The Lakota had a problem: too many people and not enough deer. They needed to find a new and larger area in which to hunt the deer that sustained their lives.
In the new place, they quickly discovered that they had chosen an area where the deer were plentiful but so were the wolves. A council was convened to determine what they should do about this problem of the wolves. They could kill all the wolves and have all the deer for themselves. But then what kind of people would they be? It was decided that from then on, whenever these kinds of decisions were made, because wolf cannot speak for himself, someone would be appointed to “speak for wolf” at tribal council. Only then could they live at peace with the natural world.
There could not be a more important question to ask ourselves at this time in human evolution, “What kind of people are we?” What kind of people refuse to see that their increasing numbers, consumption patterns and waste are killing the natural world? What kind of people stand by and watch as the biological diversity upon which all life depends steadily declines?
The current policies supported by the Idaho Legislature and the Idaho Fish and Game Commission are clearly designed to once again eradicate wolves and other predators to benefit the livestock industry, trappers and trophy hunters. And they are using your federal and state taxes to accomplish this destruction. Ecological science does not have a voice in either of those bodies. Healthy predator populations are the most critical element in a healthy ecosystem.
In Idaho, negotiations on wildlife issues consist of what each “stakeholder” wants to gain. No one is there to speak on behalf of wildlife or the ecosystem. Wildlife management is dictated by the Legislature and the governor-appointed Idaho Fish and Game commissioners. Science is completely absent, as are ethical considerations and fair-chase principles. Policies are based on politics and greed.
The latest debacle is Senate Bill 1274, the brilliantly ignorant idea of ranchers at the Statehouse to make Idaho “wolf-free,” zone by zone. The bar is set incredibly low. One depredation on livestock can render a zone “a wolf-free zone” whereby any wandering wolf can be trapped, snared or shot—year-round.
Meanwhile, the IDFG commissioners have been granted $400,000 by the Legislature (and wants $408,000 more to “monitor” wolves; i.e., to collar and kill wolves from the air). The Commission takes their marching orders from the livestock industry, the Idaho Farm Bureau, Idaho Trappers Association, and the so-called Foundation for Wildlife Management (it is NOT a charitable foundation, that is for sure). And the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation fuels the lie that “wolves are killing all the elk” and backs the anti-wolf sentiment with funds raised at glitzy rallies.
Most egregious of the Commission’s policies will go from bad to worse if they are allowed to increase the trapping season to year-round in most all zones and 11 months in others. They are also proposing to increase the trapping limit from 20 to 30 per trapper. A trapper can then receive “reimbursement” funds for this service to a max of $1,000 per wolf. Where does this money come from? You guessed it: the livestock industry, the RMEF, and Idaho Fish and Game grants!
What is most frightening to me, and to the majority of Idahoans who genuinely care about wildlife, is that the Idaho State Legislature and the IDFG Commission are working together to use your taxes to pay for the eradication of wolves and whatever is unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire.
Each summer for the last 12 years the Wood River Wolf Project has kept 15,000 to 25,000 sheep and cattle safe with effective and inexpensive non-lethal practices. Using multiple guard dogs, air horns, fladry and good herding practices, depredation can be avoided. Last year eight sheep were killed. The herder learned and carefully practiced non-lethal deterrents and did not lose a single animal the rest of the season even though wolves were in the area.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is collecting comments on the proposed changes at: https://idfg.idaho.gov/form/2020-wolf-proposals; comments are due by February 10, 2020. Please use this opportunity to speak for wolf!
Christine Gertschen
Sun Valley