April 7, 2017
CapitalPress.com
5
WSU wolf researcher defends remarks as school probes how he made them
Rancher disputes
scientist’s findings
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Foc
us
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Ron Mittelhammer, dean of
the Washington State Univer-
sity’s College of Agriculture,
Human and Natural Resources
Sciences, talks during a break of
a meeting of the Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s Wolf Advisory
Group March 29 in Olympia.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File
Washington State University wolf scientist Robert Wielgus, shown here in 2012 at a research center in
Pullman, is defending his email suggesting that ranchers be required to sign up with the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife to pursue non-lethal means of protecting livestock before shooting
predators will be considered.
cate. Science is my religion.
I simply report the data and
make recommendations based
on the data.”
Ron Mittelhammer, dean
of the College of Agriculture,
Human and Natural Resourc-
es Sciences, noted last week
that Wielgus used the univer-
sity email system to distribute
his press release and included
his title and college contact
information.
Mittelhammer said the uni-
versity is investigating wheth-
er Wielgus misused public
resources to express his pri-
vate opinion and whether he
violated a policy prohibiting
university employees from
lobbying.
“It’s under review. The
entire issue is under review,”
Mittelhammer said. “I don’t
know how long it will take,
but it’s a priority.”
The university has been
receiving a lot of complaints
about Wielgus’ comments,
Mittelhammer said. “We’re
hearing it from everyone.”
In the press release, Wiel-
gus restated his position that a
ranch put cows in harm’s way
last summer in the Colville
National Forest. Wolves at-
tacked the livestock, and
WDFW shot seven wolves to
stop the depredations.
Wielgus made the same
claim in August, and WSU
administrators responded by
calling his account of events
“inaccurate and inappropri-
ate.”
Although Wielgus didn’t
name the ranch in his latest
remarks, he was clearly refer-
ring to the Diamond M Ranch.
Wielgus stated the ranch con-
centrated livestock and placed
salt blocks near the Profanity
Peak pack den.
Diamond
M
Ranch
co-owner Justin Hedrick said
March 31 that he found the
den many weeks into the graz-
ing season. By then, the dep-
redations already had started,
he said.
He said the ranch has been
putting salt blocks in the same
spot since 1949.
Hedrick said the ranch
lost about 75 head of cattle,
including some far from the
den. He said depredations are
a natural consequence of a
growing population of wolves
on grazing allotments, not the
lack of a formal agreement
• Guide • H
olve
elp
Inv
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• Te
•
OLYMPIA — A Wash-
ington State University wolf
scientist defended his recom-
mendation last week to further
limit lethal control of wolves,
as the school’s administration
sought to distance the univer-
sity from his remarks.
Robert Wielgus, director
of WSU’s Large Carnivore
Conservation Lab, has an-
gered livestock producers
before with his statements,
including his claim that
shooting wolves leads to
more attacks on livestock, a
conclusion rejected by a lat-
er study by the University of
Washington.
Wielgus last week issued
a “press release” as a “private
citizen,” recommending the
state Department of Fish and
Wildlife withhold lethal con-
trol of wolves on public lands
if a rancher hasn’t involved
the state in preventing depre-
dations.
He said in an interview
with the Capital Press that he
would have preferred sending
the press release through uni-
versity channels, but he was
barred. He said it was import-
ant to present his findings be-
fore WDFW’s Wolf Advisory
Group met this week to set a
lethal-control policy for the
upcoming grazing season.
“I was charged by the state
Legislature and Washington
Department of Fish and Wild-
life to conduct research and
provide recommendations,”
he said. “I’m not a wolf advo-
with the state to prevent dep-
redations.
“It’s not a matter of if, it’s
a matter of when packs turn
to beef,” Hedrick said. “This
guy (Wielgus) needs to be la-
beled as absolutely anti-farmer,
anti-rancher.”
Wieglus said that he’s work-
ing on a paper in which he hopes
to show that if ranchers follow
WDFW depredation-preven-
tion agreements, wolves will
attack fewer livestock.
“What I’m saying is they
should abide by the terms,” he
said. “I haven’t proven that sta-
tistically, but all indications are
that’s probably the case.”
The agreements require
ranchers to disclose informa-
tion about the number of ani-
mals they have and where they
will graze. WDFW has access
to the property.
About 50 ranchers statewide
have signed up, making them
eligible for public funding to
employ preventive measures
and additional compensation
for losses.
Hedrick said he doesn’t
blame ranchers for signing
out of financial necessity, but
his family won’t.
“You’re saying you’re fine
with wolves eating your cat-
tle, as long as I get paid. Well,
we don’t want to raise cattle
to feed wolves,” Hedrick said.
“I don’t want anything I can’t
earn. I don’t want handouts.”
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