Northwest Briefs October 2, 2010

Montana follows Idaho, appeals wolf ruling

BILLINGS, Mont. — Montana officials have appealed a federal judge’s ruling that restored federal protections for gray wolves in their state and in Idaho.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks director Joe Maurier says the appeal is one way the state is trying to regain management authority over wolves.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled in August that the federal government should not have removed the animals’ endangered status in Montana and Idaho while they were still considered threatened in Wyoming.

Friday’s filing with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals follows a similar appeal filed Thursday by officials in Idaho.

Six escaped domestic elk shot and killed

ELK CITY, Idaho — A state official says the owner of an elk farming operation in North Idaho has shot and killed six escaped bull elk after attempts to capture the ungulates failed.

Brian J. Oakey of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture on Thursday told the Lewiston Tribune that elk owner Jay Howe shot the elk that had escaped from his Elk Mountain Flat farming operation.

Oakey says the elk escaped after a wild elk began fighting through the fence with one or more of the captive bulls, causing a hole in the fence.

Officials say domestic elk can spread disease to wild elk. Oakey says the dead elk will be tested for diseases as a precaution.

— The Associated Press