Idaho continues to slaughter wolves and their pups in a relentless effort to eliminate the species from the state. Records from the state so-called wildlife management agency recently made public show hunters and government agencies have killed 256 wolves this year and the season is not over. About sixteen of these were pups, still nursing from their mothers. More wolves were cruelly maimed by traps before dying a slow death. Idaho allows a seventy=two hour period to elapse before killers must check their traps for prey. Of course this time period allows plenty of time for a suffering animal to expire in pain. This obscene record of wolf extermination continues a centuries old genocide against the wolf on this continent and demonstrates why wolves need to be protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. States like Idaho simply cannot be trusted to manage a wild predator because of an irrational bias that engenders persecution. Idaho's so-called wolf management is funded by the state's agricultural association. Wildlife management must be based on ecological science, not emotion.
The species was delisted in Idaho by congressional decree in 2011 thanks to intensive lobbying by wolf haters. The US Fish & Wildlife Service is working feverishly toward delisting the wolf nationwide.
The Heel has apparently made delisting a priority of his misbegotten term of office. About 400 wolves have been killed each year in Idaho since delisting, which is about forty percent of the states's estimated wolf population. This level of slaughter is not sustainable and results in destabilized populations that ultimately cause more livestock predation. Wolves in Idaho are also killed because they take elk, a prey also prized by human hunters. Wolves are killed because they are wolves.
