Outcry after federal agents kill eight wolf cubs adopted by Idaho school

US Department of Agriculture defends its agents' killing of the pups, part of a pack adopted by a high school in 2003

Conservationists in Idaho are speaking out against the inhumane" killings of eight wolf pups that were part of a pack adopted by a high school since 2003.

The killings were discovered after biologists who tracked the pack noticed its den was empty this spring. Obtaining a mortality list" from the state department of fish and game, conservationists realized that agents from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) had killed the pups.