Killer of Jureano Alpha Female turns himself in as the alpha male of the pack is dispatched for cattle depredations on the wolf killer's ranch.
Sept. 23, 1999, update Sept. 24
Last month I did a story on the death of "Raven," B25F," the alpha female of the Jureano Mountain Pack. I wrote that this was almost surely an illegal kill, and so it was. It turns out she was shot by rancher Van Eron Coiner. He shot her as she was chasing elk on his remote ranch, an inholding in the Salmon National Forest. A month after Coiner shot her, on Sept. 17, he admitted the fact and paid a fine of $1500.
Of course, wolves are expected to chase and kill elk.
The Jureano Mountain Pack has also been killing six to a dozen cows each summer. Coiner lost a 500 pound calf to the alpha male of the Jureano Pack. The same day Coiner turned himself in for killing B25, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authorized the trapping and euthanization of the alpha male B32M for Coiner's depredation as well as previous depredations. The male was trapped and killed on September 18.
This leaves the Jureano Mountain pack consisting of perhaps just one sub-adult wolf and two pups. The Fish and Wildlife Service strongly considered trapping the pack and moving it, but rejected the idea for a number of technical reasons.
The pack, now much depleted, has dominated the "Salmon River Mountain" area for about three years now. The mountain is just behind, and 3000 feet above, the town of Salmon, Idaho. My guess is that the remainder of the Jureano Pack will eventually be squeezed out of the area as the nearby Moyer Basin Pack moves north. The Moyer Basin Pack had in the last year become increasingly squeezed by the Twin Peaks pack to its south and the Jureano Mountain pack on its north.
The Jureano Mountain Pack had been controversial because of the cattle it killed (compensated, however, by Defenders of Wildlife). The pack was death on dogs, killing Sam, the sheep guard dog; and, earlier, three hounds being used in an out-of-season, i.e., illegal, bobcat chase.
The facts of this case may lead folks to get angry at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Idaho boy, Coiner got fined 1/10 as much as Dan Kloskowski, from Minnesota. Coiner shot a wolf that was doing what wolves are supposed to do. The wolf Kloskowski killed was hanging around near the camp. Is this a bit of good 'ol boy justice?
Update 9-24: Coiner reported that he wasn't trying to shot the wolf, but rather haze it away from the elk, but his bullet came too close. It is also illegal to haze wolves away from legal prey. However, he could have legally hazed a wolf away from his livestock. The Challis Messinger reported that the Jureano Pack had actually denned on his ranch for two years. Thus, I suspect he owns the Pine Creek Creek -- a tributary of the main Salmon about 30 miles downstream from North Fork, Idaho.
Regarding the role of the USFWS in this, what most Americans don't know is that our public servants are harassed and threatened almost constantly by politicians in the interior West. These politicians' views are at wide variance with those of most Americans. For example, read the views of Idaho's senior U.S. Senator Larry Craig. This guest editorial by him, on the wolves, Little Red Riding Hood, etc., appeared Friday, Sept. 23.
Craig, however, he isn't just a senator from Idaho. He participates in law-making that governs all of us.
Take a look at the special interests who hire him.
Political Action Committees
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GRAY WOLF REINTRODUCTION IS TOO SUCCESSFUL, BY SENATOR LARRY CRAIG.
The big bad wolf is the lucking antagonist in Children's stories, and now has become the all-too-familiar storyline for ranchers, residents, and other animals sharing the ecosystem in Idaho.
Efforts to bring back the nearly obsolete gray wolf population in the region are wreaking havoc on our Western Way of Life. The time has come to reflect on the future of the wolf population in Idaho.
In 1965 the gray wolf joined the list of animals under the purview of the Endangered Species Act, which prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop plans to reintroduce the species in three targeted habitats -- including central Idaho -- and criteria for delistment.
Captured gray wolves were taken from Canada in 1995-96, and brought to designated locations in Idaho, Montana and Yellowstone National Park, where they successfully began to repopulate.
In order for the wolves to be delisted from the Endangered Species List, each of the three areas is required to sustain 10 breeding pairs for three consecutively years. Idaho and Yellowstone are in their second years of meeting this requirement, but before the gray wolf can be removed from the list, its cousins in Montana must meet the same criteria.
Ranchers, hunters, outfitters, and residents are feeling the bite of bringing back the wolf. Ranchers are losing livestock like never before. The stories are all too common -- 30 lambs in one night, 12 calves in one month. For people who have worked hard and invested dwindling funds into their herds, losses like this can be emotionally draining and financially devastating.
Idaho's hunters and elk herds are feeling the bite of the wolf's success, too. By nature, wolves are indiscriminate killers who hunt even when they don't need to eat, accounting for a drastic reduction in the elk population.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is contemplating a 75 % decrease in elk hunting because predators are hitting an estimated 80 per cent of calves. A year ago ranchers and hunters in central Idaho watched the elk graze with their young in open fields; now the elk are no where to be seen.
The problem is that rights of wolves have become superior to those of humans, under the endangered species act, and the effects of this predator are cutting into the economic lifeline of ranchers and outfitters, and into the pastime so many Idahoans enjoy -- hunting.
The gray wolf deserves consideration, but I reject the notion that its rights trump those of citizens. Growing numbers of parents are choosing to drive their school children down the street to catch the bus because of frequent wolf sightings. It's time to admit this species reintroduction experiment has failed -- while the nation is working to eliminate human predators in America's schools, central Idaho school children can't walk to the bus stop because of this protected canine predator.
The gray wolf cannot be blamed for behaving according to the instincts of its species, but that doesn't mean citizens must idly watch their own habitat, livelihood and economic lifeline be attacked. The time is ripe to find a solution to mitigate the impact wolves have on the people of Idaho.
We should start the process now to delist the wolf populations in Idaho, Montana, and Yellowstone from the Endangered Species List. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs to change its recovery criteria so the three populations are linked together in meeting the goal of 30 breeding paris for three consequtive years.
The three states should develop a management plan to monitor the wolves while Congress works to secure funding for the states to manage the wolves that have been forced on them. This will allow the agency which manages the wolves in the context of the whole ecosystem.
In the meantime, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA's Wildlife Services and the Nez Perce Tribe ought to ensure communities are notified when wolves are in the area. Problem wolves must be promptly moved or disposed of, and ranchers suffiiciently reimbursed for livestock losses. Additionally, the impact of wolves on game herds need to be factored into the management of wolves.
Idaho did not ask for, nor did we want these wolf populations; however, they are here to stay. Now residents and state and local government need to work together to manage the wolves in a manner that balances the interests of the folks living and working in the area, other wildlife populations and the financial impacts on ranchers, outfitters and the state of Idaho. Until we do so, Westerners and their livelihoods will join elk, sheep and livestock as prey in the eyes of the gray wolf..
Senator Craig's email address (actually a web form).
http://www.senate.gov/~craig/webform.html
It is best to email your own senator about Idaho issues (unless you live in Idaho).
Email addresses for members of Congress, other officials, and the media
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Copyright © 1999 Ralph Maughan
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