Idaho Won’t Enforce Newly Reinstated Federal Law Protecting Endangered Gray Wolves

The court has ruled, but that doesn’t mean the war is over when it comes to the issue of protecting the northern gray wolf from illegal hunting in the western states.

Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolves. Photo courtesy of Howlingforjustice.com.

Late last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service obeyed an order from the District Court of Montana that repealed a 2009 decision which took the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf off the endangered species list.

To enforce the new court order, the agency published a final rule in the Federal Register reinstating the wolf’s protections in the following areas:

• Oregon.
• North-central Utah.
• The eastern third of Washington.
• The northern half of Montana.
• The northern panhandle of Idaho.

The order also restores special rules identifying the gray wolves as “nonessential experimental populations” in the remaining areas of Montana and Idaho. This means, according to the agency, that “anyone may legally shoot a wolf in the attack of any type of livestock on their private land or grazing allotment, and anyone may shoot a wolf chasing or attacking their dog or stock animals anywhere except national parks.”

This right to kill doesn’t apply to the gray wolves that are considered part of endangered populations. Endangered wolves are subject to additional protections. Livestock owners are prohibited by federal law from killing wolves considered part of endangered populations, even if they are seen actively chasing, attacking, or killing their livestock. Only government officials are allowed to kill chronically predatory wolves that are classified as endangered.

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