Wyoming Wolf Plan Rejected

Billings, MT – The US Fish and Wildlife Service rejected Wyoming's wolf management plan Tuesday. One of three areas the federal government had problems with was Wyoming dual classification plan. That would classify wolves as predators in much of the state and leave the animals open to unregulated killing. Wyoming Game and Fish Deputy Director Bill Wichers isn't sure whether the state will accept a plan without the word "predator." But he thinks people need to keep one thing in mind as the state moves forward, that it's fairly universal that Wyoming wants to be able to manage wolves and not have the federal government manage them for us. Governor Freudenthal was disappointed by the rejection because the scientific reviews of the plan largely endorsed its biological soundness. So the Governor says he can only conclude the rejection was based on little more than Potomac politics. The legislature's Joint Travel Committee meets on Thursday in Laramie to discuss what the state's options are now.