[Vision2020] Mixed news for Wolves

[Mark Solomon]

For those who may not be aware of it, Defenders of Wildlife maintains 
a livestock predation fund to compensate any rancher who Fish and 
Wildlife Service says has lost stock to wolves. According to 
information on their website, the fund has made 412 payments totaling 
$536,985 to cover the loss of 514 cows, 1421 sheep and 57 "other 
animals" from 1987 to 2005. One payment for cattle is listed for 
Latah County.

The following is from the Defenders website:  
http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/new/wolves/loss.html

     *    In the continental U.S., health issues such as respiratory 
problems, digestive problems, calving complications and disease were 
overwhelmingly the most significant causes of cattle death in 2005.

     * Only 0.11% of all cattle losses were due to wolf predation in 2005.

     * Coyotes killed more than 22 times more cattle than wolves 
killed that year.

     * Domestic dogs killed almost 5 times as many cattle, and 
vultures killed almost twice as many cattle as wolves did in 2005.

     * Theft was responsible for almost 5 times as many cattle losses 
as were lost by wolf predation.

     * Predation by coyotes was the largest cause of sheep loss in 
2005, accounting for 23% of all losses, followed by health problems & 
weather-related issues.

     * In states with wolf populations, an average of less than 2.5% 
of sheep loss was due to predation by wolves in 2005.

I'm not going to argue that there isn't a traumatic loss when the 
animals you've raised are killed by a wolf, but the economic loss is 
minimized if not zeroed out by the compensation fund. Plus, when you 
look at the causes of livestock loss listed above, wolves are way 
down the list.

Mark

At 3:03 PM -0800 1/31/07, lfalen wrote:
>I don't know that they have said that directly, but the loss of 
>livestock to wolves does not seem to be of a concern or is 
>minimized.  That is the same thing.
>
>Roger
>-----Original message-----
>From: "Sunil Ramalingam" sunilramalingam at hotmail.com
>Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 15:37:08 -0800
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Mixed news for Wolves
>
>>  Roger,
>>
>>  How many people have said here they don't care about the livelihood of
>>  livestock producers?
>>
>>  Sunil
>>
>>
>>  >From: lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>
>>  >Reply-To: lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>
>>  >To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>>  >Subject: [Vision2020] Mixed news for Wolves
>>  >Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:01:20 -0800
>>  >
>>  >Will
>>  >  I am mostly in agreement with your statements on a balance in the
>>  >ecosystem. however I do not think that killing off old cow elk has anything
>>  >to do with the productive of young ones. One thing that is missing is the
>>  >disregard of the effects on livestock. I understand that you folks do not
>>  >care about the lively hood of livestock producers, which is why you do not
>>  >take this into consideration or downgrade it. I do not have a problem with
>>  >maintaining some wolves, but they need to be controlled. They are much more
>>  >dangerous than coyotes. I am a believer in multiple use. This includes
>>  >everyone, including livestock producers. I am a supporter of The Nature
>>  >conservancy. I used to be a member of the Audubon Society, but their views
>>  >have became too one side. The Sierra Club has always ben too radical for
>>  >me. As an aside, I was raised in the middle of what is called the Owyhee
>>  >Initiative. Our place was about 50 miles from Jordan Valley, Oregon and 80
>>  >miles from Bruneau, Idaho. I supp!
>>  >  ort the
>>  >Owyhee Imitative as do most of my former neighbors that still live there.
>>  >
>>  >Roger
>>  >
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