[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 8 (Friday, January 11, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 1494]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-684]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Endangered and Threatened Species Permit Application

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Request permit amendment.

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SUMMARY: The following applicant requests a permit amendment to conduct 
gray wolf (Canis lupis) take activities throughout Minnesota. This 
notice is provided pursuant to section 10(c) of the Endangered Species 
Act (Act) of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531, et seq.).

Permit Number TE-697830

    Applicant: Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services, Region 
3, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fort Snelling, Minnesota.

DATES: Written comments must be received by February 11, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Written data or comments should be submitted to the Regional 
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecological Services, 1 
Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, Minnesota 55111-4056.
    Documents and other information submitted with this application are 
available for review by any party who submits a written request for a 
copy of such documents to the following office within 30 days of the 
date of publication of this notice: Mr. Peter Fasbender, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, Ecological Services, 1 Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, 
Minnesota 55111-4056. Telephone: (612) 713-5343; Fax: (612) 713-5292; 
e-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Peter Fasbender, (612) 713-5343.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The gray wolf is listed as an endangered 
species throughout the conterminous United States and Mexico, except in 
Minnesota where it is classified as a threatened species, and in three 
areas of the western United States where experimental populations have 
been designated under separate regulations. In areas where the gray 
wolf is listed as endangered, 50 CFR 17.21(c)(2) allows them to be 
taken by a person ``in defense of his own life or the lives of 
others.'' Furthermore, Sec. 17.21(c)(3)(iv) allows any employee or 
agent of the Service, any other Federal land management agency, the 
National Marine Fisheries Service, or a State conservation agency, who 
is designated by his agency for such purposes to ``remove specimens 
which constitute a demonstrable but nonimmediate threat to human 
safety, provided that the taking is done in a humane manner; the taking 
may involve killing or injuring only if it has not been reasonably 
possible to eliminate such threat by live-capturing and releasing the 
specimen unharmed, in a remote area.'' 50 CFR 17.31 applies the 
provisions of Sec. 17.21(c)(2) and (c)(3) to threatened wildlife, 
except in cases where a special rule developed under section 4(d) of 
the Act applies to a threatened species.
    50 CFR 17.40 (d) contains the special rules for wolves in Minnesota 
and allows designated persons to take gray wolves in Wolf Management 
Zones 2-5 in response to depredations upon domestic animals. Although 
all the other provisions of Sec. 17.21(c)(2) and (c)(3), including the 
provision that allows gray wolves to be taken in defense of human life, 
are carried over into Sec. 17.40(d), the provision allowing the 
Service, or its designees, to ``remove specimens which constitute a 
demonstrable but nonimmediate threat to human safety'' is absent from 
this section.
    Due to increasing populations of the gray wolf in Minnesota, there 
are concerns over human and wolf interactions and the potential threat 
gray wolves pose to human safety. This concern is especially great 
where wolves increasingly have become habituated to humans, are 
frequently encountered around residential buildings, have become 
difficult to scare away, and may have learned to associate humans with 
the availability of food.
    Under the current regulations discussed above there is no clear 
provision allowing take of a threatened Minnesota wolf that is a 
demonstrable but nonimmediate threat to human safety. However, the 
regulations noted above for endangered wildlife specifically allow the 
taking, by either lethal or non-lethal means, of endangered wolves in 
all states adjacent to Minnesota if an identical threat to human safety 
occurs. The Service believes it is reasonable and logical to be able to 
provide relief in similar situations in Minnesota where wolves are much 
more numerous than in adjacent states. The gray wolf was reclassified 
from endangered to threatened in 1978 in Minnesota.
    Because current regulations do not provide clear authority to carry 
out such activities without a permit, the Applicant is pursuing 
authorization to conduct such take activities via an amendment to the 
Endangered and Threatened Species Permit issued to the Assistant 
Regional Director, Ecological Services, Ft. Snelling, Minnesota. The 
applicant requests an amendment to allow the take (trapping, removing, 
humanely euthanizing, and/or relocating) of gray wolves throughout 
Minnesota in accordance with 50 CFR 17.32, if the wolf or wolves are 
determined to constitute a demonstrable but nonimmediate threat to 
human safety.
    Written data or comments should be submitted to the Regional 
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecological Services, 1 
Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, Minnesota 55111-4056, and must be 
received within 30 days of the date of this publication.
    Documents and other information submitted with this application are 
available for review by any party who submits a written request for a 
copy of such documents to the following office within 30 days of the 
date of publication of this notice: Mr. Peter Fasbender, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, Ecological Services, 1 Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, 
Minnesota 55111-4056. Telephone: (612) 713-5343; Fax: (612) 713-5292; 
e-mail: [email protected].

    Dated: December 28, 2001.
Marvin E. Moriarty,
Acting Regional Director, Region 3, Fort Snelling, Minnesota.
[FR Doc. 02-684 Filed 1-10-02; 8:45 am]
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