![]() “It’s a pretty gut-wrenching feeling that you have to live with,” Stowers says. gang throwing a brick through his family’s living room window. Stowers felt like the wolves had the same impact as a L.A. The wolves killed 2 steers and 2 heifers on his private winter calving ground, high above the Salmon River. To Whitebird rancher Ray Stowers, who lost 4 calves to wolves last winter, it’s quite a shock. Whitebird Rancher Ray Stowers says the shock of wolves killing your livestock is similar to a LA gang throwing a brick through his living room window. Few people, if anyone, can hear the screams of livestock or farm animals getting killed by wolves. They are nocturnal, killing prey in the middle of the night. Wolves are a pursuit predator, meaning they chase and run down prey. Federal officials predicted that wolves would kill 10 cattle, 57 sheep and up to 1,650 big game animals per year. Smaller numbers of llamas, border collies, horses, goats and other animals have been killed by wolves as well. Since 1995, wolves have killed more than 982 cattle, 3,150 sheep, and 53 guard dogs, causing $1.6 million in damages and impacting 435 ranchers statewide. Nowadays, wolves are mainly living in Ag-Wildland interface areas in Idaho, where large numbers of elk are living, and they are causing unprecedented damage to livestock, private property and rural economies, officials say. Wolf numbers grew to levels at least 10 times what was promised, they didn’t stay inside the wolf-recovery zone as outlined in the Central Idaho wilderness, and the impacts caused by wolves have been much more severe on livestock and ranching than anticipated. Updated estimates from IDFG in 2020 indicate there’s about 1,500 wolves living in Idaho, not counting packs on the state borders.īut the experiment didn’t go as planned or promised. Each purple circle indicates a wolf pack. “The wolf needs to be scared of something, but right now, they’re not really scared of anything.”Ģ015 wolf pack map shows that wolves are occupying most of Idaho north of I-84. “We’ve gotta have some solutions somewhere,” says Chase Whittaker, a Leadore rancher. Hunting and trapping of wolves has occurred since 2011, but those methods are barely putting a dent in the wolf population. The record number of wolf kills suggests that existing wolf-management could be more aggressive to reduce wolf numbers in problem areas, ranchers and landowners say. Ranchers who live in eight Idaho counties with chronic wolf depredation say that wolves are causing a multitude of impacts that threaten their future. “The fact is, there’s more wolves born each year than have been harvested in any given season,” notes Justin Webb, executive director of the Foundation for Wildlife Management. Wolves have a 30-40 percent reproductive rate. Wolf numbers exploded in Idaho to an estimated minimum of population of 800 to 1,000 wolves, occupying the mountains from Interstate 84 to Canada.īig-game hunters say that wolves have changed elk hunting in Idaho forever in areas where wolves are now full-time residents. Wolves were supposed to be delisted from the Endangered Species Act after 10 breeding pairs recolonized the Central Idaho wilderness, but they weren’t. Wolves were supposed to stay inside the Central Idaho Wilderness, but they didn’t. The story of wolf recovery in Idaho is largely a story about broken promises, unfunded mandates, and challenging wildlife management, officials say. ![]() They also killed farm animals such as horses, goats and llamas. In the last two years, wolves set new records for killing cattle and sheep in Idaho. ![]() Nearly 25 years after Rocky Mountain gray wolves were reintroduced to Central Idaho, wolves have had a negative impact on ranching and rural communities that likely will never go away and could get worse, officials say. ![]()
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