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Wolf kills frustrate Avon rancher

By EVE BYRON - IR Staff Writer - 03/16/05

AVON — Last weekend, Tim Quigley found a calf that had been attacked by a wolf in his pasture, less than a half-mile from his house. When the calf died a few days later, it was the second confirmed wolf kill in 10 days; neighboring rancher Earl Stucky had a calf killed in a pasture less than a quarter mile from his home last week.

State and federal officials approved setting a trap. On Tuesday morning, it held a wolf.

A few hours later, Quigley watched in disbelief as the trap was opened and the wolf was set free.

"That's pretty damn frustrating for the ranchers," Quigley said. "The wolves come in, get my calf, we catch it and they turn it loose. Watching it lope across my meadow, knowing it's going to be back among my cattle — I'm kind of a quiet guy, but this really gets me going."

Kraig Glazier, a district wildlife supervisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, empathizes with the frustration that Quigley, Stucky and other ranchers are experiencing. He noted that one recent study showed that for every confirmed calf kill by wolves, there's anywhere from five to eight unconfirmed kills.


Carolyn Simes, wolf program coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, also shares their frustration. But a recent federal court ruling has limited the options in dealing with problem wolves, even as canis lupis transitions from federal to state oversight in Montana.

In April 2003, wolves were downlisted from an endangered to a threatened species in the northern portion of Montana, and were managed as such for 1½ years, Simes said. But in January, a federal court judge in Oregon ordered that the wolf's nationwide listing be reinstituted as endangered — except in the experimental population areas surrounding Yellowstone and in Minnesota. The reclassification limits how conflicts with wolves are handled, including when the use of lethal force is allowed.

What that means to ranchers like Quigley and Stucky is that even if they see a wolf kill a cow, they can't shoot the wolf. Instead, they have to pick up the telephone and call either a state or federal official connected with the wolf program.

At this point, the endangered listing doesn't even allow ranchers to harass wolves that chase livestock by using rubber bullets or shooting over their heads, Simes said.

"I certainly understand from their perspective why that's not a good deal; I would have to agree that it's much better to harass the wolves than to pick up the phone and call us," she said. "But that doesn't mean there can't be active management, which is why we're looking at trying to remove up to two animals up there. But under the endangered status, private citizens' flexibility pretty much disappeared."

State and federal officials have decided that two of the four wolves in the pack around Avon will be shot. The other two wolves will be allowed to remain free, barring future livestock depredation.

If the depredation continues, they'll consider removing the entire pack.

"But it isn't to that point right now," Glazier said.

Simes said she hopes that being trapped was a traumatic enough experience for the one wolf — a radio-collared female — to make her avoid the area in the future.

"We have had some instances where captured animals that were released never come back, so it may have been a negative enough experience that she never returns," Simes said.

When lethal means are authorized, the priority is to kill the males, since females reproduce and the overall goal is to re-establish wolves in Montana. That was one reason the female wolf trapped on Quigley's property was turned loose. In addition, her collar will help officials track the rest of the pack.

"I would think that even without the reclassification, we would have set her free," said Ed Bangs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gray wolf recovery coordinator. "You don't want to kill your eyes and ears, and I can't believe they would want us to shoot the only radio-collared wolf in the pack."

Instead, the plan is to go after the pack's large male, which migrated to Avon from about 50 miles north of the Canadian border. That wolf is known to have run with a pack that had a history of livestock depredation, Simes said.

But she noted that the female that was captured also has a checkered past. She's the lone survivor of the Halfway pack, which was eliminated in 2003 along with the Castlerock pack after a full-grown cow and bull were killed on two ranches in the Avon area.

"We're trying to use an incremental approach, trying to take out the problem animals," Simes said. "Wolves that kill livestock are a problem, and is not something we want to see perpetuated. But we want to target the problem animals and move on from there."

Ranchers can take preventive actions, like penning animals at night or additional monitoring of their herds, but Quigley said that's not a realistic option.

"Most of the time we turn our cattle out into the hills in the summer, and we might get there a couple times a week if we're lucky," he said. "And we're calving now, and these wolves were within a half mile of our house, attacking livestock."

Quigley said his cattle are incredibly nervous these days, even in pastures close to their home. And while he appreciates the constraints under which state and federal officials are operating, he's still not sure what he'll do if the wolves return to prey on his cattle.

"We've gone through the legal process and look where it's got us," Quigley said. "They can only do what their bosses will let them do. … It's almost like they're going to make criminals out of us."

Simes said they're in the process of trying to work out some options that provide more flexibility under the federal court ruling, and are being aided in that by Montana's congressional delegation and the governor, as well as representatives from other states affected by the court order.

But while that effort is under way, she asks that when people do see wolves, they contact the nearest Fish, Wildlife and Parks office.

"It's that kind of information that helps us figure out what's going on out there," she said. "It's very helpful to us as we actively transition from federal management to state management."