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 he hunting of gray wolves in two western states will continue as planned this fall after a federal judge rejected an attempt by NRDC, Earthjustice and other groups to stop the hunts. But the judge's ruling also offered hope that we will prevail in our larger goal of restoring endangered species protection to the entire northern Rockies wolf population.
Last March, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar removed wolves in Idaho and Montana from the endangered species list, and those states immediately began to plan the first public wolf hunts in decades for this fall. Montana set its quota at 15 percent of the state's estimated wolf population, while Idaho declared open season on nearly a third of its wolves. A total of 330 wolves could be gunned down in the two states.
"What's tragic is that wolves in the northern Rockies had been on track to achieve recovery," said Louisa Willcox, a senior wildlife advocate in NRDC's Montana office. "Their population had rebounded to more than 1,600, but we need at least 2,000 before we can start to call it sustainable. Hunting wolves takes us in the wrong direction."
Although the court's ruling on hunting was a significant disappointment, it also stated that the federal government's decision to strip wolves of protection in only Montana and Idaho, but not Wyoming, seemed "arbitrary and capricious" and was likely a violation of the law. The court will make a final decision on restoring the wolf's endangered species protection after hearing our full case in the months ahead. In the meantime, NRDC will continue mobilizing opposition to the interior secretary's policy of abandoning wolves to state control, even as we promote a science-based vision for a lasting wolf recovery. "The states don't have a very good track record of managing their wolf populations," said Willcox. "They already exterminated their wolves once. That's why federal protection is so important until we have a healthy population and adequate state plans and laws in place."
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NRDC is fighting in federal court to prevent the slaughter and return vital federal protection to the wolves.
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