Conservation news snapshot October 2004

Idaho: Idaho's wolf-hating minority suffered a set-back in July when gunman Robin Shafer, from Lewiston in Idaho, was fined over $21,000, sentenced to 1 year's probation and banned from "hunting" for illegally killing a female wolf during an Elk shooting expedition in 2003. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Idaho Department of Fish and Game became suspicious of Shafer when a concerned member of the public tipped them off late in 2003. Investigators soon found the carcass hidden under the snow at the campsite that Shafer had been using and subsequently found the severed tail in his house, taken as a trophy. The fine was paid into the Idaho Fish and Game department account where it will be used to help offset costs of the state's wolf management program.

Algonquin: A new bill that permanently bans hunting, chasing and trapping of wolves and coyotes in a buffer zone around Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, has been approved. Researchers in Algonquin reported two years ago that the wolf population was dropping due to the impact of wolves being killed outside the park's boundaries, where the wolves travel in winter in search of prey. A temporary protection zone was created at that time, which would have expired this year. Canadian Press reports that the public comment on the closure was overwhelmingly in favour of protecting the wolves.

These wolves are considered unique and different from the rest of the Canadian wolf population based on study of their DNA. Some people are calling them the Eastern Wolf, and there is evidence they are closely related to what is now called Canis rufus, the red wolf of the South-eastern U.S.

Wolves are protected in only a very few places in Canada, so the passing of this bill protecting the wolves is an important precedent.

The full article is at http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/05/30/479597-cp.html

Florida: (not wolves but…) On September 9'th, the Associated Press (USA) reported that a Pensacola man, one Jerry Allen Bradford, was recovering in hospital after being shot by one of seven puppies which he was, himself, trying to shoot. It seems that one of the puppies got its paw onto the trigger of the gun and managed to shoot its owner in the wrist. Law enforcement officers found three dead puppies in a shallow grave outside Bradford's home and cruelty charges were subsequently pressed.

Israel: The Golan Heights might not spring to mind as one of the world's most important wolfie places but you may be surprised to know that it has one of the highest density populations of wolves per acre on the planet at the moment.

According to an article in the independent Israeli newspaper, "Haaretz", Israel is doing rather well on the wolf front due to an odd combination of careful wildlife management and careless waste disposal techniques. There are now several hundred wolves in the country and about 100 of them are living in the Golan Heights with at least 30 or 40 in the tourist areas of Eilat and Paran. Recently, wolves have been seen in the wadis of the Judean Desert and Upper Galilee for the first time in decades.

Needless to say, the farmers are not at all pleased at the increasing wolf numbers but then the conservationists aren't quite sure what to make of it either yet. The reason for that is that the wolves are preying heavily on Israel's most endangered gazelle and officials who would quite like to fence off both the gazelle and the wolves - and the farmers - are not quite sure what kind of fence they should be building to defend who from what. Meanwhile, a large fence has already been erected to stop the migration of wolves out of the Gilboa and Golan Heights areas toward the Jordan Valley.

Conservation experts in Israel attribute the successful return of the wolf to two things; firstly, the fact that wolves were not extinct in Israel before broad, environmental protection laws were introduced (in most other places they were extinct beforehand and farmers have opposed re-introduction). Secondly, The large and open, unregulated garbage dumps near towns and villages provide a perfect dietary top-up to the occasional stolen sheep or cow from Israel's many farms.

You can view the original article at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/486521.html

Mexico: On June 7'th a federal judge threw out an application by Mexican cattle barons for an injunction to stop the US government's Mexican Grey Wolf Recovery Program. Incredibly, Mexico's ranchers still seriously believe that the total, continent-wide extinction of the wolf is a right, proper and desirable aim. Fortunately, few others do and the lawsuit they have filed to stop the wolf recovery program is entirely frivolous with no chance whatever of success. It is nothing more than a spiteful gesture by a hateful and irresponsible clique.

Norway: In May, the Norwegian parliament decided to halve the size of the zone in which wolves are allowed in Norway and to move it to the South-east - next to the border with Sweden. Only three (breeding) packs will be permitted. Wolves straying outside the zone will not be shot automatically - just when any sheep farmer claims that they have threatened his sheep.

Alaska: On July 30, 2004, Defenders of Wildlife filed an administrative petition asking US Interior Secretary Gale Norton to implement and enforce the Federal Airborne Hunting Act in Alaska to stop the state's practice of using aircraft to chase down and kill wolves. The request comes after Secretary Norton refused, in March, to issue clarifying regulations and insisted that the wolf killing program was permitted by the FAHA.

Nearly 150 wolves have been killed by gunmen in aircraft since last winter when Alaska Governor, Frank Murkowski ignored the will of the Alaskan public and re-legalised aerial hunting of wolves. The Alaskan public have voted twice to ban the practice but the militant fun-shooting and fur-trapping community in Alaska is a powerful political lobby and the state's war against wolves is due to go up a gear this winter when further massive areas of interior Alaska will be swept clear of wolves by aerial gunning. Between 350 and 500 wolves - adults and cubs alike - will be chased into deep snow and shot to pieces from the air with heavy gauge shotguns this coming winter in order to boost moose and caribou herd sizes for Murkowski's political supporters in the "hunting" community.

There's not much anyone anywhere can do about any of this but if you feel like trying then there's a petition on the internet at http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/wolf/alaska.html.