Wyo wants wolf in state's hands
By JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau
Casper Star Tribune

CHEYENNE -- Almost 80 percent of Wyoming residents want to see management of the gray wolf in Wyoming returned to the state, a new poll conducted for the Game and Fish Department has found.

And just fewer than 60 percent of Wyoming resident's support the creation of the dual classification system for wolves, allowing them to be treated as predators in some areas and trophy game in others, according to the survey.

Chris Burkett, Strategic Management Coordinator for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said the survey of 1,013 randomly-selected residents was conducted by Responsive Management, Inc. from Dec. 29 until Jan. 10.

Each county was proportionally represented in the survey based on 2000 census data. Burkett said the survey contained 40-45 questions and garnered a 51 percent response rate. Burkett said the sampling error of the survey was plus or minus 3 percent.

Here are some of the findings regarding public attitudes toward gray wolves in the survey:

Half (50 percent) of the respondents agreed that Wyoming's current wolf population is acceptable. By contrast, 32 percent believe the wolf population is unacceptable. Likewise, 54 percent of all respondents agreed that current levels of wolf predation on wildlife are acceptable and 33 percent believe the current level is unacceptable. In both instances, residents in affected counties were more likely to feel there were either too many wolves or the level of predation was unacceptable.

Nearly three-fourths of respondents (74 percent) were confident in the department's ability to successfully manage wolves in Wyoming once their federal protections have been removed.

The survey found 78 percent of respondents said they would support a management plan where wolves were maintained within national parks and designated wilderness areas in northwestern Wyoming, but were discouraged from expanding their ranges to other parts of the state.

Exactly half of the respondents indicated they would support a management plan in which the department would manage wolves in areas where they are designated as trophy game animals and the Wyoming Department of Agriculture would manage wolves in areas where they are designated as predatory animals.

By comparison, 35 percent of respondents said they would oppose such a management strategy.

Just under 70 percent of respondents said they would support proactively removing a wolf or wolf pack occupying an area with high human activity or an area containing livestock, even if the wolf was not causing any damage. Likewise, 87 percent of respondents said they would support removing a wolf that killed either livestock or pets.

Nearly 80 percent of respondents indicated support for department personnel removing wolves that were having a significant negative impact on game species utilizing winter ranges. If wildlife biologists determine wolves were having a significant negative impact on either elk or moose utilizing feedgrounds, 77 percent of respondents indicated they would support removing the wolves causing the impacts.

Of all respondents, 69 percent said they would support the state using General Fund revenues to help fund wolf management.

And 82 percent of respondents said they would support agency efforts to obtain money from either the federal government or private groups to help fund wolf management in Wyoming.

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