STAY INFORMED 
E-MAIL PUBLIC OFFICIALS 
WRITE LETTERS TO EDITORS 
THE MANAGEMENT PLANS 
| Become a fan on Facebook |
|

NEW Calendar of Events! - Click here
Montana and Idaho
Wolf Action Alert!
Speak out about the proposed Montana and Idaho wolf hunting seasons!
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is proposing to allow hunters to kill up to 220 wolves across Montana this fall. The public comment period has passed, but you can still speak out. Click here for the Montana FWP website wolf page.
The Idaho Department of Fish & Game has laid out their framework for wolf management, and is preparing proposals for a fall wolf hunting and wolf trapping season with NO QUOTAS in much of the state. Click here to read the June 30 news release. The proposals will be adopted at the IDFG Commission meeting in Salmon July 27-28, 2011.
While the Western Wolf Coalition does not embrace wolf hunting, we recognize that the public hunting of wolves will be a regular component of wolf management. It is important to voice your support for wolves, and to remind the Departments and Commissioners to manage wolves conservatively, using the best available science.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.
Contact the Idaho Department of Fish & Game
Contact the Idaho Department of Fish & Game Commissioners directly
Contact Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
Contact Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commissioners directly
GOOD MANAGEMENT WILL COOL WOLF PASSIONS
by Idaho Mountain Express
Idahoans on both sides of the wolf debate need to be patient as the state deals with the predictable snags in managing a wolf population that has grown to 732 animals since reintroduction.
The howls still emanating from both extremes of the debate are unreasonable.
Neither should wolves ever again be eradicated from Idaho's wild lands nor should they be allowed to decimate domestic livestock operations.
The middle ground lies in letting the Idaho Department of Fish and Game manage wolves in balance with the wild game that sustains them and control attacks on domestic animals.
The middle ground lies in people adjusting to the presence of wolves. For example, ranchers need to adopt defensive practices for livestock such as penning roving sheep bands at night, using more guard dogs, training herders, being aware of where wolf bands are living and trying to avoid them.
The middle ground lies in two-legged hunters understanding that four-legged hunters are entitled to some big game. The two-legged hunters will have to learn not to resent the loss of every elk or deer taken by a wolf.
The middle ground lies in understanding by people who hike in wild areas with pet dogs that in rare instances they may encounter wolves.
Idaho can look to Wyoming to see how wolf management should not be done. That state has classified wolves as predators that can be shot on sight in all but the northwest corner of the state. The carnage there began the day after delisting.
That said, Idaho's newly minted law may be just this side of allowing similar wholesale slaughter. While it reasonably allows a wolf to be killed without a permit if it is attacking domestic animals, it also allows a wolf to be destroyed if it is "molesting" livestock or domestic animals.
"Molesting" is defined as "the actions of a wolf that are annoying, disturbing or persecuting, especially with hostile intent or injurious effect, or chasing, driving, flushing, worrying, following after or on the trail of, or stalking or lying in wait for, livestock or domestic animals."
The definition is so broad that it could be argued that any wolf lying anywhere could be waiting for or "worrying" livestock or domestic animals.
It remains to be seen if this law can prevent wholesale slaughter. The prosecuting attorneys and judges who will do the legal legwork necessary to enforce the law will determine its effectiveness.
If the law's latitude makes it unenforceable, the Legislature should quickly go back and tighten it up.
That said, we predict Idaho can work out any snags in wolf management and that there will come a day when wolves occupy their rightful place in wild Idaho and passions surrounding them will cool.
This story first appeared in the Idaho Mountain Express April 18, 2008.
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005120361
EDITORIAL: THE CASE FOR LARGE PREDATORS
Published: Saturday, July 23, 2011, 4:03 PM
by The Oregonian Editorial Board
New research adds insight to the debate in Oregon over wolves and cougars
IDAHO TO OFFER LOOSER WOLF HUNT RULES
by JOHN MILLER and MATTHEW BROWN - Associated Press, June 30, 2011 - The Idaho Statesman
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho wildlife managers will propose a wolf hunt without quotas in much of the state, but hunters so far have purchased only a fraction of the tags needed to kill the rangy predators, compared with the first hunt in 2009.
COMMUNITY EFFORT FOUNDATION FOR OREGON WOLF COMPENSATION PLAN
by KATY NESBITT, June 28, 2011 - The Observer
ENTERPRISE — The Oregon Senate last week unanimously approved the Wolf Depredation Compensation Bill creating a compensation program that addresses wolf depredation of livestock.
SALAZAR, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE NOMINEE TO DISCUSS WOLF DELISTING IN WYOMING VISIT
by JEREMY PELZER, June 28, 2011 - Casper Star Tribune
CHEYENNE -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director nominee Daniel Ashe will visit Wyoming within the next month to reach a deal on delisting Wyoming wolves.
AFTER IDAHO GETS WOLVES DELISTED, CONGRESS TAKES AIM AT ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
by ERIKA BOLSTAD, June 26, 2011 - The Idaho Statesman
Rep. Mike Simpson's success in getting wolves delisted in Idaho and Montana has put other animals in the cross hairs, but he says lawmakers shouldn't meddle with the process.























