A recent decision by a federal judge paves the way for planned hunts of gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountain region to continue.
Last week, Judge Donald W. Molloy of the Federal District Court for Montana ruled against a coalition of antis and environmentalists that were seeking to prevent hunts in Montana and Idaho. In the decision, Judge Molloy indicated that the management plans of both states would not harm the long-term health of the regional wolf population.
It is estimated that 1,350 wolves currently live in the region. Idaho’s wolf hunting season, which began on September 1, established a limit of 220 wolves that can be harvested. Montana’s season, which began September 15, has a harvest limit of 75.
While this fall’s hunts will continue in Idaho and Montana, Wyoming still has yet to develop a plan that meets service approval. This did not go unnoticed in the judge’s opinion on the case.
In it, Judge Malloy states that there appeared to be a violation of the Endangered Species Act when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refused to delist a portion of the Northern Rocky Mountain wolf population that resides in Wyoming. According to him, “the service has distinguished a natural population of wolves based on a political line, not the best available science.” He went on to state, “that, by definition, seems arbitrary and capricious.”
