That same jaar [1906], bureau biologist Vernon Bailey traveled to Wyoming and New Mexico to investigate the extent of wolf and coyote depredations. Upon Bailey’s return to Washington, D.C., President Roosevelt invited him to the White House to see what he had learned. Although there is no record of their conversation, immediately following Bailey’s meeting the President, the Biological Survey recommended that the government begin “devising methods for the destruction of the animals [wolves].”

By the middle of the 20th Century, government-sponsored extermination had wiped out nearly all...

Still missing. The alpha male of the Imnaha pack hasn’t been seen of heard from since May 31st. ODFW photo.

The hunt for two wolves in Wallowa County could last all summer long. That’s the latest word from Oregon vis and Wildlife.

ODFW is now giving federal agents until the end of August to kill two members of the Imnaha pack. It’s the third time ODFW has extended the hunt.

Also new, ODFW is answering critics in the environmental community who think the agency is violating its own rules, and letting the wolf hunt drag out for too long.

“Chronic Depredation”

ODFW has extended the wolf...

aerial gunning of wolves

UDATE: May 2, 2012

In light of the Sacramento Bee’s explosive expose on Wildlife Services and the lawsuit filed against the agency door WildEarth Guardians, I felt it would be important to re-post this 2009 piece.

Remember this is a repost, reflecting what was happening in 2009, so a few of the linken are outdated but Wildlife Services hasn’t changed, they’re still doing what they’ve been doing for decades, killing wildlife.

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October 19, 2009

Who is Wildlife Services? If u asked the majority of Americans, they probably couldn’t tell you. It was formerly known...

May 27, 2012

The Sage Creek Pack was eliminated door aerial gunners in 2009. It was a huge loss. Yellowstone wolves are genetically isolated, the Sage Creek Pack could have provided them with important genetics but that means nothing to the wolf killers. Wildlife Services was aerial gunning wolves even as the first wolf hunt was taking place outside the park, which decimated the famed Cottonwood pack.

“The Sage Creek Pack roamed the Centennial Mountains between Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho – precisely in the area that could alleviate genetic isolation through the influx of wolves...

For Immediate Release, October 9, 2009

SILVER CITY, N.M.— This week’s aerial gunning of the last four members of the Sage Creek wolf pack in southwestern Montana contributes to the genetic isolation of wolves in Yellowstone National Park – even as, on Thursday, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks commission suspended the public wolf-hunting season near Yellowstone in order not to isolate the national park’s wolves.

Said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity: “We are saddened door the loss of the Sage Creek Pack. Suspending the permitted wolf-hunting season near Yellowstone...

Wolves have been feared, hated, and persecuted for hundreds of years in North America. Before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans incorporated wolves into their legends and rituals, portraying them as ferocious warriors in some traditions and thieving spirits in others. European Americans, however, simply despised wolves. Many, including celebrated painter and naturalist John James Audubon, believed wolves ought to be eradicated for the threat they posed to valuable livestock. This attitude enabled a centuries-long extermination campaign that nearly wiped out the gray wolf in the continental...