Great news for wolf lovers. Wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho who were about to be slaughtered in wolf hunts this fall have been given a temporary reprieve in the decision of U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy who in a forty page decision over ruled the federal governments new rules that took wolves off the endangered species list. Environmentalists had sued the courts to overturn the decision by the federal government to allow wolf hunts. As many as five hundred of the estimated one thousand wolves could have been killed in hunts scheduled to begin in the fall.
In his ruling?Molloy said the federal government had not met its own standard for wolf recovery, including interbreeding of wolves between the three states to ensure healthy genetics. He also said that the killing of wolves in hunts and for livestock attacks would likely “eliminate any chance for genetic exchange to occur.” Look for resistance from both sides on this issue. It is a delicate balancing act keeping enough wolves for genetic diversity while keeping them away from livestock predation