THE QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER VOLUME 19, NO. 2 SUMMER 2009 Features Departments
Return of the Wolf 3 From the 4 Wolves have begun recolonizing the state Board of Directors of Washington, probably dispersing from British Columbia. Conservation Northwest wildlife cameras 11 Tracking the Pack have photographed six pups, and one of the Conservation
r Northwest members discusses the possible future of o i 14 Wolves of the World n
e the new population. S s i r h C Jasmine Minbashian 20 Personal Experience
21 People for Wolves Refsnider Letter 24 A Look Beyond 8 Wolves have been delisted again. Here a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who helped coordinate wolf recovery describes in a letter to the Obama administration why delisting is appropriate. On The Cover A pack of rare Ethiopian wolves in Ron Refsnider serious danger from rabies n o s t Photo by Martin Harvey a W
y Martin Harvey is an acclaimed South d n
e Africa-based photographer whose W extensive photographic library includes wildlife, landscapes and people from more than 20 African countries. His Web site is: www.wildimagesonline.com
Did you know...
one easy way for you to help us conserve natural resources is to make sure we have your email address! Simply email your address to: [email protected] r e t n e C f l o W l a n o i t a n r e t n I Publications Director r
Mary Ortiz e t n e C f Magazine Coordinator l o W
Sharon Reed l a n o i t
Graphics Coordinator a n r e t
Carissa L.Winter n I Consulting and Technical Editor Deep Snow Fun for Wolves L. David Mech but Not for Roof Graphic Designer Tricia Austin now loading on the roof at the International Wolf Center in Ely is suspected to have damaged the roof over the Wolves and Humans Sexhibit and possibly other areas. “Fortunately, the area was already International Wolf (1089-683X) is published closed for a state-funded $350,000 lobby reconstruction and the exhibit quarterly and copyrighted, 2009, by the was placed in temporary storage,” noted Mary Ortiz, Executive Director. International Wolf Center, 3410 Winnetka Ave. N., “Our entrance and Wolf Den Store are open for visitors at the southeast Minneapolis, MN 55427, USA. end of the building at the employee entrance.” e-mail: internationalwol [email protected]. Completion of the reconstruction is likely in June or early July. I All rights reserved. Publications agreement no. 1536338 Membership in the International Wolf Center includes a subscription to International Wolf magazine, free admission to the Center, and discounts on programs and merchandise. • Lone Wolf memberships are U.S. $35 • Wolf Pack $60 • Wolf Associate $125 • Wolf Sponsor $500 • Alpha Wolf $1000. Canada and other countries, add U.S. $15 per year for airmail postage, $7 for surface postage. Contact the International Wolf Center, 1396 Highway 169, Ely, MN 55731-8129, USA; e-mail: internationalwol [email protected]; phone: 1-800-ELY-WOLF International Wolf is a forum for airing facts, ideas and attitudes about wolf-related issues. Articles and materials printed in International Wolf do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the International Wolf Center or its board of directors. International Wolf welcomes submissions of personal adventures with wolves and wolf photographs. Prior to submission of other types of manuscripts, address queries to Mary Ortiz, publications director. PHOTOS: Unless otherwise noted, or obvious from the caption or article text, photos are of captive wolves. International Wolf is printed entirely with soy ink on FSC certified paper. We encourage you to recycle this magazine.
2 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org INTERNATIONAL From the Board of Directors WOLF CENTER
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Nancy jo Tubbs Chair Dr. L. David Mech The Need to Secure Wolf Habitat Vice Chair Cree Bradley by Jim Hammill, International Wolf Center Board Member Secretary Paul B. Anderson he fresh tracks of five wolves were there in the November snow as I made my way into Treasurer our northern Michigan cabin. I know the home range of this family group well, Tand I imagined where the wolves were at that moment, likely transecting a large block of Dr. Larry Anderson state-owned land. Nightfall might find them on a yet larger block of corporate timber land, and for Tom Dwight the next several days they would ply state, corporate, and private land protected by conservation Amy Bromberg Funk easements. Nancy Gibson This pack was fortunate. Not only did its home range have adequate prey, all 80 square Hélène Grimaud miles of it were relatively secure from subdivision and development. It would be wolf Jim Hammill country into the foreseeable future. However, most wolves in the Great Lakes States now exist in areas where rural sprawl is projected to impact “wild lands” during Cornelia “Neil” Hutt the next two decades. Dean Johnson In spite of the recent downturn in housing starts, predictions remain Linda Lemke that when our economic fortunes improve, housing starts and degradation Dania Miwa of wild lands by rural sprawl will be in lock step with our increasing pop- Dr . Rolf O. Peterson ulation. Large home-range species that are habitat generalists stand to lose Mike Phillips most in the tsunami of rural development that will come. Debbie Reynolds Wolves, of course, head that list. Before you become complacent, believing Jerry Sanders n
o that state, county, or federal lands will provide plenty of room for wolves t
n Paul Schurke o
m to live securely, consider this: private lands are home to 95% of the species i
S Paul Sletten b
r on the federal endangered species list. More than half of all U.S. forest a Ted Spaulding B land is owned privately and 92% of that is held by family forest owners. Jim Hammill Twenty percent of those owners are now over 75-years old. Teri Williams Often the intergenerational transfer of land results in a new generation of owners, people who are ill-prepared for land stewardship and who have no sense of forest eco- EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR logical values. The result is subdivision of land for economic gain. Mary Ortiz During one recent decade in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, 20% of private land classified as forested by the U.S. Forest Service converted to a rural housing category. MISSION Many areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are projected The International Wolf to change similarly in the next 20 years. Wolves have demonstrated a remarkable Center advances the survival tolerance for people and all that people bring. People, however, have not been so willing of wolf populations by to share the land with wolves. As wild lands are subdivided, roaded, cleared, and other - teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the wise groomed for our use, a head-on collision with our growing wolf population seems human role in their future. inevitable. The “social carrying capacity” for wolves is likely to be reached before the biological carrying capacity. This is why retaining as much wild land as possible is Educational services and important to wolf biology. informational resources There is a multitude of programs now available to ease the economic burden of owning are available at: land. Resource professionals are available to help private landowners recognize the values of their property and extract some economic gain while preserving ecological integrity. 1396 Highway 169 Ely, MN 55731-8129, USA Finally, there are people available to help landowners learn to live with wolves. Working 1-800-ELY-WOLF to secure wolf habitat for generations of wolves and people yet unborn is a worthwhile 1-218-365-4695 effort and a legacy that we will be measured against. I e-mail address: Jim Hammill is a retired Michigan DNR wildlife [email protected] biologist, the principle consultant at Iron Range Consulting Web site: http://www.wolf.org and Services Inc. for wildlife and land-management, and a current member of the board of directors.
International Wolf Summer 2009 3 or far too long, the howl of the wolf has been absent from FWashington’s rugged mountain ranges. A massive extermination campaign started by early settlers and fur-traders had accomplished its goals by the 1940s. Today there are more reports of Sasquatch in Washington than of wolves. That explains the excitement I heard on a phone call from George Wooten, a Conservation Northwest associate. “Are you ready? Are you sitting down?” George’s enthusiasm exploded as soon as I picked up the phone. “Our wildlife cameras have captured photos of what might be some sort of large canid. And that’s not all: there are six pups! ” Retu rn The possible wolf with pups was captured on a camera of the sort used by sportsmen to document wild- of the Our concepts of habitat must evolve to include the entire fabric of a landscape and the Wolf ways animals use land Welcome Back, features as they move.
Old Friend life movements. The cameras are placed in remote locations along game trails. Their shutters are acti - BY JASMINE MINBASHIAN vated when an animal passes. Shortly after that photo was taken, Scott Fitkin, a biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wolf photos Courtesy of Wildlife, tracked down two of the Conservation Northwest adult canids and fitted them with radio collars. Fitkin sent samples of their DNA to a specialized canid genetics lab in California.
4 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org Wolves lived in Washington for a allows them to cover an average of ungulate prey base and for us not to very long time. They first migrated 30 miles a day. If motivated, wolves kill them.” into Washington from the southern are capable of moving hundreds of But humans have generally not Great Plains about 10,000 years ago miles in several days. granted them that much. when the last ice sheets retreated. Wolves’ home ranges or territories Remember the video game Their long history in these moun - vary, but usually average about 140 Frogger? Your joystick moves a tains means that they have been an to 400 square miles. Territory size is little frog character across a series important part of the region’s natural often smaller when prey is common of busy highways and your challenge and cultural heritage. Early settlers and other packs live nearby. Wolves is to not get squashed. Now, add and explorers reported that wolves are social animals and mostly stick in hunters that can shoot you on were “exceedingly numerous” and with their families, but once in sight—oh, and no rest stops. The were found in nearly every major awhile—just like people—they break game suddenly gets a lot harder. river drainage in Washington. away from the pack to explore new That’s what wolves and other Extensive trapping of wolves territory and start their own pack. wide-ranging animals face today. for their pelts began with the arrival As habitat generalists, wolves Development and human population of the Hudson Bay Company in don’t need much to survive. Fitkin growth continue to expand at an the American Northwest in 1821. says, “For wolves to do well, they aggressive clip. As people expand The fur trading company and its only need two things: an adequate into undeveloped areas, the options hired guns, known as “wolfers,” used strychnine to poison wolves at its early Washington farming operations and set high prices on wolf skins to encourage Indians to kill them. By 1939, the U.S. Forest Service estimated that only about ten wolves in total survived on all national forest lands in the state. In recent decades, there have been verified sightings of individual wolves in the mountains of Washington. There have even been a few docu - mented cases of adults and pups howling, mostly in and around North Cascades National Park. But those reports could not be verified as being t s from wild wolves, and not illegally e w h t r
introduced wolf-dog hybrids. o N
Until now. n o i t a v
In July of last year, the lab r e s n
confirmed that the canids trapped o by Scott Fitkin were, indeed, wild C wolves. They had migrated from British Columbia or central Alberta and started a new pack of their own in Washington’s North Cascades, now dubbed “the Lookout Pack.” Wolves are built for travel. With long, elegant legs, they trot on their toes, giving them a fluid gait that
International Wolf Summer 2009 5 for safe travel for these animals the Kootenays of southeastern B.C., threatened species and their habitat. becomes narrowed down danger ously. into northeast Washington’s Kettle Both provinces have virtually no limi - The more roads, highways, farms and Selkirk Ranges, and over the tations or monitoring of the trophy and urbanized landscapes wolves Okanogan Valley. hunting of wolves. Wolves have must cross, the greater the chance “Either way,” Gaines adds, “they been scapegoats for the decline of that they will be killed by a fast had to run a gauntlet through British everything from marmots to moun - moving metal object: a car or a bullet. Columbia. There’s quite a bit of perse - tain caribou, and official government Bill Gaines, a U.S. Forest Service cution of wolves across the border.” policy closely resembles anti-wolf biologist, has teamed with other Alberta and British Columbia have policies of the American Old West. scientists to conduct large landscape none of the United State’s legislative British Columbia recently made analyses on the least risky routes safeguards in place, such as the controversial changes to wolf hunting wide-ranging animals could use to Endangered Species Act, to protect regulations. The province removed move into and around Washington. the three-animal bag limit on wolves He is studying the concept of “wild- in mountain caribou recovery zones. life connectivity.” He says it’s just a “Our wildlife cameras Alberta has gone back to the days fancy term for understanding how of strychnine poisoning, using that animals move across a landscape. have captured photos method to kill wolves for the last Gaines believes the Lookout wolves of what might be some three years. This is part of an effort could have arrived in Washington’s to increase caribou numbers. The North Cascades by one of two routes. sort of large canid. proposal was met with stiff opposi - The most likely is the north-south tion, and just this spring the province connection from the southern British And that’s not all: suspended its poisoning program Columbia’s Cascades. Or they might while continuing with aerial shooting. have used an east-west route through there are six pups!” t s e w h t r o N n o i t a v r e s n o C
Living proof that wolves have immigrated to Washington and reproduced.
6 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org t s e w h t r Meanwhile, the public’s attitude Western Governors’ Association, o N n o i toward wolves is changing in respon ded to pressure from hunters t a v r the U.S. Three of four Washington and anglers to protect wildlife from e s n o
residents support wolf recovery, large energy developments. The result C according to a 2008 poll. A second was a resolution to protect wildlife Jasmine Minbashian surveys new occupied poll shows that most hunters in corridors and crucial habitats. This wolf range in Washington. the state support managing a self- year they followed up with a 140-page sustaining population of wolves, report examining issues affecting citing among other reasons that all wildlife movement—from land use wildlife deserve to flourish. to transportation to climate change. to progress already made, the long Increasingly, research is showing The group recently urged Congress silence of the wolf in Washington how the long absence of top preda - and the Bush administration to allow has finally been broken. I tors like the wolf has disrupted an more review before companies are ancient and important relationship allowed to drill in wildlife corridors Jasmine Minbashian is special projects between predator and prey. A recent or sensitive habitat on public lands. director at Conservation Northwest, Oregon State University study suggests In Washington State, the Western http://www.conservationnw.org, that the temperate rainforest of Governors’ Association wildlife ini- a non-profit organization based in Olympic National Park is suffering tiative has spawned efforts to under - Bellingham, Washington that works from the elimination of wolves and stand important wildlife connectivity to protect and connect old-growth forests and other wild areas from the subsequent domination by herds areas at the state level. A group of Washington Coast to the Canadian of browsing elk. Many stream banks some of leading biologists and Rockies. She has worked in the field have been largely denuded of young agency innovators has issued a series of wildlife and forest conservation trees needed for recruiting of future, of reports on terrestrial wildlife for over ten years, and is leading old trees. As a result, the park is a habitat and wildlife movement in Conservation Northwest’s efforts to very different place than it was 70 Washington. This effort, informally recover wolves in Washington State. years ago. Riparian areas in the North known as the Washington Habitat Cascades with its abundant deer Connectivity Working Group, will populations could also benefit from provide scientific guidance for plan - the return of wolves. ners of state conservation, land So what will it take to make use, and transportation policies. Investigation Underway Washington a state that can continue Landscape analyses by the in Death of Washington to support free-roaming critters? connectivity group are critical for State Wolf Will we continue to have a wild land - wolf recovery in Washington. Our scape where we coexist with nature? concepts of habitat must evolve to Or will the only place to see wolves include the entire fabric of a land - One, possibly two, of the 9 wolves and grizzly bears be at the Woodland scape and the ways animals use in Washington state's new Lookout Park Zoo? With an estimated land features as they move. To that pack is dead. A state and federal 70,000 acres of private undeveloped end, Conservation Northwest is land being converted annually to working with local communities, investigation is underway into the urban and industrial uses, there is including ranchers and local timber suspected illegal killing. reason for concern. mills, to preserve the features of Concerned citizens and groups ranchlands and forest lands that are Stay tuned at www.conservationnw.org like Conservation Northwest have critical for wildlife such as wolves. for current news and updates. been looking for solutions. There is Our greatest challenge might be a large and growing diversity of to help the public appreciate the Go to www.wolf.org for a link to an people who don’t want to lose the important role that keystone species “wild” in “the Wild West.” like the wolf have on our landscape. April 1, 2009 news article. That list includes all the governors That understanding will continue to of the western states. In 2007, the build tolerance toward them. Thanks
International Wolf Summer 2009 7 ation a Administr bject: Obam ush Su f Pending B ions Review o ion Regulat Administrat January 21, 2009
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ken Salazar Secretary of the Interior Now that the wolf has been 1849 C Street delisted again in the Upper Washington, DC 20240
Midwest and the Northern Subject: Obama Administration Review Rockies (except Wyoming), of Pending Bush Administration Regulations International Wolf believes that our audience would Dear Secretary Salazar: appreciate reading the First allow me to congratulate you on your appointment and confirmation as following authoritative Secretary of the Interior. As a former Interior Department employee who worked rationale that supported the under 5 administrations, I have some understanding of the breadth of the issues USFWS making its decision. you will be facing and the complexity of the decisions you will be making. I wish The explanation is in the form you the best in your new endeavor of service to all Americans and stewardship of of a letter that the Department many of our great nation’s natural resources. of the Interior (DOI) received During my last 23 years of federal service I was a biologist in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Endangered Species Program. For my final years I served from a retired USFS Midwest in the position of Midwest Regional Endangered Species Listing Coordinator in Regional Endangered Species Minneapolis, MN, where I drafted, and helped draft, proposed and final “endangered Listing Coordinator, Ronald species listing rules.” I took an early retirement in 2007 in large part due to my Refsnider. Upon acquiring frustration with trying to properly and scientifically implement endangered species the letter from the DOI, protections under the Bush appointees in Interior. Those appointees did their best International Wolf sought to destroy the FWS’s credibility and ability to carry out the Endangered Species Act and obtained Mr. Refsnider’s (ESA), and they largely succeeded. I know you will hear many unpleasant details of the last eight years from your Inspector General, so I will not dwell on them here. permission to reprint the letter, Suffice it to say that there were many bad ESA decisions, policies, and regulations for which we thank him. produced during the Bush 43 era, so I applaud the White House’s decision to put a hold on all pending new Bush regulations until President Obama’s appointees can review them. If only you could easily undo some that are already in place. My hope in writing this letter is that I can persuade you to hasten the review and re-finalization of a specific 2007 final endangered species regulation for which I was the primary author prior to my retirement. This regulation removed the Western Great Lakes Distinct Population Segment of Gray Wolves from the list of threatened and endangered wildlife, and thus removed them from the protections of the ESA (72 FR 6052-6103; February 8. 2007). Subsequently, this delisting was litigated by
8 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org several animal welfare organizations, and was vacated on a technicality and remanded by D.C. District Court. Currently, the FWS was about to republish the revised final rule in the Federal Register, and thereby re-delist those Midwestern wolves. My successor (Laura Ragan; 612-713-5157; [email protected]), with extensive assistance from career Interior attorneys, had supplemented and revised the 2007 final rule to address the court’s concern. While the Western Great Lakes gray wolf delisting was opposed by animal welfare organizations (Humane Society of the United States, Animal Protection Institute (now Born Free USA), and Help Our Wolves Live (HOWL)), there were numerous local, regional, and national wildlife conservation and environmental organizations that supported the delisting. Among them were the National Wildlife Federation, Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Timber Wolf Alliance, and the scientific peer reviewers who reviewed the delisting proposal. The animal welfare organizations have tried to portray this Midwest wolf delisting as a politically-based decision by a Bush administration that was opposed to the ESA. While that administration was indeed opposed to the ESA, this delisting was not initiated by the Bush folks, nor was it a political decision. In fact, the FWS and I began working on delisting Minnesota wolves in 1998 during the Clinton Administration, and under the direction of Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and FWS Director Jamie Clark, both conservationists with very strong and widely “My hope recognized environmental credentials. My regional office sent the first complete in writing proposal (I was the author) to reduce the wolf’s ESA protections to our Washington this letter office in the waning months of the Clinton Administration. It was published in the Federal Register in the opening months of the Bush Administration. It was not a is that I can Bush/Norton/Kempthorne initiative. persuade you (Note that this letter only discusses the Western Great Lakes gray wolf delisting. to hasten the A separate, simultaneous, but very different delisting final rule has also been pub- review and lished, litigated, enjoined, and now re-finalized by the FWS Denver Regional Office for the Northern Rocky Mountains Distinct Population Segment of gray wolves. I was re-finalization peripherally involved in that project, but I lack sufficiently detailed knowledge of of a specific its scientific basis to have a clear opinion on whether it is warranted, or rather was 2007 final a political decision that should be reversed by you. This letter is only concerned with the Western Great Lakes wolf delisting, which I personally know was not politically- endangered based and, indeed, was scientifically justified.) species My former office, and the FWS in Washington, DC, have been trying to figure regulation...” out the appropriate way to delist Midwest wolves since Secretary Babbitt’s tenure. Although three federal courts have ruled against reducing or removing ESA protections for Midwestern wolves, none of those judges took issue with FWS’s decla - rations that Midwestern wolves have recovered, and none said that Midwestern wolves shou ld not be delisted. In fact, one judge specifically agreed that Midwestern
International Wolf Summer 2009 9 wolves are recovered. Rather, each court ruled against Midwestern wolf delisting on technical or procedural issues. The FWS is now trying to comply with the courts’ somewhat contradictory advice on how to properly delist Midwestern wolves. I have “The problem read the current pending final rule, and I believe it achieves that goal. here is not a Midwestern wolf recovery has been easier than Rocky Mountain wolf recovery, because the Departments of Natural Resources in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota failed wolf have been cooperating with FWS and have even taken on leading roles in wolf recovery restoration. As you know, this is in stark contrast to the situation in the Northern program or a Rockies. Midwestern wolves have greatly exceeded federal recovery criteria, and lack of state these three states have developed, and in some cases even updated and revised, science-based wolf management plans that will ensure a viable wolf population for commitment, but the foreseeable future. The problem here is not a failed wolf recovery program or rather a failure a lack of state commitment, but rather a failure to successfully delist a recovered to successfully population of wolves. This failure to delist wolves in the Western Great Lakes, and thereby complete the final chapter of a clear ESA success story, has led to the growing delist a recov - belief that the ESA does not work. ered population There is some urgency to finalizing the delisting of Midwestern wolves. Calving of wolves .“ season will soon begin here, and that will trigger an upswing in wolf depredations on livestock, long a highly contentious issue. When wolves were rare and warranted protection as an endangered or threatened species, Midwest farmers were willing (grudgingly, of course) to put up with some level of compensated loss of their stock. However, wolves are no longer rare in the Midwest. There is no efficient and effective way to control depredating wolves while they are listed as endangered. Each of these states has a wolf management plan in place that can deal with “problem WOLVES DELISTED wolves” without adversely affecting the overall wolf population (again in contrast to AGAIN! the Northern Rockies situation). These state plans were effectively implemented for Continuing its on-again/ 18 months prior to the 2008 vacature and remand of the delisting, and they will be off-again journey, wolf implemented again immediately upon the effective date of the delisting. The effective delisting was finalized date would have been around the end of February—prior to the onset of calving—in on April 2, 2009 and the absence of White House Chief of Staff Emanuel’s hold on pending rules. Thus, a becomes effective prompt review and release of the pending Western Great Lakes gray wolf delisting May 4, 2009. rule would serve both the residents of the Western Great Lakes area and the ESA. Thank you for considering my request. I would be happy to discuss this matter ...except for Wyoming... further with your staff, and I sure that Ms. Ragan would be willing to provide ...and unless new current details. I lawsuits, now being filed by several wildlife Sincerely, protection groups, Ronald L. Refsnider overturn the Final Rule.
For more details, please see
http://www.wolf.org/ wolves/news/live_news_ detail.asp?id=3909
10 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org Tracking the Pack
United States. Clearly, when ciently stereotyped that an Three Subspecies, one looks at the Exhibit Pack, observer may record the But Still All Wolf one can see the differences, number of such acts, or the but there is more to this amount of time engaged in by Lori Schmidt, Wolf Curator, wolf exhibit than looks. the behaviors.” International Wolf Center The question is, do these In our behavioral obser - subspecies act differently? vations, a wolf is driven by or those of you who wolves all over the world, To help us answer this innate behavioral responses follow the lives of not just the wolves found in question and record the to stimuli, and while physi - Fthe Center’s captive Ely, Minnesota. Visitors can behavioral data, Center staff cally different, the responses wolves through wolf logs, see the physical differences utilizes an Ethogram, devel - from each of these indi - webcams and Youtube between the arctos sub- oped specifically for the vidual wolves are similar. videos, you may already species that survives in the Exhibit Pack. So, What’s If a wolf is exhibiting more know that the Center is harshest climates in North an Ethogram? dominance, tail responses, experiencing an historic America, the nubilus sub- Wikipedia defines an ear postures and facial ex- event. It is the first time we species that has recolonized Ethogram as: “In ethology, pressions will show its are managing three age across the great lakes region, an Ethogram is a catalog of continued on page 13 structures and three sub- and the occidentalis sub- the discrete behaviors typi - species in the Exhibit Pack. species that is making a cally employed by a species. As the International comeback in the western These behaviors are suffi - Wolf Center, it is our mission to teach people about r e t n A constant feature of the International e C f l
Wolf Center’s captive wolves is various o W
types of interactive behavior. l a n o i t a n r e t n I
International Wolf Summer 2009 11 INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER Major Contributors and Special Gifts DECEMBER 2008 – FEBRUARY 2009
Major Donors Robert and Amy Kluth Wendy Sommer Memorials In memory of In honor of Shaw Mudge: Jean Drzyzgula: C. Stephen Kriegh Ted and Barbara John and In memory of Spaulding Patricia Mudge Michael Carlson Sandra Anderson Jay Larson Pvt. Stephen A. Bulger: Amber Tamblyn Andrews Family James LeBlanc Mary and In memory of In honor of Foundation Janice and John Gourley Aunt Neda: Jennifer Eaton: Celia Leibacher Leon Thompson Leigh Beith In memory of Carrie: Charlie and Sondy Kaska, Linda Lemke Mary Tilbury Neda Fisher Jon, and Jerry Robert Bell Gail Wolff Virginia Letourneau Jeff Tisman Jane Untz In honor of Denise Brown In memory of Folson: Marc and Barb Farley: Scott and Photography In memory of Nyssa: Bruce and Dianne Lewis Phillip Angwin Judy and Dick Henry Carol Bryant Helen Tyson Susan Myers M. Jane Lewis-Hall In memory of In honor of Ben and Doris Butler Rita Van Fleet In memory of Mary Jane Gossett: Nancy Gibson: Sharon A. Liscio Sean Staelens: Ann Cosgrove Kathryn and Bear Island Laura R. Block and Family John Loughnane Robert Vizas Surveying Inc Michael Brancato and Victoria Douglas Custom Theaters, Inc. Donna Mack-Iwanski Ms. Katherine Wilcox In honor of In memory of Raquel Gonzalez: In memory of Melanie Donaghy Larry and David Williams Lloyd E. Hall: Sandi Maloney Milt Stenlund: Nevada J. Wolf Bryan Ezawa Joseph and M. Jane Lewis-Hall Dave Mech Shirley Wolf Elsie Hocking In honor of Jack Heck Faegre and Benson In memory of Lakota: and Charlie: in recognition of Seamus Metress, PhD Jan Young Gerald W. Ireland, Kathleen, Douglas, M.D. Amy Funk Brian O’Neill Bob and Carol Mucha Trish Zapinski and Robert Geier Dave Mech Neil Hutt John M. Frey Leone Murphy In-Kind Michael and Dave Mech Valerie Gates Donna Hames John Mooty Janice Navratil Debbie Reynolds Donations Izaak Walton League Kathleen, Douglas, Jim Nystrom, Donna Mack-Iwanski Jerry Sanders and Robert Geier Neil Hutt of America, Nystrom Inc. Deborah Wold Lewis Grand Rapids Nancy Jo Tubbs Gail Gilmore Rolf Peterson Susan Myers Wes Libbey Chapter Susan C. Pagnac, Sr., In honor of and Marshall M. Joe Greenhalgh Deb Wells Gail Ramee In memory of Kevin Hickson: Midden Cynthia Stockdreher: Pamella Gronemeyer US Fish and Wildlife Kathy Rundquist Rebecca Kroma Karen L. Pajari, M.D. Kriegh, M.D. Service Red Wolf Ellen G. Sampson James Caldwell Recovery Team In honor of Jack and Nona Hamblin Richard Pepin, Jr. Susan Sweeney and Suzanne Pepin In memory of Janet Hughes: Jim and Julie Hammill Estates Joyce Wells Wolf 253M: Judith F. Posnikoff Pete and Flit McElligott Jacinta Hart Vincent L. Hillyer In memory of Matsu: Jerry Sanders Dr. William Redel In honor of Ayden Dorothy Hearst Ben McFarling Patricia and Bob In memory of Romness Johnson: Debbie Reynolds Sobecke Robert Wetzel: Michael Huwaldt Estate of Patricia Pratt Dean Johnson Jerry Sanders In memory of Breanna Otterness Dean Johnson In honor of Motomo: Martha Schoonover Miriam Bend Lein Jayne Kalk and Malcolm Lein: Honorariums Ed Lipsman Charles Schwartz – Jeanie and The Yukon Fund Kristin Lein In honor of In honor of Murray Kilgour Siobhan Rix: Gary Seevers In memory of Lucas: Henry Crosby: Dorothy Kirsch Paul Anderson Eric and JoAnn Paul Sletten Kathleen, Douglas, Pasternack and Robert Geier and Family Amy Bromberg Funk In honor of In memory of Lane Smith: Mackenzie: Neil Hutt Fred W. Smith Kathleen, Douglas, Dania Miwa and Robert Geier Nancy Jo Tubbs In honor of Marietta Sylvester: Michael and Thank You Donna Hames Joy O’Bresky
12 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org Tracking the Pack continued from page 11
In honor of Matching Corning Incorporated status. Conversely, a sub- necessary to communicate Nancy Jo Tubbs: Foundation missive wolf will lower its and live in a pack. Gifts and on behalf of: Kathleen Kilpatrick Foundations head, flatten its ears and Dog owners may even Wayne Cadden roll to the ground, seeking recognize these responses in In honor of Ameriprise Financial Michael Vieths: General Mills acceptance from a more the domestic dog, as many on behalf of: Foundation Michael Heinsohn dominant wolf. A wolf will of these instinctual behav - Nancy Brooks on behalf of: guard its food from any iors remain after thousands Brenda Sherrod Kristine Elias Dorene Eklund other pack member by of years of domestication. In honor of James Yuenger Richard Krueger showing a lip curl, then If you would like to learn Susanne Wentz: Anonymous Deb Wells following through with a how to record the behaviors Holland Etheridge Bellcomb Karl G. Estes lunge display if threatened. inherent to wolves and dogs, In honor of Technologies Inc. Foundation Trust Is there extra food after a the Center has produced the Joanne Wessels: BP Fabric of America R.C. Lilly meal? Caching behavior is Ethogram in a soft copy Sandy Eaton Fund on behalf of: Foundation Fund witnessed with the wolf book or in a web-based DVD Carol J. Chervenak The Casey Albert T. In honor of Grizzer, using its nose to tamp and format that includes video O’Neil Foundation Maya, Aidan, Nancy Brooks cover the valuable resource. clips. To purchase either Denali and in loving Kristine Elias The Pfizer Foundation Regardless of the geogra- of these Ethograms, check memory of Nyssa: on behalf of: phic region, the wolf has out the Wolf Den store at Christian Mueller Lois Nichols evolved to be a pack animal www.wolf.org. I and these are the behaviors
International Wolf Summer 2009 13 Alpha Legacy
W O LV E S I N E T H I O P I A the lips to retract) and paralytic. It is Profile during the excitative stage that a bite The Ethiopian Wolf – The Battle from an infected animal most often transmits the virus. to Save an Imperiled Species Also called hydrophobia, rabies was first described as long ago as By Neil Hutt 3000 B.C. Although relatively rare in the United States where pets are “We should be moving to abies . It’s a frightening word. routinely vaccinated, reservoirs of vaccinate the wolves.” Primed by sensational novels, the virus remain widespread in many —Stuart Williams, R cult horror films and television rural areas throughout the world. British Conservationist and Coordinator medical dramas, many people asso - In developing countries, including of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation ciate rabies with a crazed ani- large portions of Africa where dogs Project (EWCP), during the 2003 rabies mal in full attack mode, foam drip - are a principal host, rabies is a major epidemic in Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains. ping from its jaws, teeth bared in killer of livestock. In Ethiopia, the a threatening snarl . Affecting devastating disease is also a signi- the central nervous system ficant killer of the rarest member of and ultimately the brain, the dog family —Canis simensis, the the disease usually pro- Ethiopian wolf. gresses through three Starting in the autumn of 2008, clinical stage s—prodromal the current epidemic (some experts (malaise, lethargy), excitative have observed that the outbreaks (“furious rabies” during occur in cycles) threatens up to two- which facial spasms cause thirds of Ethiopia’s wolves. Two
ERITREA
YEMEN
SUDAN
DJIBOUTI Ethiopia SOMALIA Addis Ababa
Bale Mountains National Park
Africa
Ethiopia KENYA y e v r a H
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14 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org previous epidemics (1991 and 2003) decimated the already fragile Ethiopian wolf population in the core recovery areas in the Bale Mountains of southeastern Ethiopia. In that region, the afroal-pine grasslands and heathlands of the Web Valley and the Sanetti Plateau are home to perhaps 300 Ethiopian wolves, more than half of the current y e estimated population. v r a H
During the 1991 out- n i t r break, wolf numbers a dropped from an estimated M 450 animals to 120. Later, Wolf, jackal, or fox? Ethiopian wolves exhibit features of all three Canids. in October 2003 after 20 wolves died, the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Pro gramme But the current potentially devas - nated 46 wolves in 10 packs that (EWCP) mounted a concerted effort tating outbreak has spurred imple - connect the Web Valley wolf pop- to contain the outbreak. Options mentation of a plan devised by ulation with other wolves in the included inoculating unvaccinated Dr. Claudio Sillero from Oxford Bale Mountains. dogs in the region and enlisting local University’s Wildlife Conservation As a species, the Ethiopian wolf communities for help in monitoring Research Unit (WildCRU) and Dr. remains something of an enigma. the health of domestic animals. A Fekadu Shiferaw from the Ethiopian Questions about the taxonomy of rigorous vaccination program has Wolf Conservation Authority (EWCA) Canis simensis have led to a variety inoculated approximately 80 percent to create a “barrier” to contain the of names for this rare African car- of the estimated 40,000 domestic virus by vaccinating wolves in the ni vore. Scientists still disagree on dogs in the region, a significant per- recovery region. The goal is to live whether the animals are true wolves centage of them herding dogs trap and vaccinate entire packs (typi - or “simian jackals.” However, genetic belonging to the Oromo people. cally a group of six adults) so that analysis has some researchers con- Livestock herders, the Oromo settled when they come into contact with cluding that the Ethiopian wolf is in what is now Bale Mountain unvaccinated dogs, they will not more closely related to the gray wolf National Park long before the area contract the disease. and the coyote than to any African became a park. But additional settlers When the current outbreak began canid. Living in seven remote moved into the region in 1991, and last fall, the team of experts from mountain ranges of the Ethiopian other groups migrate into the park WildCRU and EWCA knew that high lands, the Ethiopian wolf’s during the grazing season, often if they did not put a wolf vaccination diet consists mainly of Afroalpine bringing unvaccinated dogs. plan into effect immediately, rabies rodents, Starck’s hares, goslings, eggs, In 2003, Stuart Williams, coordi - could once again ravage the Ethiopian rock hyrax, young common duiker, nator of the EWCP, insisted that wolves and spread, further reducing reed buck and mountain nyala. The the solution to containing the disease the already perilously small pop- wolves have a reddish-brown coat lay in vaccinating wolves as well as ulation. Despite frigid temperatures with distinctive white markings on dogs, a step the Ethiopian officials at altitudes of above 12,000 feet, the the body and black markings on the were hesitant to take at that time researchers traveled on horseback tail. Weighing about 50 pounds, they because some people thought the and camped out in order to track and have long legs, slender frames and inoculations had caused the deaths of vaccinate the wolves. As of the end long, slim muzzles. African wild dogs in the Serengeti. of October 2008, the team had vacci -
International Wolf Summer 2009 15 The Ethiopian wolf’s future is Information Sources For additional information about the uncertain. Subsistence farming and Ethiopian wolf, visit the following Web sites: overgrazing contribute to continuous University of Oxford (2008, November 30). habitat loss. Additionally, traffic deaths, “Rabies Barrier To Save World’s Rarest http://www.arkive.org/ethiopian- gunshot mortality, hybridization with Wolf.” ScienceDaily . Retrieved February 4, wolf/canis-simensis/video-00.html 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com domestic dogs and disease all add www.ethiopianwolf.org (Ethiopian Wolf /releases/2008/11/081119175533.htm to the population decline despite full Conservation Programme - EWCP) protection by the Ethiopian govern - “World’s Rarest Wolf Threatened by http://www.wolf.org/wolves/news/ ment and stiff penalties imposed for Rabies.” RedOrbit News – iwmag/2004/spring/spring2004.asp - killing a wolf. www.redobit.com. Claudio Sillero views saving the See “Wolves of the World” article Ethiopian wolf from extinction in “Wolves of Ethiopia.” a larger context. In his view, the entire highland ecosystem is at risk if the wolf disappears. Wolves are top Two members of a carnivores, and they help control the litter of perhaps five rodent population and numbers of Ethiopian wolf pups. other native grazing herbivores. “The wolves reign there,” Sillero says. “I like to think of them as the guardians of the high mountains of Africa.”
Cornelia Hutt is an educator and International Wolf Center board member who lives in Purcellville, Virginia.
Below: Some of the habitat y
of the Ethiopian wolf e v r
resembles a well kept a H
n i
rock garden. t r a M y e v r a H
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16 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org W O LV E S I N B U L G A R I A operates a rare breeds center which is resurrecting the Karakachan breeds Hope for Wolves in Bulgaria of sheep, horses and livestock guarding dogs. Pastoral farming, an by Denise Taylor ancient tradition in Bulgaria, is still relatively common today despite n the tiny, rundown village of Vlahi, but they are afforded no legal protec - being nearly destroyed by the collec - in the foothills of Bulgaria’s Pirin tion, and no compensation is paid for tive farms of the former Soviet regime. IMountains, the new Large Carnivore loss or damage to livestock. Livestock guarding dogs have been The Centre had its official opening NETH. Education Centre stands out on the hill - used for centuries and are one of the side like a beacon. The building has risen in spring 2008 and now welcomes most effective methods of protecting from the derelict and ruined shell of school children from all over Bulgaria sheep. Last year, a young dog (just an old stable block and now boasts a and visitors from around the world. eight months old) fended off an fully equipped exhibition hall and Workshops and seminars are also attack from a brown bear by jumping seminar room, accommodation for 18 held at the Centre, and a cinema club on its back. The Karakachan dogs where popular films will be shown is BELGIUM GERMANY people, and a café bar. also regularly ward off wolf attacks, The Centre is the dream and planned. This will give the project the especially when the flocks are grazing vision of Elena Tsingarska who heads opportunity to show wildlife conser - the higher pastures in the mountain. Balkani Wildlife Society’s Wolf vation films either before or after the The project is home to two LUX. Research Programme. Elena and her main feature film. If local people use captive wolves (Vucho and Bayto) CZECH husband, Sider Sedefchev, have worked the building as a community base, the and a brown bear (Medo). These hard to transform Vlahi. With the project is likely to receive strong local large carnivores are ambassadors for help of their extended family, they support when it comes to running the their respective species, and visitors have breathed new life into the Centre in the future. love to interact with them. Bulgaria local community, while at the same There is still a lot of work to be still has entrenched negative atti - AUSTRIA time protecting ancient traditions done in Vlahi. Sider’s organization, FRANCE SWITZERLAND LIECH. and farming methods and lobbying Bulgarian Biodiversity Preservation to protect and conserve wildlife in Society’s Semperviva the region, especially large carni - (http://en.wikipedia. vores. Bulgaria has an estimated org/wiki/Semperviva), SLOVENIA stable population of 800-1000 wolves,
ROMANIA
YUGOSLAVIA Sophia Bulgaria Kraiste Pirin Mountains MACEDONIA
ITALY
ALBANIA
TURKEY GREECE
TUNISIA MALTA
International Wolf Summer 2009 17 SYRIA tudes towards the wolf especially, and various groups with an interest in the media continue to fuel the wolves (whether this is a positive or perceptions of the wolf as a huge, negative interest). He facilitates the scary beast. When visitors see the groups working towards conserva - Elena Tsingarska listens intently for signals from her radio- wolves at the Centre, they often tion solutions through consensus tagged wild wolves. comment about how different the building. animals are from what they imagined. Three workshops have been held As well as providing education so far. In the initial stages of this and learning at the new Centre, Elena process, there tends to be antagonism runs a scientific wolf research pro- among groups that oppose each other gram which includes scat analysis, on a number of conservation issues. tissue sample analysis from both dogs Foresters have one worldview, hunters and wolves, and radio telemetry another worldview, farmers another work. This research is helping to build and conservationists yet another. a full picture of wolf ecology in two Finding common ground means regions: Pirin mountains and Kraiste. addressing some very thorny issues In the past year, work has also as well as exploring prejudices and begun on the Wolf Management biases on all sides. This is a learning Plan with the help and support of process that promotes the essence Professor Alistair Bath from the of education in that it encourages Memorial University of Newfoundland. critical thinking and reflection on Bath is one of the world’s leading core values in the hope that the huma n–dimension s experts and group will achieve effective solutions. specializes in bringing together the r o l y a T
e s i n e D
Wolf habitat in Bulgaria includes forested hills even close to villages. r o l y a T
e s i n e D
18 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org Bulgarian wolves are really not that different in appearance or behavior from those in North America.
conducting pain- Denise Taylor is a professional wildlife staking research conservationist with a primary interest and lobbying for in education. She is currently a director political change of the UK Wolf Conservation Trust all take time (www.ukwolf.org), and founder and director of Education 4 Conservation
r and un wavering o
l (www.education4conservation.org) y
a dedication and T
which aims to connect people and e s i commitment. I n nature through art and technology. e D never cease to be amazed by I have visited Bulgaria a number of how much this small group of people times over the past few years, and I has achieved in a relatively short For further information about Balkani have seen this project develop and time, and the new education centre Wildlife Society go to: www.balkani.org/ grow. It hasn’t been easy. A lack of in the Pirin Mountains stands as a index.php?language=en funding, strong opposition to large- proud testament to this. The Centre predator conservation, and the sheer is an imposing and impressive hard work of looking after over 300 building, a symbol of hope for large animals day in day out, as well as carnivore conservation. I
International Wolf Summer 2009 19 Alpha Legacy Profile
Needless to say, dog and I were Close-Up with the Big Gray Ghosts some what rattled. I thought the best thing to do was to finish my pipe, By Barry W. Babcock regain composure, and let the wolf put some distance between itself and us. n 25th of September, I decided to what had her attention when I saw After starting back, I heard some - take my dog out for my first some thing moving through the thick thing off to one side of the trail in Ogrouse hunt of the season. After cover towards us. heavy cover. Keeping my dog close walking about two miles on public land, Much to my surprise, a timber wolf at hand, I got a momentary glimpse we stopped to rest. I unloaded my gun appeared, heading directly at us – this of a wolf lopping off into the dense and lit my pipe while my dog nosed is all within twenty yards. The wolf cover. Continuing on, I again, heard around the area near me. My dog is a stopped and looked at us and then something paralleling us. Then, small, Springer Spaniel named ‘Babs’. started for Babs. I yelled at Babs, and again, I got another quick glimpse of Shortly thereafter, Babs began to growl she quickly moved behind me as another large canine. It wasn’t till and cautiously walk away from me. I the wolf seemed entirely focused on about a mile from where the wolf looked in that direction, curious about my do g—oblivious to me. Everything episode began that it all ended. happened so fast, rendering it difficult Having time to reflect, I concluded Much to my surprise, to remember every detail but my the wolf was a yearling or large juve - primary concern was to protect my nile and that this is what it is to live a timber wolf appeared, dog. The wolf by now was several feet in wolf country, feeling comfortable in front of me and dead set on my dog. that Minnesota is not, at least yet, just heading directly at u s– I grabbed the hat off my head and hit another turkey/deer state, and that we the wolf on its head as it was immedi - all need to start thinking more “like a this is all within ately in front of me, while I yelled mountain” — grateful that there are expletives at it. The wolf backed off still some places wild enough for the twenty yards . and paced back and forth as I moved big gray ghosts. I forward, swinging my cap, but I was unable Barry and his wife were owner/operators to get close enough to of a small motel in Hackensack, MN for make further contact. 12 years. He is now semi-retired, writes, The wolf left, with and does environmental advocacy. none of us harmed. k c o c b a B
y r r a B
Brady Babcock loves to hunt grouse with his Springer Spaniels. Encountering a wolf added to his fall enjoyment. k c
Babs, one of the Spaniels. o c b a B
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20 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org Wolf Seminar Alpha Legacy By Jerry Sanders
ow do you give a wolf seminar that lasts two days, ten hours Profile each day? Not a problem except s H r that the approximately 2,000 people in e d n a attendance would be coming and going S
y r r at their leisure, roughly synchronized e J
: s o with hourly tours. Tours which will take collection. The pelts, t o h them into a huge enclosed area with 400 books, paw prints P live bison. Jessie Turney called from the and sculptures could Above: Children are fasci - Bisonridge Ranch in Montello, all creatively adorn nated by skins, bones, and Wisconsin asking if “I thought the this wonderful stair - other wolf artifacts. seminar was feasible ”. I was intrigued case. Where could but had my doubts. The presenta - we locate the mini- Left: A stairway in an old barn made a perfect place to tions she had heard about us giving theater to show the display wolf artifacts. in the Horicon Wildlife Area and hours of incredible, Kettle Moraine State Park, were given Bob Landis video to “come in, sit down, stay for 90 which has become minute” audiences. What Jessie was the mainstay of our asking for seemed more like having a presentations? booth at a state fair with static I opened a side door leading into so many doing both. The questions displays. Then she mentioned the old the lower area of the barn. Here kept on coming, along with the barn. were the horse stalls with a large snorting and the howling. The huge Bisonridge has an annual open walkway down the center. This could number of questions indicated, to house at which they try to present be our theater. The 8 X 8 foot screen me, a successful event. I the bison in light of its historical would fill the walkway. With the importance to North America. Jessie digital projector in the doorway we Jerry taught high school mathematics felt that given the intertwined rela - could show Bob’s film of Yellowstone in Flossmoor, IL for 30 years. Now tionship between the two species, wolves and a bit of our own footage retired, Jerry serves on the board of from Aylmer Lake, Northwest the International Wolf Center and bison and wolf, it made sense to enjoys annual wolf-observing trips emphasize both. But how could we Territories. to Yellowstone National Park and portray the one in a live amphitheater On the day of the event you could the Northwest Territories of Canada. and the other in a static booth atmos - hear the snorting of bison and the phere with skulls and various arti - howl of wolves simultaneously. facts? The answer: the barn. We had added a large map showing When I saw the barn it was the locations of Wisconsin’s wolf Did you know... perfect, one of the most beautiful, packs. A real eye-opening experience big barns I had ever seen. It was for our visitors was that some packs one easy way for you to help us conserve T-shaped. The foundation was con- were within 30 miles of Bisonridge natural resources is to make structed of native, field, granite hard - Ranch. We had a real Landis film sure we have your email address! heads. As I walked in the large door festival, ten straight hours. A great Simply email your address to: where they once backed in the wagon deal of this film has never been on [email protected] loads of hay I spotted the broad, oak television. People who were waiting staircase going up into the cavernous for the excursion into the bison hay mow. What a great set of display enclosure spent time with us or came shelves for our carnivore skull in afterwards. It was pleasing to see
International Wolf Summer 2009 21 Worldwide Wolves Essay Contest Winner
Following is the winning essay of the conservationists fear: viewing wolves Call of the World as domestic dogs. As if to confirm International Wolf Center’s this, the fluffy creature in front of me Worldwide Wolves Essay Contest By Dai Zhang suddenly nibbled the tours guide’s in the 15-18 years old category. hand rather aggressively. Several he chilly morning air was tinged minutes later, another ignored him Contestants had to observe International with anticipation as we waited as he persistently beckoned to it. It expectantly in an open clearing, is precisely this unpredictability Wolf Center wolves in person or by T huddling together for warmth, much and sense of self-determination that webcam and describe how their like the members of wolf pack. A differentiates wolves from dogs. As shiver went down our spines as the filmmaker Jim Dutcher has said, dogs behavior differed from that of dogs. Red Wolf Sanctuary tour guide beck - are the little children that, for the Secondly, they had to identify two oned to the wolves with the call of large part, are content with following major challenges to wolf recovery and the wild. Finally, they approached— orders while wolves are the teenagers, not in the foreboding manner depicted prone to unpredictable rebelliousness suggest solutions. in children’s stories—but with the and self-decision. This desire to make shyness infants often display in front their own decisions—complemented And the winner is . . . of strangers. by a larger build, longer endurance, Dai Zhang The wolves’ initial reserve and and more acute senses than even the subsequent tongue embraces gave most outdoor-oriented malamutes— from Wyoming High School, me the impression of acquainting has enabled the wolves to survive as Wyoming, Ohio a friendly dog, but I immediately predators and will continue to ensure chided myself for making the mistake their survival into the future. Just as y r e m o g t n o M
y c a t S Teacher Stacy Montgomery’s winning class from Wyoming High School – Wyoming, Ohio. Worldwide Wolves Essay Contest winner, Dai Zhang is pictured at far left.
22 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org a wolf, by initial instinct, will not Wolf recovery has met several wolves are usually afraid of humans want to be domesticated, conserva - obstacles throughout the decades. and help preserve vegetation essen - tionists are careful to never tempt the One problem is the concern ranchers tial in carrying on ecosystems. Edu- wolves into relying on humans even have of nearby wolves killing their cating the public, as the International as they encourage bonding between livestock. To pacify the ranchers, Wolf Center has done, using moderate the two species. Wyoming passed Wyoming House objectives and reliable information Even though domesticated dogs, Bill 213, requiring compensation will help clear up any misperceptions especially sled dogs, show signs of for ranchers at seven times the value and allow wolf recovery credibility in bonding, teamwork is less essential of livestock losses. A better solution the eyes of the public. for dogs under human supervision for the nation as a whole, however, Hence, successful wolf recovery than for members of a wolf pack. is more involvement at the state level relies on, as Native Americans put it, While domination fights between to find wolf relocation sites in balance and harmony. To benefit dogs are brief skirmishes for food and mountainous areas with large prey human kind and the biosphere, we power, domination displays between populations far from rural ranches must establish close bonds between wolves create a hierarchy that serves and urbanized regions. Less inter- wolves and humans, up close through to delineate the respective roles of ference from wolves on nearby wolf care and far away through each wolf. The Alpha wolf leads the human life will reduce lethal control reducing public misperceptions; hunting procedures, while the beta or killing of problematic wolves. however, we must still enable wolves wolf looks after younger wolves and A less political challenge to wolf to fend for themselves and respect mediates fights within the pack. recovery is misperception about the humans’ property and safety. I While female dogs and owners are animal itself. Throughout literature, chiefly responsible for raising puppies, wolves have been portrayed as vile males are equally responsible within creatures that target humans and a wolf pack. innocent animals, while, in reality,
International Wolf Summer 2009 23 Alpha Legacy Profile
Did you know...
one easy way for you to help us conserve natural resources is to make sure we have your email address! Simply email your address to: Nez Perce Speak With Authority [email protected] On Wolves (Opinion)
Reprinted with permission from the Lewiston Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho), written by editorial page editor Jim Fisher
s the Obama administration Wildlife Service’s decision to remove In the midst of such hardheaded - considers removing from Endangered Species Act protections” ness, Penney has told Salazar, “It is A endangered species protec - from the region’s wolves, you can bet with great pride the wolf managers tion the Northern Rockies’ gray Salazar will pay attention. in Idaho write to affirm that wolf wolves, it has heard appeals to do The tribe’s support for delisting populations within the tribe’s treaty that from an Idaho governor who will go a long way toward dispelling territory and Idaho exceed the wants to be among the first to shoot questions raised by less reliable targets established by the federal one, members of a Legislature that proponents of state control. government” and that it is “time for refused to let state game managers Among those proponents are wolf management to return to local have anything to do with their rein - people who opposed wolf reintro- governments.” troduction, other hysterics who say duction, including some members of Idahoans who want wolves the only good wolf is a dead one, the state’s congressional delegation, managed rather than demonized will and even a few reasonable people. and political leaders who have pro- welcome that statement, and point Then there is the Nez Perce Tribe, vided reason to doubt their sincerity with great pride of their own to the which has earned the ear of anyone in wanting to keep wolves around, tribe’s continuing role in this great who wants to see wolf populations in like Gov. Butch Otter and even state enterprise. I Idaho and neighboring states thrive Sen. Gary Schroeder of Moscow. and live in balance with other species Schroeder sponsored mock legislation in the region’s magnificent back - requiring the Idaho Fish and Game country. The tribe has not only proved Department to waste its time inquiring http://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/ it knows the particulars of wolves now if other states want some of Idaho’s story/668082.html in Idaho, but it has demonstrated wolves. He explained the bill’s purpose its respect for wolves’ historic place in is to force “the answer why we need the ecosystem. to kill some.” And that place is not extinction. For those reasons, when Chairman Samuel Penney of the tribe wrote Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that the tribe “fully supports the U.S. Fish and
The tribe has not only proved it knows the particulars of wolves now in Idaho, but it has demonstrated its respect for wolves’ historic place k c o c b a
in the ecosystem. B
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24 Summer 2009 www.wolf.org