Idaho gets no takers for its wolves

Of course the state didn’t. The bill by Idaho State Sen. Gary Schroeder wasn’t serious-

Before any state would take wolves, there would have to be a long debate. Schroeder wanted them gone now. Wolves also reproduce so fast when they have good habitat that giving them away wouldn’t make any difference in Idaho.

AP story.


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  1. bambi Avatar
    bambi

    Hunting them wont make a difference either will it.

  2. Ralph Maughan Avatar

    Bambi,

    I not sure exactly what you mean, but I think the details of any hunt are extremely important — will make a difference.

  3. bambi Avatar
    bambi

    I dont understand why other states dont want them. Is this some kind of inside joke? If the wolves are hunted will they kill them all?

  4. ProWolf in WY Avatar
    ProWolf in WY

    I can’t belive anyone would want someone in office who is making a bill like this. I hope people aren’t taking him seriously. What a waste of time and taxpayer money even thinking this up.

  5. Ralph Maughan Avatar

    ProWolf,

    Bills merely to generate news, bills that are not really serious, have always been introduced in legislative bodies; and I suppose they always will.

  6. timz Avatar
    timz

    “I can’t belive anyone would want someone in office who is making a bill like this”

    It’s the Idaho Legisl. after all. It’s full of clowns like this.

  7. ProWolf in WY Avatar
    ProWolf in WY

    Timz, it seems that if legislators in Idaho (and other western states) spent half as much energy on other more pressing issues as they do pissing and moaning about wolves we could live in some states that would be the envy of others.

  8. Paul Bego Avatar
    Paul Bego

    Wow! the tenor of the reader comments off the original AP story is sooo much different than here. Kinda shows how far apart we are in viewpoints and attitude!

    If you read the full AP story, it says he didn’t expect any takers for the wolves and it’s an attempt to help insulate the state against claims that could be made in lawsuits by environmentalists opposed to the federal government’s decision to take wolves off the endangered species list.

    “Now we are in a legal position in court where we can say we have asked other states, nobody wants them,” Schroeder told the Lewiston Tribune.

    Just reading those comments makes me afraid for what will happen no matter what the courts say (As in unauthorized hunting).

  9. jimbob Avatar
    jimbob

    Paul Bego, I agree and I’ll take it one step further. It makes me afraid for my children to read those comments. Those people scare me way more than wolves or bears. I have bears basically “in my backyard (in the forest)” and I don’t fear them at all—I’m careful, but I don’t fear them. Some macho mentality!

  10. ProWolf in WY Avatar
    ProWolf in WY

    Jimbob, I agree, these kinds of people are more scary than wolves and bears.

  11. Paul Bego Avatar
    Paul Bego

    Yeah, Jimbob & ProWolf, it’s scary weird how sure those folks are in their beliefs of the inherent evilness of the wolf and that they’ve always been here and how much they’ve supposedly decimated elk herds.

    None of it supported by science or research but that isn’t something they seemingly trust or believe anyway.

  12. Erin Rager Avatar

    In regard to the hunting of wolves in September;
    Will they be allowed to hunt from helicopters?
    Like hunters slaughtered before in the 60’s. I am old enough
    to remember.
    Lets figure out how to share the food chain.
    I do not see anyone being held on murder charges for killing
    Cattle or sheep for food. Just a thought to give some balance here.

  13. Ralph Maughan Avatar

    Wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana will not be from helicopters, although “wolf control” as the misnamed U.S. Wildlife Services calls it, is often from helicopter or fixed wing aircraft.

  14. william huard Avatar
    william huard

    I am amused that Idaho legislators like Mr. schroeder have nothing better to do with their time. Instead of writing meaningless wolf legislation maybe some of the office people could give Mr. Schroeder some files to rearrange. it is unfortunate that wolf hatred is so obvious. One of his assistants told me when I asked them that question that it is because wolves “kill all the wildlife “. I guess ignorance to facts includes more than just the current health care legislation.

  15. ProWolf in WY Avatar
    ProWolf in WY

    William, you would think legislators would have something better to do with their time than write legislation like that. Nice to know there are elected officials who have that kind of ignorance.

  16. JB Avatar
    JB

    “I guess ignorance to facts includes more than just the current health care legislation.”

    It is interesting to see the same tactics used. The new motto appears to be: “If you don’t like the facts, then make up your own!” The repetition of misinformation can have a powerful influence over people who trust their information source.

    I suppose I should go barricade grandma’s door from Obama’s death squads. ;”

  17. Ralph Maughan Avatar

    Recent events over health care “debate” helps put the confusion over the wolf issue in perspective for me.

    I knew this intellectually, but I didn’t really feel it. Now I feel it. If folks are afraid or angry, you can get a considerable number to believe anything just like that.

  18. william huard Avatar

    The fear is real. Now the far right is saying how much the delusional sara palin has influenced the health care legislation now that the “death panel” portion has been scrapped. These people really believe they are on the right side of these issues. Bill Maher is right- I wouldn’t put anything past the stupid ignorant people in this country that can be made to believe anything!
    Not to get off topic- the Mexican wolf program now has the director of the red wolf program in NC running things for the USFWS. His name is bud fazio. We should contact Miller in |CA and Raul in Az to ask them to put through an amendment to enforce a stronger penalty for poaching and killing of wolves in Az and NM. Anyone caught undermining the program like the rancher that baited the alpha wolf in NM- should face Mandatory jail time. These welfare ranchers need to be FORCED to go along with the program.

  19. Save bears Avatar
    Save bears

    William, trying to force anyone to do anything is often times, not going to result in the outcome you hope for…

Author

Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.

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