More on the alleged wolf attack
Aug. 25, 2001
It has been eleven days since Tim Sundles of Carmen, Idaho, told a public hearing in Salmon that he killed a wolf that was about to attack him and his wife somewhere near the Middle Fork of the Salmon in the Frank Church Wilderness.
Since that event, not much hard information has been made available to the public. We don't know if a wolf was even killed, much less in self defense. However, Sundles told the Kifaru message board that he did lead two federal officers and the Custer County Sheriff into the Frank Church Wilderness and the two officers carried out the stinking carcass of the wolf. Some of us pondered his various place descriptions and "best guessed" that was Loon Creek (a major tributary of the Middle Fork). The wolf pack would probably be the Landmark Pack.
Anna Means of the Challis Messenger confirmed Salle Englehardt's suspicions about the meeting -- that U.S. Senator Mike Crapo had prior knowledge of Sundle's story. Crapo, himself, confirmed this in a guest editorial to the Post Register on August 22. But the senator said he learned about "only an hour or so before" the meeting. Crapo said the hearing was not set up for media effect. However, many others, such as state representative Lenore Barrett, author of the anti-wolf resolution that passed the state legislature this year, knew Sundles' story. Sundles had been talking around town. It would not require Crapo's complicity to make sure the story of the wolf attack was well publicized.
Crapo did write that "[the] meeting was to engage in a brief, focused discussion to establish a manner to collect and disseminate the current state of scientific knowledge. It is critical to relay on-the-ground information to the top of the Interior Department, and Dr. Jim Tate's presence, as science adviser to the Interior secretary, at the meeting was important to achieve that goal." If this was the case, I guess the public meeting was a failure because the only person to provide any hard data was Gary Power, who has been studying wolf and cougar predation on elk in the area.
Sundles continued to post to message boards before and after the Salmon meeting, and while many of these messages have since been removed from the web, no doubt many were downloaded by law enforcement and others. On the "Campfire message board," Sundles posted "After the public...meeting was over, Crapo with two assistants from his office along with secretary Nortons assistant, had a private meeting with me and my wife. I wont say what Crapo told us, but the concern was that the Feds. will try to prosecute me for killing and endangered speceis--even though it was attacking my wife and I. Of course the USFWS works under secretay Norton and Nortons assistant was very supportive of my wife and I. [sic]" Excerpted from <http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=47763&article=55168&date_query=9979055>
If Sundles' was really attacked by a wolf, he is legally protected; and I would say "good shot, Tim." Folks are skeptical, however, because wolf attacks are so rare. One would think if a wolf attack took place, it would be in Yellowstone, where the Druid Peak, at least, is clearly habituated to humans, and where every year people are mauled by grizzlies, gored by bison, kicked by elk, and fall into boiling springs. I would not expect it in the deep wilderness where most visitors are more outdoor savy, and wolves are more likely to be afraid of people.
If there is anything to the story, it could also be a matter of misperception. Sundles clearly doesn't like the wolf reintroduction. Were I in the backcountry and ran into a wolf (which I really did in May), I would, and did, regard it as a rare treat. I didn't even pull out my pepper spray even though the Teton Pack alpha was only about 30 feet away. When I have heard wolves howl nearby, as thousands of people have done, wolf supporters are not afraid. However, if a person regards wolves as an inherent threat, nearby howling might be perceived as an attack in progress.
Students of social psychology know that people interpret ambiguous social situations very differently based on their preconceptions. The same is often true with encounters with wildlife.
One thing is clear to me -- opponents of wolf restoration have been "crying wolf" for so long that it was getting very embarrassing that no one had been attacked, no little girls eaten, no one even menaced. Sundles' story, the veracity of which we don't know, and might never know, has provided wolf haters with something they have probably prayed for -- a story of a wolf attack.
Let us hope high Department of Interior officials and politicians will not stand in the way of the truth coming out, no matter what that may be.
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