When U.S. District Judge Donald Malloy hears the case from environmentalists for placing wolves back on the endangered species list today the top wolf scientists in the U.S. will be lined up on the side of the federal government. In depositions filed with the court the major wolf scientists dismissed the call for 3,000 to 5,000 wolves before delisting.
From David Mech, whose landmark wolf studies 50 years ago on Isle Royale set the base of wolf research to Yellowstone’s wolf expert Doug Smith, the scientific verdict is in. In Smith’s words:
“In short, my scientific research and intimate involvement with wolf management
since 1994 in the NRM (Northern Rocky Mountains) do not support the plaintiff’s claims that the NRM wolf population will be irreparably harmed post-delisting. Specifically, research led by me directly evaluated the mortality and survival rate of NRM wolves and on both counts we did not find the population in danger of extinction or was it negatively affected by federal management actions. This finding, along with continued annual population growth in all three recovery areas, clearly indicates that the federal mandate of a restored population has been achieved and that threats to the population have been removed. Further, I have published with coauthors on the genetic viability of the Yellowstone National Park wolf population, a population contended to be genetically isolated, and found genetic diversity to be high and inbreeding low. Further, my tracking of wolves in the greater Yellowstone area since the inception of the program indicates a level of wolf movement consistent with the idea that greater Yellowstone wolves are connected with wolves from the other NRM population.”
But law trumps science and if anyone knows the Endangered Species Act it’s the environmentalists’ attorney Doug Honnold. Even if wolves are biologically recovered and the population assured Molloy may still decide an injunction must be issued to protect the status quo.
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These people must never have a sex life.
All USF&W Experts agree with delisting
Federal Delisting Lawsuit – Selected Quotes from Affidavits by USF&W Wolf Recovery Officials: Edward Bangs, David Mech, PhD., Mark Boyce PhD, Douglas Smith PhD
Bangs
• Yet the overall NRM wolf population has still increased at a rate of 24% annually. (P14)
• If the wolf population continues to grow the number of domestic animals and livestock killed, the economic losses, and the level and cost of agency control required to resolve those conflicts will all occur at an increasingly higher rates. (P14)
• The experts selected to review the earlier recovery goal analysis by Fritts (Service 1994), the State wolf management plans, and the final delisting rule, including the recovery criteria, are recognized as among the most experienced and professional wolf and conservation biologists in North America. Virtually none of those experts ever suggested a wolf population must contain 2,000-5,000 wolves to be considered viable or recovered. (P16)
• YNP is saturated with wolves and there is simply no room left for wolves to disperse into YNP, logically explaining the past limited evidence of genetic or radio collared wolf dispersal into YNP itself. (P17)
• Within 12 years the GYA went from 41 founders in 1996 to over 453 wolves in 2007. (P18)
• The USFWS has removed problem wolves since 1987 and the wolf population has continued to expand at 24% annually average rate despite an average annual removal of 10% of the wolf population for chronic livestock depredation. (P20)
• Most wolf populations in North America (representing about 60,000 wolves) and in other parts of the world are hunted, trapped, and individual wolves are killed through a wide variety of other methods by people. (P21)
MECH
• It has not been demonstrated that “a substantial reduction” in wolf abundance will occur, and my opinion is that it will not because merely to hold a wolf population stationary requires an annual take of 28-50% per year. (P7)
• There were supposedly a minimum of 1,545 wolves. As wolf populations increase, it becomes increasingly harder to count them accurately and the minimal counts become increasingly lower than actual. Thus a better estimate of the actual population could be about 1,700, and thus the 2008 estimate would be 2,108.)P8
• Assuming the minimum figure and that ID actually takes 328 wolves which is its limit but which seems very unrealistic (Mech 2001) that would still be only 17% of the minimal population. (P8)
• Wolves from YNP have traveled to central Colorado and Utah, and wolves from ID have traveled to Oregon and Washington. (P9)
• In any case, the number of wolves projected to be killed under state management should not jeopardize the viability of the NRM wolf population. Every year, most wolf populations almost double in the spring through the birth of pups (average = 6/litter [Mech 1970]; most packs produce a single litter, but several YNP packs produce 2 or 3 litters per pack). For example in May 2008, there will not be 1,500 but 3000 wolves!
• Wolf population estimates are usually made in winter when the population is at the annual nadir. This approach serves to provide conservative estimates and further ensure that management remains conservative. As indicated above, 28-50% of a wolf population must be killed by humans per year (on top of natural mortality) to even hold a wolf population stationary. (P13)
BOYCE
• Since their reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in 1995, the NRM wolf population has increased by approximately 24% per year despite poaching and removal of wolves that were depredating livestock. P4
• Sustainable harvests of wolves have been demonstrated in many populations in Canada and Alaska, confirming that removals of 40% or more of the population can be sustainable. (P5)
• Wolves have high reproductive capacity. Like dogs, wolves have litters of puppies, typically with 5-9 pups in a litter. Most often we see a single litter per pack each year but when prey are abundant, as in Yellowstone National Park, multiple litters can be produced within a pack of wolves. (P5)
• In Alberta, for example, the provincial government estimates a current population of 7,000 wolves. Wolf harvest is by hunting and legal trapping on registered trap lines where 400-800 wolves are removed each year, or about 10% of the population. This low harvest rate occurs even though there is no bag limit during the harvest season on the number of wolves that may be killed by hunters or trappers. Although the number of wolves killed by hunters and trappers is unregulated, this harvest does not limit the population of wolves. (P6)
• To achieve these desired control removals the Alberta Department of Sustainable Resource Development has used aerial gunning from helicopter and poisoning wolves with strychnine baits. These methods of aerial gunning and strychnine poisoning are deemed necessary by the Alberta provincial government because killing by hunting and trapping has been insufficient to reduce wolf numbers. (P6)
• In areas where wolf hunting and trapping is allowed wolves become wary and more difficult to kill. This wariness makes it more difficult for removals by hunters and trappers to have a substantive effect on wolf populations. (P6)
SMITH
• Overall the annual survival rate is 66% for pups, 71% for yearlings, and 82% for adults, (P4)
• we found that YNP wolves kill each other at a high rate (this is the leading cause of mortality for YNP wolves) and that they nearly always adjust to the removal of lost pack members.( P8)
• I fully support delisting of the NRM wolf population as I believe the population is biologically viable, and this is the correct action given policy and statements made to the public throughout this entire process. The goal has been achieved, and as promised, it is time to move on. (P9)
Scientist must be being paid by Fish & Game
The only reason you would support killing and reducing the wolf population to the minimum is if it supported your means of income. Pretty ridiculous to me.
Bull
Smith works for Yellowstone National Park... They don't kill wolves.
He should work harder...
to keep that silly pair of bears out of the pic=a=nic baskets!
bulldurham do you have
bulldurham do you have evidence of this or are you merely making up allegations? Should we start calling you Little Bush or Cheny Junior? Grow up and get over the fact that mankind kills stuff. There's nothing you can do to stop it short of killing mankind. Go enjoy the wolves while they are there and teach your children about the outdoors and perhaps they too will get to enjoy them before the wolves are gone. Make no mistake they will be gone eventually it's only a matter of time.
LINK?
Where is this magnum opus, Opus?
Cite!
Not the issue!
These scientists are probably correct, but that isn't the issue. The issue is the plans of Idaho and Wyoming to greatly reduce the population and Idaho's new law that pretty much lets anyone shoot a wolf at any time if they think the wolf is thinking bad thoughts about their cow, pig, horse, chicken, pet hamster, etc.
OH DEAR!
Are you telling me that these WOLVES are trying to entice barnyard animals into a life of forced ZOOPHILIA PORN work?
Trafficking wolves! I will call the local FBI immediately!
(Farm Bureau Insurance--they need term life)
Them wolves are only recovered till a relapse...
I see them all the time drinkin' and carryin' on too!
How relaxing...
Hardly any wolves and dog poop, the polygamists are a blip in the away radar, Craig is not all that important and other than same-sex marriage It's Miller Time or something...
I prefer diet rootbeer or Diet Pepsi with lime and Cherry Kool Aid powder...sweet mystery of consumerism. Damn it's nice today.