Thank you WWP for fighting to protect our public lands from livestock degradation, specifically 48,000 acres of the beautiful Pahsimeroi River Watershed, in Central Idaho.
From WWP NEWS RELEASE: January 7, 2011:
“Hailey, ID — In response to a lawsuit brought by Western Watersheds Project, on January 5, 2011 U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge vacated several Bureau of Land Management grazing decisions which would have renewed grazing permits for four public land grazing allotments on over 48,000 acres of public land within the Pahsimeroi River Watershed.”
Click here to read Judge Lodge’s decision.
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BLM Failed to Adequately Consider Environmental Costs of Grazing on over 48,000 acres of public land in the Pahsimeroi River Watershed .
Jon Marvel
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/435877/313e0cdf3d/1454001502/ee35a54549/
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Effects of Livestock degradation:
Environmental Impacts of the Livestock Sector
Livestock are one of the foremost contributors to today’s greatest environmental problems. The primary concerns outlined by the FAO report, Livestock’s Long Shadow – Environmental Issues and Options, include:
Global Warming. The livestock sector contributes 18 percent (measured in CO2 equivalent) of global greenhouse gas emissions. Although it accounts for only nine percent of global CO2, it generates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide and 37 percent of methane, which have 296 times and 23 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CO2 respectively. Furthermore, livestock are a major driver of deforestation–70 percent of former Amazon forests are now used for grazing.
Land Degradation. Livestock and the cropland used for feed occupy 30 percent of the earth’s entire land surface. Soil compaction and erosion resulting from overgrazing has severely degraded about 20 percent of pastures worldwide. This problem is particularly acute in drylands, where unsustainable livestock management contribute to desertification.
Water Pollution. The primary polluting agents of livestock are animal wastes (the average milk cow produces 120 pounds of waste daily), antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, and the fertilizers and pesticides used to spray feed crops. Livestock-related pollutants are primary agents of eutrophication and the production of coastal “dead zones,” which destroy aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity. When located near cities, these pollutants also pose significant health risks. Furthermore, overgrazing disrupts water cycles, including the replenishment of ground and surface water resources.
http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/125
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Boulder White Clouds Council
Exposing The Big Game
Footloose Montana
Friends of the Clearwater
Lockwood Animal Rescue Center
Louise du Toit
LUPUSLAETUS
Mercy For Animals
Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA)
Predator Friendly®- Because Wildlife Matters
Project Coyote
Project: Wolf
The Nature Conservancy
The Ravensong Group
WildEarth Guardians
Wisconsin Wildlife Ethic-Vote Our Wildlife
Wolf And Wildlife Studies: Jay Mallonee (Independent Wolf Biologist)
Wolf Song of Alaska
Wolves in english ! Les loups en anglais !
WWP's Gray Wolf Page
Yellowstone To Yukon Conservation Initiative
Howling For Justice 
The West was full of wildlife including wolves before the ancestors of todays greedy cattle ranchers introduced their “exotic” species..(cows). Prior to that man made disaster, ecosystems were natural and whole with Native Americans living in harmony with the abundant biodiversity.
Cattle barrons arrived and suddenly the ground became soaked with the blood of Indians and all species of wildlife……….nothing has changed and the livestock industry, if it were not for conservation groups like Western Watersheds Project, would eliminate any animal with 4 legs that threaten their “sacred” cows and graze the lands till no grass was left for wildlife.
Most of these cow growers and government agencies like the BLM have no respect for the land that is constantly under attack from thousands of these huge slow moving, defenseless, shit machines.
Thankyou WWP for all your work.
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LOL Jerry…you pretty much summed it up in that paragraph. The sad thing is I feel sorry for the cows, it’s not their fault they’re being exploited for profit. Those cows have practically no time at all untiil they’ll be butchered. If everyone gave up beef the world would be a better place. The livestock industry does so much damage to the planet.
N.
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I agree Nabeki. If people could only see the damage the livestock industry does to the planet we all have to live on, and the animals who share this planet with us, and have every right to be here, how much better off would we all be?
If only it were possible to Return to Innocence and the Native American Life we so blithely destroyed. It is sickening.
Thank god for Jon Marvel and WWP.
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SCWG…The livestock industry not only here in the US but around the world is responsible for deforestation, they cut the trees down in the Amazon to clear for ranching. In Africa lions are being killed because of livestock. I posted that the Maasai are using pro-active measures to protect their livestock with the help of Nat Geo, which reduces the number of revenge killings against lions. Here in the US cattle are trampling our native grasses and polluting our streams.WS is killing our native carnivores and other wildlife for agribusiness. I have every sympaty for cattle, it’s not their fault but the damage to our environment is terrible. If only people would give up beef altogether or at least cut down on it.
Jon Marvel and WWP are winning in court and helping to save our public lands from further destruction, which in turn helps the wolves and other native carnivores. Go WWP!!!
N.
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Nabeki,
There is also the matter of mass native wildlife fatalities, not limited to the animals that may kill livestock and the potential introduction of ‘feral’ species that would spread into the wider area causing more of the damage you previously mentioned.
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John…WS already kills so many animals every year, in the millions. It’s just awful, yet it continues every year. Congress just won’t act on at least stopping them for using the deadly M-44s and 1080 compounds.
N.
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Congress should get the lead out with getting rid of the poison:
“Compound 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate), a super-toxin with no known antidote, was first developed by Nazi military chemists for biological warfare during World War II. The FBI and Air Force as well as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service have publicly listed Compound 1080 as a chemical agent terrorists could use to poison water supplies. Because of its danger to humans, Compound 1080 has been banned in Brazil since 1982. One teaspoon of the tasteless, odorless white power is enough to kill 100 people.”
From: http://treesnotgunns.org
What 1080 does to an animal is beyond sickening, what kind of person could use such a thing knowing that it would cause so much pain?
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Wow John, you were talking about 1080 compound before the story broke about little 314f death at the hand of 1080. Can you believe they allow this stuff to be used in the US when it’s a deadly poison, as you said this is a compound that the FBI, Air Force and CSIS haa listed as a chemical agent that could be used by terrorists? Yet they allow WS to use it to kill our willdlife and sometimes pets and humans are injured by it. Predator Defense has been trying for years to get this poison banned by Congress but there is so much pressure from agribusiness to keep using this stuff that Congress never passes a ban. They cave under the lobbying from agriculture. It’s sickening beyond belief.
N.
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Speaking of compound 1080……finally, after nearly 2 years, USFWS has concluded that the Colorado Wolf was killed by compound 1080.
What a coincidence that this was released by USFWS AFTER an attempt was made by Brooks Fahey, Predator Defense and others to ban this poison.
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20110110/UPDATES01/110110026/Wildlife+investigators++Poison+killed+Colorado+wolf
Also check “www.predatordefense.org”
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Thank you so much Jerry for the heads up on this little wolf. We’ve all been waiting for almost two years to find out what kllled her. As you said why did it take so long to release the cause of her death, especially when the necropsy, I believe, was done quite a while ago? I included lots of info on 1080 and M44’s in the post I just updated on 314f. Maybe people will wake up and start to realize there are deadly poisons out on our lands and they need to be removed!!!
N.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/20/2096244.htm
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John….Looks like the cruelty of 1080 is global. New Zealand uses it too, I think to kill possums?
N.
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Yes. New Zealand is a major consumer. The only other country I know that uses 1080 is Russia.
It is baffling that governments would allow this plague-like chemical weapon to be used.
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Wolf Warriors. Wolf Warriors said: HFJ Blog: "Another Victory For Western Watersheds Project….." http://tinyurl.com/24uujcu […]
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1080 has been killing wildlife for a long time. I used to see 1080-laced horse legs wired to posts or stakes on public land when I was growing up in the Lost River Valley of Idaho in the 1950s. They had warning signs in English and Spanish to keep your dogs away from the bait.
It is way past time to get this horrible poison off of our public lands.
I have spent a lot of time in the Pahsimeroi valley over the past 55 years. It has been overgrazed and abused by livestock for all of that time. My ten year old grandson and I were in the upper Pahsimeroi this past summer.
Good job Western Watersheds!
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“I used to see 1080-laced horse legs wired to posts or stakes on public land when I was growing up in the Lost River Valley of Idaho in the 1950s.” What a terrible thing to see as a child. You’re right, this awful poison has to go. I can’t imagine the untold suffering it’s caused.
N.
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