Last I read, the federal judge who made the decision to defer the decision to manage wolf populations to the federal government (instead of the states) was going to retire soon. I can understand how that right would fall under federal control on federal lands (e.g. parks) but what about the ranchers and farmers on private land? Don't they have a right to manage their own property? When elk started getting off of Fort Riley and destroying crops, the state allowed land owners to apply for tags to cull the growing populations of FEDERALLY RELEASED animals when they ventured on to PRIVATE LAND. And these animals aren't even dangerous (until they cross the road) compared to an adult wolf. So how is it a good idea to make land-owners our outfitters wait until they are attacked or are about to be attacked until their populations can be kept in check?
This problem is only going to get worse once the wolves figure out how much easy food is gathering in the winter at the elk refuge near Jackson Hole, with 6,000 elk and over 650 bison. It's just north of town, so I wonder if wildlife officials are going to wait until a population of wolves are "established" before they decide they need to hire people to "thin their numbers" or if they cave in and decide open a wolf season near the park. I just hope that the next judge to hear the case regarding wolf population population control understands that states have the capacity and the right to manage their wildlife populations when it comes to their own borders.