A
proposal to triple the number of wolves that hunters and trappers can
kill just outside Yellowstone National Park was rejected Thursday by
Montana wildlife commissioners.
Wildlife
managers had recommended increasing the 2016 wolf quota for a hunting
district near Gardiner from two animals to six. Agency officials had
cited complaints from hunters and outfitters that the predators were
eating too many elk.
Spokesman Ron Aasheim says the quota won't be final until the wildlife commission votes again in July.
Park
officials and wildlife advocates have argued that wolves spending much
of their lives inside Yellowstone should be given special protections.
Even under smaller quotas, they've said too many wolves were being
killed once they stepped into Montana.
No hunting is
allowed in the park, but wolf hunting has been legal in neighboring
Montana since 2011 when the animals lost their endangered status.
Under
pressure from the park and advocacy groups, Montana wildlife
commissioners tried to set up a no-kill buffer zone east and west of the
town of Gardiner in 2012. A state judge struck down those restrictions
after ranchers and property rights advocates sued.
A
quota of four wolves in the Gardiner area was established in 2013. That
was reduced to three animals in 2014 and two last year.
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