Park County commissioners considering giving county authority to shoot wolves
Associated Press
LIVINGSTON – Park County commissioners are considering a resolution stating that the county would have authority to kill gray wolves if the federal government’s plan to remove protections is delayed further.
One commissioner, however, said the main purpose of the proposed resolution is to express disapproval and frustration with delays in the federal delisting process, and it is unlikely county officials would begin killing the federally protected predators.
Commissioner Jim Durgan called the proposal a “statement of our philosophy,” adding, “We can’t go out and start shooting wolves at will.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in January that it was delaying plans to drop federal protections for gray wolves in parts of the West. The agency’s delisting plan called for Idaho, Montana and Wyoming to develop management plans that would ensure the wolves continued survival once federal protections were removed. But the agency concluded that Wyoming’s plan was inadequate, and the delisting process is stalled while federal wildlife officials and the Wyoming Legislature try to hammer out a new plan.
Durgan said the resolution was suggested by the Park County Stockgrowers and is still being drafted. The draft language, however, states that if the delisting plan is delayed, commissioners “reserve their right to protect our county and citizens by ordering lethal wolf control.”
Ed Bangs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s wolf recovery coordinator, said Wednesday that anyone killing a wolf illegally would face federal charges.
“We always have a few wolves illegally killed and we treat that as a serious law enforcement issue,” he said. “Taking the law into your own hands is just not the way most Americans do things.”
He noted that he understands the frustration that leads to such resolutions, but said he hopes the county would never actually follow through.
“I don’t think this will cause anyone to go out and kill wolves,” he said. “I hope not, because we’re sworn to uphold the law.”
The proposed resolution states that wolves prey on livestock and wildlife in the county and that the federal government is “inadequately managing” the animals.
The proposal states that the county also would reserve the right to kill wolves after federal protections are removed, if officials believe that delisting has not brought “meaningful and immediate relief” to county residents and livestock owners.
“It’s clearly illegal,” said David Gaillard, of Predator Conservation Alliance, a Bozeman-based environmental group. “Why pass a resolution trying to encourage illegal activity? That doesn’t get us anywhere.”
Jim Barrett, director of the Park County Environmental Council, said the resolution “is harmless, other than it makes us look bad.”
“When the American public generally supports wolves, this doesn’t generate any fondness for ranchers,” he said.