Back To Court, As Wyoming Sue Feds Again

The feds want to de-list the wolf in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. All three states want to take over control of the wolf. Montana and Idaho already have. Wyoming is fighting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the requirements by the Service before they will allow it to happen. The two sides are headed back to court again as the state of Wyoming has filed suit against the USFWS.

In short, the feds say before they will allow Wyoming to manage the wolves, they must present them with an approved management plan. Any plan submitted to date has been rejected. Now Wyoming is saying that the USFWS rejected the plan based on political reasons not sound science.

This is what the USFWS expects of Wyoming before they will accept their plan. The wolves must be:

* Classified as trophy game animals.

* That the state commit to maintaining some wolf packs in northwest Wyoming outside national parks.

* And that the state change its definition of what constitutes a wolf pack so that Montana, Idaho and Wyoming all use similar definitions.

Basically what Wyoming’s plan calls for is to protect the wolf in Yellowstone Park and The Tetons. Everywhere else will be open season and the wolf will be classified as a predator. There are reasons for this plan and the state feels that their plan more than meets the requirements of maintaining minimum population goals set up by USFWS in all three states and is based on sound science not politics.

Wyoming intends to protect two of its most valued resources – hunting and livestock. Studies there are showing that elk numbers are declining because of wolf predation. Recently, Idaho petitioned the USFWS for authorization to kill more wolves in the northern part of the state because of what state officials say is a drastic drop in newborn elk because of the wolf.

While state agencies claim the wolf is a problem, USFWS officials contend differently.

“Despite research findings in Idaho and the Greater Yellowstone Area, and monitoring evidence in Wyoming that indicate wolf predation is having an impact on ungulate populations that will reduce hunter opportunity if the current impact levels persist, the (Fish and Wildlife) Service continues to rigidly deny wolf predation is a problem,” the Wyoming Game and Fish analysis says.

As long as the USFWS maintains this position and as long as they continue to not classify wildlife and livestock killings by wolves as such unless wolves are caught in the act by feds, not a whole heck of a lot will change.

I think that the one entity that knows what’s best for the wellbeing of Wyoming is Wyoming, not some federal officer sitting in Washington.

What is seldom, if ever, spoken in this matter is the truth. Whether anyone wants to say it or not, the biggest reason wolves were killed off was so that we as humans could live and raise livestock and hunt for food. Wolves were making that a difficult task to achieve.

Today, there are few people who want to see the wolf totally made extinct but I think the feds out of fear of reprisals through further lawsuits by environmentalist, are running scared. Because of this we now have too many wolves and state officials hands are tied to do anything about it.

*Previous Posts no this Subject*
Wyoming Denied Request To Delist Gray Wolf
Wyoming Thinks the Wolf is a Predator
Rocky Mountain Wolf Population Rises Over 1,000
Some States Want The Wolf De-Listed, Others Don’t
Gray Wolves to be Hunted Again
Wolves Likely Killed Ontario Man
Don’t Blame the Big Bad Wolf, One Study Claims
Fish and Wildlife Service Officially Announce Plans to De-List Wolf

Tom Remington