Oregon Officials Recommend Stripping Wolves of Protections

Oregon's wolf population has recovered to the point where it no longer needs protection under the state endangered species act, according to Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife.

The meeting begins at 8 a.m.at ODFW headquarters, 4034 Fairview Industrial Drive S.E.in Salem. The commission is expected to vote on the matter during a November 9 meeting in Salem. With its wolf population having reached that population threshold at the end of 2014, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife prepared a status review and recommended that wolves be delisted.

Wolf management in Oregon is guided by the Wolf Plan, which was originally crafted in 2005 by a broad group of stakeholders balancing competing interests.

"Dropping state protections for wolves right now would suggest that politics, rather than science and law, are guiding wildlife management decisions in Oregon", Nelson said in a statement.

Dennehy, the commission's spokeswomen, said delisting the wolves would not immediately change protections for the animal, and that a general season hunting of wolves would still be prohibited.

"There's still a lot of protection for wolves going forward", she said.

The Oregon Endangered Species Act allows the commission to delist a species if it satisfies five criteria: the species is not in danger of extinction; the species ability to reproduce is not in danger; most populations are not actively losing habitat; the species and habitat are not being overused; and existing state or federal programs are enough to protect the species moving forward.

The frustration of ranchers is only escalating as wolves grow in numbers, Nash said.

Also on Thursday, the Center for Biological Diversity released statements from scientists who oppose delisting wolves. Ranchers plan to lobby for greater license to shoot wolves caught chasing their cattle.

State officials say the battery has died, and efforts to put a new collar on OR-7 were unsuccessful.

At present, Eastern Oregon ranchers can only shoot wolves under certain circumstances, while ranchers in the Western part of the state must first obtain a permit. The state can also shoot wolves after two attacks on livestock. "We've had a few ranchers pay a really high cost and would like to see more control for those people who are being affected". "Any kind of commercial, scientific or recreational take is regulated by the commission". But the commission has failed to initiate a formal peer review of the department's analysis by an independent panel of experts, as required by state law. "The scientists' comments make clear that removing protections for wolves now runs directly counter to the Oregon Endangered Species Act, which requires such decisions to be based on solid, verifiable science".

"This has been a politically-driven process from the beginning", he said.

Michael Nelson, a professor of environmental ethics and philosophy at Oregon State University, said it was "logically indefensible" to suggest wolves are recovered when they are missing from nearly 90 percent of their suitable range.