Save our wolves
Wildlife management has no place in politics. It must be left in the hands of educated biologists who provide science-based decisions to maintain healthy populations.
If House Bills 176 and 222 are passed, the wolf population in MT will be decimated. These bills allow baiting, use of nocturnal lighting, night vision scopes, snares and trapping without limits, until the wolf population is reduced by half.
Kalispell Republican Representative Lukas Schubert (HB 222) claims there is an emergency, and the wolves must be killed. Rep. Shannon Maness, R-Dillon (HB 176), focuses on a 450-wolf base quota with unlimited hunting until the quota is reached.
Over the past three years, the populations of mule deer, white-tails and elk have been stable. Actually, the population of white tails significantly increased in 2024. Published population numbers for these prey species are stable or increased since 2013.
There are mitigation programs in place for the unfortunate loss of livestock from wolf and mountain lions predation.
There is no justification for the kill-off of the wolves. We need to protect them from uneducated legislators who are ready to vote for senseless inhumane killing of wolves for their fur.
If saving big game is the goal, these actions are misdirected. It is past time to time to make some major decisions to protect ungulates from prion disease, the cause of Chronic Wasting Disease. CWD is highly contagious, universally fatal, is epidemic in Montana and on track to decimate deer, elk and moose populations.
The emergency is CWD, not wolf predation. Ask your representative to vote no on these unconscionable bills and do something to limit CWD spread.
Betty Kuffel, MD, Whitefish