Conservation groups filed an emergency listing petitionfighting to preserve gray wolves after new rules lifting protections on the animal went into effect in 2021.
The conservation groups are asking for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies to be put back on the endangered species list and have more protections. The Idaho organization Western Watersheds Project is one of the petitioners.
Staff attorney Talasi Brooks said in Idaho there is no limit to the number of tags people can purchase to hunt and trap wolves. In 2021, more than 500 wolves were killed.
“This is really the kind of unregulated killing that the Fish and Wildlife Service said would spark an emergency listing,” Brooks said.
In June 2021, Idaho Fish and Game Director Ed Schriever said changes create a meaningful balance which focuses on providing hunters and trappers with additional tools to address conflicts between wolves, livestock and other big game.
Conservation groups are calling on the U.S. Interior Secretary Dab Haaland to put an end to unregulated wolf killings.
“We’re hoping the Fish and Wildlife service, that Secretary Haaland, is going to do the right thing and step in here to keep wolves that so many people invested so much time into bringing back into this area from being extirpated again,” Brooks said.
