PRESS RELEASE — Friday, October 9, 2009
For information contact: Anne Peterson at 373-7368
— Airs Thursday, October 15, at 8:30/7:30 p.m. MT/PT
— Repeats Sunday, October 18, at 5:30/4:30 p.m. MT/PT
— See it in HD Thursday, October 15, at 9:30/8:30 p.m. MT/PT and Sunday, October 18, at 8:30/7:30 p.m. MT/PT (High Definition, digital sub-channel 2)
This week on DIALOGUE, host Marcia Franklin and her guests discuss the hunting of wolves in Idaho. This week’s DIALOGUE is the second of a two-part presentation by Idaho Public Television on this controversial subject. DIALOGUE directly follows the airing of “Wolves in Idaho” on OUTDOOR IDAHO.
Idaho is allowing its first wolf hunt since the animals came off the endangered species list earlier this year.
Franklin’s guests include Jon Rachael, wildlife manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game; Suzanne Asha Stone of the Defenders of Wildlife; Carter Niemeyer, former wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Mike Popp, a hunter and outfitter in Kamiah.
The live Thursday (October 15) show at 8:30/7:30 p.m. MT/PT will take calls from viewers on a toll-free line: 1-800-973-9800. There is no call-in segment on the Sunday (October 18) repeat at 5:30/4:30 p.m. MT/PT.
Idaho Fish and Game started a wolf-hunting season this fall, with a total quota of 220 wolves. To date the agency has sold more than 18,000 tags at $11.50 each for Idahoans. As of October 9, approximately 30 wolves have been killed in Idaho. Wolf advocates have sued to put the animal back on the endangered species list, but decided not to challenge the current hunting season.
After they were nearly wiped out in the lower 48 states, wolves were declared endangered in 1974 under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 1987 recovery plan for wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains included reintroducing them in central Idaho in 1995 and 1996. Idaho has been involved in wolf management as directed by the state Legislature, which in 2002 adopted the Idaho Wolf Conservation and Management Plan. In January 2006, an agreement between Idaho and the U.S. Department of Interior designated the state as an agent for day-to-day wolf management for the Fish and Wildlife Service. Wolves were removed from the endangered species list on May 4, 2009. Under current guidelines, wolves are managed as big game animals, similar to black bears and mountain lions.