Judge Strikes Down Wolf Recovery Program
12/12/97
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Headline: Judge Strikes Down Wolf Recovery Program
Source: The Associated Press
Date: 12/12/97
Copyright © 1997 The Associated Press
CASPER, Wyo. (December 12, 1997 7:12 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) --
A federal judge Friday found a program to reintroduce wolves to the
northern Rockies illegal, and he ordered the removal of wolves that
had been released in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho.
U.S. District Judge William Downes said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service's wolf recovery program illegally reduced the endangered
species protection afforded to native Montana and Canadian wolves.
Under the program, the wolves placed in Yellowstone and central Idaho
are considered an "experimental population," meaning they do not have
endangered species protection and can be shot if they were found
preying on livestock.
But native wolves from Montana and Canada, which are considered
endangered species, often wander south into Yellowstone and Idaho,
where they would become part of the experimental population and lose
their special protection.
"Congress did not intend to allow reduction of protections to existing
natural populations in whole or in part," Downes said in his ruling.
The Fish and Wildlife Service in 1995 and 1996 transplanted 66
Canadian grey wolves in Yellowstone and central Idaho in an effort to
restore wolves to their historic range in America's northern Rockies.
Since then, the wolf population in Yellowstone has grown from 41 to
about 90 and from 25 in central Idaho to at least 73.
Downes ordered the wildlife service to remove all the transplanted
wolves and their offspring.
He said once those wolves are removed, the strict rules of the
Endangered Species Act will apply, forbidding the shooting of wolves
for any reason. Biologists agree native wolves from Montana are slowly
migrating south toward Yellowstone, mostly in northwestern Wyoming.
Sharon Rose, a spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service in
Denver, said her agency was still reviewing the judge's ruling and
said the Justice Department would decide whether to appeal.
Downes' ruling came in a 3-year-old lawsuit first filed by the Wyoming
Farm Bureau, and later joined by the National Audubon Society and
James and Cat Urbigkit. They contended that it was wrong to treat the
transplanted wolves as an experimental species.
But Hank Fischer, a spokesman for Defenders of Wildlife, said his
group was convinced Downes had erred.
"Drastic action like the removal of wolves from Yellowstone seems to
make no sense," he said. "I'm sure we will be part of a challenge and
will work with every ounce of energy to see that the ruling does not
stand."