Wolf News Roundup 1/18/2017
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
January 18, 2017
Wolf Delisting
U.S. Congressional members from the Great Lakes states and Wyoming have teamed up in a bipartisan effort to remove wolves from federal protection in those states, and to prohibit legal challenges to this action.
Wyoming’s new U.S. Representative Liz Cheney teamed up with her House colleagues from Minnesota and Wisconsin last week to sponsor a bipartisan bill to remove gray wolves in Wyoming and the Great Lakes states from federal protection.
Wyoming Senators and Mike Enzi John Barrasso teamed with Senate colleagues from both sides of the political aisle to sponsor similar legislation on Tuesday.
New Mexico
The federal Interior Department is asking the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge’s decision barring the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service from releasing captive-bred Mexican wolves into New Mexico without approval from the state wildlife agency. The federal court battle is the latest spat between state and federal officials over Mexican wolf recovery as federal officials tripled its wolf population targets over state objections and have failed to remove problem wolves.
Washington
The Seattle Times reports that 2016 proved to be a "high-cost, tough year" for Washington wolf management, with the Profanity Peak wolf pack killing or injuring 15 cattle, and in response, seven wolves were killed at a cost of about $135,000.
Italy
Hundreds of illegal wolf-dog hybrids have been seized by officials in Italy, with evidence that nine breeders or farms were involved in producing and selling the animals. The Telegraph reports that one of the investigators indicated that wolves were illegally caught in "the Carpathian Mountains, Scandinavia and North America" to be used in the hybrid breeding program in Italy. The Local reports that the breeders created fake pedigrees for the hybrids, claiming they were Czechoslovakian Wolfdogs. A court has ordered the hybrid animals to be seized.
France
Wolves are taking up residence in the southern portion of Paris, France. Wolf watchers have detected three wolves roaming the suburbs of the city.
For more information on these stories, check out the links below.
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