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Comment by mulander | Hacker News Reader

My wife is an animal behaviorist specializing in pastoral dogs, non-lethal prevention of livestock loss and wolves in general.

She blogged how simple things like fences[1], live stock guarding dogs[2] and human behavior and awareness[3] can reduce loses. We have a much higher wolf presence here in Europe (and especially in Poland where we both live) and a mix of the above plus government reimbursements for eventual loses help co-exist with the species without issues.

[1] - https://k9hacking.com/the-fence-color-for-livestock-protecti...

[2] - https://k9hacking.com/lgd-adolescence-draft/

[3] - https://k9hacking.com/yellowstone-wolf-pups-accident-flight-...

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The issue with all of that is you're underestimating or misunderstanding the areas being spoken about. Fences are a no go - these are Federal lands being managed by the Bureau of Land Management. There are rules for that. Dogs could work, but I'm not sure how you would maintain the dog, as the pasture animals tend to roam loooooonnnngggggg distances. And the issues of the wildlife becoming accustomed to cars or being fed are zero issues. There are not enough people out there to do so BLM lands are actual wild spaces.

> The issue with all of that is you're underestimating or misunderstanding the areas being spoken about

What size areas are we taking about? It seems that at least for the Prineville District in central Oregon the majority of grazing allotments are less than 1,000 acres.[1] That's only like 1.5 square miles, and well within the distances that Australian LGDs roam every day.[2] And per that same source, LGDs are sometimes left unattended for more than a week at a time, so it's not like the rancher has to haul himself out to the middle of nowhere every day.

I can understand that having to rely on LGDs would come across as a tremendous imposition to ranchers who have lived their entire lives without worry of predation. But that doesn't say much about the actual long-term costs involved once the practice becomes re-established, presumably in tandem with loss compensation programs. (Though, as Americans are wont to do, I suspect we'd eschew low-tech LGDs in favor of high-tech drones with guns. And pay more for it, but that's our own fault.)

[1] https://www.blm.gov/or/districts/prineville/plans/johndayrmp...

[2] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

In WA state a variety of non-lethal methods are preferred and attempted before lethal culling is allowed. Wolves are smart so some always eventually learn to circumvent/ignore non-lethal methods and begin targeting livestock.

Non-lethal methods help reduce the requirement for lethal culling but they will not eliminate the need for it. Wolves will out grow their habitat if not carefully managed. Usually, recreational hunting serves this purpose well, but until wolves can be hunted, the state will have to do the culling.

I wonder how effective guard llamas are with cows...

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