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
Wyoming not apologetic for thwarting wolf plans
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Wyoming remains committed to classifying gray wolves as predators that can be shot on sight across most of the state despite complaints that its position will stop …
Idaho adapts to wolf ruling, plans appeal
BOISE – Idaho’s top wildlife officials have agreed to appeal a federal judge’s decision placing wolves back on the endangered species list, but they’ve also agreed to work with the …
Idaho officials to cull up to 80 wolves
BOISE – The Idaho Fish and Game Department released a plan late Friday to kill 70 to 80 of the 100 or so wolves in the Lolo elk management zone, …
Idaho F&G unveils Clearwater wolf-kill plan
The Idaho Fish and Game Department released a plan late this afternoon to kill 70 to 80 of the 100 or so wolves in the Lolo elk management zone, and …
Wolf ruling ends plans for talks on lawsuit settlement
HELENA – A judge’s ruling to restore federal protections for the Rocky Mountain gray wolf has scuttled settlement talks between the parties involved in a lawsuit that had been scheduled …
Wolf ruling ends plan to hold settlement talks
A judge’s ruling to restore federal protections for the Rocky Mountain gray wolf has scuttled settlement talks between the parties involved in the lawsuit that had been scheduled for next …
Idaho will ask feds for OK to kill Lolo wolves
Idaho wants to kill dozens of wolves it blames for eating too many elk in rugged northcentral Idaho.
Judge orders protections reinstated for gray wolf
A federal judge today reinstated Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Montana and Idaho, saying the government made a political decision in removing the protections from just two of …
Panel eases Idaho wolf-hunting rules
Trapping wolves will be allowed in Idaho, and hunters can use electronic calls to attract the elusive predators, Idaho wildlife officials decided Thursday. By liberalizing hunting methods, members of Idaho’s …
Montana plans to raise quota for wolf hunt
HELENA – State wildlife officials will recommend increasing the quota of wolves allowed to be killed by hunters this year to 186, compared to 75 in last year’s inaugural hunt. …
Judge hears wolf appeal
MISSOULA – A federal judge heard arguments Tuesday on whether gray wolves in Montana and Idaho should be protected once more under the Endangered Species Act. Wildlife advocates sued the …
Judge hears arguments in federal wolf case
A federal judge heard arguments today on whether gray wolves in Montana and Idaho should be protected once more under the Endangered Species Act and whether those states can ensure …
Alaska wolf kill blocked
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A federal judge on Monday denied the state of Alaska’s request for a preliminary injunction to kill wolves, a step it said was needed to protect a …
Lethal week for Montana wolves
Fifteen gray wolves from five different packs were killed in Montana for preying on livestock between May 17 and May 21, making it one of the deadliest five-day stretches in …
Wolf plan panelists divided
Five states are working at dramatically different paces to deal with the reintroduction of gray wolves. Wyoming’s kill ’em on sight plan landed them in last place, mired in court …
Group to host talk about gray wolves
The Spokane County Chapter of Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights will host a talk on expanding gray wolf populations from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Greyhound Park Event …
Judge to hear arguments in wolf delisting lawsuit
A federal judge in Missoula will hear oral arguments on June 15 on whether gray wolves in Montana and Idaho should be removed from the list of federally protected species.
Study: Elk more likely to flee humans than wolves
Elk respond more strongly to threats from humans than from wolves, and they are more likely to flee for protected refuges if there are hunters in the area, a recent …
Field reports: Wallowa anglers net record kokanee
FISHING – Northeastern Oregon’s Wallowa Lake is producing state-record kokanee of saltwater proportions. Wan Teece of Enterprise, Ore., caught a 26.25-inch long kokanee weighing 8.23 pounds on March 24.
Wolf hunt season ends with killings shy of limit
BOISE – Idaho closed the first regulated wolf-hunting season in the lower 48 states Wednesday, and state Fish and Game officials are calling it a success. “I’d be severely disappointed …
First wolf-hunting season a success, official says
Today, Idaho closes the first regulated wolf-hunting season in the lower 48 states, and state Fish & Game officials are calling it a success. “I’d be severely disappointed if we …
Elk reproduction woes tied to wolves
After hours of watching Yellowstone elk herds through a spotting scope, Scott Creel noticed a few interesting things. When wolves appeared, the elk turned skittish. They spent more time on …
Hunting hasn’t slowed wolves
At least 1,706 gray wolves in 242 packs and 115 breeding pairs were roaming the Northern Rockies of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming at the end of 2009, according to reports …
Wolf stars fade
After a somewhat dominating 14-year reign in the northwestern corner of Yellowstone National Park, one of the park’s most-prolific and most-viewed gray wolf packs in the world may have perished. …
Wolf population rose last year in Northern Rockies
The wolf population in the Northern Rockies rose last year, but at the slowest rate in nearly 15 years, according to a report released Thursday by U.S. Fish and Wildlife …
Yellowstone wolves decline in ’09
PREDATORS – The number of wolves in Yellowstone National Park declined about 23 percent in 2009, a change park biologists say is typical of natural fluctuations for wildlife species. Yellowstone’s …
Actual wolf weights often skimpier than hunters estimate
Rumors of 150-pound wolves abound in the Idaho Panhandle, but most of the wolves taken by hunters are much smaller. Adult females averaged 86 pounds, according to Idaho Department of …
Elusive target
AVERY, Idaho – Milt Turley wants to shoot a wolf. He and his wife, Kay, live in close proximity to the shaggy-haired predators. Wolf tracks have appeared on the couple’s …
Wolves touted as park stewards
BILLINGS – With ballooning elk and deer populations eating up greenery and altering ecosystems at national parks across the country, a group of researchers is suggesting an unusual solution: Introduce …
Idaho closes another wolf hunting area
State wildlife managers say another Idaho wolf hunting zone has been shut down after hunters filled a state quota.
Wolf toll on livestock increases
Gray wolves killed livestock in Montana at the rate of an animal per day in 2009, stirring a backlash against the predators in rural areas and depleting a program that …
Wyoming argues for wolf oversight
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has no legitimate reason for its refusal to turn over management of gray wolves to the state of Wyoming, the state …