R&I – TxPAT ***
Conservative lawmakers in Idaho and Montana have passed new laws to drastically reduce the number of wolves in those states. Concerns over the animal’s impact on both livestock and wild prey have long festered among ranchers and some hunters and reached the floor of Idaho’s House of Representatives in April.
“When [wolves] are so fearless that they are now walking down the center of a dirt road, that means there’s too many of them, there’s way too many of them,” said Idaho state GOP Rep. Dorothy Moon. Her district includes many of the state’s 1,500 estimated wolves and prime wolf habitat.
Twenty-five years ago, federal wildlife officials reintroduced wolves to Idaho. Recovery went well enough that in 2011 the animal came off the endangered species list. Since then, hunters have legally killed hundreds every year.
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Studies from Yellowstone National Park and other locations show positive ecological impacts from wolves being returned to ecosystems from which they were previously exterminated.
While the presence of wolves changes the behavior of elk — the animals congregate less and spend more time at higher elevations — Lucid says the predator actually makes its prey species healthier by “reducing disease and culling older and weaker members of those herds.”
Wolf depredations on livestock was another argument proponents for the new law made, though the U.S. Department of Agriculture found only about 130 cattle and sheep in Idaho were confirmed or probable kills by wolves between July 2019 and June last year. The state is home to around 2.7 million cattle alone.
FoundingFrog
Article URL : https://www.npr.org/2021/05/21/999084965/new-idaho-law-calls-for-killing-90-of-states-wolves