A Fragile Recovery for Oregon's Wolves

by Stephanie Taylor, Wildlife Intern

Headlines have been alerting us to the news that with the confirmation of 7 breeding pairs of wolves in Oregon, ODFW is shifting into Phase 2 of its Wolf Management Plan. Phase 2 allows livestock operators the “flexibility” to shoot wolves near grazing areas, whether actively attacking livestock or not. Interestingly enough, this transition comes about the same time as the release of an important study on the surprising effects of killing carnivores on livestock losses. 

The results from this Washington State University study, based on 25 years of government data, conclude that killing wolves and other native predators to save livestock from depredation are actually having the opposite effect. 

While shooting carnivores may seem like the most logical and direct response, the study shows that by killing wolves, wolf packs become disrupted resulting in an increase in livestock depredations. Study author Rob Wielgus, a WSU wildlife biologist, said “wolf killings likely disrupt the social cohesion of the pack. While an intact breeding pair will keep young offspring from mating, disruption can set sexually mature wolves free to breed, leading to an increase in breeding pairs. As they have pups, they become bound to one place and cannot hunt deer and elk as freely.” 

Wolf packs also provide an important educational role to their young. Each member of a pack may play a different role. Experienced wolves have important knowledge and skills they can pass on. Killing them impairs this social learning process. If the rest of the pack hasn't learned the skills necessary to effectively take on natural prey like bison or elk, they may instead turn towards easier prey like livestock. This study found that the increasing wolf killing results in increasing the odds of livestock depredations 4% for sheep and 5-6% for cattle (watch the video above for full details).

At a critical point for Oregon’s tenuous wolf recovery, we applaud ODFW's efforts in recent years to encourage non-lethal measures, increase transparency, set clear guidelines, and reduce conflict. “The success of Oregon’s wolf recovery has largely been due to the non-lethal requirements that reduced wolf-livestock conflict and made Oregon a model for the rest of the country,” says Rob Klavins, Northeast Coordinator for Oregon Wild. “However, because of the Phase 2 transition, these required measures are now in jeopardy.”  

With non-lethal measures proving critical to recovery efforts and conflict reduction in Oregon, it’s important to keep in mind that what works in one situation may not be applicable to another or for all time. “A sheep operation in the Willamette Valley is going to be a whole lot different than an open-range cattle situation in the canyonlands of Wallowa County. It's important that the right measures be used in the right situations at the right time," says Klavins. "Poorly implemented non-lethal measures can actually make problems worse and are often used by naysayers who would rather shoot first. However, where implemented earnestly and appropriately, they can work extremely well.” 

The results of this study found that killing wolves only helps protect livestock after 25% of a wolf population has been killed. Oregon residents have time and again shown that they value wolves and other native wildlife. Purposely eliminating wolves from the landscape again is not as an option in the 21st century. Despite the science, gray wolves are currently being hunted and killed in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, in part - proponents say - to reduce livestock depredations.   

Using this government data, researchers conducted similar research on livestock killed by other predators, including brown bears, cougars, jaguars, lions, leopards, and more. Each of these studies provides similar results: killing predators creates a social disruption on the stability of their families and packs which actually causes more - not less - predation.

According to 25 years of tested scientific data, it seems we are ultimately better off learning to live with rather than kill native wildlife. “Killing wolves and other native hunters is cathartic for some,” says Klavins. “It's simple. It gives the illusion of solving a problem but upon closer inspection, it seems to make the problem worse. Shooting, trapping, and poisoning are 18th century solutions. In the 21st century, we can do better.”

Related story: 
http://www.oregonwild.org/about/press/study-killing-wolves-means-more-l…

    

Photo Credits
Photos courtesy ODFW