3 wolves killed in northern Utah; picture prompts concern over ‘lethal removal’
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Shelby Lofton, KSL.com
AVON, Utah (KSL) — The emergence of a photo showing three dead wolves in northeastern Utah has sparked a lot of reaction.
According to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the animals were shot and killed by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food on Jan. 9 in Avon, a community in northern Utah.
In much of the state, the wolves are federally protected. But in this one small area, the law allows for lethal action.
DWR spokesperson Faith Heaton Jolley told KSL the wolves were in an area where there is livestock. That area is also what’s called a “delisted zone,” where the state is allowed to take action on wolves.
“State law directs the DWR to prevent wolves from establishing breeding pairs in the delisted area of northern Utah,” she said. “Currently, the delisted zone (the small area both north of I-80 and east of I-84) is the only area where the state of Utah has authority to manage wolves. In the rest of the state, wolves are still considered an endangered species and fall under federal control and protection.”
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Launie Evans, who lives in Avon, said she’s seen wolves passing through, and sometimes she hears them.
“I have not heard any of my neighbors, and we haven’t had the experience ourselves that we’ve had actual issues with our cattle and wolves,” the livestock owner said.
She said, from her recollection, the wolves don’t stick around.
“We’ve either seen them, or neighbors or someone have seen them come through,” Evans said. “On occasion, they’ve even had collars and, to my knowledge, have been relocated back to wherever they came from.”
When she learned the wolves were killed close to where she lives, she was sad.
“I wish they would have had a way to relocate them rather than kill them,” Evans said. “But I also don’t want to see a calf killed either. … Nature’s hard.”
KSL asked DWR why it chose not to relocate the animals.
“The law directs DWR to prevent the establishment of packs in the delisted portion of Utah, and we don’t have jurisdiction over the (endangered species) listed areas of Utah or other surrounding states. Lethal removals ensure they don’t establish breeding populations in Utah,” Heaton Jolley said in a statement.
Michael Robinson, senior conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, opposed the lethal removal.
“We are fighting through the science and through the courts to restore those protections for wolves, including in northeastern Utah, because this was such a missed opportunity for wolves to come back and restore the balance throughout the Beehive State,” Robinson said.
He argues we should let nature be.
“Wolves are beautiful, intelligent social animals at the top of the food chain who play a very important role in the persistence of all kinds of other animals,” Robinson said. “It’s so shortsighted to savor just the livestock industry and decide, ‘We’re not going to have any, we’re going to just have this completely unbalanced ecosystem.'”
DWR stated the wolves that were killed were in areas with livestock.
“Although there have been confirmed wolf sightings over the years — and rare instances of wolf-related livestock depredation — there are currently no known established packs in Utah,” Heaton Jolley wrote.
“It makes me kind of sad,” Evans said. “I know that there’s a lot of complexities when it comes to predators and not just livestock, but deer and elk herds. I know that there’s balances that have to be made and management that has to be done,” Evans said.
DWR said it’s had a few instances of wolves migrating into Utah. They’re coming from Colorado, where they were reintroduced, and Wyoming.