Wolves in Utah?

[PACKFAN]

Folks,
We really need your help. Please send a message today to prevent Utah's wildlife from being ruined by unmanaged wolves.
Here is what is happening: Today, March 6, 2012, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources issued a press release confirming that a pack of four wolf-hybrids or other wolf-like animals were seen by US Wildlife Service Helicopter. The pack was seen in Utah County's Hobble Creek area near Springville and Provo.
It is unclear whether these are illegally released wolves, hybrids or something else.
We need sportsmen all over the state to send a very clear message. We won't let 50 years of wildlife conservation be erased by unmanaged wolves.
Click on this link to send a message: [url ""]http://capwiz.com/biggameforever/issues/alert/?alertid=61072046&PROCESS=Take+Action[/url]
Please forward this message to your other sportsmen, friends and concerned sportsmen. Help us protect Utah's already struggling Wildlife from unmanaged wolves.

Here is the article from Utah DWR

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Springville -- For the past year and a half, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has been investigating reports that wolves might be in a remote area east of Springville in north-central Utah.
On March 4, while flying over the area in a helicopter, personnel with the USDA-Wildlife Services found the best evidence yet.
The personnel were performing coyote control in the area when they spotted what appeared to be four wolves or wolf-dog hybrids.
Until biologists can obtain the animals' DNA and get it tested, they won't know for sure whether the animals are wolves or wolf-dog hybrids.
(A wolf-dog hybrid is a cross between a wolf and a domestic dog.)

Capturing the animals

A snow storm is expected to hit the area during the evening of March 6. Kevin Bunnell, Wildlife Section chief for the DWR, says the storm should give personnel from a helicopter capture company the DWR has contracted with enough snow to help them locate and track the animals.
"After picking up their tracks and locating the animals from the air," Bunnell says, "the capture company should be able to capture one or two of the animals by shooting a net over them from a helicopter. Then we can examine the animals and draw blood samples to see if the animals are related to the wolves released in Yellowstone National Park."
DWR biologists will also place radio collars on the animals so the biologists can track their movements.
The DWR is coordinating the capture with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The USFWS is the federal agency that has management authority over wolves that are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Bunnell says it will take a couple of weeks for a lab at the University of California at Los Angeles to analyze the blood and provide results to the DWR.

Possible actions

If the animals are wolf-dog hybrids, Bunnell says the animals will be killed. If the animals are wolves, however, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has management authority for the animals.
"Except for a small area in northern Utah," Bunnell says, "any wolf that enters the state is fully protected by the federal Endangered Species Act."
Outside of that small area in northern Utah, Bunnell says the DWR doesn't have any management authority over wolves in Utah. All management authority rests with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The USFWS has given the DWR approval to capture the animals and draw their blood.

Biologists weren't surprised

Bunnell says DWR biologists weren't surprised to learn that Wildlife Services personnel saw wolves or wolf-dog hybrids on March 4.
DWR biologists have been investigating reported sightings in the area for more than a year.
Bunnell says a photo a hunter shared with them in fall 2010 was the first solid evidence DWR biologists received. "The photo was taken by a trail camera the hunter had set up in the area," he says. "An animal that appeared to be a wolf or a wolf-dog hybrid was in one of the photos."
In fall 2011, Wildlife Services personnel examined a calf that had been killed in the area. The way the calf was killed made them suspect that a wolf did the killing.
"In addition to these two reports," Bunnell says, "our biologists have responded to several reported sightings they received from the public. The biologists placed several remote cameras in the area to try to locate the animals they were receiving reports about."
Having personnel with the USDA-Wildlife Services spot the animals from the air and provide DWR biologists with a solid location will hopefully be the final item biologists need to locate the animals and examine them.

More information

More information about the possible wolf sighting, wolf management in Utah and the state's wolf management plan are available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/wolf.

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Contact: Mark Hadley, DWR Relations with the Public Specialist (801) 538-4737

Please take a few minutes and send a message to Congress, the Governor and USFWS in support of Congressional Action to allow the State of Utah to manage any wolves that come into Utah. Click here to send the message: [url ""]http://capwiz.com/biggameforever/issues/alert/?alertid=61072046&PROCESS=Take+Action[/url]
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[tlspyder13]

Thanks for the information.
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[heavycod]

We was at lost creek on Sat and seen a helicopter flying around looking for about 20 to 30 mins then we couldn't hear it no more. Then 4 shots happen wonder if they could have been shooting wolf? Just a thought.
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[riverdog]

Well if there are wolves just a few miles over the mountain around Strawberry wouldn't be surprised if these are also wolves. Doesn't really say why they think they might be hybrids with dogs. I'm pretty sure Utah does have some coywolves ( coyote-wolf) hybrids as well. I ran into a very large male around 75-80 lbs, easily twice the size of it's mate. I've seen many Eastern Coyotes that are known wolf coyote hybrids and usually much larger than our coyotes. None of them even approached the size of this animal. This was just 15-20 miles from the first wolf capture site in Utah ( east of Morgan in 2002). I started seeing this animal about 2005 and saw it repeatedly until 2010. That original male captured was a well known member of the Druid pack from Yellowstone. Footprints in the area revealed it had a mate with it. I assume the coywolf I saw may have been an offspring of that female wolf.
Just a thought. Have no proof and maybe it was just a monster of a coyote that I ran into all those years. Did act more like a coyote in that it ran like hell when my little pit bull lab mix charged it every encounter.
Be interesting to see what these animals turn out to be if they get a sample
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[Theekillerbee]

It would have been real easy to collect the DNA if they would just shot the stinking things! I can hardly believe that they would want to radio collar them and release them into the wild again.....talk about stupid. The DWR pisses and moans about the toll coyotes are taking on the deer herd, then they want to release some kind of wolf after they capture it? What a bunch of incompetent fools. An animal that weighs over 100 lbs sure has to eat a lot more than a coyote that weighs in at 30 lbs. Simple mathematics. Then they wonder why they loose the support of sportsmen and women. I don't think I'd let them manage a lemonade stand. I pray that someone finds them, kills them, then tosses those spendy collars into the back of some semi-truck that is going cross country.
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[Kent]

I understand your concern; however, do you expect an employee of the DWR to jeapordize his/her employment and likely face prosecution for shooting a wolf?

"The USFWS is the federal agency that has management authority over wolves that are listed under the Endangered Species Act."

I have a hunch that they are as concerned as you are.
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[PACKFAN]

+1, I think he needs to read the article a little closer. They are not authorized to kill a wolf in that area of the state. If they can capture one and take a sample for DNA and release it with a radio collar they should be able to find it with the rest of the pack when the results come back. If they are a cross breed then they would be killed, if they are wolves I guess they are safe until Utah can get them delisted like ID. and Mont. I know it sucks but that is currently the law. I know there are wolves near Current Creek where we hunt, could be wolf cross breeds I don't know.
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[riverdog]

+2
Don't think a rationale person is going to risk their employment, fines and prison time over any animal no matter how strong their feelings may be. If they have a family just screwed them over as well.
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[Theekillerbee]

Hate to break it to you guys, pandering to the stinking feds will get us nowhere! The article clearly says that the helicopter crew was from the US, not the state. The USFW has the authority to shoot them. Got a buddy that is a fed gov trapper in Wyoming. He has the authority to kill any wolf he deems a threat. No questions asked.

Our governor needs to do exactly what the governor of Montana did, tell the feds to get bent! He grew a set and said that no one would be prosecuted for killing wolves in his state by the state system. He declared them a detriment to his state and its economy. This makes sense. Wolves have no place here. We as humans have taken up most of the winter range, so our big game animals have no refuge when being hunted all year long by these killers. It is much easier and cheaper to take care of the problem now than it will be to try to "manage" it in the future. Just like phragmites control. If the state would have been very aggressive early on, it wouldn't be such a big problem. Now it is expensive to fight, and is an impossible battle to win.
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[CROSSINEYES]

hey pack... glad you posted it. i wasnt going to. sure am glad they showed it on tv this time. the strawberry sighting was confimed. as well as 2 others in the basin but they are not talking about those???
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[submoa]

I hope they are hybrids so they can kill them.
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[PACKFAN]

Just curious if you belong to any of the oraganizations that are fighting to get the wolves delisted, if so thanks for your support.
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[riverdog]

Read today they found their prints but couldn't follow them with much of the snow gone. Not sure what these folk thing as a dog would follow that trail like a bright shining light in front of them. I'm actually headed that general vicinity today many miles from open roads with my dogs after scouting out the conditions Sunday. We usually just run into mountain lions this time of year but I'll take pictures if they happen upon any wolf prints.
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[riverdog]

Got up to the eastern slope of Strawberry Ridge today for some exercise, solitude and a little fishing. On the way up just a few coyote, deer and a single moose tracks. Not even a mountain lion track to be found. Was also behind 2 horses from for about 7 of the 8 miles from their tracks. Not surprising since there was a horse trailer parked nearby were the road was closed below. Fished a mile of stream then headed out. On the way back I noticed some scat 3-4 times larger than all the coyotes' scat down lower. Color was a clay white and not gray and full of fur like the coyotes' down lower. Kept going and a hundred yards later the dog pointed out some big canine tracks . Really hard to tell if it just wasn't a coyote track in slushy snow or that it may have enlarged by melting. Not a sharp track at all. Then a few hundred yards later the dog pointed out some sharp fresh canine tracks heading in the opposite direction of the first set. The people on horses had clearly returned from the side road and headed down. Only over the next hundred yards was I able to make out a few patches of these canine tracks. There was clearly no canine tracks with the horses the whole 7 miles up or the rest of the way down after this. Didn't take a picture of the scat because it was on icy area without any tracks and hadn't seen any at that point. The first picture is from Ray's Valley looking up at Strawberry Ridge just a bit below where I encountered the scat and tracks. The high point is right about 5 miles and Strawberry Reservoir is another 3 -4 after that. The next picture is the poor quality canine track I encountered first. The third is the sharp tracks. The small hard to make out track to the right of it is that of my dog that weighs 55 lbs. Roughly a third the area and doesn't indent the snow nearly as much despite it still being warm ( mid fifties). The camera case measures 3 by 4 inches for reference. One more track pic with my foot for reference and then a couple from fishing. Fishing was fast. I caught probable 40 trout in 2 hours but the biggest was only 14 inches. Doesn't answer if these are wolves or hybrids up there but they are some big canines for sure.
Now I hope someone paid to do this got up there with a dog because not too hard to do. I had already covered a dozen miles fished for 2 hours and had 6 or 7 more miles to go when I found these tracks. I didn't have time to actually let my dog follow the scent too far before calling her back both times as it was already going on 5 pm.
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