On March 28, the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf was officially removed from the federal endangered species list. Now, the Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming state governments will be responsible for continued wolf conservation efforts. However, some conservationists claim that the decision to delist the wolf was made too soon. In the last week, a raucous public debate has erupted both online and in the mainstream media — and neither side is likely to see a resolution soon.
According to estimates, there are now more than 1,500 wolves and at least 100 breeding pairs across the three states. But conservationists have insisted that the current population needs to be doubled in order to assure the continued success of the species.
Popular Science wrote last week that already state governments in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are organizing wolf hunts to drastically reduce the wolf’s numbers — to a target population of just 150 wolves in each of the three states — effectively siding with ranchers who say the growing population poses a greater threat to cattle stocks. After years of federal protection for the wolves, anti-wolf sentiment is reaching a fever pitch. John Bair, chairman of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, which strongly supported the delisting, says that conservationist ideologues are using the wolf as a “silver bullet to do away with ranching and sport-hunting, which they oppose.”
On the other side of the debate, pro-wolf forces have found a martyr figure in a wolf named 253M, part of the famed Druid Peak pack that was featured in NATURE’s “In the Valley of the Wolves.” On the very first day of wolf deregulation 253M was legally shot in western Wyoming. Owing to the high profile of 253M, who was radio-collared and oft photographed, the story of his death even made headlines a state away in Utah. And in an online forum at Yellowstone.net, one wolf advocate sparked a firestorm of posts by proposing a tourist boycott of Wyoming, where at least 10 wolves were killed in the first week alone, according to the New York Times.
A coalition of conservation groups is poised to go to federal court on April 28 to challenge the decision to delist the wolves, and no judge is likely to be completely insulated from the emotional and political aspects of the situation. For now, however, it remains legal to shoot the wolves if a person believes they pose a threat to livestock.
For more information about the threats to gray wolf populations, an interactive map of Yellowstone’s wolf packs, and more, visit “In the Valley of the Wolves” on NATURE Online. You can also read NATURE’s Gray Wolf Animal Guide.
