Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Tracking seminar offered this weekend

By JOHN PEPIN, Journal Munising Bureau

MUNISING — The first of three upcoming seminars on wildlife tracking skills will be offered this weekend in Munising.

Expert wildlife tracker Jim Halfpenny, PhD. will be the instructor for the two-day Munising seminar, which features both indoor and outdoor instruction. The emphasis of the professional level sessions is on reading trails to understand animals behavior and ecology.

The program is being offered by the Timber Wolf Alliance of Northland College’s Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute of Ashland, Wis. The day-long Munising sessions will begin at 8 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Express on Saturday and Sunday. Pre-registration is required and space is limited to 40 participants.

Two additional two-day sessions will be taught on Dec. 5-6 in Watersmeet and on Dec. 9-10 in Tomahawk, Wis. The cost for the workshop includes instruction, meals, materials, and for some workshops, lodging.

“We are thrilled to have one of the world’s foremost professional wildlife trackers teach these workshops,” said Pam Troxell, coordinator of the Timber Wolf Alliance program. “It is quite an opportunity to have someone of Jim’s caliber be available to us.”

Halfpenny has taught tracking for nearly 30 years, has partnered with Timber Wolf Alliance on tracking workshops for the past decade, and is the founder of “A Naturalist’s World,” an educational tracking adventure company.

He is a former research associate at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, was an instructor at the National Outdoor Leadership School, and served as director of the Mountain Research Station.

In addition to numerous scientific and popular articles, Halfpenny is author of “A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in North America,” “Winter: An Ecological Handbook, and the soon to be released “Scats and Tracks of the Great Lakes Region.”

The goal of the Wildlife Tracking Skills workshops is to offer quality tracking skill training and information about large carnivore ecology to participants in both classroom and field settings, Troxell said.

“Our workshops cover track and sign identification, footprint analysis, gait interpretation, trail reading, and understanding animal behavior and ecology,” Troxell said.

In Wisconsin, similar tracking sessions have helped citizen volunteers become qualified to help the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources track wolves in that state.

Cost for the Munising session is $170 without lodging, $155 for Timber Wolf Alliance supporting members.

The Watersmeet workshop will be held at the Lac Vieux Desert Casino, and the cost is $170 (without lodging), $155 for TWA supporters. The Tomahawk, Wis. sessions will be held at the Treehaven Field Station. Cost is $190 (with 1 night lodging), $175 for TWA supporters, $210 (with 2 nights lodging), $195 for TWA supporters.

For more information about the workshops, contact the Timber Wolf Alliance at the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute by calling (715) 682-1223, or e-mail twa@northland.edu

  • The Mining Journal
  • Crying wolf? Committee looking to control population

    By Howard Meyerson - Grand Rapids Press Outdoors Editor

    A citizens advisory committee looking at whether Michigan's gray wolf population might be controlled using lethal means has given the nod to holding a managed hunt, should it ever become necessary -- when and if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service takes the wolf off the federal endangered species list.

    "That's the model we would use," said Todd Hogrefe, the state's endangered species coordinator with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. "But the group emphasized using non-lethal means wherever it is feasible and effective."

    That group is the state's Wolf Management Roundtable, a citizens committee representing 20 different organizations across a wide political spectrum.

    The groups drew from animal welfare organizations such as the Michigan Humane Society to big-game hunting groups like Safari Club International. It also included the Sierra Club, farm bureau, tribal interests and those who hunt with dogs.

    The roundtable was convened last summer to develop a set of "guiding principles" for the state to use in revising its gray wolf management plan. Those principles were released this week in a report titled: Recommended Guiding Principles for Wolf Management in Michigan.

    Federal officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed last March that the gray wolf be taken off the federal endangered species list for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan along with nearby states where they may move. Final action on that proposal is expected in March.

    Michigan wildlife officials say they want to be ready for that change. There are approximately 434 wolves living in the Upper Peninsula. The state's goal for the endangered wolf was to have 200 for five consecutive years. Hogrefe says that has more than been exceeded and there are 4,000 in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

    Those wolves also are expected to spread out over time. That, in turn, will mean more good and bad encounters with humans.

    State officials say the new guidelines will help them with their wolf plan revisions. They are a clear indication of what stockholders will tolerate and support.

    Wolves are protected by federal law. It is currently illegal to kill one in Michigan except when being attacked. The state also has that authority when a wolf proves a human safety concern or the wolf is sick or injured.

    In 2005, Michigan lost its authority to kill them in the case of livestock predation after U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lost a lawsuit challenging its previous decision to de-list the wolf.

    Hogrefe said 10 wolves were "euthanized" between April 2003 and January 2005 for that purpose and nearly $20,000 was paid to farmers to compensate them for livestock losses in 76 cases.

    "We have no authority to use lethal control in these situations now, but we can use non-lethal harassment," Hogrefe said.

    The new guidelines give the DNR the flexibility to use a managed hunt if it's needed in the future, but roundtable members could not agree about hunting of wolves for recreation and issued no recommendation.

    "They agreed to disagree," said Hogrefe, who explained that opposing groups included the various tribes who value the wolf for cultural and religious reasons, the animal-welfare groups that were concerned about their suffering and the Sierra Club, which is not anti-hunting, but whose members did not want to see it hunted.

    Other guidelines included in the report call for:

    -educating Michigan citizens about wolves
    -using non-lethal means wherever possible
    -not setting numerical population goals, but rather maintaining a sustainable population while minimizing risks to humans, dogs and livestock
    -giving the DNR authority to use lethal control for livestock predation problems as well as the livestock producer.
    -not giving dog owners authority to kill wolves unless wolf attacks on dogs become a chronic occurrence and nothing else works.

    Hogrefe said the guidelines have been sent to DNR director Becky Humphries for review. A revised draft wolf management plan is expected from the DNR in March. It will get a 90-day public review before being adopted.

  • Grand Rapids Press
  • U.P. wolf killings probed

    By SCOTT SWANSON, Journal Staff Writer

    MARQUETTE — At least six wolves have been killed in the western Upper Peninsula since the beginning of firearm deer season.

    Prosecution is pending against hunters in three of the incidents, while investigations are ongoing in two others, according to an official with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

    A sixth animal was killed by other wolves, the official said.

    In addition to a $1,500 restitution fee, a person found guilty of killing a wolf — a federally endangered species — faces up to 90 days in prison, a fee of $100 to $1,000 and a loss of hunting privileges at the discretion of the court, said Lt. Tom Courchaine of the Crystal Falls DNR office.

    “You think you’re out in the middle of nowhere, but there are a lot of clues out there,” he said. “Especially during deer season, when there are a lot of eyes and ears out in the woods.”

    Prosecution is pending against individuals who allegedly killed wolves near Trout Creek in Ontonagon County, southern Iron County and Dickinson County, Courchaine said.

    The DNR is still investigating a wolf killed in northern Iron County, although a preliminary investigation indicated that it was shot, Courchaine said. The investigation of a wolf killed on tribal land in Baraga County is being handled by the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.

    And a wolf found dead near Ewen in Ontonagon County was determined to have been killed by other wolves, Courchaine said.

    Courchaine said that an increase in the killing of wolves during deer season is not unusual.

    “Six wolves in the month of November is an increase for us from the past couple of years, but we’ve had one or two years with fairly similar numbers,” he said.

    The DNR handles a potential wolf kill like any criminal investigation, Courchaine said. Wildlife biologists and conservation officers are sent to the scene to gather physical evidence and conduct interviews with hunters and other witnesses. As many as six officers at a time have been placed on wolf-kill cases.

    Courchaine added that it is illegal to shoot coyotes during deer season in Michigan.

    “All the people that kill a wolf and claim they thought they were shooting a coyote, that doesn’t hold much water,” he said.

    Because wolves in Michigan and several other Great Lakes states have exceeded recovery goals for several years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing it from the federal endangered species list. A decision is expected in March.

  • The Mining Journal
  • Half-Breed Wolf Dog Hero Rescues Elderly Owners From Snowstorm

    By Liza Porteus

    NEW YORK — When Eve and Norman Fertig rescued a sick, two-week-old half wolf, half German shepherd puppy from a breeder almost seven years ago, they'd never dreamed that the animal one day would save their lives.

    "God is watching; he's watching all the time," Eve Fertig told FOXNews from her home at the Enchanted Forest Wildlife Sanctuary in Alden, N.Y.

    He apparently was watching on Oct. 12, when the 81-year-old Fertigs were treating injured animals in the forest sanctuary on their property. One such animal is a near-18-year-old raven, while another is a crow who was shot, blind in one eye with two broken legs.

    It was routine for the couple to feed and exercise the dozen or so animals there around 7 p.m. every night.

    "While we're in there, the lights go out and I realized something's wrong," Eve Fertig said. "We go outside to see what's happening and down comes one massive tree … the trees came down across us."

    The massive storm that hit upstate New York that night felled trees, blocking the Fertig's path to the other sanctuary buildings — such as the school and storage building — and to their home, which was at least 200 feet away.

    "We were in big trouble. … I said to my husband, 'I think we could die out here,'" Eve said.

    'The Most Heroic Thing I've Ever Seen'

    The Fertigs huddled in a narrow alley between the hospital building and the aviary, where they were sheltered from falling trees. They couldn't climb over the trees without injuring themselves. Neither had warm clothes on since it was a clear, crisp fall day just a few hours ago. They hugged each other for warmth, since by 9:30 p.m., temperatures had dropped.

    "I wasn't prepared for this … I thought, 'we're trapped, we're absolutely trapped,'" Eve said. "That's when Shana began to dig beneath the fallen trees."

    The 160-pound dog that habitually follows her owners around — Eve likens it to "Mary had a little lamb," when the lamb went everywhere Mary went — eventually found the Fertigs and began digging a path in the snow with her teeth and claws underneath the fallen trees, similar to a mineshaft, and barking as if to tell them to follow.

    A reluctant Norm said, "I had enough in Okinawa in a foxhole," referring to his service in World War II.

    "'Norman, if you do not follow me, I will get a divorce,'" Eve said to her husband of 62 years. "That did it. He said, 'a divorce? That would scandal our family.' I said, 'all of our family is dead, Norman!'"

    After Shana tunneled all the way to the house — a process that took until about 11:30 p.m. — she came back, grabbed the sleeve of Eve's jacket, and threw the 86-pound woman over her back and neck, which Eve described as "as wide as our kitchen shelf."

    Norman grabbed Eve's legs, and the dog pulled them through the tunnel, under the trees and through an opening in a fence to the house, at which they arrived around 2 a.m.

    "It was the most heroic thing I've ever seen in my life," Eve said. "We opened the door and we just fell in and she laid on top of us and just stayed there and kept us alive … that's where we laid until the fireman found us."

    There was no electricity and no heat in the house, so Shana acted as a living, breathing generator for the exhausted Fertigs until the local fire department arrived the next morning.

    Concerned neighbors — many of whom had children Eve taught — who couldn't get hold of the elderly couple via telephone throughout the night had called the Town Line Fire Department.

    But when the fire department urged the Fertigs to go to the firehouse to take shelter along with 100 others, they told them they would have to leave Shana behind.

    "We said, 'we don't go anywhere without her.' ... I said, 'we'll stay until the people are gone and we'll take Shana,'" Eve said.

    So the couple stayed at home with Shana until Sunday, when the firehouse emptied out. During the three days in a house with no power, heat or hot water, Shana slept with her owners to keep them warm.

    "She kept us alive. She really did," Eve said.

    Also during that time, firefighters not only helped clear trees from their grounds, but they brought food and water for both human and animal.

    "They kept looking at that tunnel and said, 'we've never seen anything like it,'" she said. "I can't thank them enough — they're heroes."

    When they went to the firehouse Sunday, Shana followed the Fertigs everywhere, even to the bathroom. And she was 'spoiled rotten' by the fire crews there, Eve said.

    She said the fire chiefs said her story of being saved by her pet rejuvenated exhausted fire teams. "The story, they said, just gave them new hope."

    A Lesson Learned

    Last Thursday, Shana received the Citizens for Humane Animal Treatment's Hero's Award for bravery — an award traditionally given to humans. The plaque, complete with Shana's picture on it, hangs in the Fertigs' living room, along with other pictures of wolves the couple has worked with.

    Eve, who teaches courses in Saving Endangered Species and Caring for Injured and Orphaned Wildlife at community colleges and trains animal rehabilitators in New York, said she hopes her story will help further her message of humanity toward animals and educate people about how even a wolf, if treated with care and dignity, can be a "kisser and a hugger" like Shana.

    "If you're vicious to a human being, they'll become fighters," Eve said, but even wolves, "once you treat them right and raise them in your house, they're magnificent."

    Eve has taught 400 adults to be wildlife rehabilitators. She and her husband are volunteers who pay for their own teaching licenses and caring for the sanctuary animals, out of their Social Security checks every year.

    "I've never been on a cruise and I don't shop and I haven't seen a movie in two years," Eve said.

    The only time the Fertigs go to the movies is, of course, when they are submitting to a higher calling.

    "What I do to get signatures for my petitions, I go to [a] movie that's showing a wolf, horse or whale story," and she and her husband camp out outside the theater and get petitions signed to help save various animals, which they send along to wildlife organizations.

    "I have a motto ... joint abilities don't create hostilities," Eve said. "I make it my business to talk to all groups, all conservationists, all hunting clubs, to let them know what they're missing out there."

    Editor's Note: The Fertigs rely on food donations to help feed the injured animals they try to rehabilitate at their Enchanted Forest Wildlife Sanctuary in Alden, N.Y. They told FOXNews.com that the Oct. 12 storm completely wiped out their supply of food. The Fertigs would welcome any donations. Please contact them at 716-681-5918 if you would like to donate or volunteer.

    Editor's Note II: After this story was published, Eve Fertig contacted FOXNews.com and said she received phone calls from all over the U.S. with people asking about Shana's story and how they can donate food for the Fertigs animals, toys for Shana, or money for their sanctuary. Mrs. Fertig asked that her address be published so people can send such items to them. Their address is:

    Mrs. Eve Fertig

    Enchanted Forest Wildlife Sanctuary

    11380 Cary Road

    Alden, N.Y. 14004-9547

  • Fox News
  • Wolf deaths up as management changes, numbers increase

    BILLINGS, Mont. - The number of wolves shot this year by government agents and livestock producers in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho has surpassed 150, about 50 more than were killed last year, federal officials say.

    Wolf managers are taking a more aggressive approach with problem wolves, largely because the overall population in the three states has surpassed recovery efforts, officials say.

    "We've got a recovered population so we're pretty hard on them if they get into trouble," said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

    Since their reintroduction more than a decade ago, gray wolves have flourished, with wildlife officials now estimating the population in the three states at more than 1,200. The Fish and Wildlife Service has declared wolf recovery a success in the northern Rockies and has turned over most management duties in Montana and Idaho to state wildlife officials. The federal agency has yet to approve Wyoming's management plan, which remains the center of a legal battle.

    The vast majority of the wolves killed were shot by federal wildlife agents. A small percentage were killed by private landowners in Montana and Idaho, who can shoot the animals under specific circumstances.

    So far this year in the three states, wolves have been blamed for killing 170 cows, 344 sheep, eight dogs, a horse, a mule and two llamas, FWS said.

    In recent years, 6 percent to 7 percent of the wolf population has been killed after preying on livestock. This year, the rate is around 12 percent overall, the agency said.

    "It's still just a small percentage of wolves involved but when a pack gets into chronic trouble, we get rid of 'em," Bangs said.

  • Helena Independent Record
  • Ranchers seek to band together

    By JOHN MORGAN - Star-Tribune staff writer

    Wyoming ranchers will need to band together to protect their interests against potentially harmful environmental regulations regarding the wolf and the sage grouse, ranchers said at a convention this week.

    "There's a whole lot of misinformation going on about wolves," said Meeteetse rancher Jack Turnell during a joint winter convention between the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and the Wyoming Wool Growers Association this week at the Parkway Plaza and Convention Centre in Casper.

    "Wolves are moving in every different direction," Turnell said. "Don't tell me I have two thirds of all the wolves in the area on my property. There are way more wolves than they're saying. The way we're headed, you're going to have wolves scattered all across the U.S. in a few years."

    There are at least 1,264 wolves in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, according to new figures provided Monday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, roughly a 20 percent increase over 2005. Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in 1995 and 1996 and are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

    "I don't have to tell you how fast these wolves reproduce," said state Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody. "It's very difficult to get rid of them. We have the wolf. We're never going to get rid of the wolf, I don't think."

    "It's not about wolves, it's about getting rid of us," Turnell said.

    Rob Hendry, a Lysite rancher and Natrona County Commissioner-elect, said another issue facing Wyoming ranchers is the possible listing of the sage grouse as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

    "If the sage grouse is going to be listed, we need to have the information to be able to come back and say that the situation isn't quite as dim as it looks," Hendry said. He said he has had a consultant studying the grouse and other wildlife patterns on his ranch.

    "I've got a lot of birds on my land that haven't been counted by the government," Hendry said. "We have to have the data to save both our lives -- the sage grouse and ours."

    Wildlife consultant Dave Lockman said he is worried that the environmental battle could be narrowed to responsible use of the land versus no use at all. No use is where conservation appears to be heading, he said.

    Randy Teeuwen, a community relations advisor with EnCana Oil and Gas Inc., said energy officials are willing to help keep the sage grouse off the listing if at all possible.

    "There are 280 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the epicenter of the sage grouse habitat," Teeuwen said. "If the sage grouse is listed, the impact could be catastrophic."

  • Casper Star Tribune
  • Agents, landowners killing more wolves

    By MIKE STARK Of The Gazette Staff

    Wolves caught eating what they shouldn't are paying a higher price these days.

    A record number have been killed this year in the northern Rocky Mountains for going after cows, sheep, dogs and other domestic animals.

    So far, 152 wolves have been shot by government agents or private landowners, about 50 more than last year and an eightfold increase from five years ago.

    In Wyoming, one-quarter of all wolves living outside Yellowstone's protective boundary were killed after reports of attacks on livestock.

    Wolf managers are taking a more aggressive tack with problem wolves mostly because the population in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho has soared beyond expectation in recent years.

    "We've got a recovered population so we're pretty hard on them if they get into trouble," said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

    There are at least 1,264 wolves in the three states, according to new figures provided Monday.

    That's roughly a 20 percent increase over 2005, which is on top of years of steady growth since wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in 1995 and 1996.

    "I'm surprised we ever got over 1,000 wolves, but in the long term I think it will be less," Bangs said. "I think we're on the top edge of that bubble and it's going to go down."

    All three states saw the number of wolves grow in 2006 over the previous year. Montana's total increased from 256 to 300, Wyoming's grew from 252 to about 314 and Idaho's grew from 512 to around 650.

    In Montana, the increased numbers reflect more wolves in the northwest part of the state and better reporting on the ground in recent years, said Carolyn Sime, who leads the wolf program for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

    "I feel like the minimum estimates are more realistic now than anything in the last 10 years," she said.

    Much of the best wolf habitat, especially in Yellowstone, is filling up. Eventually, as the good spots disappear and it becomes harder to find ample food, the population will dip back down, Bangs said.

    So far this year, wolves in the three states have killed 170 cows, 344 sheep, eight dogs, a horse, a mule and two llamas, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. The kills - greater for sheep and cattle than any other year - are almost certainly higher than the numbers show because confirming wolf kills can be difficult.

    But more wolves have been killed in turn.

    The vast majority were shot by agents with federal Wildlife Services. A small percentage were killed by private landowners in Montana and Idaho, which were recently given more flexibility in pursuing wolves that were trying to kill livestock.

    Typically, 6 to 7 percent of the wolf population has been culled by "lethal control," as some call it. This year, the rate is around 12 percent overall and 25 percent in Wyoming outside Yellowstone.

    "It's still just a small percentage of wolves involved, but when a pack gets into chronic trouble, we get rid of 'em," Bangs said.

    A University of Calgary study published earlier this year said killing problem wolves is only a temporary solution to livestock attacks. Once the offender is removed, another eventually moves in to take its place.

    "Wolves are being killed as a corrective, punitive measure - not a preventative one," Marco Musiani, one of the study's authors, said earlier this year.

    A better approach, he said, is to look at when and where depredations occur and take steps like changing grazing patterns and using guard dogs, fencing, wolf repellants and other measures.

    Though wolves grab the attention, their impact on domestic animals is far exceeded by other predators.

    Coyotes kill 28 times more sheep and lambs than wolves, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Foxes, dogs, bears and even eagles also rank higher, and that's not to mention weather, diseases and lambing complications.

    For losses that are confirmed kills by wolves and grizzly bears, the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife pays the value of the animals lost.

    "I think we're looking at a little above average year," said Suzanne Stone, who works out of the group's Idaho office.

    The group has paid out $153,930 for wolf kills so far this year, more than $50,000 over 2005.

  • Billings Gazette
  • Officials don't know if predator was wolf or where it came from

    By MIKE STARK Of The Gazette Staff

    Was it a wolf or wasn't it?

    The mysterious, sheep-killing predator shot and killed a month ago between Jordan and Circle was initially thought to be a wolf.

    But now, wildlife officials aren't so sure.

    "Frankly, it has mixed characteristics," said Carolyn Sime, head of the wolf program for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

    Some clues indicate that it's not a wolf from among the 1,200 or so that live in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. The animal shot in Garfield County in early November had shades of orange, red and yellow in its fur, unlike the Northern Rockies wolves, which tend more toward browns, blacks and grays.

    The orangish coat may be more indicative of wolves that roam the upper Great Lakes region, Sime said.

    The animal also had long claws and teeth in good condition, somewhat unusual for a 4-year-old wolf, raising the possibility it might be a hybrid that had spent some time in captivity, Sime said.

    On the other hand, the wolf was fairly large at 106 pounds with a big head and hunting skills, which suggests it was wild, Sime said.

    "Right now," Sime said, "we're just as curious as everyone else."

    Whatever it was, it had landowners in McCone, Garfield and Dawson counties on alert for months. About 120 sheep were killed and others were hurt in a series of attacks that started about a year ago.

    The animal roamed wide swaths of the landscape, occasionally attacking sheep before moving on only to circle back later. Several landowners were given permits to shoot if it was seen attacking livestock, but it was never caught in the act.

    The animal eluded trackers for months until this fall, when footprints were spotted in deep snow. Agents with Wildlife Services shot it from the air Nov. 2.

    The animal was initially reported as a wolf, but closer inspection raised concerns about the identification.

    Muscle tissue has been sent to the University of California Los Angeles, where scientists have been analyzing DNA from the Northern Rockies wolf population and putting together a sort of family tree.

    The animal's carcass was sent to the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Ore., for genetic analysis.

    The work could take several months to complete.

    Sime said that if the animal is a wolf that came in from the Rockies or Canada or the upper Midwest, the genetic testing should provide clear evidence. It wouldn't be the first time that a wolf has wandered hundreds of miles. In recent years, wolves from Yellowstone have been found in Utah and Colorado.

    "If it's neither of those, the question becomes 'OK, what is this animal and where is it from?' " Sime said. "The uncertainty level goes up a lot."

  • Billings Gazette
  • Idaho researchers say wolves aren't decimating elk

    The Associated Press

    MCCALL, Idaho -- A pair of University of Idaho researchers living in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness say that while wolves around their three-room cabin are making elk more skittish, they're not decimating populations of the big game animals as some hunters fear.

    Wolf researcher Jim Akenson, 48, and his wife, biologist Holly Akenson, 48, live and work at the Taylor Ranch Field Station as part of what is so far a nine-year study of wolf behavior.

    The Akensons concede elk have become harder to find, but they say that's not because wolves are killing them. They say the wolves' presence has made elk more leery of exposed ground. That makes hunters mad because tracking the big ungulates during fall hunting season has become more difficult.

    A spooked elk in wolf country typically plunges into a river or mountain lake, because wolves are at a disadvantage in water, the Akensons said.

    Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are trying to get the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove federal protections for wolves, whose population in the region including Yellowstone National Park now tops 1,200.

    Eventually, the states want to hold legal wolf hunts. Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials say such hunts are needed to restore balance in areas where wolves have gotten the upper hand.

    The Akensons are surrounded by three wolf packs at Taylor Ranch, but say they've never been threatened.

    Wolves generally hunt in packs of eight to 12 and have killed several hunting dogs in Idaho in recent years.

  • Santa Fe New Mexican
  • Man pleads guilty to trying to poison wolves with meatballs

    KTVB

    A former Salmon resident now living in Montana has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of trying to kill endangered gray wolves with poisoned meatballs.

    Timothy B. Sundles, 48, signed a plea agreement last week admitting his activity. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mikel Williams is scheduled to take the plea and sentence Sundles on March 1 in Pocatello. He faces a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $25,000 fine.

    According to the plea agreement, on February 19, 2004, Sundles placed numerous meatballs containing aldicarb in the Wagonhammer Creek drainage on the Salmon National Forest near North Fork. Aldicarb is a poisonous pesticide sold under the name Temik.

    No dead or injured wolves were found, but several other animals were injured or killed by the poisoned meat, including a coyote, a fox, several magpies and three domestic dogs.

    Prosecutors are expected to ask at sentencing that Sundles spend 30 days in jail, be banned from public lands for two years, and pay veterinary bills of $128.90 for treatment of the dogs.

    The gray wolf is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The case was investigated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

  • KTVB-TV