[MCN] Slaughtered Wolf Pups and Maimed Wolves Demonstrate Effects of Federal ESA Delisting

[Matthew Koehler]

Unfortunately, this is the grim, barbaric, and unethical reality of the
type of state 'management' of gray wolves that Montana Senator Jon Tester
unleashed with his undemocratic rider in 2011 that removed gray wolves in
the northern Rockies from federal Endangered Species Act protections. Now
Senator Steve Daines is trying to do the same thing with threatened grizzly
bears, just as we warned we happened nearly 10 years ago.


For Release: September 10, 2020

*Slaughtered Wolf Pups and Maimed Wolves in Idaho Demonstrate Effects of
Federal Delisting *

*A single individual may now kill 30 wolves per year in Idaho*

CONTACTS:
Samantha Bruegger, WildEarth Guardians, (970) 363-4191
Andrea Zaccardi, Center for Biological Diversity, (303) 854-7748
Zoe Hanley, Defenders of Wildlife, (509) 774-7357
Brooks Fahy, Predator Defense, (541) 937-4261
Talasi Brooks, Western Watersheds Project, (208) 336-9077

*BOISE —*As the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week that the
removal of gray wolves from Endangered Species Act protection nationwide is
“very imminent,” recent records from Idaho show the ugly face of state wolf
management.

Since January 1, 2020, hunters, trappers, and state and federal agencies
have killed at least 35 wolf pups in Idaho, some weighing less than 16
pounds and likely only 4 to 6 weeks old.  Wolves shattered teeth trying to
bite traps, died of hyperthermia in traps set by the federal agency
Wildlife Services, and were gunned down in aerial control actions.  And,
from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 570 wolves were killed in Idaho,
representing nearly 60 percent of the 2019 year-end population.

“Idaho’s reckless, violent, massacre of wolves and their pups not only
showcases the worst of state wildlife ‘management,’ it shines a light on
the darkest corners of humanity. To maim, bludgeon, and actively seek to
destroy a native animal, that is familial and social by nature, is
disgusting,” said Samantha Bruegger, Wildlife Coexistence Campaigner with
WildEarth Guardians. “Tragically, the Idaho narrative clearly shows to the
rest of the country what can happen to wolves when they are delisted from
the Endangered Species Act.”

About 400 wolves have been killed each year in Idaho for the past several
years, and the 570 wolves killed in 2019-2020 is record-breaking, perhaps
reflecting IDFG’s policies incentivizing wolf hunting and trapping. This
level of population disruption leads to population-level effects among
wolves, including population decline
<https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20927363/>, a younger, destabilized
population <https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28555834/>, and ultimately more
livestock conflicts
<https://www.capitalpress.com/ag_sectors/livestock/record-number-of-wolf-attacks-on-livestock-reported-in-idaho/article_efe15c0e-c51d-11e9-ada0-3768ab589935.html>
.

IDFG recently announced it had awarded approximately $21,000 in challenge
grants to the north Idaho-based Foundation 4 Wildlife Management, which
“reimburses” wolf trappers up to $1,000 per wolf killed.  A single
individual may now kill up to 30 wolves under IDFG hunting and trapping
rules—a new increase from the 20 wolves previously allowed.

“There is nothing scientific about the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s
management, which seems to be guided by anti-wolf hysteria among some
members of the ranching and hunting communities, rather than any sort of
conservation ethic,” said Talasi Brooks of Western Watersheds Project.  “It
is cruel, morally and ethically reprehensible, and set through a process
which denies conservation interests any voice.”

“It’s sickening to see how wolves have been slaughtered in Idaho once
federal Endangered Species Act protections were lifted,” said Andrea
Zaccardi, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “If
wolves are delisted nationwide, this cruelty could extend to all wolves
within our country’s borders. This treatment of our nation’s wildlife is
unacceptable.”

“Idaho is not ‘managing’ wolves but is attempting to reduce the state wolf
population to the brink of federal relisting while jeopardizing region-wide
recovery of a native carnivore. This inhumane mass killing of wolves abuses
federal recovery objectives and is one of many reasons why Endangered
Species Act protection is so important for gray wolves nationwide,” said
Zoe Hanley of Defenders of Wildlife.

“It is beyond tragic that Idaho has become the poster child for animal
cruelty through their pathological destruction of wolves,” said Brooks
Fahy, executive director of Predator Defense. “I find it hard to believe
that most Idahoans would approve of this indefensible carnage being carried
out on behalf of zealots in the ranching and hunting community. Time and
again we see that removing Endangered Species Act protection and allowing
states to manage wolves generally leads to mass slaughter.”
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