Wyoming Gov. Signs “Firearms Freedom Act” Bill

On Thursday, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal signed the Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act, making Wyoming the fourth state to enact an FFA.

The Governor of South Dakota is expected to sign the SDFFA soon.

The WFFA differs from the original Montana model in that it establishes potential state penalties for anyone arresting a Wyoming person making or selling firearms, ammunition or accessories done in compliance with the WFFA.

The SDFFA varies from the Montana model in that it does not include the grounds for the SDFFA, as all other FFAs do.

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com

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Panel Roundtable: Canadian Gray Wolf Introduction into Yellowstone

*Editor’s Note:* Following is no doubt the most candid discussion you will find anywhere in North America today about predators and their diseases. The discussion surrounds the introduction of the gray wolf to the Greater Yellowstone area and the impact this has had on not only the ecosystem but economically, socially and in the lives of private ranchers and citizens. This discussion not only covers the politics behind the introduction and the ongoing politics but also covers the diseases carried and transmitted by the wolf and the lack of comprehensive research to fully study the environmental, social and economic impacts to this region of the country. This discussion no doubt covers this topic to depths most Americans have never had the opportunity to experience and it is done by some of this continent’s most renowned scientists and researchers. This is a bit lengthy but is very much worth the time it takes to read it thoroughly.

Republished by permission:

Economic and physical dangers to Rural Americans and other unintended consequences

By: Kelly Wood

All American Patriot | March 2010

There are significant economic, health and safety ramifications of the Gray Wolf Introduction Program in Yellowstone Park that have manifested themselves in the Western States along the Rocky Mountain Front. A distinguished panel joins The All American Patriot to discuss these critical issues. The guests assembled for this roundtable are:

Jim Beers, B.S., Wildlife Resources, Utah State University; M.S. Public Admin, University of Northern Colorado. Served as US Navy Officer in the western Pacific, based in Aleutian Island of Adak, Alaska. He retired after 32 years in the US Fish and Wildlife Service in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC as: a Wetlands Biologist, US Game Management Agent, Congressional Fellow, Chief of National Wildlife Refuge Operations, and Wildlife Biologist. Beers travelled extensively in Europe, Africa, and Canada. He has testified multiple times before Congress regarding the theft of $45 to 60 Million dollars by the US Fish and Wildlife Service from State hunting and fishing funds and against Federal authority over invasive species.

Robert T Fanning Jr. Notre Dame, B.A. majoring in biology and sociology, 1973. ; M.B.A 1977; Chairman & Founder, “Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd, Inc”; Retired Sole Shareholder, Director and Officer, M.H. Detrick Co. Major supplier of engineered heat enclosures for steel and other industries since 1914; Fixed Income Specialist, Member Chicago Board of Trade, Member 1981-1994 , Chicago, IL; Registered Representative in 1974 of the New York Stock ExchangeNYSE /Commodity Futures Trading Commission CFTC . Proud father of two highly accomplished adult sons and daughter.

Dr. Valerius Geist, Ph.D. Biology. Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science, University of Calgary. Served as a professor and department head responsible for environment science in the Faculty of Environmental Design where he specialized on wildlife biology and wildlife conservation policy. Publisher of 17 books and over 300 publications, he is a Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science and State Professional Biologist. Geist has retired to a remote section of Vancouver Island where he has chronicled the near elimination of ungulates through intense predation by a growing, and brazen to human activity, wolf population.

Will Graves, B.A. Russian, Syracuse University; Masters Russian, American University. Retired in 1987 after a 35 year career in the Federal Government, beginning with the US Dept of Agriculture working as Chief of Livestock Inspecting, Vaccinating Brigade in Oaxaco, Mexico. whose mission it was to help stamp out Foot and Mouth disease. After volunteering for the US Air Force, Graves, while stationed in Berlin, Graves began comprehensive research on Russian Wolves – their characteristics, habits and behavior. With frequent travel to Russia, this research eventually culminated in his book, “Wolves in Russia”, published in May 2007.

Bill Hoppe: Fifth generation Montanan. Rancher and owner, together with his wife, of North Yellowstone Outfitters of Paradise Valley, MT. His great grandfather was the first recorded Caucasian child born in the Montana territory in1864, at Nevada City. He is a fourth generation outfitter whose Great Grandfather, Grandfather, and Father have outfitted in the state. For nearly 58 years, he has hunted, observed and lived with wildlife in and around Yellowstone and matches his expertise and credibility on the truthful aspects of Wolf activity, with that of any Multi-million dollar Government program funded, employee.

and

Dr. Delane Kritsky: Professor Emeritus, College of Health Professions, Idaho State University. B.S., Biology, Mathematics and Education, 1965, Minot State College, Minot, ND; M.S., Zoology, 1967, Sacramento State College, Sacramento, Ca; Ph.D., Zoology, 1970, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL. Associate Dean and Professor (35 years) within Department of Health and Nutrition. Extensively published in over 150 publications, Dr. Kritsky’s primary expertise is in Parasitology. Past leadership includes Presidency, Rocky Mountain Conference of Parasitologists, Active professional and honorary affiliations with American Society of Parasitologists, Helminthological Society of Washington, and American Association for Zoological Nomenclature.

All American Patriot (AAP): Drs. Geist and Kritsky, Messrs. Fanning, Hoppe, Graves, and Beers, welcome to the AAP roundtable. Gentlemen, we’ve assembled to talk about the re-introduction of the wolf into Yellowstone, but first, there are many who take issue with the term “re-introduction” [Editors note: see the thorough treatment of this issue in the accompanying articles authored by Lynn Sutte .] Why is that?

FANNING: It’s simple. There is no “re-introduction” because the wolf introduced into Yellowstone Park is not native to this geography and had never naturally been here to begin with. The Gray wolf is ironically enough, a human introduced invasive species. You see, the original wolf inhabiting the geography of the Park was a much smaller animal, the Rocky Mountain wolf or Canis lupus irremotus. The Canadian Gray Timber wolf, Canis lupus occidentalis, is also known as the Alaskan Tundra Wolf. It was introduced at significant cost to the U.S. taxpayer and is a super size predator with a rapacious appetite and lust for wanton killing – killing far in excess the number of ungulates (hoofed animals: deer, antelope, elk) claimed by authorities. There are hundreds of cases of man monkeying around with the balance of nature and screwing things up. One of the best examples is the introduction of the Mongoose into the Hawaiian Islands as a means for dealing with a huge and troublesome rat population. Those conscientious biologists however neglected to realize that the rat is a nocturnal animal while the Mongoose preys during the day. Their paths simply never cross, so today Hawaii not only still has its rats, but it has 100s of thousands of Mongooses creating mayhem with rare ground nesting birds and other native species. This is just one example of the law of unintended consequences in dealing with wildlife. The unintended consequence to the Rocky Mountain States of the non native Gray wolf is much, much more serious and not simply the consequence of a couple thousand extra wolves roving the countryside, but rather a much greater problem caused by the level of depredation of native species – Elk and deer, than originally claimed. It’s all about wolf “densities” and who gets to control those densities. Federal and state biologists have failed colossally in their claims every step of the way and the impact is economically huge. Read more

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What Has Happened And Will Happen To Our Ecosystems Thanks To Wolves

In studies conducted in Canada on the effects of wolves on ungulates and the ecosystem in general, we find that wolves are destructive (no surprise here) and this study gives a look into a sort of crystal ball as to what the lower 48 states have to look forward to as environmentalist clamor to promote the expanse and growth of the gray wolf in order to “balance” our ecosystems.

The study is very worth reading and here’s a grocery list of some of what is discovered:

1. Wolves destroy 90% of the elk populations.
2. Elk slaughter by wolves increased in proportion to the severity of the winters.
3. 60% of the elk stopped migrating.
4. Wolves destroyed 56% of moose populations and nearly eliminated calf recruitment
5. Wolves decimated woodland caribou, bringing that species to ultimate extirpation.
6. Wolves stole 57% of prey kills by grizzlies
7. Any attempt to manage ungulate numbers anywhere near pre wolf times is a “fantasy”.
8. Increasing quality habitat for elk had no effect on increasing numbers with wolves present.
9. To begin replenishing ungulate populations, wolf numbers need to be reduced every year by at least 70%. The reduction has to be ongoing………forever.
10. Wolf hunts utilized to control wolf populations are ineffective.

Conclusion: If states choose to replenish wolves, there will be no hunting left. Wolves will destroy the ungulate populations and we’ll have more singing birds flitting about the vegetation normally eaten by ungulate species.

Tom Remington

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Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act Passes Legislature

The Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act, HB 95, which had previously passed the House by a vote of 53-5, passed the Senate today by a vote of 30-0.

The WFFA is now on its way to the Governor’s desk. Because the WFFA passed both houses with veto-proof majorities, it is expected that the Governor will sign HB 95, making Wyoming the 4th state to enact an FFA.

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com

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Elk Foundation Calls Out Motives of Wolf Groups

MISSOULA, Mont. – In letters to legislators and newspapers across the West, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is calling out groups like Defenders of Wildlife, Western Wildlife Conservancy and others for their disingenuous use of data on wolves and elk.

The RMEF action was prompted by each group’s recent op-ed articles in the media, as well as testimony before Utah lawmakers by Western Wildlife Conservancy Executive Director Kirk Robinson. All cited RMEF statistics to argue that restored wolf populations have somehow translated to growing elk herds in the northern Rockies.

“The theory that wolves haven?t had a significant adverse impact on some elk populations is not accurate. We’ve become all too familiar with these groups’ tactic of cherry-picking select pieces of information to support their own agenda, even when it is misleading,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. “We will not allow that claim to go unchallenged.”

RMEF population data, which come from state wildlife agencies, show that elk populations are expanding the most in areas of the northern Rockies where wolves are not present. However, where elk share habitat with wolves, such as the greater Yellowstone area, some elk populations are declining fast. In fact, since the mid-1990s introduction of gray wolves, the northern Yellowstone elk herd has dropped from about 17,000 to 7,100 animals – a 58 percent decline. Other localities in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming also are documenting precipitous downward trends.

Additionally, some research shows that elk remaining in areas of concentrated wolf populations are suffering nutrition loss, lower body weights and decreasing birth rates.

Allen said, “Every wildlife conservation agency, both state and federal, working at ground zero of wolf restoration, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming has abundant data to demonstrate how undermanaged wolf populations can compromise local elk herds and local livestock production. There’s just no dispute, and emotion-over-science is not the way to professionally manage wildlife.”

RMEF continues to support state-regulated wolf management to include hunting and other viable methods. This position is supported by new reports of diseased wolf populations in the Yellowstone area.

“When wolves are too abundant, they’re more susceptible to diseases, just like all wildlife. The viruses and mange now spreading through wolf packs is another sign of way too many wolves,” said Allen. “Defenders of Wildlife would like to spin sick wolves as a reason to end hunting. But real conservationists know that diseased wildlife populations need better management. Hunting as a management tool delivers that, period.”

He added, “Remember, pro-wolf groups make their living by prolonging this conflict. There is no real incentive for them to admit that wolves are overly recovered. Fundraising is their major motive and they’ve built a goldmine by filing lawsuits and preaching that nature will find its own equilibrium between predators and prey if man would just leave it alone. That’s a myth. The truth is that people are the most important part of the equation. This isn’t the Wild West anymore. People live here; actually quite a lot of us. So our land and resources must be managed. Wildlife must be managed. Radical spikes and dips in populations show that we should be doing it better. It’s not profitable for plaintiffs, but the rest of us would be better served if the conflict ended and conservation professionals were allowed to get on with their business of managing wildlife, including a well regulated hunting strategy.”

“In 2009, RMEF got involved in the ongoing wolf litigation, supporting defendant agencies by filing legal briefs used in federal court to help delist wolves and proceed with hunting facts conveniently ignored by groups who misuse our name, data and credibility to prolong the conflict. We stand for elk and other wildlife and what is happening right now is simply not good wildlife management,” said Allen.

See Allen’s letters to editors, Utah Senator Dennis Stowell and more at www.rmef.org.

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Echinococcus Granulosus In Idaho Brought By Wolves And Here To Stay

Delane C. Kritsky, Professor emeritus, Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho writes the following in an email message to those concerned about the detected presence of tapeworms in wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming:

I just saw your message on Echinococcus multilocularis on the Idaho Trappers’s Association website. I worked (conducted research) for seven years on E. multilocularis in North Dakota during the 1970’s and indeed as you state it is a very dangerous parasite to human beings. However, the species of Echinococcus occurring in wolves and ungulates in Idaho is Echinococcus granulosus, a close relative of E. multilocularis. E. granulosus is, in my opinion, more dangerous than the strain of E. multilocularis that occurs in the upper Midwest (North Dakota, Eastern Montana, South Dakota and points southeast). The strain of E. multilocularis in the northcentral states appears to be relatively non-infective to human beings. However, E. granulosus is more dangerous because it highly infective to man and also is a parasite of sheep and domestic dogs which much more easily brings the parasite into homes in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming where human beings can be exposed. Utah had a focus of E. granulosus during the 1970’s and 1980’s during which time people were dying or undergoing dangerous surgery for the parasite cyst. The Utah focus occurred primarily in rural areas where sheep were raised. My friend and colleague, Dr. Ferron Anderson at BYU, was conducting research on E. granulosus in Utah and developed an educational program that primarily included the burying of sheep carcasses and de-worming of dogs and which eventually eliminated the parasite in central Utah. The parasite in Idaho will not be dealt with as easily (and I doubt that it can ever be eliminated as long as wolves are present) because wolves and ungulates (deer and elk) will maintain a sylvatic (wild) cycle, which did not occur in Utah during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Thus, elimination of the parasite from sheep and dogs (as occurred in Utah) will not be successful as it was in Utah because the wild cycle will continuously provide eggs of the parasite for infection of man and his domestic animals in the future. The only way that the parasite will be eliminated from our area is elimination of the wolf. By the way, you should also know that I have examined coyotes (which can carry both species of Echinococcus) and foxes from southeastern Idaho since 1974 and never found either Echinococcus multilocularis nor E. granulosus; Ferron Anderson never found the latter species in Idaho either when he examined canines in Idaho during the 70’s and 80’s (that is, the E. granulosus was never in Idaho until the introduction of the wolf). Finally, I asked the Fish and Wildlife during one of their public meetings concerning introduction of the wolf (prior to wolf introduction) and was “brushed off” by their “promise” that the wolves introduced to Idaho would be “de-wormed” which everyone (and especially they) should have known that such actions are never 100% effective. WE SHOULD BE ASKING WHO (THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, THE WOLF ADVOCATES) WILL BE PAYING THE HEALTH BILLS ANDFUNERAL EXPENSES FOR THOSE WHO WILL ULTIMATELY BECOME INFECTED AS A RESULT OF WOLF INTRODUCTION INTO IDAHO, MONTANA AND WYOMING?

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Pocket Warming Instead Of Global Warming

The use of the term global warming has morphed into a generic excuse for anything under the sun (pun sort of intended). When the term global warming is used, it is assumed to mean the man-made variety. That has since evolved into climate change and other assorted descriptive names like climate disruption.

There are at least two locations here in the U.S. where moose populations are on the decline. Ed Bangs, wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said moose in Yellowstone National Park on the decline due to “climate disruption”, that moose are too sensitive to the warmth. He said that moose will then lie around and wait for wolves to show up and eat them to save them from the climate disruption pain and suffering.

In Minnesota, moose populations are on the decline and once again officials point a finger at global warming. But it can’t be global warming because all around both of these areas the moose are doing quite well. So we either have Pocket Warming or, God forbid, something else in common. I wonder what it could be?

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Eating Wolf Scat And Howling At The Moon

It was Thomas Jefferson who once said, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” How true! Evidently in Jefferson’s wisdom, he understood people of good conscience. It was perhaps a bit of a rallying cry to the people that remaining silent on issues was good recipe for tyranny, spelled out as loss of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

People of good conscience had an agenda foisted upon them when wolves were released into the Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho. Foisted because I believe that the entire notion was fraudulent, keeping valuable information from the people and misrepresenting the ultimate goals of those behind the debacle.

I read some place recently that it is part of the character of good conscience people to politely sit by, having no desire to take up opposition or make public spectacles of themselves through protests and verbal combativeness. And as such, one has only to ask, how far can these people of good conscience be pushed before they begin to push back?

When the grass roots Tea Party movement began, most on the left couldn’t rationally deal with it. It must have come as a big shock to many when the Tea Party activists took to the streets in copius numbers, rallying fellow Americans to their cause. After all, street protests are the fingerprint of the liberal left. Still, the left cannot and will not come to grips with the concept that those good conscience people will push back when pushed too far.

After 8 years of George W. Bush, Americans wanted something different. They swallowed the campaign rhetoric of Senator Barack Hussein Obama and yet refused to listen to the facts of the man’s past. One year later, eyes have begun to open to the realization this isn’t the change they wanted. They are pushing back. We became witnesses to this thrust in New Jersey, Virginia and most recently Massachusetts. The people, good conscience people, revolted against what is being crammed down their throats. Remaining silent appears to no longer be an option.

It is acutely insulting when the good conscience people’s president appears before the nation and essentially tells them they are too stupid to understand what the health care reform bill is about. His excuse was he failed to explain it to you and me.

The good conscience people also see with their own two eyes when there is hypocrisy and double standards. When George W. Bush was president and the opposition party dissented, it was declared one of the grandest exhibitions of American patriotism. With that same opposition party now in control of the White House and both Houses of Congress, dissent is wicked and evil, very much unpatriotic.

The good conscience people may be passive and difficult to motivate but they are not so stupid that they cannot see what is before them. Today, Charles Krauthammer writes about a great peasant revolt, pointing a finger at those on the left for ignoring what the people want, citing the push back by voters in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts.

Today, dissent from the governing orthodoxy is nihilistic malice. “They made a decision,” explained David Axelrod, “they were going to sit it out and hope that we failed, that the country failed” — a perfect expression of liberals’ conviction that their aspirations are necessarily the country’s, that their idea of the public good is the public’s, that their failure is therefore the nation’s……………………….
For liberals, the observation that “the peasants are revolting” is a pun. For conservatives, it is cause for uncharacteristic optimism. No matter how far the ideological pendulum swings in the short term, in the end the bedrock common sense of the American people will prevail.

Good conscience people don’t care if it’s a liberal or conservative issue. When something strikes them beside the head, if it’s large enough to cause a big enough impact, they will push back.

Fifteen years of water under the bridge, the wolf debate in the West is no closer to a resolve. There is however, a pushing back, a peasant revolt, if you will, far from reaching a “great” peasant revolt. It was nearly one year ago that I warned of “wolf wars“. The wars would be the result of the wolf advocates refusing to back down from their unreasonable demands about protecting the gray wolf, cramming down the throats of people the impacts from too many wolves they didn’t want nor thought they were getting.

Much of the political and social atmosphere that exists in wolf reintroduction country can be attributed to the actions of an unrelenting group that cares nothing at all about what the good conscience people of the area want. These wolf advocates have destroyed their support in the battle for public opinion by representing themselves as the authorities that know better what the people need than the people.

Where once they had their way, the good conscience people are pushing back. The quiet and hard working people have had enough. More and more people are seeing before their eyes the results of too many wolves, far more than the good conscience people were promised.

Groups are organizing to fight back. The good conscience people were willing to have a few wolves in their woods but not at the expense they are now realizing. It didn’t have to be this way but this was the decision the wolf advocates chose. It’s the path they now must walk.

We are also now seeing actions being taken by the border states around the wolf reintroduction area. Utah wants a law forbidding wolves anywhere in the state. Why is that? Has that state’s attitude been influenced by what they can see going on in their neighbor states? They are pushing back. Had the wolf lovers backed off and listened to what the people wanted, it might not have come to this. For wolf advocates, this is a serious blow to their efforts and a somber loss of what little respect they had.

With the refusal of the wolf advocate groups and wildlife officials to listen to others, to hear what the people want, the good conscience people, they face a rude awakening. To scoff at the good conscience people telling them the only way to contract diseases from wolves is to eat the wolves feces, is a direct insult of their intelligence. The good conscience people will not tolerate this kind of tyrannical rule. They are pushing back. They will tell them to “eat wolf scat and go howl at the moon”!

Tom Remington

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Are Idaho Wildlife Biologists “Really That Dumb”?

The January 2010 issue of The Outdoorsman is out and full of tons of information about the ongoing debate in the Idaho, Montana, Wyoming areas where it has been found that introduced wolves are infected with tapeworms that can cause cystic hydatid disease. These worms can result in troubles with wild ungulate populations, they can be carried by domestic dogs, sheep, foxes, etc. and eventually end up causing health risk problems for humans, possibly resulting in death.

In this latest issue, editor George Dovel wrote an article titled, “IDFG “White Paper” Response to Concerns About Wolves Introducing New Strain of Hydatid Disease”. This addresses the fact that Idaho Fish and Game officials ignored warnings from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as evidence on the ground, and played down any possible serious health risks from this disease.

Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Chip Corsi emailed employees that he directly supervises and said:

“Some of you may have seen the latest from George Dovel’s “The Outdoorsman”. Based on Mark’s (IDFG veterinarian Mark Drew) assessments (attached), human health risk is quite low, provided you avoid consuming things like canid feces and uncooked organs; and I think suggests Dovel’s interpretation is more than a bit sensationalized. If you are handling wolves or coyotes, wear gloves. Risk to humans does not appear to be any greater than with other parasites found in wildlife that we, and hunters/trappers, routinely handle.”

It is highly laughable that a paid professional would in his attempt to scoff at Dovel’s concern for human health and safety, state that Dovel was being “more than a bit sensationalized”. This comes right after telling his employees, in his own being “more than a bit sensationalized”, that the only way you can be at risk of contracting hydatid disease is to eat “canid feces”.

This is of course absurd and should be exposed for what it is. For more on the disease, the risks and what you can do to reduce chances of infection, follow these links, here, here, here. I also plan to cover this issue more at a later date. Stay tuned.

Back to George Dovel’s column. He states that he has received numerous emails from veterinarians about Corsi’s comments about eating wolf scat and they want to know if Idaho Fish and Game biologists are that dumb? That’s a good question. Are they?

Maybe Dovel answers that question in a separate article in the same January issue. As is Dovel’s signature of writing, he goes to lengths to present readers with the facts about hydatid disease, covering some of its history, actual cases, how they were treated and on and on, supplying also links to where readers can get more facts and information.

His frustration begins to show as he points out the wildlife officials efforts to, not only downplay the potential risks to humans but efforts to cover up the facts. Does any of this make any sense? Are wildlife officials really that dumb?

Interestingly, Dovel includes a brief “editor’s note” at the conclusion of his article.

(NOTE: A comparison of these statements from medical doctors whose agenda is to protect private citizens from disease, with the statements from wildlife officials whose agenda is to protect wolves and their parasites from private citizens, is revealing. – ED)

As I said, I think Dovel answered the query of the veterinarians in making that statement. One would assume (arguable) that dumbness would not permit a wildlife biologist to land a job or perhaps even get a degree. From that perspective then it must be mostly about agendas, the agenda to protect the wolves at all cost.

But let’s not point a finger at just Chip Corsi and IDFG veterinarian Mark Drew. Even Ed Bangs, head wolf recovery person for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made every effort to protect his valuable wolves, seemingly at the expense of public safety. He’s gone so far as to scoff at and demonize those who are attempting to educate the public about the presence of disease, that happens to be carried by introduced wolves.

I personally find it revealing the actions taken by the collective “wolf advocates”; very defensive while downplaying the risks and demonizing those like George Dovel. I have covered this story since it first came to light about two-thirds of the wolves found to be laced with worms in Idaho and Montana. I’ve communicated with George Dovel, Dr. Valerius Geist, Dr. Charles Kay, Will Graves, as well as others, and done a lot of reading and research. Not one of these people or the heads of several sportsman’s groups have, from what I have seen, used this opportunity to exploit wolves and demand they be killed to solve the problem.

To copy Dovel’s comment, let me say that a comparison of statements and actions by wildlife officials and those of scientists and outdoor sportsmen groups, is very revealing.

Dr. Valerius Geist said it this way.

The pro and contra machinations pertaining to wolves are of little concern here. What is important is that people living or recreating in areas with hydatid disease take precautions, while steps have to be undertaken to eradicate the disease.

Would you rather listen to Dr. Geist’s advice or that of a Idaho Fish and Game supervisor saying there is no danger unless you eat wolf &^@#?

Yes, it is quite revealing!

Tom Remington

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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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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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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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Hydatid Disease Isn’t About Fear But About Health And Education

I suppose much of the reactions from people about the announcement that wolves in the Idaho, Montana and into Canada regions are infested with worms that can spread hydatid disease, is fueled by the existing and ongoing emotional battle over how best to manage the canines in this region.

Anyone, including myself, who supports a more aggressive approach to limiting (I didn’t say elimination) wolf populations, who attempts to bring to light this public health issue, gets chastised for instilling fear in people because I hate wolves.

We’ve been down this road before and those who read my blog know that isn’t true. So let’s make an effort to dispense with the false accusations and more importantly, let’s not brush off this information as non factual and/or something we don’t need to concern ourselves with.

Dr. Valerius Geist began signaling a small alarm bell when he began reading about what he called, “cavalier attitude[s] towards the disease”. In an email sent to a handful of concerned outdoor sportsmen, Geist says:

The people and contra machinations pertaining to wolves are of little concern here. What is important is that people living or recreating in areas with hydatid disease take precautions, while steps have to be undertaken to eradicate the disease.

Geist’s concern about “cavalier attitudes” came because game officials and news agencies in infected areas was seriously playing it down. It is important to note that Dr. Geist makes the point that the precautions we should take are especially true in known infected areas.

Because the tiny eggs, liberated by the millions in carnivore feces, are dispersed even by tiny air currents, it is important for reasons of personal health not to poke or kick such feces. It will usually be dry. It will then liberate clouds of tape worm eggs and this cloud of eggs will settle on your clothing, your exposed skin, in your sinuses and wind pipe, on your lips and if you inhale through the mouth in your oral cavity. If you lick your lips, the eggs will get into your oral cavity. When sinuses and windpipe clear themselves of inhaled particles with your sputum the eggs will get into your mouth and be swallowed with sputum. If you touch the feces or even poke it chances are the cloud of tiny eggs will also settle on your hands, and may contaminate the food you handle or eat.

People with dogs are at risk because their dogs may feed unbeknown to them on carcasses or gut piles of big game infected with that disease, infecting themselves with dog tape worm. These dogs will defecate in kennels and yards, spreading these tiny eggs. They will also lick their anus and fur spreading the eggs into their fur. The eggs will cling to boots and be carried indoor, where they float about till they settle down as dust. Now everybody is at risk of infection, especially toddlers crawling around on the floor. Putty cats can also be involved.

Dr. Geist consulted with a game biologist colleague in Finland who is studying hydatid disease as there have been outbreaks there due to the increased population of wolves. Kaarlo Nygrén, Game and Fisheries Research Institute, expresses that Dr. Geist is accurate in his observations and says he is not exaggerating in his concerns about the disease. Nygren shares his homeland’s concern about the disease.

I am afraid it will not only affect our staple food and essential part of our heritage, moose, but also us directly. Hunters, dog owners, forest workers, berry and mushroom pickers will indeed be in danger. I agree in all you told in your paper; none of it is exaggeration.

Nygren recalls the last outbreak of the disease occurred in the 60s and 70s in Northern Lapland. The wolf population had grown and brought with it the worms. The reindeer were being destroyed from the disease. All means were used to drastically reduce the population of wolves; from aerial gunning with machine guns to public service announcement teaching people the best ways to kill wolves and deal with the disease.

The latest outbreak is now affecting Finland’s moose.

The moose was almost hairless (for a reason we were unable to confirm) but it had hydatid cysts in many organs, particularly lungs. I sampled the contents by injection needle and in a droplet placed on an objective glass, thousands of things like miniature human skulls with sharp teeth (my first impression!)were seen. This was the first case of E.granulosus for me. I have seen thousands of Taenia cysts in our moose after opening thousands of carcasses but this was something else.

Evidently the worms have been spread by wolves into Sweden.

Keeping wolf populations in check is only part of the equation. The disease has to be eradicated and Dr. Geist suggests the possibility of burning big game winter ranges to kill the eggs and/or beginning a program of establishing medicated bait piles to target certain packs known to be infected.

This isn’t fear mongering or trying to use scare tactics to support anyone’s agenda. This is knowledge everyone who goes into the outdoors or has pets, needs to know. It is extremely important to be aware of this if you know you are living in or being exposed to infected areas. If you don’t know, contact your state’s fish and game department. If they are not testing wolves and/or coyotes in your area, insist that they begin doing so and spread the word to your friends.

Again, this isn’t about killing wolves and coyotes, it’s about keeping you, your children, your pets, your livestock and wildlife healthy. Who can argue with that?

Tom Remington

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Are Wolf Wars Starting?

The topic of wolves becomes very passionate. I have spoken many times that advocates of wolves continue their lawsuits with demands seeking far more than original goals of the wolf reintroductions in Yellowstone and Central Idaho. It seems never a matter of concessions, only a matter of we want more and we want it now.

While the public’s awareness of wolves seems more front and center in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, all too often we forget about the struggles people are having with wolves in the Great Lakes wolf population. Even though there are many things that are different with wolves in the West versus wolves in the Great Lakes, there are also many things that are the same – that when wolves destroy private property, people get emotional. When it appears there is little that a landowner, rancher, livestock owner, hunter, citizen, can do to protect themselves and their property, anger builds. This happens no matter where you live.

I have written many times, like back last March, that unless the environmentalists/animal rights/anti hunting groups didn’t back off with the demands and lawsuits, they would become part of the reason to drive people to take matters into their own hands. Have we reached that point? I hope not.

But we have to seriously ask ourselves if it has begun. The federal government is now investigating the deaths of sixteen wolves in three states in the Great Lakes area – Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. There have also been reports of illegal wolf kills in the Idaho, Montana area.

There are myriad reasons that some might be driven to take matters into their own hands and while many of us can sympathize, I cannot condone breaking the law to achieve one’s goals. It should however serve notice to all citizens that people should have a right to protect themselves and their property regardless of the desire to protect a species.

Let’s hope that these incidents are isolated and do not lead to further acts of poaching. It will accomplish nothing in the long run.

Tom Remington

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Confirmed: Montana Elk Herd Destroyed By Wolves

*Editor’s note* – I was forwarded this email from Don Peay, Founder, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife. It is a plea to hunters to get involved, step up to the plate and help support the effort to save hunting as the big money from environmentalists, anti-hunting and animal rights groups threaten that heritage.

Fellow Sportsmen, this is a SOS call for the WEST.

SFW (Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife) has invested over $500,000 over the past several years to get wolves delisted – done twice – and to keep the(m) delisted in the court room. We cannot win this fight alone, the entire hunting community needs to wake up and take this issue seriously.

I have written this email to be a little raw to stir some people to action. I am not the best at saying it all just right, but we have been in the fight, took some punches and delivered more than we take.

This issue, is SERIOUS, SERIOUS for the future of hunting elk, moose, mule deer and wild sheep in the WEST. In places, the game is lost for a generation – see below:

~~~~~~

In the Billing Gazette the other day, there was an article calling for a meeting to discuss the future of elk hunting in the Gallatin Valley.

Montana Game and Fish (FWP) confirmed what many of us have said for ten years: after many years of low calf production, elk herds won’t slowly decline, the will precipitously collapse.

This herd was counted at 1,500 elk in 2005 and all cow hunts were stopped. The herd has decline 85% and is now at 200 – not a typo – two hundred. I predict there will be less than 100 elk in that herd next year – and to even CONSIDER a HUNT of up to 450 bull elk tags, what in the – you get the point – can they be thinking ?

Wolves are the main culprit – recognized by Montana FWP in this article – Pro Wolf game and fish folks, WAKE UP, HERE’s your sign, address this problem or you are OUT OF A JOB !

This is just one of many elk herds biting the dust, with Moose, deer and sheep herds soon to be going down the drain with them.

In the same paper, there was an article where the Montana FWP ordered a pack of wolves to be killed because they had killed a couple livestock and 3 guard dogs.

Wipe out a 1,500 herd of elk, do nothing? close the Montana wolf quota season when it reached 50, not 75 as planned? but act when 3 dogs are killed? what are people in Montana thinking, and why are sportsmen sitting idly by and watching it happen???

I know what the sportsmen of Utah would do, worst case, we would go to the PETA pound and save 1,000 dogs about to be killed by PETA and HSUS and stake them out in wolf areas – well fed and cared for of course – but when the wolves killed these dogs, get the wolves killed. Or we would go and buy a bunch of ba ba sheep, stake them out in five acre pens and when wolves killed them, get the wolves killed.

Or, I really think the sportsmen of Utah would let the Governor of Utah (know) if he still wanted to be governor, he better take action to protect game herds.

As this might fly around the country, that is just not idle talk. The Sportsmen of Utah stood thousands strong on the steps of the Utah Capital years ago, and thankfully, Governor Leavitt and then Huntsman took an interest in Sportsmen issues, as have Governor Herbert. Since that rally, sportsmen of Utah have continued to organize and invest hundreds of millions of dollars to increase herds, fix habitats, and control predators. We dramatically reduced lion populations, we have a state sponsored coyote control program, we got our spring bear hunt back.

The various Utah sportsmen groups, SFW, MDF, SCI, NWTF, FNAWS, Trappers, etc. have worked together to tackle tough issues, together. We changed our state constitution when experts said it couldn’t be done. We took on the anti-hunting groups and pounded them into oblivion.

The Utah legislature is going to take another bold step to protect our game herds soon is my prediction.

Come on Montana sportsmen, save yourself, because as soon as all the elk are gone the wolves will be down here.

SFW has worked hard to get wolves delisted, has been in the court room from day one to KEEP wolves delisted. The least you can do is show a little fire and take care of your state, now that wolves are not an endangered species !!

There ought to be 5,000 sportsmen standing outside the Missoula Court Room when Judge Malloy(Molloy) drives in to hear the case to keep wolves of the Endangered List. If it was in SLC(Salt Lake City), I guarantee you, that would be the case!

To sportsmen leaders around the Country – Toby Bridges has been sounding the SOS call to the hunting industry to engage in this fight. If all the sportsmen across the country don’t engage and win this fight, and the anti-s get their 6,000 to 8,000 wolves, hunting in the west will be only a memory of the good old days.

This issue is serious as a heart attack. Karl Malone and Jeff Foxworthy have stepped up to join the fight. George Strait, Ted Nugent, other big names who hunt the west it is time for you all to step up to(o).

The Anti-hunting groups are putting all their chips in on this bet, and if sportsmen don’t match their bet, it is game over.

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