EXTEND THE MONITORING PROGRAM FOR ANOTHER FIVE YEARS
According to the Endangered Species Act, after a species is delisted it must be monitored for five years to ensure the population remains healthy. Unfortunately for the wolves of Idaho and Montana, their monitoring runs out in May of 2016.
Idaho and Montana wolf "management" is allowing more and more wolves to be killed. Over 2,300 wolves have been killed in these two states since the northern Rocky Mountains wolves stopped receiving protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2009.
Idaho and Montana are currently allowing heavy hunting and trapping over long seasons with very few limits. Idaho is even spending thousands in taxpayer funds to kill wolves, both aerially as well as trapping them in federally protected wilderness areas. Given their adversarial treatment of wolves, and a critical assesment of the wolf count program, wildlife advocates such as myself are highly skeptical of the wolf population numbers from these states. The federal government must oversee the population counts, and make sure they are legitimate.
The population of wolves in these two states are at grave risk of becoming unsustainable, if it hasn't happened already. We request that the United States Fish & Wildlife Service perform their own population count and consider an emergency re-listing of the northern Rocky Mountains wolves under the Endangered Species Act.
Over 2,300 northern Rocky Mountain wolves have been killed in Idaho and Montana since ESA protections were lifted in 2009. We are very concerned that the aggressive hunting and trapping allowed by these states will threaten the recovery of this species, and we request that the five year monitoring program be extended for another five years. Further, we request that the United States Fish & Wildlife Service perform their own population count and consider an emergency re-listing of the northern Rocky Mountain wolves under the Endangered Species Act if such a count shows a continued decrease in wolf populations.
Update #28 years ago
Update#2. The collaring of the four wolves in the Frank can serve a greater purpose. This could serve for the better if the monitoring is extended for another five years. Collaring these wolves could give very important information on exactly how bad Idaho's aggressive wolf policies have been. The information could give further evidence that could warrant an emergency relisting or even lead to the wolves being placed back on the Endangered list altogether.
Update #18 years ago
UPDATE # 1---Idaho's Fish&Game has collared Four Wolves in the Frank Church Wilderness Area They were only to collar Elk for a count study. When questioned about collaring these wolves Idaho Fish & Game stated that it was a mistake of communication with their agents in the field.. This is just another example of HOW Idaho’s Wolf Management Policy’s are out to Eliminate any wolf they can. This is yet another example of an out of control wolf management policy.
