[Drop those champagne glasses, Idaho doesn’t deserve praise just yet. Although an Idaho judge decided to halt the slaughter of two packs in the Frank Church wilderness area, some of their lawmakers won’t be satisfied until they’ve killed most of the wolves in the rest of the state!!]…
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/lawmakers-2m-aimed-to-kill-more-than-500-wolves/24142924
Lawmakers: $2M aimed to kill more than 500 wolves
BOISE, Idaho –
Republicans promoting Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s proposed $2 million fund to kill wolves say they hope the cash helps eliminate more than 500 of the predators in Idaho, reducing numbers to 150 animals in 15 packs.
Rep. Marc Gibbs of Grace and Sen. Bert Brackett of Rogerson Monday told the House Resources and Conservation Committee the cash set aside with Otter’s proposal will bolster Idaho’s predator arsenal.
Idaho now has about 680 wolves, according to state Department of Fish and Game estimates.
Brackett says the priority is to keep wolves delisted, even with these proposed killings.
He said provided Idaho still has 150 wolves – the minimum required in a 2002 plan approved by the Idaho Legislature – “we’ll have a defensible line of defense” against renewed federal protections.
Exposing the Big Game 
I wish that more thought had gone into the “150” number, which has its origins in the 80’s before anyone really knew about what constituted a viable wolf population. I think it was Ed Bangs who said this number has more to do with what people will tolerate than it does with sound science. Unfortunately, it’s now become a death sentence for gray wolves.
The state obviously can support many times more than 150 wolves, but the elk hunters don’t want to share with them.
Otter proposed spending $2 million for an Idaho Wolf Control Board in his State of the State address on 1/6/14. This issue has been picked up by the Associated Press just in the last day or two. I think the fund has to be approved by the state legislature, and it very likely will happen.
That’s definitely bad news for wolves of Idaho. Worse yet, it could set a precedence for other states to just keep a minimum number of wolves around so the Feds don’t get involved again and put them back on the endangered list (where they belong)…
I live in Idaho, and this place truly sucks on so many levels. I have to say, though, Otter’s $2 million wolf-killing fund is not current news around here, and I applaud the small reprieve for our beleaguered wolves in the Frank Church wilderness area.
Thanks for the inside info. Strange that a Montana news station would revisit this in an article just yesterday. How long has the $2 million fund issue been around? Does the fund currently exist, or is it just an idea that hopefully this will not become a reality?
We will continue to fight and ask our President to put these renegade wolf killing states back on the ESA requirement to protect the wolf.
We must join hands and encircle our brethren and protect them and demand justice in DC . And that Obama administration stop pandering to these wolf killing states now!
He needs to do the right thing for the wolves and not give into the ” butcher “! I ask who does that serve Mr President but his hunting cronies and in the end the NRA !!!! The same group that won’t allow background checks! These people are walking away with too much power !
Reinstate the ESA for the wolves in all the states you delisted and do your job!
This is our national heritage not pandering to congress and governors in these killing ” game” states where the wolves actually live . We are happy to pay a non consumptive users fee to protect our wildlife , so don’t put up that lame argument … Grow an environmental spine and help us help you save this earth, our home !
Thank you!
That didn’t take them very long. Some states are so dead-set determined to wipe out almost the entire wolf population in their regions, it’s mind-blowing! One wonders, will man ever live in peace with the animal kingdom…
As Connie pointed out, the proposal of a $2 million wolf-eradication fund has been around since January 6th, but the press is only now reporting on it.
How convenient to publish this right after Earthjustice’s victory, it’s as if they’ve been just sitting on it waiting for the “right” moment to publish, to diminish the fact that the wolf eradication plan is alive and well, just biding it’s time. I hate joy-killers!!
please can someone tell me how us humans have the right to make laws concerning who kills what wildlife? we govern ourselves and make laws for ourselves but where in any sense of decency statute of legality does it say that we own wildlife and therefore have the right to make laws to govern or control it. mother nature and evolution makes the laws for animals etc and every single natural, non-human, ecosystem abides by that…..we have no right interfering with nature
All I can say is, you’re right.
We cant have a victory,without the haters reminding us they are still there to kill wolves,one way or another…
Yep