Wyoming asks feds to accept wolf law

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Gov. Dave Freudenthal on Friday asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to accept the wolf management law the state adopted this spring as proof of how the state would manage the animals if they’re stripped of federal protections.

But Mitch King, regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver, said Friday he doesn’t see much hope for the governor’s suggestion. King said he expects Wyoming will be left out of the current federal process that could remove protections for wolves in Montana and Idaho as soon as early next year.

Wyoming officials are anxious to end federal protections so the state can start killing more wolves and reduce their take of elk, moose and livestock.

Both Montana and Idaho have already submitted wolf plans that the federal agency says are acceptable. Wyoming, however, continues to press a lawsuit challenging the 2003 federal rejection of its original management plan that called for classifying wolves as predators that could be shot on sight in much of the state.

In his letter on Friday, Freudenthal told King that the wolf management bill the Wyoming Legislature enacted this spring gives a clear statement of how the state would manage the wolves. The governor said the legislation should carry more weight than a plan approved by the state game and fish department.

“I would respectfully suggest that the contingent plan adopted by the Legislature is actually a more permanent and clear statement of Wyoming’s intention than a document adopted by an administrative agency,” Freudenthal wrote.

The new Wyoming law would give the governor the authority to negotiate with federal officials to determine the boundaries of a permanent wolf management area in which wolves would be managed by the state as trophy game animals. Outside the permanent management area, the new state law calls for wolves to be treated as predators that could be shot on sight. Wolves would be protected in Yellowstone National Park and adjoining wilderness areas.

The new Wyoming law specifies that it won’t go into effect until the federal protections are removed from wolves in the state.