Former Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah, says he feels as "proud as a papa wolf about to have pups."
He is, after all, congressional father of a movement to reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone National Park. And he was testifying Thursday at the last public hearing on a draft environmental impact statement on reintroduction - considered the last major hurdle facing it."I guess I am father of wolf reintroduction. I began pushing legislation for it six years ago," said Owens, who is now an attorney splitting time between Washington and Utah. He predicted that "wolves will begin howling next September in Yellowstone."
But after facing heavy opposition through the years, he added, "I won't quite believe it until I hear wolves howl there."
He told the hearing why he started the push. "In the world's largest, best functioning ecosystem in the temperate zones, the sole missing link in the food chain - the wolf - was prevented from being restored to its natural place because local politicians were worried about local, uneducated and misplaced fears."
He said he decided to jump into the issue when his son "asked me a tough question: `How can congressmen (from Wyoming, Idaho and Montana) who don't know anything about what the parks need stop them (park managers) from taking care of Yellowstone?' "
Owens said, "There was no answer except, `That's politics.' And that wasn't good enough."
Owens said draft EIS recommendations - including allowing destruction of wolves that prey on livestock outside the park - are reasonable because wolves will likely not do much harm to cattle or sheep.
"Wolves reintroduced into Yellowstone will have more than a sufficient prey base in the sick and the weak among the elk, bison, moose, deer. . . They will take very, very few domestic animals - the report estimates perhaps 30 cattle and 120 sheep - and those that are taken will be paid for by a private fund."
Wildlife groups have promised to pay for any livestock lost in such attacks.
"I have visited Minnesota and parks in Canada where cattle and wolves live side by side, with very, very few animals being taken," Owens said. "I look forward to that in Yellowstone, and hearing the wild howl of wolves there."