BILLINGS, Mont. — A new tally of gray wolves in the northern Rockies shows the population held steady across the region in 2009, ending more than a decade of expansion by the predators but also underscoring their resilience in the face of new hunting seasons in Montana and Idaho.
Biologists said the region’s total wolf population has remained stable and will be similar to 2008’s minimum of 1,650 wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
The number of breeding packs increased slightly, from 95 to 111.
That’s despite more than 500 wolves killed last year, primarily by hunters and government wildlife agents responding to livestock attacks.
If the preliminary figures hold, it could bolster the federal government’s assertion that wolves are doing fine since losing Endangered Species Act protections last year.
The exception is Wyoming, where state law is considered hostile to the species’ survival and federal protections remain in force.
The state has challenged the decision to keep wolves under federal protection in Wyoming, and a federal court hearing in that case is set for today in Cheyenne.
