More Than 100 Scientists Ask Biden Administration To Restore Protections For Gray Wolves

From Wisconsin Public Radio:

More than 100 scientists have signed a letter asking the Biden administration to restore federal protections for the gray wolf.

The Trump administration announced last fall that it would remove the animal from the endangered species list across most of the country beginning in January, prompting lawsuits from environmental and wildlife groups to restore the protections. The Biden administration has said it’s reviewing the delisting, along with other agency decisions as part of a broad executive order issued in January.

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Rare Red Wolves Released in North Carolina after Federal Court Ruling

From the Southern Environmental Law Center:

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— Red wolf captive breeding facilities today announced the release of four rare red wolves into the wild in North Carolina, after conservation groups won a federal court ruling in January that required the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare a plan to release captive red wolves into the wild to avoid irreversible harm to the highly endangered population during ongoing litigation. The facilities also reported the fostering of four red wolf pups with a female wild red wolf in North Carolina.

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Montana has made killing wolves easier. Some hunters are pushing back.

From National Geographic:

Montana is making it easier to kill wildlife in the state, with a suite of bills and new laws that threatens to undermine 30 years of wolf recovery and establish new hunting standards that even many hunters say is too permissive.

New state laws will allow hunters to kill an unlimited number of wolves, to bait them and hunt them at night, and to set neck snare traps; and will expand the wolf trapping season by 30 days and allow hound hunting of black bears. One law incentivizes trapping by allowing sportsmen’s organizations to pay bounties to hunters who kill wolves—a practice that critics note harkens back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the draw of government bounties drove hunters to exterminate the animals from the state.

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Wisconsin Wolf Management Faces Criticism As DNR Drafts Plan

From WUWM.com:

Perhaps no creature on the Wisconsin landscape elicits more extreme reactions than the gray wolf.

The once nearly extinct population has rebounded, and while some believe there should be no wolf hunting season, a 2011 Wisconsin state law requires an annual harvest unless the wolf is under federal protection. The debate has intensified this year after a very brief and chaotic hunt happened in February, which saw 218 wolves killed, surpassing the quota by over 80% in under 72 hours.

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On the heels of one rare gray wolf’s epic journey into California, another arrives

From phys.org:

A young male gray wolf crossed into far Northern California early this month—joining another wolf that trekked into the state in late January and made an epic journey south.

The latest  to arrive in California—called OR-103—was outfitted with a GPS collar in Deschutes County, Oregon. He entered northeastern Siskiyou County on May 4, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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Slovakia bans wolf hunting

From Emerging Europe:

The wolf is set to become a fully protected species in Slovakia after the country implemented a total ban on hunting.

The hunting of wolves will be illegal in Slovakia from June 1, after the country finally adopted new rules that bring it into line with European Union guidelines.

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Colorado AG to Wildlife Commission: Create West Slope panel on wolf reintroduction

From The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, Colorado:

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is urging the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to do a lot more than just include Western Slope residents in public hearings over reintroduction of the gray wolf.

Because that reintroduction is to happen on the Western Slope only, Weiser also wants the commission to create a special advisory panel made up solely of Western Slope elected officials to ensure people west of the Continental Divide have an appreciable say in what happens next.

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Washington state: New gray wolf pack formed in Okanogan County

From the Methow Valley News in Washington:

Washington’s wolf population grew by 22% in 2020, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) reported in its annual wolf count, released this month, marking 12 straight years of growth in the population.

The WDFW documented four new packs in 2020, including one in Okanogan County — the Navarre Pack, which was spotted in southwest Okanogan County south of territory occupied by the established Lookout Pack.

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Group asks US to cut funding to Idaho over wolf-killing bill

From the Associated Press and the Star Tribune in Minnesota:

BOISE, Idaho — A conservation group is asking the U.S. government to cut off millions of dollars to Idaho that is used to improve wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation opportunities because of legislation that could lead to 90% of the state’s wolves being killed.

The Center for Biological Diversity sent a letter Monday to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, saying states may be deemed ineligible to receive federal wildlife restoration money if states approve legislation contrary to that goal.

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Wyoming: Gray wolf population grows outside trophy-game area

From the Sublette Examiner in Pinedale, Wyoming:

SUBLETTE COUNTY – Gray wolves across Wyoming at the end of 2020 showed growth compared to the year before with higher estimates outside of the state’s trophy-game area.

The 2020 annual report “Wyoming Gray Wolf Monitoring and Management” was posted last week on the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s website.

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