Oh my! There goes our entire economy!

Last time this happened visitation actually went up. LOL! And compared to oil and minerals right now, who cares!


Wolf fan wants Wyoming boycott
By BRETT FRENCH
Of The Gazette Staff

A move is afoot in the cyber world to boycott Wyoming and the state's businesses over the state's wolf management policies that have resulted in the recent killing of five wolves.

Vicky Frangos, a former Billings resident who lives in Santa Clarita, Calif., has posted on the Yellowstone.net forum a list of places to avoid and people to contact to voice discontent with Wyoming's wolf policies.

"I support putting pressure on the #2 industry in Wyoming ... tourism," Frangos wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette. "I suggest people write letters, call the local WY agencies and let your voices be heard, choose the option of not spending money in Yellowstone or WY while still being able to see the park - it can be done - you simply stay in Montana, get gas in Montana and buy Yellowstone trinkets in the Montana gateway towns."

Gray wolves in the northern Rockies were taken off the endangered-species list on March 28. Since then, five wolves have been shot in Wyoming. Under Wyoming's management plan, wolves are managed as predators and can be killed on sight outside of their "trophy" zone in the northwest corner of the state. In trophy regions, a license is required to kill the animals. The exception is that landowners are allowed to shoot wolves that threaten livestock, although the landowners must possess a kill permit issued by the state.

Diane Shober, director of the Wyoming Office of Tourism, said her agency has been fielding occasional calls from people upset over the recent wolf shootings.

"It's unfortunate that one thing is tied to the other," she said. "But it's not unusual when people are passionate about something. Some people want a venue to vent. We certainly don't take it personally."

She said her agency also fields calls when wild horses are rounded up for sale. But in the big scheme of things, she said the few calls of protest are drowned out by the "several hundred thousand" requests for information on visiting the state.

Tourism is the second-largest industry in Wyoming, led only by the extractive industries of oil, gas and coal. In 2006, the last year for which numbers were available, tourism brought in $2.5 billion in direct expenditures to the Cowboy State. Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks are the big draws, although most visitors to the state drive and visit several attractions along the way, Shober said.

Teton and Park counties, next door to Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks, each pull in a sizable chunk of change from tourism. In 2006, Teton County collected $551.9 million and Park County took in $219.3 million in direct expenditures, Shober said.

Of greater concern to the Wyoming tourism industry, and the nation as a whole, is the possibility of recession and the chance that gasoline will hit $4 a gallon, Shober said. But even with those clouds gathering, Shober said Xanterra, the concessionaire for the state's two national parks, is reporting advance reservations ahead of last year, which was a record year for park visitation.

"International travel is growing leaps and bounds because of how the dollar stacks up against the euro," Shober said. "Hopefully, the wolf issue will level off soon."

In 1993 and 2003, the group Friends of Animals tried to initiate a tourism boycott of Alaska over its aerial wolf-shooting program, which was directed at reducing pack numbers in order to boost moose populations for hunters. Although then-Gov. Wally Hickel relented in 1993 and stopped the hunt after 15 days, Gov. Frank Murkowski wasn't as amicable in 2003 despite thousands of letters of protest. In the wake of the incident, tourism actually increased the following year.

Can we get them to boycott Montana too?

quote:

Can we get them to boycott Montana too?

Wouldn't that be nice????? I have had a gutfull of them!

Gee, maybe they will realize the tourists are the hunters, and they have no clout at all.

There just upset because some one down around Daniel, Wy shot that poor little wolf that had a limp all his life and he was loved by all the dumb ASS tree huggers.

Five wolves down since March 28,2008 another five or six hundred to go,and maybe our game herds will start to recover.

Oh by the way there is a small pack of wolves down in the Red Desert killing those wild horses.

Steve

Can we get them to stay out of Wisconsin also please.

Let them stage their boycott. The same thing will happen with that that as everything else the liberals try to do not based on reality.... FAIL.

The sad part is, the organization will probably raise a bunch of money in donations due to the liberal media coverage/publicity. Then they will use that money to continue pushing their utopia dream. Instead of actually being contributory to society. But that's what liberals are best at, spending other people's money on foolish ideas.

I WISH THEY WOULD LEAVE CA. move back east where they came from.

since they like them so much, why don't we just ship a bunch of wolves for reintroduction in commifornia. i think they'd get along just fine is san francisco

They can hang out with their ever increasing Mountain Lion friends here in the PRC

I first want to apologize to all on this website that this DUMB BITCH was originally from Billings, Montana. I for one am grateful to the Wyoming Gov't for stepping up to the plate and start getting rid of these elk Killers. I hope Montana will smarten up and do the same thing MAKE THEM PREDATORS and kill them like my Grandfather did 50 years ago, and if this dumb bitch wants a state to boycott let it be Montana first. We don't need their kind. So again THANK YOU WYOMING

The state tourism bureau isn't even worried. THey say it happens all the time. And the last time there was a boycott, the state actually seen and increase.

What her and her kind don't realize, the feds have been killing between 50 and 100 a year for years, and no one skwacked. Now , hunters and land owners do it for free.