Judge sets hearing over Montana, Idaho wolf hunts

Environmental and animal rights groups have been granted a last-minute hearing before a federal judge on their request to stop upcoming wolf hunts in the Northern Rockies. Wolves across much of the region were removed from the endangered species list earlier this year. Public hunts for the predators -- the first in the Lower 48 states in decades -- are scheduled to begin Sept. 1 in parts of Idaho and two weeks later in Montana. Combined, the two states authorized hunters to take 295 of an estimated 1,350 wolves, or about a fifth of the animal's population. Groups including Defenders of Wildlife and the Humane Society of the United States last week asked for a court injunction to bar the hunts. Today, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy said he would hold a three-hour hearing Aug. 31 in Missoula to hear arguments in the case...AP