The state’s largest hunting organization says Oregon wildlife managers should be able to kill wolves.
The Oregon Hunters Association on Wednesday offered its support for the state in an ongoing lawsuit that prompted the Oregon Court of Appeals to temporarily halt the state’s efforts to kill two wolves in Eastern Oregon. The wolves are part of a pack that has been linked to more than a dozen livestock attacks.
Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands and the Center for Biological Diversity filed the lawsuit on Oct. 5, saying the state’s plan to kill the wolves violates the state Endangered Species Act. The animals are listed as endangered.
After being reintroduced in Idaho in the 1990s, wolves reentered Oregon in 2008 and there are now four confirmed packs in Eastern Oregon, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Two lone wolves, which left one of the packs earlier this year, have been tracked into Central Oregon.