Photo by Doug Smith, National Park Service. Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons

Will you speak up for Idaho’s wolves?

Idaho’s Department of Fish and Game has once again shown its disdain for native predators by putting out a draft wolf management plan that is the opposite of what wolves need to survive and thrive in the state. Instead, the proposed plan is a thinly disguised attempt to avert federal Endangered Species Act protection by doing the inadequate, bare minimum for wolves.

Among other things, Idaho’s draft plan would kill two-thirds of the wolves in the state, allows for the killing of wolf puppies in their dens, provides a bounty on wolf killing, and, in a vaguely worded provision, grants “extended private kill authorization permits” to ranchers with public lands grazing permits. It’s antiscientific and inhumane.

If you want to give wolves a chance to recover and thrive in Idaho, please submit your written comments here. (https://bit.ly/3xx4vYZ)

Urge the agency to strengthen the draft wolf recovery plan by demanding the following changes:

• There is no ecological basis for capping Idaho’s wolf population at 500. The state of Idaho is home to 4000 mountain lions, 20,000 black bears, 120,000 elk and 400,000 deer. Limiting the wolf population to just 500 is a political choice, not a scientifically-justifiable position.
• Bounties and pup-killing are unethical and irresponsible methods of ‘hunting’ wolves, as are the proposed rules that allow wolves to be chased down with snowmobiles and ATVs, targeted with night-vision scopes, and shot from aircraft. These practices are far outside of the bounds of modern wildlife management, and Idaho should not use such regressive tactics for managing any wildlife in the state.
• Wolves are social creatures with strong family bonds. Breaking up packs makes it harder for young wolves to survive, which in turn leads to increased risk of livestock depredations.
• Public lands livestock users should take pro-active steps to protect their livestock rather than ridding native ecosystems of top predators. Ecosystem health is important to everyone, and wolves pay a key role in maintaining the balance of nature.

Even if you aren’t from Idaho, please weigh in! Idaho’s wolves are an important source population for wolves in all other states, and the proposed management puts wolf recovery everywhere at risk.

For more information, contact Patrick Kelly at patrick@westernwatersheds.org

Send in your comments on the draft plan before March 5, 2023.