Hunting Wolves Out West: More, Less?

The war over wolves continues in the West. In May, the Department of Interior announced that it was taking wolves off the Endangered Species List and that management would be turned over to state wildlife agencies. Rather than reduce controversy, however, its decision seems to have increased it. Wildlife officials in Idaho announced a plan, taking effect this month, that would rely on snare and leg-hold trapping and helicopter-borne sharpshooters to kill as many as 75 wolves in mountainous terrain in the east, near the Montana border, known as the Lolo Zone. In Montana, the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks has extended the hunting season on wolves past the Dec. 31 deadline, saying that not enough wolves were shot during the season. Just 105 wolves have been taken so far, it said, and officials wanted hunters to harvest 220. Meanwhile, a photo from 2006 released on a conservation blog, Wildlife News, has stirred controversy. It shows a plane operated by federal sharpshooters with 58 paw print stickers on the side representing the number of wolf kills the agents have made, similar to the way fighter pilots signify how many planes they have shot down. Officials say that the stickers have since been removed...more