Idaho Governor Otter signs wolf control board bill as feds are silent
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter signed a bill Thursday that establishes an Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board.
The amended bill places the new board within the governor’s office to fund wolf management with $400,000 from general tax dollars, and additional funds from hunting and fishing licenses and taxes on livestock. Supporters say the board simply will replace funding lost by cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services Agency.
But critics say it’s a part of a targeted attack on wolves that breaks the state’s commitment to manage the predators like it does other game animals. Jamie Rappaport Clark, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director and now president of Defenders of Wildlife, told the Idaho Statesman Thursday the state’s wolf management program was “irresponsible.”
“This is not about hunting,” Clark said. “This is an issue of extermination as fast as they can.”
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/03/27/3103860/otter-signs-bill-creating-new.html?sp=/99/1687/&ihp=1
