Wolf News - March 2018

WYOMING WILDLIFE MANAGERS TARGET GROS VENTRE WOLVES

March 28th: JACKSON — Wyoming wildlife managers aim to kill more wolves in the Gros Ventre area in hopes of drawing some elk back into that river valley during winter.

However, a regular elk hunter in the Gros Ventre area says that Game and Fish is using wolves in the area as “predetermined scapegoats….”

'WISDOM OF WOLVES' AUTHORS SHARE STORIES

March 26th: National Geographic photojournalists Jim and Jamie Dutcher who have spent nearly thirty years studying and photographing wolves in the wild, have released a new book, “The Wisdom of Wolves.”

Their new book includes lessons from the six years they lived along side a wolf pack in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. According to the Dutchers, family is what truly drives wolf behavior.

WOLF ADVISORY GROUP MEETS IN ELLENSBURG, WASHINGTON

March 23rd: Ranchers, conservationists, government representatives and wildlife biologists met at Hal Holmes Community Center in Ellensburg on Wednesday and Thursday for Wolf Advisory Group meetings.

The group was created by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2013 to provide input and recommend strategies on topics such as working with ranchers to take preventative measures to decrease risk of livestock loss due to wolves, providing compensation when losses do occur, monitoring wolf recovery populations, and providing information to the public on wolf recovery in the state.

With the help of an individual brought in who specializes in conflict management, people on both sides of the issue are beginning to come together...

U.S FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: A DECLINE IN HUNTERS THREATENS HOW US PAYS FOR CONSERVATION

March 20th: A new survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows that today, only about 5 percent of Americans, 16 years old and older, actually hunt. That's half of what it was 50 years ago and the decline is expected to accelerate over the next decade.

Meanwhile other wildlife-centered activities, like birdwatching, hiking and photography, are rapidly growing, as American society and attitudes towards wildlife change.

The shift is being welcomed by some who morally oppose the sport, but it's also leading to a crisis……