I think the Wednesday Montana FWP wolf hunt quota hearings, held across the state, were window dressing. No hearts and minds were changed. The people who hate wolves, still hate wolves, the people who want to hunt wolves still want to hunt them and the wolf advocates were left out in the cold. It was more of take it or leave it kind of thing. FWP basically is saying they are changing the quotas to either 153, 186 or 216 and if you don’t like it tough. I didn’t ask for a wolf hunt, didn’t want a wolf hunt and I certainly didn’t want them to hunt even more wolves.
The whole point of the hearings was CYA. They can say they went out and explained their special little plan to everyone and now we can all send in our comments, like it’s going to make one bit of difference to the commissioners. I mean what do we get to choose from? Double or almost triple the wolf hunt quotas? Wolf supporters didn’t have anything to say about the hunts in the first place. The state just decided to have wolf hunts.
I was told that when someone in the audience at one of the hearings asked why the state was having wolf hunts, the Montana FWP speaker said, “Because we can.” Now that’s sound management isn’t it? Wolves lives are disposable. Apparently FWP was enamored of the money the 2009 wolf hunts brought into their coffers. They don’t care one bit if wolf advocates don’t like it, they’re going to do it “because they can”.
I have to say I was stunned by the tiny numbers of wolf advocates attending the hearings. As far as I know and someone can correct me if I’m wrong, not one environmental organization was represented, not one wolf organization attended. If I’m wrong please let me know. But it was a puny turnout and wolves were the losers. If people say they are pro-wolf and then don’t even bother to show up for hearings, when Montana is discussing killing lots more wolves in the coming 2010 hunts, then I have no idea what to say about that.
Does everyone know what’s happening here? There’s going to be a wolf slaughter this coming fall, if Judge Molloy doesn’t relist wolves. Wildlife Services is already out in force killing wolves. On top of that wolves in Montana are now going to have to dodge arrows with the proposed archery season, a back country rifle season and a general hunting season that could plunge the population of wolves from 520 to below two hundred wolves by the end of 2010.
Oh, FWP will tell you that won’t happen because wolves had pups in 2010, that haven’t been counted. What they won’t tell you is Wildlife Services has been aggressively killing wolves for agribusiness and this is pup season. How many wolf pups have been killed along with their parents in these deadly “control actions” for agribusiness? What will all this killing do to the number of breeding pairs going into 2011?
Apparently the new paradigm is they won’t let the wolf population drop below fifteen breeding pairs or 150 wolves. When in the hell did we get to those numbers? This is a war on wolves and we are losing, WOLVES ARE LOSING. Being present and speaking out can actually make a difference. If pro-wolf people were as vocal as the wolf haters we actually could become a force to be reckoned with. But sadly that’s not happening.
For all the wolf advocates that didn’t attend, does your silence mean you endorse the horrific policies the state wants to adopt to kill more wolves?
“Crickets”
Posted in: Montana wolves, Wolf Wars
Tags: Montana FWP, Increased wolf hunt quotas, wolves under fire
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As I’ve said many times, and will continue to say, for those of you who believe in the God of the Holy Bible, He gave the very same breath of life to his creatures as He did to mankind.
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I am not sure what going on with Defenders or any other wolf advocates.Defenders beg for money but so far no action to save wolves is successful.
I think I need to make a call to defenders and find out what going on.
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It’s just unbelievable to me Izabela that none of the groups were there, as far as I know. I think one of the reasons FWP is doing what they’re doing is they don’t think anyone cares. And why would they…they look around the room and the see two or three people standing up for wolves. A show of support is what is needed, it certainly is what the anti-wolf people are doing. They have the passion to get out there, you have to give them that.
N.
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Actually the hunting has not even stopped in MT….they said in the paper this last Sunday that FWP killed 15 “nuisance” wolves from 5/18 to 5/21 and they planned on killing 18 more as soon as possible. They claim “managing” the wolves is more than a full time job and it is hard to keep everyone happy. WTH? They are only making the ranchers and hunters happy. The view is very screwie here on the wolf. The numbers are rising quickly. I send my comments to FWP but could not make a meeting. In short they are way off on the numbers….the killing never stops!
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So true Tracy, I pointed out Wildlife Services continues it’s bloody wolf hunt, as you said fifteen wolves were killed just recently in May from five different packs. I’ve been wanting to post on it but someting else always comes up. Can you imagine killing wolves for a living? And we are supposed to feel sorry for them that they are so overworked mowing down the wolves in Montana? It’s sickening, what is wrong with these people? The killing is ongoing..now the wolves have two hunts to dodge.
N.
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Nabeki,
I attended the “We are going to kill wolfs because we can meeting”. No matter how solid your argument is …it still falls short. One thing that I wish all who read this excellent blog would give some thought.
Liz Bradley(Region 2 wolf specialist MtFW&P) and (Mike Thompson Spokesman for MtFW&P region # 2) THEY ARE LOOKING INTO WAYS TO CIRCUMVENT THE FEDERAL ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT. For me this is very disturbing. It sets a terrible precedent that
1. If a situation boils down to an animals rite to exist or its future existence… corporate/special interest will see to it that this animal is going looseand and going down the path of extinction.
2. For mid level to lower level Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks employees to say this publicly is alarming. It tells me that senior level decision makers dont care what this Countrys law says. We are going to do as we dam well please.
For myself and the wildlife that I fight for and love. This is the beginning of the end for their rite to coexist with us on their land. Make no mistake this is their land!
At first I thought I was hearing things but my buddy at the same meeting picked up on it also. M
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Marc I am shocked and appalled FWP would talk openly about circumventing ESA. We need to protest this without delay. I’m going to call Earthjustice and ask them if they know what FWP is doing. If it’s true, there must be a way to take legal action against them for it. Liz Bradley used to work for the USFWS with Ed Bangs. Ed Bangs has completely changed to someone that cared about wolves to someone I don’t even recognize. The things he says about wolves, especially his statements to the media are just shocking. So this is what we are dealing with. USFWS should be overseeing what the states are doing and when they see the wolf population being slaughtered like this I beleive they should be taking action and rethink the delisting. Instead they are in lock step with the states. Wolves have no friends in either state or local goverment that I can see. There only hope is a vocal, pro wolf movement that will protest these policies and never stop protesting them. We need to be phoning, emailing, writing, attending hearings, holding rallies, giving speeches…everything the anti-wolf crowd is doing. We need leadership, we are like a ship at sea during a storm without a captain. This has to change.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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Nabeki.
Make no mistake! This is what Liz Bradley said and Mike Thompson reiterated. JB and I looked at each other with the look of did I just hear what I thought I did? Good God, if this is allowed to happen its the end of any ESA protection for any animal or plant life. What I find very frustrating but the correct thing to do is this. I fight for wolfs within the legal and moral parameters of the system. I would never think of hurting someone because they did not like wolfs. Now, I have the very people that I am up against making decisions over the Federal Government. It seems to me that they are beginning to believe they are above the law of the land and will not be held accountable. WTF
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Marc, you said Liz Bradley(Region 2 wolf specialist MtFW&P) and (Mike Thompson Spokesman for MtFW&P region # 2) THEY ARE LOOKING INTO WAYS TO CIRCUMVENT THE FEDERAL ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT. For me this is very disturbing. It sets a terrible precedent that
Marc, I hope you don’t mind, but I posted what you said above on Ralph Maughan’s blog. Can you tell me what exactly what was said and who did the talking at the meeting? Did Liz Bradley say that she was looking into ways to circumvent the federal endangered species act? Was she at the meeting talking? Did you see many pro wolfers in the crowd or just mainly hunters?
Go to this link if you want to comment.
scroll down
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KNOCK OUT AGAIN…. TELL ME NABEKI, WHAT CAN I DO??? WHAT???
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NABEKI! I THINK WE MUST TO WRITE TO EVERY BIG ORGANIZATION! WHAT I DID TODAY,JUST NOW…IT’S NOT SO NICE FROM ME…BUT I’M SO DESPERATE ABOUT MONTANA’S WOLVES…WILD EARTH GUARDIANS ASKED ME TO SIGN PETITION. BUT I ANSWERED,”YOU DIDN’T HELP MONTANA’S WOLVES,SO HELP FIRST,AND I’LL SEE AFTER”.I DID IT THE SAME WITH NRDC-FRANCES BEINECKE…MY LIFE IS SAVE,HELP WOLVES!!!! GOD BLESS ALL WOLVES!!!!!!!
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NABEKI! TODAY I’LL CONTACT ASSOCIATION OF BRIGITTE BARDOT.THEY WILL HELP US,I’M SURE! THEY ARE VERY SERIOUS.HOWLS!
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Thank you Agnes…wolves need all the support they can get!!
N.
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http://timberwolfinformation.org/info/archieve/newspapers/viewnews.cfm?ID=6732
Sport hunters are like a cancer Nabeki.
If this hunt goes thru along with all of the wolves that MT/WS has already killed and will continue to kill because of livestock problems, close to 300 wolves will lose their lives Nabeki. It is truly sickening. They are catering to ranchers and hunters and that’s it. They are taking those wildlife viewing opportunities away from wildlife watchers just to cater to hunters who hate wolves because they are more efficient predators than they are. Farmers are the cause of their own problems. They don’t want to peacefully co-exist with wolves and hunters don’t want to as well.
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You are so right Jon. I’m doing a post on the May slaughter by Wildlife Services AND did you know Montana FWP wants to now circumvent ESA, if Judge Molloy rules to relist wolves?
This is from the Missoulian:
“Long said Montana was trying to keep a big-game wolf hunt on the table even if the federal court re-lists the wolf. He said the hope is to use private hunters instead of state and federal livestock agents to control wolf numbers.
That drew fire from Jerry Black, who said that was essentially trying to circumvent the Endangered Species Act.
“If they (wolves) are re-listed, they’re re-listed for a reason,” Black said. “They (FWP) can’t go around looking for loopholes.”
These are the people that are supposed to be caring for wolves. What does this tell you? That the hunters want to kill wolves and the state will try to accomodate them even if Judge Molloy relists them. I am stunned by that.
N.
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Why shame wolf advocates? Does it help? The FWP response to wolf advocates is not a shock. They have been this way the whole time! The best thing to happen now would be FWP, in their stupidity, to choose the highest number to hunt so that Judge Molloy or hopefully a 9th circuit judge would place the gray wolf back ON the ESA list.
I am tired of the infighting and shaming of each other personally. I write letters to the paper, comments to the FWP, send money to Earthjustice and live my every day life in interactions with people expressing rational protective attitudes toward wolves and other animals. I dont eat beef. Time for the shaming of wolf advocates to stop, please.
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g…
It’s not shaming wolf advocates, it’s reminding people wolves need a show of support to counter the wolf haters, who go to all the meetings, demonize wolves and there’s barely any response to it. I think FWP has the idea they can do whatever they want because there is very little push back on their policies. Wolves are facing serious slaughter, so along with emailing, calling and writing letters, I think it’s also important to be show up in person. It’s very discouraging to go to a meeting and have two wolf advocates there and fifty anti-wolf people.
N.
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http://www.wolfandwildlifestudies.com/news_print.php?id=2492
There are currently approximately 525 wolfs in Montana. Last year 175 wolfs were gunned down by Wildlife Services for depredation. Little to nothing at all was done by ranchers to be proactive and prevent the wolfs from being attracted to cattle. Sadly a strong argument can be made that the wolfs killed this year by Wildlife Service will be similar in that amount.
Now add in the 216 wolfs that McDonald, MT FW&P Director Joe Maurier and Lead Wolf person for Mt FW&P Carolyn Sime have said is a balanced, science based and a reasonable number of wolfs to be hunted and killed. When you do the math you will come up with the human caused mortality number 391 wolfs. This leaves around 134 wolfs in Montana. Not taken into account is wolf mortality caused by other wolfs, disease, injuries, old age and the three S’s. Shoot,Shovel and Shut Up. Almost a 75% decrease.
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Jon, they are going after wolves with a vengence. As you already know they are even trying to find a way to have wolf hunts if Judge Molloy relists wolves. It is so outrageous what is happening here. They could reduce the wolf population to 150 or below by the end of 2010. They are counting on the 2010 pup count to push the numbers back up but Wildlife Services has killed 44 wolves already this year, fifteen wolves died in five days from five different packs and they are gunning for eighteen more wolves. How many pups have already been killed with their parents plus wolf pups have a high mortality anyway. And we all thought Idaho was bad.
N.
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No question about that Nabeki and do not believe these people Caroyln Sime or Liz Bradley that claim this wolf hunt is based on science because it is not. This is all about killing as many wolves as possible and catering to hunters who complain there are no animals left due to the wolves and ranchers who are clearly not trying hard enough to find better ways of protecting their livestock without resorting to giving ws a call to come gun down a few wolves who are just being wolves.
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Jon just took a look at Bridges website….I wonder if he hasn’t crossed over the line, openly encouraging people to poison wolves with xylitol. I actually use it myself along with Stevia as a sweetner. It’s very expensive. Here’s what Wiki has to say about it:
“Xylitol (from Greek ξύλον – xyl[on], “wood” + suffix -itol, used to denote sugar alcohols) is a sugar alcohol sweetener used as a naturally occurring sugar substitute. It is found in the fibers of many fruits and vegetables, including various berries, corn husks, oats, and mushrooms.[2] It can be extracted from corn fiber,[3] birch, raspberries, plums, and corn. Xylitol is roughly as sweet as sucrose with only two-thirds the food energy. As with most sugar alcohols, initial consumption can result in bloating, diarrhea, and flatulence, although generally rather less so than other sugar alcohols like sorbitol.”
I think everyone should make a few phone calls to Montana FWP and the media to point them to his website and the post “Killin Time”. Will Montana FWP act or say they can’t do anything because you have to catch someone doing it? If wolves start turning up dead from xylitol poisoning what action would be taken? This is clearly inciting people to poison wolves, in my mind.
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Nabeki, if it turns out there are some wolves killed by this sweetener, you know where the perpetrators got their idea from. Not only can wolves die from this, but people’s dogs and other animals as well. I doubt some nut like Toby would care about people’s pets as long as some wolves were killed by it.
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Here’s the quote again from the Missoulian Jon:
“Long said Montana was trying to keep a big-game wolf hunt on the table even if the federal court re-lists the wolf. He said the hope is to use private hunters instead of state and federal livestock agents to control wolf numbers.
That drew fire from Jerry Black, who said that was essentially trying to circumvent the Endangered Species Act.
“If they (wolves) are re-listed, they’re re-listed for a reason,” Black said. “They (FWP) can’t go around looking for loopholes.”
How can they possibly do this? Let private hunters pay to kill wolves that Wildlife Services is now killing for agribusiness? It’s very disturbing!!
N.
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Thank you Nabeki. That is what I needed. Have you ever heard of a man by the name of Toby Bridges? He is an exreme wolf hater just like Ron Gillette. He just recently put up an article on his website on how to kill wolves by poisoning them. Check it out and let others know that this dirtbag is trying to get others to poison and kill wolves potentially killing other animals and people’s pets in the process.
http://www.lobowatch.com/KillinTime2.html
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Jon..I know who Toby Bridges is very well…he wrote to this blog many, many times. I never posted any of what he said, as you can imagine. I wouldn’t be surprised that he has that up on his website, he and Ron Gillette are on the same page. I will definitely check it out. I’m wondering though if giving him attention isn’t exactly what he wants? If by doing a post about poisoning wolves we won’t play right into his hands? It’s a hard call on this types of people. I’ll take a look. Thanks for the heads up Jon and for all the information you provide this blog!!
For the wolves, For the wildones,
Nabeki
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You’re right, he doesn’t deserve the attention, but people must know that this guy is basically telling people how to kill wolves and these extremist wolf haters must be exposed. Just by this guy telling people how to kill wolves, other animals besides wolves and even people’s pets are at risk if people listen to this nutjob and go out there and put the stuff out there. Any animal can eat the stuff and potentially die from it.
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You’re right Jon. I will do a post on this. The risk is too great that wolves, dogs and other animals could die from this. What have we come to when a person can openly advocate poisoning wolves on a website? This what we got from the Obama Administration and Ken Salazar for delisting wolves in the first place. The haters feel emboldened now because the states seem to be backing them up all the wolf killing.
Where is the media on this? They don’t miss an opportunity to report every single wolf killing policy FWP comes up with or a wolf depredation. Why aren’t they informing people of this danger to their pets and wolves?
N.
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TO EVERYBODY WHO LOVE WOLVES,WHO PRO-WOLVES,WHO WANT SAVE MONTANA’S WOLVES!!! PLEASE WRITE TO THE FONDATION BRIGITTE BARDOT! YOU CAN WRITE IN ENGLISH,IN FRENCH… PLEASE WRITE AND EXPLAIN THE SITUATION OF MONTANA’S WOLVES!PLEASE WRITE EVERYTHING WHAT DO YOU WANT ABOUT WILDLIFE SERVICES,QUOTAS,MONTANA FISH,WILDLIFE AND PARKS OFFICE…PLEASE DO IT!WE MUST,WE MUST SAVE MONTANA’S WOLVES!!!PLEASE WRITE HERE: charlotte.nivelet@fondationbrigittebardot.fr CHARLOTTE SPEAK IN ENGLISH,I’M SURE BECAUSE SHE HOLD EVERY INTERNATIONAL ANIMALS PROBLEM!!! PLEASE WRITE,PLEASE CONTACT THE FONDATION BRIGITTE BARDOT,PLEASE DO IT!YOU CAN VISIT THE SITE: http://www.fondationbrigittebardot.fr GOD BLESS ALL WOLVES AND ALL PRO-WOLVES! HOWLS!!!!!
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MY GOD,THEY ARE CRAZY IN MONTANA!!!yes:79%…NO 21%…I READ ALL COMMENTS…WHY THEY HATE WOLVES LIKE THIS??? WHY??? POOR WONDERFUL WOLVES…I FEEL LOT OF SADNESS…
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Hi Agnes,
Many of the wolf haters love to post horrible comments but they are not the majority. They are a vocal minority but they make a lot of noise. It looks like the hunting organizations got called out to vote in the poll, I think the numbers are skewed. More wolf advocates need to vote. I’m thinking about posting this on the blog to remind people to vote.
N.
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NABEKI!je trouve odieux de se servir de ce terrible poison pour tuer les loups.je suis un pro-loup.il faut sauver les loups.
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On the Xylitol……this is very toxic to the liver of canines and Bridges has said …there will be a lot of rotting wolf guts out there if we do this right! He said most hunters and now carrying around a ‘bag of sugar’ and as a result there will be a lot of rotting wolves!
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I will stand up for whatever I believe in and what I believe in now is that wolves in shouldn’t have to be careful with were they mark their territory or get killed skinned or tortured they should be protected. God says that all animals are beautiful and special in their own way abd wolves are the most beautiful animals in my opinion and I dont want to have to see pictures of them hung on a pole or skinned to make a coat they should be in the wild roaming and hunting well thats my opinion but to not even try ro stand up and make a difference that is hust plain weak at least try
TRY TO HELP PROTECT THESE ANIMALS FROM EXTINCTION
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