Wildlife coalition files suit
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
By Ben Cannon
Jackson Hole, Wyo.-A coalition of wildlife advocacy groups has asked the federal government to stop state management of gray wolves and return the animal to the endangered species list.
On Monday, Earthjustice, a non-profit, advocacy law firm, joined 11 other organizations to file a preliminary motion in the U.S. District Court in Montana seeking an injunction against state management of the de-listed animal. The suit asked the court to immediately return the animal to federal protection until the courts process the case.
Officials from the coalition contend that state management has allowed wolves to be hunted and killed since being removed from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s protection list in late March. Thirty-seven wolves have been reported killed since wolf management was turned over to individual state plans in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
The gray wolf has rebounded in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem since the animals were actively reintroduced in the mid-1990s, but advocates have said the wolf is still at risk and needs federal protection.
Plaintiffs on the complaint, including the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, maintain that, at about 1,500 wolves, the population is not adequate to ensure the animals’ long-term survival. In addition, the far-flung packs are not connected enough to allow for their proper genetic reproduction.
“There’s a situation going on here that needs to be stopped right now while the court hears the lawsuit,” said Franz Camenzind, director of the Conservation Alliance. “In the meantime, we’re saying there’s been a lot of wolf killing going on.”
Critics call Wyoming’s state plan the most Draconian of the three because wolves can be freely exterminated throughout much of the state. Only about 12 percent of Wyo. land affords some regulatory protection.
An Earthjustice attorney, Doug Honnold, said it was difficult to get a verifiable number on exactly how many wolves have been killed. Honnold said wildlife authorities in Wyoming, the only state that makes the kill count accessible on a website, may not know how many wolves have been bagged.
“I sincerely believe there are wolves being killed in Wyoming that are not being reported,” Honnold said.
Under Wyoming’s management plan, hunters are supposed to report a killed wolf within 10 days. Honnold said he has received reports of killed wolves from people who happened upon them already dead.
Federal officials project the three states will maintain a wolf population of about 900 to 1,250 over the next few years. That number is well above the government’s goal of at least 300 wolves, the minimum population before the animal can be put back on the Federal protection list, but a half to a third of what plaintiffs on the injunction filing said is a healthy, sustainable population.
Though the it took years for the Federal government and the three states - Wyoming in particular - to come to an agreement, Honnold said he thought a successful injunction in the case was “not unlikely.”
The federal district court has 10 days to respond to the injunction request.
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