Wolf Managers Reflect on Controversy
By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press Writer
BILLINGS, Mont. - Shortly after federal wolf manager Ed Bangs made the difficult decision that wolves preying on livestock in the Northern Rockies had to be killed, an e-mail from a wolf activist caught his attention.
"May your putrid corpse rot in hell," the e-mail said.
Bangs shrugged it off, saying it takes thick skin to be part of one of the most contentious conservation efforts of the last century — returning the gray wolf to the wild in the Northern Rockies.
The work has been successful, with wildlife officials estimating that there are 825 or more wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. And the federal government is close to handing off management of the animals in the region to state governments.
But the journey hasn't been easy. One of Bang's colleagues, wildlife biologist Carter Niemeyer, said wolf managers have been trying to restore an animal that some — particularly ranchers — see as a threat to their livelihoods.
"The ranchers are counting on you to protect their livestock, and you failed," he said. "And the wolf advocates are counting on you to protect the wolves, and you couldn't. Everybody's pointing fingers, and those are the kinds of situations that wear you down."
Joe Fontaine, another colleague and wildlife biologist, said seeing wolves killed, either illegally or at the hand of government agents, was at times also was difficult.
"You feel you let everybody down; it's painful to do," said Niemeyer, who for a decade was often the one who pulled the trigger when an order came down to kill a problem wolf.
Bangs says wolf recovery from a biological standpoint has been the easy part. Far more difficult are the political and social aspects, and the pressure has at times been intense, he said.
Even today, a decade after reintroduction in and around Yellowstone National Park, and nearly 20 years since wolves from Canada began migrating naturally into northwest Montana, emotions still run high. But, Bangs said, opinions of the wolf managers have changed some.
"In the early days of reintroduction, some livestock groups just hated my guts, and wolf lovers were carrying me on a pedestal," Bangs said. "But now that we lethally remove wolves, ranchers say, 'He's not so bad.'"
Conservationists and livestock officials give the federal wolf managers mixed marks.
"I certainly don't feel they catered to us. But I don't know that the other side felt catered to, either," said David Gaillard, conservation director for the group Predator Conservation Alliance.
Gray wolves in the region reached the recovery goal — 30 or more breeding pairs distributed among the three states for three consecutive years — in 2002. A separate effort to reintroduce the Mexican gray wolf in Arizona and New Mexico is still short of its goals.
By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press Writer
BILLINGS, Mont. - Shortly after federal wolf manager Ed Bangs made the difficult decision that wolves preying on livestock in the Northern Rockies had to be killed, an e-mail from a wolf activist caught his attention.
"May your putrid corpse rot in hell," the e-mail said.
Bangs shrugged it off, saying it takes thick skin to be part of one of the most contentious conservation efforts of the last century — returning the gray wolf to the wild in the Northern Rockies.
The work has been successful, with wildlife officials estimating that there are 825 or more wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. And the federal government is close to handing off management of the animals in the region to state governments.
But the journey hasn't been easy. One of Bang's colleagues, wildlife biologist Carter Niemeyer, said wolf managers have been trying to restore an animal that some — particularly ranchers — see as a threat to their livelihoods.
"The ranchers are counting on you to protect their livestock, and you failed," he said. "And the wolf advocates are counting on you to protect the wolves, and you couldn't. Everybody's pointing fingers, and those are the kinds of situations that wear you down."
Joe Fontaine, another colleague and wildlife biologist, said seeing wolves killed, either illegally or at the hand of government agents, was at times also was difficult.
"You feel you let everybody down; it's painful to do," said Niemeyer, who for a decade was often the one who pulled the trigger when an order came down to kill a problem wolf.
Bangs says wolf recovery from a biological standpoint has been the easy part. Far more difficult are the political and social aspects, and the pressure has at times been intense, he said.
Even today, a decade after reintroduction in and around Yellowstone National Park, and nearly 20 years since wolves from Canada began migrating naturally into northwest Montana, emotions still run high. But, Bangs said, opinions of the wolf managers have changed some.
"In the early days of reintroduction, some livestock groups just hated my guts, and wolf lovers were carrying me on a pedestal," Bangs said. "But now that we lethally remove wolves, ranchers say, 'He's not so bad.'"
Conservationists and livestock officials give the federal wolf managers mixed marks.
"I certainly don't feel they catered to us. But I don't know that the other side felt catered to, either," said David Gaillard, conservation director for the group Predator Conservation Alliance.
Gray wolves in the region reached the recovery goal — 30 or more breeding pairs distributed among the three states for three consecutive years — in 2002. A separate effort to reintroduce the Mexican gray wolf in Arizona and New Mexico is still short of its goals.
