Wyoming Predation

Wyoming Predation

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
According to an article in the Casper Star Tribune – Albert Sommers ranches in one of the toughest ranges in the United States….counties in Wyoming where grizzlies and wolves run the range praying on their cattle. Sommers turned 294 head of Angus and Hereford cows out on the group’s grazing allotment in the area this spring. More than 30 came back without a calf.

 

The loss could cost him more than $36,000 in the current cattle market. Kent Drake, predator management coordinator at the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, said management strategies aren’t simple. “Most of the things that are available to them, especially with endangered species, are non-lethal methods. Calving closer to home, keeping cattle closer to home when they are smaller, then moving up to higher ground with the larger animals, of course guard dogs and we have some folks using electric fence around sheep, bedding them at night to protect them from grizzly bears and wolves but those strategies are certainly limited. Are there enough grizzlies and are they aggressive enough that they pose major problems for livestock producers ? They do in the western part of the state where the grizzly habitat is. The number that they needed to meet the quota for delisting under the Endangered Species Act was reached back in the early 2000’s. Here we are in 2014 and there are more grizzlies than what we have ever had by far and of course they need things to eat as well so they certainly have issues with livestock in the habitat that they try and coexist in, especially in the summer.

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