect the public from toxic coal ash; * Hinder the EPA’s and U.S. Corps of Engineers’ work to protect wetlands and other waters of the United States; * Expedite air-pollution permits for offshore drilling in the Arctic The full appropriations bill for the Interior department is expected to be voted on by the House in the coming days. If it passes, it moves to the Senate. Last week, the White House signaled plans to veto the spending bill because of amendments that threaten wildlife, the environment, and clean air and water.”

**Special thanks to “Lobos of the Southwest” for providing this information!

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