STANLEY, Idaho — At every stage of the seven-year federal effort to reintroduce the gray wolf to the Northern Rockies, Carter Niemeyer has been there.
He trapped wolves in Canada and brought them south to their new homes. When one pack was getting into trouble with ranchers, he camped in the open with them, listening to them howl all night before transporting several farther from the temptations of livestock. When ranchers wrongly accused them of killing lambs or calves, he argued their cases and exonerated many.
Along the way, this gentle 6-foot, 5 1/2-inch giant developed a deep affection for the animals he calls "big, happy oafs."
So it was with a heavy heart that Niemeyer, 55, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official in charge of reintroducing the wolf to central Idaho, ordered the killing of the Whitehawk pack this spring--and then carried out the order himself.
As he did, Niemeyer plunged into the heart of the most contentious aspects of reintroducing wolves to the Northern Rockies.
Having been all but wiped out by the 1920s, the wolves have come back faster and proved to be hardier than federal wildlife officials dreamed possible. In central Idaho alone, the population has swollen from the 35 reintroduced in 1995 and 1996 to 261 at last official count.
It may be too much of a good thing. The wolves have eaten hundreds of cows and other livestock. Ranchers and local politicians had acquiesced to the reintroduction only if federal wildlife managers agreed to kill wolves that could not be otherwise persuaded to leave livestock alone. They are demanding that the government make good on the deal.
But humans' fascination with wolves runs long and deep: the myth of the she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus before they founded ancient Rome; the Big Bad Wolf of "Little Red Riding Hood"; the 1990 film "Dances With Wolves."
So when government gunners, living up to the agreement with the ranchers, have killed the majestic animals, they have triggered outpourings of outraged calls, letters and e-mails.
More Trouble Ahead
In the case of the Whitehawk pack, wildlife officials worked tirelessly to deter the wolves from eating livestock. The pack's fate was followed closely by wolf lovers. Its home was the spectacular Sawtooth Mountains--Idaho's Yosemite--and its alpha (or lead) female was a snow-white beauty named Alabaster.
