Defenders' Experts
Northern Rockies Wolves: In the Field
Legal Action for Wolves
Defenders of Wildlife and 12 other conservation groups filed a
lawsuit asking the courts to reverse the ill-timed and unwarranted removal of Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies.
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Stay up to date by reading our blog, My Yellowstone Wolves.
- provide assistance and incentives to ranchers and farmers to adopt wolf-friendly animal husbandry methods;
- work collaboratively with ranchers to demonstrate that these nonlethal methods are effective;
- provide strong oversight of state and federal activities aimed at resolving wolf-livestock conflicts, and apply pressure on agencies to use nonlethal control methods.
- educate ranchers, the media, and the public about the long-term benefits of nonlethal wolf management;
- provide compensation to ranchers for livestock lost to wolves through Defenders of Wildlife Wolf Compensation Trust.
Defenders established the Defenders of Wildlife Foundation Proactive Carnivore Conservation Fund to help advance nonlethal wolf control through on-the-ground projects. This fund supports ranchers and wildlife managers in using livestock guarding dogs, fladry (flagging), fencing, livestock relocation, range riders to patrol grazing lands, and other innovative tools to prevent wolf-livestock conflicts. These are practical, science-based methods that have proven highly effective More wolves are killed every year as a result of livestock conflicts than any other cause of wolf mortality in the northern Rockies. Less than 1 percent of livestock losses are due to wolves but that still means dozens of ranchers lose livestock to wolves each year. Exclusive use of traditional lethal control measures only perpetuates an endless cycle of livestock and wolf losses, escalates conflicts, and costs taxpayers thousands of dollars every year. Compensation programs help pay for the market value of confirmed livestock losses, but avoiding losses to wolves is far more preferable to both livestock managers and wolf conservationists.
In 2008, Defenders developed the “Livestock and Wolves; A Guide to Nonlethal Tools and Methods to Reduce Conflicts,” that details the key nonlethal tactics and tools designed to reduce conflicts, while keeping in mind that every livestock operation is unique and there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. The guide is based on regional workshops that included participation from ranchers, wildlife managers, conservationists and scientists and real projects in the field that have tested these methods under different conditions.
For example, Defenders has co-sponsored a multi-year range rider project at The Lazy EL, a 12,000 acre ranch located 35 miles northwest of Yellowstone National Park. In Idaho, local ranches partnering with Defenders and wildlife agencies to expand their use of non-lethal wolf control measures experienced no wolf-related livestock losses in 2006 (read press release).
Such success stories have caused many ranchers to change their opinions about nonlethal methods, and their perception of living with wolves. For example, rancher Lane Adamson, of Ennis, Montana, expressed the following support:
"The collaborative process works and can help those with divergent opinions resolve misunderstandings without damaging the value of one another as human beings...The direction we are pursuing now regarding living with wolves is a great place to start this effort."
Learn more about our proactive efforts to protect wolves and livestock on our blog, My Yellowstone Wolves.
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