ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has a hunch that Congress is about to remove wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains from the Endangered Species list. So he's holding off on signing a state bill that would allow him to declare a wolf disaster emergency.

If Congress follows through, Otter says Idaho would win state control of the predators - making signing the measure passed by the state Idaho House and Senate this month unnecessary, the Idaho Statesman reports.

Otter says the congressional delisting measure inserted into a complex federal budget measure by U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson "gives control back to the state...where it should have been all along."

Idaho's measure would let Otter enlist local law enforcement agents to reduce Idaho's wolf population, which at 800 animals makes up about half of the wolves in the region.