Wolves in Wyoming
Ranchers dealing with wolf attacks, sheep losses have skyrocketed this year
BY GRANT SMITH, Buffalo Bulletin, July 1, 2009 [here]
Pete Carricaburu feels victimized.
A life-long rancher, Carricaburu has brought his sheep to graze on the same privately owned land near Dull Knife Battlefield in Johnson County since 1988. He’s learned to deal with mountain lions, coyotes and the occasional black bear.
But last Saturday, a savage new element was added to his summer grazing operation when 10 of his sheep fell victim to wolf attacks within hours of being moved to the Big Horn Mountains.
“These are our babies and we take immaculate, good care of these sheep,” Carricaburu said. “Seeing them brutalized was just heartbreaking. We felt we were terrorized and we were. We found a couple of lambs trying to follow the herd with their guts hanging out. It was kind of like a drive-by-shooting.”
Carricaburu’s case isn’t an isolated incident.
Wyoming Game and Fish Department wolf program coordinator Mike Jimenez confirmed that four different ranchers have lost 52 sheep to wolves in Johnson County since May 4. That number has skyrocketed from the two confirmed wolf kills reported in all of 2008.
The area affected is southern Johnson County, in the mountains west of Kaycee. … [more]
by Wolves Expanding, Killing Sheep In Wyoming : Black Bear Blog
by Pete E.
As many hunters here in Idaho now know, wolves are destroying our elk and moose herds, especially in the back country areas of north central Idaho. The elk and moose populations are going downhill like a run-away freight train. Every time there is a new aerial flight count in these zones for elk, the total count gets smaller and smaller. In most of the higher density wolf areas the length of elk seasons has been reduced, the number of hunters limited, road and trail access have been reduced, few if any cows elk are harvested, and the over-all number of elk keeps declining in these game management units or zones.
Each year ranchers are experiencing more and more sheep and cattle losses from wolves. This is on private property as well as on State and Federal grazing leases. I can only hope that WY wins in the lawsuit against the USFWS for denying them the right to manage wolves within the state of WY. I will tell you for a fact that individual hunters will not keep up with the wolf population growth. If it doesn’t in work in Canada or Alaska why would it work in the lower 48? Eventually we will need to trap and aerial gun wolves if we are to keep their numbers in check.
[...] Wolves are expanding their range in Wyoming, moving in to private sheep grazing areas near the Big Horn Mountains. The number of sheep being killed is described as “skyrocketed”. [...]