The Sheep Mountain Pack has called another cow calf, and they are ranging around the populated bottom of the Paradise Valley on private land where many livestock are pastured. As a result, Ed Bangs has ordered two more members of the pack (adult wolves) shot. If depredations continue, the alpha female, 16F may be shot too. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported Bangs to say "We'll be looking at doing something quite a bit more drastic if more cows are killed." In the same story it was reported that Dave Gaillard, of the Predator Conservation Alliance, which supports boosting wolf numbers, agreed that when wolves kill livestock on private land in settled areas it poses a thorny problem.
Bangs thought maybe killing two more adults would reduce the food requirements of the pack, yet he sounded pessimistic as he speculated that the entire pack probably fed on the cow.
The Paradise Valley is a big, scenic valley with its southern end about 20 mile north of Yellowstone Park. It has long been a farming area, but it is now filling up with subdivisions.
The latest depredation took place on the valley floor near U.S. Highway 89 near where Big Creek runs into the Yellowstone River. At this time of year, cow calves weigh about 400-500 pounds.
The wolf pack, which now has 11 or 12 members, apparently first tasted beef when cattle were moved out of the valley onto summer range in the mountains adjacent to where the pack had its rendezvous site. It is not clear to me if the first incident took place on private land in the mountains or on public land. The wolves, of course, don't know about land ownership patterns, but it makes a big difference to many people if predators kill cattle on private land, or on U.S. public land where livestock graze almost for free.
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