WOLVES: Idaho misses the mark

Craig White, a wildlife biologist with Idaho Department of Fish and Game, commented on Nov. 15, 2013 that “we actually had some great numbers of animals (hunted elk) coming through. Some of our best numbers in recent years and so that was exciting to see.”

A visit to Idaho Fish and Game’s website shows pretty steady numbers of harvested elk. Where is the evidence of the “decimation of elk herds” that we hear of so often?

And yet, Idaho State wildlife officials are hiring a professional hunter and trapper to wipe out two wolf packs in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness area.

I respect Idahoans’ local needs and wants, but my dollars contributed to the return of wolves, and I find it abhorrent that Idaho officials would exterminate whole families of wolves just on the hope that it will make it easier to kill something else. If this is the best that folks from Idaho can come up with one wonders whether the million people who want to see wolves continue to be listed as endangered will think that maybe Idaho can’t realistically manage their population of wolves.

CHRIS ALBERT

Lebanon Junction, Kentucky