11/09/09

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) _ In a bid to take over management of gray
wolves, Wyoming argues there's no biological reason that the
predators should be treated as a trophy game species throughout the
entire state.

The state made that argument Monday in a brief filed in U.S.
District Court in Cheyenne.

Wyoming sued the federal government in June after the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service decided to leave gray wolves in Wyoming on the
endangered species list while delisting them elsewhere in the
Northern Rockies.

In its rejection of Wyoming's plan, the service cited the
state's intent to manage wolves as a predator species in most of
the state and as a trophy game species in the state's northwest
corner.

A spokesman for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural
Resources Division declined to comment on Wyoming's argument.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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