Many of us in Bend wish to see a return of gray wolves to their ancestral Oregon habitat. With shock and incredulity we now learn that our Department of Fish and Wildlife, caving into pressure from the cattle industry, has announced its intention to, essentially, destroy what remains of the Imnaha wolf pack.
Please join a peaceful gathering of concerned citizens at the corner of 3rd St. and Powers (one block from the Bend ODFW office) on Tuesday, Oct. 4, at noon. We will be asking ODFW to adhere to its wolf recovery plan and to be consistent and conscientious in its use of non-lethal wolf management methods as an alternative to killing.
The local economy of northeast. Oregon has received a boost from the presence of the Imnaha pack, with wolf-watching tours in recent years making money for small businesses.
Ranchers receive money from the Federal Livestock Compensation Program and have been reimbursed for every one of the seven wolf-related livestock kills in the past two years.
As the wolves make their way back to their ancestral territories, human-wildlife conflict is inevitable. It seems disproportionate to eliminate an entire pack for what seems to be such a trivial amount of depredation.
Foster Fell, Bend
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 5, 2011.
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The comments of the person show he has no idea what wolf pack can do to a ranchers stock. They are not like domestic dogs.You folks also dont take into consideration how many elk and deer babies they kill. Look what has happened in yellwstone. It has been decimated by the wolfes in that area. Take a look at the wild life in the mountains and apprciate it. With wolf pack around it would be gone.