Concerned hikers, dog lovers and equestrians, please unite and take a moment to support banning wolf trapping in our Valley. Email Fish and Game at Commission@idfg.idaho.gov.
My father, Jim Nixon, worked for the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery in Stanley for over 20 years. Our former family ranch is now known to Fish and Game as the Cecil Andrus Game Reserve near Cambridge.
Our family has been in Idaho before statehood. We have a long history of conservation and cooperation with wildlife, the land, and ranching for five generations in this state.
I have five horses and three dogs that enjoy backcountry riding. Our trails here are seeing so much more traffic and use. I cannot imagine the trauma these traps could cause a human, dog or other animal. Hunt wolves with bullets.
We taxpayers never should have allowed the reintroduction of wolves anyways. We pay to reintroduce them, we pay to track and manage them, we pay to reduce their numbers, we pay to reimburse livestock producers for their losses.
I was a kid when my dad began working for the the Sawtooth Hatchery in 1985. Our first two winters were spent north of Stanley on a ranch with a native pack of wolves. They killed our house cat and at night we’d throw firecrackers out the door before turning the dogs out.
I’m all for reducing wolf populations—just not with traps, please.
Regards,
Kate Nixon