US withstands witch hunt intended to exterminate wolves

The US Fish and Wildlife Service resisted the efforts of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming governors to force the removal of wolves from endangered species protection.  Montana's governor Brian Schweitzer tells Matthew Brown of the Associated Press that it's "unlikely" the lame-duck congress will pander to the frothing anti-Earth set waving pitchforks, torches, and automatic weapons.

The Billings Gazette:

The Fish and Wildlife Service has previously approved plans to hunt the predators in Idaho and Montana — but not Wyoming. That's because Wyoming law classifies wolves as predators that can be shot on sight across most of the state.  Schweitzer said the administration was ready to back legislation to take wolves off the list in Montana and Idaho, while giving Wyoming three years to craft an acceptable management plan for the predators.  "I was ready to go forward with a hunt in January of 170-something wolves," he said. "But the governors, we couldn't come to a consensus with the secretary of Interior about a possible legislative fix."  U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled in August that it was illegal to declare the animal recovered from near-extinction across a part of its range while it remained at risk in Wyoming.

The technology exists to administer drugs without capture that neuter or spay not just the predators, but the ungulates decimating deciduous tree populations essential to forest restoration efforts in western states.

--------------------------------------------------------Update:  Check out this editorial in The Arizona Republic:

The Endangered Species Act is a popular, scientifically sound law that has had spectacular success recovering species like eagles, condors and wolves [that] Congress should not undermine.