Record number of killed wolves

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service says a record 186 wolves were killed in the Northern Rockies last year in response to livestock killings.

Government agents and ranchers legally killed about 12 percent of the population.

FWS estimates that at least 15-hundred -thirteen wolves lived in Montana.. Idaho and Wyoming at the end of last year.

Those figures are up a little over 200 from the end of 2006.

The number of wolves in the three-state area has increased every year since wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park.

A federal proposal to remove wolves from the endangered species list is scheduled to go into effect March 28th.

Several environmental groups have already said they’ll file lawsuits.