Wolves
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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against the many wolf advocacy groups who held that Congressman Mike Simpson’s and Senator Jon Tester’s budget rider, which delisted wolves in Idaho, Montana, and parts of Oregon, Washington, and Utah, was unconstitutional. The panel of judges upheld Judge Donald Mollloy’s ruling that the rider was constitutional.…
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Christopher Ketcham has been writing about many of the issues we write about here and has just published a very long and clear-eyed article about the ongoing wolf issue in The American Prospect. Ketcham interviews many people here in Idaho including our own Brian Ertz and his sister Natalie, he also got some great quotes…
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Over the weekend USDA Wildlife Services agents, while out flying around killing coyotes, observed what they think were four wolves or wolf dog hybrids near Springville, Utah. There have been reports of wolves there for the past year and a half. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources plans to attempt to capture them in the…
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Since the beginning of the Idaho wolf hunting and trapping season I have been keeping a spreadsheet with a running tally of wolf kills. Presently the total stands at 332 dead wolves with 237 taken in the hunt and 95 taken by trapping and snaring. There are three zones that have been closed so far…
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Senator Jeff Siddoway’s Wolf Kill Bill S1305 has been sent back to committee which effectively kills it. The bill would have allowed ranchers to kill wolves by various methods including use of live bait and even aerial gunning. Yesterday the USFWS told the Idaho Statesman that the bill could threaten the wolf delisting plan and…
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I just got out of the Idaho Senate and Resources Committee meeting where they discussed S1305 which allows ranchers to kill wolves in many different ways. They voted to send the bill to the floor with a do pass recommendation. One interesting comment was made by Republican Senator Tippets who said that he had dinner…
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The Montana FWP Commission has decided not to extend the wolf hunt in the Bitterroot area. While many claim that the elk declines seen there have been due to wolves but a recent study implicates cougars and a quick look at the historic numbers shows that poor hunting management has also contributed to the declines…
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In May of this year, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed creating a Distinct Population Segment (or “DPS”) of wolves in the Great Lakes Region, and removing wolves in this DPS from federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections (76 Fed. Reg 26086). The “delisting” of wolves in the Great Lakes was recently discussed in…