The first hunting season for wolves since their 1995 reintroduction to the United States ended on March 31. It was a smashing success for several classes of people: Idaho hunters, Montana wildlife agencies, and all those makers of stateline signs written in secret wolf-code.
Losers included the Druid Peak pack of wolves of Yellowstone and the Cottonwood pack of wolves of Yellowstone.
The first hunting season for wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains after being removed from the endangered species list ran from October 2009 to March 2010. Originally, the hunt was seen as a way to decrease the vitriol toward wolves.
At the end of 2009, there were 1,702 wolves (up from 1,645 wolves at the end of 2008). (All figures from Fish & Wildlife 2008 Annual Report (7 pg pdf) and Fish & Wildlife 2009 Annual Report (9 pg pdf) unless otherwise sourced.)
And then there was one:
From the Druid Peak pack’s beginning in 1996 and through its glory years as Yellowstone National Park’s most famous wolf pack (with an incredible 37 members in 2001), it has come to this: yearling black Druid 690F may be the sole survivor. Mange-ridden and alone, her situation is grim.
In the last few weeks, three others (691F, the "Thin Female," and "White Line") have been killed by other wolves, often as they scavenged on other packs’ kills.
Six other Druids are missing, including alpha 480M, "Dull Bar," 571F, the "Female Yearling," "Black Bar," and "Triangle Blaze." We can only hope that they are somehow surviving on their own, but they are ravaged by mange, and scavenging is a dangerous business.
Montana had the highest percentage of wolves killed by state agencies (including private property owners defending their lands, according to FWS), 19% of the state's total wolf population, and an additional 5% "harvested" (i.e., killed) by hunters of. A Montana Livestock Loss Reduction and Mitigation Board, funded partly by Defenders of Wildlife, also paid $141,000 to ranchers who proved their losses caused by wolves, reports the Missoulian newspaper. A blog for wolves and other wildlife, Wildlife News, is more blunt in calling it a rancher slush fund, noting that contrary to promises, no money was spent on prevention. The hunt in Montana was such a success, with the 75 wolf total limit reached very early on, that the season shut down abruptly in November. If there's another season, expect intense pressure from hunters and ranchers for a higher quota.
Some members of the Cottonwood pack of wolves, which lived at the northern end of Yellowstone, were killed in a Montana hunt. Defenders of Wildlife and the Montana state agency dispute whether the pack will survive.
Idaho considers its first wolf hunting season such a success that it's considering changing the rules next year to give hunters an advantage by, for example, allowing two wolf kills per hunter and allowing electronic wolf mating call whistles. 220 wolf tags were issued but only 185 wolves actually killed. Step it up, hunters! Ken Cole of the Western Watersheds Project indicates that if the delisting stands in court, the Republican-dominated Idaho legislature will reduce the number of wolves permitted in the state to 150.
The wolf remains on the endangered species list in Wyoming, although 32 wolves were killed by "agency control" in that state. If the judge hearing the lawsuits (described below) delists the wolf in Wyoming, expect the state to clamor for the right to hunt wolves.
Outside the Northern Rockies/Yellowstone area, wolves are also rumored in Colorado. A management plan in Washington lowballs the number of wolves permitted to live. Utah's state legislature has passed a bill allowing wolves to be shot on sight upon entering the state.
A little known federal agency, Wildlife Services (in the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, no relation to the United States Fish & Wildlife Service in the Department of the Interior) routinely sides with state agencies and livestock owners. Wildlife Services makes no effort to require ranchers on public lands to use proactive, nonlethal means of protecting wildlife. However, among other issues, Wildlife Services uses cyanide-baited boxes that are supposed to deter coyotes, but sometimes kill wolves and pets; Natural Resources Defense Council has a petition opposing the practice.
In the meantime, a National Geographic story on Wolf Wars (well written and neutral -- click through to read and to see illustration in more detail) shows wolves' benefits to the Yellowstone ecosystem.
Wolf numbers stabilized in Yellowstone, dropping from 200 to 96, an entirely normal development according to the park's chief biologist. Elk and bison populations also stabilized. One could argue that the hunts outside Yellowstone are likewise meeting the goal of keeping wolf populations in equilibrium -- roughly 500 wolves, or about one-quarter of the population, was killed during 2009, and the total population only increased by 57. However, inside Yellowstone, where wolves are not hunted, the population is also in equilibrium -- and the ecosystem is healthy. Hmmmm.
A lawsuit brought by thirteen environmental groups to relist the wolf as endangered is pending. Last fall, the judge hearing the case ruled against the environmentalists' request for a temporary restraining order that would have prevented the opening of hunting season. The case will be decided at some point prior to the start of the 2010 hunting season...one hopes.