Ecos Demand Charges
In Wolf's Trap Death

CODY, Wyo. — The controversial federal scheme to reintroduce wolves is beginning to bear the bitter fruit its opponents warned of all along.

Critics contended from the beginning that a major goal of the scheme was to force an end to predator control efforts, thus advancing the "green" agenda of driving stockmen off public lands and eventually off their own.

That agenda took another step toward success in recent weeks, when a coyote trap caught and killed a suspected wolf. Now, right on cue, an activist group is demanding that Wyoming's U.S. attorney prosecute federal wildlife officials for setting the trap.

So far, U.S Attorney Dave Freudenthal says he has no plans to do that.

In a letter to Freudenthal, Defenders of Wildlife claimed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated federal rules and is to blame for the supposed wolf's death near Cody in early December.

The group claims the agency placed traps far from livestock allotments where coyote depredation might occur, failed to notify the Bureau of Land Management about the traps and did not provide documentation proving traps were necessary.

Rick Phillips of the Fish and Wildlife Service denied the accusations, saying the traps were placed within five or six miles of where coyote depredation had been reported.

His agency also notified the BLM about the traps, he said.

Freudenthal said he will not prosecute because he found no evidence of criminal intent. He left the door open a crack, however, contending the agency showed "less than good judgment" about where to place traps.

"There's a wide distance between good judgment and criminal prosecution," he said.

An investigation to determine whether the animal was actually a wolf continues.