Rancher: Wolf agent 'trespassed'

By BUZZY HASSRICK
A Meeteetse rancher says the federal official in charge of wolves in Wyoming illegally handled four wolves in his calving pasture recently.

Mike Jimenez of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not have permission to be on private land when he was discovered with four tranquilized wolves south of Meeteetse on Feb. 14, rancher Randy Kruger said.

Larsen Ranch Co. owners say they may ask Park County Attorney Bryan Skoric to file criminal trespass charges against the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Unclear is whether the federal official found the wolves on private land or transported them there.

F&WS officials could not be reached for comment, but agency representatives have called rancher Ralph Larsen to apologize, his son-in-law Randy Kruger said.

A ranch stockholder and employee, Kruger said Wednesday he was driving across a pasture off Gooseberry Creek at 3 p.m. Feb. 14 when he "caught two men hiding in the bushes." They were under a high bank by the road, out of sight.

"It seemed quite alarming to me," he added. "I stopped to see what they were up to."

They had four wolves laid out, tranquilized. Kruger identified the men as Jimenez and Wes Livingston of Cody.

"They acted guilty, in my view," Kruger said. "They said they were trying to get the wolves collared.

"They were on our deeded land and in our calving pasture."

Because about 350 bred calves are on nearby land and due to calve March 20, he told the men, "We don't need this sort of thing."

Kruger drove on to a shop about one mile away and later thought he heard a helicopter, figuring it had left the men to go get fuel. The two men apparently had no vehicle.

"It's aggravating and upsetting," Kruger said. "It's causing me loss of sleep. It's a matter of terrorism."

The men told Kruger they had trapped and collared the wolves "in the area." When Kruger drove off, the wolves were beginning to stir.

"They were nice, well-fed looking wolves, right in their prime," he said.

Kruger presented the information to Park County Commissioner Tim Morrison on Wednesday morning and said Morrison will turn over the details to the county attorney to decide about "prosecuting the Fish and Wildlife Service or letting it go."

"We're pushing them to file charges," said Joe Tilden of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, who thinks the men flew in with the wolves. "Where does the federal government have the right to land on private property?"

For two men to be hiding in the brush with wolves strikes him as odd.

"It's bizarre," Tilden said.

During his recent trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with F&WS officials about the wolf issue, he recalled them asking him to place their faith in them.

"They want us to trust them when they're doing this kind of stuff?" he asked. "I back Larsen and Kruger 100 percent. It's pretty blatant."

Government wildlife officials hiding in the bushes with four wolves, something sure smells.

Lets hope they are charged nothing like costing them money personal to put a stop to this stuff.

I`m sure the wolf lovers will find some way to turn this story around in favor of the F&WS.

Living in Central Idaho,Wolves are a problem and all that comes with them,AKA the Goverment boy's who think they rule the roost.I will hold my opinion on them boy's as my wife worked for the Forest Circus for 13 years and I spent all my life working in the wood's.

I personally wouldn't believe a word they said as my neighbor in McCall Idaho was in charge of the first Wolf project years ago.

Best of luck.Jayco.

I would bet nothing really comes from this. The feds know they fucked up. Thats why they had an agency rep. apologize for the act. Apologizing like that shows an effort to right a wrong and the local prosecutor and judges will want to call it fair. They don't want to get involved in this type of shit with the feds. It also has the potential of never falling into a local court. This case involves feds and they'll move that it goes to a fedral court. Where they own the prosecution and the judges.

One good thing, I think it was in Park county and Park county officials hav had it with the feds. Your right, probably swept under the rug.

Kudu56: Thank you for the posting regarding this worsening situation here in the Rockies!

All I can say is "UN-FUCKING BELIEVABLE"!

I hope charges are brought against these sneaks! Our tax dollars at work - placating the northeastern liberals. And screw them to while I am thinking about it!

I will have to add this - just 20 miles from my home here in Dillon, Montana a Government Trapper came across a batch of Wolves eating livestock about two weeks ago. He tried calling for permission to take out the 7 marauders but of course could not get a timely response! As the news story went - but did not expand upon who he tried to get the OK from. "HE" then decided to go out and shoot one of the 7 Wolves on the spot. He did so! By the next afternoon he had obtained permission from someone (the story again did not explain who!) to shoot the rest. Surprisingly he was able to go back and killed the other 6! For anyone interested this occurred somewhere near the tiny community of Polaris, Montana! The Wolves are expanding and playing havoc with not only the Elk but Moose and Big Horn Sheep in many areas here in SW Montana. Having said that I will admit that in the exact area those Wolves were in there are record numbers of Elk. The long run of mild and drought like winters in this area have kept the Hunters harvests down and the record high population numbers have resulted in several areas. Other areas closer to the Yellowstone area are not faring as well at all even though the mild winters have kept Hunter harvest numbers in check there also. Just for now there are more Wolves over thataway. The Wolves in many areas have been cropping off the yearlings and calf Elk to well under sustainable herd percentages! It sickens me to think that any Government employee would be transporting (dispersing) these Wolves when the Wolf recovery numbers that the tree huggers themselves decided upon has been far exceeded already! Hunters are going to suffer from this goofy situation and I am proud of what I hear is going on in Wyoming regarding the locally made policies regarding Wolves!

I may go down Wyoming way and Hunt up a few Wolves as soon as it is clearly OK to do so!

Thanks again for your posting!

Hold into the wind

Varmintguy