GRAY WOLF delisted—no longer endangered—Good or Bad?
“Conservation groups howled when Congress removed the Rocky Mountain gray wolf from the federal endangered species list. The “delisting” in most of the Northwest was attached to the budget deal in April between the White House and Congress.
The head of one environmental organization likened it to Congress throwing the wolf off Noah’s Ark. But now that states like Idaho have full authority over the wolf’s fate, they’re eager to use it.
Idaho Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Dave Cadwallader welcomes the delisting because it allows the state to treat the wolf like any other animal.
“Wolves are classified as a big-game animal in Idaho, and we fully intend to manage them like we do our other big-game animals that we’ve done successfully, bears and lions, for example,” he says. “And we want to be able to do the same with wolves.”
That most likely means annual wolf hunts. The state hasn’t yet settled the details of its wolf management plan, but it’s already started shooting them. Idaho Fish and Game recently sent helicopters to a part of the state where wolves are thought to be killing too many elk; the “aerial gunning,” as it’s called, killed five wolves.”