12.9.1304    ALLOWABLE NONLETHAL CONTROL OF THE GRAY WOLF

(1) Control of the gray wolf includes a variety of nonlethal management activities intended to decrease risk of, prevent, or resolve a conflict without killing the wolf in question. Allowable nonlethal control activities include, but are not limited to:

(a) husbandry practices including, but not limited to, electric fencing, increased human presence, fladry, herding or guarding animals, night pens, shed lambing, carcass removal, alternative pastures, amended pasture or grazing rotations, or supplemental feed;

(b) placement of a radio collar to facilitate increased monitoring of the pack;

(c) opportunistic hazing in a noninjurious manner;

(d) intentional harassment;

(e) department discouraging wolves from denning in a particular location;

(f) carcass removal or electric fencing of bone yards (e.g., localized livestock disposal sites which attract a variety of scavengers); and

(g) working with interested individual livestock owners and private landowners, watershed groups, interested groups, state and federal land managing agencies, USDA Wildlife Services, and the Montana Livestock Loss Board and its coordinator to provide technical assistance and to assist with selection and implementation of proactive nonlethal controls on both public and private lands when and where livestock are present, either seasonally or yearlong.

(2) The department will also work with others to better understand the effectiveness of nonlethal activities to prevent or decrease the likelihood of wolf-livestock conflicts.

History: 87-1-201, 87-1-301, 87-5-105, 87-5-110, 87-5-131, MCA; IMP, 87-1-201, 87-1-301, 87-5-102, 87-5-103, 87-5-104, 87-5-105, 87-5-108, 87-5-131, MCA; NEW, 2008 MAR p. 2165, Eff. 10/10/08; AMD, 2014 MAR p. 843, Eff. 4/25/14.