Senator Jeff Siddoway’s Wolf Kill Bill S1305 has been sent back to committee which effectively kills it. The bill would have allowed ranchers to kill wolves by various methods including use of live bait and even aerial gunning.
Yesterday the USFWS told the Idaho Statesman that the bill could threaten the wolf delisting plan and give anyone the ability to petition them to list them as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because of inadequate regulatory mechanisms to protect them under state management. It appears that they balked at this news.
Unanimous Senate kills wolf-kill bill after sponsor’s emotional request
Eye On Boise – Spokesman Mobile – Feb. 28, 2012.
Comments
I think dad came around and slapped them around a little.
Yes, Big Daddy Fed threatened Idaho with the big relisting stick.All wolves need to be returned to federal protection (such as it was–Wildlife Services still killed them). The American people support wolf recovery and wolf protection. Long live the Endangered Species Act–and may it be enforced with vigor.
Good!
I had mixed feelings over this one. Frankly, I hoped it would pass so that we had an avenue to get this back in front of a judge.
I think JB called it the other day on the previous thread about this Bill. USFWS’s ststement is almost verbatim to/of what JB said.
Interesting, isn’t it?
@Ken…me too but then I thought Idaho might find some way to sweet talk their way out of this and then we’d be left with more suffering for wolves. Definitely a Catch 22. One thing it did do was show us Idaho can’t do everything to wolves they want, which startled me. I didn’t think the feds even cared since they are letting Wyoming run wild over there. I guess it’s all about paper work.
Siddoway made some conflicting comments in the Statesman story. First he claimed the killing was going on almost on a daily basis. Then later he claimed he and the other ranchers could not stay up all night to try to protect the sheep as wolves can strike and then not return for weeks???
Frank Renn,
Almost everything about his story was inconsistent. I think most folks thought this stuff was taking place on his private land near Mud Lake, but instead apparently on his public Forest Service allotment near Dog Creek in the Snake River Mountains on the Idaho-Wyoming line SW Of Jackson. That is where he said the live bait was going to be placed.
This is mostly a backcountry steep mountain sheep operation. I doubt the state senator, now at least 60 years old, with such a large operation, personally herds these sheep all summer. I imagine the herders are likely Latinos like almost all other sheep operations.
Wildlife Services has not confirmed any sheep losses there lately. The Dog Creek losses were several years ago. Most suspect that Wildlife Services rares turns down a chance to say the wolves did it.
He said in the Idaho Statesman he had been hunting the wolves hard, but had never even seen one so he needed live bait and night scopes. Who does this “he” refer to anyway? It seems plural.
I wonder what was really going on.
I met with Senator Siddoway last week prior to the hearing. He admitted that one wolf had been aerial gunned on “his” land in 2009. He said wolves kept after his sheep and dogs. During the hearing, he showed photos of his flocks and their Latin shepherds. Siddoway also runs a canned hunt operation on one of his properties. I pointed out the need for wolves in Idaho. I testified against his bill at the hearing. The two Democrats on the committee opposed the bill. Siddoway told the committee he was “shocked” by the negative response to his proposed bill. He said based on the public comments flooding the legislature there must be “a special place in Hell” for him…Be vigilant, this bill may resurface in a different format. Thanks to all who stand for our wolves, wildlife and wild places. Much work remains to be done…
We wrote about that story when it happened.
https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2009/10/01/idaho-man-illegally-shot-at-wolf-pack-from-the-sky/
Maybe the rest of Idaho could be “shocked” as well that there are people who feel the same way about what they are doing to the wolves under guise of “management.” If this guy can be gotten to, maybe there is hope that others may see the light. Or maybe I am just too optimistic.
Does anyone know Siddoway is associated with Nate Helms & his father in Stanley???
Mike I joined the wolf army but which site gives me those horrible pictures the live wolf on the roof and the trapper I can’t get in on the wolf army site and I e-mailed them I need it on my face book page I must spread the word all my animal lovers and family !!!!! give me thAT SITE ASK rALPH FOR MY E-MAIL PLEASE !!!!!
Mike ask Ralph for my e-mail I need something pertaining to the wolf army !