Hunters Wipe Out Nearly 20% of Yellowstone’s Gray Wolves - And Hunting Season is Far from Over
With wolf trapping season just beginning, campaigners say the death toll will only continue to rise.
Twenty gray wolves - nearly 20 percent of the entire population - from Yellowstone National Park have been slaughtered by hunters in recent months, according to park officials.
This is the highest number of wolves killed in a single hunting season since they were reintroduced to the park over 25 years ago.
Hunting is banned inside Yellowstone National Park, however, fifteen wolves were shot in Montana after wandering across the park’s border, according to data released to The Associated Press (AP). Five more died in Idaho and Wyoming.
Among the wolves shot by hunters are all of the remaining members of the Phantom Lake Pack, who were killed over the course of two months. The pack is now considered “eliminated”, according to the park.
Park officials are calling the deaths “a significant setback for the species’ long-term viability and for wolf research”, according to AP.
Only an estimated 94 wolves remain in Yellowstone, but with the hunting season far from over, and with wolf trapping season just beginning, campaigners say the death toll will only continue to rise.
As a result, National Park Service Superintendent Cameron Sholly has urged Montana Governor Greg Gianforte to suspend wolf hunting for rest of the season.
"Due to the extraordinary number of Yellowstone wolves killed this hunting season, and the high probability of even more park wolves being killed in the near future, I am requesting that you suspend wold hunting in [hunting management units] 313 and 316 for the remainder of this season," Sholly wrote, on December 16.
But, Gianforte, who himself violated state hunting regulations last year after slaughtering a wolf without the neccesary trapping license or training, has not been receptive, according to a letter in response to Sholly obtained by AP.
“Once a wolf exits the park and enters lands in the State of Montana it may be harvested pursuant to regulations established by the [state wildlife] Commission under Montana law,” Gianforte wrote on Wednesday.
Wolves in the rockies have faced severe threats in recent years. In 2020, the once nearly extinct gray wolf was removed from the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s (FWS) endangered species list, leaving the animal without any legal protection.
Since then, Idaho has introduced new legislation that could slash its wolf population by 90 percent. The legislation also removes any limits on the number of wolves hunters may slaughter and will allow for wolves and their newborn pups to be killed by any method currently legal in the state, including trapping, baiting, and shooting from vehicles such as airplanes and snowmobiles.
In Montana, new rulemaking authorized the widespread killing of wolves in areas bordering Yellowstone National Park. These laws may pave the way for killing approximately 85 percent of the state’s wolf population while permitting the use of strangulation snares, night hunting, and bait to hunt and trap the animals.
Previously, Montanna set strict quotas outside Yellowstone National Park to limit the killing of Yellowstone’s wolves. But those quotas have been eliminated. The park is trying to convince Montana to reinstate the quotas to protect the wolves, according to Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly.
“Yellowstone plays a vital role in Montana’s wildlife conservation efforts and its economy. These wolves are part of our balanced ecosystem here and represent one of the special parts of the park that draw visitors from around the globe,” said Sholly in a statement after three gray wolf pups were killed in the first week of the hunting season. “We will continue to work with the state of Montana to make the case for reinstating quotas that would protect the core wolf population in Yellowstone as well as Montana’s direct economic interests derived from the hundreds of millions spent by park visitors each year.”
In Wyoming, there are no restrictions on the number of wolves that can be killed across 85 percent of the state. In all three states, wolf pups can be slaughtered.
A formal, year-long status review of gray wolves across the western United States began in September after several emergency petitions were sent to the FWS, calling for the wolves to be relisted as an endangered species. But campaigners say this is not good enough.
“Anti-wolf policies in Idaho and Montana could wipe out wolves and erase decades of wolf recovery. We’re glad that federal officials have started a review, but wolves are under the gun now so they need protection right away,” said Andrea Zaccardi, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity in response to the FWS review.
Through the Endangered Species Act, federal protection of the gray wolf of the Northern Rockies can be restored overnight on an emergency basis.
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