Ranchers Oppose U.S. Plans for Return of Wolves

CHEYENNE, Wyo. —  The American Farm Bureau Federation and other farm groups filed a lawsuit Friday to stop a controversial plan that calls for reintroducing gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park and Idaho, the clerk’s office said.

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife plan, announced earlier this year, calls for transporting 15 gray wolves to Yellowstone and 15 to central Idaho per year over the next three to five years.

Ranchers vehemently oppose the reintroduction of wolves because they fear the animals will not be contained in the park and will kill livestock and spread diseases such as rabies and brucellosis.

The reintroduction--wolves have been absent from the park since the 1920s--is scheduled to begin in January using wolves brought in from Canada.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court here, seeks a temporary restraining order to stop the release until the lawsuit is heard. Along with the FBF, Farm Bureau groups in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs. Defendants were the Department of the Interior, the secretary of the Interior and the U.S. Bureau of Fish and Wildlife.

Proponents of the plan argue that wolves were native to the region and there are sound ecological reasons for their return.

A provision of the introduction plan calls for ranchers to be allowed to kill wolves that attack their livestock. However, Jake Cummins, vice president of the Montana Farm Bureau, said a provision allowing ranchers to kill wolves which are in the act of attacking livestock is unrealistic.