The state of Idaho has set a quota of 220 individuals for the wolf hunting season which begins on September 1st. If the quota a quarter of Idaho’s estimated 880 wolves will be killed.
The 220 quota is actually a reduction from an earlier proposal that called for a quota of 430 wolves, almost half the state’s population. In contrast, Montana has set its quota for the year at 75 wolves, approximately 15 percent of its population.
The environmental group, Defenders of Wildlife has stated that it will seek an injunction to stop the hunt, arguing that the numbers are unsustainable. This has angered some wildlife managers.
“It’s time for some environmental groups to abide by their previous promises,” said Fish and Game Commission Chairman Wayne Wright, from Twin Falls, Idaho. “It’s time for our judicial system to put science before partisan ideology. Neither our sportsmen, our ranchers or our elk herds can wait any longer. It’s time.”
Wolves were removed from the Endangered Species Act in Montana and Idaho last May in a controversial decision by Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar.
“It is really astonishing that you could have an animal on the endangered species list at one point, and a bare five months later they’re being hunted,” Stephen Augustine of the Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance told the Spokane Spokesman-Review . “To my knowledge there isn’t another animal that has had this happen to them.”
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