Boise, Idaho – Idaho’s governor said Thursday that he will support public hunts to kill all but 100 of the state’s gray wolves after the federal government strips them of protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter told reporters he wants hunters to kill about 550 gray wolves. That would leave about 100 wolves, or 10 packs, according to a population estimate by state wildlife officials.
The 100 surviving wolves would be the minimum before the animals could again be considered endangered.
“I’m prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself,” Otter said earlier Thursday during a rally of about 300 hunters.
Otter complained that wolves are rapidly killing elk and other animals essential to Idaho’s multimillion-dollar hunting industry. The hunters, many in camouflage and blaze orange, applauded wildly.
Suzanne Stone, of the group Defenders of Wildlife in Boise, said Otter’s proposal would return wolves to the verge of eradication.
“Essentially he has confirmed our worst fears for the state of Idaho: That this would be a political rather than a biological management of the wolf population,” Stone said.
Wolves were reintroduced to the northern Rocky Mountains a decade ago after being hunted to near-extinction. More than 1,200 now live in the region. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to start removing federal protections from gray wolves in Montana and Idaho in the next few weeks.
