Wolf makes a comeback out west
Published Feb. 4, 2003
UPDATE
Gray wolf protection
• Today: Once driven to near-extinction in the lower 48 states, the
gray wolf is loping across the Northern Rockies in numbers not seen in a
century, and the government is about to declare victory in its $17 million
effort to bring the predators back. Possibly as early as this month, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will ease the federal protections that
allowed the wolves to make a comeback. And as early as next year, all
federal protections for wolves could be removed and their management
turned over to the states.
• Up to now: The recovery program began in 1995 with the release of 14
Canadian gray wolves into snowy Yellowstone National Park, which had been
without wolves for decades. The animals thrived and spread into other
states from there. In terms of numbers, the wolf recovery program has been
a howling success. The annual head count on New Year’s Eve found nearly
700 wolves in about 41 packs roaming Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, including
148 of the animals in Yellowstone. Lone wolves have wandered from those
states into Utah, Oregon and Washington, the advance scouts of their
species. The wolves in Yellowstone are under complete federal protection
while they are in the park.
• Ahead: The Fish and Wildlife Service plans to downgrade the wolf’s
classification under the Endangered Species Act from “endangered,” the
highest level of protection, to “threatened.” While the animals would
still be protected, the reclassification would, among other things, allow
ranchers to kill wolves caught attacking their livestock. Conservationists
fear the move will only lead to the wolves’ numbers dropping off again.
—
Associated Press