Wolf Issues Part 3

Recent wolf attacks on sheep and a cow in NE Oregon have ranchers again asking questions. Rancher and former President of the Oregon's Cattleman's Association, Bill Hoyt says when asked where cattleman stand, it's not that they want all wolves to be killed but that they would like to be able to protect their herds.

HOYT: The killing of livestock and the predating on livestock is a learned behavior. so that if mom and dad are not livestock predators, then they're not going to teach their kids to so the prey base will be the natural prey base, it won't be livestock and we're perfectly fine with that. That's great. I'm sort of a behavior mod guy. I figure once the depredation starts, you're going to have a hard time changing that behavior.

He says that is where most of the cattlemen are.

HOYT: We are wanting to manage wolves in such a way that we don't create this conflict and if we do that we deal with it. There's some language right now that would allow that only it's pretty specific. It has to be biting, chasing, harassing and it has to be caught in the act and if you know anything about wolves, that is very, very difficult to do because wolves are generally nocturnal, they're very smart and catching one in the act is highly unlikely in most cases.

And he says that even if you have these things happen it is very difficult to identify the guilty party.

HOYT: So if you say we don't really know which individuals we're dealing with here so the only alternative then is to reduce the number in that pack. And as soon as the Department under the wolf plan takes on the responsibility of doing that, they're sued.

That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.