[MCN] Idaho Renews Aerial Wolf Slaughter In "Lolo Zone"

[Matthew Koehler]

For Immediate Release, February 8, 2016



*Idaho to Renew Aerial Wolf Slaughter *
*Plan Highlights Critical Need to Extend Federal Monitoring of Idaho Wolves*

VICTOR, Idaho— Ignoring recent research indicating Idaho officials could be
overestimating the state’s wolf population, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Wildlife Services announced plans today to allow gunners in
helicopters to start shooting wolves in the Lolo Elk Management Zone of the
Clearwater National Forest in Idaho.

The renewed wolf slaughter comes on the heels of a petition filed by the
Center for Biological Diversity, the WildWest Institute, Western Watersheds
Project and Cascadia Wildlands questioning the accuracy of wolf estimates
by state officials and asking the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to
continue monitoring wolf populations in Idaho and Montana for another five
years. [SEE:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/wolf-01-05-2016.html
]

The Service has yet to respond to the petition, which was spurred, in part,
by a recent study published in the journal Science that questions the
accuracy of wolf counts in the two states. But the information released
today shows that Idaho will aerially gun wolves in the Lolo Zone for the
third year in a row, as the Idaho legislature requests another $400,000 to
kill wolves for the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

“It’s urgent that the Fish and Wildlife Service immediately grant our
petition request to continue federal monitoring of wolves in Idaho and
Montana for another five years,” said Andrea Santarsiere, a staff attorney
at the Center. “The plans to renew the aerial wolf slaughter demonstrate
why such monitoring is so necessary. We’re hoping to receive a response to
that petition no later than next week.”

This will be the third year in a row that Wildlife Services has shot wolves
from the air at the request of the Idaho Fish and Game Department. The
stated goal of the wolf killing is to increase elk populations, although
Idaho admits that elk populations in the Lolo Zone declined due to habitat
changes well before wolves were reintroduced in Idaho. In February 2014
Wildlife Services killed 23 wolves in the Lolo Zone from a helicopter, and
in February 2015 the agency killed 19 wolves. During the last five years,
six other agency wolf-control actions in the Lolo Zone removed an
additional 48 wolves.

At the same time, the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board has requested an
additional $400,000 to kill wolves in Idaho, a request Gov. Butch Otter has
indicated he plans to support. This will be the third such installment
since the Board was created by the Idaho legislature in 2014. According to
supporters of the bill creating the Board, the goal of the law is to reduce
Idaho’s wolf population to as few as 150 individuals. The program will be
in place for five years, through June 30, 2019, and permits the Idaho
legislature to allocate $400,000 to kill wolves in the state annually. The
law also provides up to $110,000 annually from assessments made on
livestock producers, as well as another $110,000 annually from the Idaho
Department of Fish and Game. With the exception of the money provided by
Fish and Game, the law requires that all money (up to $510,000 annually)
must be used to kill wolves. Last year this funding was used to kill 72
wolves that may have been involved in livestock conflicts, at an estimated
cost of more than $7,000 per wolf.

“It is these aggressive tactics that caused us to file a petition to Fish
and Wildlife Service to continue federal monitoring of wolves in the first
place,” said Santarsiere. “Idaho is making it clear that it has no
intention to curb its attempts to decimate Idaho’s wolf population.”

The Center had requested that the Fish and Wildlife Service respond to its
petition by Feb. 15. The current monitoring period is set to end May 5.
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