Tensions rise on the range after wolf kills cow in California for the first time in a century

A wolf has killed a California rancher’s cow for the first time in more than 100 years, raising tensions in the newly reclaimed wolf country in California’s rugged northeastern corner. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed that a member of the so-called Lassen Pack killed a heifer Oct. 13 on private property in western Lassen County. Data from a GPS collar worn by the pack’s breeding female showed it had been on-site for at least six hours the night the 600-pound yearling was killed. Wildlife officials said wolves were seen at the carcass the following morning. When state wildlife officers were investigating the kill, the wolf hung close, on a forested slope a few hundred yards away. “The location and nature of the bite marks and the significant associated tissue hemorrhaging are consistent with attacks by wolves,” the wildlife agency said in a report posted on its website. “Many of the bite marks penetrated tissues to a depth of approximately 1.5 inches.” Ranchers, already anxious about the threat from wolves since the endangered animals returned to Northern California in 2011, criticized Fish and Wildlife for not announcing the confirmed kill. The incident didn’t get widely publicized until the California Farm Bureau Federation and the California Cattlemen’s Association issued a press release Friday...more

 A publicly owned asset (wolf) destroys a privately owned asset (livestock) on private property and the USFWS says nothing.

Let's say, though, the event is reversed.

A private individual (you) destroys a publicly owned asset (wolf) on federal land. Will silence again be the USFWS approach?

Hell no. First, dozens of federal officers will be swarming all over your property. Second, a full-throated federal PR effort will be launched to announce the dastardly event to local, state, regional, national and  international media. You, your family and your enterprise will be crucified in print and over the airwaves, including video and still photos of you being carted off in handcuffs.

And that is the "balanced" approach we are subject to today.