Topics
Wolves
Summary
Few wildlife conservation efforts have been as controversial as that of the grey wolf in the Northern Rockies. Federal efforts to protect the wolf have clashed with state efforts to control wolf populations and protect livestock and game from predation by wolf packs.
Idaho and Montana have been given federal authority to manage wolf numbers using public hunts. Federal officials require Idaho to maintain a population of at least 150 wolves and 10 breeding pairs.
Idaho wildlife officials have boosted bag limits, expanded trapping and extended hunting seasons in some areas to help further reduce wolf populations in all corners of the state. Its 10-month wolf season runs until June.
Idaho’s wolf managers estimated 500 to 600 wolves roamed the state as of spring 2012, down from the more than 1,000 when the 2011 hunting season opened in August.
Hunters and trappers killed 364 wolves since the 2011 season opened, while dozens more wolves have died of natural causes or been killed for preying on livestock or targeted as part of a strategy to lessen impacts on specific elk herds in the state.
A federal appeals court in March rejected a lawsuit from conservation groups that wanted to block wolf hunts across the Northern Rockies. The ruling from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Congress had the right to intervene when it stripped protections from wolves in spring 2011.
Lawmakers stepped in after court rulings kept wolves on the endangered list for years after they reached recovery goals. Wildlife advocates claimed in their lawsuit that Congress violated the separation of powers by interfering with the courts. But the court said Congress was within its rights, and that lawmakers had appropriately amended the Endangered Species Act to deal with Northern Rockies wolves.
There are more than 1,700 wolves in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and expanding populations in portions of Eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon. Wolf hunting could resume in Wyoming this fall.
In parts of Montana, ranchers and local officials frustrated with continuing attacks on livestock have proposed bounties for hunters that kill wolves. Montana wildlife officials said they will consider ways to expand hunting after 166 wolves were killed this season, short of the state’s 220-wolf quota.
Wolves once thrived across North America but were exterminated across most of the continental U.S. by the 1930s, through government sponsored poisoning and bounty programs.
Wolves were put on the endangered list in 1974. Over the last two decades, state and federal agencies have spent more than $100 million on wolf restoration programs across the country. There are more than 4,500 of the animals in the upper Great Lakes and a struggling population of several dozen wolves in the Desert Southwest.
Prior lawsuits resulted first in the animals’ reintroduction to the Northern Rockies and then later kept them on the endangered list for a decade after the species reached recovery goal of 300 wolves in three states.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is monitoring the hunts. But agency officials have said they have no plans to intervene because the states have pledged to manage wolves responsibly.
Federal officials have pledged to step in to restore endangered species protections if wolf numbers drop to less than 100 animals in either Montana or Idaho.
Even without hunting, wolves are shot regularly in the region in response to livestock attacks. Since their reintroduction, more than 1,600 wolves have been shot by government wildlife agents or ranchers.
Latest updates in this topic
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10 wolves killed in northern Idaho to boost elk numbers
March 14, 2018 in Eye On Boiseby Betsy Russell
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JFAC sets final agency budget for next year: $400K for wolf control board
March 9, 2018 in Eye On Boiseby Betsy Russell
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House passes wolf fund bill; reps compare wolves to gangs, ‘cobra snakes’
February 28, 2018 in Eye On Boiseby Betsy Russell
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Wolf control board has big balance, wants more $$, removal of 5-year expiration
January 26, 2018 in Eye On Boiseby Betsy Russell
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Idaho fighting order to destroy wilderness wolf, elk data
December 6, 2017 in Eye On Boiseby Betsy Russell
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Pro-wolf group from out-of-state hounds Washington with lawsuits
November 16, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Online quiz: Can you distinguish wolf from coyote?
November 15, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Rancher kills wolf attacking livestock in Ferry County
November 9, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Another wolf shot in Oregon; investigation continues in unsolved cases
November 7, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Gun encourages self-defense claim in shooting of wolf
November 6, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Elk country constantly changing; can you adapt?
October 9, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Statisticians counter WSU prof’s findings that killing wolves does more harm than good
October 3, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Wolf roaming Skagit county is real wolf, DNA test confirms
October 2, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Grouse hunter and bird dog have harrowing encounter with wolves
September 28, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Lawsuit would prevent Washington from killing more wolves to protect cattle
September 25, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Washington kills three wolves this season to quell cattle attacks
September 21, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Wolf over its head in swimming attack on whitetail buck
September 13, 2017 in Outdoors blog -
Sherman Pack wolf killed after fifth cattle attack in Ferry County
September 1, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Another Washington wolf pack targeted for lethal action after attacks on cattle
August 25, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Wolf baiting rejected by Idaho panel, at least for now
August 25, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Idaho F&G Commission rejects wolf-baiting on 7-0 vote, at least for now
August 25, 2017 in Eye On Boiseby Betsy Russell
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Colville Tribe expands wolf hunting off reservation while pro-wolf groups wail
August 7, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Another Smackout Pack wolf killed, officials say
July 31, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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One Smackout Pack wolf killed in state mission to stop livestock attacks
July 27, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Video: Hiking safely with dogs in wolf country
July 27, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Wolves from two packs kill calves in northeastern Washington
July 25, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Wyoming in record-setting tit for tat with beef-liking wolves
July 17, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Using bait for wolf hunting proposal on agenda for Idaho Fish and Game meeting in Bonners Ferry
July 17, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Wolf activity, including livestock attack, updated by Washington officials
July 14, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Gray wolves produce second litter in California
July 10, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Sherman Pack wolves kill Ferry County cattle, state confirms
June 16, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers
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Wolf first to be caught, collared, monitored in Western Washington
June 15, 2017 in Outdoors blogby Rich Landers