[MCN] Idaho Governor Little signs wolf extermination bill into law

[Matthew Koehler]

*Idaho Governor Little signs wolf extermination bill into law*

New law allows hunters, trappers, and private contractors to slaughter 90%
of the wolves in Idaho by numerous brutal methods

State 'management’ of wolves in Idaho and Montana harkens back to
extermination era, only possible because of 2011 wolf rider from Senator
Jon Tester and Rep Mike Simpson

BOISE, ID—Idaho Governor Brad Little has signed a gray wolf extermination
bill into law allowing hunters, trappers, and even paid private contractors
to slaughter 90% of the gray wolves in Idaho, up to 1,350 wolves in total.

According to Western Watersheds Project, the new law authorizes year-round
wolf trapping on private lands, including during the season when pups and
nursing pups and females are most vulnerable. The law allows killing wolves
by all means used to kill coyotes, including night hunting with
night-vision equipment, aerial gunning, as well as hunting from
snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and other brutal methods. It also allows
an individual to purchase unlimited wolf tags and to use those tags for
hunting, trapping, and snaring in any unit where the season is open.

This new wolf extermination law in Idaho is only possible because ten years
ago this week federal Endangered Species Act protections were stripped from
gray wolves in Idaho, Montana, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and
northern Utah via a rider attached to a must-pass budget bill by U.S.
Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) and U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID).

This undemocratic move a decade ago—which blocked any judicial review of
the rider—opened the floodgates for widespread wolf killing in the northern
Rockies, including by hunters, trappers, and state and federal agencies.
Over the past few years, state “management” of wolves in the northern
Rockies has included Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) hiring a professional
hunter-trapper to go into the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness to
slaughter wolves and IDFG conducting aerial gunning operations to kill
wolves in some of the most remote roadless federal wildlands remaining in
the lower-48 states.

More recently—during a 12-month period from July 1, 2019 and June 30,
2020—hunters, trappers, and state and federal agencies killed 570 wolves
<https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/slaughtered-wolf-pups-and-maimed-wolves-in-idaho-demonstrate-effects-of-federal-delisting/>
in
Idaho, including at least 35 wolf pups. The state of Idaho also allows a
$1,000 “bounty” paid to trappers per dead wolf, including wolves
slaughtered on America’s federal public lands and deep within designated
Wilderness areas.

The dire situation for wolves in Montana following the 2011 delisting rider
is much the same. Fresh off revelations that Governor Greg Gianforte
violated state hunting regulations in February when he trapped and shot a
collared Yellowstone wolf, Gov Gianforte has since signed numerous
draconian bills to slaughter more wolves. New barbaric laws in Montana
allow hunters and trappers to kill an unlimited number of wolves with a
single license, allow a wolf “bounty,’ allows trappers to use cruel
strangulation neck snares, extend the wolf-trapping season, and authorize
night-time hunting of wolves on private lands and baiting of wolves.

“The barbaric situation facing wolves in Montana and Idaho proves that the
gray wolf still needs federal Endangered Species Act protections. As we
clearly warned ten years ago, the state 'management' of wolves essentially
amounts to the brutal state-sanctioned eradication of this keystone native
species,” said Sarah McMillan, the Montana-based conservation director for
WildEarth Guardians.

“WildEarth Guardians and our allies filed a lawsuit
<https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/conservation-groups-challenge-wolf-delisting-rider/>
ten
years ago in an attempt and overturn this undemocratic, spiteful wolf rider
because we believed the wolf delisting rider violated the U.S.
Constitution. While our lawsuit wasn’t successful because Congress simply
closed the courthouse doors, the hateful and on-going attempts to
completely decimate wolf populations in Idaho and Montana warrants national
outrage and action by Congress to restore wolf protections in the northern
Rockies,” said John Horning, WildEarth Guardians’ executive director.

“State ‘management’ of wolves in Idaho and Montana harkens back to an era
when people sought to exterminate wolves altogether, and nearly succeeded.
These types of actions were not only deplorable in the early 1900s, but
they have zero place in science-based management of a keystone species in
2021, especially in the midst of a biodiversity crisis and nature crisis,”
said McMillan. “We must not abandon fragile wolf-recovery efforts and allow
anti-wolf states, hunters, and trappers to push these iconic species back
to the brink of extinction.”

CONTACTS:
Sarah McMillan, WildEarth Guardians, (406) 549-3895,
SMcMillan at wildearthguardians.org
John Horning, WildEarth Guardians, (505) 795-5083,
jhorning at wildearthguardians.org
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