Cowhands Wilma and Kaisa - Herding Cattle in the Snow
My friend Kaisa was here at Double Circle Ranch for a few days. Kaisa is from Finland originally but has become a dual citizen here. Kaisa is a passionate and dedicated wolf advocate. Helping herd Texas Longhorns on a ranch in wolf country is something she never expected to do. She has been in many meetings where there is a lot of animosity between pro-wolf and anti-wolf groups. All too often that translates to environmentalists vs. ranchers. Times are changing – and for the better. Many environmentalists and ranchers are seeing the benefit of working together for overall range health. The endangered Mexican Gray Wolf, with only about 40 animals in the wild, used to be an important predator in our area. It is impossible to tell how much the potential loss of this wolf would affect the ecological balance in our country. I for one don’t want to take the chance that losing any endangered species – plant, prey animal, fish, insect, bird, or predator – won’t have repercussions throughout the ecosystem. Extinct is final, and it can’t be changed later.
Double Circle Ranch has never had a wolf kill. Cattle and wolves can coexist. But it requires extra time and labor – which of course means extra expense on the part of the rancher. We try to ride and herd our cattle daily. The presence of human activity in the cattle herd seems to prevent wolves from preying on the livestock. Any time you can prevent a wolf kill rather than compensate ranchers for wolf losses, you are helping the wolves adapt to feeding on wildlife instead of livestock. The wolves don’t learn to use cattle as a feed source.
So this is where Kaisa comes in. She was open minded enough to put on boots and a cowboy hat and herd cattle. She wanted to see first hand what many ranchers do to coexist with the wolves. She turned out to be a darn good cowhand too. So – a cowboy’s hats off to Kaisa! We need more people like her to work making the Mexican gray wolf recovery program a success – for the wolves and the people on the landscape.
Other Mexican Gray Wolf resources
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mexican Gray Wolf Fact Sheet Southwest Region, January 2005
Thanks for reminding everyone that extinct is forever.
Missing from the landscape for more than 30 years, the howl of the Mexican gray wolf can once again be heard in the mountains of the southwestern United States. The Mexican wolf, like many species protected by the Endangered Species Act, is getting a second chance to play its role in nature because Double Circle Ranch is demonstrating that ranchers and wolves can peacefully co-exist for the mutual benefit of this historic range. Your efforts are duly noted and so much appreciated! Thank you.
Dear Double Circle Ranch,
Thank you for making this thoughtful and wonderful gesture to support our precious few Mexican Gray Wolves! With good spirit and hopes of other ranchers out there following your great work.
Thank you again,
nova novito
Missing from the landscape for more than 30 years, the howl of the Mexican gray wolf can once again be heard in the mountains of the southwestern United States. The Mexican Wolf, like many species protected by the Endangered Species Act, is getting a second chance to play its role in nature because Double Circle Ranch is demonstrating that ranchers and wolves can peacefully co-exist for the mutual benefit of this historic range. Your efforts are duly noted and so much appreciated. Thank you.
I applaud you for your foresight and willingness to work at, and accept, a role in ranching that allows coexistence with predators such as wolves. Thank you. It gives us all hope that we can indeed learn and find ways to sustain wildlife and wild places.
Daniel
Thank you for this wonderful, thoughtful piece. Your efforts working for a co-existence with wolves is admirable and appreciated.
Thank you for voicing your support of the Mexican gray wolf, it is much appreciated, and sadly rare, to see. Wolves play such a vital role in every eco-system they are a apart of, and we have no right to push any species into extinction.
Thanks for making an extra effort to preserve wildlife and have an open mind, a quality that is need on both sides of the issue.
Thankyou for doing your part to keep nature in harmony. We need many more like you.
Thank you so much for taking the extra time & effort to prove that wolves & Ranchers can co-exist. Hopefully, with your example, maybe more Ranchers will follow. Wolves are such beautiful & intelligent animals…& so vital to our ecology. Thank you & many, many blessings..
I have to admit- I am totally amazed at the number of responses to the blog I posted about the Mexican Gray wolves. Thanks to everyone who has written in support of our efforts. It takes more work to ride in the cattle herd almost daily, but the results are worth the effort. We not only help protect the wolves and other predators, but we also help keep the land healthy.Everything benefits.A lot of good people have worked hard to reintroduce the Mexican wolf into the wild. They deserve the credit. We just try to do our part and concentrate on making this ranch healthy and full of wildlife, both prey and predator.
Wilma Double Circle Ranch
Wonderful to read this on a ranch website. We’ve spent some time up a the Holder’s places on Upper Eagle Creek, we’ve hunted in the region, and we’re excited to hear about the Double Circle and its guest facilities. As founding members of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, early supporters (and first Exec. Director) of Sky Island Alliance, and the Wildlands Network, we send big electronic cudos to Doug and Wilma for a job well-done with a beautiful ranch. Bring back the wolves!
It is encouraging to hear a rancher argue that wolves and cattle can coexist and to advocate for the recovery of the Lobo.
Thank you for your concern for and work on behalf of the environment we live in.
thank you for working with the wolves, so many people just want to kill them without looking a the consequences of what happens when are gone. I hope your hard work pays off, and that other people follow your example.
Such a refreshing story!! Thank you 🙂
This all makes perfect sense! Logic has it that when we get involved all are benefited. Here’s hoping that ALL ranchers will take heed of this example and put it to practice so that we all can co-exist! Thank you for sharing our love for these gorgeous specimens who earn the right to continue doing the job they do so well in preserving our ecosystem and give us such pleasure to observe.
Thank you for sharing this article.
Holy Cow or should I saw Leaping Lobo?
The comments keep coming in.Thanks to everyone who has commented on this blog and on the Mexican Wolf.org site. I can’t say I agree with some of the comments on the MW site- but I respect the other viewpoints and know how important it is for everyone to have a say in this important issue. More later
Wilma
Your efforts to live and ranch and coexist with wolves are to be applauded, and equally so, your willingness to speak out on this issue. Thank you!
Thank you for the open-mindedness about ranchers/livestock and wolves coexisting. It is possible and it is the right thing. Extinct is forever and it is ONLY humans who can intervene to either precipitate or to stop that from happening to many species. The wolf is one important example, and is an integral part of the ecosystem. Thank you for the work you are doing to support the wolf and I hope others follow your example.
Why ranchers who have dogs can’t understand how hypocritical it is to kill these magical majestic animals is beyond me! Education and awareness seems to be the answer. Something the U.S. is quite short of….Great effort and example to learn from for all those who think wolves are problems!
Thank you for seeing the real truth of the matter! You will be rewarded in kind…
Aldo Leopold, father of game management in the United States, who was the supervisor of the Gila National Forest in the 1920s, considered the Gila east of the Apache and South of the Datil national forests his standard for normality among deer ranges. Leopold’s essay in A Sand County Almanac, “Thinking Like a Mountain,” tells of his killing a wolf, watching it die, and beginning to realize that wolves have an essential role in wild ecosystems. Bless your hearts for conserving wolves on your ranch.
Wilma, Thank you for sharing this encouraging story. I volunteer at the Endangered Wolf Center near St. Louis. We breed and care for many of the Mexican Gray wolves that potentionally can be released into the wild. These animals are awesome! Thank you for giving them a chance to live where they belong and sharing the land with them!
Hats off to the Double Circle Ranch for proving that wolves and ranchers can coexist harmoniously. It’s this kind of innovative and forward thinking that is needed all over the planet to insure no species goes extinct due to human intervention.
Oh Kaisa! What a wonderful young lady. We really enjoyed getting to spend time with her. She is truly and asset! Glad she got to spend more time with you all! Tell her “Hi” from us!
Thanks for the good job you are doing at Double Circle Ranch.
For those who have struggled to reintroduce the Mexican gray wolf and give him back a piece of his home this is much needed hope. I understand personal survival, but when people repeatedly consider only what is in their best interests above the greater good, break the law and the desires of the nation without even trying to find a win-win solution, is it sad and disheartening. Your ranch provides the world with hope for the Mexican gray wolf’s survival, which provides hope for a healthy environment and mostly hope that there are other people who are willing to make small sacrifices for the benefit of all. Sometimes it just takes that one brave individual to speak the unpopular truth for others to join in and do what is ethical, logical and rightl. Thank you for being that voice…for the wolves, for the planet and for our grandchildren.
Great work! Bless you for being reasonable and doing the right thing as ranchers, following in the footsteps of our ancestors by being an INVOLVED PRESENCE instead of trying to raise livestock from behind a computer desk! I’ve often said that if more ranchers would go back to these “old” ways, riding herd (as you are), employing the use of herd-guarding dogs (and others), hiring staff to stay with the stock when out to pasture, etc… there wouldn’t be issues with wolves. Funny how something as innocuous the presence of as human (or canine) scent is the key to preventing product losses to wolves, and yet some silly folks just can’t seem to get their heads around it.
Keep up the good work and thank you for being willing to be an example of how things should be done!
Jennifer,
Sounds like you have a ranching background. You are right about the human and dog presence in the cattle keeping the wolves out of the herd. I ride almost every day. With no help right now except my husband and nephew, there is no alternative. The guys are busy replacing diesel well pumps with solar systems and installing water lines and troughs with wildlife ramps. I get to ride the cattle- which I enjoy. Good thing I like working cattle and riding!
Wilma
I heard your comments to the AZ Game and Fish Commission. Your idea sounds like a cost-effective and sensible solution to the problem of depredation reimbursement. I wonder if a model similar to Earthwatch could bring in a steady stream of volunteers/eco-tourists to help with the herding effort?
Rob,
I believe that herding the cattle is the MOST cost effective way to keep wolves away from the cattle. It just takes 1 person- 2 would be better- 7 days a week,weather permitting. I just finished moving cattle into a high country pasture and can’t ride most of it now due to ice and snow. That can always happen here. We do what we can- and it seems to be working well.
We are accepting one intern at a time to help with herding and other ranch projects. Your idea of volunteers or ecotourists has promise. We have had a few volunteers come help- and it sure makes a difference.
Wilma
Thank you for giving me some hope for the Lobo. God bless you and yours.
Thank you, Rob. Your words are music to my heart. To many people do not understand the wolves. Thank you for speaking up for them and letting people know that without them our ecosystem would suffer. The wolves are a very important part of our ecosystem.
Thank you Wilma for giving me hope. If only more ranchers would take responsibility for their cattle instead of throwing them out to “make it or not” and if it’s “not” then immediately they cry and whine that wolves are killing their cattle. The ranchers in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho should certainly take a clue from Double Circle. And I absolutely think the suggestion by for volunteers and eco tourists should be encouraged. What an incredible experience would that be!?
Your awesome. Thanks for your efforts.
Elias,
Thanks for the kind words. Doug and I at the Double Circle Ranch are always working to benefit the wildlife here. The Mexican Gray wolf is one of our predators along with lion, black bear, coyote, fox, and raptors. They are an important part of the ecosystem . I believe the wolf will make a full recovery here. We will do all we can to help ensure their survival in the wild.
Wilma