Idaho governor calls for gray wolf kill (wants to kill all but 100)

[donsu]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_sc/wolf_hunting


Idaho's governor said Thursday he will support public hunts to kill all but 100 of the state's gray wolves after the federal government strips them of protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter told The Associated Press that he wants hunters to kill about 550 gray wolves. That would leave about 100 wolves, or 10 packs, according to a population estimate by state wildlife officials.

The 100 surviving wolves would be the minimum before the animals could again be considered endangered.

"I'm prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself," Otter said earlier Thursday during a rally of about 300 hunters.
-snip-
---------------------------------

are Idahoians that blood thirsty?

maybe we could stake Otter to a fire ant hill.

Butch the Coward

[Botany]

1. Idiot

[SpudStateDem]

9. Unfortunately....

Idaho is full of idiot Republicans.

[Botany]

12. Welcome to DU

[SpudStateDem]

19. Thanks!

Glad to be here!

[newyawker99]

26. Hi SpudStateDem!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Broken_Hero]

27. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[DixieBlue]

2. Is this a joke?

What is f*cking wrong with people?

[Recursion]

4. People raise animals that wolves like to eat

So people want to kill wolves

[leftchick]

16. it has more to do with the hunting business

or so he says. I think it has everything to do with the guy is a fucking creep.

[Botany]

6. Sadly the people in Idaho who buy into this are sold lies and hate 24/7

"They" think that having wolves back is part of a plot by liberals to take
"their" way of life away from them.

You have generations of hate, bigotry, and ignorance behind this way of
thinking.

BTW the # of unprovoked attacks by wolves on humans in N. America is
zero.

[SteppingRazor]

3. Hmmm... well, it is a delicate balance.

If the number of wolves is such that it's a strain on the ecosystem, resulting in scarcity of elk herds, I wouldn't have a problem with a controlled hunt.

Unfortunately, this story suggests that the only problem with the wolves' killing elk is that it affects the hunting-tourism industry. That I have a problem with. Essentially, this seems to be hunters killing off their competition, and that's pretty low.

Nowhere in the story did I read that elk and deer herds are becoming critically scarce. Given that -- and given that in Idaho you can already shoot wolves to protect life or property (i.e. ranchers can pop them if they go after livestock) -- this hunt definitely troubles me.

[donsu]

5. 550 wolf pelts - does that translate into money?

nt

[janx]

7. Butch Otter?!

Is that really his name?! :rofl:

[MasonJar]

8. Let's put him out there with Dick Cheney; he might get what he deserves.

[LeftishBrit]

10. OMG!!!

What a stupid nasty man! I assume he's a Republican? You'd think someone called 'Otter' would be more in favour of wild-life protection!!

[SpudStateDem]

13. Yes, He's A Republican

All of the state-wide officeholders here in Idaho are Republicans. This one's worse than most, though... he married his long-time girlfriend just before the election, after getting his 20+ year marriage to the daughter of the state's richest man "annulled".

[donsu]

20. how do you annull a 20+ yr marriage? only in Idaho?

nt

[VelmaD]

11. ok...they can hunt them...but I'm putting conditions on it

They don't get to have anything the wolf doesn't have. They go out buck nekkid. No weapons. They have to chase the wolf down on foot, tackle it, and kill it with their bare hands...all, of course, before the wolf kills them. After all...we want it to be sporting.

[scrinmaster]

15. OK, but the wolf can't have anything that we don't have.

Like fur, sharp teeth, claws, or sensitive hearing or smell.

[VelmaD]

17. Well, if we really needed those things...

we would have evolved them.

[scrinmaster]

29. Yeah, but our brains evolved.

We don't need those things. We can make clothes, weapons, shelters, vehicles, all that stuff that gives us the advantage over the wild.

[Vidar]

14. A pity we can't do the same for politicians.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. Shouldn't that be 'Butcher Otter'?

[LeftyMom]

21. Ah more "wildlife management" with no respect for the ecosystem and every consideration for hunters.

Funny thing about predators, nature keeps their populations in check naturally. They die off and slow their breeding when there aren't enough prey animals to support them.

[IDemo]

22. This isn't the first time Gov. Butch has displayed his disdain for wildlife

C L (Butch) Otter Receives $80,000 EPA Complaint For Wetlands Violation

September 7, 1999

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing an $80,000 civil penalty against C.L. “Butch” Otter and Charles Robnett for the unlawful discharge of dredged and/or fill material into a side channel of the Boise River, in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. EPA’s complaint alleges that Mr. Otter excavated and filled in 2.7 acres of wetlands on his property without proper authorization by an Army Corps of Engineers permit.

Mr. Otter owns property on the Boise River near Star, Idaho and Charles Robnett is a Nampa contractor. In the complaint filed today, EPA alleges that in November, 1998, Mr. Robnett, on Mr. Otter’s behalf, used heavy equipment to dredge and fill certain wetlands and a stream channel on Otter’s property.

According to Chuck Clarke, EPA Regional Administrator in Seattle, this is not the first time Mr. Otter has run afoul of wetlands protection statutes in Idaho.

“Through this action, we’re hoping to send a clear message,” said Clarke. “Mr. Otter has received two previous cease-and-desist orders from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for unauthorized wetlands work on his property, but for some reason they apparently had no effect. Idaho’s wetlands are too valuable to be treated with such little regard.”

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/b1ab9f485b098972852562e7004dc686/8ba86adf1786c2c9852570cb0075e195!OpenDocument

[keepCAblue]

23. Bush's Government is enabling this wolf hunt by stripping protection

"after the federal government strips them of protection under the Endangered Species Act."

As usual, it is Bushco that is the root of this evil.

[JitterbugPerfume]

24. hey Butch the coward-----

how about just relocating them?


ooooh--- KILLING is cooler and easier(you jerk)

[Blue_In_AK]

25. I'm sure they're using the same arguments

that Fish & Game uses up here to justify their aerial wolf kills (that Alaskans have voted AGAINST repeatedly, but we keep being ignored). In our case it's because they want to keep the moose population pumped up for the benefit of the subsistence and other hunters. I really hate it that everything in the world has to be modified for the benefits of human consumption and use. Nature did just fine regulating balances before we came along.

[Broken_Hero]

28. isn't that the truth

they tried that in SE a few times, and failed(that I know of, not sure about current initiatives).