Just the latest word on this issue:

 "Environmental groups have sued to block a federal rule that would allow state wildlife agents and private citizens to kill more endangered gray wolves in the northern Rockies.....Environmental groups say that as many as 600 of the region's 1,500 wolves could be killed. Seven groups announced Monday they had filed suit in U.S. District Court in Missoula to block the rule.....State and federal officials responded Monday that far fewer wolves -- possibly in the dozens -- would be killed.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing to remove wolves from the endangered species list next month. All three states could then set public hunting and trapping seasons for wolves. If the number of wolves dropped below 300, they would be relisted."

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-na-wolves29jan29,0,1148982.story

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/21/AR2008022101302.html?sub=new

"Gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains are thriving and no longer require the protection of the Endangered Species Act," said Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett. "The wolf's recovery in the Northern Rocky Mountains is a conservation success story."

The restoration effort, however, has been unpopular with ranchers and many others in the three states since it began in the mid-1990s, and today some state leaders want the population thinned significantly.

The states could allow hunters to target the animals as soon as this fall. That angers environmental groups, which plan to sue over the delisting and say it's too soon to remove federal protection.

There is another petition if anyone wants to sign:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/806854919?z00m=13791223