You would think that a newspaper in Jackson Hole, WY – right in the middle of the greatest loss of elk in our lifetimes – would see the writing on the wall… but they still treat USFWS as the wolf experts, who will prevail in finding that happy balance between elk…wolves…and hunters.  In reality, we have people
running this program who are unqualified for the job – some of who should be doing time behind bars.

Following is a letter I sent to the editor today.

Please follow up with one of your own. (I know a few of you already have.)

To read the article, go to: http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=5945

Toby Bridges
LOBO WATCH

—– Forwarded Message —–
From: “Toby Bridges” <wolfkill@lobowatch.com>
To: editor@jhnewsandguide.com
Sent: Thursday, May 6, 2010 3:08:16 PM GMT -07:00 US/Canada Mountain
Subject: USFWS Lies & Deceit Riddle Wolf Introduction

Dear Editor;

The recent article by Cory Hatch, proclaiming that the “Wolf recovery target has changed, feds acknowledge moving the goalposts is necessary to keep pace with science, they say” is just one more round of the same old lies and deceit the USFWS has used to push wolf numbers far beyond what a willing public was ready to accept.  The only “science” that is proving out in this federal fiasco is that the more wolves we have, the less elk, moose, deer and other big game manage to survive another year.  And those wildlife populations are quickly getting older and older each and every year, thanks to the manner in which wolves are destroying calf and fawn crops every spring.  Back in 1995-96, when this idiocy began, the average age of elk within the Yellowstone ecosystem was around 4 years.  Today, without sufficient calf recruitment, the average age of the 25% of the herd that still exists is now 8 to 9 years of age.  This geriatric elk herd is headed for still another precipitous crash as these elk begin to die off from old age, without enough younger elk to replace them.

The word “science” is thrown around loosely in this article.  The so-called “wolf experts” , like Ed Bangs, who heads Western Wolf Recovery, must not have had any real wolf science to go on when they started this project.  Or, was it they simply refused to accept the wolf “science” that had already been established elsewhere in the world?

In a letter, dated October 3, 1993, author Will Graves, who wrote the acclaimed book, “Wolves in Russia – Anxiety Through The Ages” , sent Ed Bangs a list of concerns – ranging from game losses far greater than Bangs’ Environmental Impact Statement claimed wolves would have on Northern Rockies wildlife populations, to the dangers of the Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm carried by wolves, to how escalated wolf numbers would pose threats to livestock production, and to humans.  Graves spent several decades researching and studying wolves in Russia, and saw first hand a problem he says was costing the Russian government $45-million a year to control.  These are all the same wolf related problems we are now experiencing here, and which continue to run even more rampant with each new year – all thanks to the over inflated ego of those managing this very misdirected federal project.

The “science” that Bangs and others with the Wolf Recovery Project rely on has been extremely manipulated. Those who put together this project knew well before releasing those first wolves into Yellowstone exactly what lay ahead.  And their manipulation of “science” began well before the cages were opened and the first wolves in 70 years ran off into the wilds of America’s wildlife wonderland – Yellowstone National Park. Prior to the first plans to “reintroduce” wolves into the Northern Rockies, taxonomists recognized 24 subspecies of wolves that were native to North America.  The wolf that was native to the Yellowstone area was the subspecies known as Canis lupus irremotus – which was near extinction, existing in only a few small wilderness pockets in Idaho and northwestern Montana.  Without sufficient stock for transplant, Ed Bangs and others worked hard to mainpulate wolf taxonomy, reducing the number of North American wolf subspecies to just 5. And the two wolf subspecies they dumped into our greatest national park were larger, and more aggressive pack wolves from northern British Columbia, northern Alberta, and the Yukon – Canis lupus columbianus and Canis lupus occidentallis .  Neither of these wolves were ever native to Yellowstone, and neither was ever endangered in their native Canadian habitat and range.

The unqualified wolf scientists working with the Wolf Recovery Project knowingly violated the Endangered Species Act.

Transplanting the wrong wolf is just one of numerous violations of law involved with what is fast becoming the greatest ecological disaster of our lifetimes.  On May 16th, in Bozeman, MT, former Chief of National Wildlife Refuge Operations , Jim Beers, will make a two-hour presentation on the “Criminal Activities Associated with the Introduction, Protection and Spread of Wolves in the Lower 48 States” .  Perhaps Cory Hatch can attend this presentation and learn a bit of the truth about the smoke and mirrors that have been used by the USFWS, and the state wildlife agencies in Idaho and Montana, to allow wolves to destroy the wildlife conservation efforts of the past hundred years.

Toby Bridges
LOBO WATCH
100 Parker Court
Missoula, MT 59801

(406) 542-9751