How Washington ranchers are learning to cope with wolves, with lessons from Uganda

He was driving out of the valley one night when a deer ran across the road.

“And these three large German shepherds ran across after the deer,” he says. “And I’m thinking, ‘Those aren’t German shepherds, those are wolves. … Those are wolves! Can you believe it?’”

A month later, the return of wolves to the area really hit home. Johnson was out with his dogs when one of them — Lance — disappeared.

“Lance went off on his own and by the time I realized he was gone, it was too late,” Johnson says, his voice cracking and his eyes tearing up. It was the first animal he’d lost to a wolf.

That night, Johnson saddled his horse and grabbed his gun. “I was going to kill every wolf in the Teanaway,” he says...."

Then came an animal lover from Uganda. Carol Bogezi is a researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle. She came up with a way to save rancher's pride and profits and the wolves lives.

Bogezi eventually sold the white ranchers on the idea that they should market their meat as "wolf friendly" and sell it a premium. That way they could use less lethal but more expensive ways to keep the wolves away and also not take charity from the state.
Read the original story here:https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-02-24/how-washington-ranchers-are-learning-cope-wolves-lessons-uganda?


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