LIFE must be confusing for the grey wolves of Montana and Idaho. Last week those states鈥� annual hunts were declared back on, despite a judge鈥檚 ruling in 2010 that made them illegal.
The two states allowed hunting in 2009, after the decided the wolves there no longer needed the protection of the Endangered Species Act. Last year a district judge overturned that decision, halting the 2010 hunts and triggering a protracted legal battle. In the latest instalment, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the hunts can restart. Both states鈥� hunts open this week.
Properly managed, the Idaho hunt should not be a serious threat, says at the University of Idaho in Moscow, who monitors the local wolves. The Idaho population is 鈥渞eally healthy鈥�, she says.
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The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, however, insists that those wolves are threatened by shrinking habitat.
