On Oct. 26, the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board approved hiring private contractors to hunt and trap wolves in Idaho.
The Western Watersheds Project (WWP) alleges one of the contractors has a record of what the Nevada chief game warden labeled as “blatant illegal behavior.”
The board voted to remove the wolves in most game management units in the wolf’s core area. Ranchers currently managing sheep in the Wood River Wolf Project located in Game Management Units 48 and 49 denounced the decision for its wasteful spending and the prospect of causing more wolf conflicts. In the 2023 field season, there were no depredations in the project area, and it regularly has the lowest rate due to working with ranchers in the area.
Talasi Brooks, staff attorney at WWP, admonished using state money, stating it is “further evidence that the state will stop at nothing to get rid of the species.”
