Montana isn't the only state struggling record numbers of livestock killed by predators. According to the Jackson Hole News and Guide (http://bit.ly/2bv7rK7) Wyoming federal wildlife managers say they have already encountered unprecedented levels of conflict between livestock and wolves in Wyoming.
Wolf-killed sheep and cattle have been confirmed recently in the Upper Gros Ventre area, near Bondurant, northwest of Dubois, in the Salt and Wyoming ranges and elsewhere in the Equality State. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wyoming office hasn’t yet totaled the number of confirmed depredations or wolves authorized to be killed, but one agency official said it’s been a challenging year for conflict, already surpassing 2015 numbers. Wildlife managers’ 2015 kill total, 54 wolves, was the second highest in the state since the large carnivores were reintroduced to the Northern Rockies 21 years ago.
Wildlife managers are concerned that it's only going to get worse as late summer and fall traditionally a heavy depredation time for wolves.
Similar to Montana, Wyoming does pay ranchers for livestock killed by wolves. In 2015 ranchers were pay a record $330,668 for wolf depredations, a state record and a total that surpassed compensation paid out in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington combined. Wyoming compensates sheep ranchers who lose animals to wolves seven times the market rate. Calves and sheep killed by bears and mountain lions are reimbursed at 3.5 times the market rate. Year-to-date 2016 compensation information is not yet available.
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Source: Jackson Hole News and Guide
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