Court overturns dismissal of lawsuit against Wildlife Services’ wolf killing in Idaho

April 23, 2019

Guardians and allies are back in action defending Idaho’s gray wolves after a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision on April 23. The court overturned an Idaho court’s earlier dismissal of the groups’ lawsuit challenging the federal wildlife-killing program, Wildlife Services’, wolf killing in the state.

Wildlife Services hasn’t analyzed how its wolf killing program affects Idaho’s management of its wolf population—even though wolves in the state have lost their federal protections since its last analysis. Meanwhile, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has extended wolf hunting and trapping seasons, despite the fact that it has little data on wolf numbers in the state. It has also used taxpayer money to fund bounties on wolves in certain parts of Idaho.

“With the changes in wolf management that have occurred since Wildlife Services last considered its activities’ impacts, we have to ask ourselves, did we recover wolves just to wipe them out again?” asked Guardians’ Lindsay Larris.

Read the press release.

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