Federal Agents , Kill Wolf Pups , 'Adopted' by Idaho High Schoolers.
Conservation groups are outraged after the U.S. Department of Agriculture killed eight young wolves in an Idaho forest.
Students at a local high school in Boise had tracked and studied a group of wild wolves, the Timberline pack, since 2003.
Local wildlife advocates claim that wolves are "under attack" in the region.
Earlier this year, legislation passed in Idaho and Montana that made it easier to hunt and kill wolves.
In Idaho, the law now allows hunters to kill an unlimited number of wolves each year, up from a 15-wolf annual limit before.
The legislation allows for wolves to be baited with snares, gunned down via aircraft and even run over with motorized vehicles.
Environmental groups warn that the depopulation tactics will reduce Idaho's wolf population by 90% from roughly 1,500 to 150.
For the past 18 years, the Timberline wolf pack was unofficially "adopted" by students at Boise's Timberline High School.
According to the BBC, an official from the Department of Agriculture confirmed that federal agents had killed the animals.
Environmental groups have called the wolf culling efforts inhumane.
A spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States called it, "a death warrant for hundreds of Idaho's iconic and beloved wolves.".
Students at Timberline High have said they will write to President Biden urging him to take action to protect local wolf populations.
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Students at Timberline High have said they will write to President Biden urging him to take action to protect local wolf populations.