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Idaho governor sends sympathy, offers Oregon 150 wolves

This Nov. 14, 2011 photo from a trail camera appears to show OR-7, the young male wolf that has wandered hundreds of miles across Oregon and Northern California looking for a mate and a new home. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says the photo likely shows OR-7, because a collar is visible on the neck, and GPS tracking data put him in the area where the camera was set on that date. Oregon's famous wandering wolf seems to be staying out of trouble after settling for now in the southern Cascades, but there are no signs he has found a mate yet.  (Associated Press)
This Nov. 14, 2011 photo from a trail camera appears to show OR-7, the young male wolf that has wandered hundreds of miles across Oregon and Northern California looking for a mate and a new home. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says the photo likely shows OR-7, because a collar is visible on the neck, and GPS tracking data put him in the area where the camera was set on that date. Oregon's famous wandering wolf seems to be staying out of trouble after settling for now in the southern Cascades, but there are no signs he has found a mate yet. (Associated Press)
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- After news reports and blog posts that an Idaho hunter had killed a wolf that had been radio-collared in Oregon, Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has offered to send Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber 150 wolves, saying his own state could spare a few of the predators.

Today's offer came in a tongue-in-cheek letter where Otter sarcastically apologized to Kitzhaber after an Idaho hunter killed a wolf from an Oregon pack that strayed across Idaho's border to the east, according to a report by the Associated Press.

On Feb. 2, the Idaho hunter killed a brother of an Oregon wolf that became a celebrity by wandering hundreds of miles into Northern California looking for a mate.


Otter, no fan of the mid-1990s wolf reintroduction to central Idaho, offered Kitzhaber "my sincerest apologies."

Then, Otter said he'd have the Idaho Fish and Game Department round up another 150 wolves -- or any number Oregon needed or was willing to take.
 


Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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