PREDATORS  — Idaho lawmakers have approved spending $400,000 to control wolves where they threaten livestock, pets or public resources.

The Spokesman-Review's Betsy Russell reports that the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee approved the money Tuesday for the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board.

The vote maintains the operating budget at the same level as the previous year for the five-member board created last year and operated under the governor’s office.

Last year the board spent about $140,000 to kill 31 wolves between July 1 and Jan. 1.

Authorities recently announced the killing of another 19 wolves in February in northeastern Idaho in an attempt to revive the decimated Lolo elk herd.