[MCN] Idaho secretly kills 20 wolves via aerial-shooting in "Lolo Zone"

[Matthew Koehler]

TAKE ACTION! Please call the Idaho Fish & Game Department at 208-799-5010
and respectfully tell them your opinion about this situation.

The 'Lolo Zone' includes over 1-million acres of roadless public wildlands
on the Clearwater National Forest and parts of the Selway-Bitterroot
Wilderness.



Update on Idaho secretly aerial-shooting wolves in wilderness area

http://www.examiner.com/article/idaho-wolf-control-board-admits-to-secrecy-aerial-gunning-operations

TRAGIC UPDATE: A gut-punch announcement from Idaho
<http://www.examiner.com/topic/idaho> Fish and Game just broke the news
that 20 innocent wolves <http://www.examiner.com/topic/wolves> lost their
lives to the aerial gunner secretly sent into the Lolo wilderness area
before the hunt was ended.

They got away with it.

Read the full update here
<http://lmtribune.com/twenty-wolves-killed-in-idaho-s-lolo-zone/article_ca7bbe1a-d04c-11e5-9273-8bd3ac01c785.html>
in
the lmtribune.com..

BREAKING: According to Wildlife Service's' Todd Grimm, the media blackout
was intentional and a deliberate strategy in Idaho's Lolo wolf massacre.

Per this morning's post in The Spokesmans-Review
<http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/2016/feb/09/idaho-wolf-board-kept-news-lolo-wolf-kill-operation-lawmakers-budget-hearing-monday/>,
proceeding secretly with the highly contentious aerial gunning
<http://www.examiner.com/topic/aerial-gunning> of wolves was done by the
agency with intent. And they make no apologies. Environmental groups broke
the story, blowing the lid off their clandestine mission, a massacre being
conducted in what is supposed to be a self-willed designated wilderness
area. And now agencies are scrambling to justify their actions. “At the
time, we were trying to keep the Lolo operation under wraps,” Todd Grimm,
state director of the USDA Wildlife Services
<http://www.examiner.com/topic/wildlife-services> Program for Idaho
admitted to The Spokesman-Review on Tuesday.

It seems the shady character of Wildlife Services runs deep. According to
the post, "When the head of an Idaho board charged with killing problem
wolves was asked directly by a state senator on Monday how many wolves the
board has had killed this year and how much it cost, he wouldn’t say. A day
later, officials confirmed the reason for the reticence: An operation is
now under way to kill more wolves in the Lolo region of North Idaho, and
state and federal officials prefer to keep those operations secret until
they’re done."

>From the latest reports no one even knows (or will confirm) how many wolves
have already lost their lives, the cloak of secrecy having denied them
protection from the millions of Americans who want our native predators to
be left alone, especially in those rugged wild areas that have been set
aside specifically to maintain fully functioning, biodiverse ecosystems.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, advocacy groups such asThe Center for
Biological Diversity <http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/> and the Friends
of the Clearwater <http://www.friendsoftheclearwater.org/> are condemning
the action, and wolf supporters responding to the news released by
Defenders of Wildlife have already been bombarding the agency with angry
opposition to the killings. Said Grimm in this morning's Jackson Hole News
and Guide, "I’m not real happy with the way Defenders is putting this out
instead of Fish and Game. We have already had one extremely violent phone
call from somebody in Florida because of this press release,” he said.
“People have very passionate views about wolves, and sometimes that drives
them to make the wrong decision.”

Well, no surprise there. Wolves are beloved icons of American wilderness,
and arguably the main attraction for tourists at Yellowstone and other
national parks where wolves live deeply elemental lives, engaging with the
total prism of ancient processes, and giving us much-needed glimpses of
life at its most vital. So beloved are these charismatic creatures that
families (called packs) often have 'fan clubs' and are followed by casual
wildlife watchers, wolf lovers and science-minded ecologists alike. A
wilderness area such as Lolo should be the one place, at least, that
normal, healthy wolf packs can be observed, complete with all their natural
behaviors, without interference from humans.

Not only is the ongoing slaughter unscientific and unsavory but it's also
outrageously expensive. The venture, undertaken over the last 3 years by
the federal and state agencies as part of a five year plan, will cost
plenty more. According to the Spokesman, "In addition to the $400,000 a
year in state general funds, matching funds are provided by the livestock
industry and Idaho Fish and Game, up to $110,000 each." That's a high price
tag per wolf just to artificially inflate elk trophies for hunters. The Jackson
Hole News and Guide
<http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/jackson_hole_daily/state_and_regional/wildlife-officials-to-kill-wolves-in-remote-idaho-region/article_5ef81f67-3b61-5ca1-8006-f24ada2f8b20.html>
reported
that "Last year 19 wolves were killed in the area and 23 were shot in 2014.
According to the state’s latest wolf population report, the Lolo zone had a
minimum of 38 wolves, including six documented packs and five other wolf
groups, at the end of 2014." 38 wolves is not exactly an overpopulation in
an area encompassing about a million acres. The slaughters being conducted
were called "arrogant" as far back as 2014, in a March Letters from the
West
<http://blogs.idahostatesman.com/nez-perces-miles-calls-secret-lolo-wolf-killing-arrogant/>blog
by Rocky Barker.

If nothing else, full disclosure from now on needs to be mandated.
Activities and operations by government employees dealing with the
country's wildlife need to transparent, public and responsive to the
concerns of science and ecology, not held hostage by consumptive interests
like hunting and public-lands grazers. The stated objective of the aerial
cull by Wildlife Services and Idaho Fish and Game is to boost declining elk
populations for sportsmen. But rather than address environmental factors
behind the decline they target a scapegoat and an 'easy fix'.

Here's the biggest rub: The Lolo/Clearwater region is not a game farm. Or a
ranch. It is designated wilderness. There are plenty of elk
<https://idfg.idaho.gov/2015-deer-elk-outlook> in the state. In fact there
is an overpopulation of elk in other areas that is causing property owners
and ranchers problems. So one would think that natural wolf depredation
would be welcomed to keep the herds healthy and within limits that the
habitat can sustain. But despite comprising a tiny percentage of the US
population, the hunting and ranching lobbies are disproportionately
powerful, and for some reason the government continues to capitulate to
them at the expense of native wildlife and wilderness systems. It does seem
they have their priorities backwards. Because, surely, if sport hunting
itself was halted for a couple years, those elk herds would stand a better
chance of recovering.
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