Wyoming, like its sister Rocky Mountain brethern states of Montana and Idaho continue to reinforce the fact they are not equipped with the Solomon-like wisdom needed to properly manage Wolves with long term ecosytem services optimization as a guiding principle...........Ranchers and Hunters rule the day with an out-of control religous gihad regarding removing wolves from their Constitutional boundaries............Even the connective corridor linking Yellowstone and Tetons National Park is targeted for intensive wolf removal..............without regard for the core wolf populations that are federally protected in this region...........And these people preach "right to life" in their Churches...........HYPOCRITES ARE THEY ALL!

A Final Refuge for Wolves

nytimes.org

Last year, gray wolves in Idaho and Montana were removed from the Endangered Species List and placed under state management plans. In Wyoming, they remain federally protected, but only until the last details of a deal between the state and the Department of the Interior can be worked out.       

 

The Interior Department has shamefully given Wyoming everything it wanted, including the right to shoot wolves on sight anywhere in the state except the northwest corner, where a license is required.

The final unresolved wrinkle concerns the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, a 24,000-acre strip of land that connects Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. It was established in 1972, and hunting is allowed there (no hunting is permitted inside the national parks).
Wyoming wants wolf hunting in the parkway, which is completely unacceptable because wolves that live in the two parks pass back and forth in that strip. The Interior Department should ban all wolf hunts in the parkway.

There are about 250 wolves in Wyoming, excluding those in Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Two years ago wolves were able to range over the entire greater Yellowstone ecosystem, including Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. If Wyoming gets its way — and the Interior Department capitulates again — the only refuge for wolves would be in Yellowstone and Grand Teton, with no safe way of moving back and forth.

The successful restoration of gray wolves in the Rocky Mountains has brought back a predator that has a profound and beneficial impact on the ecosystem. The wolves should be preserved throughout that range. But the Interior Department has given away most of the game. Allowing wolf hunting in the Rockefeller Parkway would damage the very little protection left.