Wolves and cows under radio-tracking near Salmon
May 14, 1999
Here is a story by Candice Burns for the Post Register on the study underway near Salmon that radio-collars not just wolves, but also the cows which the wolves may (or may not) be eating. Crying wolf, high-tech style - Ranchers using tracking devices in quest to prove wolves eat cattle.
A few comments. This is an important study, but unlike Burns suggests, the ranchers did not come up with the idea for the study.
Although the ranchers may think every cow they are missing was eaten by a wolf, the outcome will hopefully lead to more than the current polarized speculation. Obviously the wolves have killed some of the cows, but cows disappear for many reasons. I would hope that the the ranchers would hope to find out that wolves didn't eat their cows.
The story mentions the grizzly/cow study from Wyoming which employed similar methods. Burns doesn't give the background or the conclusions of that Wyoming study. Here they are. . . Paul Walton was losing a lot of cows on his allotment east of Moran, Wyoming; and a lot of the carcasses appeared to have been chewed on by grizzly bears. Grizzly were common in the area (kind of like wolves near Salmon). Lots of folks thought the grizzlies were simply killing the calves and eating them. When the cattle were wired, it was discovered that one or two grizzly were killing some calves; but most of the calves died from poison plants on the range. These poisoned calves were then scavenged by a number of grizzlies. The problem was more one of poison plants than beef-loving griz. Unfortunately, the prevalence of dead calves then drew in more grizzlies. In all 15 grizzlies where eventually radio collared in the area.
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