Wyoming Senate Panel Advances Wolf Bill

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A bill to change Wyoming's wolf management law to accommodate an agreement to end federal protection for the animals in the state has cleared its first committee hearing.

The Senate Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Committee unanimously approved the bill Thursday.

Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar agreed last year on a plan to end federal protections for wolves. They agreed wolves should be protected as trophy game animals in a flexible zone outside Yellowstone National Park but classified as predators that could be shot on sight elsewhere in the state.

The agreement requires Wyoming to maintain at least 10 breeding pairs of wolves and at least 100 individual animals outside of Yellowstone and the Wind River Indian Reservation.