BILLINGS — The recent killing of a Yellowstone National Park wolf outside the park has generated hundreds of emails and phone calls to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials suggesting that the hunt wasn’t lawful.
But FWP officials have determined that the wolf was legally hunted on Nov. 24 near the small community of Silver Gate, outside Yellowstone’s Northeast Entrance.
The Billings Gazette reports that Montana allows limited wolf hunting outside Yellowstone where wolves often wander in and out of the park in search of prey, to establish new territories or to avoid other wolf packs.
Wildlife advocates have started an online petition calling for a no-shooting zone on state lands surrounding Yellowstone.
Last year, another well-known wolf died shot inside Yellowstone near Gardiner. No one has been charged in that incident.