WOLVES
A 6-week old pup from the Landmark pack, central Idaho. At this age pups have often been moved from the den site to a rendezvous site – essentially a puppy playground for when the adults go on hunting forays
Attempts at Coexistence
pressure has been applied to wolves, in an effort to significantly reduce the wolf population. This is a big contrast between how the state of Idaho manages wolves and how they manage other species,” she said. Wakkinen and Haag both respond that a sustainable population of wolves is much smaller than that of bears or mountain lions. Black bears don’t give birth until they are four or five years old, and then they produce a pair of twins every other year. A mountain lion will have one or two kits every two years. In contrast, a female wolf, typically just the alpha female, starts reproducing by its second year and generates an average of four to five pups per litter every spring.
To support their efforts to regain protection for wolves, wolf advocacy groups are doing their best to prevent the problems with predation that led to the wolves’ eradication 70 years ago. Defenders of Wildlife is working with ranchers in the Wood River Valley of southern Idaho to develop practices that will lessen wolves’ attraction to their sheep, including the use of noisemakers, spotlights, night watchmen and “fladry” – flapping flags on strings like those at used car lots. Why fladry works is unknown, but it seems to keep the wolves wary and away from the herd, at least for a while. This work has been valuable not just because it protects the sheep. Tourists who come to the valley, which is home to Sun Valley Resort, want to see the wolves. With tourism as important as ranching to the local economy, reaching a sheep/wolf détente is important for everyone. There are few reports of such domestic animal depredation in the panhandle. “It’s not as much of an issue here as it is down south by any means,” Haag said. “They’re eating their natural prey and especially moose in winter.” This is cold comfort to hunters. Some have organized to kill as many wolves as they can. The vehemence of their positions can be found on a variety of Facebook pages:
The Missing Elk Hunters’ concern is that wolves are decimating the elk population, and it’s true that this number, as measured by what IFG calls the calf/cow ratio, or the number of elk calves per 100 elk cows, has fallen in some areas in recent years. While the ratio has remained at a healthy 30 or so in the northern panhandle, it has dropped into the teens in parts of the St. Joe and Coeur d’Alene drainages, where Finney hunts. As a result, hunters there have seen a 90 percent drop in hunting opportunities. But wolves are only part of the issue for the elk in this region. A couple years of record snowfall recently have also depressed elk populations, as have habitat changes: Where the epic 1910 Fire cleared the landscape of trees a century ago, the brush that fills in first after a fire has supported increased elk populations for decades. Now, mature trees are starting to predominate again, and the preponderance of elk browse is dwindling.
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A 6-week old pup from the Landmark pack begs for food from an adult. When an older wolf returns to the rendezvous site, pups run to greet it and lick its muzzle, enticing it to regurgitate food for them
SUMMER 2013
S A N D P O I N T M A G A Z I N E
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5/8/13 8:51 AM