CHEYENNE - Wyoming set itself on the road to a lawsuit Friday when the House passed House Bill 111 that upholds the status of wolves as both trophy game animals and predators.

"It appears we are headed toward litigation," said Rep. Mike Baker, R-Thermopolis, who is chairman of the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee.

"This bill right here would more accurately align the current law with the current plan," Baker said.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission crafted the plan after the Legislature last year passed the law - with apparent federal approval - that included the controversial "dual classification" of the wolf.

But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last month that it would delay delisting the wolf in the states around Yellowstone National Park because of this dual classification.

On Wednesday, Baker explained why litigation is imminent.

"The Endangered Species Act says the decision to delist will be exclusively based on science," he said. "They admitted that the decision was not exclusively based on science."

Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams wrote to Game and Fish Department Director Terry Cleveland on Jan. 13, and objected to the Wyoming plan. The plan gave the wolf predatory animal status in certain parts of the state, did not plan to manage for 15 packs necessary to maintain 10 breeding pairs in the national parks, and did not define a pack as at least six wolves.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal responded to the objections on Feb. 4 with a letter to Williams' boss, Department of Interior Secretary Gale Norton. "None of these ostensible grounds is based in science … Rather, this rejection had a non-scientific basis which is entirely impermissible under the Endangered Species Act."

Friday, Baker told the House that it has two options:

- Pass HB111 and sue the federal government, although the state would not be in a good position in such a lawsuit.

- Enter a lawsuit with a lot more preparation.

"It is with a little bit of regret that I will tell you that I cannot bring to you the other option that I'd hoped to," Baker said of his HB155. "I understand the politics of what was occurring; I personally have suffered some slings and arrows because of that, and that's the way it goes."

HB155 would have amended current law to make the wolf a trophy game animal throughout the state, would have garnered the acceptance of the Fish and Wildlife Service, and would have put the delisting process back on track.

On Wednesday, Majority Floor Leader Randall Luthi, R-Freedom, announced that he would not permit HB155 to the House for consideration.

Friday, Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody, successfully offered an amendment to HB111 that would propose an agreement between the Game and Fish Commission and the Fish and Wildlife Service to provide funding for the Game and Fish Department to buy collars using the global positioning system for placement on two wolves in each pack.