Feds’ Wolves Overrun the West
The federal grey wolf re-introduction plan, or rancher eradication project, as it is known in some circles, has been wildly successful depending upon one’s point of view. The wolf population in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho has exploded, now numbering over 700 individuals, according to Ed Bangs, USF&W biologist who has run the program since its inception in 1995. Those figures mean the wolves can be downgraded from endangered to threatened and the Service hopes to delist them by spring. The three host states must develop wolf management plans once that happens. So far, only Idaho has adopted a plan while Wyoming is considering legislation under the Tenth Amendment, declaring that they have exclusive jurisdiction over all wildlife management within its boundaries, including the right to manage wolves. Defenders of Wildlife figure if federal protection is lifted “it could be a free-for-all. They could receive predator status which would mean they could be hunted with no protection at all.” Ron Gillet, a hunting guide from Stanley, Id., calls them “land piranhas and wildlife terrorists” and would like to see the wolves gone. His guide business has suffered because of wolf depredations of elk herds. “Once you put them in there, they kill everything that moves…”