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Wait until they kill...

Post Date: 22 Jul, 2015

Expire Date: 29 Jul, 2015

Category: Front Page Stories

Wait until they kill...

By Lisa Schmidt

Ewes and month-old lambs were sacrificed to a policy crossfire again last week.
Conrad and Valier, Montana, area ranchers had seen the grizzly sow and her two cubs moseying along coulees for at least a month; possibly she had denned along the Dry Fork of the Marias River last winter. The sow became more comfortable during June, stopping in farm yards and foraging during the day near roads and ditches.
It was only a matter of time.
Everyone knew it.
USDA Wildlife Services agents are not allowed to trap until a wild predator inflicts harm on livestock.
That rule is set in stone. Period. No exceptions.

Policy...
Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks (MFWP) bear specialists allow grizzlies to roam until they kill on the disputed theory that the documented population will increase until grizzlies are removed from the Endangered Species Act list and the state of Montana will gain full management control.
Animal behavior does not wait for agency decisions. Boar grizzlies are known to kill younger bears so, naturally, younger boars and sows with cubs find new, safer turf.
Vacillating policy negotiations plus the predator-prey relationship plus proximity equals inevitable harm to livestock. Conrad-area sheep producer Don Sporleder is not sure how many of his ewes were caught in this equation in the week before July 8. Sporleder's ewes lamb in June so the lambs can land on green grass. He divided his flock into three groups that grazed in fenced pastures within a mile of one another. One guard dog stayed with the group farthest from the corrals while the other guard dog protected the two groups near the barn and corrals. "The sow started killing on June 29. I found out when the sow chased a ewe toward me. The ewe had a battered hip that was open on top with intestinal fluid seeping out," Sporleder said.
On July 1, a Wednesday, Sporleder left a phone message for Mike Madel, grizzly specialist for MFWP. Madel sent his assistant, Seth Thompson, to investigate. On July 3, Thompson saw a coyote on his way to Sporleder's ranch. He told Sporleder that the ewe could have been wounded by a coyote. "That's not the way coyotes kill," Sporleder said.
Madel updated Wildlife Services agent Mike Hoggan because only the federal Wildlife Services agency is authorized to capture the ESA-listed predator. Hoggan, who also raises sheep near Sporleder, was sympathetic, but his hands were tied until the sow killed livestock. During the evening of July 2, Sporleder spotted the sow again. "The bear and the sheep were about 100 yards from each other. When she saw me, she stood up. I screamed and took off after her on my 4-wheeler. She turned, but not very fast. She wasn't really afraid. I didn't chase her very far because she could outrun that 4-wheeler if she wanted," Sporleder said.
By July 6, Sporleder found a ewe that had been killed by the sow in his shed after he heard his dogs barking in the night. Hoggan set a culvert trap that morning, using the dead ewe as bait. Early in the morning on July 7, the bear was feeding on part of the ewe in front of the culvert trap when Sporleder surprised it at 5 a.m. The bear ran away.
Hoggan set snares in a pen designed to guide the sow through the snares, along with three game cameras. The sow killed a ewe in Sporleder's farthest pasture that night. Hoggan arrived about 5 a.m. the next morning to find the sow eating on the carcass in an old irrigation ditch with the guard dogs barking at her on the bank above.
The Wildlife Services helicopter was in the shop for maintenance so MFWP brought a helicopter. It took MFWP agents all day to find and dart the sow and cubs. Hoggan documented four confirmed dead ewes and two lambs, plus six probable kills and the lambs that are too small to survive without their mothers. Madel noted 10 kills. "I don't know how Madel knows because I don't know how many she killed," Sporleder said. "Yes, they said they would pay me for the dead sheep, but all of my other ewes will go off their milk from all this trauma. Those little lambs need that milk. They won't grow like they should now."
Madel antagonized area ranchers even more when he named the sow and cubs for publicity. "They aren't people. They are predators," Sporleder said.

On to the plains...
Sporleder is not the only livestock producer to suffer losses this year. A boar grizzly was euthanized after he killed sheep near Lincoln in June. Near Red Lodge, a grizzly that had been relocated from Wyoming killed four ewes and four lambs during two attacks in June. The sheep were in a corral near the landowner's house both nights.
MFWP issued a statement describing the situation: "A 3-year-old male grizzly bear was euthanized at the FWP state wildlife lab in Bozeman Tuesday (June 23). The bear was captured Monday morning on private land north of Red Lodge after two separate incidents of depredation occurring Thursday, June 20 and Saturday, June 22. On Thursday, the bear killed one sheep and then returned on Saturday and killed seven more and wounded two others. Both USDA-Wildlife Services and FWP investigated the incidents and found the bear had been within the confines of corrals and in close proximity to buildings. Wildlife Services officials captured and tranquilized the bear. With help from FWP biologists, the bear was moved to the FWP laboratory in Bozeman, where it was euthanized Tuesday. "This was the third time this bear had been captured. It was captured and moved in 2011 and 2012 along with his mother and sibling along the South Fork of the Shoshone River southwest of Cody, Wyoming. The bear was in overall good condition for his age and the time of year. It weighed 200 pounds."
Sporleder has a solution for problem bears. "We need to get them off the Endangered Species list now so we can protect our livestock," he said.


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