European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 26, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Packs rebuild their numbers amid new controversy it k i �w-1 Ltd a a woh us Hong confirm at Hong Mutti Palad Quot a  wolves Strong family Structure helps them survive. Two satisfied wolves took up from their dinner of a freshly killed Deer. By William Kronholm the associated press five inches of powdery Snow covered the Mountainside in Western Montana As Ralph thisted studied Paw prints around an Elk rib Cage still stained dark with blood. The powder was too dry to hold prints Well and thisted spent several minutes looking for a Good example. Finally he pointed at one depression the size of a Man s fist. Quot that one looks like it May be one of the pups Quot said thisted. Quot the adults Are  How Large he formed his hands into a Circle the size of a Saucer. For a i years thisted has by Eert witness on his. Montana ranch to one of the most remarkable and most controversial occurrences in wildlife history a the return of the Gray Wolf to the Northern Rockies. A pack has lived and borne pups in this Remote Valley since 1990. It was t supposed to be Here. At one Point it was reduced to six orphaned pups who had to teach themselves to Hunt. Over the following year one Pup was captured after preying on sheep and now is captive at a Refuge. Two pups were killed. The other three scattered their fates unknown. One May be the Alpha male the Leader of the current seven member nine mile pack biologists Aren t  thisted now retired from the cattle business watched the pack develop observing through binoculars and a Large spotting scope in his living room rising before Dawn to hide in a barn across the Valley and record the wolves on videotape. Now with Hunting season just Over thisted sighs in Relief that none of the wolves a he would never say Quot my wolves Quot a fell to gunfire a half Century ago people took Pride in killing wolves. A shy but fierce predator capable of bringing Down full grown Moose and Elk the Gray Wolf was poisoned trapped shot bounded and even dynamited to extinction in the Western United states by ranchers who feared losing their Stock. Now the Wolf is coming Back moving through the forests of the Northern Rockies to new Dens  valleys and Foothills it is reawakening All the old fears and suspicions and hatreds and generating new ones. To Many of its enemies the Wolf is not just a predator he is Quot nature is criminal Quot killing animals that Are not just prey but defenceless victims. But this time the Wolf has friends a environmentalists animal rightists movie stars and simple nature lovers. They Are turning the Wolf into a celebrity of sorts a Symbol of what they see As the essence of wilderness. At their most extreme they portray the Wolf not just As acceptable  Noble not just desirable but almost sacred. A and they demand that the Wolf take Primacy Over other interests the cattle and sheep ranchers who Graze their Stock near Wolf  that s not realistic Quot said Steve Fritts a wildlife biologist with the . Fish and wildlife service who is coordinating Wolf recovery efforts in the Northern Rockies. Quot some wolves will cause problems. They la go to places they should t go do things they should t do. We have to manage those animals and always will have to manage those animals. Managing wolves is the Cost if you will of having wolves  when Fritts says Quot manage Quot he Means killing wolves that repeatedly prey on livestock. The euphemism itself Speaks to How prickly the question of wolves has become the Wolf has always been More than a Garden variety predator. Culture and religion have turned it into a powerful Symbol of evil that tugs at the dark Corners of the mind. Author Barry Lopez explored the animal s symbolic past in his 1978 Book of wolves and men. In medieval Europe he noted the roman Catholic Church used wolves to create a sense of real devils prowling the world. The Church s portrayal of Quot werewolves Quot As a common evil to be hunted Down and killed served to smother social and political unrest during the inquisition. And m Massachusetts a 1638 Law prohibited firing guns within town limits Quot except at an Indian or a  As americans moved West they had another reason for killing wolves their survival and that of their cattle sheep and horses. With Deer hair from a recent kill hanging from its nose a Gray Wolf Peers through the Snoie at Yellowstone cattlemen of the last Century pressured state and territorial Legislatures for help in defeating the predator. Montana enacted its first Bounty in 1884, offering $1 for a dead Wolf. But even killing for Bounty was too mild for some. Trappers told stories of dousing live wolves with gasoline and setting them afire of wiring their Mouths shut and leaving them to starve of strangling their pups and dynamite no their Dens of stringing them up in Trees and sniping at their twisting bodies with pistols. In 1905, the Montana legislature passed a Law requiring the state veterinarian to inoculate wolves with a Mange and turn them Loose to infect others. Wolves who survived this Gauntlet tended to be the wildest the most cunning. Many were the last wolves left in areas where cows had replaced game and they survived by killing the cattle that were the Only Large prey left. Though there May have been a few stragglers into the 19�?~10s, for All practical purposes the Wolf was gone by 1930. More than a half Century has passed. I Imes and attitudes have changed. The endangered species act became Law and the Gray Wolf was formally listed in 1973. Now the fish and wildlife service is drawing plans to return the Wolf to those same mountains and valleys where it once was it pursued. Ranches tend to stay in family hands in Montana and Many ranchers today grew up hearing grandpa Tell tales of tracking and killing wolves they Are thunderstruck at the idea his work would be undone. They worry about their own herds today. Final studies of recovery plans now Are under Way. Hut a 1987 blueprint Calls for introducing Breeding Wolf pairs in Yellowstone National Park and across the bitterroot Range in Central Idaho. Some wolves migrated by themselves into a third area Glacier National Park in 1985, and two packs Are Breeding there now. The draft plan set a goal of 10 Breeding pairs in each of the three recovery areas. When that Goat is met for three successive years the fish and wildlife service says the Wolf can he removed irom the endangered species list in the Northern . Public hearings on the plan last summer Drew it barged testimony from both sides. Some supp oilers pleaded emotionally for the Chance to hear a Wolf howl in the wild the blackfeet Indian tribe said the animal was sacred to them. More commonly supporters said the Wolf was necessary to re establish a natural balance. In Yellowstone they said the. Lack of an effective predator has allowed Elk and Bison herds to mushroom Wyond healthy limits. Quot i d like to think that we still have places in the United states that have a Complete ecosystem where we have All the plants and animals still functioning said Hank Fischer the regional representative of the defenders of wildlife. He said wolves also serve As a powerful Symbol. Quot around the campfire wolves cast pretty big shadows Quot he said. Quot they re just so evocative of wildness. Our world is changing so much people just yearn for some touch of wildness animals like wolves let them do  critics feared that people would be attacked. Biologists dismiss that concern saying wolves Are among the most reclusive of predators. They have been known to stand Back and watch even when humans crawled into their Dens and handled their pups. There have been a few ambiguous encounters Between humans and wolves. But biologist l. David Mech a noted Wolf expert says the fact the person usually was uninjured or had Only a few scratches shows the Wolf s intent was not to kill Hunters argued wolves would decimate game herds. Biologists agree that game animals will be killed and Hunters will be affected. One estimate is that the 100 or so wolves necessary for recovery in the three areas will kill 1,500 to 2,000 Elk a year. But they say the loss is unlikely to have any substantial Impact on total game populations. Yellowstone alone has about 25,000 Elk. Other critics said Wolf recovery would mean new restrictions on the use of Federal land which would Hurt mining and logging. The fish and wildlife service said the area immediately around Dens would be restricted for a month or so in the Spring when pups Are born but no other restrictions arc expected. But the strongest arguments came from stockmen who fear for Domestic herds. They find the idea galling for two particular reasons. First is the idea of physically bringing in wolves and setting them Loose knowing they or their packs eventually May prey on cattle and sheep Stock at nearby ranches. Quot if the wolves come in Here naturally it s nobody s fault. Then it s just a risk of the game Quot said Scott Wiley of the lost Trail ranch near Marion Mont. Quot but if the wolves Are reintroduced at the taxpayers expense then i think we should definitely be paid for any  even More galling is the question of control wolves still Are listed As endangered in Montana. That s True even though the fish and wildlife service estimates there Are at least 1,500 Gray wolves in Minnesota about 55,000 in Canada and probably 6,q00 or More in Alaska it is a Federal crime to kill an endangered species Quot i raise these sheep Quot says Bob Gilbert of i Helena Mont., Secretary treasurer of the Montana Wool growers association Quot i m not going to let dogs or coyotes get in and rip lip my sheep. Quot but i m supposed to sit Thero and watch this Wolf get into my sheep kill my sheep and Call Federal authorities and say come and help me get this Wolf out of there and in the meantime my sheep Are torn up and  to people like Gilbert it is a plan pushed by Eastern environmentalists for the Benefit of Eastern tourists. Not considered Are the worries a and the livelihoods a of those who live in the recovery areas. Gilbert argues support for the idea would evaporate if those pushing it had to live with the consequences. Back on his ranch in the nine mile Valley thisted cues a videotape of the nine mile pack playing in his pasture surrounded by cattle the wolves ignore the cows. A neighbor lost a yearling steer to wolves in May and got $374 from a fund set up by the defenders of wildlife an environmental group. But slut pack has killed no cattle since then and in Lxi years thisted has lost no rows to the pack. I it Points to the gravel Road passing by Bis rant Luhouse and says logging trucks probably kill More calves than wolves could. Quot they Haven t done any harm. I say give them a chant  18 the stars and stripes tuesday to or 26,1993 the stars and stripes