Although Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) primarily “manages” wolf populations using hunters and trappers, the agency also authorizes its “control actions” in areas where regulated killing is deemed as an insufficient tool to meet “management” goals.

Idaho’s Lolo Elk Management Zone is in a remote area of the Clearwater National Forest. It’s a steep and rugged landscape that is difficult to access, especially in winter.

Hunters and trappers have reported 24 wolves killed in the Lolo zone during the 2019 season. The current trapping season ends March 31 and the hunting season runs through June 30.

IDFG officials just announced that the agency killed 17 more.

Idaho killed these 17 wolves via its “Wolf Control Program” to boost the elk population for human hunters in the Lolo Elk Management Zone.

According to IDFG, “The Lolo elk population declined drastically from its peak of about 16,000…