Judge doubts wolf split, questions whether law allows Idaho, Montana hunts without Wyoming.

[depakid]

A federal judge in Montana expressed skepticism Tuesday that the Endangered Species Act allows the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove federal protection of wolves in Montana and Idaho but not in Wyoming.

In a hearing for a suit brought by conservation groups against the federal wildlife agency, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy told Justice Department attorney Mike Eitel he was having trouble accepting the government’s bifurcation of protection rules. Under federal actions, Wyoming wolves are separated from the rest of their “distinct population segment” in the northern Rockies, Molloy said in his Missoula courtroom.

“I understand the practical argument,” Molloy said. “I understand the political argument. Those two things are very, very clear. But what I don’t understand is the legal argument. That’s not very clear.”

Fish and Wildlife’s decision to remove federal protection from a portion of the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf population violates the Endangered Species Act, conservation groups argued. Lawyers from Earthjustice said that delisting part of the population is grounds for putting all wolves in the northern Rockies back on the threatened and endangered species list. The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance is among the groups represented by Earthjustice.

In 2009, Fish and Wildlife removed a portion of the Rocky Mountain gray wolf

Act protection in Montana and Idaho. However, because of inadequate state protections for wolves, the agency chose to continue federal protection for gray wolves in Wyoming.

If Molloy rules in favor of Fish and Wildlife’s decision to partially delist the gray wolf population, it could set a precedent for future delistings, allowing the federal government to arbitrarily pick and choose which animals are protected and where, Earthjustice attorney Doug Honnold said after the hearing.

“If the Fish and Wildlife Service can get away with this, the scope of the Endangered Species Act is radically restricted,” Honnold said.

More: http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=6105

[Botany]

1. Anything to stop this madness

[xchrom]

2. Leave the wolves alone. Nt

[villager]

3. Once again, we need courts to protect wildlife from the Sect'y of the Interior

If things weren't so darned change-y, I could swear I'd seen this before!

[zeaper]

4. Free Wolves-get yours now!

Last summer the State of Idaho offered any other state wolves. They got no takers.

If you want them come get them. Since they breed like rabbits (up to 6 per litter) you won’t need to start with many to have a lot.

Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing them howl in the evening, but they must be managed before they eat themselves (and us) out of house and home. Let’s use science to make decisions not emotion and politics.