The Idaho House of Representatives and Senate recently approved a bill authorizing the state to kill up to 90% of its wolf population in response to lobbying by farmers and cattle ranchers. The bill will become law if signed by the governor in the coming days.

Until recently, gray wolves were on the endangered species list, with a population of less than 150 in the state.

They were delisted from the Endangered Species Act last year by the U.S. Department of the Interior under President Trump, which said the population had sufficiently recovered to “no longer warrant protection.”

If Little signs the legislation, the state would be permitted to hire contractors to kill the wolves and hunters would have no limits on the number they could target.

The bill will waste millions of dollars of public funds on killing wolves, and threatens to ultimately return the species to the endangered species list and federal management," the Western Watersheds Project said in a statement on behalf of three conservation groups.

The U.S. wolf population has been decimated to the brink of extinction due to hunters and farmers who kill these beautiful animals in the name of protecting sheep and cattle they themselves eventually slaughter.

The protections afforded them by the Endangered Species Act prevented their extinction. We ask that Idaho Governor Brad Little veto this bill promoting and funding the slaughter of wolves and the U.S. Department of Interior work with states to establish stronger protections for delicate populations.

Photo Credit: Wolf Conservation Center. Learn more about this issue by visiting their Twitter account, @nywolforg.