Montana Governor Kills Black Wolf in Violation of State Regulations

By Tom McCarthy, Guardian UK

24 March 21

Republican governor received warning after failing to take required certification course before killing animal

he Republican governor of Montana has been slapped with a written warning and directed to take an online education course after trapping and killing a black wolf in violation of state regulations.

The governor, Greg Gianforte, was elected in November and was formerly a member of US Congress representing the state. The news was first reported by Nate Hegyi in the Mountain West News Bureau of Boise State public radio in Idaho.

Gianforte reportedly trapped the animal on a ranch just outside Yellowstone national park, on property owned by Robert E Smith, a Republican donor and director of Sinclair Broadcasting, the biggest owner of local television stations in the US.

Gianforte had failed to take a required wolf trapping certification course before killing the animal, state wildlife officials said. He has promised to take the course, the public radio report said.

Despite deep-seated mythology in the American west, biologists have found that wolves do not represent a significant threat to humans or to livestock. Conservation efforts have helped some wolf populations rebound after decades of over-hunting.

But last month, hunters and trappers in Wisconsin killed 216 gray wolves during the state’s 2021 wolf hunting season – more than 82% above the authorities’ stated quota. The gray wolf recently lost Endangered Species Act protection.

John Sullivan, Montana chapter chair for the sportsmen’s group Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, told the Boise state public radio Mountain West News Bureau that Gianforte should have known better.

“He has been hunting and trapping for a long time and I would be surprised to learn that he didn’t know better than to complete that education,” Sullivan said. “We hope that he apologizes to the citizens of the state for circumventing the process that we all have to go through.”

Smith, the ranch owner, gave more than $10,000 to Gianforte’s election campaigns in 2017 and 2018 and also has been a Donald Trump contributor, according to reporting by the Guardian.

Gianforte was previously convicted of assault in state court for body-slamming the reporter Ben Jacobs, at the time a political correspondent for the Guardian, during Gianforte’s 2017 special election campaign to fill Montana’s at-large congressional seat.

In that incident, Gianforte was fined and directed to perform community service and undergo anger management therapy.