From an AP article posted to today’s Flathead Beacon . . .

An examination of Montana’s first public gray wolf hunt showed at least nine of the animals were killed in an area prone to livestock attacks — a finding that could blunt criticism that the hunt was ineffective.

Confident state wildlife officials said they could increase the quota on the predators next year. They want to zero in on a number that would strike a balance between protecting the wolf population and curbing attacks on livestock and big game herds.

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From today’s Missoulian . . .

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks claims wolves are recovered sufficiently to be delisted from the federal Endangered Species Act.

“The delisting of this population in Montana is a well-deserved victory for the ESA,” attorneys for FWP wrote in a brief filed in a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year by conservation groups looking to overturn the delisting. “The delisting accomplished two fundamental goals of the ESA, to recover a species and transfer the care of the wolf from federal oversight to state management.”

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