Idaho officials paid hunters thousands of dollars for killing a dozen newborn wolf pups this spring, including what appears to be at least one full litter killed in or near its den, according to state records shared with the Guardian and Public Domain, an investigative newsroom.
The killings have incensed wildlife advocates in Idaho, where state wildlife officials have been ordered to take extraordinary measures to shrink the reintroduced wolf population amid complaints from the livestock industry and big game hunting outfitters.
A law passed five years ago by the Republican-dominated state legislature loosened hunting season restrictions, removed limits on killing methods and allowed people to contract third parties to kill wolves. Hunters and trappers can buy an unlimited number of permits, at $14 each for residents and $32 for non-residents. In 2021, Idaho game officials also agreed with the Foundation for Wildlife Management, a non-profit that wants fewer wolves to boost deer and elk numbers, to reimburse expenses for anyone who proves a wolf kill. Covered costs range from truck payments and fuel to ammunition and outdoor clothing.
The reimbursement program paid $2,000 per wolf through the hunting season that ended in June, including for the 12 pups, records from the state fish and game agency show. The program is funded through a mix of taxpayer money, hunting license sales and contributions from the foundation.
"It's an abomination," said Brooks Fahy, director of the advocacy group Predator Defense. "Let's call this what it is: it's a goddamned bounty." Fahy said most people, even in Idaho, would be appalled if they understood that taxpayer dollars were paying for such killings. Neither the foundation nor the Idaho wolf depredation control board, the government entity overseeing payments for third-party wolf killings, responded to requests for comment.
The records show three separate hunters used rifles to kill the 12 pups in Idaho's northern panhandle on April 25, though in at least two instances the records also contain a contradictory statement that "no weapon" was used. The pups were likely between one and three weeks old, since wolves give birth once a year in spring. Officers did not take the usual tooth samples from the pups, likely because their teeth had not yet grown in, said Idaho fish and game biologist Cory Mosby. He confirmed the animals were pups and said no state regulation bars killing them. The state's 2023 management plan mandates culling wolves to about 650 animals in spring, when numbers typically peak. Idaho's population peaked at an estimated 1,600 wolves in spring 2019 and still stood above 1,100 this year despite aggressive hunting. Mosby said reaching the target would require consistently killing more than a third of the population each year, describing wolves as "an incredibly impressive and resilient species."
The records state all 12 pups were killed by "still stalk," in which a hunter spots an animal and sneaks up to shoot it. Wolf experts doubt that account, saying the hunters more likely located dens, monitored them until the mothers gave birth and pulled the pups out. "Killing six wolves or 12 wolves total all on the same day by stalking, that doesn't happen. Never heard of it," said Carter Niemeyer, who spent nearly three decades at the US Department of Agriculture's wildlife services agency. Doug Smith, the biologist who oversaw the wolf program at Yellowstone national park, said removing pups from dens is easy, but warned that killing whole litters can fracture or dissolve a pack. "They're the glue that holds the pack together," he said of the pups.
Gray wolves remain protected by the Endangered Species Act in most of the continental United States, but Idaho, Montana and Wyoming manage their own wolf populations and have all pursued aggressive culling tactics. Idaho hunters killed three pups with rifle shots in the same region two years ago, and federal wildlife officers killed eight pups from the Timberline pack outside Boise in 2021. Advocates see the trend as more alarming after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in September encouraging the interior department to consider stripping gray wolves of federal protections. At the signing ceremony, Trump asked an Arizona rancher, "You can shoot them as of today?" US agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins replied that interior secretary Doug Burgum "has to do a little magic, but yes," even though the wolves at issue remain federally protected. Fahy questioned how many people took the president at his word, calling wolves sentient creatures with family bonds and a pack structure very similar to human social structure.
