BILLINGS – The president of a Montana-based conservation group is asking hunters in the Northern Rockies to refrain from “vigilante” killings of endangered gray wolves.
David Allen with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation says killing the predators illegally could undermine efforts to remove them from the endangered species list.
A federal judge in August restored endangered status to wolves in Idaho and Montana, canceling public hunts planned for the predators.
Frustrated with that ruling, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter on Monday ordered state wildlife managers to relinquish their duty to arrest poachers or investigate when wolves are killed illegally.
There are more than 1,300 wolves in Idaho and Montana and at least 320 in neighboring Wyoming. Elk herds are on the decline in some areas where wolves have been restored.