Letter to the editor: Management plan must address rancher issues
"The return of this native species will have many ecological benefits for the state." An Olympia resident writes supporting the pending wolf plan and addressing complaints ranchers have about wolves.
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission is developing a management plan for wolves. [“Northwest ranchers uneasy living among wolves,” News, Sept. 18]
The return of this native species will have many ecological benefits for the state. I want to address issues raised by ranchers:
- Ranchers are business people who want public policy to help diminish the risk of doing business. It is like bookstores asking the state to limit Internet access so people can’t buy Kindles and Nooks.
If you don’t want the risks of cold weather, low prices, diseases and native predator species, don’t become a rancher.
- Some ranchers act negligently with their cattle and then blame wolves for losses. The TV show “PBS NewsHour” on Sept. 19 featured a Montana rancher who took a reporter to a very remote part of his ranch to show that several cattle, which had been on their own for months, had disappeared, probably because of wolves. It turned out he had failed to provide a salt lick and the cattle had just wandered off.
- Another featured Montana rancher takes proactive measures, such as keeping his cattle together, as buffalo do, to coexist successfully with wolves.
- Organizations, such as Defenders of Wildlife, will compensate ranchers for proven wolf attacks.
- Most businesses don’t enjoy government benefits such as cheap grazing on BLM and other government lands.
Washington’s wolf-management plan must provide for viable wolf packs in their native habitat.
- William Weathersby, Olympia
