Lord only knows how most of us with an interest in the outdoorsmen sports in Idaho feel about the gray wolf. I get reports from hunters all the time saying that the ungulate population has been ravaged by wolves. This is to say nothing about what wolves have done to sheep and cattle ranchers who are kind enough to open their spreads to those of us who love to hunt and fish on private land. Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson joined a number of his Western colleagues in supporting the rule recently proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list. Simpson authored legislation in 2011 to delist wolves in Idaho, where the population has seen a robust recover since reintroduction in the mid-1990's. He sent a letter to Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe commending the proposed rule to delist wolves nationwide and urging the Service to act quickly to move forward on it. here is the Congressman's spokesperson Nikki Watts: "Congressman Mike Simpson knows the full delisting of the gray wolf is long overdue. Since wolves were first provided protections under the ESA, uncontrolled and unmanaged growth of wolf populations has resulted in devastating impacts on hunting and ranching and tragic damages to historically strong and healthy herds of moose, elk, big horn sheep and mule deer. That is why he is commending the proposed rule to delist wolves nationwide and urging the Fish and Wildlife Service to act quickly to move forward on it."
