Wildlife Group Pays For Cattle Lost To Wolves

Defenders of Wildlife said Thursday it has paid $1,633 to two Montana ranchers who lost calves to wolves.

The group also rebuked a Wyoming farm organization that criticized the compensation program as hollow puffery.

Hank Fischer, regional representative, said the payment was made to two ranchers near Boulder who lost four calves. The amount was the ranchers’ own estimate of loss, Fischer said.

“Although Defenders of Wildlife feels strongly that wolves should return to Montana, it’s not our intent for this recovery to occur at the expense of livestock producers,” Fischer said.

Defenders began its Wolf Compensation Fund in Montana in 1987 to assuage ranchers who feared wolf reintroduction would force them to bear the cost of possible wolf kills. So far, the fund has paid about $20,000 to more than 20 ranchers to cover verified losses, Fischer said.

The program now covers livestock losses due to wolves reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho, and the group also has pledged to pay for any livestock losses caused by wolves in Arizona and New Mexico, where reintroduction is being considered.

However, the program was criticized recently by the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation when it refused to compensate an Idaho rancher who said a newborn calf was killed by a wolf.

Larry Bourret, executive vice president of the federation, said the fund was nothing but a public relations gimmick, with investigations rigged to exonerate wolves and avoid payments.

Fischer said, however, that the verifications are conducted by the Agriculture Department’s Animal Damage Control program, usually considered an ally of the livestock industry.

In the Idaho case, a necropsy determined that the calf had died of natural causes before a wolf began to feed on it, so no payment was justified.

By contrast, he said, one of the Boulder-area kills occurred more than a year ago, but photos and other information allowed ADC to verify that wolves were responsible. Defenders paid for the loss.

“While we refuse to pay for claims that cannot be verified, we stand firmly behind our commitment to pay for all legitimate claims,” Fischer said. “… Does the Farm Bureau’s insurance business pay for unverified losses? Would the Farm Bureau make a payment if its adjusters determined no loss had occurred? We don’t think so.”

Fischer also said the compensation program has been changed to accommodate legitimate rancher complaints.

After ranchers said compensation at current market value failed to cover a rancher’s investment, the group changed its policy to reimburse at fall market value.