High-schoolers tracked a wolf pack for years. Feds killed eight of the pups, conservationists say. [View all]
Morning Mix
High-schoolers tracked a wolf pack for years. The feds killed eight of the pups, conservationists say.
A wolf leaps across a road into the wilds of central Idaho. In May, Republican Gov. Brad Little signed a law allowing private contractors to kill 90 percent of the states wolf population, which officials estimate is about 1,500. (Douglas Pizac/AP)
By Julian Mark
Today at 7:33 a.m. EDT
Students at Timberline High School in Boise, Idaho, have been studying a group of wolves known as the Timberline wolf pack in a nearby national forest since 2003. But sometime in the spring, biologists who track the pack noticed its den was empty, which was unusual, said wolf conservationist Suzanne Asha Stone.
After conservationists obtained a wolf mortality list from the states Department of Fish and Game, they realized pups in the Boise National Forests Timberline pack were killed by the U.S. Department of Agricultures Wildlife Services branch, Stone told The Washington Post.
Michel Liao, a student at Timberline High, was shocked when he found out. ... I understand a lot of people think wolves are dangerous animals, Liao, a member of the schools environmental club, told The Washington Post. But it was so shocking to see that federal agents were the ones to come into a pups den to kill them, even though the pups didnt do anything.
The incident came as Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) in May signed a law allowing private contractors to
kill 90 percent of the states wolf population, which officials estimate is about 1,500. ... In August, wolf conservationist groups called on the Agriculture Department to immediately suspend the killing of wolf pups on all public lands.
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By Julian Mark
Julian Mark is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. Before joining The Post, he covered housing and policing for Mission Local in San Francisco. Twitter
https://twitter.com/badjujusf