Wolf quota fits with long-term goals for species

Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks officials are proposing the quota for wolves taken in the upcoming hunting season to be increased from 75 to 186 - an increase of two-and-a-half times. The lawyers will be in full throat. Bet on it. The numbers alone will be sufficient ammo for endless briefs and longwinded arguments. But, despite that certainty and all the angst that will go with it, both real and ginned up, this is one hunting quota increase that should win approval when the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission meets next week. Since wolves were re-introduced to the Yellowstone region 15 years ago, their success as a recovering species has exceeded all expectations. The state's wolf-management plan - which met the approval of federal Fish and Wildlife Service officials - calls for maintaining a population of at least 150 wolves and 15 breeding pairs. As of last year there were an estimated 525 wolves in the state, with 37 breeding pairs. Overall wolf numbers increased despite last year's initial hunting harvest, and those hunter-killed wolves were in addition to 145 specimens killed in response to livestock-predation complaints...more