The wolves themselves may be the only ones who won't be at the Russell Smith Courthouse on Tuesday morning when U.S. District Judge Don Molloy returns to arguments about the predator's Endangered Species Act status.

"I'm getting 10 to 15 e-mails an hour from people who are going to show up," said Missoula hunter Toby Bridges, whose Lobo Watch blog has been a rallying point for those who want wolf numbers severely reduced. "People are just fed up, and they've got to be heard."

Bridges' blog bumped the discussion to a new level June 5 when he posted a warning that hunters might consider using Xylitol artificial sweetener to poison wolves.

"Wolf control now has a new, until now secret, weapon." Bridges wrote. "I have a feeling that if Molloy goes against the wishes of today's hunters, there's going to be a whole lot of very sweet gut piles and wolf-killed carcasses dotting the landscape this fall. Along with some supplemental feeding of wolf pups come next spring."

Xylitol can be lethal to dogs, wolves, foxes and other canines by causing a sudden drop in blood sugar, often followed by fatal seizures or liver damage. Bridges said he wasn't calling for people to poison wolves, but predicting some would.

The prediction has caught the notice of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks warden Capt. Jeff Darrah.

"The question I would ask, if a guy's not saying or advocating he's going to do it, why would he put it out on his website?" Darrah said. "It would be illegal to put it out purposely to kill wolves or any animal. The standard line from Fish, Wildlife and Parks would be if you take Xylitol or any other poison and lace meat with it and put it out there to kill wolves, that's a crime. This has been put out by Lobo Watch as a way to kill wolves. If wolves start dying as a result of this activity, that's where I'd look first."...

Honnold sees the wolf numbers in a different way. There's another wolf population in the continental United States, in the Great Lakes region of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Federal officials set a recovery goal of 1,500 wolves in the Midwest, but only 300 in the Rocky Mountains.

Judge Molloy will hear oral arguments from Earthjustice and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition on one side, and the U.S., Montana, and Idaho governments joined by Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and the Safari Club on the other. Both sides hope he issues a ruling before the states launch their second wolf big-game hunting season this fall.