Throwing Canis Lupus to the Wolves: United States v. McKittrick and the Existence of the Yellowstone and Central Idaho Experimental Wolf Populations Under a Flawed Provision of the Endangered Species Act

I. INTRODUCTION In 1997, at least twenty-five calves from the Diamond G Ranch, located approximately fifty miles south of Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming, were killed and eaten by a band of wolves known as the Washakie Pack.1 The Washakie Pack is an unplanned break-off from an experimental population of Rocky Mountain gray wolves reintroduced by the United States government in 1995 to Yellowstone National Park, a place where wolves had not existed in significant numbers for many years.2 Though the pack's lead wolf was killed by wildlife officials in 1997, and its replacement was killed in 1998, the pack continues to stalk calves and torment ranch hands today as it did in 1997 and 1998.3 Northern Wyoming is not the only area to suffer deadly attacks by government-reintroduced wolves in the last few years. In June of 1999, at least one wolf attack on a calf was confirmed in New Mexico, and wolves are suspected to have been involved in the killing of many other livestock, as well as in the harassing and killing of local ranch dogs.4 The suspected wolves, a group of Mexican gray wolves known as the Pipestem Pack, were released in 1998 into the Apache National Forest along the Arizona-New Mexico border by agents from the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).5 Like their Yellowstone counterparts, the Pipestem wolves were reintroduced into an area where they had not existed in many years.6 In recent years, attacks by government-reintroduced wolves have also been confirmed in Idaho, Montana, and North Carolina.7 Ruthless and savvy, wolves are considered by many "ranchers, loggers, [farmers,] and others who work the land" to be "nature's equivalent of urban street gangs-relentless killing machines that threaten their livelihoods."8 Some fish and game departments, concerned that game herds will be depleted by wolves, have much the same feeling.9 To these people, the reintroduction of wolves to wilderness areas near their homes and workplaces is a nightmare at best, as many of them must now focus more on protecting their livestock and goods from wolves than on doing their jobs.10 In fact, some ranchers have even considered moving their animals to escape herd depletion at the hands of reintroduced wolves.11 To others, however, the introduction of wolves to areas where they used to exist, but no longer do as a result of human conduct, is a source of unequaled pleasure. To many wildlife activists and conservationists the return of the wolf to these areas "replenishes a part of the wilderness that's been missing in some regions for more than a century."12 To some biologists and other scientists, reintroduction also "fills a niche at the top of the food chain and keeps other animals in check, such as burgeoning deer and elk herds."13 For these individuals, reintroduction is something that has been too long in coming. As tends to occur when controversial issues such as wolf reintroduction arise, battle lines have been drawn and shots fired from both sides. In 1998, at least five of the eleven Mexican gray wolves, released that year by officials from Fish and Wildlife Service into the Apache National Forest along the New Mexico-Arizona border, were shot and killed by unknown persons assumed to be opposed to the reintroduction.l4 Additionally, public shouting matches between environmental groups and those who disfavor the return of wolves to their historic ranges have not been uncommon in the past few years.ls Even state legislatures and governors have entered the fray, most condemning even the mere thought of wolf reintroduction in their respective states.16 Members of New Hampshire's legislature expressed unwelcome feelings towards the possibility of reintroducing wolves to their forests, and state governments in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho have been loathe to assist in wolf reintroduction programs in their respective states.17 In the eyes of these lawmakers, the wolves simply are not welcome. …