4 Wolves Placed in Us Park to Eat Moose!
Moose
My first thought was...I’d love to go bowhunt those moose!!! Why not let us hunters PAY to lower the moose population? But...that would make too much sense and our givernment doesn’t have much of that! Anyone have a better understanding of what is going on here?
Isle Royale.
The previous wolf pack inbred to extinction on the island so the US Park Sevice and wolf lovers decided to reestablish wolves to “maintain the balance of nature”.
What a waste.
1500 moose. Issue 500 tags. Problem solved in one season. Make a ton of money for the park on top of that.
Not to mention the local economy!
Should have dropped them from 5000' over water
Not only did they transplant Wolves, they killed Moose for feed so the Wolves would know what to eat. I just don't understand this.
There are some really "smart" folks running that show...
The definition of insanity... At our expense.
So glad that we have the privilege to pay for this circle jerk.
Hard to believe that our NPS was initiated by hunter/conservationists.
My how times have changed...
Man, finally they figure out a way to keep the moose population in check up there. It was getting out of hand.
The cost of the transplants are estimated to be $20,000-$30,000 per wolf! There are 2 native wolves left on the island (inbred). Earlier, they transplanted 4, one died, another walked across the ice home. By the way, "they" say, because of climate change, Lake Superior doesn't freeze over anymore so wolves cannot migrate from Canada. I guess the ice is thick enough to leave, but not thick enough to come to the island.
It’s hard to be on the payroll when all your study subjects die off.
Toss all that data and research from past . Wipe the slate clean the next generation of biologists, interns, and support people need a job.
Fn sick! I swear we are watching one species other than moose become extinct: Hunters!
Its absolutely ridiculous! Saw this on Fox this morning and just shook my head because unfortunately I wasn't surprised.
I like to eat moose. They could of dropped me in there and they wouldn't have even needed to kill any beforehand! :)
This is just more proof that the Antis are in bed with the Park Service. Total bull$hit !
Isle Royale has become a joke, a bastion of liberal B.S...nothing new to see here!
I heard one explanation that the island would be "too difficult to access and hunt"..... I know little to nothing about the island..... but honestly would have to question it was any harder than much of Alaska, BC, etc..... certainly less than an arctic hunt that a good many hunters do.
A hunt would be controlled, as in exactly how many moose you want to reduce? Done and over in a selected time frame (early archery would be nice though)..... and bring in income to the dept and commerce for some locals. Instead spend thousands and thousands on something that has proven to fail time and time again.
To the leftists in the government.... yeah.... that makes sense.... lets do it....
You need a ferry/boat to access the island - been there several times. Hunting the island wouldn't be anymore difficult than other places. Government has turned it into a joke.
I don't have a better understanding, but I have a suggestion for them: If moose are declining in Minnesota like I am hearing, why not truck them there to boost the population, instead of killing more off. Not to mention it would help with genetic diversity of the few moose that are left in Minn. Biologic population control using predators to reduce populations have not proven to be a real positive solution in any situation. But as we all know with the numerous elk reintroductions, moving ungulates to new areas does often establish new or increasing populations. Just common sense, and a lot less controversial and divisive.
Next they will bring in cougars to control the wolves when they get too numerous. The insane cycle of biological warfare continues.
And yeah, old school fish and wildlife management went by the wayside with the old school fish and wildlife managers. Now the left controls - the bunnyhuggers have taken over the NPS, USFWS, NMFS, USGS, you name it. The old order is not doing enough to preserve the old way, or just plain outnumbered and 'unpopular' with all the new left order. Sucks.
We can send them some Grizzlies from WY. They should've let the sportsman due the job!
Bowboy:
Hope Wyoming starts shipping grizzlies to California soon...
Could ship wolves and grizzlies to plenty of places like New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. and wouldn't hurt my feelings any...
I was at some of the meetings regarding this. Hunting was dismissed without a 2nd thought.
I guess I don't really see the issue. It's not like the wolves are what is preventing a moose hunt on the island. If they aren't going to allow a hunt there whether there are wolves or not, what is the harm in the wolves being there?
Relocating moose? Good luck with that. In addition to being dang near impossible, it will have zero impact on the moose population in Minnesota.
Lets see, a dozen hunters at $500-$1000 each = $10,000+/- to the game dept.- and of course people can feed their families plus more $$ to the economy
Or put some wolves in there at a huge expense....and nobody gets the benefit.
Whomever is calling the shots up there is an idiot.
Might even make enough money to start paying bounties on wolves:-)
I swear, hunters will destruct from the inside. We are our biggest enemies
NoWiser, why not, they do it with elk all the time? Just wondering.
I've been to the island a couple of times. Pretty cool place. The long running experiment has played out. If the intent is to continue the experiment, there is no new meaningful things to be learned from this wolf/moose game. There is no benefit to anyone except the people who make money from the experiment. The NPS could be petitioned (or sued) to stop this long term waste of taxpayer dollars on any experiments. To alleviate the moose overpopulation, allow controlled quota hunting and relocations. The island can be reached by boat, helo or float plane. The captured moose could be relocated to other moose areas with low populations or to reestablish herds elsewhere where they used to exist. The USCG has a history of relocating large animals. The cutters up there could do the transfers back to the mainland. To me, that would seem like a better use of dollars.
Now....if the goal is to ONLY kill the moose to keep populations in check in the most cost effective way, then I could see a combo of wolfs and controlled hunts as the way to go. At least the NPS would get a return on the tags sold.
Attached is a FREEP article from Feb about a wolf that just left the island for the mainland.
and another one bites the dust.............
"The captured moose could be relocated to other moose areas with low populations or to reestablish herds elsewhere where they used to exist. The USCG has a history of relocating large animals. The cutters up there could do the transfers back to the mainland. To me, that would seem like a better use of dollars."
That was my point exactly. Not sure why it would have 'zero impact..'', and it may be difficult, but far from 'dang near impossible'. Wildlife agencies have done it with elk in conjunction with RMEF programs in many states and it has been very successful. Are moose any more difficult to capture and transport? Possibly because they are not as much of a herding animal as elk? Maybe we should take a look at the facts first before chucking out negative assumptions and opinions.
Imagine trying to get a noose around a moose on the loose. Moving a couple hundred of them might be a tad annoying...especially from a forested island. The best immediate remedy would have been a controlled hunt, but I don't think anyone's doing that inside a national park. Bring on the wolves if it helps, but it's obviously a nod to the critter huggers and nat geo sentimentalists.
True, but its better than letting the moose population crash and burn. I have another suggestion. People want to hunt them so bad, have the NPS get volunteered qualified shooters, supply tranquilizer guns, snomobiles or quads, transport sleds, USCG cooperation to get moose 20 miles to shore, and reintro them by truck. This will not be easy but it could be done. Have a lottery for a set small number of moose to be harvested, and ditribute the meat to the volunteers equally as an incentive. Just throwing out options-thoretical suggetions.
You'd kill half the moose trying to capture and relocate them. No sense moving them to MN, there are already 3-4000 moose in MN. How would that population benefit. The real lesson to be learned here is what moose can do in the absence of wolves (and maybe deer). Moose in MN in the presence of wolves and deer have declined by over 60%. Moose on Isle Royale have become overpopulated in the absence of wolves and deer. I agree, I don't understand why they can't have hunts to control numbers of moose on IR or any national park for that matter.
Steve, that's exactly what I was getting at. There is no way you are going to even put a dent in that moose population with relocation. The only way you are darting a moose up there in the open is if it's in a swamp and it's going to take a heck of a helicopter to get it out of there. It wouldn't be safe for man or animal and the costs would be extraordinary.
Given the nasty PM's I've received regarding my comment, I think some missed my point completely. Hunting is not going to be allowed on Isle Royal. I do not agree with this. There is no doubt a hunting season would make the most sense. That doesn't change the fact that it's not going to happen. So, given that fact, why does it really matter if they turn wolves loose up there? Would you rather pay federal sharpshooters to do the job?
Well.... if going totally 100% according to nature...... which would seem to be is the goal as with the no hunting, no human influence (well, intro of wolves by humans apparently doesn't count) ....when the wolves die off (again....) the moose will eat themselves out of house and home, starve or get sick and die.... no wolves, no moose and a denuded island..... then in a 100 years or so everything will be just peachy again.....
Right? THAT is nature. "Balance" is pretty much young kid playing on a teeter totter with Michael Moore. They don't realize.... Mother Nature doesn't REALLY care about "balance" or much of anything.... moose, wolves, not even whole islands. She pretty much has an eternity as a time frame to make things work where humans, or some anyway, live in some fantyland..... well.... many think she can grow em unicorns....
Seems like there was a thread somewhat similar to this a year or two ago about reintroducing wolves back into Isle Royale. I was thinking there was a poster that had a lot of extensive knowledge about the island, the wolves that were already there, the moose, etc. I can’t come up with the thread, but he had posted a lot of very interesting information.
The way these geniuses think, I’m surprised they haven’t looked at introducing whitetail deer to the island, so they can infect the moose with brain worms.
“Should have dropped them from 5000' over water”
I just choked on my lunch while laughing
Predators are hot new weapon against us. Eliminate the predators and save hunting.
Yes.
And the concept that "wildlife watching" is a greater economic impact than hunting.
Is it really that big of a deal. A lot of crying about me,me ,me, and hunting opportunity from all of our internet biologists and accountants. Im sure our money is spent on government projects that are equally as stupid as this and then some. Winter is taking its toll on a lot of members here. We all need to get out of the house! Peace
Do you enjoy the government wasting money? Or there are only specially approved wastes and stupidity we are allowed to comment on?
"as long as they walk there. " Apparently some ARE walking away..... to the shock of some.... global warming is supposed to have made that impossible.....
Most of Superior is frozen right now. It's unusual.
Hell, maybe some of the moose will walk away!
For clarification purposes only: Isle Royale National Park is listed by that same title on the National Park Service's website:
.
https://www.nps.gov/isro/index.htm
And edit to add this website which shows a list of national parks which do allow some hunting. Isle Royale National Park is not on the list.
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/hunting/visit.htm
I don`t think enough are giving thought to the extreme waste of the citizens tax dollars. Not only is this an affront to the hunting community but it`s a abhorrent misuse of taxpayer dollars.
Once again.....where is the campaign!!!
Show the tax dollars being wasted....then show a video of a moose calf being eaten alive by a pack of wolves. Flood local airwaves and the internet....just like those ASPCA "abused dog and cat" videos.
We suck at messaging.
" We suck at messaging. "
Yup..........IMO the groups that could do the messaging on a variety of high profile issues won't.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have wolves taking down cow elk to eat the fetus out of the still alive mother up on social media?
Piles of dead livestock and wildlife not eaten to show the viciousness of wolves killing for fun?
Billboards across Wyoming with bloody faced wolves tearing into their innocent prey? So that all the visitors to Yellowstone would understand why there were no moose or elk to see?
What Conservation Organization will take up the cause? Who can we put our faith in?
Wish to Hell I knew.
Not the first time they done this! Hell there was a Coast Guard Crew fling over the pack ice on the Straights, they were stationed in Alaska once so those two pilots knew what wolves looked like. They saw two wolves on the ice heading south to the lower. They reported it and the DNR said no they were coyotes couldn't have been wolves. Yeah right!
Seen the article below a bit ago. I didn't know caribou were on that Michipicoten Island up by Wawa. There is some irony that someone spent alot of money to relocate caribou to that island only to allow the wolves to eat them up. Then some of those same wolves are sent to Isle Royal to eat the moose. Talk about a misuse of money and time.
Also for WyoBD above.....ref the Coast Guard flt you mention, if it's the one I think it is, I was on that flight as the Flt Mech. They were coyotes. We chased them for a bit in the helo checking them out. We were right on top of them. They were playing on the ice bridge just west of the Mac Bridge. They had their fluffy winter coats but they were yotes, not wolves. We talked about it in the helo and I told the pilots they were coyotes. One pilot didn't know...the other pilot felt they were wolves but he was wrong. Someone mentioned wolves to the local press and that is how the rumor started.
Hungry wolves relocated to Isle Royale National Park
March 25, 2019
Associated Press
Wolves are being relocated to Isle Royale National Park on Lake Superior. (National Park Service)
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A U.S.-Canadian team has successfully relocated about half a dozen gray wolves to Isle Royale National Park in Michigan.
One of two private organizations helping to fund the effort reported Sunday on its Facebook page that the relocation involved six wolves from a second Lake Superior Island in Canadian territory and one from the Ontario mainland.
The National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation said Sunday that the animals were captured, vet checked and transported over the past couple days.
The half-dozen from Michipicoten Island were in danger of starvation after gobbling up a caribou herd.
The National Park Service is winding up the first phase of a multi-year effort to rebuild wolf numbers at Isle Royale, which have plummeted in the past decade. The latest arrivals join eight existing wolves.
https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/michipicotenisland
Michipicoten Island
What You'll Like :
Michipicoten Island Provincial Park is located in the eastern portion of Lake Superior. The Island consists mostly of intrusive rocks and lava flows, however contains interior lakes, sand beaches and sugar maple forests. Woodland Caribou were introduced to the Island in the early 1980s and the beaver population on the Island is considered to be one of the highest in the area.
Location: 175 kilometres northwest of Sault Ste. Marie and 65 kilometres southwest of Wawa.
Park Facilities: There are no visitor facilities available. Hunting is prohibited.
I guess it will never cease to amaze me how people overlook humankind for direct intervention in cases like these. We are most accurate prescriptive antidote to remedy population issues. Frankly, as
the apex predator, it's unnatural to think humans should not be killing these moose.
Too bad Trump does not fire their asses, wish he had the time, to know what is going on,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
You also have a bastion of liberal BS coming out of Marquette MI, with the enviro nuts, with their clotted up mat hair, and wearing wool hats in the middle of summer, talking about how our wildlife should be handled etc
I fear for what my daughter is going to see, long after I am gone
Most of them should choke on all the dope they smoke
I wrote also my senator on this waste of money,,,,, and they cry because they have no money half the time.....
You know how many guys, from mi and mn, would have like to get a crack at hunting them, lots of them, who can not afford the Alaska or BC trips......
NPS is a joke
The park service actually killed some moose so the new wolves wouldn't starve!
Lmao gh! You described them perfectly!
