Idaho Declares War On Its Wolves….

We knew it would happen. We watched in horror as the anti-wolf crowd devised an end round Judge Molloy’s ruling to relist wolves. Western politicians stepped up and helped gut the ESA and strip Northern Rockies gray wolves of their protections. Senate Democrats voted to delist wolves by budget rider, President Obama signed the bill into law and that was the beginning of the end of wolves in Idaho.

Now without the protection of the Endangered Species Act, as wolf advocates predicted,  Idaho is planning to kill most of its 1000 wolves, a third of whom are puppies. Trappers can kill up to 5 wolves, hunters 2, in a calendar year. Does that mean hunters and trappers can buy new sets of tags in 2012 as well? Which would allow them to kill even more wolves, since the season runs through March 31, 2012?

And didn’t IDFG Director, Virgil Moore state that if the hunters and trappers don’t get the job done that fish and game would bring in Wildlife Services with their helicopter gunships and traps?

From the Idaho Statesman:

“Idaho will also rely on federal wolf hunters and airborne gunners to kill wolves”

“Wolf control actions will take place in and out of the hunting season,”

So that’s the sad reality. Where’s the science in this slaughter? Where’s the empathy for the little pups that will die along with their parents, either by direct killing or starvation. These babies will only be four or five months old when the shooting starts. Who in the hell kills puppies?   Isn’t this animal cruelty plain and simple?

All the game playing that’s gone on, the demonization of wolves, when they’ve done NOTHING to deserve this. The elk are fine in Idaho and so are the millions of cows.  This is a political hunt aimed at pleasing hunters and ranchers, wildlife advocates be damned. We don’t count.

Idaho is garnering itself quite the reputation. They SHOULD care what wildlife watchers think, because they bring millions of dollars into the state. Are they going to endorse this killing spree? I think not!

It AMAZES me this all happened under Obama’s watch. We can no longer trust the Democrats to protect wildlife and the environment. Every single one of those Senate Dems voted to delist wolves, except for Wyden, Leahy and Levin. Think about that for a moment.

And now what we said would happen is happening. Idaho is not pretending to play nice anymore. They are setting out to do what they’ve wanted to do in the first place, take their wolf population from 1000 to 150 or lower?

And all the people who called for wolf hunts, is this what you envisioned? Wholesale slaughter? And what about a few of the conservationists that put their seal of approval on wolf hunts? Yes you know who you are. Do you like this plan?

I lay awake at night thinking about Idaho, Montana and Wyoming wolves. They have no idea what’s coming. They are raising their babies, teaching them how to be wolves. Little do they know,  if the state of Idaho has their way, they are “Dead Wolves Walking“, as Bill Gibson wrote.

Remember August is the month to Howl Across America to protest the wolf hunt horror!!

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Idaho plans for extensive wolf hunts, trapping

Laura Zuckerman Reuters July 28, 2011, 8:04 p.m.

SALMON, Idaho, July 28 (Reuters) – Idaho will open its wolf
population, now estimated at about 1,000 animals, to extensive hunting and trapping to reduce their numbers to no fewer than 150 under a plan approved on Thursday by the state Fish and Game Commission.

The move came after a heated public hearing Wednesday night
in Salmon, where wolf foes declared war on the iconic predators
with rhetoric describing Idaho as locked in a “wolf crisis” and
as one of three “wolf-occupied states” in the Northern Rockies,
along with Montana and Wyoming.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article

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Top Photo: Creative Commons

Puppy Photo: Courtesy Wolf People

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Idaho wolves

Tags: Idaho, IDFG, wolf trapping, wolf hunting, wolf archery, wolf wars, what about the puppies?