My Unrelated Thoughts

"Feds reject Wyoming's wolf kill plan By BEN NEARY, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 9, 10:34 PM ET CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Wolves will remain protected for now in Wyoming, where officials want to manage the animals by killing some, even as they come off the endangered species list in five other states, federal officials said Friday. Top state officials vowed to keep fighting the federal government in court over wolf management issues. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected a state proposal to allow the killing of some wolves to protect the state's elk herds. The agency wants to take wolves off the protected list in Wyoming, too, but not if the state insists on culling its population, according to a letter to state leaders from Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall. "I think what the letter is telling the state is that the Fish and Wildlife Service has gone as far as we can possibly go on this," said Mitch King, the agency's regional director. Wyoming House Speaker Roy Cohee said Friday's decision means wolf management legislation moving through both houses of the Legislature is moot. "Basically what we were told, 'Take a hike and go look at your elk while they're still alive, because if the wolf population keeps growing, they're not going to be there that long,'" Wyoming Senate President John Schiffer said. The Fish and Wildlife Service last year proposed creation of a permanent wolf management area in northwestern Wyoming. The agency last month announced a proposal to remove about 1,200 Rocky Mountain gray wolves from the endangered species list in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. The agency has approved wolf management plans in Montana and Idaho, but rejected Wyoming's original management plan in 2004. Last month, the Interior Department said it would remove about 4,000 wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin from the endangered and threatened species list within 30 days."