Wyoming sues over wolf delisting

"You need to have a plan that you can implement, and that will stand up," Bangs said. "The Wyoming plan folded like a house of cards the first time anybody took a hard look at it."

Wyoming's new lawsuit seeks a court order to force the federal government to turn wolf management over to the state. The state says the federal agency arbitrarily changed its position when it decided to reject the state's management plan to classify wolves as predators in most areas.

If the courts won't turn wolf management over to Wyoming, the lawsuit asks for a court order directing the Fish and Wildlife Service to manage wolves so that the population doesn't exceed 15 breeding pairs.

"We've been in constant litigation since 1994," Bangs said, adding that he expects litigation will continue both from people in favor and opposed to seeing more wolves.

"In the old days, when somebody didn't like it, they punched you in the nose, or hung you," Bangs said. "And these days they drag you into court. I don't know which is crueler."

Wyoming Attorney General Bruce Salzburg said the state maintains the federal government had no scientific reason to reject the state's management plan.

In addition, Salzburg said Wyoming maintains that the federal government wants to force the state to support more than its fair share of the wolf population.

Salzburg said the federal government has said the Northern Rockies wolf population needs to be at least 30 breeding pairs and 300 wolves for the species to be classified as recovered. He said the federal government wants to require Wyoming to manage for 15 breeding pairs and 150 wolves plus an additional seven breeding pairs outside the national parks in the state's northwest corner.

"The requirement that Wyoming have an additional seven breeding pair outside the parks causes Wyoming's total share of the population to be inequitable," Salzburg said.