Topics
Wolves
Summary
Few wildlife conservation efforts have been as controversial as that of the grey wolf in the Northern Rockies. Federal efforts to protect the wolf have clashed with state efforts to control wolf populations and protect livestock and game from predation by wolf packs.
Idaho and Montana have been given federal authority to manage wolf numbers using public hunts. Federal officials require Idaho to maintain a population of at least 150 wolves and 10 breeding pairs.
Idaho wildlife officials have boosted bag limits, expanded trapping and extended hunting seasons in some areas to help further reduce wolf populations in all corners of the state. Its 10-month wolf season runs until June.
Idaho’s wolf managers estimated 500 to 600 wolves roamed the state as of spring 2012, down from the more than 1,000 when the 2011 hunting season opened in August.
Hunters and trappers killed 364 wolves since the 2011 season opened, while dozens more wolves have died of natural causes or been killed for preying on livestock or targeted as part of a strategy to lessen impacts on specific elk herds in the state.
A federal appeals court in March rejected a lawsuit from conservation groups that wanted to block wolf hunts across the Northern Rockies. The ruling from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Congress had the right to intervene when it stripped protections from wolves in spring 2011.
Lawmakers stepped in after court rulings kept wolves on the endangered list for years after they reached recovery goals. Wildlife advocates claimed in their lawsuit that Congress violated the separation of powers by interfering with the courts. But the court said Congress was within its rights, and that lawmakers had appropriately amended the Endangered Species Act to deal with Northern Rockies wolves.
There are more than 1,700 wolves in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and expanding populations in portions of Eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon. Wolf hunting could resume in Wyoming this fall.
In parts of Montana, ranchers and local officials frustrated with continuing attacks on livestock have proposed bounties for hunters that kill wolves. Montana wildlife officials said they will consider ways to expand hunting after 166 wolves were killed this season, short of the state’s 220-wolf quota.
Wolves once thrived across North America but were exterminated across most of the continental U.S. by the 1930s, through government sponsored poisoning and bounty programs.
Wolves were put on the endangered list in 1974. Over the last two decades, state and federal agencies have spent more than $100 million on wolf restoration programs across the country. There are more than 4,500 of the animals in the upper Great Lakes and a struggling population of several dozen wolves in the Desert Southwest.
Prior lawsuits resulted first in the animals’ reintroduction to the Northern Rockies and then later kept them on the endangered list for a decade after the species reached recovery goal of 300 wolves in three states.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is monitoring the hunts. But agency officials have said they have no plans to intervene because the states have pledged to manage wolves responsibly.
Federal officials have pledged to step in to restore endangered species protections if wolf numbers drop to less than 100 animals in either Montana or Idaho.
Even without hunting, wolves are shot regularly in the region in response to livestock attacks. Since their reintroduction, more than 1,600 wolves have been shot by government wildlife agents or ranchers.
Latest updates in this topic
Dog, mistaken for wolf, shot and killed by teenager in North Idaho
A North Idaho man said his dog was shot on a Forest Service road last weekend by a teen who mistook the husky-malamute cross for a wolf. The dog later …
Wolf worries lead to hiring of wildlife-conflict specialist
The state of Washington has hired an internationally known wildlife-conflict specialist to help defuse tensions over the state’s expanding wolf population. Francine Madden is the executive director of the Human …
Washington being proactive on wolves
Washington wildlife managers said they’re working to avoid a repeat of last year’s grazing season, when wolves killed at least 28 sheep and two cows. The attacks led to the …
Field reports: Wolves spread into Western Washington
PREDATORS – Gray wolves continue to gain ground across Washington with recent documentation from Mount Spokane to the western slopes of the North Cascades. A canine, apparently a wolf, was …
Field reports: Coast salmon seasons set by Pacific council
FISHING – Washington’s 2015 salmon fishing seasons were approved this month by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, with some Puget Sound fisheries constrained to protect wild salmon listed under the …
Out & About: Film on Oregon wolf’s journey screening at The Bing
OUTROAM – A documentary about a radio-collared gray wolf that captured international attention as it roamed for years from Oregon into California and back will screen in Spokane Friday and …
Hunters serve as main source of coyote management year round
Wolves killing livestock usually grabs people’s attentions, but coyotes have had a much wider impact. According to published reports, wolves killed 120 sheep in Montana in 2008.
Idaho lawmakers vote to renew wolf-kill program funds
BOISE – Idaho lawmakers voted Tuesday to spend another $400,000 in state tax funds next year to kill wolves under a year-old program. The vote came a day after the …
Bill to revise wolf plan passes Washington House
OLYMPIA – The state could revise a 4-year-old plan on wolves to account for their rapid growth in northeast Washington under a bill that received unanimous approval in the House …
Report: State’s wolf population makes comeback
The wolf population in Washington grew by more than 30 percent and formed four new packs last year, according to an annual survey conducted by the state Department of Fish …
Idaho suspends license of Wolf People store, exhibit
COCOLALLA, Idaho (AP) — State officials have suspended the commercial license of a North Idaho company that exhibits 23 live wolves for among other things, violating a requirement that people …
Washington bill calls to adjust wolf plan
OLYMPIA – An Eastern Washington rancher lost some 300 sheep to wolves last year when the flock was sent to a grazing area that contained a wolf den. Wildlife experts …
New members appointed to Wolf Advisory Group
Nine members have been added to the committee that advises the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on wolf recovery and management. Their appointments, for two-year terms that run through …
Recreation Calendar
For 02-12-2015
In brief: Outdoor advocates rally against land proposals
Sportsmen’s groups and outdoors business owners have scheduled rallies at the Idaho and Montana capitols to protest efforts by some state lawmakers to take control of federal public lands. The …
Field reports: New hiker permit quotas help spread ‘Wild’ influenced Pacific Crest Trail crowd
HIKING – Growing numbers of hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail, the Mexico-to-Canada route made increasingly popular by the movie “Wild,” have led officials to take steps to alleviate traffic. …
Out & About: Panel brings 6 perspective on wolf revival
OUTBACK – Hunter, biologist, conservationist, cattleman, philosopher, ethicist – these six perspectives will take on the topic of gray wolf reintroduction during a special panel discussion, 7 p.m. Thursday at …
Legislative committee takes on testy wolves and wildfire bills
OLYMPIA – Two of the most contentious issues in rural Eastern Washington, wildfires and wolves, are generating demands for change and a stream of legislative proposals. After a hearing on …
Kretz legislation proposes relocating wolves
Washington’s best wolf habitat is in the southern Cascade Mountains, where vast federal lands support more than 20,000 elk in the state’s two largest herds. State biologists expect wolves to …
Idaho wolf control board seeks renewed funding
BOISE – A state board launched July 1 to reduce Idaho’s wolf population has so far spent $140,000 to kill 31 wolves. The wolf control board was approved by lawmakers …
Wolves, predators of caribou, will be killed by B.C. wildlife officials
Up to 24 wolves in British Columbia just north of Idaho will be shot by helicopter gunners this winter in an effort to save the 18 remaining southern Selkirk Mountains …
Canadian wolves to be shot to save woodland caribou
Up to 24 wolves in British Columbia just north of Idaho will be shot by helicopter gunners this winter in an effort to save the 18 remaining southern Selkirk Mountains …
Twentieth anniversary of gray wolves in Inland Northwest rouses mixed responses
PREDATORS – Monday was the 20th anniversary of the reintroduction of gray wolves to Idaho. It marked 20 years since the wolves trapped in Canada were released in Yellowstone National …
Polarized wolf groups battle with billboards
Opposing views of gray wolf recovery in Washington are on display in a Spokane-area battle of the billboards. The Defenders of Wildlife, a national wildlife advocacy group, has contracted for …
Idaho wolf derby begins today
BOISE – A hunting derby with $1,000 each for whoever kills the most wolves and coyotes is scheduled to start at sunrise today in east-central Idaho. Idaho for Wildlife’s three-day …
Wildlife officials track new reports of wolves
While a sheep-killing gray wolf may still roaming in Whitman County, a new wolf pair has been confirmed in Asotin County and another pair has been reported near the Chelan-Okanogan …
Special to The Spokesman-Review: It’s time we accept wolves’ presence, right past wrongs
Have you seen the billboards around town about the Big Bad Wolf? They’re clearly designed to scare us in the hopes that wolves stay gone forever from this part of …
Landers: Wolf issue should be decided by facts, not fear
The latest rumor about gray wolves in Washington surfaced at a Spokane County Commissioners meeting Tuesday. According to a county cattleman, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has been …
Wildlife officials investigate Whitman County wolf kill
The first sheep kill attributed to a wolf in Whitman County is being investigated by Washington wildlife officials. One ewe in a flock of about 1,200 was killed Friday on …
Wolf kills increase livestock deaths, WSU study says
Rob Wielgus noticed something interesting when he studied reports of wolf attacks on sheep and cattle in the Northern Rockies. Killing wolves to reduce livestock predation actually led to more …
Field reports: Wolf-shooting case in prosecutor’s hands
POACHING – A Whitman County wolf-shooting case has been turned over by state officers to County Prosecutor Denis Tracy. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife police delivered their evidence to …
In brief: Anti-wolf group starts billboard campaign
A newly organized anti-wolf group says it’s targeting Spokane with a billboard campaign to highlight its concerns about the increasing number of wolves in Washington State. Four billboards featuring a …