Groups plan to sue state over new wolf regulations

Hungry Horse News

Several environmental groups have put the state on notice that it intends to sue for implementing new laws permitting snaring of wolves and expanding trapping seasons intended to reduce the wolf population.

“These new laws increase the likelihood that grizzly bears and Canada lynx, both federally protected under the Endangered Species Act, may be injured or killed by snares and other traps set for wolves,” Earthjustice, said in a release last week.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Greg Lemon declined to comment on the filing, as it was pending litigation.

According to the groups, the expansion of the wolf season and the use of snares, among other things, violates the Endangered Species Act, as traps and snares can also catch lynx and grizzlies.

As such, it amounts to an unauthorized “take” of an endangered species.

The ESA defines “take” to mean “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in such conduct,” the groups note.

Montana has about 830 wolves across the state, according to a 2019 FWP report. That’s down from a few years ago when it had more than 1,300.

But Republican lawmakers want it even lower, claiming it should be about 150 wolves statewide, which is the minimum set under the Endangered Species Act. Wolves were delisted in 2011.

They passed a host of bills this last Legislative session that include allowing snares, hunting at night, using bait and an extension of the trapping season by about a month.

They also made it legal for a private entity to pay a trapper or hunter to take wolves — in essence, a bounty.

A coalition of groups petitioned the Forest Service earlier this month, asking it to prohibit commercial hunting and trapping of wolves in wilderness areas in Montana and Idaho.

Wolf delisting has bipartisan roots, however. Democratic lawmakers in Montana supported delisting wolves in 2011 with support from Montana Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus and then Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

The groups that filed the intent to file suit are The Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Clearwater, Humane Society of the United States, International Wildlife Coexistence Network, Sierra Club, Western Watersheds Project, Wilderness Watch, and Wolves of the Rockies.