Idaho County declares disaster over wolves | Idaho | Idaho Statesman

Idaho County declares disaster over wolves | Idaho | Idaho Statesman

September 16, 2010
Idaho County declares disaster over wolves
By JESSIE L. BONNER and JOHN MILLER - Associated Press Writers
Officials in Idaho County want Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter to declare an ongoing disaster that will allow wolves to be shot on sight, citing attacks on livestock and wildlife.
County commissioners declared a local disaster Thursday. The governor's office was aware of the county's move but had not seen it and couldn't immediately comment, said Otter spokesman Jon Hanian.

"We heard about it just at the close of business today," Hanian said. "Beyond that, I don't have a comment about it, until we've had a chance to read it, review it and make sure the governor has seen it."

A U.S. District Court decision in August restored federal protections to wolves in Idaho and Montana, despite objections from both states.

Otter has said he'll negotiate until at least Oct. 7 with the federal government on a plan to manage the approximately 850 wolves in his state.

Idaho's governor said he wants increased flexibility to kill them when they eat livestock or too many elk.

But if no pact comes about, Otter has cautioned that Idaho will no longer be a designated agent for monitoring, providing law enforcement support or investigating wolf deaths.

Idaho has overseen most wolf management duties in the state since 2005.

Idaho County Commissioner Chairman R. Skipper Brandt did not immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press.

The commissioners said they wanted to make a serious statement on how wolves are affecting Idaho County, according to the minutes from an Aug. 17 meeting.

In 2006, when he was still a state lawmaker, Brandt was among avowed wolf opponents who signed a citizen's initiative to remove wolves from Idaho, calling for them to be delisted from the Endangered Species Act, declared on par with skunks and weasels as "predatory wildlife" - and removed any way possible.

There are about 1,600 wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The predators were reintroduced in the mid-1990s to the northern Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone National Park after being hunted nearly to extinction.

The state Department of Fish and Game is already pushing a plan to kill dozens of wolves in a north-central Idaho elk hunting area to restore big game populations hurt by predators and poor habitat. But it must first get federal permission.