Bogley

[shagster]

Check this story out. Wolf #253 killed the same day it became legal!! What are your thoughts on this? Seems someone knew the opportunity would arise and was just sitting around waiting. I wonder if this person was protecting live stock or anything else, or if he just wanted to shoot the thing!! :ne_nau:

Story is here http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2994073


Beloved ‘Wolf 253' killed in Wyoming
April 2nd, 2008 @ 5:10pm
John Hollenhorst reporting

One of the nation's most famous and beloved wolves has been killed. Someone in Wyoming shot him, along with two other wolves, apparently the very day the Bush Administration lifted legal protections.

He didn't have a name, just a number, but Wolf 253 made himself a legend. His life-long limp, his side trip to Utah, and his strong heart made him a living symbol of the wily and savage predator making a comeback in the West.

His limp made him a standout in Yellowstone. "I guess that people always like the underdog," said Greg Gordon, of the Yellowstone Association Institute, in a February 2003 interview with Eyewitness News.



According to legend, Wolf 253 was injured young, defending his older companions in the Druid Pack in a battle with rival wolves. "He was one of the ones that stood his ground and did the best that he could. Injured a tendon, a muscle, we're not sure. But it's never healed and probably never will heal," said Rick McIntyre, with the National Park Service, also in a February 2003 interview.

He lived on with his limp, delighting thousands over the years as they gathered along a highway in Yellowstone to watch the Druid Pack in action. But then he made a celebrated departure, evidently heading off to find a mate.

Instead, he wound up in a coyote trap near Morgan, Utah. "Of all the wolves in the pack, the only one that's got a limp is the one that goes 200 miles," said Doug Smith, with Yellowstone National Park, in 2003.



He got a ride part way back, courtesy of the U.S. government, and then walked dozens more miles to rejoin his old mates in the Druid Pack. "Within a few hours, everything was back to normal and he was back in the family," McIntyre said.

One day in 2004 we watched the Druids as they moved in on some wary elk. 253's heart seemed stronger than his injured leg. "He seems to be holding his own, keeping up with the rest of the pack," Gordon said.

253 was the beta male, second in command. As the Druids split their forces, 253 led the right flank.

One day the Druid pack went on the attack, disappearing into a morning fog. When it lifted, 253 and three other wolves were dining on a freshly killed elk. "And it seemed like the limp didn't affect him in any way, and that won over the hearts of many of the people who come to Yellowstone," Smith said.

We're not sure who killed Wolf 253. It apparently happened last Friday near Daniel, Wyo. That's about 100 miles from Yellowstone.

That very day, the federal government took wolves off the endangered species list. In most of Wyoming, they can now be shot on sight and it's perfectly legal.

[JP]

Sure, shoot a cripple :ne_nau:

[rooster32]

There have been multiple wolves shot so far. At this point they are unsure exactly how many have been shot, since you have 10 days to report the kill.

It won't last long....there are numerous groups in line waiting for the 60 day(or 30?) period to laps in which they can bring suit against the new regulations.

[stefan]

First Western wolves shot
Well-known Yellowstone wolf among 4 killed
By JASON KAUFFMAN
Idaho Mountain Express


A wild gray wolf trapped six years ago in Utah and returned to Wyoming was among four wolves killed in the Cowboy State within the first three days of the animals’ removal from the federal endangered species list.

Wolf 253, an 8-year-old male whose lengthy wanderings gave it near celebrity status among Northern Rockies wolf supporters, was reportedly killed near a state-managed elk feedground in central Wyoming’s Sublette County.
In an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, Eric Keszlar of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department confirmed the deaths of the well-known wolf and three other wolves.
The shooter reported the legal killing as required under Wyoming’s wolf management plan, Keszlar told the Salt Lake Tribune. He said the shooter’s name and disposition of the carcasses are not considered public information.

Born in 2000, the wolf was one of only two confirmed to have roamed Utah during the past 75 years. In 2002, it was caught in a trap near Morgan, a small community in the northern Wasatch Mountains, and returned to Yellowstone National Park, where it rejoined the Druid Peak wolf pack.

After 66 gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho in 1995 and 1996, the Druid Peak pack became perhaps the most well known and well publicized of all the wolves released in the Northern Rockies. The pack’s home range in the park’s wide-open Lamar Valley has made it one of the most visible wolf packs in the Northern Rockies and a hit with tourists.
Wolf 253, which had a visibly injured hind leg, was known to many wolf spotters in Yellowstone.

Last Friday was the first day wolves lost their protection under the federal Endangered Species Act in Wyoming, as well as in Idaho, Montana and portions of eastern Oregon and Washington and northern Utah.

Wyoming’s wolf management plan classifies wolves outside of the northwestern part of the state as predators, which allows unlimited, year-round shooting of them. Only in a small portion of the state where a string of federally designated wilderness areas surround Yellowstone National Park does Wyoming classify wolves as a trophy species.


In this area, the state will manage wolves through a set hunting season, which will include hunting quotas.


Idaho and Montana’s wolf management plans classify wolves as a game animal anywhere they roam. With last week’s delisting of wolves, hunters in these states may be able to pursue the wily predators as soon as this fall.
The killing of the wolves in Wyoming happened within the first three days of the animals’ removal from the endangered species list, local and state wildlife officials reported.

Two wolves, a male and a female, were killed last Friday near an elk feedground near Pinedale in Sublette County, Keszler said.

Scott Talbott, the Game and Fish official overseeing Wyoming’s new wolf management program, said one of the wolves was wearing a tracking collar.
Also last Friday, a rancher killed a wolf on his property because he’d been having problems with a wolf harassing his livestock, said Cat Urbigkit, a member of the Sublette County Predator Board, which provides predator control to local ranchers.
Hunters who kill wolves in Wyoming’s predator zone must report the time, location and sex of each kill to the state within 10 days.

“There has been a lot of excitement and interest for hunters in Sublette County,” Urbigkit said. “The predator board has nothing to do with that, but if the hunters are successful in their efforts, then hopefully the predator boards will not be called in on conflicts.”

Wyoming is home to 25 wolf packs living outside Yellowstone National Park, and seven of those live in the predator area. Wildlife officials have said that most of the 30 to 35 wolves living outside the trophy-game zone live in adjoining Sublette County.
Terry Pollard, co-owner of Bald Mountain Outfitters in Pinedale, a rural community southwest of the craggy Wind River Mountains, said he heard reports of many locals going wolf hunting over the weekend, but most didn’t make any kills.
“I think they’re finding just what we figured,” Pollard said. “These wolves are an extremely tough animal to hunt. There was a significant amount of hunters out this weekend, and very few (wolves) were taken.”


Mike Leahy, Rocky Mountain regional director of Defenders of Wildlife, said it’s hard to know how many wolves were killed over the weekend because of the 10-day requirement to report kills within the predator zone.
“In a shoot-on-sight zone, a large number of the wolves could be killed before Wyoming Game and Fish or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service even know about it,” Leahy said. “There could be big impacts to the wolf population that go underreported until it’s too late.”

Defenders of Wildlife is one of several groups that have filed notice of their intent to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service to retain Endangered Species Act protections for the wolves. Leahy said it’s too early to know whether the group will seek an emergency injunction against the delisting decision.

Wildlife officials in Idaho are investigating the shooting of a pair of wolves by a landowner near Ashton, just west of Yellowstone National Park. Officials with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said the wolves were shot Tuesday by an unidentified man, who later reported the killings. The officials said wolves had been seen near the shooter’s residence and his 20 horses that morning.

Ahead of the wolf delisting, the Idaho Legislature updated state law to allow people to kill wolves harassing or attacking their livestock and pets. The law does not require a permit from the Fish and Game under these conditions, but the incident must be reported to the agency within 72 hours.

During 2007, Fish and Game biologists documented 83 resident wolf packs in Idaho. The state’s population was estimated at 732 wolves.

[Gutpiler_Utahn]

Can't wait until I get togo up to Wyoming and harvest some wolves for myself. :2thumbs:

[Rev. Coyote]

Interesting. My post gets deleted. How lame. Apparently it's OK to shoot wolves for cheap blood sport thrills but it's not OK to shoot cows.

As the old girl once said, "Whatever."

[parrothead_madness]

Shooting cattle is a felony. Please do video it.

[Rev. Coyote]

parrothead_madness wrote: Shooting cattle is a felony. Please do video it.

Right-o, Johnny Law, I'll be sure and do that. Sheesh.

Remember: That's TWO cows for ONE wolf. Maybe three cows.

[packfish]

In the last 2 weeks of March b4 the new open season went into effect the Wildlife service took out 8 wolves and pretty much did that for the last 2 or more years on and off. This isn't going to wipe the wolves out by any means. I have no want to kill a wolf. If it does mess with my live stock I will do what is needed though as I would with a Big cat or bear. Nothing more and nothing less. I do think that the "kill the wolf" mentality is gone a little overborad and a lot of it is just to get a response out of those who want the wolf. It just comes down to the fact that we as humans have messed up the environment and we can't turn back time. The wolf just isn't going to be able to freely roam thru out the west . That's just a fact .

[Sombeech]

Hey, whatever makes my Big Mac less expensive, go for it.

[shagster]

Rev. Coyote wrote: Interesting. My post gets deleted. How lame. Apparently it's OK to shoot wolves for cheap blood sport thrills but it's not OK to shoot cows.

As the old girl once said, "Whatever."

It didn't get deleted it just got moved to the bin. A little off track... :nono:

[Rev. Coyote]

shagster wrote: Rev. Coyote wrote: Interesting. My post gets deleted. How lame. Apparently it's OK to shoot wolves for cheap blood sport thrills but it's not OK to shoot cows.

As the old girl once said, "Whatever."

It didn't get deleted it just got moved to the bin. A little off track... :nono:

So I found.