New Idaho Law Allows Killing of 90 Percent of the State’s Wolves

The ‘death warrant for wolves’ has drawn outrage from scientists, conservationists, and even pro-hunting groups.

Idaho lawmakers have signed into law a bill that will see the killing of 90 percent of the state’s 1,500 wolves. 

To kill the majority of Idaho’s wolf population, $590,000 will be provided to the Wolf Control Fund to hire private contractors. The legislation will also remove any limits of 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.

The act SB1211 was signed into law on 5th May by Republican governor Brad Little and will go into effect in the next few months.

The new law poses a significant threat to Idaho’s wolf population, and could trigger a review and relisting of the wolf as an endangered species, Amanda Wight of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) told KSL NewsRadio. The move comes only months after the wolf was formally removed from the endangered species list, although wolves in the Northern Rockies have been delisted since 2011.

A “death warrant for wolves”

HSUS has called the new law a “death warrant for wolves” with Wight explaining that “the methods that are allowed under this new law are just horrific and devastating . . . shooting from helicopters, aerial gunning, shooting mothers and pups in their dens. It’s just horrific”.

The bill has triggered outrage from scientists, conservationists, and even organizations that support hunting, including the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Idaho Sportsmen group.

“It’s senseless,” says Carter Niemeyer, a retired wildlife manager. “To me there’s just not the justification for it. We’re going backward.”

The bill is heavily backed by members of Idaho’s agriculture industry who claim the wolves are harming their industry by attacking farmed animals.

However, according to Wight, between 2019 to 2020 the USDA Wildlife Services only recorded around 100 attacks on livestock by wolves in Idaho, adding that at the start of 2020 there were more than 2.7 million cattle and sheep in the state.

“Killing wolves doesn’t reduce those rare conflicts that do occur. Non-lethal methods like having livestock guardian dogs or range riders is much more effective at preventing those conflicts,” Wight said.

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