The wolf wasn’t
guilty
The wolf shot in late
January in central Idaho did not kill the calf it was feeding on,
says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In a letter to Idaho Rep.
Helen Chenoweth, R, acting regional director Thomas Dwyer said
veterinary pathologists who examined the calf concluded that the
animal died of “complications associated with birth … the wolf in
question did not specifically depradate on a living animal.”
Earlier reports concluded exactly the opposite (HCN, 2/20/95). The
agency’s continuing investigation into the attack has sparked
resentment locally. Two federal agents armed with pistols and a
search warrant visited Salmon rancher Gene Hussey’s ranch in early
March to look for spent cartridges and the bullet that killed the
wolf. Hussey, arriving shortly thereafter with Lemhi County
Sherriff Brett Barsalou, says the agents called him a welfare
rancher, reports the Idaho Falls Post-Register. Special agent Paul
Weyland tells a different story; he says Hussey threw rocks at him
and flipped the cap off his colleague’s head. “We did absolutely
nothing wrong,” Weyland says. The agents left without conducting
the investigation, and probably won’t return. U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service Director Mollie Beattie issued an internal memo
March 9 asking that agents refrain from all Endangered Species Act
enforcement unless cleared through her office. An agency spokesman
says there are no plans to return to Hussey’s
ranch.
* Paul Larmer
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The wolf wasn’t guilty.
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