The National Park Service in Rocky Mountain National Park before a federal court of appeals on Thursday. In a hearing, wildlife advocacy group WildEarth Guardians argued that the Park Service failed to seriously consider the option of reintroducing wolves to the park. The park has a large elk population with few natural predators. The group unsuccessfully sued the NPS in 2008, at the start of the park’s elk-thinning program, saying that recruiting volunteers to shoot elk was tantamount to hunting, a practice banned in National Parks. The judge upheld the policy, and WildEarth Guardians has appealed to the 10th Circuit. Government officials have argued that reintroducing wolves to the area would be too costly and too dangerous.
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