OUTDOOR HUB
Daniel Xu | March 25, 2014
New hunting changes and a bill to fund wolf management in Idaho have animal rights advocates howling.
Image from Chris Muiden on the Wikipedia Commons
Last week the Idaho Fish and Game Commission made a rule change allowing year-round wolf hunting on private property in the state’s northern Clearwater Region, which was quickly followed by the passage of a bill that would set aside $400,000 in funds to control gray wolf populations.
Animal rights groups are calling these latest actions a move by Idaho lawmakers to eradicate wolves from the state. House Bill 470 passed on the last day of Idaho’s legislative season and is expected to be signed by Governor C.L. Otter, who publicly supported the bill.
With the addition of the 16 hunting zones in the Clearwater region, hunters can harvest wolves year-round in much of northern Idaho—as long as their hunts take place on private property. The bag limit was also changed to five wolves per calendar year.