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Grisly Photo Adds Fuel To Wolf Hunt Debate

A photo of a trapped wolf in Idaho has splashed new fuel on the flames of the debate over wolves. Environmental groups say the image demonstrates what they see as the cruelty of wolf trapping in Idaho. But state and federal authorities say there was nothing illegal about the picture.

An anti-trapping group in Montana found the photo on a forum called Trapperman.com. In the background, you can see a wolf with one of its hind feet caught in a trap. The snow around the wolf has turned pink from blood. In the foreground a trapper smiles at the camera.

“This is one of those things that go viral,” says Gary Macfarlane. He's with the environmental group Friends of the Clearwater, based in Moscow, Idaho.

The anti-trapping group Footloose Montana reposted this photo of Idaho trapper Josh Bransford. The image has since spread to other environmental websites, inciting a furor. Credit: Footloose Montana Facebook page via Trapperman.com
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The anti-trapping group Footloose Montana reposted this photo of Idaho trapper Josh Bransford. The image has since spread to other environmental websites, inciting a furor. Credit: Footloose Montana Facebook page via Trapperman.com

“Unlike a normal kind of hunting picture, this is one where the animal’s still alive and obviously trapped, and it’s been bleeding," Macfarlane says. "It’s sadistic, is what it is.”

The trapper in the photo is a fire manager with the U.S. Forest Service named Josh Bransford. He indicated in his online post that the wolf was bleeding from bullet wounds inflicted by other hunters.

Environmental groups are calling for legal action. But wildlife managers say they’ve investigated and Bransford was properly licensed and broke no laws.

A spokesman for Idaho Fish and Game did say wildlife managers would have prefered that Bransford dispatched the wolf quickly, before stopping to take a picture.

On teh Web:

Idaho wolf trapping rules:

http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/docs/rules/wolfTrapRules.pdf

Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network

Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network

Inland Northwest Correspondent Jessica Robinson reports from the Northwest News Network's bureau in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. From the politics of wolves to mining regulation to small town gay rights movements, Jessica covers the economic, demographic and environmental trends that are shaping places east of the Cascades.