Nevada might make it legal to shoot a "lone wolf" though federal fines would remain

Nevada wildlife commissioners are scheduled today to discuss the possibility of adopting a regulation, at least temporarily, that would change the gray wolf's official status from a protected game animal to an unprotected one -- the same as coyotes and skunks, which can be shot at any time.

However, because the wolf is listed as a federally protected species, killing one could result in fines of up to $100,000 whatever Nevada does with its own classification, argued Bob Williams, Nevada supervisor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

It comes down to a states' rights issue, Commissioner Gerald Lent argued during a commission meeting in Las Vegas in September, according to minutes of the meeting.

Because Nevada has no resident population, "we have the right to call them a varmint if we want," he said.

Nevada can do a better job managing wolves and other wildlife "without the feds telling us what to do," he said.

Reclassifying wolves as an unprotected species would be a mistake, Williams said.

"It's basically saying if you see a wolf, you can shoot it," he said. "It's the wrong message. It's just the wrong thing to do."

In a letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials written one week before he was fired by Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons, former NDOW Director Ken Mayer asked that Nevada not be considered as historical wolf habitat and "be excluded" from any area considered for protection and re-establishment of wolves by the federal government.

source

It's hard to read this and believe it.  Whether such statements are driven by hysteria and ignorance or political agendas.

It is hard to believe that any State would not be happy to have a species that was once on the brink of extinction coming back to it's historical range.  It has to be the Federal government control that they really don't want.  The Wolves and other wildlife get stuck in the middle.

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