Montana state wildlife agents will soon be given more latitude to shoot wolves under a new rule being published by the federal government.
The ruling will allow state game agencies to kill endangered gray wolves that prey on wildlife in the Northern Rockies. The decision comes in advance of an expected decision to remove nearly 1,500 wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming from the endangered species list.
This latest ruling allows is for state wildlife agents to kill packs of wolves if they can prove that the animals are having a "major impact" on big game herds such as elk, deer and moose.
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer says he supports the latest move by federal wildlife officials that will give more latitude to the states, and adds that Montana is already moving forward on plans to offer up hunting licenses for wolves.
Meanwhile, environmental and animal rights groups, including the Sierra Club and the Defenders of Wildlife, are calling the decision a major step backward. Members of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition say the group may even be forced to sue.
Gov. Schweitzer told Montana's News Station that under the new rules livestock will be protected and the population of wolves controlled.
"If you're a wolf in Montana attacking livestock- we're gonna' shoot you. If you're a wolf in Montana and your numbers are increasing to the point where we can manage you through hunting, we'll probably issue some hunting licenses, probably as soon as next year."
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition's Craig Kenworthy told Montana's News Station Thursday that the federal move is a big step backwards.
"What this does is allow the other two states to take arbitrary action to reduce the numbers of wolves. So I think it's an unnecessary step by the administration to potentially threaten recovery."
Meanwhile, federal biologists say the rules changes correct an "unattainable threshold" in the original 2005 rule which didn't allow the states to handle situations where wolf packs are killing deer and elk.
Since wolves were introduced to the Northern Rockies in 1995 they've spread quickly across the region, and now roughly 200 packs now roam wild.
Officials with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks say that a majority of the wolves in Montana are concentrated in the more mountainous areas of the Northern Rockies ecosystem.
That's produced a higher concentration of wolves in western and southwestern Montana, central Idaho and Wyoming, especially around designated wilderness areas.
FWP officials say that they do not expect to take advantage of the rule change and are instead they are waiting for a federal decision on delisting gray wolves, which is expected next month.
FWP Gray Wolf Coordinator Carolyn Sime says it will also give some freedom to hunters.
"For Montanans what this means is that if you're out lion hunting with your hounds, if you're out recreating with your black lab, or you're out bird hunting and you have an incident with a wolf, under this regulation that would take effect in 30 days, you would have the ability to haze and harass the wolf and even kill it if it got to that point."
The FWP says they are expecting lawsuits on the matter, which could delay when the rule goes into effect
Biologists estimated there were over800 wolves in 110 packs in the Northern Rockies Recovery Area at the end of 2004, and those numbers have continued to climb.
FWP officials say that the latest count they have is from last December and it estimate that there are now 380 wolves and 72 packs in Montana.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service estimates about 60 wolves have been destroyed by private citizens or through shooting permits.
Many of those conflicts involved livestock, but wolves also killed more than 100 dogs have in the past 20 years.
-Montana's News Station reporting from KBZK, KPAX, KTVQ, and KXLH
The federal government is giving officials in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming more leeway in controlling wolf populations in the Northern Rockies, saying that it's okay to eliminate wolves where populations of elk and deer are being threatened.
Notice of the rule change came Thursday morning from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The revision affects wolves that were introduced into Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho in the mid 1990's and have since multiplied rapidly across the region.
Federal biologists say the change corrects an "unattainable threshold" in the original 2005 rule which didn't allow the states to handle situations where wolf packs are killing off deer and elk, dropping those populations below the numbers set by the states and Native American tribes.
The rule change, which would become effective a month after being published in the Federal Register, allows states and tribes with federally-approved management plans, to kill wolves in areas where local deer and elk populations are being wiped out.
It would also allow private ranchers and landowners to destroy wolves who are in the act of attacking stock animals or dogs.
The change doesn't change the wolves listing under the Endangered Species Act, although the federal government is expected to remove E.S.A. Protection this spring, which would turn all wolf management over to the states.
- Dennis Bragg reporting from KPAX in Missoula
