Dear HCN,
In
response to Joy York’s letter to the editor, “Wolf killing hard to
swallow” (HCN, 7/10/02:Wolf killing hard to swallow), we are
stunned to see an accusation that Defenders of Wildlife is “in the
business of killing wolves.”
How that statement
could possibly be made about an organization that has done so much
to promote wolf restoration in the Northern Rockies is
unfathomable. Defenders was one of the lead organizations working
to reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone and Idaho and has continued
supporting wolves since then, putting our resources and energy
toward creating more tolerance and protection for them through our
Proactive Carnivore program.
The guardian program
Ms. York references is working full-steam right now to hang miles
of fladry in record breaking heat in high mountain terrain. Fladry
is a nonlethal method of fencing being studied to deter wolves. It
may well prevent another calf depredation on a ranch with a history
of chronic wolf losses * and hopefully give humans one more
nonlethal tool to use to reduce wolf conflicts around the world.
Our guardian volunteers are people who love wolves and want to help
them. They are teachers, biologists, researchers, college students,
and others who believe that the best way to help is to work with
the ranchers, biologists, and rural residents to avoid or reduce
livestock losses. They are donating their own time and resources to
travel from across the country to Idaho to spend their vacations
working with us to help protect the
wolves.
Defenders is also putting up electric
fencing on a farm with depredation problems, purchasing guard dogs
for other ranchers, hiring range riders for the Yellowstone area,
paying for additional aerial flights to help a sheep producer steer
his bands clear of wolf activity – and this year alone we’ve paid
over $35,000 in this region to reimburse livestock owners for wolf
losses. Our fund has paid ranchers nearly $250,000 total, not
including the funds we’ve used for our proactive efforts and the
rewards we’ve posted for poachers who illegally kill wolves. What
other environmental organization has done
more?
While I understand and share her grieving
for the loss of the Whitehawk pack, I encourage Ms. York to learn
more before making accusations that are so hurtful and
untrue.
Suzanne Laverty Boise, Idaho
The author is the Northwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Defenders defends wolves.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
