BILLINGS, Mont. — Wildlife officials in the Northern Rockies said Wednesday that they are considering hunting gray wolves in the name of research to get around a recent court ruling that restored federal protections for the animals.
Environmentalists derided the proposal, vowing to challenge in court any new plans for hunting the estimated 1,367 wolves in Idaho and Montana.
“They’re adopting the Japanese whaling approach of holding hunts under the obviously erroneous concept of research,” said Mike Leahy, Rocky Mountain director for Defenders of Wildlife. “They’re trying to be too clever by half.”
Hunters in Idaho and Montana killed 258 wolves during hunts last fall — the first for wolves in the Lower 48 states in decades. State officials said the hunts proved wolves can be hunted without driving the population to extinction.
But the Aug. 5 ruling from U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy is likely to cancel or postpone wolf seasons in the two states.
Montana wolf program coordinator Carolyn Sime said one option under consideration was to apply for a federally permitted “research hunt” to better understand the impact of public hunting on wolf populations.
