March 21, 2014
The gray wolf was reintroduced to Idaho in the mid-1990s. National Geographic/Getty Images
Back in the mid-1990s, nearly three
dozen gray wolves captured in Canada were ferried south on planes,
trucks and snowmobiles to the wilderness of Idaho, where wildlife
biologists set them loose as part of a federal ecological experiment.
Now, many in the state say they wish the creatures had never set foot on Idaho soil.
More
than 650 wolves roam the state today, according to low-end estimates by
the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The growth has stirred
complaints from ranchers and hunters, who say the animals are wreaking
havoc on Idaho's prized elk and livestock, and prompted the governor's
office to embark on an effort to wipe out three-quarters or more of the
population.
The reintroduction of wolves
has triggered controversy in recent years throughout the northern
Rockies, where states such as Wyoming and Montana have struggled to rein
in booming wolf populations. The issue has now moved to Idaho, where
lawmakers Thursday approved an amended version of a bill championed by
Gov.
Butch Otter
that would set up a statewide authority for wolf management and
pump $400,000 in state money a year into a lethal campaign against the
animals.
But the idea for a so-called
wolf depredation control board has sparked an outcry by
conservationists, who say the state is gripped by a resurgence of
anti-wolf sentiment not seen since the early 20th century, when the
animal was hunted, trapped and poisoned to near-oblivion.
"Idaho has a lot of wolves, and they seem to bring out all kinds of emotion in everybody," said
Jerome Hansen,
a supervisor for Idaho Fish and Game.
In
1995 and 1996, federal biologists at Congress's direction shipped
wolves from Alberta and British Columbia to central Idaho and
Yellowstone National Park with the goal of restoring the ecological
balance in a region teeming with elk and other creatures lower on the
food chain.
After the population surged,
the U.S. in 2011 and 2012 stripped wolves in Idaho and several other
states in the region of protection by the Endangered Species Act. The
government also gave Idaho more responsibility—but less money—for
managing the animals.
State leaders aim
to reduce the wolf population to 150 and 15 breeding pairs—a threshold
they say would avoid a potential relisting under the Endangered Species
Act. To help pay for the effort, the governor wants to spend an
additional $400,000 a year for more monitoring, hunting and trapping.
The first lump of it was approved Thursday.
Mr.
Otter and legislators say the wolf is hurting the state economy by
plundering livestock and driving away out-of-state elk hunters. "They're
a destroying animal," said Sen.
Monty Pearce,
among several lawmakers who work in the ranching industry.
The
elk population has fallen about 15% since the wolves arrived, according
to state estimates, while revenues from elk-hunting permits have
plummeted. Wolves have also killed 2,589 sheep, 610 cows and 72 dogs in
Idaho, according to federal tallies. Last summer, state Sen.
Jeff Siddoway,
who owns a sheep ranch in Jefferson County, lost 176 sheep during
a single attack last summer. Most of animals died trampling over each
other as they fled.
Conservationists say
the state is treating wolves like vermin, and the plan to cut the
population to as low as 150 might endanger the species all over again.
"They've demonized wolves and made it a politically beneficial tool to
make people afraid of them," said
Suzanne Stone,
a wolf conservationist in Boise.
Mr.
Otter's office says the concerns are overblown. "We acknowledge that
wolves are here to say," said spokesman
Jon Hanian.
"We are trying to manage this population for sustainability and
to ensure they do the least possible harm to native wildlife as well as
livestock."
Already, the wolf population
has fallen at least 20% after peaking in 2009, according to state data.
At Idaho's request, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents have shot
dozens of wolves near the Montana border, where the predators have been
blamed for a rash of elk deaths. Hunters have killed more than 300
wolves a year since 2011.
Conservationists
hope the courts will intervene. Lawyers at environmental group
Earthjustice filed a federal suit in January to stop the state
exterminating two wolf packs in the Frank Church-River of No Return
Wilderness. The request, denied by a trial judge in January, is before
the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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