Environmental Groups To Sue USFWS Over Wyoming Wolf Delisting, “Shoot-On-Sight” Plan

Limpy (photo Courtesy Steve Justad)

September 11, 2012

It was not unexpected but very welcome. Two coalitions of environmental groups put the USFWS on notice Monday they intend to sue over the delisting of gray wolves in Wyoming. Once wolves are delisted, as of October 1, 2012, they can be used for target practice in most of the state. Any method of killing is allowed, which means terrible pain and suffering for wolves in Wyoming. Wolf haters can run wild, anything a twisted mind can come up with. This comes at a time when Yellowstone wolves are being decimated by mange and other disease. Mange wrote the obituary for the famed Druid Peak Pack, who were so revered and loved by wildlife watchers around the world.

Is Yellowstone treating  wolves with Ivermectin,  which is effective against the infestation?  The famous African film makers and big cat advocates, the Jouberts, darted a mange infected wild leopard family they were studying with Ivermectin and in a few weeks the leopards were once again thriving.  They decided to act because another leopard they were filming fell to the mange mite and they couldn’t watch the  painful saga play out again but I digress.

My biggest worry concerning the lawsuit is securing an injunction to stop the killing before it starts. If the lawsuit proceeds and wolves remain unprotected, Wyoming’s fragile wolf population could suffer major losses even if the lawsuit is successful and wolves are relisted.

The means test for granting an injunction center on two questions the judge will weigh.

1. Will there be irreparable harm if the injunction is not granted?

Certainly the answer to this question has to be yes. Uncontrolled killing of wolves in most of the state could do terrible damage to Wyoming’s fragile wolf population in just a few months. In 2008 the famous Druid wolf Limpy was shot and killed in Daniel, Wyoming when the then Bush administration briefly lifted ESA protections for wolves.  Limpy died for nothing. His death broke hearts, he was a wolf who overcame so much, yet his life was snuffed out for blood sport. Think of what could happen to hundreds of Limpys if Wyoming has its way.

2. Do the plaintiffs have a good chance of winning the lawsuit?

It’s very obvious the Wyoming wolf plan is driven by politics and not science. It was reported last week that many of Wyoming’s elk herds have grown so large extra permits will be available to hunters  this season. One of the big lies about wolves is they are decimating elk herds in Wyoming,  when clearly this is BS. I think the plaintiffs have a very good chance of winning. Let’s hope the judge sees it that way.

===

Environmental groups to sue over Wyoming wolf delisting 

 Associated Press

September 10, 2012

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Two coalitions of environmental groups filed notice Monday that they intend to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the agency’s decision to end federal protections for wolves in Wyoming.

The groups oppose the state of Wyoming’s classification of wolves as predators that can be shot on sight in more than 80 percent of state when federal protections end Oct. 1. Wyoming also has scheduled a regulated trophy wolf hunt in the remainder of the state, an area around the eastern and southern borders of Yellowstone National Park, starting next month.

The environmental groups emphasize that Wyoming’s current wolf management plan is similar to an earlier version that the federal agency repudiated after initially accepting it a few years ago. They claim the federal government is stopping wolf management for political reasons, not because the current plan is any better than the last one.

READ MORE: (From the Missoulian)

 http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/environmental-groups-to-sue-over-wyoming-wolf-delisting/article_e88904d4-fb5d-11e1-998b-0019bb2963f4.html?comment_form=true

===

Yellowstone Wolves Hit by Disease

Live Science

Megan Gannon, News Editor

Date: 10 September 2012 Time: 11:23 AM ET

Less than two decades after wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, viral diseases like mange threaten the stability of the new population.

Humans had killed off gray wolves in the region by the 1930s, but in 1995, U.S. wildlife officials tried to restore the native population by bringing 31 wolves captured from Canada into the national park.

The new wolf community initially expanded rapidly, climbing to more than 170 at its peak. But researchers from Penn State University say that the most recent data show the number of animals has dipped below 100.

“We’re down to extremely low levels of wolves right now,” researcher Emily S. Almberg, a graduate student in ecology, said in a statement. “We’re down to [similar numbers as] the early years of reintroduction. So it doesn’t look like it’s going to be as large and as a stable a population as was maybe initially thought.”

 READ MORE: (From Live Science)

http://www.livescience.com/23048-yellowstone-wolves-hit-by-disease.html

===

Photos: Courtesy Steve Justad 2008

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Wyoming wolves, Activism

Tags: Environmental groups sue, Wyoming wolves under fire, Limpy, Druid Peak Pack,  USFWS,  Yellowstone National Park, mange mite, Yellowstone wolves hit by disease