Status of the Wolf Hunt

 Despite all the conservationists’ outrage and angst, the wolf hunt over the last several months has been declared a biological success. When news that wolf hunts were going to be allowed in Montana and Idaho, one side of the pro vs. con controversy, namely the opponents, predicted apocalypse. I don’t have a view into their soul, but if you are opposed to hunting, then killing a wolf is heinous, but so is killing an elk, a mule deer or a jack rabbit. No one can argue against that sensitivity.

 However, predicting that a wolf hunt in and of itself will decimate wolf populations turned out to be irrational and reactionary. Here’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf recovery coordinator, Ed Bangs: “I think Montana harvested 72 wolves in addition to the ones they controlled for livestock problems and I think the total harvest in Idaho out of a quota of 220 is about 150 now. The wolf harvest was distributed throughout the occupied wolf range so no pack was overly impacted and it did help resolve conflicts in some areas where there were problems because the wolves most likely to be killed by hunters are the boldest, standing around in open areas, in highly accessible area and those are the very wolves that cause problems by killing livestock or pets. So yeah, for every measure the hunt was an amazing biological success.”

If a lawsuit by environmental groups seeking to have the wolves placed back on the endangered species list is successful, it would stop the hunts