But they say something similar is inevitable
By :GREG MOORE
During a town hall meeting Friday, all three local state legislative representatives said they were inclined to vote against a bill that would establish a wolf-control board. However, none expressed opposition to the concept of state-sponsored wolf killing, and they said some sort of control mechanism is inevitable.
“We almost have to have a management plan since [the federal government] turned it over to us,” said Rep. Donna Pence, D-Gooding. “We’ve got to manage them somehow.”
The issue elicited the most heated discussion of the dozen or so topics addressed during a more than two-hour meeting in an almost packed Ketchum City Council room.
House Bill 470, which is expected to be heard next week in the House Resources and Conservation Committee, would establish a five-member board and a wolf-control fund with annual payments of $110,000 from the livestock industry and $110,000 from the state’s fish and game fund. Gov. Butch Otter has proposed an additional $2 million appropriation for the fund in fiscal 2015.
The bill’s sponsors have said they would like the state to kill about 500 wolves, leaving only a few more than the 150-wolf minimum established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to keep the animals off the endangered species list in Idaho.
Several members of the public spoke up loudly when the issue was raised Friday, asking, “How can we stop this?” They did not receive a concrete answer.
The District 26 representatives expressed concerns about the cost of the proposal. Sen. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, pointed out that $2 million spent on 500 dead wolves equals $4,000 per wolf, which she compared to the $6,000 spent annually by the state on each school child.
“Is this the best use of our money?” she asked.
Rep. Steven Miller, R-Fairfield, said he would probably vote against the bill unless it is changed to specify how and where the money would be spent.
“I think there are a lot of holes in it,” he said.