Several states look to step up wolf kills, promoted by Republicans

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Wolf-hunting policies in some U.S. states are taking an aggressive turn, as Republican lawmakers and conservative hunting groups push to curb their numbers.

Antipathy toward wolves for killing livestock and big game dates to when early European immigrants settled the American West in the 1800s. It flared again as the animals rebounded under federal protection.

Former wildlife officials and animal advocates say what’s emerging now is different: a politicized campaign to drive down wolf numbers. including with methods long shunned by wildlife managers.

Those methods include shooting wolves from the air and payments to hunters reminiscent of bounties that widely exterminated the species last century.

In Montana, lawmakers are advancing measures to allow shooting wolves at night and payments to hunters reminiscent of bounties that widely exterminated the species last century. Idaho legislation would allow hunters to shoot them from motorized parachutes, ATVs or snowmobiles year-round with no limits in most areas.

And in Wisconsin, just weeks after President Donald Trump’s administration lifted protections for wolves in the Great Lakes region, hunters using hounds and trappers blew past the state’s harvest goal and killed almost twice as many as planned.

The timing of the Wisconsin hunt was bumped up following a lawsuit that raised concerns President Joe Biden’s administration would intervene to restore gray wolf protections. The group behind the suit has close links to Republican political circles, including influential donors the Koch brothers and notable Trump loyalists — Kris Kobach, a former U.S. Senate candidate from Kansas, and rock star and gun rights advocate Ted Nugent.

Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-wildlife-animals-lakes-billings-5eda7213f2cbec6c3d46897e74dddf80