Environmental and animal rights groups want a federal judge to stop Idaho and other states from managing gray wolves immediately, and to restore federal protection for the predators under the Endangered Species Act.
At least 37 wolves have been killed in the Northern Rockies in the past month, and the groups say that could be the start of a slaughter as states that opposed wolf reintroduction are now in charge of managing the animals.
"We're very concerned that absent an injunction, hundreds of wolves could be killed under existing state management plans," said attorney Jason Rylander with Defenders of Wildlife, one of twelve groups that filed the suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Mont.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lifted federal protections for the estimated 1,500 wolves in March, capping a remarkable turnaround for an animal that had been virtually exterminated from the region in the early 20th century.
The case was assigned to Judge Donald Molloy. A hearing has yet to be scheduled.
As Montana, Idaho and Wyoming move forward with plans for public hunts in the fall, the environmental groups - including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and The Humane Society of the United States - worry wolves may again be wiped out across the region.
Sharon Rose, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said her agency had not yet received the lawsuit and could not comment on the allegations.
Rose did say the agency's decision was based on science that will hold up in court.
"We believe we made the right decision - that the wolf had recovered and the regulatory mechanisms are there" to ensure its continued survival, she said.
The animal's population has grown by about 25 percent a year in the region since the mid-90s, when 66 wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho.
When they came off the endangered list, federal biologists argued the wolves' rapid reproductive rate would allow them to withstand increased hunting. The Fish and Wildlife Service has said it will put them back on the endangered list only if the population dips below 300 animals.
The lawsuit filed Monday argued a "spate of wolf killings" in the last month showed state management could quickly reverse the wolf's fortunes. The injunction said state officials would allow wolves to be eliminated across most of Wyoming and large parts of Montana and Idaho - hobbling the species' genetic diversity and preventing a lasting recovery.
The groups said the increased killings also threaten to block the spread of wolves to other states in their historical range, including Colorado, Utah and Oregon.
Idaho state Sen. Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, acknowledged recent wolf killings in his state "probably added gasoline to the fire" and helped spur the environmentalists' lawsuit.
But Siddoway, a rancher who had wolves attack his livestock three times in the last three years, said the predator's population needs to be brought under control. Earlier this year, he sponsored an Idaho law that allows ranchers to shoot wolves for harassing, attacking or simply "annoying" livestock or dogs.
"The laws have been changed, and some of those wolves are dying out there," he said. "But biologically that just doesn't have any real effect. We have wolves and they'll be here forever now."
Since delisting, 17 wolves are known to have been killed in Idaho - nine by state or federal authorities after attacks on livestock. Another three were killed by private parties because the wolves were harassing livestock or pets. Two were poached.
But at least one of the killings was controversial. Environmentalists fear the precedent after an eastern Idaho prosecutor decided not to file charges against an Ashton man who killed two wolves, one after tracking it for more than a mile on a snowmobile.
By comparison, last year, four wolves were killed by authorities for attacking livestock during the same period.
But this year, deer and elk have stayed in lower elevations longer because of the heavy snow, said Steve Nadeau, who is in charge of wolf management for Idaho's Department of Fish and Game. The wolves have stayed low as well, which has caused conflicts with calving for ranchers on private land.
The wolves also are showing up in agricultural areas they previously had not been seen such as Cambridge and Council in western Idaho.
Even if the wolves were still under federal protection, most of the killings would have been authorized, Nadeau said.
"I haven't seen any difference," Nadeau said.
Statesman writer Rocky Barker contributed to this report.
