A large number livestock (950 cows and calves) have been turned out in Grand Teton National Park within two miles of the home of the struggling Teton Pack, which recently lost its alpha male to a vehicle on U.S. Highway 26/287.
Local conservation organizations have given Grand Teton National Park Superindent Jack Neckels and Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbit 60 days notice of intent to sue unless they protect Number 24F and her five pups. The steps they want the superintent to take are outlined in the news release below.
Neckels has stated that due to the sensitive nature of the pack, lethal control won't be used if they kill livestock. However, once a wolf pack tastes beef it tends to add cows to those animals they consider prey. No one wants a protected wolf pack that kills livestock. The alpha female is a nearly ideal wolf for the situation because she has spent most of her life in the deep wilderness and never has tasted beef. The Jackson Hole News (July 7) reported that wolf 24 had by-passed the cattle for the time being and went out of her way to kill an elk.
Someone ought to ask why are cattle grazed in Grand Teton National Park? That is unusual for a national park. Folks will find some interesting history. Another question is why weren't the cattle turned out in the "Kelly Hayfields" in the southern end of the park as the conservation groups asked in a letter several weeks ago?
These cattle have also been the source of conflicts with grizzly bears in the past. A grizzly was actually killed by the government inside Grand Teton National Park for eating cows in the park.
The cattle are owned by the Porter-Gill and Mead-Hansen families. Clifford Hansen is former governor of Wyoming and long-time U.S. Senator until he retired over ten years ago.
The joint news release from the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and Predator Project follows:
For Immediate Release July 13, 1999
Contact: Michael Scott, Greater Yellowstone Coalition (406) 586-1593 Franz Camenzind, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance (307) 733-9417
Groups Seek Protection for Wolves in Grand Teton National Park
The first wolves to den in Grand Teton National Park in at least 50 years face an uphill struggle following the recent death of the pair’s alpha male. Now, the National Park Service is placing the pack in greater jeopardy.
Citing direct threats to an adult female and her five pups and failure by Grand Teton National Park to follow the Endangered Species Act, three conservation organizations today gave formal notice that they will file a lawsuit in 60 days if the Teton Pack does not receive protection required by law.
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and Predator Project say a grazing plan approved by Jack Neckels, Superintendent of Grand Teton National Park, will place domestic livestock within the same valley, two miles from the new wolf den.
In a letter to Neckels and Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior, the groups say moving the livestock so close to an active wolf den creates an unnecessary temptation for the pack to kill cattle which could ultimately lead to the wolves’ destruction.
"It defies logic to move cows right under the noses of a struggling wolf pack—especially in a national park" said Doug Honnold of Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, who is representing the groups. "It also violates the law. The Park Service is supposed to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service and ask, ‘Will our action harm wolf recovery?’ The Park Service failed to do that."
The Teton Pack suffered a major setback in late June when a vehicle traveling in the park on Highway 26/287 struck and killed the pair’s alpha male, leaving the alpha female as the sole adult provider and protector for five pups.
"You have a stressed-out mom trying to feed five pups at the very time of summer when elk and other natural prey are widely dispersed. And the Park Service directed domestic livestock to be moved within two miles of the wolf den," said Michael Scott of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. "It’s asking for trouble—like leaving picnic baskets unattended in a campground. If you or I do that, the Park Service writes us a ticket."
Although alternative pasture is available, Neckels has directed that 950 cow-calf pairs be moved onto the Elk Ranch meadows in the heart of the wolves’ territory.
"The timing could not be worse," said Franz Camenzind, Executive Director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. "Wolf pups are growing extremely fast this time of year. They need lots of food and their natural prey is spread out. If you were a single mom providing for five pups, what would you do if hundreds of cattle suddenly appeared on your doorstep?"
In their letter to Neckels and Babbitt, the conservation groups cite studies showing that cattle displace elk. Applied to Grand Teton this could mean that livestock will not only provide immediate temptation but will also push the wolves’ natural prey farther from the den site making depredation on cattle even more likely.
The Park Service has said publicly that it "may take additional precautions…if wolf-cattle conflicts become a problem."
"That’s like buying car insurance after your accident," said Camenzind. "Both the law and common sense direct the agency to take precautions first, not after it’s too late."
Accordingly, the conservation groups are asking Grand Teton National Park to:
? Comply with the Endangered Species Act by consulting with the Fish and Wildlife Service.
? Immediately identify alternative pasture and direct the permittee to move livestock out of Elk Ranch meadows.
? If there are direct losses associated with moving the cattle twice in one month, compensate the permittee.
Because the news media rarely prints news releases just as they are written, newspapers have reported the story above with editing and some additions. The Jackson Hole News (a top notch weekly) has the story in its July 14 issue.
The JHN story says that GTNP officials would not comment on the notice-of-intent-to-sue "because they have thrown this into the legal arena," this, according to Joan Anselmo who spoke for the Park.
Wolf recovery leader Ed Bangs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that the Park did not err in not consulting with the USFWS before turning the cows out. "It was clearly spelled out in the environmental impact statement that we knew there was legal grazing there in Grand Teton and there would be wolves there and there would be predations," he said. Bangs was speaking of the 1994 EIS on reintroduction of the wolf to Yellowstone and central Idaho.
Brad Mead of the Mead-Hansen grazing permit said it would be hard to move the cattle now that they are out there and breeding has begun. He said he was "hopeful" that the wolves and the cattle would coexist. JHN reported Mead to say, "The people who know the most about wolves have repeatedly said it is difficult to predict what will happen." "As permittees, we go where the Park says we are supposed to go." Bangs was reported to have said "if wolves prey on cattle in the Park they will not necessarily be removed from the population."
The article said that so far no. 24F, the mother of the pups, has not attacked or killed any cattle, but she has been seen approaching them according to Bill Swift, who also speaks for GTNP. She has moved her pups to a rendezvous site now away from the den area, and she has traveled to her past wildlife carcasses, fed and returned to regurgitate the food for the pups. JHN said she has also been seen catching mice. [ shades of Farley Mowat! ].
A few comments of mine:
There was an article yesterday in many regional papers as to how no. 24 was doing fine and avoiding cattle. I didn't put a link to this article or do a story about it because it was an AP story based on old news (July 7) from the Jackson Hole News. Now we learn that no. 24 has approached the cattle. This doesn't mean she is going to attack them, but it's not the same as her avoiding them.
Bangs' statement that this pack won't necessarily be killed if it kills cattle is welcome, but wolves that regard cattle (or sheep) as prey is learned behavior. First one or two wolves learn it, but they communicate the knowledge to the pack, and as pack members disperse they will likely carry that knowledge with them, so I feel that having cows in the area is undesirable even if it is not an automatic death sentence for wolves as livestock predation is in areas of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana that are not so politically sensitive as a national park.
Here is a byline story on the "notice of intent to sue." It appeared in the Idaho Falls, Post Register today.
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