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Wolf delisting on hold – wolf season cancelled for now 7/14/2008 View article on original page (PDF format) BOISE – U.S. District Court Judge Donald W. Molloy has placed a preliminary injunction to reverse the delisting of the of the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf effectively halting the progress of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming toward state management. The injunction was granted pending a trial on a lawsuit challenging the delisting of the wolf by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as premature. The suit is brought by a group of animal rights, anti-hunting and pro-wolf advocacy organizations including, the Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resource Defense Fund, Humane Society of the United States, Western Watersheds, the Sierra Club, and others. Judge Molloy ruled that the plaintiffs demonstrated the likelihood of success based on merits of several claims in their lawsuit and reinstated the rules of the Endangered Species Act to keep the wolf population from being imperiled before the lawsuit is settled. No time table is given for trial on the lawsuit and many feel it could be more than a year before a court date is set. Adjoining the states of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, and the U.S. Department of the Interior (including the USFWS) were several national and local hunters rights groups – Safari club International, the NRA, Western Montana Fish and Game Association – with concerns for the wild ungulate (deer, elk, and moose) herds, as well as agricultural groups – Wyoming and Montana Stockman’s Association, Montana Farm Bureau, and others – seeking relief from growing losses do to wolf depredation of domestic livestock. Two main points of contention were sighted by Judge Molloy. First was the lack of DNA proof of a genetic exchange between the three main subpopulations, in particular between the Greater Yellowstone packs and either of the Montana or Idaho area wolf packs. The second major concern was the Wyoming state recovery plan which allowed 90 percent of the state to hold the wolf to be a predator and not a game species thus allowing them to be killed on sight year round. The judge ruled that this would likely not allow enough packs to survive outside of the Yellowstone area and may prevent the ability to hold enough viable numbers for recovery inside the Yellowstone area as well. The rules for recovery the gray wolf from the ESA were established in 1987 and stated at that 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves for three consecutive years in each of the three core recovery area; Montana, Idaho and the Greater Yellowstone Recovery Area. This recovery plan is commonly known as the 30/300 mark. Those numbers were met in 2000 and each year since. The total counted wolf population in the spring of 2008 in all recovery areas is numbered at more than 2,000 with an estimated 20 to 30 percent more uncounted by ESA standards, placing the total at nearly 2,500 – eight times the requirement for delisting. Idaho’s state recovery plan called for a reduction of wolf numbers from the current population of more than 1,000 to between 534 and 728 – equal to the wolf count from 2005 and 2007. The plan allowed for hunter harvest of approximately 300 wolves with an additional 200 plus mortality from conflict control actions, and of natural or unknown causes. Pro-wolf advocates cite that 106 wolves have died in all three regions in the first 118 days since delisting. This number is less than 5 percent of the total wolf population, and at a rate less than the required mortality to keep the wolf population at current levels. While seemingly high, the mortality for the denning season is within the yearly normal based on overall wolf numbers, especially given the late spring contributing to increased conflicts with livestock due to lower than normal den elevations. |
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