Montana News

Judge orders state of MT to keep wolf hunting districts open

Posted: Jan 2, 2013 9:58 PM by Marnee Banks (marnee@kxlh.com)

A Park County Judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the state of Montana from closing two wolf hunting districts outside Yellowstone Park.

District Court Judge Nels Swandal issued his order on Wednesday after Citizens for Balanced Use sued Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP).

The group alleges the FWP Commission illegally closed wolf hunting and trapping without posting proper public notice.

According to court documents, during the 2012 wolf hunting season several hunters killed wolves which were wearing electronic monitoring collars. When wildlife groups heard about this they asked the Commission to shut down the wolf hunt in two districts outside Yellowstone Park.

The Commission voted to close hunting district 313 and part of wolf management unit 390 at its December meeting.

Citizens for Balanced Use believes FWP needed to post public notice of this before taking action.

Judge Swandal has now ordered the districts to stay open pending a court date.