Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Wolves are back on ESA list

Judge rules for environmentalists

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By EXPRESS STAFF

Wolves in the northern Rockies are back on the Endangered Species List, put there by a U.S. District Judge's order late Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy of Missoula filed the terse, three-page order in response to a case filed by several environmental groups.

"We're kind of starting over," said Suzanne Asha Stone, a Boise spokeswoman for Defenders of Wildlife, one of 12 litigants in the lawsuit to have wolves re-listed. "We have an opportunity, I think, to do it right this time."

Molloy's action Tuesday followed an injunction placed on wolf hunts that had been planned in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter had filed as an intervenor in the case on behalf of the federal agencies hoping to keep wolves off the ESA list.

In Idaho, the mid-year estimate of wolf numbers stands at 771 animals, down from 788 last September and more than 1,000 after pups were born last spring. As in the rest of the northern Rockies, Idaho's estimated number of wolf packs has climbed, increasing from 75 last September to 89 now.

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By federal law, state wildlife managers can still authorize wolves to be killed even when the predators retain ESA protections. The rule allows wolves to be killed for depredations on livestock, stock animals and dogs and to achieve wildlife-management objectives.