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In an obvious tongue-in-cheek propostion, Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter has sent Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber an offer to "replace" the collared wolf from Oregon that was shot by a hunter in Idaho. "I am offering to send you 150 wolves from Idaho," Otter wrote. "Idaho has more than a sufficient number, in fact many more than the federal government originally required we have, and can spare a few." Washington Times.

Wyoming lawmakers appear ready to change the state’s wolf management law to accommodate an agreement that Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar reached last year on ending federal protections for the animals in the state. Under the agreement, wolves could be shot on sight in much of the state. The Republican governor has made wolf management a priority, saying the animals threaten agricultural interests and other wildlife. Officials say there are about 300 wolves in the state, and Mead has said the population grows by 10 percent every year. Under the deal, Wyoming would commit to...

DAWSON CITY, Yukon - There are a lot of problems that can befall trail markers — treacherous conditions, dangerous overflow, deep snow and trails littered with fallen brush. But an unexpected challenge for the Canadian Rangers who broke the Yukon Quest trail in Canada? Wolves stealing trail markers.

When viewed from most perspectives Friday, the gray wolf in Wisconsin was unchanged: A native predator that inspired respect, fear, awe and even hatred among humans. But Jan. 27 also marked a significant transition for the wolf. No longer listed as protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, the wolf returned to state management. And in a new development in the modern annals of Wisconsin wildlife management, a bill was introduced Friday that would allow wolf hunting and trapping. The delisting was welcomed by state wildlife managers. "We've been looking forward to this day," said Adrian Wydeven, wolf ecologist for...

As 2012 begins, it's important to take note of groups that are working against your opportunities to hunt, trap, fish and enjoy the outdoors. To that effect, here is what we call The Dirty Dozen: 1) Humane Society of the United States or HSUS—needs no commentary or introduction to hunters and trappers everywhere, but has been in the news and advertisements recently for sharing only one percent with animal shelters of the $187,515,301.00 the group raked in during 2010. Details are at http://www.ussportsmen.org/page.aspx?pid=2954. 2) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA—outrageous, radical and out of touch with mainstream...

BEND, Ore. — As wolves spread into Central Oregon, advocates and opponents continue to debate their value. Some say the animals, eradicated from the state decades ago, will help bring the ecosystem into better balance. Others argue the predators were eliminated for good reason. Since wolves wandered into Oregon from Idaho in 2008, the state has spent about $800,000 to manage them, according to an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife report. That sum will grow by at least a half million dollars over the next couple of years, and the spending could escalate as the number of wolves roaming...

A resurgent population has prompted authorities to lift federal protections for the gray wolf in Wisconsin and other parts of the Upper Midwest. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that it was removing Endangered Species Act protections for the wolf in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and portions of adjoining states. After the announcement, Gov. Scott Walker ordered the state Department of Natural Resources to implement a state wolf management plan, which is designed to protect animals while also being able to control a growing population. Wolves - which can travel up to 30 miles a day - have soared...

With confirmation the other day by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game that at least two wolves were responsible for killing a young high school teacher, the debate about wolf management in the Pacific Northwest has erupted anew. Good news: The argument has spread to Minnesota, where the assertion by a Cal State sociology professor who classified wolf opponents as militia nuts has been rebutted by a Minnesota state senator using reason rather than vitriol in relation to that state’s effort to de-list wolves as an endangered species. In the mid-1990s, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released...

Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife The alpha wolf in the Imnaha pack was collared in May and is being tracked by state biologists. A pack of wolves roaming grasslands in Eastern Oregon killed another cow over the weekend. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said a yearling heifer was found dead on a ranch east of Joseph in Wallowa County. ODFW officials said the rancher had coraled his 700 cattle Sunday night in a pasture near his home and that the wolves broke in and chased them out, killing a heifer. The wolves returned the next night...

At least two wolves chased down and killed a teacher who was jogging on a road last year outside a rural Alaska village, according to a report released Tuesday by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Following approval of a revised wolf management plan by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to remove the gray wolf population in Wyoming from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. Due to recovery efforts and the provisions of the revised state plan, the Wyoming wolf population is healthy and stable, current and future threats to wolves have been addressed, and a post-delisting monitoring and management framework has been developed. Today’s formal proposal follows an agreement with the state of Wyoming that serves as the blueprint for returning wolf management to...

Your Sept. 23 editorial “Way of the Wolf in Wyoming” implies that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Fish and Wildlife Service have somehow betrayed the species we worked so hard to recover. And it is recovered. Today, more than 1,650 wolves, in 244 packs, occupy the northern Rocky Mountains, exceeding recovery goals for 11 consecutive years. We understand the emotional reaction to wolf hunting, but the facts don’t support your conclusions. Wyoming’s plan will maintain a healthy wolf population...

JLH NEWS By: Jeff Head Emmett, ID September 28, 2011 This just in regarding the wolves here in Idaho. As many may know, the wolves were forced upon Idaho by the Federal government several years ago. They were not native, Rocky Mountian wolves. They brought in large timber wolves from Canada, starting in Yellowstone and then spreading into Idaho and surrounding states. Well, over the years their numbers, and their negative impact have grown so much that the state sued to take them off the endangered species list and allow them to be hunted. It took a while, but...

The recolonising wolves are are believed to have crossed into France from Italy in the 1990s In the summer months high on the French Alps the sheep graze on rich pastures. In the Hautes Alpes, they are currently feeding beneath ski lifts on slopes that will soon be covered by a thick layer of snow. But this year the freedom to roam has been curtailed. Somewhere in the dark, dense forests a grey wolf is on the prowl. The wolf was hunted almost to extinction in France in the 1930s but, protected as an endangered species, it is making a...

Wolf sightings in the Blue Mountains are becoming more frequent this summer, but wildlife officials for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have yet to document firm evidence of a pack forming in the southeastern corner of the state. Paul Wik, district biologist for the department at Clarkston, said the canyons and timbered ridges southeast of Dayton have been a hot spot for wolf reports this year. Some hunters have even captured images of wolves with trail cameras, he said. "It's definitely no secret they are here," Wik said. "The only question to us is what their status is."...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – As wolf populations grow in parts of the West, most of the focus has been on their value in aiding broader ecosystem recovery – but a new study from Oregon State University also points out that they could play an important role in helping to save other threatened species. In research published today in Wildlife Society Bulletin, scientists suggest that a key factor in the Canada lynx being listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act is the major decline of snowshoe hares. The loss of hares, the primary food of the lynx, in turn may be...

(Reuters) - An appeals court has refused to block wolf hunts planned in Idaho and Montana while conservation groups press a legal case against an unprecedented act of Congress that lifted federal protection of the animals. More than 1,500 wolves in Idaho and Montana were removed from the U.S. endangered species list, giving the two states largely unfettered control over the animals, in legislation attached to a stopgap budget bill Congress approved in April. The delisting came amid a legal battle between environmentalists and the U.S. government over whether wolves, which were hunted, trapped and poisoned to near extinction decades...

Federal Judge Donald Molloy held his nose and upheld a congressional rider Wednesday that removed Endangered Species Act protections from wolves in Idaho and Montana. The ruling will allow wolf hunting seasons set to begin next month to proceed as planned. Molloy, of Missoula, Mont., previously ruled against two federal rules that delisted wolves and scolded Congress Wednesday, saying the so-called wolf rider attached to a federal spending bill last May undermined and disrespected the rule of law. "Inserting environmental policy changes into appropriations bills may be politically expedient, but it transgresses the process envisioned by the Constitution by avoiding...

A bloody, stinking sheep's carcass greets shepherd Yves Vignon as he walks to check on his flock on the foggy Alpine heights. It's the 17th of his ewes to be savaged in a month. The mountains over Grenoble were once an ideal grazing ground for his 900 sheep. But now, after long banishment, the wolves are back -- bolder and hungrier than ever. "We came to this spot on June 24. A week later we were attacked" by wolves, Vignon, 62, told AFP. It was the first of at least four attacks over the past month. "Every morning when I...

A bloody, stinking sheep's carcass greets shepherd Yves Vignon as he walks to check on his flock on the foggy Alpine heights. It's the 17th of his ewes to be savaged in a month. The mountains over Grenoble were once an ideal grazing ground for his 900 sheep. But now, after long banishment, the wolves are back -- bolder and hungrier than ever. "We came to this spot on June 24. A week later we were attacked" by wolves, Vignon, 62, told AFP. It was the first of at least four attacks over the past month. "Every morning when I...