Wolves and The Wild, Wild East
Well it was only a matter of time. Like a right-wing nut job who actually believes all vitriol that is dished up on a.m. radio and decides to do something about it with a gun in hand or a bomb in the trunk, some coward slunk into the woods of Eastern Oregon, put a rifle to his shoulder and illegally shot a gray wolf, one of the less than 20 that have been documented in the state of Oregon since the federal wolf recovery plan was launched two decades ago. Federal wildlife agents reportedly found the slain wolf, a young male member of the Wenaha pack that had only recently been fitted with a radio collar, on Sept. 30 in a remote area of the Umatilla National Forest. News of the find leaked out late last week when federal wildlife officials confirmed the find to the Associated Press. Conservation Organizations were quick to condemn the shooting, which comes on the heels of a contentious summer for wolf politics in Oregon where several livestock killings prompted state officials to issue kill permits for a pair of wolves believed responsible.
