Discussion Topic: Should Hunters Thin Idaho Wolves to 100?

From an Associated Press story in the San Diego Union Tribune:

_[Idaho] Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter told The Associated Press that he wants hunters to kill about 550 gray wolves [after the federal government strips them of protection under the Endangered Species Act.] That would leave about 100 . . . the minimum before the animals could again be considered endangered.

Otter complained that wolves are rapidly killing elk and other animals essential to Idaho’s multimillion-dollar hunting industry.

Suzanne Stone, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife in Boise, said Otter’s proposal would return wolves to the verge of eradication.

“Essentially he has confirmed our worst fears for the state of Idaho: That this would be a political rather than a biological management of the wolf population,” Stone said. “There’s no economic or ecological reason for maintaining such low numbers. It’s simple persecution.”_

What’s your opinion of the governor’s plan?