County commission questions wolf management
CODY, Wyo. (AP) — The Park County Commission want to know just how many
wolves are in Wyoming and how many will be allowed.
The commission, fashioning its comments on the state Game and Fish
Department’s plan for assuming wolf management from the federal
government, is concerned about estimates as high as 20 packs and about the
seemingly increasing size of what is defined as a pack.
“I believe they need to put a number there,” Commissioner Tim Morrison
said.
Originally, the federal wolf plan defined a pack as two adults and two
cubs, he said, but one pack currently has 23 wolves.
Wyoming officials are proposing to allow wolves to be shot on sight
outside national parks and wilderness areas. There has been some
indication that would be unacceptable to federal wolf managers, and
without an acceptable state management plan from Wyoming, Idaho and
Montana, wolves will remain federally protected under the Endangered
Species Act. Idaho has approved its plan, and Montana is developing one.
Morrison said that the state must argue that there is enough protected
area under its proposal to sustain an acceptable population of wolves.
Commissioner Tim French suggested writing the state’s plan so that
predator status would be suspended if the wolf population falls below a
targeted level.
The commissioners were also concerned about how wolf management will be
financed, suggesting that those supporting wolf reintroduction should be
the ones paying for managing the predators.