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Wolf war III: Issue is Cash Cow for Enviros (The out Fitter)
Twenty years ago Congress established a Wolf Management Committee to fashion a gray wolf introduction and management plan for central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park. Target population: 300, with 30 breeding pairs in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. That goal was officially met in 2002. Wolves were taken off the Endangered Species List March 8, 2008. Petitions by protectionists got them relisted. A second delisting, May 9, 2009, gave Idaho and Montana their first wolf-hunting seasons. Relisting of wolves in 2010 by U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula precluded a wolf hunt that year. Last fall, biologists in the northern Rockies put wolf numbers at more than 1,540, with 107 breeding pairs. Idaho has more than 1,000 wolves, according to Governor Butch Otter's office. Montana's closing 2010 figures: at least 566 wolves and 35 breeding pairs--a 7.4 percent increase over 2009. The debate over wolf delisting has heated up. Opponents accuse sportsmen of stumping for state control so they can kill all the wolves. But if that were the case, why do sportsmen not kill all the deer, elk, moose and bighorn sheep currently under state control?
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