BOISE, Idaho – A conservation group is ending its program to compensate ranchers for livestock killed by wolves.
The program by The Defenders of Wildlife has paid out more than $1.4 million for losses from wolves and grizzly bears since it began in 1987. In a letter this month to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, group president Roger Schlickeisen said the group originally planned to compensate ranchers for livestock losses to wolves until state, federal or tribal programs took its place.
Now that the federal government has created a wolf predation compensation program, Defenders of Wildlife is phasing out its predation payments in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Arizona and New Mexico.
The Idaho Statesman reports that the group now hopes to spend the money on its programs aimed at helping ranchers better prevent wolf predation in the first place.