Op-ed: Idaho wolf torture highlights brutality of state ‘management’ plans in absence of federal oversight

Photo from trapperman.com posting.

Conservation groups say Idaho trapping violates state laws

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — A rhetorical, and ideological war over wolves in the northern Rockies intensified last week with the internet posting of photos suggesting that a trapped wolf was tortured before being killed, with the involvement of U.S. Forest Service personnel.

Following the official de-listing of wolves as an endangered species, hundreds of the predators have been slaughtered in the northern Rockies under state wolf management plans aimed at reducing populations to a bare minimum.

Wildlife advocates are not exactly pleased with the direction of those state plans, and the recent flare-up over the wolf trapped in Idaho seems to reinforce their arguments that the quest to kill wolves is based on a pathological fear and hatred of the predators. (more…)

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