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Len McIrvin on Diamond M Ranch near Laurier
BY KIM FRLAN
SE Staff Reporter
It’s been nearly 80 years since a wolf killed a calf on a Washington State ranch, but it happened last month.
The McIrvin’s lose up to 75 calves a year on their 5000 acre Diamond M Ranch, due to cougar, bear and coyote kills. At $600 a head, that’s a substantial loss the ranchers have to bear.
The calf carcass Bill McIrvin found in a pasture wasn’t anything like kills he’d seen before, though. It hadn’t been pulled into the brush, so it wasn’t a cougar. It hadn’t been mauled and all the bones crushed, so it wasn’t a bear. The calf was too large for a coyote to attack. There seemed to be no explanation, until the next morning when wolf tracks were found all over the area.
Two days later, a second carcass was found within 100 feet of an occupied cabin on the ranch.
The McIrvin’s called state Fish & Wildlife officials, who contacted Federal Animal Damage Control officers. They came out o the ranch just south of the Canadian border near Laurier and skinned the remains of the calf. Fang marks were visible in the animal’s flesh once the hide was removed. Canine-like tracks that were 5 ½ inches long by 4 inches wide were seen around the carcass. Photos were taken and sent to experts. The evidence was conclusive – a wolf had killed the calf.
Len McIrvin asked a Federal official, “If I see a wolf killing a calf, can I shoot it?”
The answer came back, “Absolutely not, unless you want to go to prison and pay a big fine.”
Since wolves remain on the Federal endangered species list, none can be killed at any time or for any reason.
Federal agents remained on the McIrvin’s ranch for a week, trying to trap the wolf and move it elsewhere. After they left, the family heard wolves howling in the area, but they have yet to find another wolf kill among their calves. They expect to find some as they complete their fall roundup by the end of this month.
Conservationists versus ranchers
At present, there is a huge gulf between the desires of conservationists and the needs of ranchers.
Conservationists want to see native wolf species returned to the land. They believe the wolf’s eradication by bounty hunters years ago left the state’s ecosystem out of balance, and that balance cannot be restored until wolves are once again roaming freely through our forests. They honor and revere the wolf for its cunning and its hunting abilities, and see it as a beautiful creature that deserves to be protected.
Ranchers, on the other hand, face tens of thousands of dollars in losses every year if wolf populations in Washington reach levels they have achieved in Idaho and Wyoming. And they have little or no hope for compensation.
“If my dog kills your chickens, I have to pay you,” Len McIrvin said. “They state owns the wolves. They government has never paid anything for wolf kills.”
Conservationists have set up a Defenders of Wildlife Fund that is supposed to compensate ranchers for losses. McIrvin claims that only 10 percent of wolf kills are actually compensated for, and then not at market value.
“To be considered for compensation, you have to show an increased human presence in the area,” McIrvin explained. “You have to prove that you used non-lethal methods to move the wolves away – like brightly colored ribbons, electric fences, or sirens. You have to prove there were no dead animals on your property that brought wolves in. On a ranch the size of ours, that’s impossible.”
So, instead of being compensated for the government’s conservation program when it threatens their livelihood, McIrvin said he and other ranchers like him will be forced to sacrifice their calves to feed the wolves conservationists want to protect.
“If it’s endangering my livelihood and my life, that is not the American way,” McIrvin said. “We can’t fight the wolves and fight the US government at the same time. It’s a no-win situation as long as we have those kind of policymakers in office.”
The Department of Fish & Wildlife has set up a Wolf Working Group to devise a plan for managing wolves in Washington State if the species is federally delisted. The group has completed four of seven scheduled meetings. Jeff Dawson, a local rancher who was named to the committee, could not be reached for comment.
The Outdoor Wire quoted Jeff Koenings, PhD. in a January, 2007 news release as saying that the working group represents a wide range of interests that would be affected by wolf populations increasing in this state. He said members of the group were chosen for their ability to build consensus.
If consensus is not reached by the diverse members of this group, each faction will be allowed to file its own findings and recommendations with the state agency. The Department of Fish & Wildlife will take the group’s findings into consideration, but the agency says it is under no obligation to follow their recommendations. A final wolf management plan is expected to be devised some time in 2008.
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