Idaho For Wildlife News Release:

Posted: Saturday, March 22, 2014
Steve Alder, Idaho For Wildlife

Colt Killing - Dog mangling wolf is finally brought down!
 

After 36 days and nights of hell, Sun Valley couple finally realize the end to their wolfish nightmare!

Colt killing wolf finally downed by Kevin Swigert. 

 

The wolf that killed the Swigert’s valuable colt on 2-13-2014 finally met its end on 3-21-2014 at 1:50 PM. The wolf was killed near the approximate location that it  attacked two of their dogs on 2-23-2014. Hunters from around the region have been assisting the Swigert’s in dispatching this aggressive brazen wolf. During these 36 days, two sets of seasoned hunters became extremely unnerved when this same wolf snuck in on them from behind, coming only, "feet away," and giving them a shock of a lifetime!

The wolf appeared to be desensitized to gun fire. Many speculate that this is due to radical wolf advocates shooting off “hazing” shots to scare wolves away from hunters. This creates a very dangerous situation for human safety when wolves no longer fear gun shots! USDA Wildlife Services flew the area multiple times in search of the wolf. Hundreds of hunting hours were spent to harvest this wolf. Almost every night the same wolf would return to the area. Kevin Swigert used a very accurate long range rifle chambered in a 300 Winchester short magnum which was loaned to him from a friend to dispatch the wolf. The Swigerts had photographed the wolf tracks after the colt was killed and their dogs were attacked so it was easy for them to confirm this was the killer wolf. The Following is Kevin Swigerts report that end’s this nightmare.

The wolf that killed J.R. Luna Azul is dead. Although we cannot be sure there were not other wolves involved we can be sure that the distinctive track we have been following for five long weeks belonged to this wolf. Justice has been served for the painful death of our horse. At 1:50 pm on March 21 we walked out to the truck parked next to our house and looked out at the pasture to see all the horses alerted to the north. Not fifty yards away from where the two border collies were attacked a month ago we saw a large wolf watching the horses. I grabbed a rifle from the motorhome that was ready to go and braced against the bed of the truck, The shot was 321 yards but I estimated it was closer to 250. I took a deep breath and began to squeeze the trigger. One of our older mares trotted right between me and the wolf. I hesitated, which was actually good as I was forced to relax even more. I was determined to put an end to the ridiculous chaos that has plagued our entire life for the past five weeks. I fired, striking the wolf in the left side just behind the rib cage. The wolf was standing broadside but facing slightly away so the bullet passed through the wolf at an angle taking out his heart, the shot could not have been better. He jumped and ran about thirty yards and fell.

I have always tried to be respectful of every animal I have ever shot. We should never take for granted that we have the right and the privilege to hunt and harvest wildlife. I did not feel that way this time. I was filled with a satisfaction I have rarely felt, one of justified revenge for the malice this animal wrought in our life. I could think of nothing but the insanity that the past couple of months has brought. My wife sent an email to a few friends when our colt was killed. It was like a match struck in dry grass and the firestorm that ensued was beyond belief. My wife and I have, for twenty years been about as logical and middle of the road as one can possibly be when the subject of wolves came up. We have always been about legitimate, studied management. We have tried to carry on our lives and do what we do in spite of the hazards to our dogs and horses. We have tried every conceivable method of deterring wolves from interest in our animals. We have discarded those methods that don't work and invented new ones. We have, for fifteen years, been pretty successful and we have not felt the need to resort to lethal means. Our bloodhounds are the finest of the breed and they are valuable beyond words to us. They represent thousands of hours of hard, exhausting work and are there for the safety and protection of other people. They are man tracking dogs, they don't hunt animals, they hunt people. They hunt people lost in the mountains or people trying, mostly without success, to elude law enforcement. For our dogs to be referred to as "hound dogs" is insulting in the extreme. I can can only say those references are slow witted and ill informed.

We have spoken to few people and almost no media in the weeks that have passed, yet everyone with a keyboard has weighed in on their respective opinion about who and what we are. They have dissected very conceivable notion about this incident and have passed judgment on our character. We have been called devils and saints, we have lied through our teeth and exalted the greatest truth. In reality, we have just watched this firestorm engulf itself. To those who are in need of throwing stones, we are strong enough to take whatever they want to throw at us because we have one thing they will never have, the truth. The opinions of those people don't matter, we will continue to be who we are and we will continue to do what we do. We will not be swayed by emotional idiocy from the path we have always followed. There has been a divide defined that has simmered for a very long time and we are grateful that our colt's death could at least be a catalyst for positive change and recognition of badly needed address. 

We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to every person that has lent their support with both time and energy. The staff at USDA Wildlife Services and the Idaho Fish and Game have been professional, supportive and deserving of our respect. For every person we thought was our friend and shown otherwise, we have gained a thousand more true friends. The world is not a dark place, it is filled with good people and the only real chore is figuring out who they are.

We also would like to give a very special thank you to Steve Alder and Idaho for Wildlife. Steve has gone the extra mile to make sure the story and timeline of these events beginning in late January were posted accurately and without undo commentary or critique. Steve posted the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and we are extremely grateful that there is one honorable individual out there. Every media outlet that picked up on this story turned it around and upside down to meet their own agenda. We have been called liars and frauds, that the colt was killed by our dogs and that there were never any wolves in this area at all. The truth will always come to light. My favorite saying is this:

"No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar"  Abraham Lincoln

Kevin and Jennifer Swigert

 

A very relieved Mrs. Swigert proudly holding the rifle that finally put to rest her 36 days of hell


"What the fangs of that terrible wolf did to my little colt!"........Jennifer Swigert

 

The Swigert's stallion, "Little Blackberry", bidding this terrible wolf a much anticipated goodbye!

 

 

Why a wolf can kill so effectively.

 

Location that wolf died with house in background.

 

Kevin sighs in relief at the downed wolf as “Little Blackberry” looks on.

 

 

321 yard humane heart shot by Kevin.

 

Wolf weighed exactly 100 pounds

 

 

Both front feet held together showing the unique shape and size of the paws

 

Tracks of the same wolf that attacked their dogs

 

 

Tracks of killer wolf near house

 

Black hair on top of the wolves back where the stallion had bitten a clump out when the colt was killed

 

Looking back at the opposite direction. 

 

This is part 1 of 4 different events surrounding this wolfish nightmare that occurred in 2014. Following are parts 2-4:


2-23-2014, 10 days after colt was killed below, killer wolf returns to the same site and attacks two dogs!

2-28-2014, Long Range Tactical hunters join State and Federal officials in hunt for killer wolf in Sun Valley, Idaho

3-22-2014   Colt Killing-Dog mangling wolf finally is brought down!

 

 

 

          The real cost of wolves in Idaho     

A recent tragedy in Sun Valley brings to light how serious the wolf debate has become!

Posted: Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Steve Alder, Idaho For Wildlife

 

 

"Yesterday a part of me died with my little friend JR Luna Azul."
"RIP my beautiful colt!" I will hunt down the wolf that did this".....
"Rest assured, it is now living on borrowed time."

"Rise and rise again until lambs become lions!!!"
...Jennifer Swigert, Sun Valley, ID  2-13-2014

 

R Luna Azul, killed by a single wolf 2-13-14    Idaho documented wolf packs in 2013. Officials believe                                                                                                        this may represent only about 50% of Idaho wolves!

Following is a tragic report of a recent colt that was killed (2-13-2014) by a single wolf near Sun Valley. As you know many Idaho ranchers are suffering similar experiences but their stories don’t get told.  The owners of this colt took every precaution imaginable to mitigate this wolf attack. Ironically, in January of 2010, this couple testified in Boise at the IDFG public testimony hearing. In this 2010 recording, Mr. Swigert delivers one of the most heartfelt, moving testimonies of the challenges they were facing in Sun Valley due to wolves. Mr. Swigert also describes in this 4 year old recording the many types of infrastructure deterrents they were implementing to keep wolves away from their valuable livestock and dogs. They even own a pet coyote that they use to alarm them when wolves are near. The following is their written history with supporting photos of the extreme measures they took to protect their valuable livestock and pets from wolves.Even with all of these wolf deterrent systems in place, a single wolf was able penetrate their protective barriers and change their lives forever. A colt that’s  loss cannot be measured in a dollar value to the owners. To the rest of us that didn’t raise and fall in love with this little colt we know something is wrong when we realize the colt was worth almost half of the total dollars allocated for wolf control in Idaho for 2013!  This is why HB 470 must be passed! Idaho is losing millions every year to livestock and elk predation from wolves and this does not include the pain and suffering by 5th generation Idahoans like the Swigerts.    

The Tragedy of loosing JR Luna Azul

On Thursday February 13, 2014, JR Luna Azul was killed by a single wolf. In the grand scheme of things the death of a seven month old colt probably does not amount to much but in our lives it was the inglorious culmination of 12 years of fighting to protect our dogs, horses, sheep, goats and ourselves from the insidious assault by an ever-present predator.

We are Kevin and Jennifer Swigert and we live at the end of Croy Creek canyon just seven miles from Hailey, Idaho. Kevin is a fifth generation Idaho native from Blaine and Custer Counties. We have raised horses for nearly thirty years around central Idaho from Stanley to Mackay and finally back to the Wood River Valley where we have been for the past 13 years. We also raise, train and vendor Bloodhounds to law enforcement, the military and search & rescue through our company Longstride Bloodhounds. We focus all our efforts and resources on our animals and have developed what many consider to be state of the art defenses against the depredation of wolves. We use stallions to protect the mares and foals, we use Akbash guard dogs and even have a ten year old pet coyote that is indispensible as an early warning that wolves are near and require vigilance.

Over the years we have had hundreds of encounters with wolves ranging from dog attacks to being charged by aggressive dominant alpha males while out training the tracking dogs. We have lost two mares to wolf activity when they panicked and injured themselves on fencing and icy winter ground. Always we considered ourselves to be well prepared and that the results of all these encounters where as good as could be expected. That has been the case until the last few weeks.

JR Luna Azul was the last stud colt from a stallion that can only be described as a once in a lifetime friend. April Fools Luna Azul was a ground breaking horse. Not only was he a superlative sire of many outstanding horses he was also the first horse to ever carry the POW/MIA Flag in a parade. After Bowe Bergdahl was captured in Afghanistan, permission was obtained through the Pentagon for the Wagon Days Parade to be the venue for the first ever display of this flag from horseback. The Army even sent a special drummer to accompany Azul through the parade route. Azul died in July of 2013 from a rattle snake bite to the chest. JR Luna Azul was born a few days later and from the first few days it was obvious he was exactly like his sire. Our intention was to raise JR as Azul’s replacement. We now have no replacement for this magnificent horse.

January of this year started out bad in our area. On January 13 we received a call from a close friend that a hunting dog had been killed by wolves just a couple of miles from our home and his advice was to be very careful. Our usual training ground is the canyon behind our ranch as the road is a dead end and receives little traffic making for a great area to work the dogs and keep them in top shape. We refrained from using the area for a week till the danger had passed, as wolves will generally move on without a good prey base. When we again started using the canyon it was obvious there was still a presence of wolves.  The four juvenile females reported to us were still around but gave the dogs a pretty wide birth. Each day that the dogs were worked got more intense and on the sixth day they ambushed the dogs.

Jennifer was alone training the dogs. There was the usual group of twelve seasoned male bloodhounds along with three cadaver labs, two Irish Wolfhounds we use as sight hounds and three Border Collies. The four wolves ambushed the dogs only a few feet from Jennifer and she fired her AR-15 several times to scare them off. They managed to bite a Border Collie on the back and they ran off a three year old well trained Bloodhound male. The Border Collie was taken to the vet for emergency treatment along with a Rabies update and eventually recovered from the bites to her back. The Bloodhound was gone all night and returned at first light unscathed. We considered ourselves fortunate that nothing worse had happened but we did contact Idaho F&G and had a conservation officer look over the scene. He was surprised at the proximity to Jennifer (under 100 feet) where the wolves attacked the dogs. The behavior of these wolves was decidedly different from our experience. Hazing has always been effective in scaring them off. These wolves seemed to be attracted to the gunfire and accelerated their position over the course of a week till they ambushed Jennifer and her dogs. We have resolved to avoid the canyon till the situation is safer.

A few days after the attack on Jennifer we heard there had been a couple of wolves harvested by hunters and we began to breath a bit easier. We had requested a “shoot-on-sight” permit from the F&G to protect our animals but this was denied. Normally we have regular permits but the fact that in the Wood River Valley the permit holder information gets found out and in the interest of avoiding confrontation with pro-wolf individuals and groups we opted to rely on the 10J rules to protect our property. When off our property we would rely on hazing the wolves till we could make a retreat. We always carry weapons when out training the dogs as we have vast experience with posturing wolves.

Things seemed to be getting back to some sense of normal as we had heard the wolves were mating in Deer Creek and would probably not be venturing into Croy Creek for at least a few weeks. Then on the morning of February 13^th we discovered JR Luna Azul. The field we keep the young horses in is about a mile from our home and to give them as much protection as possible we have a stallion and four very savy mares in with the young horses. We also have two Akbash guard dogs penned next to the barn where the horses can take refuge amongst a solid barrier of fences and barn walls with constantly burning lights. The deep snow we received the week before was limiting the movement of all the animals and in spite of the efforts by the stallion to protect JR a single wolf got the colt isolated against an outer fence just 100 feet from the barn and disemboweled him. Leaving a few choice mouthfuls of fur behind from the stallion the wolf left JR to bleed out with his intestines strung out across the ground.

In all the years of dealing with wolves and working hard to limit their ability to get close to the horses and dogs, we have never seen a single wolf be so bold as to attempt an attack like this. The track was not overly large, perhaps just a two year old, and from our experience this behavior is a major and very unwelcome change.

Croy Creek Canyon has been an active wolf environment for many years and the disappearance of the wintering elk and deer attest to the impact. During the winter of 2001 we lost a stallion when he had an unfortunate encounter with a wintering bull elk. We had three very large bulls spend the winter in our pasture and the hills surrounding our place were populated by perhaps two hundred elk. This winter, 2014, we have no elk or deer and have not seen any for a few years. We occasionally have one pass through but that has become far less frequent. The wolf population has increased every year and as the prey base disappears the only source of sustenance for wolves are coyotes, magpies, livestock and pets. We as responsible livestock owners have always felt it was better to create our own defenses than to rely on the efforts of other less reliable resources. The vigilance required to keep our animals safe is non-stop and all consuming. The ability to stay ahead of the hazard seems to be coming to an end. There is far less of a prey base for the wolves and they are getting more aggressive and more plentiful. It appears that we may not be horse breeders any longer.    

Kevin & Jennifer Swigert

Hailey, Idaho

JR Luna Azul                                                        JR Luna Azul    Happy, the 10 year old coyote, (Left).  Happy’s role is to warn them of approaching wolves. The Swigerts learned that coyotes can detect the presence of wolves much sooner than dogs.      Jen training her blood hounds in wolf country carrying an AR-15 for protection     Jennifer training with "Mud Slinger." The Swigerts have 45 Blood hounds to work with!   Akbash Guard Dogs to Protect the horses. Swigerts use 8 of them for protection!                                                    Corral where colt was killed                                View from colt kill site to house. Only 98 yards!   Little Bit, the Stallion that tried to protect the colt. He got a few mouthfuls of black hair as he attacked the wolf that killed the colt. Little Bit’s mother was Peppy Sana Hickory purchased from actor Bruce Willis. Bruce sold her to the Swigerts after she bit him on the back and tore his shirt. (Click here for Little Bit's history)                        Jenny at the Sun Valley 4thof July Parade with JR Luna Azul's sire                          Jenny moving John Faulkner’s  sheep with Luna Azul               JR. Luna Azultimeline killed by a single wolf, 2-13-14 (Before Necropsy)                 JR. Luna after the necropsy performed by USDA Wildlife Services   From:Hansen,Jerome Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 8:35 PM To: 'Steve Alder' Subject: RE: Kill Permit Hi Steve, I am attaching the email from Wildlife Service’s confirming that the horse was killed by a wolf (wolves).I am also cc’ing Todd Grimm with Wildlife Services.  I have no reason to believe it was not a wolf or wolves as there has been a group of 3 or 4 in the area. Yesterday, WS confirmed that wolves killed a young horse on private land about 1 mile East of Red Elephant Gulch on the South side of the road.  Our aircrew has seen wolves in this general vicinity for several weeks. Todd Grimm State Director Idaho Wildlife Services               What is the real cost of wolves in Idaho?   In 2008, a study revealed that Idaho was losing up to $24 million annually in hunting revenue due to wolves killing deer and elk. This $24 million did not include livestock and pet losses, let alone the threat of diseases spread by wolves. The study also estimates that a single elk harvested by hunters provides a value of $8,000 and elk killed by wolves are valued at $750.00. Since 2008, elk numbers have continued to drastically decline in areas of high wolf density.

    

 

Steve Alder
Idaho For Wildlife

Web:   https://idahoforwildlife.com/
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