By Associated Press – 31 Oct ’14
Gov. Matt Mead says congressional action may offer Wyoming its best chance at regaining state management of wolves.
A federal judge last month stripped Wyoming of wolf management authority and returned wolves to federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson of Washington, D.C., rejected Wyoming’s wolf plan. She said the plan failed to require the state to maintain a buffer wolf population above the required minimum of 100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs outside of Yellowstone and the Wind River Indian Reservation.
Mead said Thursday his administration is still considering whether to appeal.
But Mead says Wyoming’s best chance appears to be seeking congressional action specifying its wolf plan wouldn’t be challenged legally. Congress already has granted such protection to wolf plans in Idaho and Montana.
