Proposed rule would expand baiting
By KATHERINE WUTZ
Idaho trappers could soon be able to use wolf carcasses and roadkill to bait traps for gray wolves, if a rule currently in the Senate Resources and Environment Committee is not rejected.
The pending rule, titled “Use of Bait and Trapping for Taking Big Game Animals,” would allow the use of legally salvaged roadkill and the use of gray wolf carcasses for baiting gray wolf traps. Previously, no game animals, birds or fish could be used for bait; the new rules allow for use of accidentally killed game animals, such as elk killed by motorists. Gray wolf carcasses, whether accidentally or intentionally killed, could be used for bait as long as the skin has been removed. Fish and Game rules require the skin of a killed wolf to be taken to a regional office, marked and reported.
Suzanne Stone, Northern Rockies representative for conservation group Defenders of Wildlife, said that the use of wolf carcasses for trap baiting would be effective only due to the social nature of the animal. “It’s exploiting the wolves’ sense of family bonding,” she said.
The pending rule is up for consideration by the Senate Resources and Environment Committee at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18.