Offiicials seek to end gray wolf's listing as endangered species?

I think the wolf is the most persecuted animal in modern history. The ranchers in the west have become "inbreed" with the idea that the wolf decimate their herds and drive them from their lands. This is an inane belief.

The trouble for gray wolves, is that once the Endangered Species Act is no longer protecting them (via de-listing), they lose federal protection. It is then up to each state to develop a wolf "management" program.

The trouble is that on the state level officials are under a staggering amount of pressure from ranchers -- who have consistently demonstrate nothing but disrespect for those whose ideas don't fall in line with their own self serving ones.

Ranchers, for the most part, hunted the grey wolf to extinction in the region about Yellowstate. The animals were re-introducted by transporting wolves from other areas, and not so really long ago, either.

Turning ranchers loose on the wolves will shortly result in the same situation.

Yet at the same there is some justice in the ranchers' complaints today, too.

First of all, proper compensation is necessary when stock animals are lost as a result of the gey worlf program. It is outrageous and not at all surprising that the federal reimbursement levels are so ludicrous.

"Management" of wild predators, even when the overall population is threatened, has been accomplished in other areas by a strictly limited seasonal hunting program. Eventually that may become permissible in this case, and might aid in reducing the population sufficiently in areas shared by ranchers and wolves to maintain a better balance. But nothing is eventually going to stop predators from being predators, and those ranchers who run their stock in the exposed areas had better learn to live with some losses as part of the cost of doing business.

Part of the problem, of course, is that when the wolves are perhaps culled in the areas also used by ranchers, other packs will move into the territory.

Some of this trouble might be reduced by at last adopting long-overdue fees and regulations on ranchers using federal lands. Right now it is virtually a free ride, and in many cases there is outrageous abuse and serious environmental damange wrought by ranchers leasing federal lands.

Although now I work in Florida, for 40 years I was a public affairs specialist in the West and know well these issues. Although ranchers have at times gotten a raw deal, frankly they have also practically created their own empires on public lands across the West and consider themselves Little Tin Gods. But justice is justice, and a compromise here would be appropriate.

They are proposing ending only the Northern Rocky Mountain area gray wolf's listing as endangered. This is due to the fact that they are doing very well in that area. The grey wolf will still protected in the rest of the U.S.

The grey wolf can still be protected by law without being on the endangered species list.

"Endangered species" is a term which has specific criteria to be met. The Bald Eagle is no longer on the endangered species list either, do you think people are shooting them because of that status as no longer endangered?

I am an animal lover. Have been, since my earliest memories. My Mom worked at Lincoln Park Zoo, in Chicago, when I was born. I was raised around all kinds of exotic animals, and taught to respect and love them.

I'm now an adult, and a farmer....a farmer who lives out here in the treanches so-to-speak. I'm in Idaho, fairly close to Yellowstone National Park. I know what the wolves are doing here.

I know that a rancher who lives not that far from me raises registered paint horses. Good bloodlines in in horses. His ranch has been in his family over 100 years...he's no new-comer to the area, and has strong ties to the land where he lives, and farming.

The wolves killed 12 of his horses last year. He applied to the Government for reimbersment, under the law. He applied for $36,000...the value of those 12 horses. He was paid a grand total of $925 by the Government....for all 12 horses. How can the Government, and environmentalist expect ranchers not to become EXTREMELY hostile to the notion of wolves when reimbersment is not realistic.

This is just one small example. There are wolves doing all kinds of damage to livestock. It's a lot easier to kill domestic animals, than to hunt down the deer, elk, bison and moose.

There are a lot of really big sheep ranches around here. They run thousands of sheep out on open range. They have a shepherd, a couple of herding dogs, and they use to have only a couple of LGD (Livestock Guardin Dogs) like Great Pyrenees with the flocks.

Now, to protect the sheep herds, they are having to run 4-6 herding dogs, and 8-12 LGD with each herd. Any idea what that does to the profit of the sheep rancher, when they have to feed and care for that many more dogs?

Even with 8-12 Great Pyrenees guarding the herds, both dogs and sheep are still loosing their lives. The wolf packs are able to lure the dogs out, and kill them off one at a time, leaving the sheep open to predation. That's even with an armed sheperd living with the flocks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I run meat goats. I only have two adult Great Pyrenees with my goats. Fortunatly, though I still live quiet rural, the wolves are not here....yet.

I just bought a new Great Pyrenees puppy yesterday, and took her to the Vet. I had a very interesting chat with him about some of the adult Great Pyrenees he's been stitching up lately, because of wolf attacks. And those are the lucky ones....most of them are simply killed.

Ranchers around here are breeding Great Pyrenees as fast as they can, to try and replace dogs that are being killed every year by the wolves. This has become even more difficult, because environmentalist have gotten laws passed than no dog can be allowed on open rangeland, unless it's spayed, or neutered.

The environmentalist ARE winning...they are driving ranchers out of buisness right and left. People that have been ranching for 100-200 years in many cases. Most people now days bairly know who their own grandparents are, much less their entire family tree going back several hundred years, and where and what the family was doing to support themselves for all of those years.

By the way, if you live and work in a city, you certainly wouldn't put up with someone running through your job site and killing co-workers. You'd demand police protection, and that the perpitrator be arrested and punished.

I personally say, heck, let the killers run through the cities....after all, it's only nature at working, the killers picking off the weakest. After all, if a killer gets you, you are where you shouldn't be, right?

Ranchers hear that kind of stuff, all the time...makes your blood boil, when it's applied to your personal life, doesn't it?

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

If the gray wolf is no longer "in immanent danger of extinction", it is no longer endangered. Religion has nothing to do with it. If my religion deified the Norway rat, do you think that rat traps would be banned?