Overprotected?
Area ranchers fear fallout of wolf relisting as calving season approaches
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While the new year may bring thoughts of new starts and prosperity to many, 2011 looks to be a tough year for area ranchers as the number of livestock killed by wolves continues to rise.
Last year saw over 100 cattle lost to grey wolves in Montana, a number that looks to rise in 2011 as ranchers are no longer allowed to respond to wolves attacking their livestock.
The relisting of the grey wolf as an endangered species in the Northern Rockies has left local ranchers facing a difficult situation. While the wolf population has continually grown in the area since the reintroduction of the animal in the area in the 1980’s, ranchers now must once again face stiff restrictions that limit their ability to respond to the increasing loss of livestock to the animal.
According to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks website, the number of confirmed cattle deaths caused by wolves was higher last year than in previous years, with over 100 head lost in 2010, but ranchers in northern Montana are still restricted from killing or even harassing wolves that attack their livestock.
Terry Murphy, president of the Western Montana Stockmen’s Association, says that the situation caused by the relisting of wolves as an endangered species is a scary one for northern Montana’s ranchers.
“If they (wolves) are in our pastures killing our cattle, there is not a thing we can legally do about it ourselves. That is very scary for us,” Murphy said. “The problem is that it hasn’t been long enough for us to really see the long-term effects of this. In this deep snow, it is only going to get worse when calving season gets into full swing.”
The problem for area ranchers began Aug. 5, 2010, when U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula overturned a 2009 decision that removed wolves from the endangered species list in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. The ruling was based on a two-part argument, one side being that the federal Endangered Species Act does not allow the federal government to subdivide a animal’s population so that an animal is protected in one area and not protected in another. According to Molloy’s ruling, wolves must either be listed or not listed as one whole unit throughout the Northern Rockies region. The second argument that led to the August relisting was that the current Wyoming wolf management plan was deemed inadequate to meet federal guidelines for the delisting of wolves from the endangered species list.
The effect of the delisting was immediate for northern Montana’s ranchers. With wolves back on the endangered species list, private citizens are no longer allowed to kill or harass wolves that are attacking their livestock or domestic dogs. In fact, the only time a person in northern Montana is allowed to kill or harass a wolf is if the animal is in self-defense or in the defense of others.
While ranchers are not permitted to respond to wolves attacking their livestock, there is a compensation program currently in place through the state that will play them for the loss of animals due to wolf attack.
According to Murphy, the program is not 100 percent effective, though.
“The biggest problem we have going right now is that in order to get compensated for a loss, you have to have a confirmed kill,” he said. “The problem is, a study out of Idaho recently showed that for every confirmed kill there are another seven wolf kills that go unconfirmed.”
The Montana Livestock Loss Reduction and Mitigation Program, which pays the ranchers for their losses, began in 2008. In 2009, the program paid $141,462 in claims for confirmed losses to predators.
