Wolf vs. Livestock Compensation Gets $1 Million

Ten states will share $1 million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to help compensate ranchers for losses caused by wolves and to help them implement non-lethal methods of preventing the wolves from killing their livestock. Since being listed as a federally-protected endangered species in 1967, the gray wolf has staged a rapid comeback and the violent interface between wolves and livestock producers has again become an issue. For example, the Montana Department of Fish and Wildlife reported confirmed wolf kills of 298 cattle and 461 sheep from 1995 to 2007. "Wolf populations are expanding in several parts of the nation, and this grant program gives us another tool to help states minimize conflict where wolves and human activities overlap," said Rowan Gould, acting Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a press release. States to receive compensation funds include; Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. According to the FWS, amounts awarded to each state were based the number of livestock killed by wolves in each state, the number of wolves in each state, and need in each state...more