BOISE, Idaho — As a scruffy gray-and-brown wolf stood in a grassy Idaho clearing, it fixed its gaze straight ahead. Another dark wolf trotted down a muddy dirt road. A third stepped over gravelly terrain, its mouth open as it panted in the sun. Motion-triggered cameras, placed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, snapped photos of the wild animals along trails. Later, the agency would use those photos to help determine the number of wolves residing in Idaho.
But the accuracy of that method has been put into question.
For the last several years, the agency has used cameras placed throughout the state to record timed and motion-triggered images to count the number of wolves in Idaho. Critics have said its methods — in particular the motion-triggered photos — are seriously flawed.
