Milt’s Corner – Ibis And Egret

Sounds like a law firm doesn’t it? But here a couple of ibis jockey to hold their position as a larger egret seems intent on dismounting the perch.

Milt Inman Photo

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Ed Bangs, USFWS: “They’re No Big Deal” re: Wolves

Last week Ed Bangs, head wolf recovery guru for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said that the decline in moose populations in the Yellowstone National Park area was due to climate change and that his reintroduction of wolves has nothing to do with it. He also was quoted as saying that the presence of wolves worldwide, was “no big deal”. In the context in which that statement was made, let me post it here as it appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune as of January 21, 2010.

“People who don’t like them [wolves] give them supernatural powers. It’s that way all over the world,” Bangs says. “In reality, they’re no big deal.”

That’s really the ultimate in ignorant statements, especially coming from a professional working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It also appears I’m not alone in that assessment.

Tony Mayer, owner/administrator for Save Our Elk, is challenging Bangs on his statement that wolves are “no big deal”. He is asking if Bangs intends to stand by that statement and gives us all a list of reasons the presence of wolves may be a bigger deal than Bangs or others are willing to admit.

Consider the impact to an ecosystem that was previously untouched by wolves (prior to 1994). Consider that this same Rocky Mountain Wilderness area now has a top-tier predator thrust into its midst. The predator has experienced phenomenal growth and currently exceeds 2,000 to 3,000 wolves depending whose numbers you believe. This predator is a borne killer and hunts 365 days per year. It is responsible for killing 6,000 and 12,000 elk monthly. Do you still want to stand by your statement “In reality, they’re no big deal?”

Consider that Elk/Calf recruitment has plummeted to record lows in many areas where these wolves roam and is now below replenishment levels. Do you still want to stand by your statement “In reality, they’re no big deal?”

Consider that wolves are primarily responsible for rapid spread of parasites and diseases within their range. These parasites Neospora Caninum and Echinococcus granulose were largely undetected prior to the introduction of wolves and now are infecting other wildlife and livestock at alarming rates. The impact of these 2,000 to 3,000 wolves exponentially spreading disease within our borders is catastrophic, and will forever impact our game, domestic livestock and potentially to humans. Do you still want to stand by your statement “In reality, they’re no big deal??”

Consider the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been wasted and that wolves are continuing to cost our government and the citizens of our states. Do you still want to stand by your statement “In reality, they’re no big deal?”

And being as Mr. Bangs declared that wolves worldwide were no big deal, I can add to this list more than time would allow, the negative impact wolves have had on people’s lives. Mayer points out what is taking place in and around the Yellowstone area. Most of us are uninformed about the long and sordid history of wolves worldwide and the death and destruction to humans and their property caused by wolves. In America we scoff and claim such stories to be myths, as does Bangs in his own ignorance, much due to the indoctrination we have all had beat into our brains since birth. He was only one step away from referencing Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.

No, the sky is not falling or the world coming to an end. Real wildlife conservationists are interested in first protecting the health and safety of humans and then their property. Where wildlife populations once were sparse and in need of help, hunters’ money from license fees etc. brought back to the Yellowstone and many other areas of this country, bountiful and healthy species of game and wildlife. It is irresponsible to sit by and allow ignorance, driven by special interest groups, to destroy this investment.

Ed Bangs works for all taxpayers. If he honestly believes that an overblown population of a ravaging predator, known to carry diseases, is “no big deal”, then it is time that USFWS found a replacement for him.

Tom Remington

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Idaho Groups Sponsor Free Dinner To Educate Public About Diseases Carried By Wolves

FREE DINNER
February 10, 2010
6:00 PM
Washington County Fairgrounds
Cambridge, Idaho

URGENT: Two-Thirds of Idaho Wolf Carcasses Examined Have Thousands of Hydatid Disease Tapeworms. Despite warnings from experts, FWS and IDFG ignored diseases, parasites spread by wolves. These disease can spread to humans! — Wolves are infecting livestock pastures and moose habitat with Neospora Caninum, the parasite that causes abortions in cattle and moose and other members of the deer family (The Outdoorsman Dec 2009).

PLEASE FORWARD TO ANYONE WHO NEEDS TO HEAR THIS INFORMATION. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!

Guest Speakers:

Ron Gillett – Chairman of the Anti-Wolf Coalition

Wayne Krasselt – Cattle Rancher (will be speaking on the likely Neospora Caninum outbreak in cattle spread from wolves that causes spontaneous abortion in cattle) He will be speaking from his own experience. Wayne lost 100% of his cattle production from suspected infected range pasture in 2009. Wayne is awaiting test results to confirm.

Dr. Rex Rammell – Veterinarian and 2010 Idaho Republican Gubernatorial candidate (The only candidate with the knowledge, will and determination to eradicate this problem in Idaho). Rex will also speaking on other hotbed issues such as NAIS/Premise Identification, states’ rights, nullification of unconstitutional federal mandates, his “Billion Dollar Pledge” to Idaho, and the fight to return control of Idaho’s public lands back to Idaho.

Read more about diseases carried by wolves:
http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/2010/01/06/two-thirds-of-idaho-wolf-carcasses-examined-have-thousands-of-hydatid-disease-tapeworms/

NOTICE: Although this dinner is free, space is limited to 400 so you must pre-register by phone or email. If you register early enough we will mail your tickets to you, otherwise they will be held at the door for you. If you are not pre-registered you will not be admitted unless there are un-issued tickets remaining at the door.

To request tickets by email: rexrammell4governor@gmail.com (Include names, contact info for those attending)

To request tickets by phone: 208-301-2412

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The Best Headline Evah!

James Dilingpole, who writes for the Telegraph in the U.K. among other varied writing projects, has what could be the best headline for a story I’ve seen in a long time. Dilingpole writes often about global warming issues as is the content of his piece today titled:

“‘AGW is real!’ insists Al Gore’s new soul mate Osama Bin Laden”

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Journalistic Integrity – Oh Yes! I’m Full Of It

I’m full of it alright but some of you probably think I’m full of something else besides journalistic integrity, whatever that is.

Maintaining journalistic integrity. What is that? It’s something to try to hide behind I think. There are few journalists by definition anymore. Most in the media business are “political provocateurs” and that’s okay. That’s what people want to hear. But there are some “journalist” who are the biggest defenders of journalistic integrity who have no integrity at all and are quick to find fault in others. I think we call that hypocrisy.

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Jon Stewart On Chris Matthews Forgetting Obama Was Black

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I’m Tellin Ya! I Don’t Get No Respect

The below ditty showed up in my in box this afternoon. It really sounded more like a few lines from a Rodney Dangerfield stand up act. Here goes:

The economy is so bad that I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

I ordered a burger at McDonald’s and the kid behind the counter asked, “Can
you afford fries with that?”

CEO’s are now playing miniature golf.

If the bank returns your check marked “Insufficient Funds,” you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.

McDonald’s is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children’s names.

A truckload of Americans were caught sneaking into Mexico.

Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.

Motel Six won’t leave the light on anymore.

The Mafia is laying off judges.

Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.

Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoff scandal. Oh Great!! The guy who made $50 Billion disappear is being investigated by the people who made $1.5 Trillion disappear!

I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Lifeline. I got a call center in Pakistan, and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.

I’m tellin ya! I don’t get no respect.

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Whacked Out PETA Says Replace Groundhog With Robot

They are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo smart!

Tom Remington

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What Comes After A Trillion?

60 democrats vote to raise the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion and 40 republicans voted against it. As quickly as we are eating up those trillions of dollars, I was just wondering what comes after a trillion? Not that it much matters. Nobody in Washington seems to grasp a trillion dollars.

My wife and I, now both 57, worked our buns off to make sure we were debt free going into retirement. We were debt free but now we each take the load of $45,000 in overspending debt by our government on our shoulders. Ah, yes! That American dream.

Tom Remington

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Wyoming Guides And Outfitters Association Mifted About Wolves

WGOA Press Release:

“I’ll never forget the first time I heard a wolf howl. It was September 26, 1998 at 8:26 in the morning. I had just bugled and in response, came what I now know all too well…the howl of a wolf. Since that day, wolves have caused one of our hunting camps to be abandoned and another is only running at twenty-five percent capacity. Our bull elk harvest has gone from over 80 percent to less than 50 percent-even with fewer hunters. My neighbor outfitters are no different. I see them with fewer hunters and fewer weeks of hunting too. One week we have elk in our country then the next week we don’t. It has hit me and my family hard. We have counted on providing back country elk hunts to our guests for the last 25 years but now we are not sure where we’re headed. I do know this-Wyoming will always have wolves and we should be given the chance to manage them. It is time to delist the wolf.” BJ Hill, Jackson Hole outfitter

Wyoming outfitters employ 1,400 people, pay $6 million in local and state taxes, contribute $100 million to our economy and support wildlife management. Before wolf introduction in 1995, some family owned and operated hunting camp businesses were worth an average $500,000. Nowadays, many of these wolf impacted camps are worthless and families forced to look for other work. Those hard working, taxpaying families face financial ruin from uncontrolled wolf populations. It is shameful.

The people of Wyoming own the indigenous wildlife resources but federally transplanted Canadian wolves are decimating our wildlife birthright at an alarming rate-especially elk. Wyoming’s hunting, agriculture and tourist economies are in peril and our lives have been terribly disrupted by wolves. Hunters and ranchers have been unfairly punished by wolves and they have borne a disproportionate burden of the wolf experiment. Hunters have quit hunting traditional elk areas in northwest Wyoming because of wolf predation and they are moving to other areas around the state causing a domino effect. This increases hunter density and diminishes the quality of hunting in these areas. The time to stop the destruction caused by wolves is long past and the federal government must return control of state resources to Wyoming where it rightfully belongs.

Every month, wolves kill 700 Wyoming elk-not to mention numerous cattle, sheep, mules, horses and dogs! Ironically, the federal government won’t allow us to control those wolves. If we don’t have the right to protect ourselves and our property from wolves, then we have no rights. A government that outlaws the inherent right of self defense and the right to protect our property is a government that has over stepped its authority. The people of Wyoming must be granted permanent control of the wolf.

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Montana 2009 Wolf Hunting Season

I have uploaded and made available for your reading a copy of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Park’s, Montana 2009 Wolf Hunting Season (in pdf).

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Milt’s Corner – Nesting Great Blue Heron

Thirty-five to forty feet above the ground, high atop a southern pine tree, this great blue heron primps her nest.

Milt Inman Photo

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Sportsman’s Alliance Of Maine’s Public Statement About Procurement Of Sportsman’s Email Addresses

Below is a copy of a statement made available to the public by George Smith, Executive Director for the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine. This article is in response to the concerns of sportsmen whose email addresses were obtained by SAM through Maine’s Freedom of Access Act law. Following this letter, please find my response.

~~~~~

Email Address Purchase Explanation

By George Smith

January 28, 2010

I am disappointed, discouraged, and yes, a bit angry at the way the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has handled SAM’s purchase of the department’s list of email addresses. Here’s the whole unvarnished story.

Maine’s Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) was enacted to bring transparency to our government. I believe secrets have no place in state government and everything state employees know, we should know.

Nearly all information gathered by or created by state agencies is available to the public, from research reports to draft policies to databases. The State of Maine FOAA website (www.maine.gov/foaa/) explains this law and the process required to request information. FOAA requests are received regularly at DIF&W and other agencies and are routinely processed.

SAM was a charter member of Maine’s Freedom of Information Coalition, and I served on the Coalition’s board of directors for several years. SAM remains an active member of the Coalition.

The Coalition has been working, inside and outside the legislature, on FOAA issues including questions about what if any information deserves protection in this new technological age. I do not believe email addresses will ever be protected, any more than mailing addresses have been, but we’ll see.

Every state agency is required to abide by the FOAA. DIF&W has provided information on its licensees for decades to all who asked, including political parties and candidates, businesses, and nonprofits. Included in the information DIF&W provides are your name, address, and licenses purchased.
When you get those “Dear Sportsmen” letters from political candidates, where do you think they got your name and address? DIF&W, of course.

The department is allowed to charge a fee equal to the cost of providing the requested information. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. In my experience, if they are happy to provide the information and it suits their purposes, there is no charge. If they are unhappy about your request, you will pay. SAM paid $1500 for the list of email addresses.

It is important to remember that the law already protects information we all consider private such as our Social Security and credit card numbers. Please understand that such protected private information was NEVER the subject of SAM’s FOAA request for email addresses.

No lawsuit or other legal action was taken to procure the list. The Attorney General’s staff merely advised DIF&W that the list was subject to FOAA. Your email address possessed by DIF&W has always been available to the public. SAM’s purchase changed nothing in that regard and set no new precedent.

The Process

For many years I have been purchasing DIF&W’s entire list of licensees including names and mailing addresses. The list served as a principle means of prospecting for new SAM members and allowed us to send our messages to the entire constituency of sportsmen. But as the costs of mailings increased, we were forced to reduce those mailings.

As I began to receive DIF&W’s emailed messages myself, it occurred to me that their email addresses would give SAM a new and inexpensive way to communicate with sportsmen. My initial plan was to email our new SAM E-News. We are already using the email addresses of SAM members for this purpose and decided to extend this effort to all sportsmen who could be reached by email.

The first time we email a message to DIF&W’s list, we intend to give recipients the opportunity to opt out of future messages from SAM.

There are many sources of email addresses (and that’s one reason we get so much unsolicited email including SPAM). I chose DIF&W because its list is a perfect constituency of those SAM wants to reach.

A private company, InforMe, is the state’s database vendor. DIF&W’s email list is managed by InforMe and the department’s emailed messages are sent by another private company, Constant Contact. So I asked InforMe to sell DIF&W’s list of email addresses to SAM. My first request was sent in March of 2009.

InforMe refused my request. So I turned to DIF&W for help. After another refusal, I asked the Attorney General’s staff for help.

After receiving the Attorney General’s guidance, DIF&W sold SAM the list of email addresses.

FOAA requests

I have had to utilize the FOAA many times. It always surprises me when a state agency refuses my request for information, because they receive training in FOAA. I have been refused a document that a DIF&W leader was reading from, draft policies, and more. I have taken to submitting most of my requests to DIF&W for information using FOAA, because it simply is quicker than waiting to find out if they are willing to give me the information without a FOAA request.

Here’s a good example of the problems we have encountered. Last fall, after SAM’s Fishing Initiative Committee spent more than a decade encouraging DIF&W to adopt a comprehensive policy for the management of salmonids, John Boland, DIF&W’s Fisheries Director and a person I respect and work closely with, informed me that he had put a new salmonid policy on the Commissioner’s desk.

I emailed Commissioner Dan Martin, asking for a copy of the policy. He refused, saying he would not provide the policy until he had read and approved it. He had no right to withhold that policy and I asked the Attorney General to intervene on my behalf. I received the policy the next day.

Senator David Trahan and I used FOAA recently to obtain information about logging in deeryards that were supposed to be protected. We currently are awaiting information in response to a FOAA by Senator Trahan concerning the saltwater fishing license, information we hope will help us defeat the license proposal.

DIF&W’s emailed message

The message DIF&W emailed to its customers about SAM’s purchase of email addresses was unfortunate and incomplete. By taking their message to the media and 100,000 customers, the department assured that many more requests for the list would be received. They didn’t need to do this.

Never before have they chosen to inform licensees when their names and addresses and other information was sold.

SAM has asked the department to send another message, fully explaining this matter, including an accounting of those who have purchased information about licensees in the past, and making sure you understand that the information you provide when purchasing a license is available to the public. Legislators have also suggested that DIF&W post a similar notice on its website. That would be a good idea for all state agencies.

SAM’s Position

While SAM did nothing wrong in obtaining information that is available to anyone, we regret the discomfort this has caused those we serve. We hope you find our action understandable, and if you happen to receive emailed information from SAM, you will find it useful and important.

~~~~~

My Response:

I would like to say that I have never thought that the emails were obtained illegally. As a matter of fact, in the one article I wrote about SAM procuring the emails, I addressed the issue as one of extremely bad public relations.

We live in an electronic age. With the rapid growth of the Internet, lack of knowledge can set businesses and organizations back in their progress as was the case for SAM. On the same token, knowledge can advance their cause. They now need to mend some fences and get with the times. The days of “stealing” email addresses to send unsolicited information is not only outdated but is extremely bad business. SAM needs to become cutting edge in this regard.

Smith’s article is forthcoming and appears to be accurate from the information I have been privy to. There is somewhat a need to explain SAM’s legal approach in obtaining the emails because I have listened to some sportsmen wrongly accuse both the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and SAM for illegally giving or getting these emails.

Setting the legalities aside, there are two issues Smith talks of that I would like to address. First is his explanation about how SAM has used FOAA requests in the past to get information. The examples Smith gives are good examples of what the FOAA was intended to do. It is about transparency in government, not the legal ability to buy a list of emails for the purpose of sending and/or soliciting information to unwanted recipients, legal or not. It is understandable that from a “legal” perspective, emails and even personal mailing addresses would be included in FOAA because the politicians who made the law want access to that information for their own selfish desires.

The example Smith uses to explain some of SAM’s past uses of FOAA is a far cry from using FOAA to obtain email addresses.

Whether it’s legal or not misses the bus. It’s simply bad public relations and poor business. Is it really worth angering a few dozen people in hopes of getting one to read your propaganda? Which brings us to my second issue. Just because it is legal to go out and obtain emails doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best method of accomplishing a goal. Smith hints that if MDIFW hadn’t sent out an email warning those email holders what had happened, that sportsmen would not have known and no harm, no foul. I think this is a bit of a case of burying your head in the sand.

People don’t like SPAM and they don’t like junk mail that clutters their mailboxes and fills up our landfills. It’s unwanted, it’s rude and a poor business practice. To believe that by forcing information into someone’s email box with an explanation that an opt out function will be included in the first email, is about as good as receiving an unsolicited item in the mail that says if you don’t send it back you’ll have to pay for it.

As I explained before, SAM now has fences to mend and I offered steps I think they should take. They have explained their side of the story but I don’t believe that’s good enough. This is not an apology. It’s an attempt to release SAM from any legal wrongdoing and in the last sentence Smith exclaims, “we regret the discomfort this has caused those we serve”. It seems he is sorry SAM has angered a lot of people but all indications this isn’t going to stop them from their appointed task. He then goes on to ask readers to have an understanding and he hopes they enjoy the information they will be receiving through email.

“You’ve got mail!”

Tom Remington

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Bidding Now On For 2010 Maine Moose Permit Auction

AUGUSTA – Bids are being accepted for the 2010 Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Moose Permit Auction.

Each year, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife auctions 10 moose hunting permits and awards them to the highest bidders. Proceeds from the auction go to the Youth Conservation Education Fund, which awards partial scholarships to send Maine boys and girls, ages 10-14, to one week of conservation camp at the Bryant Pond 4-H Camp and Learning Center on Lake Christopher or Greenland Point Center on Long Lake in Princeton.

More than 400 boys and girls were able to attend conservation camp in 2009 because of these scholarships.

“Ever since the auction began, hunters have been very generous in their bids because, I believe, they know this program helps send Maine kids to conservation camp,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul F. Jacques. “We are appreciative of their participation in this program. While successful bidders get a permit, the real winners are the children.”

The Moose Permit Auction was created by the Legislature in 1995 specifically to fund youth conservation education efforts. Ten of this year’s 3,015 allotted moose permits will be auctioned. Last year, close to $100,000 was raised from the auction, and the 10 winners had a 90 percent success rate.

The 10 highest bidders are able to choose their 2010 season hunt dates.

Bids must be submitted to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife no later than 5 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) on February 17, 2010. A non-refundable bid fee of $25 must accompany each bid. A bid packet is available by calling (207) 287-5207.

Submitted bids will be opened Feb 19, and successful bidders will be contacted. If selected, bidders have 30 days to send in the bid payment and select a moose hunting district, hunting week for the permit and permit type. A subpermittee, if desired, must also be selected at this time. The bid amount covers the resident or non-resident moose permit fee, but does not include the resident or non-resident hunting license fee.

The Bryant Pond 4-H Camp and Learning Center and the Greenland Point Center offer five-day residential camps that are designed to teach the boys and girls of Maine the importance of conservation, a respect for the environment and a working knowledge of outdoor skills. Subjects taught at the camp include wildlife identification, introduction to fishing, boating safety, archery, firearms handling, hunter safety, forest conservation and map and compass work.

The two conservation camps currently are accepting applications for this summer’s camp sessions. Partial scholarships are available and distributed on a first come, first serve basis. For information and applications, visit www.extension.umaine.edu/bryantpond/ or www.greenlandpoint.com

And while you are thinking about bidding on one of these permits, visit the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website and apply for a moose permit to be drawn by lottery in June.

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USFWS Wolf Chief Blames Moose Loss In Yellowstone On Climate Disruption

Is this a first? Climate disruption? Because the theory behind man-made global warming has been proven a fraud, has our liberal press created a new buzz word to explain away the errors, fraud, conspiracy and manipulations of “We the People”? Climate disruption? We’ve gone from global warming to climate change and now it’s climate disruption. Is that a catch-all phrase that we can use for any excuse to place blame and pass off responsibility?

I can certainly understand how an individual, who stakes his entire life and reputation on bringing wolves back into the Yellowstone National Park area and Central Idaho, would react so emotionally when he hears that a legislator in Utah wants to kill all his wolves trying to enter the state of Utah.

Bangs is supposed to be a professional, a salaried employee of the Department of Interior/United States Fish and Wildlife Service, one whose salary is paid by the taxpayers of this country. You would expect a better response from a professional scientist.

“People who don’t like them [wolves] give them supernatural powers. It’s that way all over the world,” Bangs says. “In reality, they’re no big deal.”

The tone of the article leads a reader to think that the presence of wolves is no big deal. He seems to blow off and almost ridicule anyone who doesn’t subscribe to his outdated information on wolves. His reference to people “giv[ing] them supernatural powers” is almost a Farley Mowatt followers response. I wonder if he also believes wolves only eat mice and tiny rodents?

But in reality, did Bangs refer to the loss of moose in the Yellowstone area to “climate disruption” or did the author of the article do it? You decide.

Wolves have contributed to a decline of elk in and around Yellowstone, but moose loss is probably more due to climate disruption. “Moose can’t handle heat at all,” Bangs says. “They just lie around and don’t store body fat.”

Notice the quotations mark don’t come in until after the use of “climate disruption” and the quiet admission by the author (I wonder where that information came from?) that wolves have contributed to elk reduction. It does however seem to fit with the quoted response by Bangs saying moose can’t handle the heat – assuming he is referring to global warming. He is also saying that moose do nothing but lie around in this “climate disruption” and die. And, according to the same article, Bangs said that wolves are only a problem with some livestock.

Bangs’ comments are not sitting well with many wildlife and outdoor sporting organizations. It has been slow coming but state wildlife officials in Idaho and Montana are now coming around to admit that wolves are destroying their elk, deer and moose herds far more than they thought they would. In some places, the effect is serious, posing a real threat to elk, deer and moose herds.

Don Peay of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife in Utah asked Bangs:

I would like some scientist to explain to me how Utah – which has a hotter climate than Wyoming, Idaho and Montana whether there is global warming, climate disruption, etc – is seeing a totally different trend in Moose, than is being experienced in the wolf inhabited areas of WY, MT, and ID.

If Climate disruption is the reason that moose are declining in the Yellowstone region – it is so hot the moose populations just lie around and don’t put on fat reserves – then why are Utah moose populations increasing significantly during this same climate change phenomenon ? it would seem to me that if heat was the problem, then Utah’s moose populations should be even in greater decline than the greater Yellowstone area.

Toby Bridges, a hunter and activist who administers Lobo Watch, had a much more emotional response to Bangs’ comments. I won’t share all of them here but here’s some of what Bridges had to say:

Sportsmen here fully realize that growing wolf numbers have destroyed Yellowstone’s great elk herd, not Global Warming. Likewise, elk herds all along the mountains of western Montana and northern Idaho are being decimated by out of control wolf numbers. And when addressing this issue, the best you can do is is to toss out an “Oh well” attitude in the linked article, trying to use smoke and mirrors and a list of other factors to try covering up the real problem – your parasite carrying kill crazy wolves.

So while many sportsman’s groups in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon and Washington have united together to work in a proactive way to convince the courts to allow the states to manage wolves at a level that will provide a better balance between predator and prey, Bangs is still preaching the “wolves aren’t the problem” mantra. Our tax dollars at work I suppose.

Tom Remington

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