From The New West Blog

Wolves Back on Endangered List

By Matthew Frank, 10-15-08

	Caption: Photo courtesy of MFWP.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy on Tuesday restored the endangered status for wolves in the Northern Rockies as part of lawsuit filed by environmentalists, and federal wildlife officials said they want to remove wolves from the endangered species list—again—by early 2009, Matthew Brown of the AP reports.

That means the legal fight over wolves in the Rockies will drag on.

Ranchers and state wildlife agencies want hunting allowed to curb the wolves’ tendency to prey on livestock. Environmentalists insist that the wolf population remains in peril and could crash if the states get their way.

Molloy’s order Tuesday came at the request of federal biologists who acknowledged they had failed to prove the animal had fully recovered from near decimation last century.

The decision comes after Molloy issued an injunction in July to block the killing of wolves, which became legal when wolves were delisted in February. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs to figure out how it can delist without endangering the species again.

[End of article]

Good on Molloy..!

The only way to have more wolves is to have more to feed them. Certainly their numbers should fall after they have picked the low hanging fruit for ten years. There is probably no way to grow more prey for them in existing territory, so the only answer is to expand their range by trap and release, just like USFWS did in YNP. Time to examine other NPs.

So to have more wolves they will have to be introduced into more states. I suggest California. 45% public lands, from sea level to the high Sierras. But with the Region 5 USFS consent decree in mind, USFWS can't introduce any old wolves. They will have to introduce a diverse population of wolves. No more than 35% of them should be Yellowstone wolves. The rest should represent other diverse groups of wolves. Maybe some Italian urbanized wolves that live with people like coyotes do here. And of course, some Siberian wolves to have that Russian mafia appeal and some ruthless hunting. In farm areas, Minnesota wolves from packs with good behavior records. Perhaps some Canadian wolves in the High Sierra. The LA-San Diego country should get the native Mexican wolf and Bakersfield the Red Wolf from the American Southeast. If there are any gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender wolves being persecuted in Wyoming, they should certainly find a home at Pt. Reyes or the Presidio..

With Democrats poised to have total control of the political process, social engineering in wildlife should be just as acceptable as it will be for humans in the governance of this country and all its inhabitants.

I have read the original plan called for 30 packs and 300 wolves split between the three states. How many are included in this new? revised? plan?