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Putting up fladry in Big Wood River, ID
Photo Credit: Suzanne Stone

Learn more about the nonlethal methods to protect livestock from wolves utilized on the Big Wood River Project

LIVESTOCK AND WOLVES: PREVENTING CONFLICT WITH FLADRY

For hundreds of years, ranchers have had to address issues of protecting their livestock from natural predators, sometimes forced to do so in a lethal manner. When wolves prey upon livestock, the social tolerance for the number of depredations and the presence of these animals decreases.

Fladry, a line mounted along the top of a fence from which strips of fabric or some other material are suspended have been used to deter wolves from traversing a fence-line for centuries. First developed and used by hunters in Eastern Europe to funnel wolves into an area, once caught in the fladry trap wolves were reluctant to cross the barrier and were shot. Currently, fladry is used to confine wolf movements to certain areas and constrain their depredations on livestock through creation of barriers that wolves don’t like to cross or otherwise impair their predation ability.

A prevalent societal goal across the West is to protect valuable livestock from carnivores, reducing depredation losses, creating an eco-system where both domestic and wild animals can co-exist. Fladry can play a role among a suite of preventive measures available and offers a cost-effective mitigation tool for the problem of wolf predation on livestock on a local scale.

FWS CONTINUES TO PUSH OUTDATED DELISTING RULE
FOR NORTHERN ROCKIES WOLVES

by DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE

WASHINGTON, DC. – Today, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the re-opening of a public comment period on its February 8, 2007 Northern Rockies wolf delisting rule—a rule that has not only been criticized by a federal court, but was also voluntarily withdrawn by the FWS a little over a week ago. Below is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife, regarding today’s announcement.

“It is shocking—although not entirely surprising—that the FWS is still trying to push a failed delisting rule out the door before the Bush administration turns out the lights.

“This hasty action undermines the serious work, consideration and cooperation among all stakeholders that is necessary before proposing any new rule. Rushing to ram this flawed and repackaged rule does not give the Fish and Wildlife Service time to address the flaws underscored by the court when it rebuked the agency earlier this year.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service is merely repackaging a severely flawed rule instead of taking a fresh look at the management of wolves in the region. The original proposal allows around 1,000 wolves to be killed as soon as they lose the protections of the Endangered Species Act –slashing the population by as much as two thirds.

“What we need is to take a step back, bring all the stakeholders to the table and devise a plan that is informed, inclusive and balanced. Without full cooperation among interested parties, we’ll end up in the same ineffective tug-of-war that has dominated the scene during this administration. The Bush administration had its chance to come up with a responsible management plan and blew it.

This release first appeared on October 24, 2008.

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