Groups seek to withhold funding over anti-wolf legislation

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Conservation groups are asking the U.S. Government to withhold millions of dollars in federal funding from states that have enacted anti-wolf legislation.

One of those states is Idaho.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, a petition was filed on Wednesday by 27 conservation groups.

Those groups are calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to disqualify Montana and Idaho from receiving millions of dollars in federal conservation funds.

Because of the aggressive anti-wolf legislation the states enacted in 2021, Idaho has received more than $75 million in funding authorized by the Pittman-Robertson Act, and its companion, the Sport Fish Restoration Act over the last five years.

The Secretary of the Interior has the power to not distribute these funds if a state passes legislation contrary to the act’s conservation intentions.

“Montana and Idaho have relied on anti-wolf rhetoric to pass aggressive laws permitting the widespread slaughter of wolves with zero basis in ethics or science. These new laws run completely contrary to conservation goals, and they should disqualify both states from receiving federal funding.” Said Andrea Zaccardi of the Center for Biological Diversity.

Idaho’s law allows the state to hire private contractors to kill wolves.

While hunters and trappers can get unlimited tags, they must get a tag for each wolf harvested. The cost of each tag is $11.50 ($13.75 if not price locked) and trapping is permitted year-round on private land across the state.

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