DesertFox
02-24-2008, 11:01 AM
One morning Joe Thomas sat atop a hill with binoculars, scanning his pasture land, when he spotted two wolves coming down from the timberline.
They approached his 1,000 head of cows from two different directions, picked out a small group and started herding them around.
"The older ones were teaching the younger ones how to hunt," Thomas said. "They were working in a half circle, like a good set of stock dogs would. I got to witness the whole thing."
Over the years, wolves have killed about 20 calves on Thomas's ranch near the Greybull River, 20 miles west of Meeteetse. Last year the canines killed six.
"They are a really efficient killer," he said.
It was a dumb thing to reintroduce wolves into the Northern Rockies, Thomas said, but now that they're here, he's learned to adapt, and he said he's accepted that Wyoming will need to manage them for the long run.
More (http://www.trib.com/articles/2008/02/24/news/wyoming/ec138e6e04b00bce872573f8006d06e4.txt)
They approached his 1,000 head of cows from two different directions, picked out a small group and started herding them around.
"The older ones were teaching the younger ones how to hunt," Thomas said. "They were working in a half circle, like a good set of stock dogs would. I got to witness the whole thing."
Over the years, wolves have killed about 20 calves on Thomas's ranch near the Greybull River, 20 miles west of Meeteetse. Last year the canines killed six.
"They are a really efficient killer," he said.
It was a dumb thing to reintroduce wolves into the Northern Rockies, Thomas said, but now that they're here, he's learned to adapt, and he said he's accepted that Wyoming will need to manage them for the long run.
More (http://www.trib.com/articles/2008/02/24/news/wyoming/ec138e6e04b00bce872573f8006d06e4.txt)