HuffPost: “Little Red Rider and the Big Bad Wolf Hunt”….

This is the cleverest of  titles but better yet the article delivers in every way. Brenda Peterson tells the sad tale of wolves betrayed via budget rider, sacrificed for Jon Tester’s Senate seat.

Now they are being hunted in two states, Idaho’s hunt is underway and Montana’s hunt starts today.  Wolves are paying the ultimate price, because  back room dealing stripped them of their ESA protections.  Good job Democrats. You’ve managed to gut the ESA, kick wolves to the curb and alienate much of your base support.

Priscilla Feral, President, Friends of Animals, describes what wolves are facing.

“What’s about to happen to gray wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming — who are a vital part of the ecosystem — is vile. Governors of those states are subjecting wolves to pogroms from the Middle Ages.”

She urges Americans to boycott all travel to these three trigger-happy states. And call our congressional representations to protest. Already there are “Howl-ins” and “Phone-ins for Wolves,” — people demonstrating from Idaho to Central Park. Consider this a call to community from the wolves to the humans. Now, they need our saving.”

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Little Red Rider and the Big Bad Wolf Hunt

Brenda Peterson

Posted: 9/2/11 01:25 PM ET

The wolf hunt that begins this week in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana is as grim as the Grimm’s fairy tale. Ever since the bloody wolf-delisting rider was slipped into a recent budget bill, this myth is driving wildlife politics. And it’s still the same ending: The wolf must die. The heroic hunter rescues the grandmother and little girl. Everyone lives happily ever after, except, of course, the wild wolf.

In the medieval mindset of Little Red Riding Hood, the fairy tale forest was a looming wilderness — a villain overshadowing the little village. Walking through the woods was dangerous. You never knew who might follow you home, devour and pretend to be your grandmother, and eat you alive.

This fairy tale was a time before humans domesticated nature, made tree farms out of forests and drove entire species, like the wolf, to extinction. This was before Alaskan wolf hunters in airplanes gunned down entire packs of radio-collared wolves. Before we poisoned, trapped, and shot wolves for sport. This was before we understood the science of wolves and their predator-prey balance that actually restores healthy ecosystems.

When the Brothers Grimm built their fairy tale of wolves on the original Perrault 17th century French folklore, they added a 19th century twist. The huntsman who saved Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother was not so much on a rescue mission as he was bent on earning the trophy of the wolf’s skin.

The huntsman is not a hero. It’s only the wolf skin he’s after. This modern evolution of the fairy tale is evident on any of the online wolf licensing sites as the 2011 hunt now begins. One outfitter advertises, “maximize your predator experience… add a fall black bear to your wolf hunt.” It offers a “proven predator calling technique” to lure the wolf, bear, mountain lion, coyote, foxes “and more” into your crosshairs. Blam! You got yourself a nice trophy, man. Something to brag about to your friends, to tell your kids the story of how you gunned down the big, bad wolf.

READ MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brenda-peterson/wolves-endangered-species_b_942409.html

Wolf Zone	Harvest Limit	Number Harvested	Limit Remaining	Status	Hunting Season Dates
Panhandle				OPEN	Aug 30 – Mar 31
Palouse-Hells Canyon				OPEN	Aug 30 – Mar 31
Lolo				OPEN	Aug 30 – June 30
Dworshak-Elk City				OPEN	Aug 30 – Mar 31
Selway				OPEN	Aug 30 – June 30
Middle Fork				OPEN	Aug 30 – Mar 31
Salmon	40		40	OPEN	Aug 30 – Mar 31
McCall-Weiser		2		OPEN	Aug 30 – Mar 31
Sawtooth	60		60	OPEN	Aug 30 – Mar 31
Southern Mountains	25		25	OPEN	Aug 30 – Mar 31
Beaverhead	10		10	OPEN	Aug 30 – Dec 31
Island Park	30	1	29	OPEN	Aug 30 – Dec 31
Southern Idaho				OPEN	Aug 30 – Mar 31
TOTALS	165	3	164

9/3/11

THREE WOLVES KILLED IN IDAHO HUNT

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Photo: Courtesy Creative Commons

Chart: IDFG

Posted in:  Wolf Wars

Tags: wolf delisting rider, wolves betrayed, ESA gutted, Idaho hunt, Montana hunt, wolves suffer