Editorial:

Wolf in Lovell

Posted 2/21/23

If the groups now fighting attempt to re-delist Yellowstone area grizzly bears need proof that their concerns state management will lead to a severe drop in population below recovery levels are not …

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Editorial:

Wolf in Lovell

Posted

If the groups now fighting attempt to re-delist Yellowstone area grizzly bears need proof that their concerns state management will lead to a severe drop in population below recovery levels are not based in truth, they need look no further than the wolf recently killed by a federal trapper in Lovell.

Area wolves have been managed by the states, including Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, since 2017 and if anything, the management has erred on the side of leniency. Yellowstone area wolves have clearly thrived since their placement in the park in the 1990s, as seen by this wolf, collared in Dillon, Montana, and then killed on a ranch outside Lovell after killing goats and sheep.

Wolves from the park have also been documented traveling south, all the way to the Colorado Rockies. That evidence would show that state management doesn’t lead to massive slaughters of wolves as some groups would have judges believe.

So, why would state management of grizzlies bring any different results? Like wolves, grizzlies have been ranging further out from their initial areas and their population has grown tremendously and is now well over 1,000, not to mention the hundreds more grizzlies outside the demographic monitoring area. The number has ballooned even with grizzlies being killed due to depredations, in crashes or in self defense.

I know these environmental groups who managed to put grizzlies back on the ESA were aghast at the idea of hunting grizzlies, but wolves are able to be hunted in the state — and shooting them is less regulated outside the Greater Yellowstone Area — and that hasn’t stopped park wolves from ranging out to places such as a ranch near Lovell.

Compared to the roughly 500 wolves reported to be in the greater Yellowstone area, the grizzly population is far larger and the numbers are a few hundred above what was initially considered to be called a “recovered” species.

The Endangered Species Act was always meant to be a temporary spot for animals, an important state where they could be protected and rehabilitated. But, once that occurs, the states should take over management. It’s clearly worked with wolves, as Wyoming has shown after recent legal challenges to state management, so there’s no reason results wouldn’t be the same with grizzly bears.

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