Officials move to ease protection for gray wolves
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — State wildlife officials and lawmakers are trying to modify strict rules that prohibit the killing of gray wolves that move into Oregon.
The state attorney general’s office told the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission that the state Endangered Species Act makes it illegal to kill a wolf anywhere.
The law also requires the state to “bring the species back to the extent that it no longer needs protection,” Assistant Attorney General William Cook told the commission. “We don’t think that would allow turning wolves back at the border.”
State law now lists wolves as endangered. But the law could leave Oregon wildlife officials in an awkward position when it comes to wolves entering Oregon from Idaho, where they were reintroduced under a federal recovery program in 1995.
Three wolves are known to have made it to Oregon, although they were either killed or removed. Biologists say it is likely more are roaming the state and could form packs.
Reliable sightings have been reported this winter near John Day and Pendleton.
Under the federal reintroduction program, ranchers can shot wolves if they catch them attacking their stock on their land.
Federal officials expect to downgrade wolves from endangered to threatened, providing more management flexibility.
Fish and Wildlife Commission members asked biologists and attorneys to find out how the state Endangered Species Act could be revised so it offers the same flexibility.
State lawmakers have introduced bills to repeal state protection for wolves. One would reclassify wolves as predators so they could be shot freely as coyotes are now. Sen. Roger Beyer said the state must be freed from the confines of the state Endangered Species Act so officials can manage wolves when they arrive.
“It’s a matter of when they come here, not if,” he said. “If the wolf is de-listed (by the federal government) but still on our list, we don’t have any management tools.”