Great Falls tribune., 1922-04-23
'250 GRAY wolves
/ PREY|NG ON STATE
LIVESTOCK, IS SAID
U. S. Biological Survey Would
Cooperate With Montana
Stockmen Against Pests.
Special to The Tribune.

Stockmen Against Pests.
Special to The Tribune.
| Butte, April 22.-There are prob
ably 250 gray wolves preying upon the
| livestock Of Montana, according 10 u
| A. Piper Of the Denver office Of The
U. S. biological survey from which ihe
work Of destroying predatory animals
in the western states is directed. AIR
Piper was in Butte during the present
week attending the convention Of the
Montana Stock Growers association
with the view to impressing upon the
stockmen Of Montana the advantages
Of cooperation with the biological sur
vey in the eradication of predatory
animals
He stated that the work was taken
| up by the government due to the
| enormous losses to livestock from the
| depredations of wolves. coyotes, noun
tain lions and other species Of the cat
family. These losses, he said, had
amounted to between $25.OOO,OOO and
! $50. 100000 in the United States an
| nually. The control of predatory an
| imals and the ravages of rabies, which
are spread By certain wild animals. ac-
cordingly, is a purely business matter,
| he said
Develop Trappers
The department was started in
1885, said Mr.. Piper, "and we have
been able to develop men in the bust
| ness who are keenly interested in the
| work. In the early days Of the de-
partment catches by our men compared
favorably with those Of professional
I..l Al>oI +,.ur, 1rt
an art, highly developed science and
many men who trap really don't know
how. In one case we employed q
hunter in Montana several years ago,
man Of experience. In the early
summer he worked so days and caught
| only nine coyotes. He was discouraged
until the inspector showed him par
ticular gopher bait set. He adopted
it and in the first week he caught seven
coyotes and two bob cats and IN the
following month he caught 43 coyotes
and seven cats on the same range.
Before the department as organized
the poisoning Of woles had become an
almost lost art. However in the last
two years we have developed new
form of strychniEe and a new method
Of using it which has changed the whole
problem Of killing wolves and coyotes.
it has no effect upon livestock and we
have only to safeguard against the
poisoning of dogs. The basis of this
new method is that in which the bitter
taste Of the strychnine is delayed for
moment, long enough to permit the
animal to chew the bait before he de-
tects the poison. It is distributed by the
department carefully under regulations
which does away with the dangers of
the wholesale distribution of poisons.
We maintain a laboratory in Denver
where experiments with poison have
|been carried on and from which we have
distributed 10000 ounces Of poison for
the eradication of wolves.
Has is District Offices
AT the present time we have Is
district offices and work is in progress
in every western state except North
Dakota In 10 states we have state Co
operation through legislative action.
but this co-operati ton upon the part Of
the states is the smallest feature of
the aid given US. greater cooperation
coming to US on the part of livestock
associations, counties and organizations
Of sportsmen. Our department is en-
dorsed by every stock association in the
country.
The forest service and the Indian
agents are putting the work over just
as they have organized prairie dog
campaigns. ! hope the Montana stock
men will not line up their campaign
on a dollar for dollar basis as our APP
preparation is small only S240,0OO for
the last year. Our demands are grow
ing and naturally we have to spread
our appropriation thinner and thinner.
II we had force Of eight good wolf
men in Montana it would be only two
or three years until the stockmen should
experience great relief. 1t does no
good to get two or three wolves out of
a pack and leave enough to breed
again the next year. In effective work
you must clean out the entire pack.
In New Mexico we have destroyed
over 600 big gray wolves in the last
six years Today there are not more
In some eases it has taken a year or
more to capture some particularly willy
wolf. In Wyoming the number of
wolves is close to 600 and we have
rid many Of the ranges by the scien
tific use of poison.
I'm Montana some very effective
work has been done with wolves and
some ranges have been cleaned. How
ever. in some areas practically cleared
In 11lS the wolves are increasing. We
figure that there are probably $50 gray
wolves in the state today.
The coyote is nothing but small
wolf. 1t usually preys on nothing larger
than sheep but | have known it to kill
young calves. Besides being de
stroyer Of small stock and wild game
life. the coyote is responsible for the
spread Of rabies, or hydrophobia. Since
last spring rabies has spread like wild |
fire III certain sections in Washington
and / understand it has extended east
ward into Idaho. 1t is only matter |
of time until the rabies will have ex-
tended to the Montana coyotes and |
bobcats.
In earlier years the sheepman who |
took his flocks to the higher attitudes |
was practically safe from the coyote |
but within the last Is years the coyote |
has become more numerous in the
higher ranges. They have spread across
the coast range and down through the
Pacific coast states. They are also
working eastward and where. 10 or II
years ago, there were none in northern
Michigan, it is now estimated there
arc 1000 there. They are also being
found in Indiana"