Idaho: The state that cried wolf

The paranoid fantasy continues.

Idaho has officially declared a “wolf disaster” and has just obtained an Endangered Species Act pass to allow for a controlled hunt.  The wolf hunt is supposed to be about protecting sheep, because sheep ranchers experience the greatest wolf predation losses. Added incentive: tourist hunters are competing against locals to obtain a limited number of elk tags .

The reason for declaring a ‘wolf disaster’ is that wolves are seen as competing for the antlered big game that human hunters would rather have at. And that’s a disaster Idaho? In reality, the state has 705 wolves, one wolf for every 119 square miles.

The gray wolf IS an endangered species - historically, wolves were found throughout most of the region but were removed by the 1930’s through targeted trapping and hunting, with the exception of a few individuals dispersing periodically since then.

Last month, a Hucklberries online poll asked “What scares you more: the Idaho Legislature in the Statehouse or wolves in the forest?” The legislators won, 74 percent to 10 percent.