Subject: Do as I say, not as I do!
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 06:55:10 -0600
From: "Tom Adams" <tomadams@wyoming.com>
----Original Message-----
From: Sublette Examiner [mailto:examiner@wyoming.com]
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 8:31 AM
Pile of dead elk spotted in Gros Ventre by Cat Urbigkit
Sublette Examiner - April 25, 2002
CAG Comment:
There are two things about this article that bother CAG. First, the reintroduced wolves are killing our elk herd in large numbers, not for food but simply to kill. We have been told over and over that wolves only kill what they need for food. Our children are taught this in our public schools. Second, The rules don’t apply to federal agencies like Fish and Wildlife Service, but let one of us break the rules and see how long it takes before we pay the price. However, the federal government is above the law?????
End CAG Comment:
Visitors to the Goosewing country up the Gros Ventre this spring had a rude sight to behold: a pile of wolf-killed elk on the Wyoming Game and Fish (WG&F) Department’s elk feed ground.
The dead elk are within the official grizzly bear recovery zone and surrounded by a portion of the Bridger-Teton National Forest that has a food storage order in effect, according to a state official. It’s about 25 miles east of Kelly up the Gros Ventre River road.
The carcasses were left near where humans have access: near the main road; a slingshot distance from the WG&F cabin and corrals; about three-eighths of a mile from the Goosewing Guest Ranch and the Flying Heart Ranch; and less than a mile from the Forest Service’s Goosewing Guard Station.
WG&F regional supervisor Bernie Holz confirmed Wednesday, We have a fairly big pile of elk there.
Holz explained that in the past, his agency has had an arrangement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to have the federal agency examine elk killed by wolves. But since FWS personnel weren’t always able to ride the feed ground sled with the elk feeder, and WG&F didn’t want them running around on their own disturbing the elk, such accommodations couldn’t be made this year, Holz said.
Instead, FWS asked WG&F to drag the dead elk to the side of the trail to be examined by FWS later, so elk wouldn’t be spooked off the feed ground, Holz said.
Holz said he isn’t sure what the current count of wolf-killed elk in the Goosewing area is, but the last he knew it stood at about 47. When asked how long the pile of dead elk will be left in the current location, Holz said, I don’t know, but a few hours later Holz said his
agency is making plans to bury the animals.
When asked whether WG&F had created a de facto bear bait while the Bridger-Teton National Forest is considering expanding a food storage order to prohibit the creation of this type of attractant, Holz said: I suppose we could get some bears feeding on those carcasses.
I suppose that would happen whether we scattered them out or not, Holz said, adding that it is difficult to completely remove carcasses. That’s something public land livestock permittees have struggled with having agencies understand, and one of the reasons why concern has been raised over the possibility of a $5,000 fine for violating the food storage order.
The order, already in effect on national forest land within the grizzly bear recovery zone, calls for all bear attractants, including unattended food, to be stored out of reach of bears, whether in hard-sided vehicles, bear-resistant containers, or hung out of reach of bears.